Mythmaking

[Robert]

The Wheel of Time turns, and the ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, threading only on the barest minimum of reality and losing much in retelling.

Perhaps a legend was in the making here. It was difficult to tell. But legend or not, myth or not, it was a story. The story of a pair of people, tied together by the unlikeliest sequence of events and journeying off together to face the world, to try and change the course of everything, against all odds.

They rode side by side, both with simple brown horses. Not mules, not fierce stallions, but horses, mere horses. And on these they rode to destiny...

[Robert]

OOC: Now to look up what I actually named my characters, Drake and Ellisande, was it?

[Robert]

The Seanchan had been driven back into the sea after Falme. Or so it seemed. Ellisande and Drake had come a long way since they met that Aes Sedai in Tear, and by now they had come to the west of the continent. Preparing.

Alas, it was not an easy task. People fought left and right, some proclaiming the Dragon Reborn had returned, some refusing to believe it, some merely seeing what kind of kingdoms they could carve out in the chaos.

And above them all, the Seanchan. Oh, no one really believed they would be back, but the cloud still hung. And there was an exception to that general rule.

Ellisande was Seanchan by birth, and a channeler. A damane, one of the cursed. And she knew the Crystal Throne did not give up so easily. Indeed, rumor had it that Falme was reoccupied. Ellisande and Drake were trying to reorganize the West, to prepare them for the inevitable flood.

But few heeded their word. It was fortunate it was no longer just Ellisande and Drake, and that they had a helper. Ay'Shamlae, or as close as they could manage to pronounce her name. And she was from Shara.

OOC: To continue with Ay'Shamlae's story in a little bit.

[Robert]

Ay'Shamlae was an Ayyad, as far as Drake and Ellisande could tell. She spoke with a strange accent, one that sounded like normal... But too normal, as if she desired that no one even hint she was from Shara. She also lacked any tatoos as the Ayyad were supposed to bear by all the tales.

What they could tell from her hesitant talking was that she ran away from the Ayyad, frightened by the fact that her number ritually killed monarchs. How she fled was a mystery to the pair; wether she fled across the Cliffs of Dawn or by ship; she was very careful with her words.

She also had a brilliant mind and was very powerful in the One Power, they had no clue just how powerful, as she kept that hidden somehow as well. She in essence organized the entire attempt to unite the coast against the Seanchan, and they had no idea what they could do without her.

But much of her tale remained a mystery.

[Robert]

It was a beautiful fine summer morning. Or it should have been. Really it was just another horrid day with storms blowing in from the Aryth ocean, swells over ten feet high, et cetera.

Perhaps it was appropriate that it was a bad day, considering what was about to happen...

[Robert]

"I have heard that the Aes Sedai we saw so long ago is coming to Falme," Ellisande said. "Somewhere along the way at least. The few people who I have contacts with say that, at least. Lucky that they are all in Tear and that she left from there."

"Indeed," said Drake, not one to talk much. "But perhaps we should go outside, for a walk." He glanced pointedly towards the many servants who were all around. If even one was a Darkfriend...

"Then let's go," she said, as the servants continued their chores and Ay'Shamlae scribbled in her notes.

They left the tent in no hurry, and began to walk. The evening was clear and beautiful (it having cleared up since morning), and they walked in silence for many paces until they were deep in the woods.

"I don't know what to may of Shamlae," Ellisande blurted. "She's just so odd."

"Well, she does keep the books remarkably well," Drake said reasonably. "But yes, I, too remain suspicious. She is so secretive..."

"And I don't know how we shall defeat the Seanchan if they ever come back."

"Nor I," said Drake, "But imagine we will either manage or die."

He did not mention the other possibility, one that loomed only over Ellisande's head. The a'dam.

"Who knows? Perhaps these rumors of the Dragon Reborn are true? The locals seem convinced. Whatever we do, we must find a way to return peace to Arad Doman and Tarabon. We must."

"And we shall. Every day, we gain more and more people to our side."

"But can we act soon enough?"

***********************

Ay'Shamlae had not intentionally entered the forces of the Dark. It was merely her only option out of Shara. She was veiwed as a rival by so many other Ayyad. She had had to get out. The ports were restricted. The cities on the cliffs of dawn were few and sure to be watched. The Eastern Ocean was unthinkable.

So it was North, and into the Blight. Originally she had intended to skirt the Mountains of Dhoom, but trollocs had caught up with her. She fended them off easily enough, but Moheigadain, the Chosen, had caught up with her, shielded her, and bonded her. She threatened to bring her to Semirhage, and of course she had not wanted that.

So she swore to be loyal to Moheigadain. She swore to serve her and obey her and the Great Lord in every way. And so she became a Darkfriend, if by coincidence.

She sealed up the letter she was writing, and in the meantime smiled. Those fools, Ellisande and Drake were walking into a trap. One that she had plotted entirely by herself. Moheigadain would be pleased.

[Robert]

"Perhaps we could get, say, Andor, to aid us against the Seanchan," Ellisande said.

"But would their queen even believe us? So few know about the Seancha-."

The shields slammed down into place without any warning.

"Oh f**k," Drake said, calmly.

"Mother's Milk in a Cup!" said Ellisande much more heatedly.

She looked around wildly, and saw two horsemen coming straight at her. She struggled furiously against the shield, but it would not budge. The rode up and swooped down on her, and grabbed her by the arms, riding off into a thicket of trees. One of them roughly snapped shut a collar into place around her neck.

Oh, Light, the collar snapped shut!

[Robert]

Drake had never experienced such a sense of loss. Ever, in his entire life. But then, he had never loved someone in his life. Never cared for, never dreamed of, never had any relationship in his life. Perhaps that was a good thing, he thought in what little of his wry humor he had left, if his relationships were going to be abruptly cut off like this.

It was hard to believe that the woman he had devoted his life to was gone, never to come back. Hard to believe the love of his life was now to be treated much like a dog.

He had no way to get her back, he knew. They had taken her to a ship that very same day they had been attacked, taken away by ship, most likely to Seanchan. He had no way to stop them, to retrieve her.

No way in the world... Except, perhaps, to get an army. The idea was strange, the nere thought ridiculous, but he saw no reasonable way to get her back...

[Robert]

Drake headed west with a furious pace that easily outran the feeble Seanchan pursuits, and within a week was out of Toman Head. He then looked around on Almoth Plain, looking for those that would be ready and willing to fight the Seanchan. They were there, and his tale of them taking his love from him awed them and won over many. He soon gathered a force that was almost a motly army, not that that was hard in the chaos on Almoth Plain.

He told his small group to watch and wait for his return to their camp to lead them against the Seanchan. In the meantime, he readied to travel to the royal courts of Tarabon and Arad Domon to gather their support for an attack on the Seanchan. It seemed he could succeed. It seemed as though he could acheive his dream, and brring his life's love back.

It was the day he crossed into Tarabon that he met the party of black coated men calling themselves Ash'a'man.