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No, she sent back, trying to practice this method of communicating, to make her thoughts smoother. Is something a woman picks up after her first century of life.
He sent back tense amusement. They passed into a series of unfinished rooms, none of them roofed, before reaching a section of unworked earth. Some barrels here held pitch, but they had been shifted to the side and the boards they normally sat upon had been pulled away. A pit opened in the ground here. The water trailed over the lip of the pit and down into darkness. Androl knelt and listened, then nodded to the others before slipping down into it. His splash came a second later.
Pevara followed him, dropping only a few feet. The water was cold on her feet, but she was already soaked. Androl hunched, leading the way under an earthen overhang, then stood up on the other side. His little globe of light revealed a tu
Dobser right, she sent as the others splashed down behind. Taim building secret tu
They crossed the trench and continued on. A short distance down the tu
“That way slopes upward,” Emarin whispered, pointing left. “Perhaps to another entrance into these tu
“We should probably move deeper,” Nalaam said. “Don’t you think?”
“Yes,” Androl said, licking his finger and testing the air. “The wind is blowing right. We’ll go that way first. Be careful. There will be other guards.”
The group slipped further down into the tu
Suddenly Androl stopped, and the others pulled to a halt. A grumbling voice echoed up the tu
The figure was approaching, the light illuminating him.
A creak came from beside her, as Jo
The group scrambled forward to find Coteren down on the ground, eyes staring up glassily, the arrow through his chest. His lantern burned fitfully on the ground beside him. Jo
“Here,” Emarin said, pointing at a thick door. “Coteren was guarding it.”
“Prepare yourselves,” Androl whispered, then shoved open the thick wooden door. Beyond, they found a line of crude cells built into the earthen wall—each one little more than a roofed cubbyhole burrowed into the earth with a door set in the opening. Pevara peeked in one, which was empty. The cubby didn’t have enough room for a man to stand up inside, and the room was unlit. Being locked in those cells would mean being trapped in blackness, squeezed into a space like a grave.
“Light!” Nalaam said. “Androl! He’s in here. It’s Logain!”
The others hurried to join him, and Androl picked the door’s lock with a surprisingly adept hand. They pulled open the cell door, and Logain rolled out with a groan. He looked horrible, covered in grime. Once, that curling dark hair and strong face might have made him handsome. He looked as weak as a beggar.
He coughed, then rose to his knees with Nalaam’s help. Androl knelt immediately, but not in reverence. He looked Logain in the eyes as Emarin gave the Asha’man leader his flask for a drink.
Well? Pevara asked.
It’s him, Androl thought, a wave of relief coming through the bond. It’s still him.
They’d have let him go if they’d Turned him, Pevara sent back, growing increasingly comfortable with this method of communicating.
Maybe. Unless this is a trap. “My Lord Logain.”
“Androl.” Logain’s voice was raspy. “Jo
“Does it matter?” she replied.
“Greatly,” Logain said, trying to stand. He was too weak, and Nalaam had to support him. “How did you find me?”
“That is a story for once we are safe, my Lord,” Androl said. He peeked out the doorway. “Let’s move. We still have a difficult night ahead of us. I—”
Androl froze, then slammed the door.
“What is it?” Pevara asked.
“Cha
Yells, muffled by the door and the dirt walls, sounded outside in the hallway.
“Someone found the guards,” Emarin said. “My Lord Logain, can you fight?”
Logain tried to stand on his own, then sagged again. His face grew determined, but Pevara felt Androl’s disappointment. Logain had been given forkroot; either that, or he was simply too tired to cha
“Back!” Androl shouted, stepping to the side of the door—against the earthen wall. The door exploded in a weave of fire and destruction.
Pevara didn’t wait for the debris to settle; she wove Fire and released a column of destruction down the corridor beyond. She knew she was facing Darkfriends, or worse. The Three Oaths did not hinder her here.
She heard shouts, but something deflected the fire. Immediately, a shield tried to slam between her and the Source. She fought it off, barely, and ducked to the side, breathing deeply.
“Whoever it is, they’re strong,” Pevara said.
A voice called orders distantly, echoing in the tu
Jo
“We ca
“I’m trying,” Androl said. “Light, I’m trying!”
“Bah,” Nalaam set Logain down beside the wall. “I’ve been in tighter spots before!” He joined the others at the doorway, flinging weaves down the corridor. Blasts shook the side walls, and dirt rained down from the roof above.
Pevara jumped in front of the doorway, releasing a weave, then knelt down beside Androl. He stared ahead, not seeing, face a mask of concentration. She could feel determination and frustration pulsing through the bond. She took his hand.
“You can do it,” she whispered.
The doorway erupted, and Jo
Sweat dripped down the sides of Androl’s face. He gritted his teeth, his face going red, eyes opening wide. Smoke poured through the doorway, making Emarin cough as Nalaam Healed Jo
Androl yelled, and he neared the top of that wall in his mind. He was almost there! He could—
A weave thumped against the room, a ripple in the earth, and the strained roof finally gave out. Earth poured down atop them, and all went black.
CHAPTER 5
To Require a Boon
Rand al’Thor awoke and drew in a deep breath. He slipped from the blankets in his tent, leaving Aviendha slumbering there, and threw on a robe. The air smelled wet.