“I think it applies to leadership, too. The men who don’t want titles should be the ones who get them, it seems. So long as I keep that in mind, I think I might do all right.”
Elyas chuckled. “The banner looks good, hanging up there.”
“It fits me. Always has. I just haven’t always fit it.”
“Deep thoughts, for a blacksmith.”
“Perhaps.” Perrin pulled the blacksmith’s puzzle from his pocket, the one he’d found in Malden. He still hadn’t managed to get the thing apart. “Has it ever struck you as odd that blacksmiths seem like such simple folk, yet they’re the ones who make all of these blasted puzzles that are so hard to figure out?”
“Never thought of it like that. So you’re one of us, finally?”
“No,” Perrin said, putting the puzzle away. “I am who I am. Finally.” He wasn’t certain what had changed within him. But perhaps trying to think it through too much had been the problem in the first place.
He knew that he’d found his balance. He would never become like Noam, the man who had lost himself to the wolf. And that was enough.
Perrin and Elyas waited for a time, watching the army pass. These larger gateways made it much easier to Travel; they’d have all of the fighting men and women through in under an hour. Men raised hands to Perrin, smelling proud. His connection to the wolves did not frighten them; in fact, they actually seemed less worried now that they knew the specifics of it. Before, there had been speculation. Questions. Now, they could begin to grow comfortable with the truth. And proud of it. Their lord was no ordinary man. He was something special.
“I need to leave, Perrin,” Elyas said. “Tonight, if I can.”
“I know. The Last Hunt has begun. Go with them, Elyas. We will meet in the north.”
The aging Warder laid a hand on Perrin’s shoulder. “If we don’t see one another there, perhaps we’ll meet in the dream, my friend.”
“This is the dream,” Perrin said, smiling. “And we will meet again. I will find you, if you are with the wolves. Hunt well, Long Tooth.”
“Hunt well, Young Bull.”
Elyas vanished into the darkness with barely a rustle.
Perrin reached down to the warm hammer at his side. He had thought that responsibility would be another weight upon him. And yet, now that he had accepted it, he actually felt lighter.
Perrin Aybara was just a man, but Perrin Goldeneyes was a symbol created by the people who followed him. Perrin didn’t have a choice about that; all he could do was lead the best he could. If he didn’t, the symbol wouldn’t vanish. The people would just lose faith in it. As poor Aram had.
I’m sorry, my friend, he thought. You I failed most of all. There was no point in looking backward at that. He would simply have to continue forward and do better. “I’m Perrin Goldeneyes,” he said, “the man who can speak to wolves. And I guess that’s a good person to be.”
He kicked Stepper through the gateway. Unfortunately, Perrin Goldeneyes had some killing to do tonight.
Galad awoke as soon as his tent flap rustled. He drove away the vestiges of his dream—a silly thing, of him dining with a dark-haired beauty with perfect lips and cunning eyes—and reached for his sword.
“Galad!” a voice hissed. It was Trom.
“What’s wrong?” Galad asked, hand still on his sword.
“You were right,” Trom said.
“About what?”
“Aybara’s army is back. Galad, they’re on the heights just above us! We only caught sight of them by accident; our men were watching along the road, as you told us.”
Galad cursed, sat up and reached for his smallclothes. “How did they get up there without us seeing?”
“Dark powers, Galad. Byar was right. You saw how fast their camp emptied.”
Their scouts had returned an hour before. They’d found Aybara’s campsite eerily empty, as if it had been populated by ghosts. Nobody had seen them leave along the road.
Now this. Galad dressed quickly. “Rouse the men. See if you can do it quietly. You were wise to bring no light; that might have alerted the enemy. Have the men put on their armor inside their tents.”
“Yes, my Lord Captain Commander,” Trom said. A rustling accompanied his departure.
Galad hurried to dress. What have I done? Every step of the way, he’d been confident in his choices, yet this was where they had led him. Aybara, positioned to attack, Galad’s men asleep. Ever since Morgase had returned, Galad had felt his world crumbling. What was right was no longer clear to him, not as it had once been. The way ahead seemed clouded.
We should surrender, he thought, affixing his cloak in place over his mail. But no. Children of the Light never give in to Darkfriends. How could I think that?
They had to die fighting. But what would that accomplish? The end of the Children, dead before the Last Battle began?
His tent flaps rustled again, and he had his sword out, ready to strike.
“Galad,” Byar said. “You’ve killed us.” All respect was gone from his voice.
The accusation set Galad on edge. “Those who walk in the Light must take no responsibility for the actions of those who follow the Shadow.” A quote from Lothair Mantelar. “I have acted with honor.”
“You should have attacked instead of going through that ridiculous ‘trial.’”
“We would have been slaughtered. He had Aes Sedai, Aiel, men who can channel, more soldiers than us, and powers we don’t understand.”
“The Light would have protected us!”
“And if that is true, it will protect us now,” Galad said, confidence strengthening.
“No,” Byar said, voice an angry whisper. “We have led ourselves to this. If we fall, it will be deserved.” He left with a rustle of the flaps.
Galad stood for a moment, then buckled on his sword. Recrimination and repentance would wait. He had to find a way to survive this day. If there was a way.
Counter their ambush, with one of our own, he thought. Have the men stay in their tents until the attack starts, then surprise Aybara by rushing out in force, and…
No. Aybara would start with arrows, raining death on the tents. It would be the best way to take advantage of his high ground and his longbowmen.
The best thing to do was get the men armored, then have them break from their tents together on a signal and run for their horses. The Amadicians could form a pikewall at the base of the heights. Aybara might risk running cavalry down the steep slope leading up to the rise, but pikemen c
