An unbreakable bond

Chapter 22

"Moiraine!" This was her name. But who was calling her? "Moiraine!" She knew this male voice. It belonged to someone she trusted and who had been by her side for years. She just couldn't put her finger on it. "Open your eyes!" Her eyes? Why should she open her eyes? Couldn't he see that she was tired? She didn't want to wake up.

"Please, do it for me.", begged the man desperately, and her heart ached at his begging. She didn't want him to beg. She wanted him to be happy with... with the wisdom. He deserved it. He had saved her so many times that she had stopped counting.

"Moiraine." He was her friend, her partner, and her confidant. He was...

"Lan." His name came out as a whisper, but it was everything the warder needed. Relieved, he watched how his Aes Sedai was slowly opening her beautiful eyes.

"I'm here." She turned her head in his direction, so, he saw exactly how her eyes widen in shock when she realized the situation, he was in. Lan was tied to a weird wood construct and he wasn't wearing his tunic anymore.

Moiraine wanted to stand up, but she couldn't. Her hands were tied to the armrests of her chair and her feet were tied up as well. Angry, she tried to free her hands, but she was just rubbing the rope over her wrists.

"Moiraine, stop it." She knew that Lan was right, but there had to be a way out of here. Her gaze moved over their surrounding. They were held in a big tent. In front of her was a desk with lots of papers, maps, and books on it. A flag with a golden sun hung behind the desk. Whitecloaks!

"Now, would be a very good time to break the barrier." Moiraine's eyes fell on Nynaeve, who lay on the ground next to Lan with her hands tied on her back. But something wasn't right. The wisdom sounded sleepy.

"What's wrong with you?"

"They gave me some herbs to prevent that I'm concentrating on the One Power."

"But you're not an Aes Sedai. Why should they give you some herbs, but not me?"

"Because she used the One Power." A black man with dark brown hair entered the tent, and Moiraine recognized the cold brown eyes immediately. It was the questioner, who they had met on their way to Whitebridge, who had worn her sisters' rings. But now, he looked different. A long scar moved over the right side of his face and on his arms, she saw the bite marks of an animal. What had happened to him?

Eamon Valda stopped in front of Moiraine and smiled sweetly. "I had a feeling that we would meet again."

"And I thought that you had died. Must've been a terrible animal attack."

Valda's finger stroked gently over his scar, but his smile didn't fade. "I barely survived. This young channeler, she stabbed me with a dagger, and those wolves... but I survived. The light wanted me to continue with my mission, and that's what I'm doing." Suddenly, he moved and laid his fingers around Moiraine's throat. She tried to lean back, but Valda followed until her back was pressed against the back of the chair and she had nowhere to escape.

"Take your hands off her!"

Slowly, Valda increased the pressure, while Moiraine was gasping for air. "The only thing I don't understand is, why you haven't used the One Power yet. I have given you plenty of time. And my men told me that you also hadn't used it when they had taken you. This brings up the question, are you an imposter? You wore a ring of the Aes Sedai, but you don't use the One Power. Meanwhile, this girl here used it on my men. This way, your other friends were able to escape. This makes me believe that she is the real Aes Sedai, and you are only an imposter to fool others."