A Routine Patrol? [Watchers RP]

[tismeb4u]

His side ruined and battered; broken ribs cracked and grated as his labored breath forced them to expand and contract. Vaguely Linten was aware of the damage to his left side and the tormenting gift of undulating pain that awaited him outside the voids detached state. It waited like a hungry wolf circling a dieing lamb, waiting, waiting, soon the fence separating them would fall and the wolf would have it's prize just as the pain would have Linten. But that time had not yet arrived. Chaos; acrid smoke from fire and lightening lay thick and low throughout the forested area where death floated freely. Claiming some and whispering promises to others while the sun worked hard to burn light through the dense haze kicked up by the raging struggle for life and death.

 

Linten had wondered at times how he might find his end. It was never glorious like in the tales told to children of the gallant warriors who thwarted the hordes to save the world and it's people. That was not the hand that had been dealt him by the light blasted Creator. No his hand was of torment and a death of roting and isolation. There would be no love, no companionship for those of his kind. They, like wild animals, would be hunted and killed for sport. As they grew weak they would simple disappear from the rest and await the killing blow that always found the lame and the dying. He had been blessed with the purpose of being cannon fodder for the Dragon's purpose, and should he survive, then a slow and rotting death from that same gift was his reward.

 

Survival, the thought twinged his mind and slowly brought back the sounds of battle and the dieing, Isha was no longer standing across from him. While he had been accosted away in his mind the war had continued and his mentor and friend was at work for his life.

 

~You still call him friend? After the cook pot and the hound hunt he left you to? If a friend is one that leaves untrained boys to the Shadows delicious methods of torturous death then why is the weak witch slave Rion not also a friend~

 

The voice's chuckle raised the hair on the back of his neck while vengeance once more surged forth seeking the man that would see them all enslaved. It took only moments scanning the growing list of combatants to find him. The Aes Sedai were putting on a good showing of it, but more and more black clan men; deaths own shadows walking the earth and pay out it's gift of the grave continued to file in around trees. He bit off a curse as he noted how many where simply working defensive weaves and slashing spirit blindly trying to stay alive but not pressing the enemy and emptying the life from these women and their Saidar blinded slaves. Spotting the M'Hael, Linten took a breaths length to study the group surrounding him; to note the weaves and flows of Saidin in use. They too where all defensive weaves designed to protect themselves and shield the women. This would end soon and not the way Linten had first thirsted for.

 

From the corner of his vision he spotted Rion focused on one of the witches while another closed on him. It would take only a moment to weave a welcome for her and draw her eye from Rion to himself.

 

~But if he was to trip, to fall asunder while under the focus of two of them it could surely not be your fault. A tiny thread of earth, just a trickle unnoticed amongst the thick cords of One Power being wielded in this space would not even be noticed. A small thin thread that lifted and edge and sent the witch worshiper to the ground. It might be enough to break his concentration and they would have him. Let him feel his new master's love as they separate him eternally from Saidin and then torture him until even death refuses him and he rots in the bowels of the great White Tower~

 

It was wrong, Linten knew deep down it was wrong for any of their ranks to be given over to the self imposed guardian's of the light and ruiner of lives. But the warmth and pleasure that spread out over him at the though of Rion sniveling in a dark and dusty cell at the bottom of the Tower seemed to much to ignore. Even with the elation of the voice's dark thoughts racing through him he could not bring himself to help the witches. It was their fault all this was happening; their fault he was cursed to the taint and a life rotting from the inside out; their fault Saidin had been tainted forever and men with it. Killing the man himself was acceptable and perhaps even enjoyable. But helping the witches was out of the bloody question.

 

Turning his attention back to where he still held flows of air, he approached the still form. Her chest rose and fell with the continued indication of life. If the M'Hael was here already then it would not be long before the rest arrived and this fight would be over. But their was still time with everyone distracted to carry off his new play toy and secret her away for later when he could return and have some fun with her. Eventually he would have to silence her tongue for ever; enjoy watching the light of life slowly fade from her eyes, but that would wait. Wait for the fun he had planned. She would pay the sin's of her kind, bring him more of her own to play with, to learn from. He would find a way using her and any others he could get his hands on to pull the high and mighty Aes Sedai blight from this world. Men will be hunted no more when I am through with this time the wheel has granted me. A cold smile of pleasure at the thought spread wide on his face as he knelt over her, reaching out to confirm with touch her heart still beat strong.

 

Such a shame, smooth skin and deep walnut brown eyes would have to be wasted ... But unconscious people don't have their eyes open. Before the shock of the thought could set in he found himself hurled back into the air to crash back onto the ground on his back; the air rushing from his lungs with the sudden force of meeting the ground. Fire ripped along his nerves as the side already ruined earlier in the fight was further abused with the fall. But how? His lungs burned with the need for air and his vision fuzzed slightly as his body worked to regain it's ability to breath; pain trying to wash him unconscious. A sudden weight on his chest only aided in hindering his ability to collect a normal breath; add further pain to batter at the voids surface. Leave it fractured in a spider web of fissures and cracks; it's collapse a real threat. But it was the unseen sensation; the sudden invisible barrier that drove through the flow of Saidin that froze him; set his blood to ice. Frantically he threw himself against it's smooth surface but it kept him a breaths distant for the savory power that had moments before filled him. He struggled against the thickened air, the women on top of him and the invisible barrier with desperation for a moment before he felt it.

 

A thin edge pressed against his throat, something on the verge of bitting into his own soft flesh. This was not suppose to be how it ended, he was not destined to die here in the woods with no purpose while that rat of a man Rion remained in the living. It took a moment for him to register that her lips moved and words filtered through the din to his ears. Dark brown eyes held a dangerous heat to them, a thirst for blood, as they tried to burrow through to his mind and see the answers she wanted. There was little he could do helpless now to her whim cut from the source and bound to the ground. He could offer her as much resistance as a new born infant. His eyes followed her's to the same man clad in black she had been staring at when he had first found her.

 

~See I told you you didn't need him. Isha is too soft, if not for him you would have finished her and still be in the fight rather then a useless lamb awaiting the butchers knife. Feel this sensation and remember it.~

 

The voice retreated back into the shadows as if trying to escape the cut that would end their mutual existence. What interest could she possible have in one of my kind over another. His mind raced to find a way out with his life still intact. “Him, he is nothing special,” watched as her eyes flick between Ged and her present cornered prey. “Vindicated in what he does now; what your type put him through. Left to torture by the hand of another woman. A woman like those that tortured him who had no soul, no decency to make the end quick. You're all the same, you hunt us for sport and only wish to see how long you can make deaths arrival!” His voice was a scream now as he pressed his head up toward the women; felt the edge of her weapon bite into the first layers of skin; the warm sensation of blood slowly trace it's way over his flesh.

.

“But what do you care, get on with it witch. Spill out my blood to the ground where I lay and find deaths cold stare grasp you soon as well. Your arrogance at coming here will not save you or your treacherous party. All will die before my body is cold,” his head slipped back to the ground. From the grave if he must he would see her hurt; see her grovel and beg; some how he would see it. “He will kill you next woman, he will kill you next.” The words were a whisper but they made there mark as her gaze returned to Ged. Light, someone help me ...... I'm scared If not for the void he would have lost it then and there, surrendered to an emotion he swore he would never succumb to again and cry.

 

 

OOC: ummmm .... a little help guy's ;)

[Kael]

Rion's eyes widened in terror as now a pair of Aes Sedai turned to him, for the entire battle he had been oppurtunistic in his intervening, striking against two people alreay engaged or when someone wasn't looking. But now he was staring down two woman who were vastly more skilled that he was, and was terrfied.

 

And then all at once the worst was beginning to happen, something was pushing at the grip he had on Saidin. It pushed against him and Saidin wavered but refused to break. Rion drew in all that he could take, it hurt this bliss that Saidin was creating. He raised his arms and more torrents of earth began to rise from the ground. He couldn't fight what he couldn't see and his best bet of resisting what he was sure was a shield was by taking out the source of it, the women weaving in front of them.

 

Kill them, they are trying to take the source from you. Trying to kill you. Kill. STRIKE! Rion's anger was being fueled by the lunatic ravings of the voice in his mind. He wove a wall of earth behind the one in brown and began to bring it down upon her. His entire power was put into this one weave. She turned at the last moment, the red haired one giving a shout to warn her.

 

It blew up around the two of them, but Rion was already weaving another thread. This time air, multiple tendrils to try and wrap around and immobilize the woman. He was doing everything he could...without skill just brute force. He had always lacked pure finess but he made up with that in brute streangth. The sheild was still pressing down upon him but it refused to settle and cut himself off from the source. He was fighting desperately, balls of earth and fire flew towards the pair, clubs and ropes of air trying to connect.

 

Finally boy. Rion's altered mind grinned in triumph as he saw one of his shere's of earth hit home. The shield lessened and he gave and he gave one final push so it shattered.

 

 

Rion

[Shaneevae]

It wasn’t as if she was trying to kill him. If she had wanted him dead she could have done it ages ago. Shaneevae had no taste for killing, but sometimes one’s choices were limited and in acts of desperation one could do all manners of distasteful things. The half-grown boy was neither trolloc nor darkfriend, he was simply a man being driven mad by the taint that pumped through his blood. A sister of knowledge should have more compassion and understanding for such, empathy for the insanity that propelled him, but she didn’t.

 

Shaneevae wasn’t sure when her empathetic nature dissolved away like sugar in hot water whether it was after the wall of earth had crumbled down around her and Lavinya or when the earthen projectile nearly ripped her shoulder off her body. It didn’t really matter now, she thought as she lay amidst the rubble with her clavicle and scapula shattered and her arm falling useless at her side. The earth beneath her cheek was cool, still damp from an earlier rainfall. It was strange, the quiet, the deafening quiet. The noise of destruction had stilled though from the corner of her eye, she saw it still raged as intensely as before yet all she could hear was the drumming of her own heart in her ears.

 

Inhaling, she closed her eyes concentrating on the smell of the damp, rich earth. Focusing on pulling air in through her nose and out through her mouth, rhythmically, she tried to control the throbbing pain. If she could get the pain in check, condense it all into a ball and work around, she could rise and fight again. At least that’s how she thought the void worked. Shaneevae had never listened very closely when that topic came up. It had never seemed very important before.

 

The Brown sister chuckled or something that might pass as a chuckle. Anyone else who would lay on a battlefield smelling the ground and contemplating the void would have thought death was nigh given the crazy direction of thoughts, but not Shaneevae……this reminded her that she was alive and well. A firecracker in a tin can, she was still well in the land of the living. As Cor would have said, she would not wake from the dream today.

 

Thankfully, her right arm still worked as well as ever and slowly, she began to pull herself forward. Unfortunately, the earlier injury was deep into the right of her lower back, which made each stretch of her good arm excruiating. Using her left arm was beyond impossible as it hanged useless in a rather grotesque manner. The link with Lavinya was gone as was her grasp on saidar. Saying a quick prayer for her sister, she conjured up the image of a blossoming rose. How many years had it been since she’d used the simple novice exercise, more than she could count, but saidar did not jump into her grasp like normal. Pain and exhaustion made it hard to call forth the One Power, but she did. In her mind’s eye, the rose opened wide to the heat and light of saidar and the sweetness flooded her once again as she slowly rose to her feet, a protective shield around her and fire on her fingertips.

 

Shaneeave el'Edware

First Chair

Soon Bondmate of Covai

[Guest Estel]

From the base of the tree, unable to moves anything from his mid-back down, facing an almost certain death or permanent paralysis if his luck didn’t change, everything slowed to a crawl as if the battle were set underwater. Everything seemed surreal, as if it wasn’t happening around him but rather this was something he was not a part of. He watched and felt no emotion as a Soldier was cut down a hundred paces away. Was he already dead?

 

~Keep dreaming, you’re condemned to suffer a little longer yet~

 

‘What’s death like?’

 

~How should I know? I don’t remember it. One minute I was watching the blood ooze out from my the wounds I gave my son- THAT I GAVE MY OWN FLESH AND BLOOD!~

 

‘You’re mad’

 

~Only as mad as you~

 

Despite sitting basically prone, Isha commanded the best view of te entire battle. He saw groups of black-coated men locked in fierce combat with ageless women while Rion and Arath cut offensive weaves from both sides and Dalinar moved between, Healing the injured. Too bad the M’Hael wasn’t closer.

 

His remaining eye scanned the battle unconcernedly and surely The Voice was right as he looked the very epitome of madness. Despite his detached state, when he saw Linten held down by an Aes Sedai, sensation returned. “No.” The whisper came earnestly but despite its fervency was completely useless. Only action could save Linten now. Only action could begin to hopefully mend the gap grown between them. Only action could atone for leaving the boy helpless to the dangers of the north.

 

Simultaneous with the realization, a club of Air hit the Aes Sedai, throwing her from his beloved mentee.

 

 

Isha Talcontar

Attack Leader

To-be-Bonded to Eqwina

[Covai Seriba]

"UNFORGIVABLE!" Covai bellowed as charged at an Aes Sedai from behind. The witch's head turned just in time for the Storm Leader to see her eyes widen as a Lance of Fire pierced her skull. Focusing his power has he ran, he formed it into a single blade of fire burning hotter than any fire known. Bringing his arm down sharply as he twisted his waist, the weave came down with it, severing a Warder's sword and arm in two with it. Fury fueling his instincts, Covai brought his arm up again to shield his face, bringing the blade of fire straight through the Warder's flesh once more. "Master swordsmen they may be..." Covai mind flashed as a spray of blood erupted from the man's torso as he fell.. "but we are GUARDIANS!"

 

Covai's words echoed through the battleground the clearing had become. His anger flared that he had not made it sooner. His hunting bow lay lost somewhere in the forest around them. His quiver, torn from him by a branch as he rached towards his companions upon feeling the power of Saidin they had wielded. So much for the quiet hunting trip he had planned for this afternoon.

 

Erupting forth a wall of earth from the ground beneath as a shield, the Storm Leader turned to face the rest of the battle as weaves of fire barraged against his earthen defence. Grabbing his his right wrist with his free hand, Covai spread his palm downward, the muscles in his arms straining as he focused his power into the earth below. His eyes flared in determination as he subdued the wave of rumbling earth spreading from a nearby engagement. "It seems the boy's learnt some new tricks.." Covai mused as the effects of Rion's encounter passed. The man had finally learnt what it meant to be Asha'man after all. Defend what you hold dear at any cost, no matter who or what stood in the way.

 

Surveying what he could of the battle field, Covai cursed at the number of black coats adoring the ground. The shawled and armoured corpses among them did little to ease his pain and anger as his shifted his gaze the source of the problem. One of the witches sat on top of her mount, shielded from the brunt of the fight by two other Aes Sedai in front of her. A shimmering gateway beside her heralded only more choas in the Storm Leader's mind. Inhaling deeply before charging once more, Covai's wrist twisted sharply upwards as he brought jaggard spikes of earth to pierce the ground infront of him. Focusing the rest of his power, Covai sent forth a firey inferno, his lips twisited in a vicious grin at the noice the inferno made as it seemed almost to sear the very air it passwed though. The gateway had to be destroyed at all costs, and no price was to high to pay in achieving that goal.

 

 

 

OOC: Okay folks, start finsihing each other off. It's time to bring this party to a close. Muir, you know what to do.

[Muirenn]

Almost finished...

 

Muirenn watched as the gateway slowly spiraled closed, too slowly. The two Aes Sedai in front of her were doing an admirable job keeping the swarm of black coats from the Gateway. But it was not enough. There were simply too many to hold back. And all her strength was being used to close the Gateway and obliterate all residues. Seconds stretched thin, seeming to last for minutes. Minutes stretched to hours. It could not have been more than three or four minutes since the Gateway had been opened. Not more than one since she had made her way through and begun to close it again.

 

She saw Maegan, weaving Air to keep the men off them. And a White, whose name she could not remember. The woman was young, young and frightened to the point of hysteria. Surely she had not expected to see anything like this in choosing the White Ajah. This is what Muirenn was supposed to be protecting them against. She touched her belt pouch again. Keep the Watch. And today she had not.

 

She had been assured that patrols did not extend more than a few hundred meteres outside the grounds of this so-called Black Tower. Whoever had made that rash assertion had most certainly been mistaken. And the others had arrived so quickly. She had know the Asha'man possessed this knowledge of Travelling, but to see it in use...

 

Thought fled as the Gate thinned to a single silvery line and winked out. She had just time to see an onrush of light, brighter even than the morning sun. She pulled forcing saidar to obey, snapping from one weave to another. She let out a primal scream at the pain that burst in her head as she did so. Too much, it was too much. Her shield of Air and Spirit went up as she saw the White in front of her consumed by flames. The aftershock of the weave caused her mount to rear and dance, tossing her violently to the ground. When she looked up, Maegan was nowhere to be seen. She put a hand to her temple; it came away sticky with blood.

 

Saidin hit her shield like a hammer striking glass and it shattered into a thousand needles, all seeming to pierce into her skull. Pain. Light. Breaking. Release. She had been handling too much of the One Power. Too much to wield unaided. And as the needles dulled, there was nothing. Nothing. Saidar was gone. So were her bonds, her ties to the Dark One.

 

Raven waves of hair spilled over her shoulders as she buried her face in her hands and wept. She was unsure if they were tears of sorrow, or of joy, or perhaps of madness.

 

-Muirenn Lina Alianin

A Woman Alone

[Guest Faile1987]

~Faile~

 

She should have known before that the kind of information which the kind of his was liable to splutter out under threats was far from valuable, yet the uttered words that she squeezed out of this particular miserable specimen weren't even coherent by far. All these words of torture and supression. Who had started the fight on the first hand? Who was already far beyond the brink of sanity? Far enough to justify their deaths as mere mercy, preserving them from a more gruesome fate.

 

And yet the words of torture lingered in her mind as a picture of memories that should be long forgotten, even though they hadn't happened yet emerged again in front of her. As she found herself again alone in the deep dungeon in front of her brother's dark cell. The cell they had left him to rot and die after having met his inevitable fate, after the only cure the White Tower knew had been applied to him. After torture. Torture...

 

"No...", her voice fading in a mere whisper, Faile suddenly knew she had encountered the limitations of her cause. A cause that would make her render her own family, the only person still left to her in the world to his ultimate doom. She closed her eyes, feeling her grip on Saidar waver as she fought her internal battle of confiction against doubts. Doubts that began to nag on her more and more, holing a cavity in her former iron resolve. Was she to discover that family bonds, blood ties were yet tighter than even her very own devotion to her cause? To her dream?

 

A dream that shattered with one blow when she least expected it.

 

She barely felt the thump of he hit crashing down on her, pure weaves of air trying to unbalance her. Yet the blow that stroke finally wasn’t one directed to her person, but the bolt that came unseen, piercing her brother’s chest and there could have been no louder scream on the battlefield than the sound of his lungs gasping for air, unable to cry out as he sagged to his knees, blood sputtering from his mouth.

 

Paralysed she stood there, unable to move an inch, frozen by what she was seeing. Her grip on Saidar suddenly forgotten, everything that counted in this battle of destruction and chaos was the man she had just discovered to be her brother only to find him dying in front of his own eyes. Was this the end?

 

Only then she noticed her mistake and wanted to cry out in mad despair. Too late. Too late. Forever too late.

[Guest Faile1987]

~Ged~

 

Are you going to commit suicide? Throw away your life like it means nothing, just like that? Do you honestly think that it will change anything, your death? Will, it bring your mother back? Will it bring those men back? Will it bring back the Inn, and the others you hurt? You ended eleven lives, possibly more, and ruined the lives of many people in your town. How can you atone for it, will killing yourself make their lives any better? Is it really about that, or are you just being selfish and trying to take the easy way out? You can help them, and atone for what you have done, but instead you give up and practically ask us to kill you. What are you going to do?

 

Ged immediately knew that this very first memory he had of meeting Noy would never leave him. Even more distinct than the memories of the kisses and loving caresses they had shared, memories just coming back, he knew he would hever forget these words rendered to him when he was a the brink of ending everything, indifferent to anyone who would do the dirty work for him. Indifferent and even grateful for death's last embrace, it had taken the dark Amadician to bring him back to life, or at least to what he knew where the basic principles of his being. The principles of fighting, of trying, never to give up, to face what the Light pushed in your way. To take it as it was and deal with it. Yet now he had to take his compagnion's -his lover's- death and once again the truth unfolded before him: living up to one's sayings , to deal with anything imposed on you was the hardest thing of all when it involved love.

 

And loving he did, more than anything, Ged realized this very minute as he placed Noy's cooling body to his last rest, readying himself to charge for his target, the Aes Sedai who would pay for what she had done. Pay as befit her for the the crimes she had done. Pay and redeem.

 

Redemption. Yet how could she possibly pay back for Noy's life? Would killing her bring him back to life? Would killing her change one single thing? His pace halted as he reconsidered his doings. Faighting was the easy way. Killing was the easy way, he knew. Finishing it off quickly. Quickly and without feeling or remorse, just as he had finished off an entire inn. Was he really so stupid, had his insticts taken over so strongly that he couldn't control himself anymore? Couldn't reason anymore? There had to be another way. Another way to make her see what she had done. To make her pay, yet let her life. But how? How? He stopped, motionless as the thought entered his mind, striking him the very second that should seal his fate as well as the Sister's. The very second that was meant to end his life by his own hesitance as blades of fire seemed to cut him neatly into half, not even allowing him to utter a scream.

 

He realized too late that he had underestimated the threat coming from their Warders. One of them standing right next to the hazel figure that had been his target only seconds before, crossbow still in hand to fire the finishing shot should it be neccessary.

 

"Come on, finish it", Ged hissed, teeth clenched, as a thin line of blood ran down his lips, giving his rather soft face a fierce expression. "Let's be done with it", he thought, even wanting to thank the nameless man for doing him this final favor when he sagged to his knees and almost unconsciously spun a web of pure spirit, catching the woman in his fall with this invisible net of his, weaving it tightly, holding on to her in a bond that he knew was tight, yet would break by the moment of his death. A moment that wouldn't be far off. And yet he would make her feel. Make her feel what it was like to know you had killed someone. To actually, physically feel it, just as if he was the one she'd call Warder, because that was what he was by now. Doomed to die if unaided, he still meant to make her feel that this time it wasn't her who held the bond. Feel and realize, he thought as he collapsed, even feeling sorry to have to do this to her. Maybe she would learn. Maybe. He did hope so though. Not for his, but for her sake. Learn what business killing really is.

 

Then there was pain.

 

OOC: I hope it's ok that I sped it a bit up, Estel ;) I don't know who fired the bolt, maybe Orion would be a likely candidate, though it doesn't really matter, Estel will get the point ;)

[tismeb4u]

Blessed was the light and it's sweet gifts; the wheel's mercy turned out once more for Linten as he fought the emotions crashing down on the void. It's surface a spiderweb of cracks and fissures that spoke of eminent failure. With that failure would come the completion of his humility; his mind already creating the picture of a pathetic man in black curled up in a ball and crying like a new born ripped from it's mother.

 

~How could you betray us like this. All you had to do was kill them, kill them all and we would be safe. We would have life continue and they would know fear. I will not die, I can not die, I won't die I tell you!~

 

The rantings continued from the dark corner; confusion clouding judgment and hope. Desperately Linten focused on the invisible barrier between him the and burning orb of Saidin. Gently, slowly he felt over it's surface, traced around it. Looking for a hole, a crack, an edge. Anything to reunite him with the one thing he desperately needed to stay alive .... Saidin. But like a clean sheet of glass every probe stopped short of it's final touch; the voice laughing hysterically at his futile efforts. There has to be a way, light Creator please, there has to be a way. In frustration he threw all he was all he dreamed he could be at the glass surface as he had before when it first severed him from Saidin and created this mockery. Only this time the glass bowed and shattered; Saidin leaping to his grasp in a torrent of ice and heat twisted together in the rotting taint.

 

Like a caged animal released from it's captures Linten rolled quickly to his knee's and leaped at the women who moments before held the power to remove his life. He did not know what had happen to change the course of his fate but he welcomed it with vengeful appreciation. Landing on the women with his full weight , the back of his right hand came hard across her left cheek snapping her head to the right as his hand continued in the follow through. Weaves a spirit drove hard in between her and what ever connection she hoped to make with the One Power. She would pay for her actions, for all their actions. I swore I would rid the lands of you witches and I mean to do just that. Quickly his hands found her throat and began to squeeze with all the hatred that had built over time and the fear that she had instilled in him moments before. He knew the others would be blocking weaves of the One Power from killing each other. But hands, pure physical contact. That was the way he would make sure this one never held him like that again. His cold eyes stared wildly at her's as they opened wide in shock. He could feel the pulse of her heart in his hands as she struggled for air; her hands clawing at him.

 

Blood from the wound in his side and the cut at his throat slowly dripped to her gown, the stain spreading out to mix with others. Pinpoint spots of black threatened to grow and steal consciousness from him as he continued the squeeze his hold had on her throat. “Never will your kind have me,never again!!”

[Guest Estel]

Hatred, vindication, self-loathing and bitter humour effused from her in almost tangible amounts as she watched as her bitterest rival clambered up from her knees. How often had Estel used that analogy on herself– the lying at another’s feet in defeat, shame or general unworthiness? It was odd to opposite the receiving end.

 

For a moment, the two Sisters stood, facing one another conflicting emotions running strong not far beneath still relatively calm exteriors. There was no competing of wills this time, though and eye contact was broken almost the same moment it had been struck up. Just then, Estel would have loved to have been able to run across the battlefield, away from this awkward situation but the presence of so many black-coats ringing them denied her the opportunity and she was forced to remain close to Lavinya and Shaneevae for survival.

 

A wall of Earth sprung up to separate Shaneevae and Lavinya, who had Linked, and Estel, who had been standing some feet away from Lavinya, was forced to flail sharp razors of Spirit at where her best educated guess told her his Weaves would be. Unfortunately, when she tried to force a Shield on him, he sliced her weave with ease and the combination of recoil and a Earth projectiles sent her body slamming towards the ground bruising her ribs, knees and hands.

 

Staggering to her feet, Estel used the otherwise wasted time in scanning the rest of the battlefield and immediately saw a blonde-haired black coat racing towards a small Sister only fifty feet from where she now stood– Serena. Despite their somewhat belligerent relationship, the younger Blue wasted no time in throwing an Air razor at him, hard enough to not only cut through his spine and well into his back, but to actually throw him from the saddle where he rolled head-over-heels three or four times before coming to rest on his side with his limbs splayed at irregular angles. A groan announces his imminent death and she wasted no more attention on him as she turned back to where her two Sisters were failing to hold off the black-coat who was so found of Earth.

 

That was perhaps her greatest error that day. She had perhaps a half-minute to attempt to decide how to free her Sisters before a body collided with her back, carrying her down to the ground with its weight. In that same moment, a disturbing chill ran through her entire body and she knew immediately what it was and despite her best attempts at Aes Sedai serenity, a shrill shriek burst forth from her mouth before it was strangled by the weight constricting her lungs. She knew that Weave because she had used it twice already but now not only was she on the wrong end but it was orchestrated with the wrong side of the One Power.

 

Suddenly, not only was there one knot of emotions sitting in her head which were now faint with distance though despite it Orion’s worry poured through the Bond in nearly overwhelming waves now that she no longer had the presence of mine to fuzz the Bond. No, now there were two knots. The second one was not dimmed by distance, rather quite the opposite. Not only could she feel him on top of her physically but through the Bond she could feel his body against hers as he saw it just as he could with her.

 

However, when all was taken into consideration about this sudden upsetting of events, his proximity to her was a trivial as the ant that had somehow survived the battle and was crawling over her arm. She only registered his physical sensations for a moment before the enormousness of his emotional chaos came crashing down on her like the weight of entire oceans. The weight of those oceans crashed down on the two bodies, prostrated in the middle of a raging battle, they crashed down and then were released through their eyes to roll down cheeks and water the ground.

 

It was some time before she could overcome the shock of the sudden onslaught of emotions enough to string together coherent thoughts and questions. Such as “Why was he grieving?” although she had to do little digging to come to the conclusion that he had somehow lost someone he loved and with the frighteningly strong anger directed at herself, it was apparent that she was the reason for his loss. Had she killed his best friend? Brother? Mentor?

 

While all this was going on, there was a small, nagging voice in her head that there was something that she needed to pay attention to; something very dire. She could not quite figure out exactly what it was with all the emotional trauma clouding her head until she heard his sobs periodically broken by coughing fits. It took only slight probing of this new Bond to discover that not only was he in terrible emotional pain but that there was excruciating physical pain as well.

 

It hit her then that if this Bond worked much the same way as the Bond between Aes Sedai and Warder– he being the Aes Sedai, though, and she the Warder– then if he died, there was little chance for survival. Perhaps it was cowardice but just then Estel much preferred a life of captivity to death but then again, she was no Green to laugh in the face of death or court it like a groom.

 

Pulling as much of saidar into herself as her exhausted self would allow, she rolled him off of her. His injury was far worse than she had feared and Estel gasped as she saw the hole, apparently from some Air projectile. Luckily for him, it hadn’t ripped straight through him and the way he had fallen, her should must have been pressed up against the wound to slow the flow of blood. He... They were lucky.

 

Taking a deep breath, she placed her hands on him and wove the traditional three Elements that made up the Healing weave. At some point during the weave, her hands and mind kept operating while her thoughts drifted to oblivion. It was perhaps only moments after finishing the weave that the rest of her consciousness followed...

 

 

Estel Sedai

Bonded to Ged

Let the fun begin...

[Lavinya]

The sweet song of Saidar was flowing through Lavinya and Shaneevae both, more power than they would hope to wield alone, yet Lavinya still felt somewhat vulnerable. They were but two, and Lavinya had no control over the weaves. He was no more than a green boy, his eyes wide with fear, but he was strong, that much was clear. If not, he would have already lost to the linked Aes Sedai. As yet he had only created diversions, and none of the lethal weaves that had resulted in the death around them, yet surely he was simply waiting for the opportunity. Best to strike now, before he had a chance to kill them.

 

A wall of earth loomed behind the Brown sister, Lavinya spotting it and warning the woman only moments before it came crashing down on her. That certainly was less passive, Lavinya thought as she lurched out of the way, earth crashing heavily onto her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain. The link somehow had maintained, and Lavinya could clearly see the shield pressing against the boy. It was impossible, fighting against something you could not see. Lavinya could see threads of saidar all around them, but she knew for every thread she could see, there were two she could not. Curse these mad men to the pit of doom! Curse men! For the first time, Lavinya was well able to understand the disdain many reds held for the lesser sex.

 

While ever the shield pushed, Lavinya maintained hope, hanging her life on the weave wielded by another. So close...A sudden explosion knocked Lavinya back off her feet, a wail escaping her as the shield shattered and the link dissolved, saidar winking out and rendering the world in gloom. No! A move like that could easily still a woman! Desperately Lavinya grasped for the source, drawing hard on it as it filled her with it's sweetness, it's life. Shaneevae lay unmoving, and Lavinya turned blazing eyes onto the strong young man. He will not have us both!

 

Determination and anger dulled the pain roaring in Lavinya's shoulder and knee, made her forget about the blood and sweat that stung her eyes, the weariness that threatened to overcome her, and her own dispair. Instead she focused on her weave. Spirit intertwined together in a delicate weave, growing larger, holding steadily stronger. This man would not hurt her again. The weave broadened as Lavinya spread her hands wide, curling around the man in black, pressing in inch by inch. It was strange, she could almost feel him pushing back, though nothing met her eyes but his wide blue ones. Lavinya pulled more heavily on the source, as full of the power as she could possibly be, no doubt shining bright for all the women to see.

 

A smile drew across Lavinya's lips, a cruel, mirthless show that bordered on madness perhaps, as the shield continued to push at this man. She could feel the strength in the pushing, but he had not broken her yet. I am far more skilled!Lavinya thought wildly, a laugh gurgling from her throat. She was going mad, surely. She had never been stronger, never been more proficient than her sisters. It was because he was a child, ill-trained and undisciplined. And Lavinya was relentless. Just a little further...the shield was closing in on the boy, surrounding him. He would be hers, just a few more moments. Sweat was running freely down her brow, leaving rivulets in the blood and dirt marring her skin, but she paid no heed, her hands and arms outstretched as she focused on the weave, nothing else, there is only saidar, sweet pure saidar...so strong, so hot...almost there...

 

A fireball errupted at Lavinya's feet, flame catching on the silken skirts as the heat seared her legs. Distracted, Lavinya felt her weave snap, lashing back at her, sharp as a whip with it's pain. A helpless sob was all the sound she made as she abandoned the shield and all hope, weaving water quickly to douse the flame...before it was not all that died. The boy moved quick to be sure, and Lavinya knew she was defeated as she slumped in a messy tangle on the ground. Shielded. Ensnared. Hopeless. Lavinya gave herself up to her fate, fury and despair warring in her gut as she saw her other sisters slowly yield or die.

 

 

Lavinya Morganen

Aes Sedai of the Gray Ajah

Bond-mate of Rion

[Shaneevae]

Sweat ran from her hairline trickling down her neck and pooling between her breasts, she blew a puff of air upwards trying to dislodge the errant strand of hair that stuck to her sticky face. There was no time to control such physiologically reactions, nor was it time to be thinking of it as she struck out with an Air Razor, sharp and slim enough to slice the jugular so cleanly that the victim would never know what hit him. With regret she watched the middle-aged man slump to the ground his life’s blood seeping into the verdant earth never knowing what hit him. Somehow her empathetic nature had returned despite her injury. She never did stay angry very long and the slaughter before her was so distinctly distasteful that it left a rancid taste in her mouth and bile rising in her throat.

 

It was time to retreat. Less than half an hour and at least two sisters, numerous warders and countless tower guards scattered the ground in an indistinguishable pile of death and dismemberment. It was time to retreat through the Gateway into the welcoming arms of Tar Valon. There was no hope of winning this battle as everywhere the eye could roam black coated men poured from silver threaded Gateways, so many of them that she had lost count. A shudder ran through her as she stepped around a young tower guard, his eyes glazed over in death. Such a waste. Shaneevae wouldn’t leave her sisters to fight alone, but surely all of them had realized they were sinking in the quick sand that was the Black Tower with no hope of digging their way out. Surely, they would all start working their way back toward Muirren as she was doing.

 

How had they managed to cause so much damage in so little time? Blood and gore had turned the ground into a quagmire and she sidestepped the worst of it keeping her shield high and tight when she tripped, stumbling over a young man dressed in the dark colors of the Black Tower. Green eyes looked up at her. Alive. Pleading in his wordless stare. Looking over her shoulder, she tied off her shield and dropped to her knees attempting to heal the massive internal injuries. It was too much…for the both of them. Shaneevae did not have the talent nor the energy and he simply did not have the energy. Whispering soothing words to him, she watched as the last ragged breath rattled from his body. Biting her lip, she held back the tears and gently closed his eyes. “May the Creator welcome you into His embrace.”

 

Glancing over her shoulder again, she stumbled to her feet continuing to make her way towards Muirren. A sphere of fire flew at her head and in defense; she wove Water dousing it thoroughly. It wouldn’t be long now she was almost there. Muirren was in sight, but she was no longer mounted and the Gateway had disappeared. Blood ran in rivulets down her face. The Red was disoriented, stumbling around when Shaneevae heard her scream out in pain before falling to her knees with her face in her hands.

 

“Dear Creator.” Shaneevae whispered. She knew. The Red sister had been stilled. Sick dread spread across her shoulders and down her back and she whipped around to see the culprit. A tall man with dark hair was striding in a determined manner towards Muirren and Shaneevae vowed at that moment to make him reap what he had sown. She wasn’t strong enough to sever him, but she would exhaust him enough until he drew in too much power and destroyed his own self. But first she had to stop him from getting his hands on the Red sister even if all the woman probably wanted at this moment was death. Braiding strands of Earth and Water, quick sand started to form beneath his feet and the black clad demon began to sink.

 

 

Shaneevae el'Edware

First Chair

 

OOC: Come and get her Covai, but be gentle. This is her first time....bonding that is.

[Guest Dalinar]

What chance against the Dark One? What chance against the Shadow and the end of Time? What chance had they if this was what they wrought against one another? For the Light, for the Creator, for the cause of all that was right, and just, and true? No. This was none of that.

 

Dalinar was vaguely aware of a multitude of stinging injuries that lathered his body in a mingle of salted sweat and tangy blood. Flying debris and incediary sparks he had not had time or energy to defend against, the price for which could be determined later.

 

Dalinar's path was not completely without purpose as he wandered across this miniature and bloody battlefield treading carefully and thankful for Arath guarding his back. Did I ever see as horrifying a field in the Blight-border skirmishes where thousands lay dead and dying? There could at most be fifty between us here. He too, had spied the quiksilver shimmer of a Gateway, though this one most surely wrought of saidar and Dali feared the danger it presented. They held their own now, but against another ten Aes Sedai? Or twenty, or fifty?

 

Covai's battlecry blasted across the conflict as he hurtled into the fray, drawing the M'Hael's eye. The Storm Leader had ever had a rash, impulsive streak, but it was one that often served him well in the thick of this kind of mayhem. It leant him a momentum, a sheer deadliness, that carried him through the fray and unerringly towards the Gateway and the Aes Sedai manning its front with a swiftness that Dali, in his own laborious progress towards his target, envied.

 

Dalinar tripped, fell, and staggered to his feet again, ignoring whatever had caught his stride. He couldn't help but whince at a stab of pain that lanced around the Void from his leg, and he wondered what it was that should cause him such agony.

 

Now only a few yards from the Gateway, Dalinar grunted in satisfaction as it twisted, turned and then slowly narrowed to a close, the woman's attention never faltering from it despite the chaos raging around her. A draining task, and certainly not a small Gate by any stretch.

 

And then Covai was upon her. The tsorovan'm'hael seemed more focussed on the 'Tar Valon witch', than the fact that the immediate threat she presented in the Gate she had held open had now passed. Even through the throb of saidin being wielded all around, he could vaguely pick out the swell as Covai drew heavily on the Source and poured his Power into a boiling inferno of harsh flame and blinding light that tumbled its way towards the Gate-holder and two other sisters who held their ground with her. The wave crashed and burst over the three and for a moment Dalinar had to turn his eyes away from the harsh glare before it died down.

 

When the world repolarised, Dalinar blinked uncertainly. Of one Aes Sedai he was frightfully concerned that only a smoking and charred form remained. Of the second he was not sure, and the last... she had been thrown from her mount and was now curled in the dirt, her shoulders slumped with a sense of heart-wrenching...

 

--- The man wandered the paths of the Farm Gardens aimlessly, his eyes were empty. Dalinar knew him, or knew of him... When he had lost the Power, he had also lost his wife, a daughter, a son and, some said, his memories of the last few years. His once confident stride now dithering with a sense of heart-wrenching... ---

 

--- Yusef had been a bright eyed lad, perhaps into his fifteenth summer. Word had spread about the Tower of his innocent triste with one of the Inn's bar-girls that had landed her with child, but both had been delighted at the news, and were due to be wed before the next moon. Now, though, even the feel of his kicking child could bring no smile to his eyes. Without saidin he, too, spent most of his days wandering the Tower grounds with little purpose, his face slack with a sense of heart-wrenching... ---

 

--- Bard had been a brilliant wood-carver before discovering the Power. Now, the Source lost to him, he spent his days shaving relentlessly at stumps of wood until he cut a hand and bled a little, then picked up another piece and began anew. His hands moved with a monotonous repetition, his fingers trembling uncertainly with a sense of heart-wrenching... ---

 

--- Jordan, once a beautiful orator, whose words shook and stuttered now with that same sense of... ---

 

--- Benton, an advocate of the law... ---

 

--- Hugh, a wool merchant... ---

 

--- Wes, a tabac farmer... ---

 

--- Pieter and Lane and Martinez and Forrest... ---

 

Loss. A hundred times seen, a hundred different expressions, a hundred different people. But always loss.

 

An untouchable loss. An inconsolable loss. A loss so deep and so painful that it drew out the breath of one's very soul, their very will to be.

 

"Oh, Light," Dalinar breathed out the words as a silent prayer. To lose the One Power, the True Source. To lose Life...

 

A brush with saidin and he knew it was true. A carefully altered Delving and he could sense the absence in this woman, similar and yet different to the same absence he had felt in so many men before. He could not Heal her. Not this. It could not be done.

 

The M'Hael felt a sudden kinship to this woman. A compassion of shared suffering. If losing the Power, burning oneself out, could truly be compared to anything, then Dalinar supposed it could be compared to the breaking of a Bond. A different loss, a loss of the most intimate companionship, of symbiosis, of interdependence... but a loss nevertheless.

 

He was close to her now, and not even conscious of what he was doing. Kneeling, mirroring her. His hands reached for hers where they hid her face from the world. A gentle touch, saidin woven to his will, simple threads of...

 

--- Awareness sprang upon him with a harshness that contrasted his gentle touch. A torment of mixed emotions flying from agonised to stunned to furious to overwhelmingly devastated and more fought with and against his own emotions. Saidin was torn from his grip as the sensations shattered the Void and his concentration and for a long, drawn out moment, he didn't even breathe. It was a shock, this intrusion on his mind, unlike anything he had experienced for so long. And yet with it came a familiarity, a vague sense of coexistence that he suddenly realised he had craved for just as long. With an effort, he sought out the Flame and Void once again, feeding it with his emotions and blocking out hers. ---

 

A bond. Light, a bond! My suffering is like a friend to me now, harboured for so long. What in the world made me think I could ease hers... with a bond! And this was tempered by a flush of guilt and shame. What he had just done, without even thinking, was likened to rape by the White Tower. A bond had to be freely taken. He gathered his thoughts and his breath unsteadily.

 

 

His hands still rested over hers as he found words for the moment. "For this injustice today wrought, I will share your pain, Aes Sedai. For this injustice today wrought, you will share my pain." His words encompassed more than just the two of them with their meaning.

 

The sounds of the battle around him were slowly dying, he realised, and he wondered who the victors would turn out to be. Could there be any triumph emergent from this disaster?

 

Dalinarius Traachanshield,

M'Hael,

Bonded to Muirenn Lina Alianin,

A Woman Less Alone.

 

 

OOC: Hope I got enough details right there to get by. If I've made any glaring errors please let me know and I'll change them. Cheers :)

[Guest Faile1987]

~Ged~

 

Pain washed over him as his sight seemed to dim and grow more and more distant. With a mixture of satisfaction and sadness and commiseration he felt the emotional knot forming in his consciousness. The conscious of the woman, the Aes Sedai he had just bonded. He grimaced, vainly trying to smile as the torment inside his body consumed him. At least he lived to make this one know what she had done. It was far from redemption of what she had done to Noy, yet it was something, the only thing in his power. Yet a thing he deeply regretted the same instant as he felt the other woman’s conscious shatter as the realization of what had just happened dawned on her. He had only heard how much pain a torn Bond caused Aes Sedai as well as Warder and it was always worse for the Warder who would soon follow the bondholder to the grave. He felt sorry for her, no matter what she had done. There had been so much killing and maiming today. He was almost relieved to know death would spare him from any further participation of this slaughter. A slaughter that dimmed away as did the strangled gasps of a woman who caught his last dying glimpse. A woman in a red dress, marking her one of the Red and yet there was something that struck him odd about her as if he had seen her before. Yet nothing mattered anymore now, neither her, nor the black coated man who was grabbing her by the throat. His sight was failing him and he readied himself for death’s last embrace when one last thought struck him.

Mother, I’m coming home to you.

 

Cool, loving eyes rested on him as he fingers stroked his cheek. “You’re early, son.” A silent reproach lay in her voice that still was just as he remembered her from before.

 

I’m sorry, Mother. He swallowed as she drew nearer, her eyes suddenly making him shudder with cold as if his heart had been gripped by an icy fist. He grit his teeth as he shuddered and more and more cold seeped into his bones, chilling his very being.

 

I failed you, Mother. I failed to fulfil my oaths. Can you forgive me?

 

No answer, but the same cold and yet oddly compassionate eyes on him. Light, he felt only looking at them was driving him over the brink of sanity. He couldn’t even bear looking at her eyes, how was he to meet her again beyond? How was he ever to live with the burden he had imposed upon himself by breaking his word. How could he ever face her in cowardly defeat?

 

You have given up, son.

 

Her disappointment cut deeper than any blade and he didn’t even feel the pain of the bolt that had ripped a hole inside his body anymore. Nothing seemed to be as painful as this disappointed gaze.

 

He convulsed, coughing up blood, yet there was nothing but cold. The coolness of her fingers on him seemed to freeze him by merely touching him. Until he felt it. Saidar trickling inside him. Saidar to Heal him and make him live through the torment of being severed from Saidin for the rest of his life? Was that how it was going? No, he might be a coward to his mother if he preferred dying to gentling, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to bear losing the One Power. Panic raced through him as the trickle of the One Power stopped and he bent over spasming, silently crying out for a mother who would never hear him again as her image receded before his eyes, an image sucked back into the world of Shadows.

 

Mother, don’t leave me alone! Don’t abandon me again! I’m sorry. I’M SORRY!!!

 

He didn’t even know which part of him was pleading in silent despair, sobbing and bereft of his only consolation when the rest of him found himself again amidst the gory battlefield he had hoped would never have him again. Already preparing himself for the sight and cacophony of dying screams and yells, Ged still felt himself being struck hard when he opened his eyes just to the same scene that he thought he had left behind forever. The fighting raged on and even with his head swimming, he felt the other woman’s consciousness – Light, his bondmate’s consciousness! – slip from his own as she lay next to him limp, yet her breath came steady as her chest rose and fell in regular intervals.

 

“Why?”, he mused softly as he tried to get to his feet, only managing to crawl to her to see she was alright. He didn’t even know the reasons for his sudden care about her himself. Maybe he had just underestimated the effects of the bond for both of them. He had wanted to teach her a lesson, yet he hadn’t expect her to make him survive this lesson. As it was now he would have to deal with the consequences. An icy lump formed in his stomach trying to choke him.

 

Choking…

 

Strangled sounds caught his ears just as his blurring vision saw the same woman as before he…hadn’t died.

 

Some part of him wondered how she had managed to last that long, fighting the black-coated man…”LINTEN!” The scream had left him even before he could think. His voice hoarse and shaking with weakness – Light, he hated to be Healed, why did he always get himself in that kind of trouble? – didn’t even reach him.

 

What do you care? The snarling voice in his head asked as if to mock him by appearing just as he felt like losing it anyway. Take one look at her dress, boy. It’s all but screaming “I’m Red and will gentle you instantlyl” Her death won’t be any loss to the world. Let her die. DIE!

 

No… Ged didn’t even have the strength to banish the voice out of his mind, its howl making his head pound and ears ring worse than before. Light, he couldn’t even stand, let alone fight. How was he to help her? A Red? The enemy?

 

ENEMY! ENEMY! ENEMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The voice howled, Ged felt like he was about to faint, yet somehow he struggled to his feet, his gaze bewitched by the large eyes…

 

…eyes blank with horror and mortification…

 

…eyes blank with horror and mortification haunted him as he ran through the forest close by their farm. Light, he hoped Faile had hidden well. Well and away from the monsters hunting them. His father’s voice yelling at them to run and Faile’s eyes…eyes blank with horror and mortification…Light he had never seen her this scared, yet none of them had ever expected a Trolloc raid in the woods close by Fal Dara, yet its population was too scattered and remote to ever be of any interest to Shadowspawn. This very night was to teach all of them a lesson in what was likely and what wasn’t. Heeding his father’s call to run, he had followed his sister and mother, yet panic had driven him far away from his family and he didn’t even remember his mother picking him up, clutching his body to her chest as she ran with him. “Where’s Faile, Ged? Where’s your sister?”

 

Ged looked at her, seeing the same expression in her eyes as in his sister’s and did the only thing likely for a little boy who had just witnessed his family being torn apart. He cried uncontrollably, barely able to utter: “I don’t know, Mother, I just don’t know…I’m so sorry. I …Forgive me, Mother…”

 

He had thought she would never forgive him for having lost her as they didn’t find her again. He had let her die, even though he was just a boy, he should have stayed with her. He had known how scared she was. He had seen her eyes…

 

…eyes blank with horror and mortification…

Ged felt sick when he recognized these very eyes…his sister’s eyes. The sister he had lost so many years ago, that very night. He felt his head spin as he tried to concentrate and gather himself. There was no possible way that this woman – a Red! – could be Faile, not even fate was as cruel as that…

 

And yet, even with his common sense telling him he was raving and seeing ghosts, weakened and exhausted as he was, Ged couldn’t just turn away. These eyes, so much like his lost sister’s held his gaze and somehow he knew what to do and that it was the only chance she had.

 

Saidin came to him with treacherously easy, its torrent hitting him with full force, making his knees buckle as he sent a hammer of Air and Spirit into Linten’s direction, just as the Power was yanked from him with a force that made him cry out in pain and despair when he realized his fatal error. There were times when men channelled more than their physical strength could bear. Enough to burn them out or kill them instantly. Now he knew what losing the One Power felt like and sheer desperation overwhelmed him facing the consequences of overworking himself.

 

Light, I’m dying for a Red, he thought as he sagged to the ground as if struck with his own hammer, his own weight seeming to crush himself. Light it hurt…

 

He felt the bond to the Aes Sedai being strained close enough to snap when his eyes rested on the Red as his eyes rolled back in his head. “Faile…” The thought of his lost sister followed him, into oblivion, a thought growing more and more distant as his heartbeat slowed…

 

No one would Heal him now…

[Guest Faile1987]

~Faile~

 

She knew she had made a mistake as soon as she felt hot breat against her ears, ringing with a voice shrieking words of insanity and mental derangement at her. Words she felt herself unable to perceive just as panic welled up inside her as she felt hands gripping her throat and squeezing tighter. Cutting off air, mercilessly, relentlessly, they didn't give in an inch. There was nothing anymore from the man who was holding her than silence. Silence and joy in seeing her ring for air and kick and thrash under his wrenching grip. Joy in seeing her eyes grow wider and her frenzy to seek escape as she tried to break the flawless shield standing like a wall of ice between her and Saidar. A wall that would neither waiver nor break.

 

Air... Her vision went blurry, all the horrors of the battlefield blending into each other as the world started to spin around her in an agonizing and inevitable fight with death. A fight to break what was unbreakable, to keep what could no longer kept. Saidar gone, death and chaos raging on around her, Faile realized that she wasn't more but a simple stone in this game of the White Tower, a game that would be for the win to the black-coated men, yet even they paid a horrible price for their victory, judging all the black-clothed forms motionless on the ground. One of them her own brother...Light, Ged...Why? The thought haunted loosely through her mind as the world seemed to topple over.

 

She didn't know anything anymore. Did she blame him for what he was or did she blame herself for doubting him? For not helping him when he was in such dire need. Her brother...Her cause...Her dreams...Nothing seemed right anymore...Colorless, meaningless as she gave in to darkness as everything was jerked away from her with one single blow and a cry, shriller and louder, more painful than anything she had ever heard.

 

Coughing and wheezing for breath she fell to her knees, unable to grasp what just had happened. Why did the man whose eyes had gleamed with murderous lust just seconds ago now lie on the ground, busy gathering his own strength, casting dangerous look towards-

 

"Ged!" Her scream choked back by the rawness of her throat, Faile abandoned every care as she saw the figure of her brother on the ground, limp and still, yet his eyes were open. Open without seeing her as she crouched over him, resting his head on her lap, unable to do anything for him besides watching life drain slowly from his body as his breathing grew more and more shallow.

 

"Oh Light, why did you do this? Why?", she cried, rocking him back and forth, helpless as the child who had once been lost in the woods so many years ago. Lost and crying for the brother she had lost and found and would now lose again.

[tismeb4u]

The strong racing pulse under the soft smooth skin of her neck began to slow. Hard callous hands registered the change in speed, a strange warmth growing within as the woman who's throat he gripped began to fight less; resistance becoming uncoordinated with less strength. Finally he would rid the world of this one torment, cleans the lands of one more of those that would seek to harm his kind. The corners of his lips began to curl in an all knowing sneer. The last expression she would see in this age, a man who could channel removing the dangers of an Aes Sedai. For the briefest of moments a thought passed across consciousness, fuzzed the reality he saw and felt with this womans life draining in his hands. Did she know this day she would die? Does she now see the faces of those she has killed haunting her as the faces of the Aes Sedai that hunted him haunt his dreams? Battle sounds began to die down; the world around him fading to black. There was simple her face and his hands around her throat. Nothing else existed. Eyes that had held control, determination, and an air of supremacy now held only raw fear. The expression seemed so strange against her smooth face; at odds with all he had seen and knew of her kind, and it drew him in, his grip loosening slightly. You fear?

 

A scream filtered on the edge of recognition to his left. Another soldier of the black embraced by death. How many would become one with the dirt when this was all over? How was it they had found him again? This was suppose to be a safe place for him to learn and grow; to understand how to control Saidin and it's lusty call to him. Dull pain laced along his side as the smooth warm skin in his hands seemed to be riped from his grasp. The earthen taste of dust and dirt filled his senses; his body crashing heavily to the ground. Something had happened, had changed while his mind had wandered again. But this time he held his grip on Saidin, clung to it like a new born to it's mother. The blackened spots in his vision seemed to increase with the throb of a battered and leaking side; no longer did the cut at his throat register through the blazing pain that had once been a strong and healthy side.

 

Pushing himself back to his knee's his head swiveled to find the source of his removal and caught the faint residual still dimming. Saidin, someone had woven Saidin against him and stolen the prize that was to be his own. The snarl that rumbled low from his throat offered death ten fold to the source of this madness while his mind played back the moments that had just ticked by. The scream, he had heard that voice before ... The women he had held and found pleasure and confusion in the pending death at his hands was scrambling across the dirt toward a fallen member of his adopted family. He probed quickly and found his shield still in place over her; she would not be a threat of any magnitude.

 

With searing pain he slowly rose to his feet and turned toward a scene he had not expected to see. The women held the man's head in her hands and rocked back and forth; sobs wracking her body. It had to be a clever ploy to spare her life until she could figure out a way to once again hold him separated from the pure tormented life flow of Saidin. Staggering, Linten made his way to were she now knelt, his eyes taking the opportunity to sweep across the gruesome battle field. He did not have to count to know that more Black Tower members lay in ruin across the ground then those of the treacherous White. All we want is to be left alone and this .... this is the mighty White Towers answer? They don't even deem us worthy enough to send an army of size. Perhaps when we ship back the heads of their precious little raiding party they will not think us quite so simple a conquest.

 

Stopping next to the Aes Sedai he looked briefly down in curiosity that she still did not attempt to defend herself. But the thought lasted only a moment before the voice in the shadows of his mind brought him back to the purpose of this time and place. Roughly his right hand closed around an ample hand full of long brown matted hair; wrenching her head all the way back. Death spoke it's promised release in his eyes as her fair complexioned face came up to stare at the monster that would end this insanity. Only where determination, threatened confidence, and even shock had played freely. Her deep brown eyes held loss and acceptance. She no longer resisted him, no longer fought against his movements. It was as if she had given up and was ready to accept the fate he dealt; almost wanted it. But that could not be, Aes Sedai never gave up, never felt anything except the need to kill his kind. Linten's left hand, formed in a tight fist, raised high over head preparing to deliver the blow that would crush her larynx and leave her to a slow and agonizing death. No less then she deserved for the way her kind hunted and tortured men all in the name of safety for the Age and the servitude of the Light.

 

Why won't you fight me? At least try to save yourself .... Do something, just stop looking at me like that. The bitter evil voice in the dark shouted for his hand to fall with weight, screamed at him to finish the task and seek out more blood. But it remained a buzz in the fogged distance of his confused mind. Aes Sedai never give up, they are ruthless he knew that, thought he had. No ... no it had to be some sick and twisted Aes Sedai plot to undermine the confidence of the Black Tower. A way to add further poison to the people of this Age against men that could touch Saidin, men that could offer hope where none would exist come Tarmon Gai'don. He hated himself that his hand remained frozen, victory was at hand. All he had to do was seize it, but his arm refused. His eyes swept the field once more and noted the weaving of pure spirit; intricate weaves he had not seen before in his training. Perhaps some strange new weapon or method of shielding the witches permanently. Perhaps that was the out he could take, permanently shielded he could use her as he saw fit; an opportunity to further learn of the witches weaknesses.

 

Deftly he repeated the weave he had watched others make. Pulled the sweet clear threads of spirit into the intricate pattern that modeled that of the others around him and watched it settle on the womens head as the sadistic smile of satisfaction once more curled the edges of his mouth. The weave lay on the the Aes Sedai for a moment and then sunk in, disappearing from sight. Sensations burst like an Illuminator's nightflower into his head, collated into a knot in the back that swept out loss and agony in a broad sweep. Linten's eyes widened in shock as his hands released hair and fist to clutch at his own head. Shock flooded his mind now. But not just his own, the shock of someone else. No!! Dropping to his knee's heavily he stared in disbelief at the face of the other, a face that mirrored each change in sensation that wrought his mind from that bundled knot that had never existed until the weave.

[Kael]

It pushed…it was forcing it’s way between him and the source. He panicked…he didn’t know what to do. Slowly he could feel the bond he had with Saidin straining, trying to break away from him. He pushed, he fought frantically trying to fight the what he could only count as the shivers and goosebumps along his arms that told people were channeling Saidar around him.

 

He was panicking, he didn’t know what to do. The voices inside of had begun yelling from the beginning. He couldn’t take it, he couldn’t think. FIGHT BOY! PUSH LASH OUT! CHARGE AND KILL HER! YOU ARE STRONGER THAN THIS KILL HER! Use your head, calm yourself and act like you have been trained to act. This is not your end.

 

It wouldn’t be though, Rion clung to the knot of emotions that was Jocelyn..at the moment flooded with worry and anxiety as he forced back the tears of frustration and fear. He cringed as a large fire ball exploded near the Aes Sedai that was trying to shield and the Shield snapped. Rion moved quickly, replacing it with a shield of his own and ran to her side.

 

She didn’t look all that good, quick weaves of water put out the fire on her skirts while ones of Air bound her to the ground. “I don’t want to hurt you.” He hissed as her wove the elements together in a healing weave for her legs.

 

Rion’s head snapped up as he heard the order but it couldn’t be..they couldn’t tell him too…An order is an order. Rion shook his head, hating himself as he slowly wove the weave he had first used on Jocelyn and had thought he would never have to again. It was modified slightly but it was still near the am. He lowered in, and it settled on the flame haired Aes Sedai beneath him in a way that couldn’t be reversed.

 

 

Rion

[Eqwina]

Eqwina threw her hands up to shield them from the light, but it did no good. The earth fell out from under her feet and she hit the ground with the sound of breaking bones. Her arm hung limply at her side but she had no time for the pain. She pulled herself across the ground careless of the mud and blood that soaked through her dress.

 

The ground was warm with the blood of the dead, and mangled pieces of flesh littered the ground. Her ears rang and it seemed the only sound was the pounding of her heart. Dark curls lay face down in the mud, the body only half covered with scraps of what was once a fine blue silk. Steeling herself Eqwina gently rolled over the women, one of her sisters. The glaze of death was already beset in her eyes and her face was contorted in a wordless howl. Letting her sister fall Eqwina leaned over her body and emptied all the contents of her stomach.

 

Wiping her mouth on her dress, Eqwina pulled herself laboriously to her feet. From every direction the battle still blazed on, if with less force than it started. Still squinting she limped forward flinging lighting at anything that moved she had to find some of her sisters; she followed the screams of rage and terror. She saw Serena Sedai backed against a tree her young Gaidin no where to be seen. A tall man with dark golden hair loomed over her his hands stretched forward. A ball of fire only as large as her fist hit him hard in the back. The man stumbled but did not fall again she gathered her strength only this time it was a shield she wove. The man whirled to face her, horror painting his face, in the moment he turned Eqwina saw the knife flash from Serena's hands. Eqwina tied off the shield and moved on, that man would not survive the hour. That moment was the first time she had watched a man die with no regret. Her desire to heal had, for the moment been replaced with hatred and desire to kill.

 

Then she saw him lying limp against a tree stump. Even slumped and broken as he was he looked dangerous. Eqwina held a shield ready as she approached the tattered man. She could see the hatred in his eyes and she could feel it welling up, unbidden in her. Never before had she hated, the emotion was completely foreign. Words formed on her lips without thought. “ It seems the hunter has become the hunted,” The urge to bathe crept through her the closer she got. Her shield slid into place without much resistance and she smiled slightly. All around them the battle sounds were fading. She bent next to the man not bothering to restrain him; she was shocked he was still alive and breathing. Shielded he could cause no issue. His back was clearly broken and numerous wounds crisscrossed his body. Now that she had knelt she was unsure what she intended. It was in her nature to heel but this man, no beast had slain her sisters without thought or regard. Why should he receive any help from her? Shaking with anger she stood. ” I will leave that shield in place until I can better decide what to do with you.” Eqwina straighten with a groan and turned to see if she could help anywhere else.

 

A grip like a vise tightened around her ankle, and held her foot surely in place.

 

Eqwina Sedai

Yellow Ajah

To be bonded to Isha

 

OOC: Okay Isha

[Arath Faringal]

Arath nearly growled in frustration as he sliced through another invisible weave. Would she never relent? He had broken away to follow the M'Hael and still she pursued, seemingly intent on his destruction. Adding to his frustration was the fact that Dalinar was now moving right into the thick of things. How in the light was he supposed to protect the man when he did that? Gritting his teeth he did his best to follow and fulfill his assignment.

 

That all came to a crashing halt as Arath's feet were suddenly jerked out from underneath him. Grunting in pain he pulled himself to his knees and looked around. Even before he saw the little Aes Sedai he felt the shield pressing down on him. Normally a shield of that strength wouldn't have bothered him, but in his tired and beaten state it was a bit frightening. More spirit flows surged forth and cut the shield to pieces as his gaze rested on the woman. She was stalking toward him with a knife in hand, still determined as ever to end him. Sorry sir, he thought regretfully toward Dalinar. You're on your own now.

 

Hauling himself to his feet, he advanced toward the Aes Sedai, throwing all of his strength into a shield. He felt it slide into place, only to be cut apart before cutting her off. Again and again he tried, frustration mounting as she repeatedly destroyed his shields at the last possible moment. The space between them closed slowly until Arath realized that he was almost within striking range of her dagger. Vaguely he was aware that the sounds of battle around them were dying down. Dying down, but not gone.

 

An explosion erupted behind Arath, aimed at him or not he couldn't tell, and sent him hurtling forward. The Aes Sedai in front of him didn't even have time to react before his body slammed into hers and sent them both hurtling away from the battle in a tangled mass of limbs. He was aware of the awful crunching sound of breaking bones, and a horrible, gut-wrenching pain in his shoulder before impacting the ground and briefly passing out.

 

"Wha-", he muttered absently as his eyes flickered open. He tried sitting up, but he was flat on his back, with something laying on top of him. Stuggling to focus his swimming vision, he saw a face next to his. A female face. She's pretty... he thought vaguely, though something seemed wrong with her presence. A sharp pain in his shoulder made him groan and swing his head around. A dagger protruded from his left arm, just below the shoulder, and the joint itself appeared to be dislocated. As the woman on top of him stirred, the sounds of the battle returned to him, along with the memory of what happened. The realization hit him like a hammer and he desperately grabbed for Saidin before she could wake up completely. The power came to him, but weakly. The shield he tried to form wouldn't hold; he was too weak. Frantically he looked around for an alternate solution before the Aes Sedai killed him. His eyes fell on another man, Linten he thought, standing next to a kneeling woman and weaving something from spirit. Bonding her.

 

That's a good idea ... Bringing his right arm around, Arath rested his hand on the woman's short black hair as she pushed herself up, and channeled the necesary flows of spirit. The moment the weave was completed, Saidin fled from his grasp, almost replaced by a tangled knot of ... awareness ... in the back of his mind. He was aware of her pain and momentary confusion as she struggled to sit up and her eyes focused on him. Confusion gave way to surprise and anger and she wrenched the dagger from his arm, fully intending to kill him as she sat on his torso. As the burst of pain from his wound filtered through the bond, anger gave way to shock, then fear, then outrage.

 

Arath couldn't help but cough out a small laugh, despite the pain. "Just don't kill me," he murmered, breathing hard.

[Guest Estel]

She appeared out of the dust of battle, distinguished from her Sisters by her unusual minuteness just as he was distinguished from his brothers by his size. However, this comparison which might have brought up some form of empathy within him was lost in this moment as she walked towards him as he lay weak and helpless. He snarled at her, daring to defy her in the only way he could. Panicking, Isha fumbled for the Source as a green soldier might for his sword. In his weakened state, half frozen in shock, the Power eluded him and her Shield slipped between his mind and saidin like a knife through soft butter.

 

“It seems the hunter has become the hunted.” Despite his supposed courage, Isha whimpered. He whimpered as he had begging mercy from Aginor and despite the lack of any resemblance between this Aes Sedai and the female Trolloc, the giant Sheinaran was no match for the unyielding river of memories and he was swept away.

 

Time seemed to suspend and eternity was the black abyss of his memories. Again and again; for time unending, he relieved those few days in captivity. He remembered the experiments; the agony of physical abuse, his exhausted terror. Everything was as clear as if it were happening all again and he tasted the blood from his bitten tongue and felt it trickle from the sides of his mouth and down the throat long raw from hours of screaming. Muscles tensed in answer to his mind’s perceived state and once again he felt the paralysing stiffness of merciless torture and sleep deprivation. He watched as the Trolloc approached him, they circled and began their death dance for the thousandth time. Despite having lost all control and feeling below his waist, phantom pain wracked his thighs and groin as her claws sunk in deep, rendering toned muscle useless.

 

Isha was unconscious of the Aes Sedai watching him. To all eyes he seemed to be wracked by seizures though in truth he was experiencing what some people unconsciously do in their sleep: he was not only reliving his memories, nightmares, in his mind but his body was going through the actions once again.

 

After eternity relinquished its control back to the passing of normal time, phantom pain was replaced by the very real pain of seized muscles. Isha’s fit had sent him into a panicked, half-mad state and the Aes Sedai’s words fell upon deaf ears. As she made to move away from him, he panicked, afraid to be alone with his memories. He grabbed the only part of her he could reach; her ankle, which was slim enough that it seemed no thicker that a child’s wrist in his enormous hand.

 

“NO! Please… NO MORE! Don’t… I’ll do… PLEASE!”

 

She tugged, trying to pull her ankle free but before she could lash out with the Power, another fit took Isha and as his muscles seized, he pulled her down to the ground. The fit only last about a minute’s time but Isha remembered only bits and pieces of what transpired immediately after…

 

…With the collapse of the being that normally controlled the body, Abrem Allain sighed in relief as he stretched unfamiliar bulging muscles. This new body was completely unlike his own. It was so much bigger… and had yet to go to seed. He gazed at the scene around him, unused to having his vision so restricted on the left side. The carnage around him sent the little food in this strange belly out to cover the ground, killing the little grass left their in its acidity.

 

A melody immediately formed in his mind, mournful and discordant. His finger rolled open chords on the harp strings, letting each fade before beginning the next. Harmonies cried for the pointless deaths and Abrem played with and interval just a tone below an octave. Had he lowered the pitch of that string just a hair, the tune would take on an entirely different timbre and would lose its haunting quality, resorting to merely dissonant noise that some of his contemporaries had favoured for some odd reason.

 

Movement nearby reminded him that music could not always be foremost in his mind and he reached out to saidin. The fall must have surprised her because Abrem was able to blast his way past her Shield and return the favour. He watched, fascinated by the weave the men were placing on most of the Aes Sedai. For all their ignorance, this new weave was incredible and had been completely unheard of in his own time. Excited to discover the implications of this new concept, he used his new muscles, intrigued by how little effort he exerted to drag her body closer to him. Despite her protests, easily fended off by thick arms and the odd bending Shield this Isha character was capable of, he placed his hands on her head, letting flows of pure Spirit settle into her.

 

He was blown away by the sudden arrival of a new ball of emotions in the head, now shared by three beings. The last thought he had before all the injuries took their toll on his consciousness was ~Oh wow!~

 

 

Isha Talcontar

Plagued by the Past

Bonded to Eqwina

 

~Abrem Allain Tallandor

AoL Aes Sedai & Composer

True Voice in Isha's Head~

[SerenaMorrigan]

No! This isn't real, this cannot be true! Serena's eyebrows furrowed and the crease between them seemed to burrow a permanent line in her forehead. Her fist held tight to the dagger she had continued to thrust at the male channeller. Looking down on him...I'm looking down on... With teeth baring she felt as if she could snarl and use her blade like claws of a large cat.

There was no possible way she could feel him in her mind, not like she could feel Thera. He had invaded her. He had sabotaged the one place she could keep from everyone else.

But how? ~She defended and defended. It seemed there was nothing more she could do. Screams of her Sisters seemed to erupt about her, but she could not concentrate on anything but her own battle. Her muscles were growing weary. The excessive use of the One Power was making her tired, but she had to keep going.

 

No longer could she hold onto the menial task of not sweating. Beads of sweat rolled down her neck to the small of her back. She wouldn't give up. EVER!

 

"No..." Memories of mere moments ago ravaged her skull, making her more aware of what was really going on. Still holding the dagger above the young man, she was suddenly aware of his pain. He was bleeding from his arm. Well, I must have got in one good shot.

 

"Just don't kill me," He seemed to wheeze out of his lungs.

"And why shouldn't I?" She brought the blade down to his throat, but she knew that if she pulled the blood stained steel across his artery, she would be in a world of pain. Shaking her head, she wanted to cry, scream and kill all at the same time. This new ball of emotions and tainted feelings felt like a spike driven into her skull. Not like the gentle, yet courageous ball that was Thera.

 

She knew she was straddling a handsome young man, but this was nothing to blush at. Since her first bondmate had died, she had sworn never to bond a male again. Now this one, had taken advantage of her. She pressed the blade of her dagger down on his neck, and could feel the pain in her own.

 

"HOw could you?" Her lungs felt weak. Pain shot up her other wrist as she tried to move it. Looking down at it in front of her, she knew it was broken. Blood trickled into her eye from a wound on her head.

"I hope you can feel the physical pain you have wrought, as well as what you have destroyed inside. I should kill you for this!!" But I can't...She tried to mask the feeling of her heart sinking into her stomach. She was too exhausted. Instead she tightened the muscles in her thighs and squeezed his chest with her knees.

 

She coughed as she squeezed, feeling her own pressure in her mind. "I hate you. I will make your life a living hell!"

 

 

Serena Morrigan

Blue Ajah

Bonded to Arath

[Arath Faringal]

Arath's eyes watered as she kept increasing the pressure on his chest. He felt a stabbing pain shooting out from his ribs on the left side. They had to be broken, and she wasn't helping any. Had the bond not worked properly? He could feel her pain, but his didn't seem to stop her at all.

 

"I hate you. I will make your life a living hell!"

 

Arath didn't doubt that for a second. But he caught something important in her word choice. She wasn't going to kill him. It wasn't very comforting though. Dying ended suffering quickly. For a moment he wondered if he'd have been better of letting her kill him. But the moment passed, and defiance set in.

 

Slowly and painfully drawing in a deep breath, Arath looked the Aes Sedai in the eyes. "I hate you too, for my own reasons. But what's done is done, and we both have to live with it. I don't think you're going to kill me right now ..." He grunted in pain as she pulled the dagger away, but pressed her knees harder into his chest. Jerking underneath her, he tried to roll to his side, sending her toppling over at the unexpected movement. Pain flowed through the bond as her broken wrist jarred against the ground.

 

Laying on his side, Arath caught his breath and tried to close off the bond, to lessen the intensity of the sensations. He almost felt like his own wrist was broken. He could tell it would be in his own best interest to keep his bondmate in good shape. Without thinking much about it, he reached over and gently grabbed ahold of her hand. After fumbling with Saidin for a moment he wove what he could of healing. The injury didn't disappear, but the bone settled into place, and knitted somewhat together. The pain she felt lessened considerably.

 

That little bit of channeling exhausted the last of Arath's strength however. Pushing the tainted one power away he felt darkness slowly overpower him and his awareness became fuzzy as he struggled to remain awake.

[Lavinya]

Lavinya was silent, but her dark eyes shot sparks at her captor, hatred and anger and fear battling for prominence on her face. Saidar was just beyond her grasp; she could hear it singing to her, and she reached for it, to come against the smooth wall of the shield over and over. Gritting her teeth against the pain in her burnt legs, Lavinya reached for the source again, feeling along the seemingly impenetrable wall of the shield. It was slick and rounded, and her attempts to punch through it were as effective as a fly at a stone wall.

 

A gasp tore from Lavinya's lips and she would have arched her back if not for the air binding her to the ground, as the boy standing over her healed her legs and along with it her shoulder. The pain diminished instantly, leaving the grey feeling more drained of energy than before. He didn't want to hurt her? Lavinya could have laughed in his face if she had any mirth left. Did he think he could hurt her? How could anyone hurt her? She was an empty shell, hard and broken where once her heart had been. She had been foolish before, had allowed herself to love, to hope and dream, only to have it thrown in her face. No, there was nothing left to hurt.

 

Gritting her teeth in determination, Lavinya probed at the shield once more, quickly working her way around the smooth inner surface, pausing as she felt a...a softness. She pushed at it gingerly, felt it give slightly...or had she just hoped it was so? Clearly this was where the boy in black had tied off his weave, and though she could not see it, she could feel the weakness there, the only place where it would be easiest to breach. She just had to probe carefully, slipping carefully between the threads just so...

 

"No..." Lavinya breathed, her eyes snapping to the face of her captor. "No!" She would have recoiled if she could, but she was still bound. Loathing and disgust twisted her features as more tears stained her already filthy cheeks. Self-loathing and fear suddenly overwhelmed, her along with more pain...but it was not her own feelings, but that of her bondmate. Bonded, to a mad man.

 

Lavinya's head rested against the earth beneath her and something akin to a laugh gurgled from her throat. It was not long ago that she had dreamed of this union to another man, a man she loved, who loved her too. Corin flickered into her mind, smiling and blushing sweetly as she took his innocence. The one man she had surrendered to completely. And yet it was all a lie, a fool's dream. Instead, she was taken by force, bound to a male channeler, one she must loathe, who would hate her too. This was truth, this was the kind of life she deserved. Lavinya's laugh died in her throat as a sob overtook her. "Kill me now..." But the words died as Lavinya closed her eyes and once again surrendered to her cruel fate.

 

 

Lavinya, Grey Sister.

Forcibly bonded by Rion.

[Eqwina]

...EQWINA...

 

For a single moment panic enveloped Eqwina, and as result her small frame hit the mud. A moment of weakness and all seemed lost. She beat against the shield knowing in her heart that it would do no good. Even at full strength overcoming a shield was next to impossible, but now in her weakened state it was like a kitten fighting a lion.

 

She lay in the mud stunned, and then she felt the brutes hands envelope her and he laboriously began pulling her closer. She fought wildly kicking and clawing; but it was no use. She could smell his rotten stench and feel his hot breath. Large bear like paws enclosed around her head, his sausage sized fingers pressing firmly into her scalp. Eqwina knew this would be her end. All of her work and struggles to regain and ounce of respect would end like this; with her head being squished like a melon beneath a wheel….

 

Emerald eyes gazed in glassy horror as the realization of what he had done settle in. It was RAPE! Worse than rape! There was no greater violation! Her head spun and that long buried urge to faint crept up inside her! She had never bonded; she could not bring herself to share that much with anyone…not since Nevin….and now this man NO this beast had stolen the one place that was all her own.

 

She swung at him with all her mite and ended up flat on her back clutching her jaw. Her face throbbed but she glared defiantly into the man’s eyes. She could feel his amazement.. and his pain. Until now she had taken all her aches as just her own but now she realized that many came from him. Still staring at her his eyes began to grow heavy and she could feel him slipping into unconsciousness. She fought a war with in herself, with him unconscious she filled herself to bursting with the power and stared down on the violators face.

 

Eqwina’s face contorted with anguish and she pounded her fist hard into his tight. “ I HATE YOU!!” Tears flowed unbidden down her cheeks. Damn him!! It was in her nature to heal, that desire was as graven in her bones as her three oaths and the tower its self…..but for what he had done this man deserved to die.

She stood and stared around and the sights of a battle lost.. she could flee… but within her she knew that if she allowed him to die she would be as good as dead herself.

 

Sighing Eqwina lowered herself down next to the man and she laid her hands upon his head… His body convulsed but he now breathed the deep breaths of sleep. She sat staring at him her eyes filled with tears.. She was weak!! She should have taken death herself rather than heal her enemy. Everything that all her sisters had said was true..she was a poor excuse for an Aes Sedai.

 

For a time she struggled with the desire to open her own veins, but she could do no good to anyone dead. Eqwina decided that she would not..No could not relent, no matter what she would make this man pay for his crimes against her and all of her sisters no matter the price to herself!!

 

Her eyes fluttered and soon she too was breathing the deep breaths of sleep.

 

Eqwina Sedai

Bonded to Isha

[Eqwina]

...THERA...

 

Blood soaked her golden curls and every inch of her felt as if it were on fire. The sounds of battle no longer rang in her ears, but she could smell the stench of the dead. Anger flashed red hot through the bond; Serena must be enraged for Thera to feel emotions so strong from such a distance. Slowly Thera pushed herself to her feet, only to have her legs collapse. A gut wrenching bolt of pain shot through her thigh and she looked down to see a gash a hand length long and all the way to the bone.

 

Without healing soon that cut would provide Thera with a limp; but not thinking about her own well being she tried again to push herself to her feet. Once again she fell, cursing loudly as her sword hilt jabbed into her side. She struggled out of her coat and used her belt knife to cut it into strips. Serena had asked Thera to leave it at home but Thera was glad she had not obeyed. Using her teeth she pulled the cork from her flask and poured the contents on top her leg. Her lungs filled with a scream she was too stubborn to let escape. As the pain subsided she wrapped her leg tightly with the strips from her coat. Bracing herself on a fall tree she crept slowly to her feet.

 

Thera stared off in to the distance, towards her beloved Serena. She would find her and kill the bastard who had tried to take her away. Limping Thera began making her way around the battle field bending every few paces to check for any sign of a pulse.

 

Thera Trakelyn

Bonded Heart and Soul to

Serena Morrigan

Is going to kill Arath ;)