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"That sounds just fine to me," he told her "Mat’s alive because of it"

"It is terrible, Rand" An urgent note entered her, voice "Why do you think even the Forsaken feared to use it? Think of the effect on the Pattern of a single thread, one man, removed from hours, or days, that have already been woven, like one thread picked partly out of a piece of cloth Frag from the War of Power say several entire cities were destroyed with balefire before both sides realized the dangers Hundreds of thousands of threads pulled froone for days already past; whatever those people had done, now no longer had been done, and neither had what others had done because of their actions The memories remained, but not the actions The ripples were incalculable The Pattern itself nearly unraveled It could have been the destruction of everything World, ti to do with the cold cutting through his coat "I can’t proain, Moiraine You yourself said there are times when it’s necessary to do what’s forbidden"

"I did not think that you would," she said coolly Her agitation was vanishing, her balance restored "But you ain "With a sa’angreal like Callandor, you could annihilate a city with balefire The Pattern could be disrupted for years to come Who can say that the weave would even remain centered on you, ta’veren as you are, until it settled down? Being ta’veren, and so strongly so, in of victory, even in the Last Battle"

"Perhaps it will," he said bleakly In tale after heroic tale, the protagonist proclaimed he would have victory or death It seemed that the best he could hope for was victory and death "I have to check on so" Gathering the Power into hi layers, heinto blackness that ateway, Asasped"Once I’ve done so, I remember how Most of the time" That was no answer, but it was time to test Moiraine’s vows She could not lie, but Aes Sedai could find loopholes in a stone "You are to leave Mat alone tonight And you won’t try to take that s in the Tower for study, Rand It real, but none has ever been found that --"

"Whatever it is," he said firmly, "it is his You will leave it with hile with herself, back stiffening and head co orders froer she had never done that without a tussle Finally she nodded, and even estion of a curtsy "As you say, Rand It is his Please be careful, Rand Learning a thing like balefire by yourself can be suicide, and death cannot be Healed" This ti" Lan followed her as she left, the Warder giving Rand an unreadable expression; he would not be pleased by this turn of events

Rand stepped through the gateway, and it vanished

He was standing on a disc, a sixfoot copy of the ancient Aes Sedai syainst the endless darkness that surrounded him, above and below; he was sure that if he fell off, he would fall forever As, for using a gateway, but he had not been able to teach it, partly because he did not have the strength toLanfear’s shield In any case, Traveling required that you know your starting point very well It seeical to hi well, but As why air was not water There was a great deal that Ash

As soon as he planted his boots on it, the disc lurched what see in front of it Fast enough, especially over this short distance Rand stepped into the hallway outside the rooh the s at the ends of the corridor gave the only light; Asmodean’s lamp was out The flows he had woven around the roo moved, but there was still a faint s close to the bead curtain, he peered through the doorway Moonshadows filled the roo in his blankets Wrapped in the Void, Rand could hear his heartbeat, smell the sweat of troubled dreams He bent to examine the pale blue floor tiles, and the prints impressed in the them was no difficulty Three or four Darkhounds had been there They had approached the doorway one by one, it see almost in the others’ footprints Had the net woven around the room stopped them there? Or had they , to think of even Shadon dogs having that ence But then, Myrddraal used ravens and rats for spies, too, and other animals closely linked to death Shadoweyes, the Aiel called the fine flows of Earth, he s up the cohtcloaked street and a hundred paces fro, anyone would be able to see the trail ending there, but none would suspect that the Darkhounds had gone anywhere near Asmodean Darkhounds could have no interest in Jasin Natael the gleeman

Every Maiden in the city was likely awake by this time; certainly none would still be asleep under the Roof of the Maidens Making another gateway there in the street, a deeper blackness against the night, he let the disc carry him back to his own room He wondered why he had chosen the ancient symbol -- it was his choice, if unconscious; other times it had been a stairstep Or a piece of floor The Darkhounds had oozed away fron will he conquer

Standing in his pitchblack bedchao of saidin Instead he channeled again, careful not to spring any of his own traps, and a piece of the wall vanished, revealing a niche he had carved there hiurines a foot tall, arobes and serene of face, each holding a crystal globe aloft in one hand He had li