Chapter 8 - Where Were the Aes Sedai?

  

  Ultimately what to do hadn't ended up being a difficult decision for Taija. Her last encounter with an Aes Sedai hadn't exactly gone well and anyway she didn't even know where this mysterious Aes Sedai was. Probably at the front lines with Lord Agelmar if she knew her duty, but who knew. Either way, Taija's own duty to the Light and to humanity was clear.

  Speaking of Lord Agelmar, while it wasn't the way Taija normally liked to think about things, she needed allies in this world or time and what better way was there to get one than by joining the battle on his behalf?

  With her decision made, it was time for action. Taija turned on her heel and marched off in search of Aleksi. Streams of people seemed to be moving south, mostly women and children, presumably fleeing the city in anticipation of the approaching trolloc army and Taija had to push her way through the crowd. Fortunately Aleksi hadn't left the inn before she found him on his own way out with his bow across his back and staff in hand.

  Taija didn't waste time with pleasantries. "Aleksi, I need to go. There's an army of shadowspawn, coming. I can't just stand by and let them fight it alone." He was quite protective of her, she could still visualise the anger on his face when he'd burst into her room thinking she was someone else. "Don't try to stop me! I'm not injured anymore and I'm not some flower to…"

  Aleksi cut her off mid-sentence. "I know. I'm coming with you."

  Taija's seamlessly switched tracks. "No, you can't! It's too dangerous, there are tens of thousands of trollocs, myddraal and worse out there. You're not a trained warrior, you can't channel and," Taija lowered her voice, "and I think the Shienarans are going to lose."

  Aleksi looked disappointed at her words, "maybe I'm not, maybe they will. But you can't expect me to wait here, letting other people die to protect me. You said it yourself, it's dangerous, you'll need someone to watch your back."

  The hard set of his face was enough to tell Taija she wouldn't be able to convince him otherwise. Also he did have a point, she could hardly say she couldn't stand aside and then ask him to. It would admittedly be good to have someone to watch her back too. She didn't know these Shienarans and a lone fighter was often a dead fighter.

  So, after a moment's thought she gave in. "Fine! But you obey every order I give you or I'll tie you up in air and leave you behind." She paused long enough for Aleksi to nod and ignored the excited grin that spread across his face. He'd never been in a battle before. Lucky him. He'd learn though. Sadly. "Follow me, I want to get out of sight."

  She strode up to her room, Aleksi trailing behind. As soon as the door was shut behind them she embraced saidar spinning an inverted web to skim in the direction of Tarwin's Gap.

  It was only a short journey that time and the two of them emerged onto dusty ground surrounded by looming mountains. Taija took a moment to appraise them, they could be beautiful, but as it was there was something subtly ugly about them, something she didn't like at all.

  There was very little alive around them and what little plant life there was looked sickly and smelt of disease. Those must be the signs of the Blight that she'd read about.

  In the distance to their north Taija could see what she hoped was the Shienaran army preparing for battle. While she could faintly hear shouted orders and the call of trumpets, she didn't think there were the sounds of battle, no screams for one thing. She could only hope they weren't too late.

  She briefly considered Traveling, directly to the Shienaran lines, but that risked a surprised soldier stabbing her. It wasn't far anyway and she could do with the time to think. So instead the two of them headed towards the army on foot, plans whirling through Taija's mind.

  The problem was that she had very little idea what the battle would be like. Presumably the forces of the Shadow would be just as backwards as everyone else here was, or else they'd have had no trouble marching south in the past.

  Only having to face arrows, swords and spears must surely change things. Also, given the way people talked about Aes Sedai and the fact that she had encountered so few of them herself, there couldn't be many involved on either side. This would drastically change the dynamics. Still, she would need to be careful. Over confidence had been the end of many an Aes Sedai on the battlefield.

  It wasn't long before they were spotted and a squad of riders came galloping back from the army to interrupt her musings.

  Their leader called out as they reigned in their horses. "What are you doing woman? Do you wish to die today or are you a darkfriend here to help the Shadow? I can see that you are no Shienaran."

  Taija didn't break her stride. "My name is Taija Kosola Miranen and I am an Aes Sedai. We have come to help you with your fight against the forces of the Dark One. Please take us to Lord Agelmar at once so that I can discuss how I can best help." It was offensive being asked if she was a darkfriend, but it wasn't an unreasonable question.

  The Shienaran officer hesitated. "Honour to you Aes Sedai, but…" Taija could see the doubt in his face as he looked her over. ""You must understand I have no knowledge of you. Why are you on foot and coming with no warning? Where have you come from to not be seen by the scouts?"

  It was annoying, but the man had a point. She should have brought a horse! She must look ridiculous too, walking in the middle of nowhere in this stupid dress. Still, she didn't have time to argue. "I am an Aes Sedai and there is no time for discussion." Taija channeled, forming an illusion of front of her in the shape of the symbol of the aes sedai, sinuous white and black balancing each other and forming a circle together. "Do you need to see more? Do your comrades have time for it before the trollocs attack?"

  The man hesitated again and then bowed low in the saddle, apparently unwilling to challenge her further. "My apologies aes sedai. I am sergeant Nerinmar. We shall bring you to Lord Agelmar at once." He pointed to two of his soldiers, "Kayo, Aika your horses for the Aes Sedai and her warder. You will have to walk back."

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  Both soldiers bowed in the saddle the same way he had and immediately dismounted without protest. A minute later Taija was galloping back towards the army with the rest of the squad, desperately trying to pretend she knew how to ride and avoid falling off her horse. The soldiers riding beside her were definitely giving her odd looks.

  When they reached the main body of the army they reigned in their horses, slowing to a trot, except for Sergeant Nerinmar who pulled ahead to 'prepare the way to Lord Agelmar'.

  It wasn't long before they reached a cluster of mounted soldiers with an older man in the centre, his head shaved other than a top knot. His ornate armour seemed to mark him out as a man of some importance, presumably the lord.

  Sergeant Nerinmar quickly introduced her, "this is her Lord Agelmar, Taija Sedai." There was a slight hesitation before the word 'sedai'.

  Lord Agelmar turned to face Taija. "Be welcome Taija Sedai, it warms my heart that the White Tower is able to provide help to us in this time of need. I am only saddened that I was not able to provide you with the hospitality of Fal Dara before you arrived here."

  Taija noticed his eyes flick to her hand and back to her face. There seemed to be a lot of tension in the air, the soldiers' hands hovering over their swords as Lord Agelmar continued. "I beg forgiveness for my rudeness aes sedai, but you do not have the look of your sisters."

  Taija hesitated. This was a dangerous situation, clearly something she'd done had made him suspicious. Possibly it was the appearing out of thing air without a horse, she really should have thought of that. Regardless, she certainly didn't have time for the truth, so hopefully she could bluff being one of this world's aes sedai successfully. It she was lucky they'd be looking for reasons to believe her given their situation.

  "Lord Agelmar, when I heard of your plight, of Shienar's plight, I couldn't do anything but rush immediately to the battlefield to help. I've had little time for anything else. As for my looks," Taija tried for an innocent smile, "not all Aes Sedai have the same appearance."

  Lord Agelmar's eyes narrowed, it was rather strange thinking of someone as a lord. Hereditary nobility was a deeply archaic concept. However, before he could interject Taija wrenched her mind away from social hierarchies and barreled on. "The most important thing is that I'm here to help. I'm not as experienced in the ways of war here in the Borderlands as I'd hope, so please just tell me where my talents will be most useful in supporting your men and I will go there."

  There was a long pause and then Lord Agelmar reached a decision. "Where the fighting is heaviest aes sedai. That is where you will be most needed. Sergeant Nerinmar will take you to the vanguard and ensure that you are kept safe." He gave Taija a bow, much shallower than the sergeant's earlier one. After a moment he continued, "by the way, may I ask which ajah you claim Taija Sedai?"

  Shit. Taija could remember from her reading that the aes sedai were divided into coloured ajahs, but the book hadn't said what the significance was or at least she hadn't reached that part. Anyway they were clearly misusing the word ajah, not that that helped her now. After a moment's thought she picked one, mainly because it was her favourite colour. "The Red Ajah Lord Agelmar."

  His eyebrows rose and he glanced at Aleksi, for a second Taija thought she'd made a mistake, but then he continued smoothly on. "Of course Taija Sedai."

  The two Shienarans exchanged a significant look and then Sergeant Nerinmar was back in front of Taija. "Please, follow me Aes Sedai."

  Taija hardly considered herself a master politician, but she could tell that Lord Aglemar didn't fully believe her. However, he must have accepted her story to some degree as no swords had been drawn. She suspected that she was being put where she was because it gave them the best opportunity to kill her if she did turn out to be a darkfriend. Certainly in the vanguard of their forces wasn't where she'd expect a channeler to have the most impact. However, if she wanted to be trusted she had little choice but to acquiesce to Lord Agelmar's wishes. If she was right about the poor weaponry available to the trollocs it wasn't like stealth would be as important as usual anyway.

  When they reached the frontline, almost in the centre of the Shienaran army, Taija could see the seething mass of shadowspawn only 500 or so metres a way. Hundreds of black cloaked myrddraal were riding back and forth in front of an uncountable horde of trollocs. The dots of what were probably draghkar circled in the sky above them.

  It was certainly different. If an army had lined up like this in Taija's world it would have ceased to exist within minutes. Artillery, shock lances, the Power. None of these were friendly to massed formations in the open. Even the distance was wrong. A few hundred metres might protect you from arrows, but it wasn't much of a barrier to the Power.

  There was a tension in the air as the armies faced off against each other. The human forces were vastly outnumbered, but were clearly ready to sell their lives dearly. Taija herself shifted from foot to foot trying to stifle her own nervousness. Aleksi's excitement at her side wasn't helping.

  The troops around Taija shifted, some falling back and new ones taking their places. A grizzled, scarred man who probably scared small children just by looking at them gave her a low bow and said that they were there to make sure that no harm came to 'the honoured aes sedai'. With the hard looks the new soldiers gave her, Taija had no doubt that they were also there to make sure that the 'honoured' aes sedai didn't turn out to be a darkfriend. Still, they were faultlessly polite and respectful.

  It felt like hours of waiting, but Taija suspected it had only been ten or twenty minutes before horns started to wail amidst the trollocs. A moment later a roar swelled up from their ranks and the wall of shadowspawn surged towards her and the Shienaran lines.

  Taija was vaguely aware of Aleksi taking up position by her shoulder while around her swords were unsheathed, lances set and spears readied. She had more important things on her mind though, opening herself further to saidar, feeling the trickle of the Power increase to a flood. However, for now she held back, this was a marathon, not a sprint, limiting her channeling to a tied off shield of air above her to protect her from arrows. Some proper armour would have been nice…

  Taija knew she was already a bit worn down, that she needed to preserve her energy, so she kept holding off as the trolloc horde got closer. 400 metres, 350 metres, 300, the range was closing, bestial howls creating an overwhelming noise battering her ears. Deadly, sleek myrddraal led the charge on coal black horses.

  A huge flight of arrows went over Taija's head, towards the onrushing monsters and even as the Shienarans yelled battle cries, leveling their weapons Taija decided the enemy was close enough and she wouldn't be burning energy unnecessarily.

  Calmly she picked her targets, pacing herself. An instant later flows of earth, fire and spirit connected her with the five closest myrddraal and they simply exploded in a flash of black blood and gore. A beat of her heart and another five met the same fate. And again. And again.

  The part of the trolloc horde in front of her actually hesitated as their leadership rapidly died, those at the front stumbling, falling and being trampled by the monsters behind them. At the same time the Shienarans cheered and hollered, breaking into a charge towards the stunned beasts.

  Taija followed behind at a more sedate pace, surrounded by her escorts. There were no more myrddraal within easy range. No doubt they were around, but spotting them was difficult, so she drew on saidar, forming a large, more complex web of air, fire and water above the closest clump of wavering trollocs.

  An eerie howl started to echo through the air as her web began to rotate, gathering air into razor sharp shards. It rose in pitch with the accelerating blades of air until with a thought she brought it down into the trollocs. Fifty of them vanished in sprays of blood and bone.

  Taija continued her slow, measured advance, face a mask of expressionless focus as she swept her web left and right, blades passing through trollocs like a knife through butter.

  It didn't take long, a few seconds perhaps. The trollocs closest to her broke and ran. Taija wasn't surprised given the lack of myddraal to stiffen their spines, that was why she'd started with them.