Wheel of Time RPG

[TK]

For the second time in two days, Leun felt a barrier of Spirit close down upon him, shielding him from saidin. Before Leun could help anything, one of the wolves lunged at the Accepted, knocking her to the ground. She was unconscious.

Bloody flaming mongrel! Leun thought to himself wildly. Light, in the past two days alone, he had used more curses than other spoken words in the past five years.

"She shielded me! The woman shielded me from the One Power!" he growled at al'Taren. The aggression, the bouts of rage... it was just not like him. Right now, though, Leun didn't care. He fumbled against the knots of saidar that had blocked him from the One Power. The Accepted seemed to have skill, though, for they were tightly done. He could not break free.

From his sleeve he drew out his dagger, a rather ornate piece, with a hilt of ivory and gold, inlaid with firedrops. It would fetch a handsome sum if he were to sell it, though the sentiments were enough to make it too difficult to part. If I can't undo the shield by myself, he thought, then I'll empty her veins and undo it that way!

The only problem with that, as Leun soon realized, was that he knew next to nothing about both saidar and channelled-ties in general. If he killed the woman, there was no guarantee the tie would unravel... and he was wanted enough by the White Tower without murdering one of their Accepteds.

Leun sighed, returning the dagger to his sleeve. It seemed as if they'd have to wait until she awoke and somehow coax her into taking off the shield. How that would be done, though, he had not a clue.

[irishdragonlord]

TK said:

For the second time in two days, Leun felt a barrier of Spirit close down upon him, shielding him from saidin. Before Leun could help anything, one of the wolves lunged at the Accepted, knocking her to the ground. She was unconscious.

Bloody flaming mongrel! Leun thought to himself wildly. Light, in the past two days alone, he had used more curses than other spoken words in the past five years.

"She shielded me! The woman shielded me from the One Power!" he growled at al'Taren. The aggression, the bouts of rage... it was just not like him. Right now, though, Leun didn't care. He fumbled against the knots of saidar that had blocked him from the One Power. The Accepted seemed to have skill, though, for they were tightly done. He could not break free.

From his sleeve he drew out his dagger, a rather ornate piece, with a hilt of ivory and gold, inlaid with firedrops. It would fetch a handsome sum if he were to sell it, though the sentiments were enough to make it too difficult to part. If I can't undo the shield by myself, he thought, then I'll empty her veins and undo it that way!

The only problem with that, as Leun soon realized, was that he knew next to nothing about both saidar and channelled-ties in general. If he killed the woman, there was no guarantee the tie would unravel... and he was wanted enough by the White Tower without murdering one of their Accepteds.

Leun sighed, returning the dagger to his sleeve. It seemed as if they'd have to wait until she awoke and somehow coax her into taking off the shield. How that would be done, though, he had not a clue.

Braendar had gone only two paces before Leun resheated his dagger. Thank the Light, but he had thought he would really use it.

"Shielded? What? She's unconscious. Shouldn't you be able to use saidin?"

Without bothering for an answer he quickly turned to he wolf who had knocked out the Accepted, the leader.

Thank you, Brother, he said sincerely.

The wolf sent back the equivalent of a nod and added, Rockfur would not have come if we had not already finished the hunt. The wolf gave a tentative sniff. This she-two leg not even one of the two-legs you call Aes Sedai! She weak! How come two-leg Brother need help?

Ignoring the wolf's fragile grasp on language (he had long since learned grammar with wolves was irrelevant, but nonetheless convenient) he said she had been watching them and he did not know she was so weak when they got her.

Rockfur snorted and began to trot back into the woods. Brother will need to find own hunt now, he said, and left unceremoniously, the others trailing behind.

Braendar almost gaped. How was that for a 'your welcome"?

[Crystal]

It was almost evening by the time Ariena woke.

"Blood and ashes," she groaned. Nothing felt broken, but her body was sore and her head ached. She groped about for her belt knife, and panicked to find it gone. "Blood and bloody ashes!"

There was only one man there, the one she still sensed her shield about. He was older than the golden-eyed other, she estimated, perhaps... three, four years older than she was? Maybe even five. Raising her head, she tried to sit up, ignoring the fact that she was making as much noise as a bear in the woods. A big, clumsy bear.

[TK]

The sun was setting by the time the fire was warm enough to cook anything, though that happened to be a rather long time after it had been crafted. Not able to weave Fire, he had faced with the difficult task of crafting a fire without the aid of the One Power whilst Braendar had been hunting. Leun had accomplished it after an hour's worth of of toiling.

Leun took a bite out of the roasted hare. Light, how it did not please the tongue, but there was rather little choice.

Turning his head, Leun saw the Accepted stir. He bounded from his seat and leapt over to her, his dagger pointed against her throat with one fluent blur. "I'll know if you embrace saidar," he said to her in no more than a whisper. "Tell me why the White Tower sent you after us. Tell me why I should not take your life this moment!"

He had absolutely no intention of doing so, but he hoped that did not show.

[Crystal]

Ariena stared up at the man. His eyes were tight and he held the dagger pressed against her throat. One who could have been, but was not a handsome man, lines in his face from worry and strain. He was younger than she had originally thought, too, more her own age, but veiled and hooded brown eyes had aged him years. His lips were pressed together in a single line.

Light, were all men mad?

She somehow managed to choke out a laugh.

"You won't kill me," she told him, trying to stop her voice from sounding slightly hysterical. "You can't. If you do the shield will never fall. Light, man, the White Tower never sent me!" She glanced down at her Gaidin cloak, pointedly ignoring the sharp point of the dagger that rested against the soft skin of her neck. She pushed the fear down. Deep down.

[TK]

"You lie," he breathed. "What were you doing hiding in the bushes, spying on us? What are you doing so close to the White Tower?"

[Crystal]

"I told you, I am no spy!" she cried, close to panic. "I was thrown from the White Tower for stealing this!" She plucked at the cloak. She suddenly realized that she was lying on the ground again, pushed flat by his weight. Humiliation crawled on the tail of disorientation and fright. "Let me go, you oversized buffoon!"

She grasped at saidar, wove a thick weave of Air and threw him off her.

[TK]

Before Leun could thrust the dagger, he felt himself being tossed with the Power.

"Al'Taren!" he shouted. "We need the wolves... we need to get her to lower the shield!"

[Crystal]

Ariena collected the strange man's dagger from where it had fallen. A strange dagger. Too ornate for her tastes, but still quite good.

She bounded over to him as he called out into the night, fashioning a gag of sorts from the One Power. There was no one else there. She did not know where the other boy had gone, but she hoped he was far, far away.

Seating herself just before the other, she glared at him. His eyes were full of suspicion.

"I am no spy," she repeated. Light, what was she going to do now? "And I will prove it."

She reached out with saidar, dissolved his bonds. Oh Light. The Mistress of Novices had always said she was foolhardy. What was she doing? "Don't even think of it," she warned. "I can have you tied up again faster than you can."

She tensed her muscles. No use letting him know she was as weak as a kitten when it came to sheer physical power, for all she could tie any other Accepted in Tar Valon up in knots with the One Power.

She hesistated, then reached out and untied the shield. His eyes widened in surprise before he got himself under control again. Shakingly, she handed him back his dagger.

"There. You are armed. I am not. We both have the Power. Now will you listen?"

[TK]

Listen? Leun thought. A trap. The Accepted will weave her web of lies! He could not trust anyone who had been trained for so long in the presence of Aes Sedai. Her most feeble attempts to get her to gain his trust would not work.

The hair on Leun's arm stood erect. She really was holding the Power. And as long as she was, there was no shielding her. He would be able to shield her with Spirit, and as long as he did not tie the weaves or divert the flows, she wouldn't be able to break through it - though he would only cast the Spirit shield of she was not already holding saidar.

A thousand plans ran through Leun's head, a thousand ways to get her to relinquish saidar, some so incredibly farfetched. He even considered bonding her as a Warder, for the shock alone could easily overwhelm the One Power from an Accepted. The day I bond a woman who can channel is the day I run naked through the Blight.

The way around it would be to link with her - it would make him strong enough to cast a shield and tie it off, and as soon as he broke the link, she would not be able to unravel it. No matter how clumsy he was with the ties. Unfortunately, a woman could not be forced into a link, not unless the circle contained a large amount of women.

No, Leun thought to himself. I know one way to get this done.

With the most fluent of motions, Leun sliced the dagger through the air, cutting it down along her arm. He cut through the Accepted's dress and into her shoulder - it was a deep cut, and how it would bleed.

"No one wielding the One Power can Heal themselves. Link with me, woman, and I will have strength enough to Heal your wounds.[/i]

He did not doubt that the Accepted knew what he planned, though she would have no other choice. It was too deep of a cut.

And still, he could not help but feel a sudden pang of guilt for the act he had just committed, Accepted as she even was.

[irishdragonlord]

"Blood and ASHES but that Rockfur is going to get it!"

Braendar stalked throught the woods. Leun can have his sorry little hare, but Braendar wanted MEAT and LOTS of it. He was STARVING, burn this sorry forest and its poor game!

"Bloody Rockfur gets his bloody stag, and what do I get? A HARE! A bloody burning flaming HARE!"

A small voice said to tone down the cursing because he had just scared of everything within five miles, but he didn't let up. Finally, he decided to burn it all and eat that bloody rabbit Leun hadn't eaten and left for him.

Seeing the gash on the Accepted's arm and the fact Leun was now staring her down, Braendar broke into a run.

"Light, man, what did you do?!"

[Crystal]

The dagger slashed down, and Ariena jerked away from it. It carved a deep gash on her shoulder and down along her arm. The rush of saidar was so sweet, drowning her in it until she could hardly hear the pain.

"Link with me, woman, and I will have strength enough to Heal your wounds."

She cast a hasty glance at her wounded left arm. It wasn't very serious. She knew enough of Healing to know that. But he was right - it would render her unable to use that arm for a long time until the flesh knitted itself back together. And no Aes Sedai would Heal her, even if she COULD get back to the White Tower.

So that only left this man. And she knew she couldn't trust him.

But what choice did she have?

The other boy came running in, cursing. He ran towards them.

Slowly, Ariena lifted herself to her knees, reached forward to touch the other man's forehead in between the long dun-coloured hair. Steeled herself to do something she'd never done before.

No. It wasn't a link.

It was a bond.

The bond of a Warder.

She could feel him now, in her mind. The bond between them - she knew he could not break it, and she gripped the reins of compulsion tightly. With this she could make him dance. Light, but the sisters would be angry with her for this.

Oh Light.

She let go of saidar, and the dizziness and shock of the pain returned, nearly making her pass out. She clung on, holding to the new bond as if to a rock, feeling through it how strong he was in the One Power, and his current state of mind. Oh, Light.

[TK]

((not sure if what I'm about to do is actually possible - though I doubt it'll cause any harm ^^;; ))

Leun felt her hand being thrust against her forehead. Before he had the chance to use the dagger, he felt himself rushed into a blazing inferno - and then, as that very second ended, he was no longer.

The numbness crept over Leun. I've been bonded... The thoughts seemed strangely distant, so very unreal.

And then, in the back of his mind, in a hidden nook that had yet to be entered - he felt her. He felt the Accepted in the back of his skull. She was in a state of shock at the moment, in a state of diziness brought on by the wound. He could also sense the pain in the gushing wound on her arm - he did not feel it as if it were his own wound, but he could sense it in a way, almost like a shadow of a wound. It hurt her deeply.

A bargaining piece! he thought. The woman could compel him into travelling back across the river to the White Tower, and under the unfluence of the bond, she could have him await trial by the Aes Sedai. No, he could not allow it.

Thrusting his own hand forward, he grabbed her by the neck. A bargaining piece for each side. He only had the vaguest ideas of how it worked, but he thought he could make it work...

And then, in seconds, she was bonded, too.

"Accepted," he wheezed. Light, how it felt odd. The two bonds only intensified the awareness he had of her. "Let us link. I can Heal your wounds, and I promise you by the honour of the Light, I will not shield you from saidar." He could not go on with the shadow wound so boldly emblazoned in his mind. With the tightness of the bond, he knew she would know he truly meant it.

[Crystal]

She caught her breath in shock. A double bond? How was this...? Burn you, Ariena! You should have expected this!

"Let us link. I can Heal your wounds, and I promise you by the honour of the Light, I will not shield you from saidar."

She nodded, dimly. "Very well. I give you my word I will not shield you from saidin."

She reached out, linked with him, a link brought even closer by the double bond between them. "Remind me to give you my name later," she told him, tensing herself for the unatural coldness of Healing.

[TK]

The linking was an entirely new thing for him. He felt himself sliding over his strength to her - not too strongly, but enough. He was tempted to pull it away, not out of fright, but out of the way his mind shook. A bonding, a second bonding and a linking. He was so very aware of her, and he knew she felt the same bemusement that he did. Adding that in with whatever the taint of saidin had done to him, he felt like a mess on the inside. He wondered if she could sense the taint that saidin had left.

Leun had only even Healed twice in his life, and both of those were for minor wounds on animals. Out of the Five Power, Water was his weakest element, but it was crucial in the act of Healing. The Accepted seemed to be strong in Water, though, and her strength in Spirit and Air only strengthened his.

Carefully maneuvering the flows - Light, how it was so meticulous, so precise - he focused them upon her wound. Slowly, though not quite so much, the wound began to close. She was Healed.

Before he could tempt himself with the shield of Spirit he still wished to cast, he pulled free of the link and let it drop.

"Tell me," he said, "why you're here. Why were you spying on Braendar and I?" He would be able to sense so easily if she was lying. "And here's your reminder, by the way, about you telling me your name."