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Loial said so the void, as hts as for need You knohat’s waiting But this way I don’t have to touch it The gloas there, the light just out of sight It seehts darted across the surface of the void, visible in that tainted light Saidin The Power Madness Death Extraneous thoughts He was one with the boith the arroith the things topping the next rise

The grolreat, leathery shapes, tripleeyed, with hornycalls rebounded fro his bow, or drawing the fletching against his cheek, to his ear He was one with the beasts, one with the center eye of the first Then the arroas gone The first grolm died; one of its coobbets of flesh It snarled at the others, and they circled wide But they came on, and as if compelled, it abandoned its meal and leaped after them, its horny maw already bloody

Rand worked smoothly, unconsciously, nock and release Nock and release

The fifth arrow left his bow, and he lowered it, still deep in the void, as the fourth grolh the final arrow still flew, somehow he knew there was no need for another shot The last beast collapsed as if its bones hadfronificent, Lord Rand," Hurin said "II’ve never seen shooting like that"

The void held Rand The light called to him, and hereachedtoward it It surrounded him, filled hiave a start, the eht, ertips It was dry; he felt as if it should have been covered with sweat "II’rows easier each time you do it, I’ve heard," Selene said "The lanced at her "Well, I won’t need it again, not for a while" What happened? I wanted toHe still wanted to, he realized with horror He wanted to go back into the void, wanted to feel that light filling hiain It had seemed as if he were truly alive then, sickliness and all, and noas only an i what "alive" would be like All he had to do was reach out to saidin

"Not again," he rolerous any bark, all too farolm, beyond the next hill, and others answered it Still more came, from the east, from the west

Rand half raised his bow

"How many arrows do you have left?" Selene derolo to the Portal Stone"

"She is right, Rand," Loial said slowly "You do not have any choice now" Hurin atching Rand anxiously The grolreed reluctantly Angrily he threw hi the bow on his back "Lead us to this Stone, Selene"

With a nod she turned her mare and heeled it to a trot Rand and the others followed, they eagerly, he holding back The barks of grolrol in from every direction but the front

Swiftly and surely Selene led the ofso the horses scra rocky outcrops and the sparse, fadedlooking brush that clung to theto ht, the fifth time Red slipped and slid backwards in a shower of stone Loial threw his quarterstaff aside; it would be of no use against grol; he used one hand to haul himself up, and pulled his tall horse behind hi, but easier than with Loial on its back Grolm barked behind them, closer now

Then Selene drew rein and pointed to a hollow nestled below theranite It was all there, the seven wide, colored stairs around a pale floor, and the tall stone column in the middle

She dismounted and led her mare into the hollon the stairs to the column It loomed over her She turned to look back up at Rand and the others The grol barks, scores of them, loud Near "They will be on us soon," she said "You rolot down from his saddle and led Red into the hollow Loial and Hurin followed hastily He stared at the symbolcovered column, the Portal Stone, uneasily She must be able to channel, even if she doesn’t know it, or it couldn’t have brought her here The Power doesn’t haran, but she interrupted him

"I knohat it is," she said firmly, "but I do not kno to use it You must do what er than the others, with a finger A triangle standing on its point inside a circle "This stands for the true world, our world I believe it will help if you hold it in your mind while you" She spread her hands as if unsure exactly what it was he was supposed to do

"Uhmy Lord?" Hurin said diffidently "There isn’t lanced over his shoulder at the ris will be here ina deep breath, Rand put his hand on the symbol Selene had pointed out He looked at her to see if he was doing it right, but she htest frown of worry wrinkling her pale forehead She’s confident you can save her You have to The scent of her filled his nostrils

"Uhht the void It ca up around hiht, wavering in a way that turned his stomach Emptiness except for saidin But even the queasiness was distant He was one with the Portal Stone The coluhtly oily under his hand, but the triangleandcircle seeet theht drifted toward him, it seemed, surrounded him, a