The man placed his hand on the pommel of the sword at his waist as the others rose. From the darkness behind, a group of the channelers crawled forward. They bobbed for this newcomer in a kind of bow. He removed one of his gauntlets, reached out with an offhanded gesture and scratched the head of one of the men, as a lord might favor a hound.
"So these are the new inacal", the man said speculatively. "Do any of you know who I am?"
The captives cringed before him. Though the Sharans had risen, the captives were smart enough to remain on the ground. None of them spoke.
"I suspected not", the man said. "Though one can never tell if one’s fame has spread unexpectedly. Tell me, if you know who I am. Speak it, and I will let you free".
No replies.
"Well, you will listen and remember", the man said. "I am Bao, the Wyld. I am your savior. I have crawled through the depths of sorrow and have risen up to accept my glory. I have come seeking what was taken from me. Remember that".
The captives cowered further, obviously uncertain what to do. Gawyn tugged on Egwene’s sleeve, motioning backward, but she did not move. There was something about that man . . .
He looked up suddenly. He focused on the women channelers, then gazed about, peering into the darkness. "Do any of you inacal know the Dragon?" he asked, though he sounded distracted. "Speak up. Tell me".
"I did see him", said one of the captive soldiers. "Several times".
"Did you speak with him?" Bao asked, strolling away from the captives.
"No, great Lord", the soldier said. "The Aes Sedai, they did speak with him. Not I".
"Yes. I worried you would be of no use", Bao said. "Servants, we are being watched. You have not searched this camp as well as you claimed. I sense a woman nearby who can channel".
Egwene felt a spike of alarm. Gawyn pulled on her arm, meaning to go, but if they ran, they’d be captured for certain. Light! She—
The crowd turned at a sudden noise near one of the fallen tents. Bao raised a hand, and Egwene heard a furious yell in the darkness. Moments later, Leane floated through the crowd of Sharans, tied in Air, her eyes wide. Bao brought her up close to him, holding her wrapped in weaves that Egwene could not see.
Her heart continued to pound. Leane was alive. How had she remained hidden? Light! What could Egwene do?
"Ah", Bao said. "One of these . . . Aes Sedai. You, you have spoken with the Dragon?"
Leane didn’t respond. To her credit, she kept her face blank.
"Impressive", Bao said, reaching up fingers and touching her chin. He held up another hand, and the collected captives suddenly started to writhe and scream. They burst into flames, yelling in agony. Egwene had to forcibly stop herself from reaching for the True Source as she watched. She was crying by the time it ended, though she did not remember starting.
The Sharans shuffled.
"Do not be displeased", Bao said to them. "I know you went to great trouble to take some alive for me, but they would have made poor inacal. They are not raised to it, and during this war, we do not have time to train them. Killing them now is a mercy compared to what they would have had to endure. Besides, this one, this . . . Aes Sedai will serve our purpose".
Leane’s mask had cracked, and despite the distance, Egwene could see her hatred.
Bao still had her chin cupped in his hand. "You are a beautiful thing", he said. "Unfortunately, beauty is meaningless. You are to deliver a message for me, Aes Sedai, to Lews Therin. The one who calls himself the Dragon Reborn. Tell him that I have come to slay him, and in so doing, I will claim this world. I will take what originally should have been mine. Tell him that. Tell him you have seen me, and describe me to him. He will know me.
"Just as the people here awaited him with prophecy, just as they showered him with glory, the people of my land awaited me. I have fulfilled their prophecies. He is false, and I am true. Tell him I will finally have satisfaction. He is to come to me, so that we may face one another. If he does not, I will slaughter and destroy. I will seize his people. I will enslave his children, I will take his women for my own. One by one, I will break, destroy, or dominate everything he has loved. The only way for him to avoid this is for him to come and face me.
"Tell him this, little Aes Sedai. Tell him that an old friend awaits. I am Bao, the Wyld. He Who Is Owned Only by the Land. The dragonslayer. He knew me once by a name I have scorned, the name Barid Bel".
Barid Bel? Egwene thought, memories from her lessons in the White Tower returning to her. Barid Bel Medar . . . Demandred.
The storm in the wolf dream was a changeable thing. Perrin spent hours prowling the Borderlands, visiting packs of wolves as he ran down dry riverbeds and across broken hills.
Gaul had learned quickly. He wouldn’t stand for a moment against Slayer, of course, but at least he had learned to keep his clothing from changing—though his veil did still snap up to cover his face when he was startled.
The two of them bounded through Kandor, leaving blurs in the air as they moved from hilltop to hilltop. The storm was sometimes strong, sometimes weak. At the moment, Kandor was hauntingly still. The grassy highland landscape was strewn with all kinds of debris. Tents, roofing tiles, the sail of a large ship, even a blacksmith’s anvil, deposited point-first into a muddy hillside.
The dangerously powerful storm could arise anywhere in the wolf dream and rip apart cities or forests. He’d found Tairen hats blown all the way to Shienar.
Perrin came to rest on a hilltop, Gaul streaking into place beside him. How long had they been searching for Slayer? A few hours, it seemed on one hand. On the other . . . how much ground had they crossed? They had returned to their food stores now three times to eat. Did that mean a day had passed?
"Gaul", Perrin said. "How long have we been at this?"
"I cannot say, Perrin Aybara", Gaul replied. He checked for the sun, though there was none. "A long while. Will we need to stop and sleep?"
That was a good question. Perrin's stomach suddenly growled, and he made them a meal of dried meat and a hunk of bread. He gave some to Gaul. Would summoned bread sustain them in the wolf dream, or would it merely vanish once they consumed it?
The latter. The food vanished even as Perrin ate it. They would need to rely upon their supplies, perhaps getting more from Rand’s Asha’man during the daily opening of that portal. For now, he shifted back to their packs and dug out some dried meat, then re
