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At that e force It was like a reservoir of water, boiling and churning just beyond his view He reached toward it with his mind

A clouded face flashed before Rand’s own, one whose features he couldn’t quite one in a moment

And Rand found himself filled with an alien power Not saidin, not saidar, but soht, Lews Therin suddenly screamed That’s impossible! We can’t use it! Cast it away! That is death we hold, death and betrayal

It is HIM

Rand closed his eyes as he knelt above Min, then he channeled the strange, unknown force Energy and life surged through him, a torrent of power like saidin, only ten times as sweet and a hundred times as violent It made him alive, ave hiined It rivaled, even, the power he’d held when drawing froe, and wove enorainst the collar at his neck, and the room exploded with flames and bits of molten metal, each one distinct to Rand He could feel each shard ofthe air with its heat, trailing smoke as it hit a wall or the floor He opened his eyes and released Min She gasped and sobbed

Rand stood and turned, white-hot e had tortured him, yet somehow opposite As painful as this was, it was also pure ecstasy

See looked utterly shocked "Butthat’s i You can’t--" She looked up, staring at him ide eyes "The True Power Why have you betrayed me, Great Lord? Why?"

Rand raised a hand and, filled with the power he did not understand, wove a single weave A bar of pure white light, a cleansing fire, burst froe in the chest She flashed and vanished, leaving a faint afterie to Rand’s vision Her bracelet dropped to the floor

Elza ran toward the door She vanished before another bar of light, her entire figure becoht for a moment Her bracelet dropped to the floor, as well, the women who had held them burned completely from the Pattern

What have you done? Lews Therin asked Oh, Light Better to have killed again than to do thisOh, Light We are dooretfully--let it drop away He would have held on, but he was si of it left hi to do with the power he’d held He turned around, looking down at Min, who coughed quietly and rubbed her neck She looked up at him, and seemed afraid He doubted that she would ever see hi; there had indeed been soe could do to hi one he loved dearly Before, when he’d done it as Lews Therin, he had been mad and unable to control hih a clouded dream He’d realized what he had done only after Ishamael had awakened him

Finally, now, he knew precisely what it was like to watch as he killed those he loved

"It is done," Rand whispered

"What?" Min asked, coughing again

"The last that could be done to me," he said, surprised at his own cal fro, Rand?" Min asked She rubbed her neck again Bruises were beginning to show

He shook his head as--finally--voices sounded in the hallway outside Perhaps the Asha’ when he’d tortured Min

"I havetoward the door "You have asked for flexibility and laughter froive I ao, he had decided that he er-- where he had been iron, he had decided to become steel It appeared that steel was too weak

He would be harder, now He understood how Where he had once been steel, he beca else From now on, he was cmndillar He had entered a place like the void that Tarn had trained hio But within this void he had no emotion None at all

They could not break or bend him

It was done

CHAPTER 23

A Warp in the Air

What of the sisters ere guarding her cell?" Cadsuane asked, sto up the wooden steps beside Merise "Corele and Nesune are alive, thankfully, though they were left extre her skirt up as she hurried along Narish softly "Daigian is dead We’re not certain why the other tere left alive"

"Warders," Cadsuane said "Kill the Aes Sedai, and their Warders would know i" The Warders should have noticed that soate the men to see what they had felt But there was likely a correlation

Daigian had no living Warder Cadsuane felt a stab of regret for the pleasant sister, but shoved it aside No time for it now

"The other tere placed in some kind of trance," Merise said "I could see no remnants of weaves, nor could Narishma We discovered the sisters just before the alarm was sounded, then went for you as soon as ere assured that al’Thor was alive and our enemies had been dealt with"

Cadsuane nodded crossly Of all the nights to be out visiting the Wise Ones in their tents! Sorilea and a sroup of them followed behind Narishma, and Cadsuane didn’t dare slow her pace, lest the Aiel women trample her in their haste to see al’Thor

They reached the top of the stairs, then sped down the hallway toward al’Thor’s rooain\ And how had that blasted Forsaken gotten free of her cell? Someone must have helped her, but that meant a Darkfriend in their camp It wasn’t unlikely--if Darkfriends existed in the White Tower, then they could undoubtedly be found here But what Darkfriend could incapacitate three Aes Sedai? Surely channeling on that level should have been felt by every sister or Asha’man in the camp

"Was the tea involved?" Cadsuane asked Merise quietly

"Not that we can tell," the Green replied "We’ll know more when the other take They fell unconscious as soon as we brought them out of their trance"

Cadsuane nodded Al’Thor’s door was open, and Maidens swarmed outside it like wasps who had just discovered their nest was gone Cadsuane couldn’t say that she blamed them Apparently, al’Thor had said little of what had happened The fool boy was lucky to still be alive! What a Light-cursedthe chamber