Fanfic:Cei'ila's Three Arches

From Grey Tower Library
Jump to: navigation, search
Cei'ila's Three Arches
Author(s)
  • Aleatha (player)
Character(s)
Harp-icon.png This is a piece of fanfiction.
Only the original author(s) or Librarian(s) should make content changes to this page.




First Arch

A blinding light surrounded her and from a place far away, coming nearer and nearer came the chanting of women, an age-old ceremony she had seen many a time before. Deep chocolate eyes looked at her for an instant and then became her own, fixed on a young man bounded to a large stone altar with straps of black leather, making his skin seem so pale it was nearly white despite his heritage. He was naked safe for a simple algode loincloth and a black satin blindfold, keeping his eyes from the blinding sunlight he would likely be unable to deal with.

A man with no name, a man with no future, born of a Sharan channeller, he was doomed to one day show the signs of the gift himself, and in a man that meant darkness, destruction, madness and death. Her dark lips formed the words of the song and the circle tightened around the altar, all thirteen women blazing with the glorious light of saidar. The man would today be saved from his own danger and meet the Creator's embrace. He had fulfilled his purpose and the Ayyad would continue. Looking to the crowd, Cei'ila saw the young woman who was carrying his child, her face blank, the skin of her right cheek where her birth name had been marked was still swollen, trying to fight off the eternal ink it would soon have to get used to.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

The chanting drummed through her veins and the circle of bright saidar, so much truer than sunlight, seemed to pulsate with the song of the ceremony. The man lay still, inanimate, as if he had already embraced the fate that would be his today. The circle grew tighter and Cei'ila accepted the lead of the stream, throwing her head back in her neck drinking in the immeasurable strength that was now hers. Yes, she thought, so should it be, first of the Elders and passer of judgement. And then suddenly, as strangely as the voice she seemed to have heard earlier, a feeling of darkness seemed to creep over the Ayyad as a realization dawned on her, black enough to make her scream.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast. He is not doomed. Saidin has been cleansed.

Backing away as though from a dangerous viper, Cei'ila covered her face in her hands, dark markings spidering up her fingers seemingly melting in the similar designs on her face, the oldest markings already faded with the long years. All those men! Innocent! She dropped on her knees gasping loudly as the circle was drawn away from her, tearing her away from the Source abruptly leaving pain and emptiness alone. Sirri stared at her, anger clearly painted on her face. The youngest of the elders, she was, and the strongest in the Power by far. No one else would've been able to snatch the lead away from Cei'ila, and the fact she had just done so meant clear disrespect, and possibly the end of Cei'ila's life.

She was old. She had become redundant. And she knew too much. Only then did she realize the chanting had stopped and the circle was now of twelve women, all of them looking at her, eyes of brown and hazel and some of a stormy dark green.

"He's innocent," Cei'ila whispered. "It has been cleansed, the male half, and he is like you and I! Like you and I!" Her last words hardly bore any sound for their looks proclaimed judgement as clearly as any could be spoken. One by one, they turned away from her, reforming their circle and the chanting resumed, louder and more threatening than it had been before.

"You must listen to me," Cei'ila screamed, trying to get up, thin fingers clawing at the hem of Sirri's robes. "He's innocent, he can't help who he is!" Getting onto her feet, Cei'ila could see the blindfold taken away from the man's eyes and he looked at her, bright blazing green cutting through her soul, tearing her apart.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

Ti'liyo. It was him all over again, the death, the pain, the darkness! It was too much. Tearing frantically at everything her hands could find, Cei'ila's screams were muffled in the loud chanting as the blazing whirlwind of saidar settled on the poor victim, his eyes silently pleading for deliverance. And then, to the left of the circle, an arch appeared, its silver colour bright yet dull when compared to the net tightening on the male, ready to kill painlessly. Grace, Ti'liyo! Hot tears covering her vision in a film of agony, Cei'ila ran through the arch, forcing herself not to look back. Forgive me!

Second Arch

Drying off her tears with the back of her hand, the small novice followed the Mistress of Novices to the second arch, closing her eyes before entering with a hesitant step. It wasn't real. Ti'liyo was long dead, and she was gone, no longer an Ayyad!

Cei'ila was dropped harshly on a field of broken soil, the air thick and the sky a lead grey, threatening and dangerous. The distant clash of thunder seemed to make the clouds vibrate with a dull shine. Her gloved hands pulled her body up and brushed off the robes of darkest grey; it seemed Hiran took a sadistic pleasure in opening his Gateways several feet above the ground, if only to show the circle he still stood above them. In fact, the gaunt man stepped on the surface behind her, leisurely jumping onto the ground, his crimson cape bulging with the oppressive wind.

"Remember, little one," he said, "you were not called here without reason. It seems the Lady has an important assignment for you, and if you disappoint her you will also disappoint me." His pale blue eyes seemed ablaze with fervour and, shivering, Cei'ila recalled what had happened with the last one who had disregarded his wishes. It had most definitely looked like Cary had committed suicide, yet the look of pure terror frozen on her dead face had made clear to her at least it had not been so.

Cei nodded softly and turned her head to face the enormous fortress in the distance, a place she had only seen in her dreams until today. It was where she dwelled, and if she had a mission so important it could not be told to her in a dream Cei'ila considered it an honor to be summoned here, to the portals of Shayol Ghul itself. Maybe, she thought, she will finally put me above that fool of a man. Grace, it could be a matter of months until he's uncovered and he will take all of us down with him! The Lady had a lovely way of taking care of those who did not hide themselves well enough. Silently, Cei'ila prayed it would be Hiran's fate today, peering to him through the thick layers of dark gauze covering her eyes.


Her forehead pressed so closely to the rough tiles it made her skin hurt, the dark woman listed to her voice, so light and so splendid in the oppressive darkness of her chambers. "They are too strong right now, so they must be weakened. It will be your task. Her daughter is too strong already, the danger too imminent, but the child Neilan can be killed, and his child, the girl Fai." Whimpering softly, Cei'ila let her words overcome her, realizing the honour that befell her to be given this important task.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

Cei'ila glanced up to the bright contours of her taskmistress and nodded, while beyond her veils a warm tear fell from a deep brown eye.


Peering down from the tree branch she sat on, Cei'ila watched the boy and the girl playing with small wooden figures. "A dog, Fai, it is a dog." Cei couldn't help but smile, seeing the boy frantically trying to teach a two-year-old to speak. The girl, Fai, merely chattered in the strange gibberish young children developed before they even had a sense of language.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

Her smile faded quickly as her fingertips found the hilt of the dagger on her belt. Saidar was raging through her in sweet currents, the flows hiding her from the unwary eye, even for those gifted with the ability to channel. Calculating, Cei'ila knew it would be a matter of seconds to kill them both. The boy would have to take care of the baby girl, so no one would suspect an assassin's work.

Then what kept her from proceeding? She had practised it so many times, a deft web of Compulsion and bonds of Air, making him stab the girl with his sword and then himself. Should it not work, she always had her dagger and her smooth gloves would make sure she left no trace of herself. She moved swiftly and unseen and no one would think the timid Accepted could be a cool assassin. Then what kept her from proceeding?

Watching the children play, she heard her voice in the back of her mind. They are too strong right now, so they must be weakened. The Grey Tower endangered the Great Lord's reign and thus should be exterminated. Looking down silently, she remembered Cei'liyo speaking his first word to her. Mother. It was her gift, she was the one who had given Cei'ila a chance to live again, allowed her a sort of happiness no matter how small.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

If she did not kill them, Hiran would come for her. He would not make her death look like an accident. She suspected he hated her so much he would start rumours and they would question her, and she would have to admit her oaths to the Great Lord and would be condemned before the watching eyes of the entire Tower, before the eyes of her son and only hope. There was no respite in death, she had learned that much over the years.

Unsheathing her dagger, Cei'ila prepared the weaves and smoothly jumped down, landing before the boy. "Don't you dare speak," she hissed, the Compulsion weaves settling on the young boy's mind with incredible precision. He looked up to her and for a split second he was Cei'liyo, questioning her actions, wondering what was going on, how someone he had trusted was going to hurt him. Behind Neilan, the soft silver gleam of an arch flickered and Cei'ila knew it was for her, beckoning.

Respite. For now. But what would she do when it was real? With a sob, she let go of her weaves and dodged through the Arch, her mind numb with pain.

Third Arch

As the light dulled to a throbbing darkness, a soft drizzle started dripping onto the woman who stood there -the woman who was Cei'ila. Her drab clothes were soaked with warm summer rain and the sky above was clearing up, the evidence of an earlier downpour clotting the dark soil to a thick mud. The air was heavy with the smell of burning wood and as she cast her eyes up, Cei'ila could see, far away in the distance, the smouldering ruins of a place that had never been her home.

The Grey Tower had fallen. It was silent now, eerily silent yet every gust of wind however tiny seemed to carry in it the screams of humans, Aes Sedai and servants alike, screaming out in disbelief when they saw there was no way out, when they knew they were going to die like a flaming torch of human flesh. Strangely, Cei'ila realized those deaths were not what hurt her, yet there was a cold throbbing deep inside her body, as if her heart had been frozen and then shattered to pieces, and now it was melting once more, cold truth dawning upon her.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

Cei'liyo!

Throwing her hands up in despair Cei'ila darted towards the ruins of the Grey Tower, dodging still smouldering remnants of the ancient trees that had once grown in the gardens, forcing herself not to look at the faces of those who had fallen, their expressions of utter horror or, even worse, surprise, disbelief. Through what had once been a doorway she ran, a wail trailing from her lips so unearthly in this place of death.

Was it her mistake that she had never revealed to him her true nature? She had wanted to guard him from the Dark, that was all, she had wanted to be a good mother and to give her son fair chances despite what her Commanders had told her to do. They had not found out about it so far, yet if anyone saw what she was doing here today it would mean her own death without so much as a doubt.

Cei'ila? The voice was familiar by now and still, a shiver ran down her spine before she turned around to see the shape of her commander, gleaming with the eerie green light again like when they had first met, when she had tricked Cei'ila into giving her vows to the Great Lord of the Dark.

"Great Mistress," the Sharan muttered, dropping onto her knees and blinking a few times, trying to overcome the sudden light in such oppressive darkness. There was something odd about her, her shape deformed...

Cei'liyo. Grace, how could she? He was alive!

In the woman's ghostly hands lay the shape of a young man, his skin dark as chocolate. He hung limply but Cei'ila could see the steady movements of his chest; he was breathing, he would survive! Throwing herself forward to the woman's feet, an unintelligible muttering parted the woman's full lips.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

"It seems one of those so-called Asha'man has not been wiped out as effectively as we had hoped, Cei'ila the Assassin. Kill him, and finish this job. You have done wonderful so far, the Great Lord will be pleased."

It had been a shrewd plan! Torches, and a ward against the One Power, placed around the Tower by the gathered forces of the Great Lord among its ranks. Few of these so-called Aes Sedai and Asha'man had known how to defend themselves without using the One Power, let alone free themselves from the all-devouring crimson tongues of fire that had meant their end.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

A silver arch gleamed in the sickening darkness as her taskmistress knelt, laying Cei'liyo before his mother. The brown cord on his black coat had all but been torn off and on his lips was a soft hue of blue, the sign he was dying anyway and would not be saved unless a Healer miraculously appeared. His bright green eyes opened in a last moment of lucidity.

"Mother?" His first word would be his last. Cei'ila the Mother. Would it be an act of mercy, to cut the thread she had spent so much time rescuing? Swallowing the lump in her throat, Cei'ila made to lay her hands on the forehead of her only true love in life. She had no great Talent in Healing but what she could do might be enough to save him! If it wasn't, it would kill him, but at least she would not be tormented forever with the knowledge she had never tried.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

"You're not thinking of letting him live, now are you?

Looking up into the ghastly face of the one who had controlled her for so long, Cei'ila thought for a split second and decided. The arch was calling her. She didn't have to make this choice, she could run. Cei'liyo's death would not be of her doing alone...

It seemed to take an eternity to lift her hands off the skin of her son and she couldn't turn back as she shied away through the arch. Light blinded the vision of the scene as she tumbled back into the room of the Arches, falling down on her naked back to look up to the Mistress of Novices.

"Why," Cei'ila murmured, closing her eyes anticipating the downpour of cold water on her heated skin.