Fortunes of War

By Tenaile Shar'a'matalle

A group of Aes Sedai and their Warders is trapped while on their way to the army of Manetheren during the Trolloc Wars.

As she looked out upon the sea of death arrayed before her in the valley below, Gelusa de’Brennion, Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah, felt a vast despair settle upon her shoulders. The task assigned to her had been to lead a group of her sisters and their Warders to meet the King of Manetheren and his army at the Mountain Home, as the prepared to face the Trolloc army descending on them out of the blight. Now it looked as if she would never be able to complete that task. The force set in their path numbered in the thousands, and with only thirty or so Aes Sedai assigned to her, she saw no way to win her way past. Their best hope was to find an alternate pass though the Mountains of Mist that would lead them safely past the seething field of foul Darkfriends and murderous Trollocs. So far, the Warders had been unable to discover such a route. It seemed to her that they were trapped no way forward, and, since they had been ordered to Aemon’s side, no way back. They must find some way to get by.

As she returned to her tent, she sent Getlin, her Warder, to summon the four other sisters directly down the chain of command. She needed to discuss an idea that had been preying on her mind all that day, ever since the last Gaidin had returned to inform her that there were no other paths through the mountains. She saw this alternative as the only hope remaining, but she hoped some of her sisters might have come up with another, better idea.

The four sisters, Trelama, Pera, Cadsuda, and Lofara, all Aes Sedai of the Green Ajah, entered the tents minutes later. Gelusa Sedai invited them to sit, and asked if they would like a cup of tea.

"Alright, sisters, let’s get down to business. I have deliberated on this all day, and I think it’s time that my judgement be brought in to the light. I believe that our last hope is to wait until the cover of nightfall, and then attempt to steal our way through the enemy lines. As I see, we have little choice, sisters. We cannot go back. We must bring what aid we can to Aemon, or I fear Manetheren will fall. However, I will not lie to you, sisters. There is no guarantee that our aid in that war will win the day, for the army of the dark that approaches is vast-more vast than any we have faced so far in this terrible war. So what think you, sisters? Should we try it, or no?"

There were several moments of silence as the Aes Sedai considered the possibilities and implications of the plan. There were vast amounts of room for error in such a plan.

"As I see it, sisters," Cadsuda said, "it seems as though our wise leader is correct in this matter. It does appear as though all other routes have been closed to us. Our only hope is to attempt to break through the lines tonight, when night falls.

However, there are several drawbacks to this plan. If there are Myyrdraal, and there are sure to be, then we dare not use the Power to ensure our safe passage, since they will be able to feel us channeling. We must depend entirely upon the skills of our Warders to win us past the enemy’s encampment."

"Perhaps we all could don our Warders’ spare cloaks. Such a tactic would render us nearly invisible to the enemy as we pass through," suggested Pera.

"Excellent idea, Pera," stated Gelusa.

"And of course we would have to leave behind our wagons and some few of our horses. Our party cannot not be very large when we attempt the crossing, or it must fail," said Lofara.

"Very well, then. Are we agreed that this is our best course of action?" asked Gelusa. Her sisters replied in the affirmative, and then proceeded to iron out the details.

Later, nearly an hour after dark had fallen, the small party of Aes Sedai and Warders, split into three groups of ten channelers and their Gaidin, set out into the night, hoping against hope, that all would make it through. The group Gelusa Sedai led started north, seeking to pass through the outer fringes of the enemy camp, and the other two bands followed. Moving as silently as possible, the horses’ hooves muffled by wrapping them in swathes of canvas, the Aes Sedai reached the lines of their foe about and hour after setting forth. They stole quickly past the outer sentries, slaying as they went, and eventually they were flanking the main campground. Here, they knew, they must be extremely cautious, attempting to appear to be no more than another part of the army. To this end, they discreetly spread out, hoping to give the appearance of sentries returning to their bedrolls.

Suddenly, an alarm rang out; a bugling call to arms to awoke nearly everyone in the camp. One of the sisters had inadvertently tripped a ward set by one of the enemy dreadlords, those traitors to the Light who could channel, and mostly served as commanders and generals of the Darkfriend armies. Immediately Trollocs and Darkfriends began pouring out of tents and bedrolls, scrambling for their weapons.

"Sisters! To me! We must break through! Head to the west, as quickly as possible! Let no one stand in your way!" cried Gelusa. Then she spurred her great stallion, and accompanied by her Getlin and the rest of her band, she galloped at full speed to the west, following her own directions. She spotted a small band of Trollocs, led by a Myydraal, almost directly in her path. She channeled coolly, sending weaves of Earth and Fire into the Trolloc ranks, exploding them where they stood. Only a few escaped her wrath, including the Fade. All around her she could feel her sisters weaving saidar, blowing apart the enemy positions. She channeled again, and the Myydraal melted into a pile of rotted bones and sinew. The sisters with her took care of the Trollocs remaining, and they ran on.

On they ran, encountering opposition at every turn, and several sisters and Warders fell, but they had no time to stop and retrieve their bodies. They had to get through! On they ran, until finally, like a storm breaking over the waves, they burst out into an open valley. They saw no signs of life in front, and behind they could still hear the Trolloc armies pursuing. They led their pursuers a grim chase, winding through narrow passes and across streambeds. The Trollocs kept up the pace for several hours, but they fell steadily behind, unable to keep up with the Power-sustained horses. Finally signs of pursuit faded entirely, and the riders drew up and gathered together in a small copse of oak and maple.

An accounting revealed that, among Gelusa’s group, three Aes Sedai had been killed, as well as their Warders when they went into a suicidal rage after their Aes Sedai where killed. Three other Warders had also been lost, and their Aes Sedai sat on their horses, trying to control tears at the loss.

They had no idea what had happened to the other two groups, but they could only hope that they had somehow made it through. The only thing for them to do now was press on toward the Mountain Home, in hopes the missing sisters would make their way there. For several days, they negotiated the high passes of the Mountains of Mist, steadily moving towards the capital of Manetheren, and three days later they found the city. Or what was left of it.

"What happened here?!" cried Crinelle, a sister of the Yellow Ajah.

"It seems we where too late," replied Gelusa sadly. "And all our efforts to make it here were for naught. Let us go down into the city to see if we might ascertain what happened here."

"With that, Gelusa Sedai led her companions down into the ruins of Mountain Home, once one of the most beautiful cities of the known world. The devastation was immense. The stones of most of the buildings looked as if they had been melted by extreme heat, and of those that weren’t, not one stood upon another. The destruction was complete.

"Where did all the people go? I haven’t spotted a single body, not even a pile of ash that looks as though it might once have been a man," said Rengala, Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah.

"Perhaps they were evacuated before whatever did this fell upon the city," suggested Gelusa.

"Let us hope so," said Rengala said sadly.

They began an intensive search of the surrounding mountains for any survivors of the calamity. During the several days it took, eleven more Aes Sedai and a like number of Warders straggled into the impromptu camp. They were all who had survived the attempt to sneak through the enemy lines. Thirteen Aes Sedai and twenty-one Warders had perished in the crossing. It was one of the worst losses in the entire war, and one the White Tower could ill afford.

After they were convinced that no more of their sisters and no more Warders were likely to appear, and the search for any survivors of Manetheren had proven fruitless, they decided to head north and east to see what had become of the army Manetheren should have sent out to meet the Trollocs. After four days of travel they found the answer.

The army of Manetheren lay in front of them, surrounded by a vast sea of Trollocs, Myydraal, and Darkfriends. The numbers on the field were uncountable, although one sister estimated them to be in excess of two hundred thousand. All lay dead.

The Aes Sedai had come too late to assist Aemon in his defense of the Mountain Home, and nearly an entire nation had died. Manetheren, the Thorn in the Dark One’s Hand, had fallen, and would never rise again.