Chapter 46 Chapter 42 The Missing Leaf

Perrin stood beside the Tuasan wagon in the bright sun, alone, with no broken arrows, no pain.There was a pile of firewood in the middle of the carriage waiting to be lit. An iron cooking pot was hung on a tripod on the pile of firewood, and washed clothes were hung on the clothesline, but there was no one or a horse.Instead of coat and shirt, he was bare-armed and wore a blacksmith's leather waistcoat.Perhaps it was just an ordinary dream, but Perrin knew what it was like to dream of wolves.It was all too real, with the long grass swaying around his boots, the breeze from the west caressing his curls, and the texture of the scattered ash and hemlock.However, the brightly colored carriages of the artisans don't look real; they appear to be incorporeal objects, swaying and threatening to disappear at any moment.Artisans never stay in one place for long, they don't belong to any land.

Thinking about how much this land bound him, he put a hand on the axe, but suddenly felt a shock.Instead of an axe, a heavy hammer hangs from his belt.He frowned. He might have chosen this path, and thought he did, but that was all in the past.The axe, he chose the axe, which suddenly changed into a half-moon steel blade with a thick spike on the back of the blade, and then changed back into a stubby cylindrical head of cold steel in a flash.These two images alternate endlessly, and finally, the change stops, it is his axe.He exhaled slowly, nothing like this had ever happened before, here, he could easily change things according to his own ideas, at least, he could change things that belonged to him.

"I want the ax," he said firmly, "the ax." Looking around, he could only see a farmhouse in the south, surrounded by a rough stone wall, and several deer were eating ears of wheat in the barley field.There's no sense of wolf here, he doesn't call out to leap.Whether or not Leap would come, or his voice could be heard, the Slayer was probably here, somewhere.A quiver full of arrows suddenly hung from his belt, on the other side of the axe, and in his hand appeared a longbow with a broadhead and a long leather Wrist wraps around his left forearm.Nothing moves except those deer.

"I'm unlikely to wake up anytime soon." He murmured to himself, no matter what medicine Mayfair gave him, he would be here in no time, and he still clearly remembered her behavior at that time. "She's feeding me like I'm a baby," he whined under his breath.woman! He took that leaping step that blurred his surroundings, and he stepped into a farm yard.There are two or three chickens here. Judging by the way they are running, they may have regained their wildness.The stone sheepfolds were empty, the two thatched-roof barns had battened gates, and although there were curtains on the windows, the two-story farmhouse looked empty.If this was a reflection of the real world—as wolf dreams often are, in a strange way—the people here must have been away for a few days.Faile was right, his warning had gone where he had not gone.

"Fair." He muttered to himself in surprise.The lord's daughter, no, not just an ordinary lord, but a lord of three places, a general, and the queen's uncle. "Light, so she is the queen's cousin!" What an astonishing creature a woman should be in love with an ordinary blacksmith. He wanted to see how far his words had spread, so he moved towards Devon in a "zigzag" route, and he could move a mile or more with each step.When he was a little more than halfway from Devon's ride, he changed to proceed perpendicular to the original route.Most of the farms he saw were empty, and there was probably no sign of one in every five farms. The doors and windows were open, the washed clothes were hung on the clothesline, and the children were playing with cloth. Dolls, hoops, or wooden horses were placed around the door, and those toys always made his stomach twitch.Even if they didn't believe his warning, many farms here had burned to show them the same, for in many places he saw piles of charred wood and blackened chimneys like the stiff fingers of a dead man.

Bending down, I picked up a rag doll with a smiling glass face and a dress embroidered with flowers.It must be a woman who embroiders such delicate patterns because of her deep love for her daughter.He blinked, the doll was still sitting on the stone step where he had picked it up, and he reached out, and the one in his hand faded away, then disappeared completely. The flickering black light in the sky interrupted his surprise. The crows, in a group of twenty to thirty, were flying towards Xilin.They flew all the way to the Misty Mountains; this was where he first saw the Slayer.He watched coldly as the flock of crows gradually shrunk into a black spot and slowly disappeared, and then he followed.The huge strides allowed him to cover five miles in one step, and only in the short pauses between the two steps did the surrounding environment not tremble and blur.He walked into the wooded and rocky west woods, and over the scrub-covered gravel dunes, into the cloud-capped mountains, whose slopes and valleys were thick with fir, pine, and featherwood.He went as far as he had seen the first trace of the man whom Leap had called the Slayer, to the hillside on which he had come from Tire.

The Taoist door is there, closed, among the countless lush and disorderly carvings of leaves and vines, the leaves of Avandesola are hidden.On the rocky floor of Manetheran, gleaming with a glassy sheen after the burnt out, there were now and then small patches of soil where sparse bushes grew, haggard and weather-beaten.The sun shone in patches on the Manetheran in the valley below, and a breeze from the valley brought the smell of deer and rabbit and fox, but he saw nothing that moved. Just as he was about to leave, he stopped in his tracks.There is only one leaf of Avandesola, and Royal has obviously put both leaves outside and locked the door.He turned around, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.The door was opened, and on the two doors, the vegetation was swaying back and forth in the breeze, and the dark silver surface was exposed behind, and his reflection was reflected on it.what happened?He was amazed that Royal had locked the damned thing!

Unknowingly, he suddenly crossed the distance and stood in front of the Taoist gate.There are no three-lobed leaves among the tangled vine leaves on the inside of the two doors.It was a strange feeling to think that at this very moment in the waking world, someone, or non-human, was walking through where he stood.He reached out to touch the dark surface, and couldn't help snorting, it was like touching a mirror, and his hand slid across the dark silver surface, just like sliding through the smoothest glass. From the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw the leaf of Avandesola appearing on the inside of the door, and the door began to close inward at this moment, Palin jumped out in time, someone, or someone else, came out of the door , or walked in.Come out, it must come out, he hoped it wouldn't be more Trollocs and Invisibles entering the Two Rivers.The Daomen closed together and became a huge stone tablet again.

He suddenly felt like he was being watched, and he jumped away. A faint black shadow passed through the place where his chest was just now, and it was an arrow.The world around him blurred, and in a blink of an eye he was standing on a distant hillside, in the next leap he left the valley of the Manetheran and emerged in a forest of towering firs, and in another leap.During the jump, his mind was spinning rapidly, and he pictured the valley and the flying arrow in his mind.The arrow came from that direction, at that angle, it must have come from... A final leap brought him back to a hillside in the ruins of Manetheran, where he huddled behind a low, wind-blown pine tree and drew his bowstring.Among the bushes and rocks below him, where the arrow shot just now.The Slayer must be there, he must...

Without thinking much, Perrin jumped into the distance, and the mountains turned from gray, brown, and green. "Just a little bit!" he roared, and he almost repeated the mistake in the water forest.Once again he thought the enemy would move as he wanted, would wait where he imagined. This time he ran as hard as he could, and in three jumps he was at the edge of the gravel hill, hoping he wasn't seen.He made a wide circle and came back higher up the hillside, where the air had grown thin and icy cold.There are only a handful of bushes with short and thick branches here, and the distance between each tree is more than fifty paces. , he may be waiting below.

Perrin's prey was there. A hundred paces below, a tall man with black hair and black clothes was crouching on the edge of a piece of granite the size of a table, holding a half-drawn bow in his hand, motionless. Not moving, patiently overlooking the hillside further below.This was the first time that Perrin could observe him carefully. A hundred paces was only a short distance to Perrin's eyes.The Slayer's high-necked tunic was Frontiers style, and his face looked so much like Lan's, almost like a Warden's brother.Only Lan had no brothers, and as far as Perrin knew, he had no living relatives, and if he had brothers, they wouldn't be here.But the slayer was indeed a Borderlander, perhaps a Shiner, but his hair was long, not shaved into a shina style, but bound like Lan with a braided leather cord. Together.He couldn't be a Magill, Lan was the last living Magill. No matter where he came from, Perrin drew his bowstring without hesitation, and the broadhead pointed straight at the Slayer's back.The man was lying in wait to shoot Perrin, and it was hard for him to expect an arrow coming from behind. Maybe Palin delayed too long, or maybe the Slayer sensed Palin's cold gaze. Suddenly, the man in black became blurred and rushed towards the east. Perrin cursed, and hurriedly chased after him. He reached the gravel hill in three steps, and entered Xilin in another step.Among the oaks, featherwoods, and bushes, the Slayer seemed to disappear. Perrin stopped in his tracks and listened carefully. There was silence, neither squirrels nor birds making any sound.He took a deep breath. Not long ago, a small herd of deer just passed by here, and there was a thin human breath, but it was too cold to feel any emotion, and it shouldn't belong to a person.This breath gave Perrin a familiar feeling. The Slayer was nearby, and the air here was as dead and stagnant as this forest. No wind could tell him where the breath came from. "A beautiful move, Golden Eyes, actually locked the door." Perrin tensed up and listened carefully, but he couldn't tell where the sound was coming from in the dense forest, any more than he could tell the rustle of a fallen leaf. "If you knew how many shadow creatures died in that door, your heart would definitely jump twice more. Haxin Mirage had a feast in front of that door, Golden Eye. But this trick is not good enough, You see, that door is now open." On the right, Perrin stalked silently through the woods, just as he had hunted here before. "Those hundreds are just the beginning, Golden Eyes, they are just to strike those stupid white-cloaked people and ensure the death of that traitor," the slayer's voice came with anger, "Let the shadows swallow me! That One's luck is better than the White Tower." Suddenly, he laughed again: "But you, Golden Eye, your presence is a surprise, and there are many people here who want to put your head on a spear. You What do you think of the precious Two Rivers being plowing all over the ground to turn you out now, Goldeneye?" Perrin froze beside a great gnarled oak tree.Why does he talk so much?Why is he saying this?He wants to lead me over.Leaning his back against the thick trunk of the oak, he began to examine the forest carefully.There was no commotion. The Slayer wanted Perrin to move closer. He must have set an ambush.Perrin wanted to find him too, and slit his throat, but Perrin would most likely die himself.If things really turned out like this, no one would know that the gate was reopened, and hundreds, even thousands of Trollocs would enter Two Rivers.He won't play this game with the Slayer.With a gloomy smile, he walked out of the wolf dream. He told himself to wake up, and then... Mayfair wrapped her arms around his neck, her little white teeth bit his beard, and the carpenter's violin was still Playing warm tunes by the campfire.Ayla's powder.I can't wake up!It feels like a fading dream.Perrin smiled. He picked Faile up and put her in the shade, where the grass was softer. Waking up was a long and painful process, with stabbing pains from the side wound.The sun shone into the compartment from the window, it was bright light, it was already morning, he wanted to sit up, but fell back with a groan. Faile jumped up from a low stool, the dark circles under her eyes telling that she had barely slept. "Lie down," she said, "you toss and turn in your sleep all night, and I keep you from turning over all night lest you poke the shaft of an arrow in yourself, not to watch you do it yourself when you're awake." A feat." Ivan stood against the door like a black sword. "Help me up," Palin said.Talking and breathing caused pain, but he had to talk: "I have to go to the mountains, to the Taoist gate." She put a hand on his forehead and frowned. "No fever," she murmured.Then she raised her voice again and said, "You're going to Emond's Village, where an Aes Sedai will heal you, and riding into the mountains with an arrow will kill you. Did you listen to me? If I Hearing what you say, Daomen, Mountain, I'll ask Ayla for some medicine to put you to sleep. We can put you on a stretcher to Emond's Village. Actually, I think you should just lie down now. Let's go." "Trolloc, Faile! The Taoist door has been opened again! I have to stop them!" The girl shook her head vigorously without hesitation, "You can't do anything in your current situation, you can only go to Aemon's Village." "But..." "No but, Palin Albaya, stop talking about this." He gritted his teeth, and the worst thing is, she's right, so what if he can't get himself out of bed To last as far as Manetherland in the saddle? "Emond's Village," he said peacefully.But the girl just snorted and muttered "pig's head".What more does she want?I'm already fucking making peace, burn her stubborn temper! "That means there will be more Trollocs here," said Ivan thoughtfully.He didn't ask how Perrin knew this, and then shook his head as if to shake off the Trollocs. "I'll tell the others you're awake." He turned and walked out, the carriage door closing behind him. "Am I the only one who can see danger?" Perrin murmured. "I saw an arrow in your body." Faile said firmly, the reminder made him feel a sharp pain, he barely stifled a moan, and she nodded in satisfaction.She was actually satisfied!He wanted to go to Emond's Village at once.The sooner he receives treatment, the sooner he can lock the door, this time, he will lock it forever. Faile insisted on feeding him breakfast—a rich vegetable broth, all finely chopped, perfect for a toothless baby.Faile stopped to wipe his chin after each spoonful she fed him.She didn't let him eat by himself, no matter how much he objected, or asked her to feed faster, she always stuffed a spoonful of soup into his mouth without haste.She doesn't even let him wash his face, and when she starts brushing his hair and beard, he decides it's better to keep a serious silence. "You look good when you're angry." She said, and pinched his nose! Ella, who was wearing a green coat and blue skirt today, climbed into the carriage with his coat and shirt.Both garments had been washed and mended.To Palinyo's annoyance, he had to get two women to help him get dressed, and he even had to get them to help him sit up to get dressed.The coat was not tied, nor was the shirt tucked in, but was tied loosely around the arrow. "Thank you, Ella," he said, feeling the fine, neat stitches. "That's a nice job." "That's right," agreed Ella. "Fair's dexterous." Faile blushed and he grinned, remembering how fiercely she had told him she would never darn for him.A little sparkle in the girl's eyes made him shut up. Sometimes, silence is the wisest choice. "Thank you, Faile," he said seriously, and he insisted on it.She blushed even more. After they helped him to his feet, he was able to walk to the door with relative ease, but he could only climb down the wooden steps with two women half-supporting him.All the horses were saddled, and the men of the Two Rivers were assembled, all with their longbows on their backs, their faces and clothes new, and only a few of them could clearly see the bandages on their bodies. The night spent in the Tuasan camp seems to have restored most of their spirits, even those who were seriously injured who thought they could not walk a hundred steps. The haggardness in their eyes yesterday is now only a little bit. shadow.Of course, Will had a beautiful, wide-eyed Tinkerer girl in each arm.Although Ben Yaxing was born with a big nose, and the bandage on his head made his black hair stand up like a bush, he still held the hand of a girl who was smiling shyly.Most of the others held a bowl of vegetable stew and ate it with big mouthfuls. "It tastes really good, Perrin," Danny said, passing the empty bowl in his hands to a carpenter woman.Danny shook his head when the woman gestured to the tall lanky boy if he wanted more, but he turned to Perrin and said, "You can't get enough, can't you?" "I've already eaten," Palin told him sourly.Minced vegetable broth. "The Tinker girls were dancing last night," said Danny's cousin Terl, with wide eyes. "All the unmarried girls, and some married ones! You should see it, Perrin. " "I've seen artisan girls dance before, Terl." Obviously, he didn't explain what it was like to see them dance, so Faile said coldly, "You've seen Tigantha, haven't you? When you recover from your injury in the future, maybe I will dance a Sasara for you to show you what a real dance is." Olla's mouth fell open in surprise at the word, and Faile blushed even more than she had in the carriage.Perrin bit his lip.Is Tigantha the dance of those Tuasan girls?If Sasara was more exciting than the swaying waist of a Tinkerer girl, he'd love to see Faile dance like that.While thinking this way, he was careful not to look at her face. Lin walked over. He was also wearing a bright green coat, but his trousers were redder than any red Perrin had ever seen. This color combination gave Perrin a headache. "Twice you have visited our campfire, Perrin, and once again, you are leaving without accepting our farewell feast. You must return as soon as possible so we can throw a feast for you." Perrin pushed Faile and Aara away—at least he could stand on his own—and he put a hand on the thin old man's shoulder: "Come with us, Lin, there's no one in Emond's Village would hurt you, at least it's better than the Trolloc-infested wilds." Lin hesitated, then shook his head, and murmured, "I don't know how you got me to think about this seriously." He turned around and said loudly, "Listen everyone, Palin invited us to Go with him to his village, where we can escape the Trollocs, who wants to go?" Shocked eyes were fixed on him, and some women pulled their children close to them, hiding them under their skirts, as if the very thought terrified them. "You see, Palin?" Lin said. "For us, safety is on the road, not in the village. I assure you, we won't spend two nights in the same place in a row, and we will Traveling all day long." "That's not enough, Lin." The Madi shrugged: "Your concern makes me feel warm, but if the light is willing, we will be safe." "The Way of the Leaf is not just about rejecting violence," Aila said gently, "but about accepting what happens. The leaf will fall when it should. No regrets. The Illuminati will protect us as long as we live. safety." Palin wanted to argue with them, but behind those gentle and compassionate faces lay a rocky persistence.He felt that wanting these people to give in would be better than letting Bain and Ziad—even Gore! — Putting on a skirt makes it harder to put down a spear.Lin and Perrin shook hands, and the Tinker girls hugged the Two Rivers boy, and Ivan too.The men of the craftsmen shook hands with them one by one, and all of them smiled and said goodbye to them, and wished them a safe journey and hoped that they would come again.Almost everyone was like this, only Alan stood aside with his hands in his pockets and frowning.The last time Perrin looked at him, he had a wrinkled look of sorrow, odd for a Tinkerer. The craftsman man not only shook hands with Mayfair, but also gave her a warm hug. Perrin kept a kind smile on some young men who seemed too enthusiastic, but secretly gnashed his teeth slightly.No woman much younger than Ella embraced him.Even as Faile was being smothered in the arms of some dazzled Tinker boys, she still stared at Perrin like a mastiff looking at her own bones. face, they all choose to hug others.Val seemed to kiss every woman in the camp, as did Ben - and his big nose - and even Ivan seemed delighted.It wouldn't look weird if some lad got a crushed rib because of Mayfair. At last, the artisans retreated, leaving a clearing around the Two Rivers people, leaving only Lin and Ella.The thin gray-haired old man put his hands on his chest and bowed solemnly: "You came with peace, and now you leave with peace. Our campfire will always welcome you. Ye Zhidao is peace. " "Peace to you," Perrin replied, "to all." Light, I hope. "I'm going to find that song, or someone else will find that song, and that song is going to be sung, whether it's this year or the next." He wondered if such a song ever existed, or Has Asan, in their endless journey, begun to look for something else.Ellis once told him they didn't know what the song was, but they would know when they found it.At least, let them find peace!At least it can. "As it has been, may it be in the future, the world has no end." "The world has no end," Tuyasan replied in a solemn voice, "the world and time have no end." People were still giving each other the last hugs and handshakes as Ivan and Faile helped Perrin to the trot.Will kissed the last few more times, and so did Ben, Ben!And Ben's big nose!Those who were seriously injured were put on horseback, and the craftsmen waved goodbye to them, as if they were saying goodbye to their old neighbors who were about to go on a long journey.Lin shook Palin's hand one last time. "Don't you think about it any more?" Perrin asked. "I remember hearing you say that evil has been unleashed into this world, and it's even stronger now, Lin, and it's here." "Peace is yours, Perrin," Lin replied, smiling. "And yours," Perrin said sadly. It wasn't until they were a mile north of the Tinker camp that Aiel reappeared.Baine and Zia had to run to Faile before returning to their usual positions, and Perrin wasn't sure what they thought would happen to her among the Tuasan. Goyle moved to the side of the trot, striding easily, and now their group was not moving very fast, for nearly half of them were on foot.As usual, he took a look at Ivan before turning to Palin: "Is your injury okay?" Perrin's wounds scorched him like a furnace, and every step the mount took made the arrow jerk. "I think it's all right," he said through gritted teeth. "Maybe we can have a dance at Emond's Village tonight. How about you? Did you have a good night at Spear Kiss?" Goyle staggered and almost fell to the ground. "What's wrong?" Perrin asked. "Who have you heard about this game?" the Aiel asked in a low voice, staring straight ahead. "Ziad, what's wrong?" "Ziad," murmured Gore, "that woman belongs to Gosin, Gosin's! I should have taken her back to the hot springs as a gaiter." His words sounded angry, but Not so in the tone, "Ziad." "Can you tell me what happened?" "Mordao is not as cunning as women." Goyle said in a low voice, "Trollocs also have more honor than them." After a while, he added in a low voice under suppressed anger: "One A goat is more sensible than them." He quickened his pace, running toward the two Maidens ahead, whom Perrin didn't hear him speak to, but saw him walking beside them. "Do you understand what he means?" Perrin asked Ivan, and the Warder shook his head. Mayfair snorted, "If he wants to cause trouble for them, they'll hang him upside down from a tree branch to wake him up." "Do you understand?" Perrin asked her.She walked beside him, neither looking at him nor answering, and Perrin thought she probably didn't understand. "I thought, I might have to go to Lin's camp again, I haven't seen Tigantha in ages, that's... interesting." The girl muttered a few words in a low voice, but he still heard: "If you dare to do this, hang yourself upside down from your ankles!" He bowed his head and smiled at her: "But I don't have to go there, you promised to show me the dance of Sasha." She blushed immediately. "Is that similar to Tigantha? I mean, it must be, or you wouldn't be proposing it." "You brawn-brained fool!" she cried, looking up at him. "Men always throw their hearts and their fates at the feet of the Sasara Dancer, and if Mother suspects I know it..." She He gritted his teeth violently, as if he had said too much.Then, she shook her head and looked ahead, but her skin from the hairline to the neckline turned crimson. "Then you have no reason for this dance," he whispered, "my heart and my destiny are already at your feet." Faile missed a step, and then, with a chuckle, she rested her cheek on his booted calf. "You're so clever," she murmured. "One day I'll do that dance for you, and it'll make all your blood boil." "You're already doing that," he said.She laughed again, reached behind the stirrups, and hugged his calf. After a while, even imagining Faile's dance (he figured from the artisan's dance that Faile's dance must be even bolder than that) could not relieve the pain in his ribs, and every step he took quickly It made him feel sharp pain.He tried to stand up straight, which seemed to make the pain of the wound less painful, and besides, he didn't want to spoil the good mood that Tuyasan was bringing to everyone.Everyone else sat upright, even yesterday's ones who had to sit on their stomachs, Ben and Danny and the rest of the walkers held their heads high, and he couldn't be the first to put his head down . Weir began whistling "Home from Tavon's Pass," and three or four others followed him.After a while, Ben began to sing in a deep, clear voice: More people started singing the second verse of the song until everyone was singing, even Ivan.Faile joined in, though Perrin didn't sing, of course.He'd heard enough people say that he sang like a trampled frog.Some even started to step to the beat of the song. Perrin shook his head. Yesterday, they were only thinking about running and hiding; today, they were singing.Apart from this song, there is no memory of the war that broke out so long ago in the hearts of the people of Two Rivers.Maybe they were becoming soldiers, and they had to be, unless he could actually close that door. More and denser farms appeared on both sides of the road, and finally they stepped on the solid dirt road with hedges and low stone walls on both sides. The farms beside the road were all abandoned, and the land was no longer inhabited. . They came to the Old Highway, which ran north from the White River, which was the name of the part of the Manetheran River that rode from Daven to Emond's Village.Finally, they saw sheep on the pasture. The flock was very large, as if sheep from more than a dozen families were gathered together. Each flock was guarded by ten shepherds, half of whom were adults.The shepherd with the long bow felt a little baffled when he saw them passing by singing loudly. Perrin didn't know what kind of reaction he would have if he appeared in Emond's Village in this state. He could feel that the other Two Rivers people had the same worry as him, and the singing gradually became deeper and deeper, and finally disappeared. The trees and fences near the village were gone, they were all cleared and removed.The westernmost house in Emond Village used to be mixed with the trees on the edge of the water forest. The oak and featherwood between the houses were preserved, but now the edge of the forest has receded to a distance of five hundred paces—— This is the range of the longbow.There is also the sound of cutting trees in the woods, and people are further expanding the scope of the flat land.Row after row of waist-high stumps had their tops sharpened and buried at the same angle around the village, forming a fence with sharp edges, leaving only the road into the village open.Some men stood like guards in the open space behind the fence, some of them wore pieces of ancient armor, or leather vests sewn with rusted steel sheets, and some wore old dented steel caps.Their weapons were boar-hunting lances, old halberds from attics, or sickles on poles.The other men and boys stood on the thatched roof with bows in their hands. When they saw Perrin and his party approaching, the people on the roof shouted to the people below. On the side of the road, behind a fence, stood a crude wooden contraption with tangled ropes, and beside it lay a pile of stones larger than a human head.Ivan noticed Perrin frowning at the device. "Catapults," said the Warder, "have made six of them, and your carpenters knew how to make them when Tam and I showed them. These stakes will hold back the Trollocs or the Whitecloaks on the attack , both are possible." His tone was flat as if he was predicting tomorrow's weather. "I told you, your villagers are preparing to defend themselves." Mayfair's voice was very proud, as if this was her own village, "It's such a weak place, but there are a group of strong people, they can almost Became a Saldaean. Here, Moiraine always said, the blood of Manetheran still runs strong." Perrin could only shake his head. The solid streets of the village were almost as crowded as those of the city, the spaces between the houses filled with trailers and wagons, and through the open doors and windows Perrin could see more people.The crowd parted in front of Ivan and Aiel, and whispered murmurs filled the street. "Gold-eyed Perrin." "Gold-eyed Perrin." "Gold-eyed Perrin." Palin hoped they wouldn't. These people knew him, at least some of them knew him.What do they think they are doing?In the crowd was the horse-faced Nessie Allen, who had spanked Palin when he was ten, when Mat had persuaded him to steal her gooseberry pie.Celia Cooler, pink-cheeked and wide-eyed, was the first girl he'd ever kissed, and she still had that lovely plump figure.Bald Per Adair, who had once taught Perrin to catch trout with his hands, was smoking his pipe.And there was Des Conga, a tall woman who would have looked gentle even in comparison with Auberte Lujan.Dess is flanked by her husband Werther, a scrawny man who is always held back by his wife.They were all watching him and whispering to those around them, introducing him to those who didn't know him yet.Palin groaned when old Samb lifted a little boy up on his shoulders and pointed out Palin to the boy and babbled at him, and they all went mad. 人们一直跟在佩林一行人的身后和周围，发出愈来愈大的声音。小鸡在他们脚下来回乱跑，屋后围栏里牛的哞哞声和猪的尖叫声与人声交织成一片，绵羊拥挤在绿地上，黑白花的乳牛在草地上嚼食，旁边是一群群灰色和白色的鹅。绿地的中心立起了一根高杆，杆顶挂着一面红框白底的旗帜，在微风中阵阵地摆动着，旗子上绘着一只红色的狼头。佩林看着菲儿，但菲儿摇了摇头，显得和他一样惊讶。 “一个象征。” 佩林没有听见维林的脚步声，但现在，他听见了一阵窃窃私语，“两仪师。”伊万没有丝毫惊讶，人们望向维林的目光中充满了敬畏。 “人们需要象征，”维林说着，将一只手放在快步的肩头，“当艾拉娜告诉几个村民，兽魔人是多么害怕狼的时候，每个人似乎都认为这面旗是个非常好的主意。你不这样想吗，佩林？”她的声音是不是别有意味？她的黑眼睛正看着他，像鸟一样的黑眼睛，一只鸟在看着一条虫子？ “我不知道摩格丝女王会对此有何看法，”菲儿说，“这里是安多的一部分，女王不会喜欢奇怪的旗子在她们的领土上升起。” “那只是地图上的一条线。”佩林对她说。果然，坐骑停下脚步之后，从箭头上传来的阵痛减缓了。“在走进凯姆林之前，我甚至不知道我们被当成是安多的一部分，我怀疑这里的许多人也不知道。” “统治者们总是喜欢相信地图，佩林，”菲儿的声音无疑是别有含意的，“当我还是个小孩时，沙戴亚有些地方已经有五代人没见过税吏了，而当我父亲能够将他的注意力从妖境移开一会儿的时候，泰诺比立刻就让那些人知道了谁是他们的女王。” “这里是两河，”他向她咧嘴笑了笑，“不是沙戴亚。”沙戴亚人听起来确实很厉害。 当他转向维林的时候，笑容变成了皱起的双眉：“我以为你会……隐藏……你的身份。”他说不出什么更令他困扰，是两仪师秘密地待在这里，还是两仪师公开地待在这里。 两仪师的手在断箭旁边一寸的地方摸了摸，佩林觉得伤口周围涌过一阵刺麻的感觉。“哦，这可不妙。”她喃喃地说道，“咬住了肋骨，虽然敷了药，但还是有些感染。我想，这需要艾拉娜来处理。”她眨眨眼，将手收了回去，那种刺麻感消失了。“什么？隐藏？哦，现在这里已经是天翻地覆的，我们很难再藏起来了。我想我们本来可以……离开的，你不会希望如此，对吧？”又是那一双锐利的、鸟一般的眼睛。 佩林犹豫着，最后叹了口气：“我想我不会希望的。” “哦，这听起来很不错。”维林微笑着说道。 “为什么你们到这里来了，维林？” 她似乎根本没听见他的话，或者是不想去听。“现在，我们需要处理一下你身上的这个东西，其他小伙子也需要照顾，艾拉娜和我会照料伤势最严重的，但……” 跟随佩林的人都跟他一样被这里的情景吓呆了。班一边搔着脑袋，一边仰头看着那面旗帜，有几个人愕然地望着周围的人群，不过，大多数人都睁大了不安的双眼看着维林。他们肯定听到人群里有人说出“两仪师”这个词。佩林发现，自己也没能完全逃过这些注视，有人注意到他和两仪师谈话的态度，就像和一位普通村妇闲聊一样。 维林打量了他们好一会儿，然后，她突然伸手到背后，看也没看就从围观的人群里抓出一个十来岁的小姑娘。女孩黑色的长发被一条蓝丝带束住，吓得浑身直打哆嗦。 “你认识黛斯·康加吧，孩子？”维林说，“那好，你去找她，告诉她这里有伤者需要乡贤的草药，告诉她要快。你再告诉她，我没耐心等她，明白了吗？去吧！” 佩林没有认出那个小女孩，但她显然是认识黛斯的，因为听到维林要她这样对黛斯说，她又打了个哆嗦。但维林毕竟是两仪师，在犹豫片刻之后（黛斯·康加和一位两仪师比起来，谁来得可怕），女孩跑着钻进了人群中。 “艾拉娜会照看你的。”维林仰头望着他说，佩林希望她不是话中有话。