"Aludra", Talmanes called, "you have the dragons? Please, tell me you saved them".
She sniffed, waving for some people to pull apart a side of the barricade to admit his men. She appeared to have several hundred—maybe several thousand—townspeople back there, filling the street. As they opened the way for him, he saw a beautiful sight. Surrounded by townspeople, a hundred dragons rested there.
The bronze tubes had been fitted to wooden dragon carts to comprise a single unit, pulled by two horses. They were really quite maneuverable, all things considered. Those carts could be anchored in the ground to manage recoil, Talmanes knew, and the dragons fired once the horses were detached. There were more than enough people here to do the work horses should have been available to do.
"You think I would leave them?" Aludra asked. "This lot, they do not have the training to fire them. But they can pull a cart as well as anyone else".
"We have to get them out", Talmanes said.
"This, it is a new revelation to you?" Aludra asked. "As if I haven’t been trying to do that very thing. Your face, what is wrong with it?"
"I once ate a rather sharp cheese, and it has never quite sat right with me".
Aludra cocked her head at him. Maybe if I smiled more when I made jokes, he thought idly, leaning against the side of the barricade. Then they’d understand what I meant. That, of course, raised the question: Did he want people to understand? It was often more amusing the other way. Besides, smiling was so garish. Where was the subtlety? And . . .
And he was really having trouble focusing. He blinked at Aludra, whose face had grown concerned in the torchlight.
"What about my face?" Talmanes raised a hand to his cheek. Blood. The Myrddraal. Right. "Just a cut".
"And the veins?"
"Veins?" he asked, then noticed his hand. Tendrils of blackness, like ivy growing beneath the skin, had wound down his wrist and across the back of his hand toward the fingers. They seemed to be growing darker as he watched. "Oh, that. I’m dying, unfortunately. Terribly tragic. You wouldn’t happen to have any brandy, would you?"
"I—"
"My Lord!" a voice called.
Talmanes blinked, then forced himself to turn about, leaning on the spear. "Yes, Filger?"
"More Trollocs, my Lord. Lots of them! They’re filling in behind us".
"Lovely. Set the table. I hope we have enough dinnerware. I knew we should have sent the maid for that five thousand seven hundred and thirty-first set".
"Are you . . . feeling all right?" Aludra asked.
"Blood and bloody ashes, woman, do I look like I’m feeling well? Guybon! Retreat is cut off. How far from the east gates are we?"
"East gates?" Guybon called. "Maybe a half-hour march. We need to head further down the hill".
"Onward we go, then", Talmanes said. "Take the scouts and go on point. Dennel, make sure those local folk are organized to haul those dragons! Be ready to set up the weapons".
"Talmanes", Aludra said, stepping in. "Dragons’ eggs and powder, we have few of them left. We will need the supplies from Baerlon. Today, if you set up the dragons . . . A few shots for each dragon, this is all I can give you".
Dennel nodded. "Dragons aren’t meant to make up frontline units all by themselves, my Lord. They need support to keep the enemy from coming too close and destroying the weapons. We can man those dragons, but we won’t last long without infantry".
"That’s why we’re running", Talmanes said. He turned, took a step, and was so woozy he almost fell. "And I believe . . . I believe I’ll need a horse . . ".
Moghedien stepped onto a platform of stone floating in the middle of an open sea. Glassy and blue, the water rippled in the occasional breeze, but there were no waves. Neither was there land in sight.
Moridin stood at the side of the platform, hands clasped behind his back. In front of him, the sea burned. The fire gave off no smoke, but it was hot, and the water near it hissed and boiled. Stone flooring in the middle of an endless sea. Water that burned. Moridin always had enjoyed creating impossibilities within his dreamshards.
"Sit", Moridin said to her, not turning.
She obeyed, choosing one of the four chairs suddenly arranged near the center of the platform. The sky was deep blue, cloudless, and the sun hung at about three-quarters of the way to its zenith. How long had it been since she’d seen the sun in Tel’aran’rhiod? Lately, that omnipresent black storm had blanketed the sky. But, then, this wasn’t completely Tel’aran’rhiod. Nor was it Moridin’s dream, but a . . . melding of the two. Like a temporary lean-to built off the side of the dream world. A bubble of merged realities.
Moghedien wore a gown of black and gold, lacework on the sleeves faintly reminiscent of a spider’s web. Only faintly. One did well not to overuse a theme.
As she sat, Moghedien tried to exude control and self-confidence. Once, both had come easily for her. Today, trying to capture either was like trying to snatch dandelion seeds from the air, only to have them dance away from her hand. Moghedien gritted her teeth, angry at herself. She was one of the Chosen. She had made kings weep, armies tremble. Her name had been used by generations of mothers to frighten their children. And now . . .
She felt at her neck, found the pendant hanging there. It was still safe. She knew it was, but touching it brought her calmness.
"Do not grow too comfortable wearing that", Moridin said. A wind blew across him, rippling the pristine ocean surface. On that wind she heard faint screams. "You are not completely forgiven, Moghedien. This is a probation. Perhaps when you fail next, I will give the mindtrap to Demandred".
She sniffed. "He would toss it aside in boredom. Demandred wants only one thing. Al’Thor. Anyone who does not lead him toward his goal is unimportant to him".
"You underestimate him", Moridin said softly. "The Great Lord is pleased with Demandred. Very pleased. You, however . . "
Moghedien sank down in her chair, feeling her tortures anew. Pain such as few in this world had ever known. Pain beyond what a body should be able to endure. She held to the cour’souvra and embraced saidar. That brought some relief.
Before, channeling in the same room as the cour’souvra had been agonizing. Now that she, rather than Moridin, wore the pendant, it was not so. Not just a pendant, she thought, clutching it. My soul itself. Darkness within! She had never thought that she, of all people, would find herself subject to one of these. Was she not the spider, car
