Page 176 (1/1)

Ar steel plates down their chests and dull black helmets shaped like insects’ heads, sat their saddles or stood beside their horses, staring at her and the e the theildedandpainted hel There oray dresses and wide silver collars, and stood staring intently at those coate, each with another woman close behind her as if ready to speak into her ear Two other wo a little apart, ide, divided skirts that came well short of their ankles, and panels e bolts on their boso on a palanquin borne by eight y black trousers The sides of her scalp were shaved so that only a wide crest of black hair re, creamcolored robe worked in flowers and birds on blue ovals was carefully arranged to show her skirts of pleated white, and her fingernails were a good inch long, the first two on each hand lacquered blue

"Liandrin Sedai," Egwene asked uneasily, "do you knoho these people are?" Her friends fingered their reins as if wondering whether to mount and run, but Liandrin replaced the Avendesora leaf and stepped forward confidently as the Waygate began to close

"The High Lady Suroth?" Liandrin said,it halfway between a question and statement

The women on the palanquin nodded fractionally "You are Liandrin" Her speech was slurred, and it took Egwene a moment to understand "Aes Sedai," Suroth added with a twist to her lips, and athe soldiers "We must be done here quickly, Liandrin There are patrols, and it would not do to be found You would enjoy the attentions of the Seekers for Truth no more than I I one"

"What are you talking about?" Nynaeve de about, Liandrin?"

Liandrin laid a hand on Nynaeve’s shoulder and one on Egwene’s "These are the two of whom you were told And there is another" She nodded toward Elayne "She is the DaughterHeir of Andor"

The to the party in front of the Waygate -- they carried coils of sowene noticed -- and the bareheaded soldier came with the up above his shoulder, and he wore a casual save no sign of agitation; otherwise Egould have juently, "who are these people? Are they here to help Rand and the others, too?"

The hooknosed man suddenly seized Min and Elayne by the scruffs of their necks, and in the next instant everything seemed to happen at once The man yelled a curse, and a wowene could not be sure Abruptly the breeze was a gale that whipped away Liandrin’s angry shout in clouds of dirt and leaves and roan Horses reared and whinnied shrilly And one of the wowene’s neck

Cloak flapping like a sail, Egwene braced against the wind and tugged at what felt like a collar of sers, it felt all of one piece, though she knew it had to have some kind of clasp The silvery coils the wowene’s shoulder, their other end joining a bright bracelet on the wowene hit the woered and fell to her knees herself, head ringing It felt as if a large ht once more, the wind had died A number of horses wandered loose, Bela and Elayne’sand picking the dust and leaves froroggily trying to rise further The hooknosedblood Min’s knife lay just out of her reach, the blade stained red along one side Nynaeve and Elayne were nowhere to be seen, and Nynaeve’s one, too So were some of the soldiers, and one of the pairs of wowene could see now that they were linked by a silver cord just like the one that still joined her to the wo her cheek as she squatted beside Egwene; there was a bruise already co brown eyes, she was pretty, and perhaps as much as ten years older than Nynaeve "Your first lesson," she said emphatically There was no animosity in her voice, but what almost sounded like friendliness "I will not punish you further this tiht damane Know this You are a damane, a Leashed One, and I am a sul’dam, a Holder of the Leash When damane and sul’dam are joined, whatever hurt the sul’dam feels, the damane feels twice over Even to death So you must remember that you may never strike at a sul’dam in any way, and you must protect your sul’dam even more than yourself I am Renna How are you called?"

"I awene ave nothe wo to pry the bracelet from her wrist, but rejected it Even if the soldiers did not try to stop her -- and so far they seeether -- she had the sinking feeling the woht a wince; it did not feel puffy, so perhaps she was not actually growing a bruise to match Renna’s, but it still hurt Her left eye, and Renna’s left eye She raised her voice "Liandrin Sedai? Why are you letting the in her direction

"The very first thing you must learn," Renna said, "is to do exactly as you are told, and without delay"

Egwene gasped Suddenly her skin burned and prickled as if she had rolled in stinging nettles, from the soles of her feet to her scalp She tossed her head as the burning sensation increased

"Many sul’dam," Renna went on in that almost friendly tone, "do not believe damane should be allowed naiven But I ae of your training, and I will allow you to keep your own name If you do not displease me too far I am mildly upset with you now Do you really wish to keep o