"The Seanchan", Rand said. "I must try to bring them to our side, as I promised".
"If I remember", Moiraine said, "you did not promise that you would try, you promised that you would make it happen".
"Promises to 'try’ don’t achieve much in political negotiations", Rand said, "no matter how sincere". He held up his hand before him, arm outstretched, fingers up, and looked out of his open tent flaps. As if he were preparing to grab the lands to the south. Scoop them up, claim them as his, protect them.
The Dragon on his arm shone, gold and crimson. "Once the Dragon, for remembrance lost". He held up his other arm, ending at the stump near the wrist. "Twice the Dragon . . . for the price he must pay".
"What will you do if the Seanchan leader refuses again?" Moiraine asked.
He hadn’t told her that the Empress had refused him the first time. Moiraine didn’t need to be told things. She simply discovered them.
"I don’t know", Rand said softly. "If they don’t fight, Moiraine, we will lose. If they don’t join the Dragon’s Peace, then we have nothing".
"You spent too much time on that pact", Moiraine said. "It distracted you from your goal. The Dragon does not bring peace, but destruction. You cannot change that with a piece of paper".
"We shall see", Rand said. "Thank you for your advice. Now, and always. I don’t believe I have said that enough. I owe you a debt, Moiraine".
"Well", she said. "I am still in need of a cup of tea".
Rand looked at her, incredulous. Then he laughed and walked away to bring her some.
Moiraine held her warm cup of tea, which Rand had fetched for her before leaving. He had become ruler of so much since they had parted, and he was as humble now as when she had first found him in the Two Rivers. Maybe more so.
Humble toward me, perhaps, she thought. He believes he can slay the Dark One. That is not the sign of a humble man. Rand al’Thor, such an odd mixture of self-effacement and pride. Did he finally have the balance right? Despite what she had said, his action toward her today proved he was no youth, but a man.
A man could still make mistakes. Often, they were of a more dangerous sort.
"The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills", she murmured to herself, sipping the tea. Prepared by Rand’s hand, and not someone else’s, it was as flavorful and vibrant as it had been during better days. Not touched in the least bit by the Dark One’s shadow.
Yes, the Wheel wove as it willed. Sometimes, she wished that weaving were easier to understand.
"Everyone knows what to do?" Lan asked, turning in Mandarb’s saddle.
Andere nodded. He’d carried the word himself to the rulers, and from them it had gone to their generals and commanders. Only at the last moments had it been passed to the soldiers themselves.
There would be Darkfriends among them. There always were. It was impossible to exterminate rats from a city, no matter how many cats you brought in. The Light willing, this news would come too late for those rats to give warning to the Shadow.
"We ride", Lan said, setting heels into Mandarb’s ribs. Andere raised his banner high, the flag of Malkier, and galloped at his side. He was joined by his ranks of Malkieri. Many of those had only a little Malkieri blood in them, and were truly Borderlanders of other nations. They still chose to ride beneath his banner, and had taken up the hadori.
Thousands upon thousands of horsemen rode with him, hooves shaking the soft earth. It had been a long, hard retreat for their army. The Trollocs had superior numbers and presented a serious threat of surrounding Lan’s men. Lan’s mounted army was highly mobile, but there was only so much speed you could force upon soldiers, and Trollocs could march quickly. Faster than people could, particularly with those Fades whipping them. Fortunately, the fires in the countryside were slowing the Shadow’s army. Without that, Lan’s men might not have been able to escape.
Lan crouched in the saddle as the explosions from the Dreadlords began. To his left, the Asha’man Deepe rode, tied to his saddle because of his missing leg. As a ball of fire crackled through the air and arced down toward Lan, Deepe adopted a look of concentration and thrust his hands forward. The fire exploded in the air above them.
Burning embers fell like crimson rain, trailing smoke. One hit Mandarb's neck, and Lan brushed it aside with a gauntleted hand. The horse didn’t seem to notice.
The ground here was of deep clay. The terrain consisted of rolling hills, covered with sere grass, rocky outcrops and groves of defoliated trees. The retreat followed the banks of the Mora; the river would prevent the Trollocs flanking them from the west.
Smoke bled from two distinct points on the horizon. Fal Dara and Fal Moran. The two grandest cities in Shienar, torched by their own people, along with the lands of their farms and orchards, everything that could provide even a handful of sustenance to the invading Trollocs.
Holding the cities had not been an option. That meant they had to be destroyed.
It was time to start hitting back. Lan led a charge at the center of the mass, and the Trollocs set spears against the oncoming rush of Malkieri and Shienaran heavy cavalry. Lan brought his lance down, setting it in position along Mandarb’s neck. He leaned forward in his stirrups, holding tightly with his knees, and hoped that the channelers—Lan now had fourteen, after a small reinforcement from Egwene—could do their part.
The ground ripped up before the Trollocs. The front line of Trollocs broke.
Lan chose his target, a massive boar Trolloc that was yelling at its companions as they shied away from the explosions. Lan took the creature in the neck; the lance pierced it, and Mandarb threw the Trolloc to the side while trampling one of the cowering beasts nearby. The roar of the cavalry became a crash as the riders hit hard, letting momentum and weight carry them into the thick of the Trollocs.
Once they slowed, Lan tossed the lance to Andere, who caught it deftly. Lan’s guards moved in and he slipped his sword from its sheath. Woodsman Tops the Sapling. Apple Blossom on the Wind. The Trollocs made for easy targets when he was in the saddle—the Trollocs’ height presented their necks, shoulders and faces at just the right level.
It was quick, brutal work. Deepe watched for attacks from the enemy Dreadlords, countering them. Andere moved up to Lan’s side.
Lan’s banner was a lodestone for the Shadowspawn. They began to roar and rage, and he heard two Trolloc words spoken over and over in their language. Murdru Kar. Murdru Kar. Murdru Kar. He laid about himself with his sword, spilling their blood,
