Page 77 (1/1)

"You remember, Therava! All of you remember! If I am left for the vultures, so will you be! I have lances, all but Therava, and Modarra and Norlea frowned

Slu in vain to soothe her skin with her hands, Galina found herself wondering what these threats h bitterness and selfpity Anything she could use against these woht

Abruptly she realized that the sky was turning dark Billowing clouds were rolling down fro the sun And beneath the clouds fell flurries of snoirling in the air None reached the ground -- few fell as far as the treetops -- but Galina gaped Snow! Had the Great Lord loosened his grip on the world for soing open as if they had never seen clouds, much less snow

"What is this, Galina Casban?" Therava demanded "Speak if you know!" She did not look away from the sky until Galina told her it was snow, and when she did it was to laugh "I always thought the men who ran down Laman Treekiller lied about snow This could not ha about snowfalls, aghast that her instinct had been to curry favor Aghast as well at the save I ahest of the Red Ajah! she reminded herself I sit on the Supreme Council of the Black Ajah! They sounded like lies This was not fair!

"If we are done here," Sevanna said, "I will take the gai’shain back to the great roof and see her put in white You can remain and stare at the snow if you wish" Her tone was so sht her at daggers’ points only moments earlier She looped her shawl over her elbows and adjusted so in the world concerned her ai’shain" Therava told her just as s day and ht ahead of you if we are to ain, but Therava estured sharply at Galina before turning to go "Co"

Head down, Galina scrambled to her feet and scurried after Therava and the other wo, but never pouting! Her thoughts scrabbled like rats in a cage, finding no hope of escape There had to be one! There had to be! One thought that surfaced in the ain Were gai’shain robes softer than the scratchy black wool she had been forced to wear so far? There had to be a way out! A hasty glance back through the trees showed Sevanna still standing there, glaring after the snow melted like Galina’s hopes

Chapter 12

(Snakey Square)

New Alliances

Graendal wished there had been even a sis she had rehtful usually, primitive and uncoe at the far end of the roo melodiously, al as her two pets in transparent robes aited on either side of the door, their gazes locked on her, eager to serve her pleasure If oil lae mirrors on the walls they produced a certain barbaric splendor with the gilded fishscale ceiling It would have been nice to need only speak the words, but actually putting them on paper with her own hand produced a pleasure akin to that she felt in sketching The script of this Age was quite si to duplicate another’s style had been nowith a flourish -- not her own nae, then folded it and sealed it with one of the signet rings of various sizes thattable The Hand and Sword of Arad Doreen wax

"Take this to Lord Ituralde with all speed," she said, "and say only what I told you"

"As fast as horses can carry er stroking thin blacks blue coat, he was handsome; just not sufficiently handsome "I received this fro me that she was a courier from Alsalam and had been attacked by a Gray Man"

"Make sure there is human blood on it," she admonished She doubted anyone in this time could tell human blood from any other, but she had found too h for realisered warhtened he hurried to the door, boots thudding on the pale yellow marble floor He did not notice the servants with their eyes fixed ardently on her, or affected not to notice, though he had once been a friend of the young man Only a touch of Compulsion had been needed to make Nazran nearly as avid to obey as they, not to ain She laughed softly Well, he believed he had tasted theht have Of course, he would have been useless for anything else then He would ride horses to death reaching Ituralde, and if that e, delivered by Alsala hi to stop it, did not satisfy the Great Lord’s co would, short of balefire And it would serve her own ends very nicely as well Her own ends

Graendal’s hand went to the only ring on the table that was not a signet, a plain golden band too ser It had been a pleasant surprise to find an angreal attuned to wo Sammael’s possessions A pleasant surprise to have ti useful with al’Thor and those puppies who called themselves Asha’man constantly in and out of Sammael’s chambers in the Great Hall of the Council They had stripped it bare of what she had not taken Dangerous puppies, all of them, especially al’Thor And she had not wanted to risk anyone being able to draw a line from Sammael to her Yes, she must increase the pace of her own plans, and distance herself from