Fanfic:Ash Falcon's Three Arches
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First Arch
Be steadfast. The way back comes but once.
How do they know that? Ashfalcon wondered, glancing around as he found himself in Twisted Trees Hold once again. Know what? he asked himself a moment later, unable to remember what he had been thinking about. The cadin'sor hung comfortably around his rangy frame, and the hide buckler and spears fit his left hand with a familiarity that he had all but forgotten. So much more comfortable than the ways of wetlanders, he thought - then chided himself: What do I know of the wetlands?
"They're coming," said Draum, raising his buckler, and looking over at him. "Should we move?"
For just a moment, his attention wavered. Be steadfast. The way back comes but once. Then he knew. It was a raid, the Shaido coming for such cattle as the Hold contained. Coming, perhaps, for gai'shan as well; they were honorless enough for that. It was his duty as Sept Chief to see that they went home disappointed.
Sept Chief? The thought faded almost as fast as it touched his mind. He was the Sept Chief, had been since his choosing two years ago. His spear-brother Chaim was outside the hold, waiting to take the Shaido from behind once the battle was under way, but it fell to him to lead the defense. "Forward," he said, and the warriors of the Hold moved with him. Briefly, he glimpsed Mara as they passed; she favored him with a smile. The silversmith's daughter... He still found it hard to believe that she was his wife.
They spread out just outside the hold. The Shaido were coming quickly now, disdaining stealth. They know they were seen. He raised a spear, preparing to call the battle... And saw a gleaming silver arch standing in the entrance to the Hold, beside one of the short, twisted trees that gave his home its name.
Be steadfast. The way back comes but once.
The Sept Chief could not walk away from battle, could not turn his back on the defense of a hold. It was unthinkable. Be steadfast. He no longer knew which path the words were meant to guide him towards. The way back comes but once. It would be a disaster. Without a proper defense, the hold would be taken, the Shaido would take the Fifth and many gai'shan, men and women he had known all his life would die in battle. He turned.
The Arch was still there. He took a step towards it, then another, blanking his mind to the questions and cries of the men around him. He caught sight of Mara beyond the entrance of the hold, and stumbled. I cannot... His feet carried him back through the Arch, and it was too late.
The light burned him to nothing.
Second Arch
Be steadfast. The way back comes but once.
"Found them," said Janin, his voice the barest whisper on the night wind. "Good work, lad."
From beside him, Ashfalcon made a quick count. "Ten trollocs and a Myrdraal," he whispered back. From where they crouched they could see leathery old Jak, tied to a tree but struggling with calm persistence against the ropes. He was their usual tracker, more skilled than Ashfalcon. What am I doing here? I left these hunters for... The thought trailed away. Of course he was here; where else would he be, after his people cast him out? They had found him when he was ill, nursed him back to health. He owed them a great debt.
Be steadfast. The way back comes but once.
The villagers had been upset, the mother in tears. Their town was small and peaceful; two children lost while walking in the woods was an unimaginable tragedy to them. Jak - who, despite his gruff manner, had a liking for children - had agreed immediately to find them, leaving the rest of the group to stay another night in the inn, telling tales of their adventures as Hunters for the Horn.
When he had not returned by evening, they had become worried, then suspicious. Ashfalcon was not the tracker that Jak was, but the older man had made no effort to disguise his trail. Even by moonlight, the feat was possible. And now we know why he didn't return, Ashfalcon thought coldly. Ten trollocs and a myrdraal against the four of them - five, if they could get Jak free.
"Ashfalcon, you and Banning circle around to the other side. See if you can use that trick of yours to take out the Fade, and as many others as you can. We'll move in from the other side. Banning, when they respond to us I want you to get down there and cut Jak loose. Don't fight unless you have to. Taris, you come with me."
Banning (a ruggedly handsome man, though his past was better not discussed) nodded once, waiting only for Ashfalcon to ready his bow before slipping off into the darkness between the trees. He had taught Ashfalcon the basics of swordsmanship, but even so he remained closed and quiet, a contrast to Janin and Taris, both of whom friendly and outspoken.
Less than a minute later, Ashfalcon crouched beside Banning, sheltered by a small cluster of trees. He set an arrow on his bow and drew, sighting down the shaft at the myrdraal. He knew which trick Janin had been referring to; it was his ability to channel that had forced him to leave the Aiel. Carefully, he called the Power, and it came: a rush of light and filth, brilliant and disgusting. It filled him, sharpening his senses as he wrapped it around the arrow. In the clearing, the myrdraal raised its head, eyeless face searching the darkness.
...And a silver arch appeared, situated between two trees behind him. Be steadfast. The way back comes but once. Immediately on the heels of that thought came another: Not now... Abruptly he rose and started towards the arch. These were not his friends, merely dreams of them. Behind him, the myrdraal started shouting orders in the harsh, gutteral tongue of the trollocs. Their pains would only be dream pains, their deaths only dream deaths. Light, let it be so...
The light scoured him away.
Third Arch
"Ashfalcon?" He stopped suddenly, wondering for a brief moment where he was. The Green Halls. Where else would you be? He gave a slight shake of his head, turned to look at the one who had addressed him.
The Accepted - all these years, and I still cannot remember their names - made a respectful curtsey. "Sitter? Your wife has returned. She wants you to meet her in the gardens. She said there was important news."
"Thank you," said Ashfalcon simply, and the Accepted hurried away. He still scared some of them, though that was seldom his intent. Just a combination of being Aiel, and Asha'man - some of the new arrivals still hadn't adjusted to the fact that Saidin was clean, the taint gone, and that male channelers would no longer go mad - and being himself, of course.
He made his way along familiar halls, keeping to areas where he was unlikely to encounter anyone else. He moved with his customary feline grace, silent as falling snow, and emerged into the gardens without encountering anyone else. Turning, he circled away from the paths, towards their customary meeting place. They never repeated a route, coming and going by different ways each time, so there was no way for her anticipate his approach - yet somehow she turned to face him as he neared, and a smile touched his lips.
Be steadfast. The way back comes but once.
The Bond, of course. She had kept her side of it shielded, but had not done the same. Now, as she dropped her shield, he felt the surge of emotions within her. Happiness at seeing him here, mixed with worry and fear... "Ash," she said softly as he neared.
He touched her hand, briefly, and stood before her. They had never been terribly demonstrative, and even after her time away their pleasure at being together was most strongly manifest in the Bond between them. They held their love sacred; to speak of it too often risked the chance of making it common, tawdry, expected.
"Where to begin...?" she asked herself, and for a moment he was concerned. He could sense her emotions, but she seldom forgot herself enough to speak private thoughts aloud. Looking into those distinctive eyes of hers, he silently let her know that she had his attention. Always, you have my attention.
"Merive Sedai says we will have a son," she said quietly. "From just before I left." He stepped forward then, hugged her, held her. For a long time, they were still and silent, and he did not need the Bond to feel her begin, at last, to relax. Be steadfast. The way back will come but once. The thought disturbed him, not least because he did not understand it.
"There's more," she said, stepping back. "The Black Ajah has agents in the Tower. Shanin confessed it before she died. I have names, my husband."
"And did you think we would not know that?" asked another voice. Ashfalcon felt the skin on his arms prickle as his wife channeled, and he drew in as much of the power as he could hold. Six figures were emerging from the trees around them, faces hidden in the darkness. He laid a hand on his sword; for all that he had broken his block long ago, he still felt most comfortable using a weapon to guide the Power. And, weak as he was, the angreal in his hilt was the only thing that kept him on equal footing with his peers. "We will take you both, and you will tells us what you know. If you do not struggle, perhaps we will make your deaths quick."
He heard his wife say, "Never!" but his attention was diverted. A silver arch floated beside him. He could pass through it and escape, but she would not. Be steadfast. She would die here, or worse. Dream deaths. Together, they might fight free. Betrayal.
He turned and took a step towards the arch, knowing that he would never forgive himself for this. He heard his wife's voice behind him, rising in panic and disbelief: "Ashfalcon?!" Another step.
The light devoured him.
