the hood of his white cloak, and Rand was looking at the face he had known would be there. Bornhald nodded with obvious satisfaction. 'Clearly, Watchman, I have saved you from a great disaster. These are Darkfriends you were about to help escape from the Light. You should be reported to your Governor for discipline, or perhaps given to the Questioners to discover your true intent this night.' He paused, eyeing the Watchman's fear; it seemed to have no effect on him. 'You would not wish that, no? Instead, I will take these ruffians to our camp, that they may be questioned in the Light – Instead of you, yes?'
'You will take me to your camp, Whitecloak?' Moiraine's voice came suddenly from every direction at once. She had moved back into the night at the Children's approach, and shadows clumped around her. 'You will question me?' Darkness wreathed her as she took a step forward; it made her seem taller. 'You will bar my way?'
Another step, and Rand gasped. She was taller, her head level with his where he sat on the gray's back. Shadows clung about her face like thunderclouds.
'Aes Sedai!' Bornhald shouted, and five swords flashed from their sheaths. 'Die!' The other four hesitated, but he slashed at her in the same motion that cleared his sword.
Rand cried out as Moiraine's staff rose to intercept the blade. That delicately carved wood could not possibly stop hard-swung steel. Sword met staff, and sparks sprayed in a fountain, a hissing roar hurling Bornhald back into his white-cloaked companions. All five went down in a heap. Tendrils of smoke rose from Bornhald's sword, on the ground beside him, blade bent at a right angle where it had been melted almost in two.
'You dare attack me!' Moiraine's voice roared like a whirlwind. Shadow spun in on her, draped her like a hooded cloak; she loomed as high as the town wall. Her eyes glared down, a giant staring at insects.
'Go!' Lan shouted. In one lightning move he snatched the reins of Moiraine's mare and leaped into his own saddle. 'Now!' he commanded. His shoulders brushed either gate as his stallion tore through the narrow opening like a flung stone.
For a moment Rand remained frozen, staring. Moiraine's head and shoulders stood above the wall, now. Watchmen and Children alike cowered away from her, huddling with their backs against the front of the guardhouse. The Aes Sedai's face was lost in the night, but her eyes, as big as full moons, shone with impatience as well as anger when they touched him. Swallowing hard, he booted Cloud in the ribs and galloped after the others.
Fifty paces from the wall, Lan drew them up, and Rand looked back. Moiraine's shadowed shape towered high over the log palisade, head and shoulders a deeper darkness against the night sky, surrounded by a silver nimbus from the hidden moon. As he watched, mouth hanging open, the Aes Sedai stepped over the wall. The gates began swinging shut frantically. As soon as her feet were on the ground outside, she was suddenly her normal size again.
'Hold the gates!' an unsteady voice shouted inside the wall. Rand thought it was Bornhald. 'We must pursue them, and take them!' But the Watchmen did not slow the pace of closing. The gates slammed shut, and moments later the bar crashed into place, sealing them. Maybe some of those other Whitecloaks aren't as eager to confront an Aes Sedai as Bornhald.
Moiraine hurried to Aldieb, stroking the white mare's nose once before she tucked her staff under the girth strap. Rand did not need to look this time to know there was not even a nick in the staff.
'You were taller than a giant,' Egwene said breathlessly, shifting on Bela's back. No one else spoke, though Mat and Perrin edged their horses away from the Aes Sedai.
'Was I?' Moiraine said absently as she swung into her saddle.
'I saw you,' Egwene protested.
'The mind plays tricks in the night; the eye sees what is not there.'
'This is no time for games,' Nynaeve began angrily, but Moiraine cut her off.
'No time for games indeed. What we gained at the Stag and Lion we may have lost here.' She looked back at the gate and shook her head. 'If only I could believe the Draghkar was on the ground.' With a self-deprecatory sniff she added, 'Or if only the Myrddraal were truly blind. If I am wishing, I might as well wish for the truly impossible. No matter. They know the way we must go, but with luck we will stay a step ahead of them. Lan!'
The Warder moved off eastward down the Caemlyn Road, and the rest followed close behind, hooves thudding rhythmically on the hard-packed earth.
They kept to an easy pace, a fast walk the horses could maintain for hours without any Aes Sedai help. Before they had been even one hour on their way, though, Mat cried out, pointing back the way they had come.
'Look there!'
They all drew rein and stared.
Flames lit the night over Baerlon as if someone had built a house-size bonfire, tinting the undersides of the cloud with red. Sparks whipped into the sky on the wind.
'I warned him,' Moiraine said, 'but he would not take it seriously. ' Aldieb danced sideways, an echo of the Aes Sedai's frustration. 'He would not take it seriously.'
'The inn?' Perrin said. 'That's the Stag and Lion? How can you be sure?'
'How far do you want to stretch coincidence?' Thom asked. 'It could be the Governor's house, but it isn't. And it isn't a warehouse, or somebody's kitchen stove, or your grandmother's haystack.'
'Perhaps the Light shines on us a little this night,' Lan said, and Egwene rounded on him angrily.
'How can you. say that? Poor Master Fitch's inn is burning! People may be hurt!'
If they have attacked the inn,' Moiraine said, 'perhaps our exit from the town and my ... display went unnoticed.'
'Unless that's what the Myrddraal wants us to think,' Lan added.
Moiraine nodded in the darkness. 'Perhaps. In any case, we must press on. There will be little rest for anyone tonight.'
'You say that so easily, Moiraine,' Nynaeve exclaimed. 'What about the people at the inn? People must be hurt, and the innkeeper has lost his livelihood, because of you! For all your talk about walking in the Light you're ready to go on without sparing a thought for him. His trouble is because of you!'
'Because of those three,' Lan said angrily. 'The fire, the injured, the going on – all because of those three. The fact that the price must be paid is proof that it is worth paying. The Dark One wants those boys of yours, and anything he wants this badly, he must be kept from. Or would you rather let the Fade have them?'
'Be at ease, Lan,' Moiraine said. 'Be at ease. Wisdom, you think I can help Master Fitch and the people at the inn? Well, you are right.' Nynaeve started to say something, but Moiraine waved it away and went on. 'I can go back by myself and give some help. Not too much, of course. That would draw attention to those I helped, attention they would not thank me for, especially with the Children of the Light in the town. And that would leave only Lan to protect the rest of you. He is very good, but it will take more than him if a Myrddraal and a fist of Trollocs find you. Of course, we could all return, though I doubt I can get all of us back into Baerlon unnoticed. And that would expose all of you to whomever set that fire, not to mention the Whitecloaks. Which alternative would you choose, Wisdom, if you were I?'
'I would do something,' Nynaeve muttered unwillingly.
'And in all probability hand the Dark One his victory,' Moiraine replied. 'Remember what – who – it is that he wants. We are in a war, as surely as anyone in Ghealdan, though thousands fight there and only eight of us here. I will have gold sent to Master Fitch, enough to rebuild the Stag and Lion, gold that cannot be traced to Tar Valon. And help for any who were hurt, as well. Any more than that will only endanger them. It is far from simple, you see. Lan.' The Warder turned his horse and took up the road again.
From time to time Rand looked back. Eventually all he could see was the glow on the clouds, and then even that was lost in the darkness. He hoped Min was all right.
All was still pitch-dark when the Warder finally led them off the packed dirt of the road and dismounted. Rand estimated there were no more than a couple of hours till dawn. They hobbled the horses, still saddled, and made a cold camp.
'One hour,' Lan warned as everyone except him was wrapping up in their blankets. He would stand guard while they slept. 'One hour, and we must be on our way.' Silence settled over them. .
After a few minutes Mat spoke in a whisper that barely reached Rand. 'I wonder what Dav did with that badger.' Rand shook his head silently, and Mat hesitated. Finally he said, 'I thought we were safe, you know, Rand. Not a sign of anything since we crossed the Taren, and there we were in a city, with walls around us. I thought we
