𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕊𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣 | 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕖𝕝 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖

The Dark Along The Ways

»»———-　　———-««

{A pregnant Aiel woman fights for her life in a snow-filled mountainous landscape.}

{The woman fights a number of soldiers successively, and kills each one. One of them stabs her in the side with a large knife. Appearing to be in serious pain, she crawls over to a large rock and leans against it. She rips open her pants in preparation to give birth.}

{A helmed soldier suddenly appears standing over the woman. He is holding a sword extended towards her. The sword has a bronze heron on the blade.}

»»———-　　———-««

{The main group is in the Ways, near the entrance. Nothing is shown but darkness.}

[Rand] Mat! Come on!

[Egwene] Mat!

[Rand] Hurry up! Mat!

[Egwene] Mat, no!

[Rand] Mat!

[Nynaeve] Stop! You need to open it again.

{Torches are lit which provide light to the scene.}

[Nynaeve] We are not leaving without him.

[Elena] He's made his choice.

[Rand] Did he? Or did you make it for him?

[Elena] You know the darkness in him. You know it better than anyone. Do you really think he's ready for what lies ahead?

[Rand] Of course he is.

[Moiraine] We've already wasted too much time.

{Moiraine hands Nynaeve a torch and begins to walk away.}

[Elena] Stay close.

{Rand, Egwene, Nynaeve, Perrin, and Loial stay where they are.}

[Nynaeve] We need to open the Waygate.

[Egwene] How? We can barely channel...

[Loial] Unfortunately, reopening the Waygate would be impossible. There cannot be any use of the One Power within the Ways. To do so would be to throw yourself at Machin Shin and ask it to feast on your soul.

[Nynaeve] What is Machin Shin?

[Loial] Moiraine and Elena Sedai is moving quite quickly. And we Ogier are not known for our... speed. If you'll excuse me.

{Loial walks away.}

[Rand] Listen, this is Mat we're talking about. We can't just leave him.

[Egwene] We didn't leave him. He left us.

[Rand] You don't actually believe that, do you?

[Perrin] Then what are we going to do? We can't open the Waygate. We can't find our way out of here without them. Should we just sit down and die?