The Path of Daggers

Some of the women who were not of the Kin tried to question them about what was happening, a few in rather overbearing fashion, but Elayne gave them short shrift, leaving behind a wake of indignant sniffs and snorts. Oh, what she would not give to have the ageless face already! That tweaked a thread in the back of her thoughts, but it vanished as soon as she tried to examine it.

When she pushed open the plain wooden door where the trio had vanished, Adeleas and Vandene had Ispan seated in a ladder-back chair with her head bare, the sack lying atop a narrow trestle table with their linen cloaks. The room possessed only one window, set in the ceiling, but with the sun still high it let in a good light. Shelves lined the walls, stacked with large copper pots and big white bowls. By the smell of bread baking, the only other door led into a kitchen.

Vandene looked around sharply at the sound of the door, but seeing them, she smoothed her face to a total lack of expression. 'Sumeko said the herbs Nynaeve gave her were wearing off,' she said, 'and it seemed best to question her a little before fuzzing her brain again. We do seem to have time, now. It would be good to know what the… the Black Ajah,' her mouth twisted in distaste, 'was up to in Ebou Dar. And what they know.'

'I doubt they are aware of this farm, since we were not,' Adeleas said, tapping a finger thoughtfully on her lips as she studied the woman in the chair, 'but it is better to be sure than to weep later, as our father used to say.' She might have been examining an animal she had never seen before, a creature she could not fathom existing.

Ispan’s lip curled. Sweat rolled down her bruised face, and her dark, beaded braids were disheveled and her clothing all disarrayed, but despite bleary eyes, she was not nearly so woozy as she had been. 'The Black Ajah, it is a fable, and a filthy one,' she sneered, a trifle hoarsely. It must have been very hot inside that leather sack, and she had had no water since leaving the Tarasin Palace. 'Me, I am surprised that you will give it voice. And to cast the charge on me! What I have done, I have done on the orders of the Amyrlin Seat.'

'Elaida?' Elayne spat incredulously. 'You have the nerve to claim that Elaida ordered you to murder sisters and steal from the Tower? Elaida ordered what you did in Tear and Tanchico? Or do you mean Siuan? Your lies are pathetic! You’ve forsaken the Three Oaths, somehow, and that names you Black Ajah.'

'I do not have to answer the questions from you,' Ispan said sullenly, hunching her shoulders. 'You are rebels against the lawful Amyrlin Seat. You will be punished, perhaps stilled. Especially if you harm me. I serve the true Amyrlin Seat, and you will be punished severely if you harm me.'

'You will answer any questions my near-sister asks.' Aviendha tested her belt knife on a thumbnail, but her eyes were on Ispan’s. 'Wetlanders fear pain. They do not know how to embrace it, accept it. You will answer as you are asked.' She did not glare or snarl, she just spoke, but Ispan shrank back in the chair.

'I fear that is proscribed, even were she not an initiate of the Tower,' Adeleas said. 'We are forbidden to shed blood in questioning, or to allow others to do so in our name.' She sounded reluctant, though whether over the prohibition or over admitting that Ispan was an initiate, Elayne could not say. She herself had not really considered that Ispan might still be considered one. There was a saying that no woman was finished with the Tower until it was finished with her, but truthfully, once the White Tower touched you, it never was finished.

Her brow furrowed as she studied the Black sister, so bedraggled and still so sure of herself. Ispan sat up a little straighter, and darted glances full of amused contempt at Aviendha — and Elayne. She had not been so poised earlier, when she thought it was Nynaeve and Elayne alone who had her; regained composure had come with remembering that there were older sisters present. Sisters who would hold White Tower law as part of themselves. That law forbade not only shedding blood, but breaking bones and a number of other things that any Whitecloak Questioner would be more than ready to do. Before any session began, Healing had to be given, and if the questioning started after sunrise, it had to end before sundown; if after sunset, then before sunrise. The law was even more restrictive when it came to initiates of the Tower, the sisters and Accepted and novices, banning the use of saidar in questioning, punishment, or penance. Oh, a sister might flick a novice’s ear with the Power if she was exasperated, or even give her a swat on the bottom, but not very much more. Ispan smiled at her. Smiled! Elayne took a deep breath.

'Adeleas, Vandene, I want you to leave Aviendha and me alone with Ispan.' Her stomach tried to tie itself into a knot. There had to be a way to press the woman sufficiently to learn what was needed without breaking Tower law. But how? People who were to be questioned by the Tower usually began talking before a finger was laid on them — everyone knew that no one held out against the Tower; no one! — but they were very seldom initiates. She could hear another voice, not Lini’s this time, but her mother’s. What you order done, you must be willing to do with your own hand. As a queen, what you order done, you have done. If she did break the law… Her mother’s voice again. Even a queen cannot be above the law, or there is no law. And Lini’s. You can do whatever you wish, child. So long as you’re willing to pay the price. She dragged her hat off without untying the ribbons. Keeping her voice steady took an effort. 'When we are — when we are done talking with her, you can take her back to the Knitting Circle.' Afterward, she would submit herself to Merilille. Any five sisters could sit in judgment to set a penance, if they were asked.

Ispan’s head swung, swollen eyes going from Elayne to Aviendha and back, slowly widening until the whites showed all the around. She was not so sure of herself now.

Silent glances passed between Vandene and Adeleas, in the manner of people who had spent so much time together they hardly needed to speak aloud any longer; then Vandene took Elayne and Aviendha each by an arm. 'If I may speak with you outside a moment,' she murmured. It sounded a suggestion, but she was already urging them to the door.

Outside in the farmyard, perhaps two dozen or so Kinswomen were huddled together like sheep. Not all wore Ebou Dari clothes, but two had the red belts of Wise Women, and Elayne recognized Berowin, a stout little woman who normally showed a pride far greater than her strength in the Power. Not now. Like the rest, her face was frightened, her eyes darting, despite the entire Knitting Circle surrounding them and talking urgently. Down the way, Nynaeve and Alise were trying to herd perhaps twice as many women inside one of the larger buildings. 'Trying' did seem to be the word.

'… don’t care what estates you hold,' Nynaeve was shouting at a proud-necked woman in pale green silk. 'You get in there and stay in there, out of the way, or I’ll kick you inside!'

Alise simply seized the green-clad woman by the scruff of the neck and ran her through the doorway despite voluble and heated protests. There was a loud squawk like a huge goose being stepped on, then Alise reappeared, dusting her hands. The others seemed to give no trouble after that.

Vandene released them, studying their eyes. The glow still enveloped her, yet Adeleas must have been focusing their combined flows. Vandene could have maintained the shield, once woven, without being able to see it, but had she been the one, it was much likelier that Adeleas would have brought them out. Vandene could have gone several hundred paces before the link began to attenuate — it would not break if she and Adeleas went to opposite corners of the earth, though it would have been useless long before that — but she remained close to the door. She seemed to sort words in her head.

'I’ve always thought it best if women with experience handle this sort of thing,' she said finally. 'The young can easily be caught up in hot blood. Then they do too much. Or sometimes, they realize they can’t bring themselves to do enough. Because they haven’t really seen enough, yet. Or worst of all, they find a… taste for it. Not that I believe either of you has that flaw.' She gave Aviendha a weighing glance without pausing; Aviendha hastily sheathed her belt knife. 'Adeleas and I have seen enough to know why we must do what must be done, and we left hot blood behind long ago. Perhaps you will leave this to us. Much better that way, all around.' Vandene seemed to take the recommendation as accepted. She nodded and turned back toward the door.

No sooner had she disappeared behind it, than Elayne felt the use of the Power within, a weave that must have blanketed the room inside. A ward against eavesdropping, certainly. They would not want stray ears to catch whatever Ispan said. Then another use hit her, and suddenly the silence from within was more ominous than any shrieks that ward would contain.

She crushed her hat back onto her head. The heat she could not feel, but the sun’s glare suddenly made her queasy. 'Maybe you’ll help me look over what the packhorses are carrying,' she said breathily. She had not ordered it done — whatever it was — but that did not seem to change anything. Aviendha nodded with surprising quickness; she seemed to want to be away from that silence, too.