Ripple Three: Decisions

What could have been romance once has now fallen to foul hatred and cruel intent. The captor faces the saviour. While the storm raged outside the window in the small room, beating against the glass in a rabid rage, a new storm was about to arise inside. The calmness before it was unleashed was all that stalled its pending inevitability. Can the captive Amyrlin escape before it is too late? Can the saviour forgive the captor? Or is she forever lost in the Dark One's grip?

She knew what was going to happen. She knew the Dawn would destroy the Tower, and knew that everyone here would turn or die. Lyn would die fighting rather than give in.. Phylia.. Talia.. Tan.. Sorrid.. all of them would rather die than give in to this madness, and yet here I am, the coward who would destroy them all. Her cold, cold eyes met Tan's as she murmered, "Do you honestly think that I would get a fair trial? I am responsible for the kidnapping of the Amrylin Seat herself, as just the least of my offenses. For all that the Tower preaches fairness, it shows no mercy to one like me. I am forsaken, Tan'qui. Destroy me, or I will destroy you." Leanna was edging along the wall to get out, which was good since Drelle wasn't about ready to shove her along herself.

The wound at her side throbbed painfully, and Drelle was well aware of her strength waning with each aching throb. It will be over soon. She gathered up a Weave of Air and Earth to block any more shards of broken furniture from Tan's pending Weave from hitting the Amyrlin Seat.

He stood straight, but only barely. Why can't this woman understand? Why can't she? Cold eyes met cold eyes as she looked in his eyes. He realized the silver in her eyes was almost gone. It turned white. She was slipping away, and he felt...helpless. He was afraid of her turning to the shadow, all because of one man: "Oberon." He didn't realize he said that, with his soft, cold voice, for something else happened. The thought of her former captor fueled his anger, and he felt so full with anger he felt like exploding. And it did. His anger exploded, turned to rage. He felt his rage taking over, taking over his thoughts, his feelings, his actions. Only a tiny bit of consciousness stayed 'alive'. It fled a corner of his mind to escape the rage, and from there he witnessed himself, or rather, his body, acting.

He growled, and reached for more Saidin. The pain only made him more angry, and he drew *way* more than he possibly could handle. His body seemed to act primitive. Instead of weaving delicate, destructing weaves, it send threads of earth to all 360 degrees. Shocked, Tan realized the threads would quake the whole room, possibly destroying it. Indeed the room shaked, heavily, and pieces of stone fell from the walls and the ceiling, while gaps appeared in the floor. But suddenly it ended, and before Tan could find out why, he noticed his body attacking, Drelle, katana drawn, ready to murder. His shock and fear were helpless against the rage that still filled his body. He could do nothing but watch, witness, with agony in his mind.

The force of the quake in the small room threw Drelle up against the wall between Leanna and the door. She grimaced as pain washed anew through her side, and tried to focus on just staying concious for the moment. As the room swam, something that had little to do with the quaking, she reached up behind her for the dagger hidden beneath her shirt. It wouldn't work against the katana she knew he carried, but it was better than nothing. She moved away from the wall, drew Tan's sight away from Leanna, watched from the corner of her eye as the woman began to creep forward toward the door.

With little warning, Tan's body lurched forward, towards hers. She met his eyes, saw the rage, the agony in them. His katana was drawn, as she expected he might have done. His attack brought down the katana, and it grazed her shoulder as she leapt to the left of him. Drelle gritted her teeth against the pain, and jammed the end of her knife handle onto the bloody stain of his left shoulder, and jumped away again, barely missing tripping over the remnants of the chair that she had been previously sitting in.

He saw Drelle jump to the side, and he felt his Katana hit her flesh, felt the resistance of the soft matter. Noooo!!! he cried, but nothing came out of his mouth, as he was still banned to that far-away region of his mind.

Then, an outburst of pain on his left shoulder made him wanting to crawl up, to roll up into a ball and sleep, to go unconscious. He did, but his body, or this other thing that took over, didn't. A howl of pain escaped his mouth as her dagger ripped his already injured shoulder apart, but as far as Tan could tell, the pain only increased the rage, and thereby strentghened the other one. While Tan himself would probably have fainted from the pain, his body continued, and again he could do nothing but watch, witness, and try to forget the pain.

His left arm now was less than a limb arm, it was a dead wieght, only obstructing him. His body turned to face Drelle, the woman he once thought he loved, the woman he wanted to protect against Oberon, but now, her biggest thread was himself. With another howl, his body leapt towards her again, with a mighty swing of his Katana from right to left, a slash that would tear open her belly if it hit her. Unknowingly, he jumped over the same chair Drelle almost tripped over.

"Don't make me kill you, Tan. Leave while you still can!" She barely missed the katana swing towards her belly. A quick glance to the side told her the Amrylin had finally regained her senses, and was crawling quickly toward the door. With a gasp at a near miss once more of the wildly swinging sword, she gave in and embraced the Source. Grabbing up a strong Weave of Earth and Fire, she sent the baseball-sized ball of Power hurtling toward the arm clutching the sword. Frantically, she searched her mind for remnants of memory from her Battleweaves class.

"Don't make me kill you, Tan. Leave while you still can!" Tan'qui heard her, but he was still out of control. The other person, thing, still was in control of his body. Still desperately trying to get control of his conscious, he barely had the strength to think. But his thoughts were all the same. No way I'm leaving. You'll be brought to justice, Drelle. Either by my body, though not by me, or by the Hall of Justice. Then a strange, ball-like thing hurled towards his sword-arm.

He was sure it was some kind of Weave, and it wouldn't be in his favor. Apparently, the other one also noticed it, but instead of dodging, it struck the ball with his sword. It broke into pieces, pieces of burning ... something, flying over his arm. The fire burned his arm, and the pain made him howl, but his body jumped forward. The pain in his right arm almost made Tan'qui faint, but the other one jumped at Drelle head-first, apparently trying to pump his head into her.

He slammed into her with a tackle she wasn't expecting, and she saw stars. The wound in her side opened again, spilling out more precious blood, and the world swam before her eyes. The force of his momentum slammed both into the wall behind her, and she groaned after her head hit the wall with a resounding THUMP! Tan was screaming something incoherent, and the world was sinking away from her. So this is what its like to die.. The pain in her side was gone. All the pain was gone. She didn't feel a thing as she slipped into oblivion, and the waiting, comforting feel of nothingness.

As his body crashed into hers head-first, Tan'qui felt the pain of the headache he was sure to get later. But the other one apparently didn't notice. He seemed too distracted with something else, and when he looked at it, Tan'qui saw what it was. Drelle! She laid there, unconscious, innocent looking, her long hair spread out like a fan around her head. Even though he knew she wasn't innocent, Tan'qui felt the need to help her out. She has been distracted, there might still be a way to save her. Anyways, she should be properly judged, and for that, she should be kept alive, he thought. But the other one had other plans.

Tan'qui felt him standing up, felt the rage which still had him cornered in a faraway spot of his own mind, while his body slowly brought his Katana up. When he realized the intention, he tried with even more force than before to break free. But for all the strength he could throw into the battle, it was all for naught. It frustrated him, that his own anger, fury, proved to be stronger than his strength.

Desperately he kept on trying, while the hand with his sword moved up, the Katana point-down, aimed for Drelle's chest. Just when the sword started it's quick fall downwards, he wa about to give up. He had tried everything, and all for naught. He felt exhausted and ashamed, for not beign able to take control of his own body. He gave up, and gave in to the fury he battled for so long.

A quick, flash-like moment, like a switch being switched in his mind, and he took control of his mind. By giving in to his fury, he had taken control of it, taken control of his berserking body. But, because he had exhausted himself trying to fight the rage, he didn't have the strength to hold it. With a giant CLANG!, the sword hit the floor just beside Drelle's neck. The force was so great, it broke the tip right off.

He had, after all, been able to save her, but as his rage dissappeared, his pain came back. His head almost made contact to his feet when the pain struck him like a million of red hot needle's, centered on his left shoulder, right arm and his head. He felt like throwing up, laying down and dying. For a few minutes, at least he thought it wasn't that long, he wasn't sure, he sat on his knees and lower legs, his head on the ground between them on the ground. After that, he finally found a little bit of strength, though he thought he had lost everything, and realized Drelle needed help. Her side was colouring red rapidly. Using any bit of reserve strength he could find, he stood up, and tried to strumple to the door.

"Help! Somebody help me! Please!" But his voice, once strong and deep, now sounded ill and faint. He walked like a drunk, and stumbled against the wall next to where the door used to be. The impact on his left shoulder send a new, giant wave of pain through his body, and he fell down. All his strength left his body, and he too, sank away into oblivion.

"Help! Somebody help me! Please!"

When the words reached the Dawn of Blood's ears, he knew something had gone wrong. With a lowered browridge, he motioned for the Dedicated to wait outside once they reached the doorless entry to the room. Receiving a nod, unlike the usual bow and humble words he got from both Aes Sedai and Asha'man alike, the Dawn turned away from his trusted aide.

Opening himself to the well of his powers, a void in the middle of his chest, he stepped into the rather small room in which he had held Drelle captured. Inside, nothing was like it had been when he had left the Novice Drelle behind, a few hours ago. True, the River of True Blood was there still, but she lay wounded by a wall now, blood spreading from her side. Something he did not recognize moved in his mind by the sight, but with a slight frown he looked at the other one. It was the Soldier he had seen enter Eya Sedai's study earlier that day... the one he had ordered Drelle to kill if he showed to be trouble. Tan'qui al'Taya was sitting towards another wall, unconscious after his screams for help.

But more importantly than anything, the Amyrlin was nowhere to be seen, and Drelle had failed him. Fury boiling up in his chest, he ground his teeth hard and struck his fist through the polished wardrobe of Altaran Redwood beside him. Withdrawing his hand, he toppled the empty wardrobe over to crash against the stone floor. Mustering control of himself finally, he cursed mordantly in the Old Tongue and combed back his lustrous dark hair with his fingers.

There is still many things that remain to fall into place. With the Great Lord's luck, I will make sure this disaster doesn't matter in the end, he thought as he walked over to Drelle Tai'shar. Looking down upon her, he crouched down. How could you fail me, cursed woman? How? He stroked some strands of silver hair away from her face while he thought about the next course of action. He wanted to kill her, and at the same time, a small part of him didn't. He frowned at his confused state. He had to be clear-headed this day, this day of all. Was it instinct that stayed his urge to turn her inside out? The Dawn always trusted his instincts, and he hoped he did the right thing when he placed his palm upon the wound. He was going to stop the blood-flow more for the sake of not soiling his white robe than to save her life. His kind of healing was none alike the one the Grey Tower had heard of, nevertheless, it stopped the blood-flow and left the skin with a red scar.

Promptly, he picked up the woman in his arms and walked towards the door whence he had come. Stopping halfway there, he lowered Drelle's head a little to look upon the Soldier. Is he of value to me? the thought set his mind working on the problem, and the answer was close at hand. Obviously, he knew that Drelle was one of us. Thus, he will have to vanish. He left the room to order his aide to deal with the matter.

Yet outside, he found two Drin'far'ji, a man and a woman dressed in their formal uniforms, heading in their direction down the deserted hallway. His dark-haired aide had already seen the two, and awaited them with his arms folded over his chest. When the two reach them, the young trainees bend their knees and tilted their heads to the floor. "Hail to the Shar'rahien. Hail to the Dawn of Blood," they said as one.

"Tyngen en'Ghall and Khenna Cellone," said the Dawn and gave them a slight smile, "you are late. Did you run into problems?"

"No problem anymore, my liege," answered Tyngen, his raven black hair braided in the Arafellin fashion.

"There were two Tower Guards by the last well we poisoned. But they are no more of this world, my liege. They will not be found unless we want them to," concluded Khenna, her Domani accent suiting her copper skin and big brown eyes.

"Good," said the Dawn and nodded over the body he held in his arms. "I have another task for you now. Kill the Soldier inside this room after you find out what he knows. I suggest you do not over-do it, since you are to hide the body without blood trailing the floor from here to the dungeons. When you are done, you know where to find me."

He turned his dark eyes to his aide, "Shield them both, we cannot afford to take any chances," he ordered, and the tall man inclined his head and did as he was told... making sure neither Drelle nor Tan'qui were be able to use their powers and tied of the weaves.

Looking back to the two Drin'far'ji, he narrowed his eyes. "What are you waiting for? Get to it!"

With that, he walked away together with his aide, the latter's black coat flowing behind him. The Dedicated named Hanathiel turned his head to speak. "We need to make sure the third one has completed his task. The tunnel needs to stay open if I'm going to grant you this victory."

"Yes," replied the Dawn of Blood, "It must. We will find him presently. I doubt he will run into problems."

OOC: As you might understand, these events take place before the battle at the Claw Stone in Ripple Six.

Drelle is being interrogated by the Dawn of Blood, here in At the Dawn's Mercy in this Ripple.

The two Drin laid Tan'qui down on the floor, stretched out. "We should stop his bleeding, or he'll pass out again as soon as we manage to awaken him," Khenna said to her dark-haired brother-in-arms. He nodded, and they used a piece of clothing they found there somewhere to stop the worst bleeding.

Quickly, they made a fire, and Tyngen took some long, thin needles from his belt. He heated them in the fire, and went over to the Soldier laying for dead on the floor. He was glad the Dawn made sure he was Shielded, for he didn't want to be the subject of a Soldier's anger. Khenna sat down behind his head, a dagger ready in case he woke up suddenly, and held his left arm.

Tyngen started his cruel business by slowly penetrating the bloody mess that once was the Soldiers left shoulder with the first red-hot needle. Except for a small grunt, the young man didn't seem to give any reaction, and he inserted another. He was determined to get the young man to speak, even if he had to use all his needles all over the Soldier's body.

*****

Pain!!! Stings of pain burned his shoulder, his whole left arm. Pain like someone was sticking needles of fire in his arm. Slowly the pain brought him back from oblivion. "I always thought Healing was supposed to feel cold," his fogged mind thought, before his consciousness fully returned, and he opened his eyes. Only to close them immediately with a howl of pain. Regaining his consciousness also gave him full awareness of the pain, and it was almost enough to shake him right back into unconsciousness.

A cold splash of water hit his face, and a little refreshed he opened his eyes. Two strange Drin'far'ji, one male and one female, stood over him, looking at him. "Thanks guys, for helping me out, but there's anoth... Ouch!". The woman had planted her booth in his side, causing him to collapse for a few moments. But she didn't give him the time to regain himself. With force, she grabbed his uniform, or what was left of it, and pulled him close to her face.

"You will shut up your stupid questions and you WILL tell us what you know. You are probably foolish enough to believe that you can withstand pain, but Tyngen will prove you wrong." After that, more pain started. More howls, but the pain increased, and Tan found himself crawling away in a corner of his mind. Luckily for him, his mind was pretty numb from all the pain of this day, and therefore most pain just went past him, it didn't hit him. He didn't care anymore, and Khenna's questions didn't made contact with his mind. He slowly started to fall away again....

Myshella and her mute companion were walking down the corridor looking for the Amyrlin Seat when they heard howls of pain coming from a nearby door. Silently Myshella opened it softly and peeked in.

A man was laying on the floor with another man, a Drin, sitting on his legs, consealing his face. A woman, also a Drin, was sitting behind the laying mans head, all her attention on him. As Myshella slowly stepped into the room the man screamed again. At the same moment the man on top of him moved a bit and she could see the prisoners face.

It was Tan. His left shoulder was bloody and he look to be almost unconcious. A red hot anger started to rise in her. Without thinking she reached for saidar, and before the two Drins ever even noticed she was where, she tied them up with Air and threw them out of the way. She tied the knots quickly and then hurried over to Tan. Taking his head in her hands, she slowly Healed his shoulder the best she could.
"Tan" she said softly, "Can you hear me?"

Suddenly, the pain stopped. Or rather, it didn't increase anymore, but slowly degenerated into something less. At the same time, the weight of his feet lessened, and he just started to wonder what could have happened, when someone took his head in her arms, and Healed him. The cold almost outran the pain, but when it was gone he felt better, at least a little. The pain was gone, he could feel his shoudler being a little better. It wasn't bleeding anymore.

He tried to open his eyes to see the face of this oh so helpful person, but when he heard her voice, his eyes flew open. "My? Is it you?" But as he asked, he saw her face right above his head, and he knew enough. It was the face he loved, the face he swore to protect. And know she's protecting me he thought with a grimas.

"My, how did you come to be here? Where are the others? Were is Drelle? Where is the Amyrin?" Not realizing how his inquiries about Drelle might hurt her (if she's a bit jealous ;) ), he tried to sit up, but he couldn't gather enough strength. But the thought about Drelle and the Amyrlin raised another thought. A memory, of his new found danger for the ones nearby him.

"My, the Amyrlin is somewhere around here. You must find her, and bring her someplace safe. Someplace far away from me. I want you as far away from me as you can." He looked away from her eyes, afraid she might see the pain in his eyes as he said this. She must be gone, or I'll hurt her as well he thought.

Only then he saw the mute Drin who came with her. "Aedomon can help you. Go, quickly, or you might be too late."

Softly Myshella pushed Tan back as he tried to sit up. She didn't notice Aedomon enter the room, or anything else for that matter. What had happened here? She knew she should do as Tan had said and go after the Amyrlin, but she couldn't.
"No" she said with a firm voice, "I'm not leaving you like this!" Blinking away tears she continued. "What's happened to you?"

He saw her tears, and he knew he should tell her, but he couldn't. What if she would have nothing to do with me again? I can't do this to her, especially not now.

"I...I don't know," he said. "When I entered, I saw Drelle holding the Amyrlin captured, and later, something went blank, and when I woke up, I was laying here. But the Amyrlin is somewhere around. You must find her."

He tried to push himself up again, but she still psuhed him down. Determined on getting up, he treached for Saidin and.... found nothing. In a flash it came back; the sweet taste of Saidin, how the battle of Saidin, the battle of live, had become an unendurable pain, and how it suddenly ended. He felt the loss, it was worse than a thousand daggers ripping him from the inside. He collapsed, fighting for his breath, not knowing were he was. He fought to regain his senses, but he was almost lost, if not for a voice breaking through his feeling of loneliness....

As Tan explained what had happened she could feel the rage coming back. This was all Drelle's fault! Myshella had never met her, but she hated her with every fiber of her body. Unconsiously she opened herself up to Saidar, ready to strike Drelle down at the first sight of her. But quickly she was taken out of her thoughts. Tan had collapsed and was fighting not to loosing consiousness again. She quickly wrapped her arms tighter around him, wispering words of comfort, trying to calm him down. Slowly he started to breath normally again and opened his eyes. She smiled down at him, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to start running down her cheeks again. Softly she stoke her free hand over his face.

"We'll find the Amyrlin Seat, don't worry about that" she said, although aware that it might be a lie. She would not leave Tan's side until she was absolutely sure that he'd be fine. Frankly, she didn't care about the Amyrlin Seat right now, only Tan.

He woke again, in her arms again. He opened his eyes to her face. "It's so empty," he said in a soft, broken voice. "It's so lonely." He noticed her anger, and though foggy, his mind slowly worked out the most likely subject of her anger. "It's not her fault, My. She's ... different. She's had more on her mind than you or I will ever know. If I could, I'd save her at all costs. Even if it meant losing you forever. Her life is more worth than mine. But she's gone, I think. Either by HIM, or by herself."

"I'm glad you're here My. I wish you could stay, bit you have to go. Find the Amyrlin, or find anyone else, but go!"

Not her. She must be saved. My must be saved. She must go.

Ripple Three: Decisions

At the Dawn's Mercy

Chapter Five: Where the Ripples End
~Ripple One: Meanings
~Ripple Two: The Hall
~Ripple Three: Decisions
~Ripple Four: The Messenger
~Ripple Five: Shadow
~Ripple Six: The Clawstone
~Riple Seven: The Claw Stone Aftermath
~The Final Ripple

Return to the Ripples Intro