Perrin sent the boy off to find Lady Faile, then stepped over. "I need to talk to Rand again".
"You’re talking to—"
"I need the real Rand, not the man who’s learned to talk like an Aes Sedai".
Rand sighed. "It really is me, Perrin", he protested. "I’m more me than I’ve been for ages".
"Yes, well, I don’t like talking to you when your emotions are all masked".
A group of Two Rivers men passed and saluted. He felt a sudden spike of cold solitude at seeing those men and knowing he could never be one of them again. It was hardest with the Two Rivers men. But he did let himself be more . . . relaxed, for Perrin’s sake.
"So, what was it?" he asked. "What did the messenger say?"
"You were right to be worried", Perrin said. "Rand, Caemlyn has fallen. It’s overrun with Trollocs".
Rand felt his face grow hard.
"You’re not surprised", Perrin said. "You’re worried, but not surprised.
No, I’m not", Rand admitted. "I thought it would be the south where they struck—I’ve heard word of Trolloc sightings there, and I’m half-certain that Demandred is involved. He has never been comfortable without an army. But Caemlyn . . . yes, it’s a clever strike. I told you they would try to distract us. If they can undercut Andor and draw her away, my alliance grows much shakier".
Perrin glanced at where Elayne’s camp was set up right beside that of Egwene. "But wouldn’t it be good for you if Elayne ran off? She’s on the other side of this confrontation".
"There is no other side, Perrin. There is one side, with a disagreement on how that side should proceed. If Elayne isn’t here to be part of the meeting, it will undermine everything I’m trying to accomplish. She’s probably the most powerful of all the rulers".
Rand could feel her, of course, through the bond. Her spike of alarm let him know that she’d received this information. Should he go to her? Perhaps he could send Min. She had gotten up, and was moving away from the tent where he’d left her. And—
He blinked. Aviendha. She was here, at Merrilor. She hadn’t been here moments ago, had she? Perrin glanced at him, and he didn’t bother to wipe the shock from his face.
"We can’t let Elayne leave", Rand said.
"Not even to protect her homeland?" Perrin asked, incredulous.
"If the Trollocs have already taken Caemlyn, then it’s too late for Elayne to do anything meaningful. Elayne’s forces will focus on evacuation. She doesn’t need to be there for that, but she does need to be here. Tomorrow morning".
How could he make certain she stayed? Elayne reacted poorly to being told what to do—all women did—but if he implied . . .
"Rand", Perrin said, "what if we sent in the Asha’man? All of them? We could make a fight of it at Caemlyn".
"No", Rand said, though the word hurt. "Perrin, if the city really is overrun—I’ll send men through gateways to be certain—then it’s lost. Taking back those walls would take far too much effort, at least right now. We cannot let this coalition break apart before I have a chance to forge it together. Unity will preserve us. If each of us goes running off to put out fires in our homelands, then we will lose. That’s what this attack is about".
"I suppose that’s possible . . Perrin said, fingering his hammer.
"The attack might unnerve Elayne, make her more eager to act", Rand said, considering a dozen different lines of action. "Perhaps this will make her more vulnerable to agreeing with my plan. This could be a good thing". Perrin frowned.
How quickly I’ve learned to use others. He had learned to laugh again. He had learned to accept his fate, and to charge toward it smiling. He had learned to be at peace with who he had been, what he had done.
That understanding would not stop him from using the tools given him. He needed them, needed them all. The difference now was that he would see the people they were, not just the tools he would use. So he told himself.
"I still think we should do something to help Andor", Perrin said, scratching his beard. "How did they sneak in, do you think?"
"By Waygate", Rand said absently.
Perrin grunted. "Well, you said that Trollocs can’t Travel through gateways; could they have learned how to fix that?"
"Pray to the Light they haven’t", Rand said. "The only Shadowspawn they managed to make that could go through gateways were gholam, and Aginor wasn’t foolish enough to make more than a few of those. No, I’d bet against Mat himself that this was the Caemlyn Waygate. I thought she had that thing guarded!"
"If it was the Waygate, we can do something", Perrin said. "We can’t have Trollocs rampaging in Andor; if they leave Caemlyn, they’ll be at our backs, and that will be a disaster. But if they’re coming in at a single point, we might be able to disrupt their invasion with an attack on that point". Rand grinned.
"What’s so funny?"
"At least I have an excuse for knowing and understanding things no youth from the Two Rivers should".
Perrin snorted. "Go jump in the Winespring Water. You really think this is Demandred?"
"It’s exactly the sort of thing he’d try. Separate your foes, then crush them one at a time. It’s one of the oldest strategies in warfare".
Demandred himself had discovered it in the old writings. They’d known nothing of war when the Bore had first opened. Oh, they’d thought they understood it, but it had been the understanding of the scholar looking back on something ancient, dusty.
Of all those to turn to the Shadow, Demandred’s betrayal seemed the most tragic. The man could have been a hero. Should have been a hero.
I’m to blame for that, too, Rand thought. If I’d offered a hand instead of a smirk, if I'd congratulated instead of competed. If I’d been the man then that I am now. . .
Never mind that. He had to send to Elayne. The proper course was to send help for evacuating the city, Asha’man and loyal Aes Sedai to make gateways and free as many people as possible—and to make certain that for now, the Trollocs remained in Caemlyn.
"Well, I guess those memories of yours are good for something, then&
