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Beyond Lomas the pass opened into a shallol almost too small to be named a valley, with trees too widely spaced to be called a thicket Leatherleaf and blue fir and threeneedle pine held to so with a few oaks, but the rest were sheathed in brown if not barebranched To the south, however, lay what hadA slender spire like a colu and partly buried in the bare hillside, a good seventy paces of it showing above the treetops Every child in the Black Hills old enough to run off leading strings knew of it, but there was not a village inside four days’ travel, nor would anyone coly The stories of this place spoke ofthe spire

Ethenielle did not consider herself fanciful, yet she shivered slightly Nianh said the spire was a fragends, and harmless With luck, the Aes Sedai had no reason to recall that conversation of years ago A pity the dead could not be end said Kirukan had beheaded a false Dragon with her own hands, and borne two sons by another ht have kno to go about their purpose and survive

As expected, the first pair of those Ethenielle had co, each with two attendants Paitar Nachily handsoirl, not to ray Fortunately he had relinquished the Arafellin fashion for braids and wore his hair cut short But he sat his saddle straightbacked, his shoulders needed no padding in that ereen silk coat, and she knew he still could wield the sword at his hip with vigor and skill Easar Togita, squarefaced and his scalp shaved except for a white topknot, his plain coat the color of old bronze, was a head shorter than the King of Arafel, and slighter, yet he made Paitar look al, a touch of sadness seeht have beensword on his back She trusted both men -- and hoped their familial connections helped secure that trust Alliances by ether as hter wed to Easar’s third son and a son to Paitar’s favorite granddaughter, as well as a brother and two sisters married into their Houses

Their cos As always, Ishigari Terasian looked just risen from a stupor after a drunken feast, as fat a man as she had ever seen in a saddle; his fine red coat was rumpled, his eyes bleary, his cheeks unshaven By contrast, Kyril Shianri, tall and lean, and nearly as elegant as Baldhere despite the dust and sweat on his face, with silver bells on his boot tops and gloves as well as fastened to his braids; he wore his usual expression of dissatisfaction and had a way of always peering coolly down his prominent nose at anyone but Paitar Shianri really was a fool in s rarelyinstead on their queens -- but he was ad could have been a larger version of Easar, a siarbedabout hi to be unleashed, while Alesune Chulin was as slim as Serailla was stout, as pretty as Serailla was plain, and as fiery as Serailla was calm Alesune seemed born to her fine, blue silks It ell to re Serailla by her surface was a ht favor you, Ethenielle of Kandor," Easar said gruffly as Ethenielle reined in before theht embrace you, Ethenielle of Kandor" Paitar still had a voice to make women’s hearts beat faster And a ho kneas hers to his bootsoles; Ethenielle doubted that Menuki had ever had a jealous reetings just as short, ending with a direct "I hope you’ve come this far without detection"

Easar snorted and leaned on his cantle, eyeing her gri He had written poetry for his wife There was always ruht as well turn back now"

"You speak of turning back already?" Between his tone and a flip of his tasseled reins, Shianri h civility to forestall a challenge Even so, Agelhtly, awhere each of his weapons was placed Old allies in ht, but those new suspicions swirled

Alesune rayblack hair suddenly seeet that Shienaran woht duels Her title was simply shatayan of the royal household, yet whoever believed any shatayan’s influence stopped at ordering the cooks and rave error "Foolhardiness is not courage, Lord Shianri We leave the Blight all but unguarded, and if we fail, maybe even if we succeed, some of us could find our heads on spikes Perhaps all of us will The White Tower may well see to it if this al’Thor does not"

"The Blight see as he rubbed his fleshy chin "I’ve never seen it so quiet"

"The Shadow never sleeps," Jagad put in quietly, and Terasian nodded as if that, too, was soeneral of them all, one of the best to be found anywhere, but Terasian’s place at Paitar’s right hand had not co coht short of the Trolloc Wars coain," Ethenielle said in a firm voice "I trust you’ve all done as well It hardly h Does anyone believe we truly can turn back now?" Sheno answer, but she received one

"Turn back?" a young woalloped into the gathering, drawing her white gelding up so that he reared flaray sleeves of her narrowskirted riding habit, while redandgold embroidery swirled thickly to emphasize the narrowness of her waist and the roundness of her bosoed to be pretty if not beautiful despite a nose that was overbold at best Large tilted eyes of a dark deep blue certainly helped, but so did a confidence in herself so strong that she seeloith it As expected, the Queen of Saldaea was accompanied only by Kalyan Rarizzled le and thick mustaches that curved down around his mouth Tenobia Kazadi tolerated the counsel of soldiers, but no one else "I will not turn back," she went on fiercely, "whatever the rest of you do I sent on Mazrim Taim, and now he and Taim both follow this al’Thor, if I can believe half what I hear I have close to fifty thousand men behind me, and whatever you decide, I will not turn back until my uncle and al’Thor learn exactly