Never lose hope

Chapter 11 - Buried

It was a nightmare. On his way through the fortress, Lan killed every Trolloc, who crossed his path, but it seemed as if two new ones would appear for the one who he had killed. When he finally found Perrin and Loial, they told him that Nynaeve and Egwene went to the rooms of the Amyrlin, searching for him and Moiraine. As quick as possible, he returned to Siuan's now-destroyed sitting room, hoping the girls had stayed out of trouble.

Nynaeve was the first who the Warder noticed when he entered the room. She and Egwene helped the injured Aes Sedai as best as possible. The Wisdom looked relieved when her eyes fell on Lan.

"Where is Moiraine?", Egwene asked. She had noticed the absence of the Aes Sedai immediately.

"I left her at the infirmary.", Lan explained. When he noticed Egwene and Nynaeve's shocked gazes, he continued: "She has a head wound, but otherwise she is fine. Ihvon helps Alanna and then he will help Moiraine as well. Are you two unhurt?"

"We've heard the explosions, and then the roars of the Trollocs. Perrin and Loial went to help Lord Agelmar, while we decided to look after you and Moiraine." Nynaeve looked at the destruction around them. "Did the Trollocs do this?"

"I don't know what caused it. We entered the room after the explosion had happened. Everything was on fire, the floor was broken, and the ceiling has come down."

Nynaeve nodded then her attention returned to the injured, unconscious Aes Sedai, who she had just helped. Lan saw that it was a sister of the Brown Ajah, but he didn't know her name.

"We need to get them to the infirmary before..." The rest of the Wisdom's sentence was interrupted by the roar of the Trollocs. Ten stormed the sitting room, and the Warders went into action.

A few Aes Sedai, who were already back on their feet – like Liandrin – tried to help the warriors by using the One Power though they were still shaken.

Lan didn't know how many Trollocs he killed, but there were constantly coming more. The Aes Sedai became weaker with every passing minute, while Nynaeve was yelling orders to help the injured ones.

At some point, Lan found himself lying on his back on the floor with a big ugly Trolloc leaning over him, trying to rip out his throat. His sword had fallen out of his hand, and he couldn't reach it now because he had to hold back the creature. Where was Maksim? Or one of the other Warders? He needed some help.

The roar of the Trolloc turned into a burble, then black blood dropped out of his mouth. He stopped struggling and didn't try to kill Lan anymore. Instead, his full dead body weight nearly crushed the poor Warder. And it seemed as if he would become heavier.

Maksim's blond head appeared above him. His friend was leaning on the Trolloc, and he looked exhausted. "I heard that Moiraine isn't a big cuddler, but you could've found someone way prettier than this thing, Lan."

Lan growled at his friend. He wasn't in the mood for jokes.

Suddenly, the ceiling above them cracked dangerously. Lan and Maksim watched how the cracks moved to the door. It wouldn't hold much longer.

But before any of them could do anything, more parts of the ceiling were coming down. First, only little stones, which became bigger pretty quickly. And Nynaeve and Egwene were standing below it!

"NYNAEVE!"

Quickly, Lan pushed the heavy Trolloc off him, but by the time he got to his feet, it was already over. A big dust cloud hung over the area where the Wisdom and Egwene had stood.

Lan wanted to storm inside, but Maksim stopped him. "Don't be stupid! You won't find her like that! Wait until the dust has settled!"

"Let me take care of that." Liandrin stepped in front of the two Warders. She moved her hands and the dust cloud started to move as well.