It was perhaps a good half hour of twists and turns underground before Rasputin had found the final stairwell within the cellar of some old inn whose wall dividing it from the sewer had crumbled centuries ago.  It would be good to be free of these tunnels underneath the earth and out under the sun once again.  Not that Rasputin was unaccustomed to such conditions, but Aridhol was not a place he wished to linger in if he could be elsewhere.  Not that he could now, not when he'd discovered what the Mayor had done with the ter'angreal, that could not be allowed to slide now that Rasputin realised how much of a danger the man was.

 

Leading the way up the stairs, he waited until he could see sunlight as he entered the room above before he took the power only briefly to dismiss the globe of light that had been bobbing above his head.  He couldn't say where they would have to start looking for the Mayor, so instead he asked where the Mayor had last been seen.  It was the female fighter, the one with normal hair, that responded.  Asking for a description of the hall that had been described, it didn't take long for Rasputin to realise where the Mayor was, and what had happened.  The thought of what had been done made him angrier still, he should have been alerted to the problem sooner but Mashadar had been craftier than usual.

 

Leading the way to the hall that had been described, Rasputin decided to voice his thoughts.  "Mashadar was a lot more cunning than I would have expected.  The reason the Mayor acted as he did, the objective wasn't to kill you all but capture you.  Those of you that didn't channel would be handy servants, as to you Aes Sedai...  You linked with the Mayor could have posed a serious threat to the wards.  Your sisters as well, the wards could have been removed altogether.  That, perhaps, was why reports of channeling reached you to begin with, yet took so long to reach myself.  Your were drawn here deliberately."

 

"I most likely do not need to say this, but whatever you do do not take anything from this place with you.  Thats all Mashadar requires to corrupt you.  None of you have picked up anything have yo-"

 

Rasputin stopped dead in his tracks and seized saidin.  Menace filled the air, and it was coming from a distance away in the city.  There was only one other male channeler in the city.  "I know where he is, he is channeling.  Lets pick up the pace."  Tired as he was, Rasputin forced himself into a jog so he had time to sense where the man was, pick the best route to get there and get there more quickly without rushing blindly into danger.

 

 

Rasputin Felar

M`aeshadar of the Aurani

It was a strange night with strange companions to go with a strange and untamed city. The feeling of unseen eyes had never left Thera especially when that Dreadlord was at her back. Her trust for him hung by a thread, but hold it did; if only for a singular reason.

 

… Serena had fallen, her knees striking the ground with force but still she fought. Thera could not stop for a moment to help her rise. If her sword paused for even a moment they would break through. Thera’s heart was beating hard in her chest and she pressed her back close against her Aes Sedai. Through the crowd she saw Aran and Rosheen fighting and giving it their all, no help would come from there.

Thera felt a hand clasp her arm and she almost swung, but then she saw that it was him. He had pulled Serena to her feet and was blocking her from the tortured shapes with his body….

 

For that and that alone Thera allowed this to continue.

 

She had her strong arms wrapped tight around Serena’s waist as they walked the city. Her Aes Sedai was bone weary and yet she had tried to refuse Thera’s hand. It was not time for arguments so Thera had snaked her arms around Serena’s familiar waist and supported her as they walked. It felt good to have her close again, even if it was in this light forsaken city.

 

"I know where he is, he is channeling.  Lets pick up the pace."

 

The inches that separated her from Serena seemed a mile after how close they had been. With her skirts hiked to her knees Serena ran, keeping pace easily with the others. She had one of her many knives in her hand, prepared to throw. Thera smiled at the woman’s determination as she followed on a step behind. Every few steps she tore her eyes from Serena and forced herself to guard their backs. Aran and Rosheen’s eyes bore into the Dreadlords back, so it would be left on Thera to sound the alarm if they were attacked from the back.

 

The city was silent and the dark shadows held dangers none of them could imagine, or perhaps they could after the horrors that had befell them earlier that evening.

 

Serena's jaw hurt from clenching it for what could have been hours. She wanted to be furious, outraged! But was to weary to think of anything but keep one foot infront of the other. Her eyes continuously scanned their surroundings, and although she had been at odds with Thera before this chain of events, she would not let her Gaidin die for her. But how could she have let him Heal me? His tainted touch more tainted then... She shuddered as her knees hit the hard ground. The pain hardly bothered her, it was more the thought of a Dreadlord weaving his sickness into her soul. Biting her tongue, she could not imagine any other way to keep from losing any food that had been settling in her stomach from the day before.

 

His cold and clammy touch yanked her to her feet, and she growled from somewhere deep within. The fire in her eyes sought out Thera, I hate this! I would wish to die before...Their gaze was seperated as they both needed to return to the eternal fight that seemed to be going on around them. Serena felt as if she had been fighting forever. After the Dreadlord had forced her to link with him, she had lost practically all her power to do anything. Saidar seemed to slip between her fingers. She was tired...so tired...

 

A familiar touch grasped at her waste, and Serena flinched before she registered it as Thera's beautiful arm. She yearned to be in her Gaidin's arms somewhere far from here, but she couldn't let Thera die for her! Tensing her body, she did not know how to act. She had to keep moving...keep fighting. There would be time to speak with her Gaidin later, wouldn't there?

 

"I know where he is, he is channeling.  Lets pick up the pace."

The Dreadlord began to run.

 

Seething inside, Serena pulled on the hatred she felt for the Shadow, and produced one of her blades from the sleeve of her coat. Mashadar, be damned! She pulled her skirts up and ran after the Dreadlord. If she lived through this...no.... it was no time to make promise. It was no time to make bargains with the Creator. She had to exist in this moment, not in the future, nor the past.

 

 

Serena Morrigan

Blue Ajah

Bonded in heart and soul to Thera Trakelyn

It didn't take long to locate the Mayor.

 

Entering a huge plaza, a woman that Rasputin didn't recognise was fleeing the mayor who was jogging behind as he laughed, lashing out with the one power causing multiple detonations along the building that the woman was running along.  Her ward glowing light blue as shards of stone reflected from it, fire streamed from her fingers in turn that were battered aside by weaves that were more remniscent of a club, crude and unrefined.  Rasputin knew there would be little choice but to finish him, and that was exactly what he intended to do.

 

"Go save her!  I'll take care of him!"  Forced to yell over the particularly loud and violent displays of the one power, Rasputin ignored the people who had accompanied him as they ran to the side to meet up with the other sister who was now running towards them.  The male channeler had slowed down in his run and ceased his attack as he saw the figure that Rasputin constituted, the other alien intelligence that had warped the man who had once been Mayor recognising him for what he was.

 

"Ayende misain ye!  Moridin avenin ninto, M`aeshadar!"  The man was laughing even as he stood and pointed at Rasputin, but Rasputin didn't slow in his pace as he approached the man.  No, this would end now, this man would not escape and Mashadar would remain contained.  It would remain where he was until the time came when it would serve his purpose, not a moment before.  There were two contending prophecies as it was, there would be no third option, not this option.  Mashadar had destroyed all life in its own reality, it would not replicate the feat here.

 

Rasputin disdained the old tongue in favour of a speech more understandable for those present as his voice projected across the plaza.  "You are sealed once more, you are locked away save for this husk you have invaded.  You cannot run faster than I can chase.  Surrender, and I shall make it quick.  But if you want to fight..."  Coming to a stop a full thirty feet away, Rasputin held his arms wide as if welcoming an embrace.  "Then do your worst."

 

There was only a moment of hesitation before the man roared in rage as he lifted his arms high, then pointed them at Rasputin as a miasma of green and black that was not entirely of the one power formed and flew at Rasputin.  Striking the ward he erected, the air around him bubbled and shimmered darkly, the image of him changing and reforming as his ward struggled under the blow of the weave that tried to corrode it, unmake it, pierce the protective bubble and twist the man that sheltered within it.

 

The aura fizzled and faded, revealing Rasputin to be unharmed though if one could have seen his face beneath his cowl, one would have seen grim determination.  Drawing his hand back, Rasputin stepped forward as he thrust his hand through the air, lightning arcing from it and smashing through the pathetic ward that was erected by his opponent.  Thunder filled the square even as the man sagged to his knees, a burning hole beneath his right ribs.  And there he paused, before trying to get back to his feet, but Rasputin wasn't done with him.

 

Fire, fire that burned hotter than found in any forge swept the man, not even leaving ash in its wake.  There was nothing but silence now in the square as Rasputin regarded the place where Mashadar had stood within a man.  Crisis was averted for now, at least until Mashadar was ready to re-emerge.  No doubt he would someday, but until that day there were other burdens for him to shoulder.

 

Turning around and regarding the pair of Aes Sedai and their followers, Rasputin waited for the attack that did not come.  Why, he wasn't sure.  Perhaps it was gratitude, perhaps they were too tired, perhaps they were scared, perhaps they felt they'd had enough for one day, perhaps it was because Mashadar had managed to weld them together for this one brief moment, united against a common foe.  Whatever the reason, Rasputin waved to them and then walked away unchallenged.  They were now free to leave as he was, and they would have a strange tale to tell indeed when they returned to the White Tower.

 

A strange tale indeed.

 

 

Rasputin Felar

M`aeshadar Aurani

 

OOC:  Was waiting for Kristen to post but don't know whats been going on there.  Either way, its wrapped up essentially, can post and take us out of the city but its not necessary, though final thoughts about how everything went down would probably be interesting. :)