WOT Adv 75

--- The Wheel Turns ---
"We took some heavy losses in that fight." You inform the group that afternoon as you lay low in a thicket of trees. "I am grateful to you, Wise One Bryna, for your help in that fight. If it were not for you, I would be monster food."

"If not for you and your friends, Maer, we would all be monster food." She smiles at you.

"I am sorry we lost your brave men; I wish we would have had more help fighting the beast."

"I'm afraid these villagers are not warriors. Can you blame them for their actions?" Bryna questions.

"Yeah," one of them says petulantly. "You saw what happened to poor Tom..." he just shakes his head. You face the man and the other villagers.

"I have no doubt that you fight ordinary men and soldiers as bravely as the next, but you must learn to face your fear of greater foes if you are to rescue your village. The monster to fear in battle is not that which will rend your body from head to toe, but that which will freeze your blood and paralyze your heart, and that is fear itself--you must learn to battle your fears as bravely as you battle your enemies, or your enemies will defeat you and your friends will leave you. When you hear the command to fight, you must fight, or you will die either from your wounds as you run, or from shame at having abandoned your friends. If fight together, however, we will be victorious."

I look at everyone. "Are we in agreement?"

They murmur their agreement.

You turn to the others in your party. "Thenlir, you have saved our lives too many times to count. I am proud to fight at your side."

He nods and lets his gaze drift over to Maeslyn.

"And Keb, once again, you prove your worth to us with your skills. We are favored highly with your loyalty."

"I'm afraid my loyalty is as large as the pocketbook that hired me for the task," she grins and glances at Maeslyn who watches her critically. "Which, for now, has ensured that I will be quite loyal for the time being."

You nod and turn to Maeslyn. "And as always, Wise One, I once again owe you my life. I suspect I may never be completely free of my life debt to you."

"That," she smiles slyly, "is good news."

"Now, what is our plan to rescue the Wise One Megda and her warrior?"

"I do not know," Bryna admits. "We don't have very much knowledge about the enemy. All we know is that they have captured our town."

You ponder for a minute. "I think we will need to scout out the town. Once that is done your townsfolk can help to create a layout of the town as a bird would see it--we will use stones and wood for buildings, and sticks to represent soldiers. Leaves will represent Wise Ones who fight. Grass will represent where the beasts are kept."

"That sounds reasonable." Bryna asks. "I'm sure Althair here," she points to the remaining woodsman, "can help scout out the town."

"I'll go too." Keb says. "I'm good at moving quietly."

You're not sure whether that would make too many people or not. You question for more information.

"Wise Ones," you address Bryna and Maeslyn. "Do you know of any secret knowledge which would allow our enemies to detect our presence if we were to attempt a raid?"

"What do you mean, Maer?"

"You command wind and fire; can you make men see in the dark or hear like an owl?"

"I suppose it's possible with the one power. I have heard of weaves of the One Power that change the pattern so that a channeler can see very great distances or hear things from far away. The one power can, of course, weave threads of light as well to see in dark places." She shrugs. "With the One Power, many things are possible. Is that not right, Bryna?"

"What? What do you mean?" She asks somewhat nervously.

"No need to hide your abilities from me," Maeslyn smiles at her. "I know that you have some talent in the One Power, even though it has only been self taught and lacks the finesse of true training."

"I don't mean any harm," Bryna mumbles.

"There is no harm--" Maeslyn says, with a pause. "--As long as you are trained properly. I will bring this matter before Nadira when we meet her next. The White Tower will be able to train you how such things should be done."

"My place is here." Bryna says, challenging Maeslyn. "I have already learned to control the threads. I--"

"No." Maeslyn corrects her. "Your place -was- here. But no longer. You will be properly trained. This is reality, Bryna. Those who are not trained pose a significant threat to those around them."

"I am already in proper control." Bryna says with some asperity, getting flustered.

"Are you now?" Maesyn says with infinite calm in her voice, eyeing the older woman until Bryna drops her eyes. "Perhaps you can show me sometime. You do not entirely understand what it is you possess. If you did, you would be begging to be trained."

"Yes, Lady Maeslyn." Bryna says, mollified now. "I understand."

"Good. We shall have a discussion about what you know and what you think you know later on."

"Yes, Maeslyn." She repeats

"Uhh." You break in, bringing the subject back to hand. "Sorry Wise Ones. It was an interesting discussion. But our need is somewhat more pressing to rescue the Wise One Megda from this village."

"Yes, Maer." Maeslyn says, turning her calm eyes on you. You notice that her face seems almost ageless for some reason. You're not sure why, but she looks a lot like Nadira Sedai looked. Calm, collective. Almost like stone or crystal. Hard, but smooth. Ageless. Wasn't this just a young girl once? Now what is she?

"Continue." She nudges and brings you out of your thoughts.

"Sorry," you mumble. "Our only advantage, Wise Ones, since we do not have numbers, is surprise, and once they discover that their search party is dead, they will be on guard. We might be wise to strike quickly."

"There is some wisdom in that. But haste could also land us in a trap." Maesylyn responds.

"True. So we might be wiser to let them come searching for us, and then sneak up on the village when the majority of them are out in the wilderness.

"There are some other possibilities we might try." Your eyes take on a far away look. "Perhaps use guerilla tactics to harass them. But that might be too risky. They may have reinforcements. Or maybe we could dress up in their armor and rescue them that way, but I don't see that working. Or we could do an all out surprise attack. Or you could leave me for dead and then the Seanchan officer could take me captive... Or we could place supplies in our bed rolls and---" you pause seeing that everyone is looking at you. Maeslyn has one eyebrow arched. Thenlir is cleaning his teeth with his knife and Keb just smiles at you and shakes her head.

"What?" you look behind you, confused, and then back at them. "What?"

"Or," Maeslyn says with a smile. "We can scout out the vilalge, see what is there and then come up with a plan."

"Yes." you say simply. "There is that. Althair," you approach the woodsman. "Do you know of a place where we can get a good view of the town without being spotted?"

"Yes." Althair says in his low and quiet voice. "There is a bluff some miles from here that looks over the town and has some tall grass."