Knife of Dreams: Prologue

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author: Cariyad Teridal

Wheel and Serpent Chapter Icon.png


Embers Falling on Dry Grass


Chapter Icon: Wheel and Serpent

Points of View: Galad, Rodel, Suroth, Pevara, Perrin, Egwene

Outline

Galad kills Valda and becomes Lord Captain Commander of the Children of the Light. Rodel Ituralde manages to destroy some Seanchan stores. Semirhage tells Suroth the Seanchan Empress and her family were all killed and that Suroth could be the new ruler if she kills Tuon. Pevara continues hunting for the Black Ajah and plans on Red sisters bonding Asha'man. Alviarin orders a close watch on Doesine and Yukiri. Galina is kidnapped and meet Perrin persuading him to delay attacking the Shaido for a few days and agreeing to pass a message to his wife which she does not intend to do. Egwene is brought to the White Tower, reduced to novice and learns she would be dosed with forkroot during the day and shielded during the night, she would also be punished by the Mistress of Novices regularly for keep saying she is Aes Sedai and Amyrlin.

Summary

Galad's Point of View:

Setting: Amadicia

Characters: Dain Bornhald, Eamon Valda, Galadedrid Damodred, Jaret Byar, Rhadam Asunawa, Trom '

Galad rides with Byar, Bornhald and Trom, who is newly promoted, to Valda's mansion. Bornhald looks hung over and Byar talks about how he has done dark things, but some things are too dark to be allowed. Trom tells Valda that a Child under his command wishes to claim the right of Trial by combat. Asunawa says no, but Valda says he wants to revive old traditions and allows it. Galad accuses him of murdering Morgase. Asunawa tries to stop it and orders Galad's arrest, but the Children do not let this happen. Galad and Valda fight, Byar warned Galad of the way Valda likes to attack. Valda tries to put him off by telling him what a good ride Morgase was. Galad warns Dain to watch Asunawa, even if he wins. Galad gets in the first cut, but after that, Valda cuts him several times. He pretends to be weakening and growing reckless and when Valda tries to finish him, strikes and kills Valda.

Asunawa leaves as soon as it is over, taking his men with him. Trom offers to release Galad from the Children to save him from Asunawa, but he declines. He tells them they should ally themselves with anyone who will fight the Seanchan and the Last Battle, even if that means Aes Sedai or Asha'man. Trom reveals that according to law, Galad is now Lord Captain Commander. Galad thinks this is foolishness.




Rodel's Point of View:

Setting: Tarabon

Characters: Rodel Ituralde, Tornay Lanasiet


Rodel is with Taraboners and Domani, just outside Serana in Tarabon, where the Seanchan have been building their own villages. He judges the discipline in the camp to be slack. Some of his men ride forward to attract attention and draw out the Seanchan, enabling the bowmen to kill the damane, sul'dam and the officer. They quickly finish off the rest of the archers. A third volley takes out most of the survivors, with a few being allowed to flee. They burn the stores.




Suroth's Point of View:

Setting: The Tarasin Palace, Ebou Dar

Characters: Liandrin, Lunal Galgan, Mikhel Najirah, Semirhage, Suroth

Suroth lies awake worrying about Tuon. She believes her to be dead, but is unsure. She has realised that Tylin was not killed by an Aes Sedai, but believes it was by a damane, one of those that fled, though she does not believe that Seta or Renna could have been involved and has dismissed Egeanin's disappearance as coincidence. The disappearance of Tuon's personal bodyguards has also given her hope. She wonders who Tuon is aiming at if she does indeed still live. In seventeen days, all she has found is a story of Tuon extorting money from a goldsmith, which she has dismissed as ridiculous

Liandrin enters. She has killed Alwhin as she believed that Suroth wanted her dead, but it was clumsily done. She instructs Liandrin to have herself beaten. Liandrin takes her to Banner-General Mikhel Najirah, who angers her by merely kneeling instead of lying prostrate. He takes her to Lunal Galgan, who leads the armies of the Return, though he is accepting her rule. She thinks this is so that he does not have to face responsibility for Tuon's disappearance. Seven supply camps have been destroyed, plus numerous supply trains, small outposts and patrols. He sounds as if he admires Rodel's strategy, much to her annoyance. She demands that nine in every ten raken in Amadicia and Altara are set to looking for the bands against his advice, as he feels that with seven thousand deserters in Amadicia, they are needed there. Suroth does not trust Asunawa and the Children who remained in Amadicia and is considering making them da'covale. She tells him to make sure Rodel is hounded into Arad Doman and the Blight if necessary. She walks back, angry.

In her room, Semirhage appears, masked in fire. Semirhage says that she could make Suroth the ruler of this side of the ocean. When Suroth tells her that she would be punished by the Empress for this, she is told the Empress Radhanan and all her family are dead. Tuon is the only survivor and the Empire is in chaos and revolt. Semirhage seems to suggest that it is the Deathwatch Guards who are involved with an impostor. Suroth tells her that she intends to become Empress if it means killing the Empress (Tuon). She intends to send Elbar with fifty men for every one that Musenge has.




Point of View: Pevara

Setting: The White Tower

Characters: Javindhra, Pevara, Tsutama, Yukiri

Twelve days after Rand has cleansed saidin, Pevara and Javindhra talk with Tsutama, the new Head of the Red Ajah. The third Sitter, Duhara is not present, having left the Tower a week before for unknown reasons. Pevara reflects on how people had thought Tsutama broken on her return from exile, but no longer. Pevara thinks that she is extravagant and perhaps not entirely sane. She believes Javindhra to be Elaida's lapdog, but even she seems pleased at the idea of Elaida's fall. Pevara considers the events that led to Tsutama's downfall to be disgusting. Tsutama reads a letter from Sashalle, in which she reveals that Logain had been Healed and is an Asha'man, that she herself has been Healed and is in charge of the sisters with her and that she and they have sworn fealty to the Dragon Reborn. Sashalle says that she looks forward to re-swearing the Oaths. They reluctantly accept this. Tsutama tells Pevara to move forward with her scheme for the Asha'man. Javindhra is forbidden to mention this to Elaida, which also seems to please her. They leave.

Pevara walks back, thinking that the Tower has less then two hundred sisters. She thinks on whom to approach first with regards to negotiating with the Asha'man. She joins Yukiri, who reveals that Marris Thornhill, one of Atuan's heart, broke and swore to them. As with the others, her one other was out of the Tower, so the hunt has ground to a halt, Yukiri reveals that Talene has received a summons to stand before the High Council of the Black Ajah. Pevara thinks that they can use this to take them all out in one go, but soon realizes that this would be folly. She is asked if Toveine has contacted them and tells almost everything, except the allegations against Elaida that were in the letter. Yukiri says she intends to keep silent as they cannot pull Elaida down in such troubled times. Seaine joins them with the same news. She tells them that Elaida has asked how she is getting on with the investigation into whether Alviarin entered into a treasonous correspondence with the Dragon Reborn: she had not, after all, set them to hunt for the Black Ajah, making it possible that Elaida herself is Black Ajah.




Alviarin's Point of View:

Setting: The White Tower

Characters: Alviarin

In the White Tower, Alviarin worries about the mark the Dark One gave her. She overhears two sisters arguing about the food spoilage and is pleased that it has been noticed. She thinks that the Tower is shattered beyond mending. In her quarters, she learns that Talene has disappeared and orders a close watch on Doesine and Yukiri.




Perrin's Point of View:

Setting: Ghealdan

Characters: Arganda, Berelain, Fager, Galina, Gaul, Perrin

Galina rides alone in the woods, wondering how she is to escape Therava and Sevanna. Fager and Gaul appear, bind her, blindfold her and take her away. She is confused when she overhears them and learns that they know she is Aes Sedai, but nonetheless plans how to deal with Perrin. When meeting him, she is shocked to see he has golden eyes and that Neald is an Asha'man. He reveals that he knows she is afraid, which confuses her more. She warns him against staying, saying that Faile and Alliandre are under her protection and his presence could ruin everything. She tries to convince Berelain, who points out that they are three to four days away with difficult terrain in between them and the Shaido. When she learns that she cannot put him off, she changes her mind and asks him to delay his attack instead. He tells her that she can have a few days, but it is clear that it is only because he is waiting for something. He asks if the Wise Ones are also given to drink, but she tells him they do not touch alcohol. He instructs her to tell Faile to go to Lady Cairen's fortress when wolves howl in the daylight and she agrees, though she does not mean it. She asks Perrin to strike her, so that it will look to Therava that she has been beaten, but he refuses and Berelain does it instead, surprisingly hard.




Egwene's Point of View:

Setting: The White Tower

Characters: Barasine, Berisha Terakuni, Egwene, Felaana, Katerine, Nicola, Pritalle Nerbaijan, Silviana Brehon

Egwene pretends to be unconscious, listening to the women who captured her. She asks who betrayed her and Felaana is forced to stop Katerine from striking her, all three women embracing saidar. She tells them that she converted the chain to cuendillar. She is confused as to why Elaida chose to send women who detested each other. Once she reaches the Tower itself, she sees Nicola, dressed in novice white. Nicola drops her a curtsy and apologizes for running away, calling her the Amyrlin. Pritalle leaves, holding saidar with her Warder guarding her back. Barasine and Katerine intimidate Berisha so that she does not go with them when they take Egwene to Silviana. Melare joins them and tells them they caught the person at Northharbor halfway through and that she was a wilder they did not feel or see using the Power. She tells them the woman is claiming to be Leane Sharif of the Green Ajah and is being beaten for that. Egwene explains what happened to Leane and Melare agrees to question her to see if it could be true.

Once in the Mistress of Novices office, Silviana tells Barasine and Katerine to leave. She asks why Egwene is not hysterical and Egwene merely answers "Would it do any good?" She tells Egwene that she is to be reduced to novice, but Egwene replies that she is Aes Sedai and the Amyrlin Seat. Silviana tells her she will not be shielded during the day, but lightly dosed with forkroot and only shielded at night. Silviana takes her to the novice dorms, telling her that her first beating will be on the following morning. On the way there, Egwene tells them of a Dream she had, that the Seanchan will attack and do great harm to the Tower. Once in her room, she quickly puts herself to sleep and waits until Siuan is asleep and can be visited in her dreams.

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