Dragon King Part 16 (Patreon)

Dawn smiled as she floated up to the balcony her minimap had labeled Elaida's balcony and realized the woman was cutting her roses. 'You're making this easy…' her thoughts derailed as she felt someone use magic in the palace and saw a man fly off the princess's balcony as if thrown by a catapult. 'That's new.'

Elaida spun to look in the direction she could feel the power, knowing she was the only Aes Sedai in the palace. "Elayne?"

Dawn reached out with telepathy and read the half dead man's mind as he fell to his death, any thoughts of saving him vanished when she realized he'd been planning on killing the princess so the Tower wouldn't have an Aes Sedai on the throne. She lifted the location of the man's associates out of his mind then pulled her telepathy back so she wouldn't feel his death when he splattered on the street. 'So much for being in the main timeline,' she mused as she hit Elaida with a stunner, dropping the Aes Sedai before she could run back inside.

Dawn used her telepathy to scan the area, wanting to make sure the princess was safe. 'Sniper with a crossbow, seriously you expect that to reach?' She reached out with telekinesis and snapped the bolt then grabbed the arms and pulled the trigger, causing a broken cable to rip the man's neck apart when one of the arms snapped. 'Did we change something? They shouldn't have gotten this close, is this the pattern twisting things so she'll need to leave early or did Ishamael pull strings?'

"Fucking precogs," Dawn muttered as she took a quick look through Elaida's mind, wanting to check on her contacts, current projects and her involvement in the death of Thom's nephew, Owyn. 'You knew they were going after him and you knew some of the Red's skirted the rules but you didn't actually know that was going to happen in his case, not that you cared. You wanted the queen alone so you could control her, you might not be a darkfriend, but you're a twisted bitch.'

Dawn used her disguise ability to make herself look like the unconscious woman then stuffed her in her spatial ring, figuring she'd have plenty of time to sort through her memories after she made sure Elayne was safe. 'I ran into a bit of a glitch,' she told Myst via telepathy.

'What happened?' Myst asked as he finished writing the information tag for a suit of nearly indestructible feather light platemail sized and shaped for a house cat.

'Elayne tossed a whitecloak assassin off her balcony,' Dawn replied, sending Myst the memory and the information about the planned ambush some of the whitecloaks were planning when Elayne left for the Tower.

Myst rubbed his nose as he tried to figure out if the assassination attempt was because they were in a mirror world or because they'd caused enough ripples. 'If we're not in a mirror world, Ishamael could have given some of the darkfriends marching orders.'

'Or the pattern decided that Elayne was going to meet Rand one way or another,' Dawn suggested.

Myst started walking towards the exit to the Harry Potter style pavilion tent he was using as a workshop. 'Yeah, we should probably avoid cockblocking a god's chosen when he's literally bending reality so he can win against a dark god. I'll see if Moiraine is willing to take a portal to the city and talk to Elayne, she can offer her training at the school, you can storm out as Elaida and we can make sure Rand and Elayne have a chance to get to know each other.'

'Thanks, any idea how we're supposed to get the queen to let Elayne leave with Moiraine?' Dawn asked, hoping he had a decent idea.

'Lie,' Myst suggested cheerfully. 'Elaida is a seer and the queen knows she can't lie, make up a prophecy about the princess dying if she goes to the Tower before the whitecloaks are dealt with, toss in some bits about the fortress falling and we'll have at least a couple of weeks to train Elayne, especially with Moiraine being the person keeping her safe.'

'I'll see what I can come up with,' Dawn replied as she walked into Elaida's rooms. She walked over to the large bed and pulled the unconscious Aes Sedai back out of her spatial ring so she could read her mind and try to figure out how to phrase a foretelling in a way that was consistent with the rest of 'visions'.

'Best of luck,' Myst replied as he headed for the mist-covered tower to talk to Moiraine.

0o0o0

Myst paused as he walked into the tower and saw Nynaeve and Krisa glaring at each other and the silver leashes that went from Krisa's wrists to Egwene and Alene's necks. He took a second to appreciate how nice the al'Vere sisters looked in their silk dresses before he focused on Moiraine who was pretending to read a book. "Is there a reason that Nynaeve looks like she wants to stab Krisa to death?"

"She wants to collar everyone!" Nynaeve snapped, not taking her eyes off of Krisa.

"No shit," Krisa replied sarcastically, glaring at the unstable marath'damane. "You need someone to break your block and the al'Vere sisters need to learn to sense metal."

"And that requires you to put a leash around their necks!" Nynaeve demanded.

"Yes!" Krisa snapped, annoyed that Nynaeve wasn't listening and that Myst wouldn't let her stick a collar around Nynaeve's neck until she was properly trained. "I don't have the talent which means I need a link so I can figure out what they're doing wrong."

"You could try explaining it!" Nynaeve snapped.

"Can you explain how you listen to the wind?" Moiraine asked, knowing that some talents were more about finding the trick than listening to someone explain how they did it.

"It's a talent, you just sort of reach out and feel the ore and the flavor of metal," Krisa explained.

"Enough!" Myst snapped as Nynaeve opened her mouth to argue. "Egwene and Alene obviously agreed to the extra training. Nynaeve, you're not the wisdom here, please stop acting like you have the right to enforce your idea of 'proper' behavior on everyone."

Nynaeve turned and glared at Myst. "She wants to put collars on people like animals!"

"It's part of her culture, are you saying she doesn't have a right to practice her culture?" Myst asked, hoping Nynaeve would fall into the trap.

"It's wrong!" Nynaeve snapped.

"There's an empire across the sea that would disagree," Myst pointed out.

"That doesn't make it right," Nynaeve argued.

Myst snorted. "Feel free to explain that to the empire filled with arrogant lords that barely consider commoners human and think that channelers are dangerous animals, you're both. Right or wrong, they have an empire and none of your stupid traditions will mean shit if they aren't stopped."

"Stupid traditions?" Nynaeve sputtered.

"What else do you call forcing women to braid their hair or not braid their hair? How many unwanted lectures did you inflict on Loise al'Vere for wanting to swim in the ponds longer than you thought proper?"

"At least once a week," Alene offered helpfully.

Nynaeve glared at Alene. "Swimming naked at her age wasn't proper, same thing with your dress."

"We made a deal," Alene replied with a shrug.

"What type of deal?" Nynaeve asked suspiciously.

"If we run around in revealing silk dresses or naked for two weeks, we get the ability to ignore the cold and fire," Alene replied with a grin.

"Have you lost your mind!" Nynaeve demanded.

Alene shrugged. "It's a decent trade. Besides, it's not like I care about my reputation, I'm not looking for a husband."

Nynaeve looked at Egwene. "What about Rand?"

Egwene shook her head. "We're not married and he didn't have any problems looking at the naked blue girls wandering around."

"This is your fault," Nynaeve complained, glaring at Myst and Moiraine.

"Because I'm here and I don't care if the girls run around naked?" Myst asked with a touch of amusement and ready to rip apart mana magic that Nynaeve sent his way in case she snapped.

"Yes!" Nynaeve snapped.

"Get over it," Myst told her and swapped to his female form, going from having to look up at Nynaeve to looking down at her. "This tower offers knowledge and freedom, nothing more, nothing less. You have the freedom to learn, you have the freedom to leave. I have the freedom to make deals, the rest of the girls have the freedom to make their own choices, including bad ones."

"You're trying to tempt people into making bad choices," Nynaeve argued.

Myst glanced at Egwene and Alene. "People tend to value things they've paid for, you have an amazing gift for magic and you're too scared to use it."

"Surrendering isn't easy," Nynaeve complained, angry that she couldn't fix her block so she could protect everyone.

Myst sighed. "That's because you're looking at it the wrong way."

Nynaeve glanced at Moiraine. "What do you mean?"

"Embracing saidar isn't about surrendering, it's about relaxing. It's like floating on a river, if you fight, you'll wear yourself out or drown. If you swim with the river, you'll get where you're going or in the case of saidar, make the container and let the power flow like water," Myst explained.

"Is that why I'm supposed to be calm?" Nynaeve asked.

"No clue," Myst admitted. "I'm assuming that's a form of block that most of the Aes Sedai end up with because of their training. I don't have to crush something in my hand if I'm angry and nothing stops you from hitting something when you're calm, just ask a blacksmith. Either way, I need a few minutes of Moiraine's time and I'm willing to pay, so you'll have to excuse me."

"We need to get to work training," Krisa reminded Alene and Egwene, figuring Myst wanted to talk to the Aes Sedai alone.

"True," Egwene agreed as she headed for the door, doing her best not to walk too fast or slow so the collar wouldn't choke her. 'This would be easier without the leash.'

Nynaeve glanced between Moiraine and Myst then followed the girls outside, wanting to make sure Krisa didn't cause trouble.

"What do you need?" Moiraine asked, hoping Myst's suggestion helped Nynaeve.

Myst waited until the rest of the girls left then turned to look at Moiraine. "Dawn was in Caemlyn dealing with a future problem and witnessed Elayne tossing a whitecloak assassin off her balcony with the power. Thankfully, she wasn't injured in the confrontation though she's a bit rattled."

Moiraine relaxed when she heard that her niece wasn't injured. "Was Dawn able to learn anything about the attack?"

"Nothing she can take to the queen but there's a large group of whitecloaks planning on ambushing Elayne's party when they travel to Tar Valon. Do you think you can convince the queen to send Elayne here for extra training?" Myst asked.

"Elaida would object," Moiraine pointed out, knowing that Aes Sedai were supposed to stay out of each other's way as much as possible.

"Elaida is currently unconscious and trapped in a pocket dimension for various crimes related to being a member of the Red Ajah and murder, she's not going to cause a problem," Myst assured her.

Moiraine raised her eyebrows. "Murder?"

"She knew about the Red Ajah severing men and leaving them to die and didn't say anything or care. She was also willing to lock the Dragon Reborn in a box for days after she illegally became the Amyrlin in a possible future, we're better off without her running around."

"She locked the Dragon Reborn in a box?" Moiraine asked, wishing it surprised her that she'd be that idiotic and shortsighted.

Myst scowled as he remembered bits and pieces of the story that involved Rand stuck in a box. "She wanted him humbled, it didn't work and a number of people died when he escaped after she had him ambushed and captured. Of course, the Tower had the nerve to blame him for the deaths, never mind that the Tower broke their word and caused the entire mess. The Tower was very lucky that he's a much better person than I am. If someone had ambushed me in a meeting and stuck me in a box then tortured me, I would have grabbed one of the sa'angreal he had access to and obliterated the top half or third of the tower from outside the city and solved the issue."

"How does he compare to Logain in strength?" Moiraine asked.

"He's a bit stronger, but Logain can match most of the Forsaken, he just doesn't have the training," Myst explained.

"Was he insane by the end?" Moiraine asked, trying to get a better idea what they were going to be dealing with.

Myst nibbled on his lower lip as he considered the question, not sure how much the taint had influenced Rand's behavior in the book and thinking about the mirror world's he'd witnessed where things had gone differently. "If I had to guess, no. He was under a lot of stress and he had Lews Therin's voice in his head for a while but there's a decent chance that had more to do with being the creator's champion than madness or something he did unconsciously because of the pressure he was under as Lews Therin was able to teach him weaves."

"Meaning he wasn't just a voice," Moiraine mused.

"The rules are generally more suggestions when you're playing on that level. Either way, I'm hoping we can deal with the taint before it reaches that point."

Moiraine glanced up at the ceiling where she could feel Lan. "Did they find a cure for the taint?"

"Nynaeve found a cure for the taint and severing, she's a hell of a healer once she gets over her issues," Myst replied.

"She found a way to heal being severed?" Moiraine asked in surprise.

"You have to use saidin to perfectly repair a connection to saidar and saidar if you want to perfectly repair a connection to saidin. Otherwise, they lose a decent amount of strength but yeah, she found a way. Curing the taint in a person involves seeing the taint and carefully pulling out the thorns and peeling the fog away or at least that was how it was described in the vision."

Moiraine considered Myst's words. "That's more than they managed in the Age of Legends."

"I doubt the Aes Sedai at the time looked all that hard, they hated Lews Therin for causing the Breaking. Even if they'd found a way, you'd need someone with the right talent or at least the right personality that was willing to risk their sanity. Not to mention you'd need the tainted people to trust a group of Aes Sedai."

"I can see where that might be a problem," Moiraine admitted. "How are we getting to the palace?"

"Portal," Myst said as he tossed Dawn a mental message, 'Are you ready for Moiraine to show up?'

'The sooner the better, the queen is looking for an excuse to send her somewhere safe, it wouldn't take much,' Dawn replied.

"I need to talk to Lan first," Moiraine said, knowing that he wouldn't react well to her vanishing and reappearing a couple of hundred miles away.

"Let's go, I'll open a portal when you're ready and Dawn can bring you back," Myst said as he headed towards the stairs, knowing the guys were using one of the larger rooms for combat practice.

0o0o0

Hermione smiled when she walked into the large tent and saw the collection of leather bound books sitting on a table. "Are the books safe?"

"Most of them. Read the tags before touching them," Myst replied as he finished writing the tag for the endless crown royal bag of glass beads. He quickly checked Hermione with his upgrade ability to make sure she wasn't a victim of anything nefarious. "Any trouble with the rest of the Black Ajah?"

"Less than I was expecting, being able to apparate and use their eyes and memories for targeting helps," Hermione replied with a grin as she walked over so she could look at the books.

"How many books did you manage to pick up?" Myst asked, noticing the spring in her steps.

"Fifty nine," Hermione replied without having to think about it. "I would have copied one of the libraries but there were warders running around everywhere by the time I finished picking up all of the Black Sisters in the Tower and the copies wouldn't be invisible."

"Makes sense," Myst agreed, knowing they could always come back in a couple of weeks when things calmed down. "How many Black Sisters were out of the Tower?"

"At least sixteen," Hermione replied as she looked at the card in front of the alchemy book. "I'll have to cross-check Verin's list with Alviarin in case we missed a couple. Hopefully, they'll blame the sisters that vanished for the Oath Rod's disappearance."

Myst frowned as he thought about the oath that prevented the Aes Sedai from making weapons that might hurt shadowspawn, fairly sure he could blame Ishamael for that particular bit of stupidity. "How many novices and accepted do you think we could steal with the offer of faster training?"

Hermione considered the question, thinking about the dysfunctional system the Tower had in place for dealing with the novices and accepted. "At least half of the novices and a quarter of the accepted would jump at the chance for advanced training. If you toss in the promise of extra power or talents, we could probably empty the Tower if we wanted to."

"Something to consider," Myst mused as he pulled a nearly indestructible sock out of his inventory and set it on the table.

"Have you figured out what you're going to do with the Black Sisters, yet?" Hermione asked as she carefully looked through the alchemy book.

"I have a couple of cursed items that I want to test and I wanted to copy everyone's talents and check their affinities in case they have unique abilities," Myst gestured towards the mirror that was covered by a black tarp, "before I toss them through the mirror."

Hermione glanced at the door sized mirror. "What does the mirror do?"

"It basically banishes someone to another world and a more powerful and better looking evil alternate walks out of the mirror."

Hermione turned and stared at Myst. "How is that a good thing?"

"They'd probably have different or at least better talents that we could copy, not to mention different skill sets," Myst suggested.

Hermione stared at Myst. "You have the ability to upgrade talents, why do you need to create more evil magic users?"

"I can't upgrade something that doesn't exist, the mirror creates or summons a more impressive and evil duplicate which means they should have better talents, affinities and or training than the original. If we set everything up in a stedding, we should be able to minimize the danger and get something useful out of it, especially if we have them use the Oath Rod so they can't hurt people where they end up."

Hermione weighed the risks of creating something they couldn't deal with against the possible benefits and decided that it was worth the risk, especially if they could get strange and interesting talents for the blue girls. "Do you have a list of the cursed items you want to test?"

Myst smiled as he pulled a list out of his inventory and handed it to her. "Here."

Hermione shook her head. "We're not banishing werewolves or ghouls, we don't need them spreading and turning people into ghouls."

"I don't have a problem sticking them in a spatial ring if they're contagious," Myst replied, figuring they could stay in a spatial ring until they found someone that could hit them with balefire or they managed to kill the Dark One.

Hermione glanced around the room filled with dangerous and valuable trinkets. "We should probably head to one of the lounges on the off chance they wake up while you're copying skills and talents."

"Probably for the best," Myst agreed as he floated over and stoved the mirror into his inventory, knowing he'd need it for his experiment. "Did you manage to get a list of waygates in the Blight?"

"Verin had a list and directions to each of the working gates," Hermione said as they headed towards the door.

"Excellent…" Myst trailed off as a mostly bald man with skin like dried paper walked into the tent wearing black clothes followed by a man that looked rotted and was wearing a leather mask over his face. "Parley?"