The Wheel of Time

by Robert Jordan

  Her soldiers entered the room behind her. All three were Saldaeans, and if they were somewhat oafish, they walked with the swaggers of men who intimately understood fighting. She doubted that these simple servants needed any more intimidation than an Aes Sedai, but the soldiers would likely prove useful later.

  “The dosun?” the worker with the hat finally said. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather see the steward or—”

  “The dosun,” Nynaeve said. “Bring her to me now. Give her time to throw on a robe, but no more.” She pointed at one of her soldiers. “You, go with him. Make sure he doesn’t speak to anyone else or give the woman a chance to escape.”

  “Escape?” the worker yelped. “Why would Loral want to do that? What did she do, my Lady?”

  “Nothing, I hope. Go!”

  The two men—one worker, one soldier—hurried off, and the other three workers remained at the table, looking uncomfortable. Nynaeve folded her arms beneath her breasts, considering her plan. Rand had determined that his hunt for the Domani king had hit a wall with the death of the messenger. Nynaeve wasn’t so certain. There were others involved, and a few well-placed questions might be very illuminating.

  It was unlikely the dosun had done anything wrong. But Nynaeve did not want the worker who fetched her letting his tongue wag to the people he might meet along the way; better to instill into him a sense of danger and use the soldier to keep him quiet. Not to mention punctual.

  Her foresight proved effective. Within minutes, the worker hurried back into the room, towing a disheveled, elderly woman in a blue evening robe. Gray hair poked out from beneath her hastily wrapped red kerchief, and her aging Domani face was absolutely white with apprehension. Nynaeve felt guilty. How this woman must feel, awoken at night by a terrified servant claiming that one of the Aes Sedai wanted her immediately!

  The Saldaean soldier followed, then stood guard beside the doorway. He was bowlegged and squat, and he wore one of those long Saldaean mustaches. The other two lounged beside the doorway Nynaeve had come through, their casual air only serving to make the room more tense. They had picked up on something of her intent, it seemed.

  “Peace, goodwoman,” Nynaeve said, nodding to the table. “You may sit. You others, go to the main entryway and stay there. Don’t speak to anyone.”

  The four workers needed no further prodding. Nynaeve told one of the soldiers to follow them and make certain they did as she said. The late hour was working to her advantage; with so many of the servants and Rand’s attendants asleep, she could investigate without alerting those who might be guilty.

  The departure of the workers only made the dosun more nervous. Nynaeve sat at the table on one of the vacated stools. The men had left their dice behind in their haste, but had—of course—made sure to take their coins. The room was lit by a small lamp, burning with an open flame on the windowsill. The Saldaean had taken her lantern with him when following the workers.

  “Your name is Loral, is it not?” Nynaeve asked.

  The dosun nodded warily.

  “You are aware that Aes Sedai do not lie?”

  The housekeeper nodded again. Most Aes Sedai couldn’t lie, though Nynaeve technically could, since she hadn’t held the Oath Rod. That was part of what earned her a lesser status in the eyes of the others. Undeservedly so. The Oath Rod was only a formality; Two Rivers folk needed no ter’angreal to make them honest. “Then you will believe me when I tell you that I do not suspect you personally of having done anything wrong. I just need your help.”

  The woman seemed to relax a bit. “What help do you need, Nynaeve Sedai?”

  “It has been my experience that the head housekeeper knows more of a house’s workings than the stewards, or even the owners of the property. Have you been employed here for long?”

  “I have served the Chadmar family through three generations,” the old woman said with no small measure of pride. “And had hoped to serve another, if Her Ladyship had—” The housekeeper cut off. Rand had imprisoned “Her Ladyship” in her own dungeons. That didn’t bode well for there being another generation to serve.

  “Yes, well,” Nynaeve said, covering the uncomfortable silence. “The unfortunate circumstances involving your lady are part of my task this evening.”

  “Nynaeve Sedai,” the aged woman said, growing eager, “do you suppose you can see her to freedom? Restore her to the Lord Dragon’s good graces?”

  “Perhaps.” Doubtful, Nynaeve added in her mind, but anything is possible. “My activities tonight may help. Did you ever see this messenger, the one your mistress imprisoned?”

  “The one sent by the King?” Loral asked. “I never spoke with him, Aes Sedai, but I did see him. Tall, handsome fellow, curiously clean-shaven for a Domani man. I passed him in the hallway. Had one of the most beautiful faces I rightly think I’ve ever seen on a man.”

  “And then?” Nynaeve asked.

  “Well, he went directly to speak with Lady Chadmar, and then. . . .” Loral trailed off. “Nynaeve Sedai, I don’t mean to be getting my lady into any more trouble, and—”

  “He was sent for questioning,” Nynaeve said shortly. “I have little time for foolishness, Loral. I am not here looking for evidence against your mistress, and I don’t really care what your loyalties are. There are much larger issues at stake. Answer my question.”

  “Yes, Lady,” Loral said, paling. “We all knew what had happened, of course. Didn’t seem right, sending one of the King’s men to a questioner like that. Particularly that man. Shame to mar a face so beautiful, and all.”

  “You know the location of the questioner and the dungeon?”

  Loral hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. Good. She didn’t intend to withhold information.

  “Let us go, then,” Nynaeve said, rising.

  “My Lady?”

  “To the dungeon,” Nynaeve said. “I assume it isn’t on the property anywhere, not if Milisair Chadmar was as careful as I think.”

  “It’s a modest distance away, in the Gull’s Feast,” Loral said. “You wish to go tonight?”

  “Yes,” Nynaeve said, then hesitated. “Unless I decide to visit the questioner at his home instead.”

  “They are the same place, my Lady.”

  “Excellent. Come.”

  Loral didn’t have much choice. Nynaeve allowed her—guarded by a soldier—to return to her rooms for a dress.

  A short time later, Nynaeve and her soldiers marched the dosun—along with the four workers, to keep them from accidentally giving warning of what was happening—from the building. All five looked decidedly displeased. They probably believed the superstitious rumors that the night was not safe. Nynaeve knew better. The night might not be safe, but it wasn’t any worse than other times. In fact, it might be safer. If there were fewer people about, there were fewer chances of someone nearby suddenly growing thorns out of their skin, bursting into flame or dying in some other horribly random way.

  They left the mansion grounds, Nynaeve walking with a firm step, hoping to keep the others from feeling too nervous. She nodded to the soldiers at the gate, and went in the direction Loral indicated. Their feet thumped against the wood of the boardwalk, the clouded night sky glowing just faintly from moonlight above.

  Nynaeve didn’t give herself the luxury of questioning her plan. She’d decided on a course, and so far it was going well. True, Rand might grow angry at her for appropriating soldiers and stirring up trouble. But sometimes, to see what was at the bottom of a cloudy rain barrel, you needed to stir the water to bring up what was at the bottom. It was just too coincidental. Milisair Chadmar had taken the messenger captive months ago, but he had died only a short time before Rand wanted him. He was the only person in the city with a clue to the King’s location.

  Coincidences did happen. Sometimes, when two farmers were feuding and one of their cows died in the night, it was just an accident. And sometimes, a little searching uncovered the opposite.

  Loral led the group toward the
Gull’s Feast, also known as the Gull District, a part of town close to where the fishermen dumped waste from their hauls. Like most sensible people, Nynaeve avoided that section of town, and her nose reminded her just why as they approached. Fish guts might make excellent fertilizer, but Nynaeve could smell the composting heaps from several streets away. Even the refugees avoided this dark area.

  The walk was a fairly long one—understandably, the rich sector of town was distant from the Gull’s Feast. Nynaeve stalked along, paying no heed to the shadowed alleyways and buildings, though her entourage—soldiers excepted—clustered around her apprehensively. The Saldaeans instead kept their hands on their serpentine swords, trying to look in all directions at once.

  She wished she had news from the White Tower. How long had it been since she’d had news from Egwene or one of the others? She felt blind. It was her own fault for insisting that she go with Rand. Someone had needed to keep an eye on him, but that meant being unable to keep any eyes on everyone else. Was the Tower still divided? Was Egwene still Amyrlin? News on the streets was little help. As always, for every rumor she heard, there were two more contradicting it. The White Tower was fighting itself. No, it fought the Asha’man. No, the Aes Sedai had been destroyed by the Seanchan. Or by the Dragon Reborn. No, those rumors were all lies spread by the Tower to bait its enemies into striking.

  Very little was said about Elaida or Egwene specifically, though garbled news of two Amyrlins was spreading. That was problematic. Neither group of Aes Sedai would like spreading the news of a second Amyrlin. Tales of squabbles among the Aes Sedai would only end up hurting all of them.

  Eventually, Loral stopped walking. The four workers stopped behind her, bundling together with worried expressions. Nynaeve glanced at Loral. “Well?”

  “There, Lady.” The woman pointed a bony finger to the building across the street.

  “The chandler’s shop?” Nynaeve asked.

  Loral nodded.

  Nynaeve summoned one of the bowlegged Saldaean soldiers. “You, watch these five and make sure they don’t get into trouble. You other two, come with me.”

  She started across the street, but when she didn’t hear footsteps leave the boardwalk, she turned with a frown. The three guards stood together, looking at the single lantern, likely cursing themselves for not thinking to bring another.

  “Oh, for the Light’s sake,” Nynaeve snapped, raising her hand and embracing the Source. She wove a globe of light above her fingers, casting a cool, even illumination across the ground around her. “Leave the lantern.”

  The two Saldaeans complied, hurrying after her. She stepped up to the chandler’s door, then wove a ward against eavesdropping and placed it in the air around herself, the door and the two soldiers.

  She looked at one of the soldiers. “What’s your name?”

  “Triben, my Lady,” he said. He was a hawk-faced man with a short, trimmed mustache and a scar across his forehead. “That’s Lurts,” he said, pointing at the other soldier, a massive wall of a man who Nynaeve had been surprised to see was uniformed as a cavalryman.

  “All right, Triben,” Nynaeve said. “Kick the door open.”

  Triben didn’t question her; he just raised a booted foot and kicked. The frame cracked easily and the door slammed open, but if her ward had been placed correctly, nobody in the building would be able to hear. She peeked in. The room smelled of wax and perfumes, and the wooden floor was marked by numerous spots. Drip marks; wax that had been cleaned up often left a mark.

  “Quickly,” she said to the soldiers, releasing the ward but maintaining the globe of light. “Lurts, go to the back of the shop and watch the alley; make certain nobody escapes. Triben, with me.”

  Lurts moved with surprising speed for his bulk, taking his position in the back room of the shop. Her globe illuminated barrels for dipping candles and a pile of burned nubs in the corner, bought for pennies to be re-melted. A staircase mounted to the right. A small alcove in the front of the shop was the storefront, and it contained various sizes and shapes of candles, from the standard white rod to the perfumed and decorated brick. If Loral was wrong about this being the place. . . .

  But any good secret operation would have a working front. Nynaeve hurried up the stairs, wood creaking beneath her weight. The building was narrow. On the upper floor, she and Triben found two rooms. One door was open a crack, so Nynaeve dimmed her globe of light and wove a ward against listeners into the room. Then she burst in, hawk-faced Triben following, his sword scraping against its scabbard as he pulled it free.

  There was only one person in the room, an overweight man sleeping on a mattress on the floor, blankets in a heap around his feet. Nynaeve wove a few threads of Air, tying him up in one smooth motion. His eyes bulged open, and he opened his mouth to scream, but Nynaeve stuffed Air between his lips, gagging him.

  She turned to Triben and nodded, tying off her weaves. They left the bound man there, struggling against his bonds, and crossed to the other door. She wove another weave against eavesdropping into the room before entering, and it was a good thing she did—for the two younger men in this room roused much more quickly. One sat bolt upright, letting out a yelp just as Triben headed across the floorboards. Triben punched him in the stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs.

  Nynaeve bound him with a thread of Air, then did the same for the other young man, who was rousing drowsily in his bunk. She towed the two toward her, brightening her globe of light, hanging the men up in the air a few inches. They were both Domani, with dark hair and crude faces, thin mustaches above their lips. Both wore only their smallclothes. They seemed too old to be apprentices.

  “I think we have the right place, Nynaeve Sedai,” Triben said, walking around the pair to stand beside her.

  She raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Those are no chandler’s apprentices,” Triben continued. He slid his sword back into its sheath. “Calluses on the palms, but no burns on their hands? Muscled arms? And they’re far too old. That fellow on the left has had his nose broken at least once.”

  She looked closer; Triben was right. I should have seen that. Still, she had noticed the age. “Which one do you think I should ungag,” she asked casually, “and which one should I kill?”

  Both men began to squirm, eyes wide. They should have known that an Aes Sedai would never do anything of the sort. In fact, she probably shouldn’t have implied it, but private jailers like these riled her anger.

  “The one on the left seems most eager to talk, Lady,” Triben said. “Perhaps he will tell you what you wish to know.”

  She nodded, releasing the man’s gag. He began to speak immediately. “I will do whatever you say! Please, don’t fill my stomach with insects! I haven’t done anything wrong, I promise you, I—”

  She stuffed the Air gag back in.

  “Too much complaining,” she said. “Perhaps the other will know to hush and speak when spoken to.” She released his gag.

  This man remained dangling in the air, obviously terrified, but saying nothing. The One Power could unnerve the most hardened of killers.

  “How do I get into the dungeon?” she asked this man.

  He looked sick, but he had probably already guessed that she’d want the dungeon. It was unlikely that an Aes Sedai would burst into the shop after midnight because she’d been sold a bad candle.

  “Trapdoor,” the man said, “under the rug in the shop front.”

  “Excellent,” Nynaeve said. She tied off the weaves binding the men’s hands, then replaced the gag on the one who had spoken. She didn’t leave them hanging in the air—she didn’t want to have to pull them along behind her—and instead let them walk on their own feet.

  She had Triben fetch the overweight man from the other room, then herded all three down the stairs. Below, they met the muscular Lurts keeping careful watch on the alley out back. A youth sat on the floor in front of him, and Nynaeve’s globe of light illuminated his face, a frightened Domani one with unc
haracteristically light hair and hands spotted with burns.

  “Now, that’s a chandler’s apprentice,” Triben said, scratching his forehead scar. “They probably have him doing all of the work for the front.”

  “He was asleep under those blankets over there.” Lurts nodded to a shadowed pile in the corner as he joined Nynaeve. “Tried to scramble out the front door after you went up the stairs.”

  “Bring him,” Nynaeve said. In the small storefront, Triben pulled back the rug, then used the edge of his sword to prod through the slats until he knocked against something underneath—hinges, Nynaeve assumed. After a little careful prying, he got the trapdoor open. A ladder reached down into the darkness below.

  Nynaeve stepped forward, but Triben held up a hand. “Lord Bashere would hang me up by my own stirrups if I let you go first, Lady,” he said. “No telling what might be down there.” He leaped into the hole, sliding down the ladder with one hand, his sword in the other. He thumped to the ground below, and Nynaeve rolled her eyes. Men! She gestured for Lurts to watch the jailers, then released their bonds so they could climb down. She gave each of them a stern look; then she proceeded down the ladder without Triben’s ridiculous flair, leaving Lurts to herd the jailers after.

  She raised her globe of light and surveyed the cellar. The walls were stone, which made her feel much less nervous about the weight of the building above. The floor was packed dirt, and there was a wooden doorway built into the wall across from her. Triben was listening at it.

  She nodded, and he pulled it open, darting inside eagerly. The Saldaeans seemed to be picking up some habits from the Aiel. Nynaeve followed, preparing weaves of Air, just in case. Behind her, the sullen jailers began to climb down the ladder, followed by Lurts.

  There wasn’t much to see in the other room. Two dungeon cells with thick wooden doors, a table with some stools beside it, and a large wooden trunk. Nynaeve sent her globe of light to the corner as hawk-faced Triben inspected the trunk. He lifted the lid, then raised an eyebrow, pulling out several glittering knives. Aids for questioning. Nynaeve shivered. She turned harsh eyes on the jailers behind her.