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Burn the day word got out that I had good shears in here, he thought Despite Taim’s supposedly strict rules for the Black Tower, there was a distressing ae infractions were punished with harshinto a nored Particularly if the borroas one of the M’Hael’s favorites

Androl sighed His belt knife aiting at Cuellar’s place for sharpening Well, he thought, Tai us to look for excuses to channel… Androl emptied himself of emotion, then seized the Source It had beenthat--at first, he’d been able to channel only when he was holding a strap of leather The M’Hael had beaten that out of him It had not been a pleasant process

Saidin flooded into hi one What a wonder that was He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply

What would it be like to draw in as much of the One Power as the others could? At times, he thirsted for that He kneeak--weakest of the Dedicated in the Black Tower Perhaps so weak he should never have been proon about it, and ainst Taim’s express wishes

Androl opened his eyes, then held up the strap and wove a tiny gateway, only an inch across It burst alive in front of hi the strap in two He smiled, then let it vanish and repeated the process

Soain had forced Androl’s proain had said that it was Androl’s incredible Talent with gateways that had earned hiain was a hard es, like an old scabbard that hadn’t been properly lacquered But that scabbard still held a deadly sword Logain was honest A good man, beneath the scuff marks

Androl eventually finished with the straps He walked over and snipped the string holding the oval piece of leather in place It retained its shape, and he held it up to the sunlight, inspecting the stitching The leather was stiff without being brittle He fit it onto his forearood

He nodded to hi attention to the sht If each stitch was secure on an aruard, then it wouldn’t fray or snap That could e or having to put away his bow

One archer wouldn’t s piled up, one atop another, until they beca a few permanent ties to its back, so one could bind it in place on the arm

He took his black coat off the back of his chair The silver sword pin on the high collar glilanced at hi certain the coat was straight Ss, and if you heaped enough of those on top of one another, they becauard on his arm, then pushed open the door to his small workshop and entered the outskirts of the Black Tower’s village Here, clusters of two-storied buildings were arranged much like any sht wooden walls, some stone and brick as well A double line of the only at those, one h New Brae theerrands for the M’Hael, going to practice, working on the foundations of the Black Tower structure itself This place was still a work in progress A group of soldiers--bearing neither the sword pin nor the red-and-gold Dragon--used the Power to blast a long trough in the ground beside the road It had been decided that the village needed a canal

Androl could see the weaves-- around the soldiers In the Black Tower, you did as , like ain and Tairaveled roadway Much of that gravel bore ht in boulders--through gateways, on weaves of Air--then shattered them with explosive weaves It had been like a war zone, rocks shattering, spraying chips With Power--and training--like that, the Asha’man would be able to reduce city walls to rubble

Androl continued on his way The Black Toas a place of strange sights, and est of the Androl’s own careful surveying Lately, the strangest sight to hi into the trough left behind by the working soldiers, sliding down its earthen sides, then scra in the holes created by saidin blasts The world was changing Androl’s own gramma--so ancient she’d lost every tooth in her hten hihts when he tried to slip outside and count the stars The darkness outside hadn’t frightened him, nor had stories of Trollocs and Fades But men who could channel…that had terrified hirown into his middle years, suddenly afraid of the dark but completely at peace with ravel crunching beneath his boots The children ca up out of the ditch and flocked around hiht out a handful of candies, purchased on the last scouting mission

"Two each," he said sternly as dirty hands reached for the candies "And no shoving, ave hi hio back to the trench, but invented a new ga off toward the fields to the east

Androl brushed off his hands, s Children were so adaptable Before them, centuries of tradition, terror and superstition could ood that they’d chosen to leave the trench The One Power could be unpredictable

No That wasn’t right Saidin was very predictable The men ielded it, however…well, they were a different story

The soldiers halted their work and turned to meet him He wasn’t a full Asha’man, and didn’t merit a salute, but they showed him respect Too reat man, particularly not