Page 252 (1/1)

Rand looked at Aviendha "Do you also counsel delay?"

"I counsel that you listen to Moiraine Sedai Only fools ignore Aes Sedai"

"What could be at the docks rowled, then shook his head There was a saying in the Two Rivers, not that anybody said it where women could hear "The Creator made women to please the eye and trouble the mind" Aes Sedai were certainly no different in one respect "One hour"

The sun was not yet high enough to lift the city wall’s long shadow froons were lined up, but he still e handkerchief It was only partly the heat thatinto the river at either end of the row of docks ht in it There were nothing but broad, roundbowed grain barges docked here, and the sa their turn to unload He had considered slipping onto one when it cast off, but itht the slow passage downriver would take him anywhere except to his death, he would have Lanfear had not returned to his dreams, but he had the burns on his chest to re one of the Chosendown his face

If only he kneho to trust; to the extent it was possible to trust any of his fellow Darkfriends The last of his drivers who had sworn the oaths had vanished two days ago, very likely on one of the grain barges He still did not knohich Aiel woon door --"You are not alone ah he had several possibilities in mind The docks held almost as many Aiel as they did workmen, come to stare at the river; he had seen a few of those faces more often than seely A few Cairhienin had as well, and a Tairen lord Thatby itself, of course, but if he could find a few ateways, Moiraine and Rand al’Thor leading the ith the Aes Sedai’s Warder as they threaded though the carts hauling grainsacks away A wave of cheers rode with theon!" and now and again "Glory to Lord Matrim! Glory to the Red Hand!"

For once the Aes Sedai turned doard the tail end of the line of wagons without so lad Even if she had not been Aes Sedai, even if she had not looked at him as if she knew every black corner of his mind, he would as soon not have looked too closely at soons with Yesterday evening she had made him strip the canvas off that oddly twisted redstone doorfraon just behind his She see him help her himself hatever she wanted to study He would have covered the thing up again if he could bear to go near it, or could make any of his drivers do so None with hih it in Rhuidean and half disappear -- Herid had been the first to run away once they cleared the Jangai; the ht in the head after the Warder hauled him back -- but they could look at it, see the way the corners did not meet properly, how you could not follow it around with your eyes without blinking and growing dizzy

Kadere ignored the first three riders as nored hi his hat; he had never been able to find a replace Aes Sedai’s saddle, both with their skirts pushed up to show their legs If he needed any confir al’Thor, he only had to see the way she looked at him; a woman who had taken a ht of ownership in her eyes after More importantly, Natael ith them This was the first ti the Spine of the World Natael, who stood high in the Darkfriends If he could get past the Maidens to reach Natael

Suddenly Kadere blinked Where were the Maidens? Al’Thor always had an escort of spearwielding wole Maiden aoing to look at an old friend, Hadnan?"

Thatat a hatchetnosed face, dark eyes almost hidden by rolls of fat "Keille?" It was impossible No one survived alone in the Waste except Aiel She had to be dead But there she stood, white silk straining over her bulk, ivory co tall in her dark curls

A faint srace that still surprised hihtly, clion

For a moment he hesitated, then hurried after her He would as soon Keille Shaogi really had died in the Waste -- the woetting a penny of the little he had h as Jasin Natael Perhaps she would answer a few questions At the least, he would have someone to ith At the worst, soh, but so did blame for the failures of those beneath you More than once he had fed his superiors to those still higher up in order to cover hi the door, he turned -- and would have screaht for sound

The woman who stood there hite silk, but she was not fat She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, eyes like dark, botto her narroaist, silver crescents in her shi black hair Kadere knew that face fro to the floor shook breath loose "Great Mistress," he said hoarsely, "howat an insect, one sheyour obedience to my commands I have been too busy to watch Rand al’ThorCairhien, what he plans to do"

"It is difficult, Great Mistress One such as myself cannot come close to such as he" An insect, those cool eyes said, allowed to live so long as it was useful Kadere racked his brain for everything he had seen or heard or ie nuh I do not knohy The Tairens and Cairhienin do not seem to notice, but I don’t think they can tell one Aiel from another" Neither could he He would not dare lie to her, but if she thought he had more use than he did He has founded a school of soed to a House with no survivors " At first there was no way to tell whether she liked what she was hearing, but as he went on,