"Leave me go to my fate, Cadsuane", Rand said. "I have embraced death. I will take it when it comes".
"I am pleased at that", she said, "and do not think—for a moment—that I would not trade your life for the world".
"You’ve made that obvious from the start", Rand said. "So why worry now? This fight will claim me. So it must be".
"You must not assume that you will die", Cadsuane said. "Even if it is nearly inevitable, you must not take it as completely inevitable".
"Elayne said much the same thing".
"Then she has spoken wisdom at least once in her life. A better average than I had assumed of that one".
Rand refused to rise to that comment, and Cadsuane let slip a smile. She was pleased at how he controlled himself now. That was why she tested him. Would the tests never end?
No, he thought. Not until the final one. The one that matters most.
Cadsuane stopped in the path, causing him to stop as well. "Do you have a gift for me as well?"
"I am giving them to those I care about".
That actually made her smile more deeply. "Our interactions have not always been smooth, Rand al’Thor".
"That would be one way to say it".
"However", she continued, eyeing him, "I will have you know that I am pleased. You have turned out well".
"So I have your permission to save the world?"
"Yes!" She looked upward, where the dark clouds boiled. They began to split at his presence, as he did not try to mask it or keep them back.
"Yes", Cadsuane repeated, "you have my permission. So long as you do it soon. That darkness grows".
As if in concert with her words, the ground rumbled. It did that more and more lately. The camp shook, and men stumbled, wary.
"There will be Forsaken", Rand said. "Once I enter. Someone will need to face them. I intend to ask Aviendha to lead the resistance against them. She could use your aid".
Cadsuane nodded. "I will do my part".
"Bring Alivia", Rand said. "She is strong, but I worry about putting her with others. She does not understand limits in the way that she should". Cadsuane nodded again, and from the look in her eyes, he wondered if she’d already planned to do just that. "And the Black Tower?"
Rand set his jaw. The Black Tower was a trap. He knew it was a trap. Taim wanted to lure Rand into a place where he couldn’t escape through a gateway.
"I sent Perrin to help".
"And your determination to go yourself?"
I have to help them. Somehow. I let Taim gather them. I can’t just leave them to him . . .
"You still aren’t certain", Cadsuane said, dissatisfied. "You’d risk yourself, you’d risk us all, stepping into a trap".
"I . . "
"They’re free". Cadsuane turned to walk away. "Taim and his men have been cast out of the Black Tower".
"What?" Rand demanded, taking her by the arm.
"Your men there freed themselves", Cadsuane said. "Though, from what I’ve been told, they took a beating doing it. Few know it. Queen Elayne might not be able to use them in battle for some time. I don’t know the details".
"They freed themselves?" Rand said.
"Yes".
They did it. Or Perrin did.
Rand exulted, but a wave of guilt slammed against him. How many had been lost? Could he have saved them, if he’d gone? He’d known for days now of their predicament, and yet he’d left them, obeying Moiraine’s insistent counsel that this was a trap he could not afford to spring.
And now they’d escaped it.
"I wish that I’d been able to draw an answer out of you", Cadsuane said, "about what you intended to do there". She sighed, then shook her head. "You have cracks in you, Rand al’Thor, but you’ll have to do".
She left him.
"Deepe was a good man", Antail said. "He survived the fall of Maradon. He was on the wall when it blew, but he lived and kept fighting. The Dreadlords came for him eventually, sending an explosion to finish the job. Deepe spent the last moments throwing weaves at them. He died well".
The Malkieri soldiers raised cups toward Antail, saluting the fallen. Lan raised his own cup, though he stood just outside the ring of men around the fire. He wished Deepe had followed orders. He shook his head, downing his wine. Though it was night, Lan’s men were on rotation to be awake in case of an attack.
Lan turned his cup between two fingers, thinking of Deepe again. He found he couldn’t drum up anger at the man. Deepe had wanted to kill one of the Shadow’s most dangerous channelers. Lan couldn’t say he would turn down a similar opportunity, if it were given him.
The men continued their toasts to the fallen. It had become a tradition every evening, and had spread among all of the Borderlander camps. Lan found it encouraging that the men here were starting to treat Antail and Narishma as fellows. The Asha’man were aloof, but Deepe’s death had forged a link between the Asha’man and the ordinary soldiers. Now they’d all paid the butcher’s bill. The men had seen Antail grieving, and had invited him to make a toast.
Lan stepped away from the fire and walked through the camp, stopping by the horselines to check on Mandarb. The stallion was holding up well, though he bore a large wound on his left flank where his coat would never grow back; it seemed to be healing well. The grooms still spoke in hushed tones about how the wounded horse had appeared out of the night following the fight where Deepe had died. Many riders had been killed or unhorsed in the fighting that day. Very few horses had escaped the Trollocs and made their way back to camp.
Lan patted Mandarb’s neck. "We’ll rest soon, my friend", he said softly. "I promise".
Mandarb snorted in the darkness, and nearby, several of the other horses nickered.
"We’ll make a home", Lan said. "The Shadow defeated, Nynaeve and I will reclaim Malkier. We’ll make the fields bloom again, cleanse the lakes. Green pastures. No more Trollocs to fight. Children to ride on your back, old friend. You can spend your days in peace, eating apples and having your pick of mares".
It had been a very long time since Lan had thought of the future with anything resembling hope. Strange to find it now, in this place, in this war. He was a hard man. At times, he felt he had more in common with the rocks and the sand than he did with the men who laughed together beside the fire.
That was what he’d made of himself. It was the person he’d needed to be, a person who could someday journey toward Malkier and uphold the honor of his family. Rand al’Thor had begun to crack that shell, and then Nynaeve’s love had ripped it apart completely.
I wonder if Rand ever knew, Lan thought, taking out the currycomb and working on Mandarb’s coat. Lan knew what it was like to be chosen, from childhood, to die. He knew what it was like to be pointed toward the Blight and told he would sacrifice his life there. Light, but he did. Rand al’Thor would probably never know how similar the two of them were.
Lan brushed Mandarb for a time, though he was bone tired. Perhaps he should have slept. Nynaeve would have told him to sleep. He played out the conversation in his head, allowing himself a smile. She’d have won, explaining that a general needed sleep and that there were plenty of grooms to care for the horses.
But Nynaeve wasn’t there. He kept brushing.
Someone approached the horselines. Lan heard the footsteps long before the person arrived, of course. Lord Baldhere retrieved a brush from the groom station, nodding to one of the guards there, and walked toward his own horse. Only then did he notice Lan.
"Lord Mandragoran?" he said.
"Lord Baldhere", Lan said, nodding toward the Kandori. Queen Ethenielle’s Swordbearer was slender, with streaks of white in his otherwise black hair. Though Baldhere was not one of the great captains, he was a fine commander, and had served Kandor well since his king’s death. Many had assumed that the Queen would marry Baldhere. That, of course, was foolish; Ethenielle looked at him as she would a brother. Besides, anyone who paid attention would know that Baldhere clearly preferred men to women.
"I am sorry to disturb you, Dai Shan", Baldhere said. "I had not realized that anyone else would be here". He moved to withdraw.
"I was nearly done", Lan said. "Do not let me stop you".
"The grooms do well enough", Baldhere said. "I wasn’t here to check on their work. I have found, at times, that doing something simple and familiar helps me think".
"You’re not the only one to have noticed that", Lan said, continuing to brush Mandarb.
Baldhere chuckled, then fell silent for a moment. Finally, he spoke. "Dai Shan", he said, "are you worried about Lord Agelmar?"
"In what regard?"
"I worry that he’s pushing himself too hard", Baldhere said. "Some of the choices he is making . . . they confuse me. It’s not that his battle decisions are bad. They simply strike me as too aggressive".
"It is war. I don’t know that one can be too aggressive in defeating one’s enemy".
Baldhere fell quiet for a time. "Of course. But did you notice the loss of Lord Yokata’s two cavalry squadrons?"
"That was unfortunate, but mistakes do happen".
"This isn’t one that Lord Agelmar should have made. He’s been in situations like this before, Dai Shan. He should have seen".
It had happened during a recent raid against the Trollocs. The Asha’man had been setting fire to Fal Eisen and the surrounding countryside. At Agelmar’s orders, Yokata had taken his cavalry in a swing around a large hill to attack the right flank of the Trolloc army advancing on the Asha’man. Using a classic pincer movement, Agelmar was to send in more cavalry against the enemy’s left flank, and the Asha’man would turn to meet the Trollocs head-on.
But the Shadow’s leaders had seen through the maneuver. Before Agelmar and the Asha’man could act, a large contingent of Trollocs had come over the hill to hit Yokata’s own right flank, while the remainder hit Yokata head-on, enveloping his cavalry.
The cavalry had been killed to the last man. Immediately after, the Trollocs went after the Asha’man, who had barely been able to save themselves.
"He is tired, Dai Shan", Baldhere said. "I know Agelmar. He would never have made a mistake like that if he were awake and alert".
"Baldhere, anyone could have made a mistake like that".
"Lord Agelmar is one of the great captains. He should see the battle differently than ordinary men do".
"Are you certain you aren’t expecting too much of him?" Lan asked. "Agelmar is just a man. We all are, at the end of the day".
"I . . . Perhaps you are right", Baldhere said, hand on his sword, as if worried. He wasn’t carrying the Queen’s weapon, of course—he did that only when she was acting in her station. "I guess it comes down to an instinct, Lan. An itch. Agelmar seems tired a lot, and I worry it’s affecting his ability to plan. Please, just watch him".