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"Never rode that hard unless as chasing therin faded when the"Well, my Lord, I seen the horses, and I reckoned --" The man took another look at his face and cut off that line "Well, actually, I got some news, too I been over to New Braem to see my sister, and I heard plenty"
New Braem was older than Andor -- "old" Braem had been destroyed in the Trolloc Wars, a thousand years before Artur Haing -- and it was a good place for news A sized border toell to the east of his estates, on the road froase’s current attitude, the merchants would keep that road busy "Well, out with it,to figure where to start,a report "Most important, I reckon, they say Tear has fallen Aielmen took the Stone itself, and the Sword That Cannot Be Touched has flat been touched Somebody drew it, they say"
"An Aielman drew it?" Bryne said incredulously An Aiel would die before he touched a sword; he had seen it happen, in the Aiel War Though it was said Callandor was not really a sword at all Whatever that meant
"They didn’t say, my Lord I heard na it like fact, not rumor Like everybody knew"’
Bryne’s forehead creased in a frown Worse than troubling, if true If Callandor had been drawn, then the Dragon was Reborn According to the Prophecies, thatfree The Dragon Reborn would save the world, so the Prophecies said And destroy it This was news enough by itself to have set Halle galloping, if he had thought twice
But the leathery felloas not finished "Word co, my Lord They say there’s a new Amyrlin Seat Elaida,suddenly, Halle hurried on; Morgase was forbidden ground, and every h Bryne had never said so "They say the old Aain died, too That false Dragon they caught and gentled last year They talked it like it was true, my Lord Some of theain was no great news, even if he had started a war in Ghealdan by claion Reborn There had been several false Dragons the last few years He could channel, though; that was a fact Until the Aes Sedai gentled hientled, cut off froain They said ons or just poor fools the Red Ajah took against, never lived long It was said they gave up wanting to live
Siuan Sanche, though, that was news He had o A woh as an old boot, with a tongue like a file and a temper like that of a bear with a sore tooth He would have expected her to tear any upstart clai was the sa for a man, but more rare by far Especially for an Amyrlin Seat Only two Amyrlins in three thousand years had suffered that fate, so far as the Tower adh it was possible they could have hidden two dozenwhat they wanted hidden But an execution on top of stilling see no better than
It all stank of trouble Everyone knew the Tower had secret alliances, strings tied to thrones and powerful lords and ladies With a new Amyrlin raised in this fashion, some would surely try to test whether the Aes Sedai still watched as closely And once this fellow in Tear quelled any opposition -- not that there was likely to be ainst Illian or Cairhien The question was, how quickly could he ainst hion Reborn, but the Houses would go both ways, and the people, too And if petty squabbles broke out because the Tower --
"Old fool," he ive a start, he added, "Not you Another old fool" None of this was his affair any longer Except to decide which way House Bryne went, when the time came Not that anyone would care, except to knohether or not to attack hie
"Uh,with their horses "Do you think youwhere or why He was not the only one bored with country life "Catch up to us when you have your gear together We’ll be heading south on the Four Kings Road to start" Bari his horse behind hi his arm forithout a word, and the men fell into a column of twos behind him as they headed down the oak lane He meant to have answers If he had to take this Mara by the scruff of the neck and shake her, he would have answers
The High Lady Altei open and her carriage rolled in She had not been certain they would open It had surely taken long enough to get a note taken in, and longer still to have a reply Her led and all but bounced on the seat across fro the palace
Snapping open her lace fan, Alteima tried to cool herself It was still well short of roorse yet To think she had always thought of Andor as cool Hastily she reviehat she meant to say one last time She was a pretty woe brown eyes that made some mistakenly think her innocent, even harmless She knew she was neither, but it suited her very well to have others believe her so Especially here, today This carriage had taken aled to carry ahen she fled Tear If she was to reestablish herself, she needed powerful friends, and there was none more powerful in Andor than the woe halted near a fountain in a colued courtyard, and a servant in redandwhite livery rushed to open the door Alteiahead Black hair spilled to thecap of seed pearls, and own of watery green silk She hada state visit; a woman who radiated power, as reserved and stately as one should expect of a queen, and also proper, in the Andoran way Which meant prim The rumors in the city that she had a lover -- a man not much liked, it seemed -- did not fit that very well, of course But froown and the high n