Chapter 27 Chapter 23 Wolf Brothers

From the start, Perrin knew that the journey to Caemlyn would not be smooth.And his first trouble was when Egwene insisted that they take turns riding Bella.She said they didn't know how far they had to go, but if she was the only one riding the horse, they would not be able to cover the distance.Egwene's expression was determined, her eyes fixed on Perrin without blinking. "I'm too heavy to ride on Bella," Palin said. "And I'm used to walking. I'd rather walk." "Am I not used to walking?" Egwene asked sharply. "I do not……" "Am I the only one who's supposed to put up with the hard saddle and the bumps? Is it? When you get out of your broken foot, let me take care of you again."

"That's it!" Palin took a breath, and said to Egwene, who was staring at him, "Anyway, you ride the first part first." Egwene's expression became more stubborn, but Perrin refused to let it go. She continued to bargain. "If you don't get into the saddle yourself, I'll put you in it." Egwene gave him a surprised look, and a small smile appeared on the corner of her mouth. "In this case..." She sounded like she really wanted to laugh, but she obediently climbed onto the horse's back. Perrin muttered to himself, and turned away from the river bank.The leader in the story never had to deal with this kind of thing.

Egwene really insisted on taking turns riding with him.Every time Palin tried to run away from it, she would push him into the saddle.The blacksmith was far from slender, and Bella was definitely not a tall horse.The curly mare looked at him every time he put his foot in the stirrup—a look that Perrin believed must be reproachful.Maybe it's just a small thing, but they're all clearly bothered by it.So much so that Palin shuddered every time Egwene said, "Now it's your turn, Palin." In those stories, none of the leaders trembled, and they were never called around.But Perrin believed those leaders had never dealt with anyone like Egwene.

They were allotted a small amount of bread and cheese at each meal, but this was all consumed by the end of the first day of their journey.Perrin set traps where rabbits might have run past—the rabbit tracks looked like they were there a long time ago, but it was worth a try.Egwene was in charge of lighting the fire.With the trap set, Perrin decided to try his luck with the sling before it completely darkened.They hadn't seen a living creature yet, but... to his surprise, he almost immediately came across a scrawny rabbit popping out of a bush at his feet, almost running in front of Perrin. Lost.But Palin hit it just as it was about to turn behind a tree.

When Perrin returned to camp with the rabbit, Egwene had prepared a lot of twigs for the fire.But now she just knelt beside the woodpile, eyes closed. "What are you doing? It can't be possible to start a fire with prayers?" Egwene jumped at the sound of Perrin's voice.She turned to look at Perrin, one hand still on her chest. "You... you scared me." "My luck," Perrin said, holding up the rabbit. "Get out your flint and steel! At least we'll have a good meal tonight." "I have no flint," said Egwene slowly. "It was in my bag, and I dropped it in the river."

"Then before you...?" "Aes Sedai Moiraine showed me that on the other side of the river, it's easy, Perrin. I just reach out, and..." She gestured as if to grab something, and she Putting his hands down, he sighed. "Now I can't find it." Perrin licked his lips uneasily. "Is...the Power?" Egwene nodded.Perrin glared at Egwene. "Are you crazy? I mean...the Power! You can't just touch something like that." "That's easy, Perrin. I can do it. I can channel the One Power." Perrin took a deep breath. "I'm going to make a firebow, Egwene. Promise me you won't try...try...things like this again."

"I won't say yes." Egwene straightened her chin, causing Perrin to sigh again. "You won't drop your axe, Perrin Albaya? Will you tie a hand behind your back? I won't!" "I'll make a firebow," said Perrin wearily. "At least, don't try again tonight, will you?" Egwene reluctantly agreed.Even when the rabbit was already on fire, Perrin felt that Egwene must think she could do better herself.Egwene tried every night after that, but the best she could do was to send a fleeting puff of smoke from the wood.Egwene's gaze forbade Perrin to comment, and Perrin wisely kept his mouth shut.

After that hot meal, the only food they could find for the next few days was some wild tubers and a few shoots from twigs.There is still not a hint of spring in the air, so this food is scarce and tastes pretty bad.The two of them didn't have any complaints, but they would inevitably sigh a few times while eating.They all knew that the smell of cheese and bread was needed at least to cure this disease of sighing.They found some mushrooms one afternoon in a shade in the woodland, and among them was even the best queen's crown, which was a delicacy to them.They happily munched on mushrooms at dinner, laughing, telling stories about Emond's Village, and kept saying, "Do you remember..." But the mushrooms were gone quickly, and the laughter was gone. How long will it last.You can't laugh when you're hungry.

They walked with slings in hand, ready to throw stones at any rabbit or squirrel that appeared in their path, but every hunt ended in failure.Every night they set elaborate traps, but in the morning they found nothing.They dare not stay in one place all day, waiting for the trap to catch the prey.They didn't know how far they were from Caemlyn, and they wouldn't feel safe until they were there.Perrin began to wonder if his stomach and intestines had shrunk into a ball, leaving a cavity in his belly. They didn't encounter any enemies along the way, and Perrin knew it was their luck.But as they got farther and farther away from the Yalin River, he still didn't see a village, not even a farmhouse to ask for directions, and his doubts about himself gradually deepened.Egwene still kept her confidence on the surface, but Perrin believed that sooner or later she would say that even risking an encounter with Trollocs was better than wasting the rest of her life in the wilderness.Egwene hadn't said that, and Perrin had always thought she was going to.

Two days after leaving the river, dense jungle hills began to appear around them.Like anywhere else, Remnant Winter still lingers here, unwilling to retreat.Another day later, the hills returned to plains, and more and more open spaces more than a mile in radius appeared between the dense forests.Snow was still visible in the dark depressions, and the morning air was rather cold, with a constant wind blowing.They saw no roads, no plowed fields.There is no cooking smoke in the distance, and there is no trace of human habitation. This is definitely not the home of human beings. Once they saw the ruins of what had been a great rock castle on top of a hill, and some roofless stone houses still stood within the crumbling ring.The forest has swallowed it long ago, vegetation grows from all the cracks in the rocks, and old vines wrap the large stone walls like cobwebs.Another time they came upon a stone tower, the top of which was crumbling and brown from being covered with dried moss, leaning on the trunks of the thick oaks whose roots slowly The tower fell down.But these places have long lost the breath of humanity.The memory of Shadarrogos made them always try to walk around them as quickly as possible when they saw these ruins, until they entered again where no human beings had ever set foot.

Dreams had been tormenting Perrin as he slept, horrible dreams.Baal Ashamon appeared in those dreams, and pursued him in the labyrinth, hunting him.But as far as Perrin could remember, he had never met Baal Ashamon face to face.Their journey is enough to cause nightmares in itself.Egwene was also complaining that she would have nightmares about Shadarrogos, especially on the two nights they had found the ruined castle, and the broken tower.Perrin hadn't told Egwene of his nightmares, even though he'd woke up at night sweating, shivering in the dark.Egwene was counting on him to bring them both safely to Caemlyn, not to be frightened by his dream. Perrin walked ahead of Bella, wondering if they might find something to eat tonight.At this time, he suddenly smelled something.Soon, Bella also twitched her nose and shook her head from side to side.Perrin didn't wait for the curly mare to neigh before grabbing her by the bridle. "That's smoke," Egwene said excitedly.She leaned forward and took a deep breath. "The cooking stove, someone is cooking dinner, it's rabbit meat." "Perhaps," Perrin said cautiously.Egwene's expectant smile faded too.Perrin drew back his sling and drew his half-moon axe, his hands opening and closing uncertainly on the thick handle.It was a weapon, but neither his sneaky practice after work each day nor Lan's teachings had prepared him to use it as a weapon.Even the battle before entering Shadarrogos had become too vague to give him any confidence.Nor had he ever been able to grasp the void that Rand and the Warder had talked about. The sun slanted through the trees behind them, and the trees were full of shadows, and the faint smoke filled the air around them, mixed with the smell of some barbecue.It could indeed be rabbit meat.His stomach started to growl.It could be something else, he reminded himself.He turned to look at Egwene, who was also looking at him.This is his responsibility as a leader. "Wait here," Perrin whispered.Egwene frowned and opened her mouth, but Perrin didn't let her speak. "Be quiet! We don't know who that is yet." Egwene nodded, reluctantly, but she did.Perrin wondered why Egwene didn't listen to him when he tried to stop her from taking turns riding with him.But he didn't think about it any more, he just took a deep breath and looked for the source of the smoke. Perrin hadn't spent as much time in the woods around Aemon's Village as Rand and Mat had, but he too had been hunting rabbits since childhood.He walked quietly from one tree to another without breaking even a twig.Before long, he hid behind a tall oak tree, whose thick branches reached to the ground and turned back again.Perrin walked around the oak and peered ahead.There was a campfire, and a tall, thin man with a sunburnt face was leaning on a thick oak branch beside the fire. At least he wasn't a Trolloc.But he must have been the strangest man Perrin had ever seen, his clothes seemed to be sewn entirely of animal hides with no fur removed, down to his boots and the weird flat top on his head The same goes for round caps.His cloak was a patchwork of rabbit and squirrel skins, and his trousers were a single piece of brown and white long-haired goat hide.His gray-brown hair was tied together at the back of his neck with a leather cord and fell to his waist, and his bushy beard fell to his chest.At his belt was a long dagger, almost a sword, and a bow and quiver leaned against an oak branch within his reach. The man's eyes were closed, apparently sleeping, but Perrin wasn't acting rashly in his concealment.Six long twigs were planted obliquely over the fire, and on each twig was a rabbit.They have all been baked into a brownish brown color, and from time to time a drop of fat will fall on the fire, making a sizzling sound.Perrin's saliva nearly drools at the smell of roasting meat. "Are you drooling?" The man opened one eye, aiming at where Perrin was hiding. "You and your friends can sit down and have a meal. I haven't seen you eat anything for two days in a row." Perrin hesitated, then stood up slowly, still holding the ax tightly in his hand. "You've been observing us for two days?" The man let out a giggle deep in his throat. "Yeah, I've been looking at you, and that pretty girl. She's always slapping you around like a curmudgeon, isn't she? You've got a lot of voices. Only the horse She's the only one of you who won't be heard five miles away. Do you want to call her over, or do you want to eat all these rabbits all by yourself?" Perrin was angry; he knew he hadn't made a sound.When hunting rabbits in the water forest, if you try to hit a rabbit with a sling, you can't make any noise.But the smell of roasted rabbit reminded him that Egwene was hungry too.And Egwene must still be worrying about whether or not they'd run into Trollocs. Perrin slipped the ax back into the buckle of his belt, raising his voice. "Egwene! It's all right here. It's a rabbit!" Then he held out his hand and said in a normal voice, "My name is Perrin, Perrin Albaya." The man stared at Perrin's hand for a moment, then took it awkwardly, as if he was not used to shaking hands at all. "My name is Ellis," he said, looking at Perrin. "Iris Machira." At this moment, Perrin was so surprised that he almost shook off Ailes' hand.The man's eyes were yellow, like polished, gleaming gold.Some memories jolted Perrin's nerves, only to fade away in an instant.All he could think of now were the eyes of the Trollocs he'd seen, and they were almost all pure black. Egwene came leading Bella, looking wary, and she tied the reins to a twig of the oak tree.When Perrin introduced her to Ellis, she responded politely, but her eyes kept darting to the rabbits.She didn't seem to notice the man's eyes.When Ellis signaled that the rabbits were theirs, she jumped on them immediately.Perrin hesitated for a moment, then hurried to the fire. Ellis just waited quietly while the two gobbled it up.Perrin couldn't wait to tear off some pieces of rabbit meat, but was so burned that he had to hold them in each hand for a while before stuffing them into his mouth.Even Egwene dropped her ladylike demeanor and let the gravy trickle down her chin like a stream.When they slowed down their chewing speed, the twilight of dusk had covered everything, and the darkness without moonlight gradually oppressed the light of the campfire.At this moment, Ellis spoke. "What are you doing here? Walk fifty miles in either direction from here and you won't see a house." "We're going to Caemlyn," Egwene said, "maybe you can..." Alys threw back his head and let out a growling laugh.Egwene raised her eyebrows coldly.Perrin held a rabbit's leg in his hand and stared at Ellis. "Camlyn?" Ellis laughed for a long time before panting, "If you continue to follow the direction you have been going for the past two days, you will go all the way to a place hundreds of miles north of Caemlyn." "We've been trying to find someone for directions," Egwene argued, "but we've never come across a village or a farm." "You won't meet in the future." Ellis was still smiling, "According to the direction you are heading, even if you go all the way to the Spine of the World, you may not meet a single person. Of course, if you climb the Spine of the World —the mountain is still passable in places—you can find people in the Aiel Desert, but you won’t like it there. You’ll be roasted during the day and frozen at night, and finally Will die of thirst. Only the Aiel can find water in the desert, and they don't like strangers. Trust me." He started laughing even wilder again.This time, he even rolled on the ground laughing. "They won't like you," he gasped again. Perrin moved uneasily.Are we being entertained by a madman? Egwene frowned, but she waited quietly until Ellis's laughter died down a bit before she said, "Maybe you can tell us how to go, you seem to know more about geography than we do." Ellis stopped laughing, put on the flat hat that had fallen on the floor again, and looked at Egwene from under her lowered eyebrows. "I don't like crowds much," he said in a cold voice, "cities are full of people. I don't usually go near villages and farms, and villagers and farmers don't like my friends. If you were not so helpless and innocent , like a newborn cub, I won’t even help you.” "But at least you can tell us how to get there," Egwene insisted. "Please tell us where the nearest village is, even if it's fifty miles away. Surely someone there can tell us how to get to Caemlyn. " "Quiet," said Ellis, "my friends are coming." Bella suddenly hissed in fear and tugged on the reins.Perrin half stood up.At this time, many black shadows appeared in the surrounding dark jungle, and Bella kept raising her front hooves and neighing in bursts. "Peace the horse," said Ellis. "They won't hurt him, and they won't hurt you, if you don't act rashly." Four wolves walked into the range of the fire. They were as high as a man's waist, with thick hair, and powerful jaws that could bite off a human leg.They went to the fire and lay down among the humans as if they didn't exist at all.In the dark woods, the firelight reflected the eyes of many pairs of wolves and surrounded them completely. Yellow eyes, Perrin thought.Like Ellis' eyes.This is the memory that flashed through his mind just now.He watched the wolves warily, and reached for the handle of the axe. "I wouldn't do that," said Ellis, "and they wouldn't be so kind if they thought you were going to hurt it." Perrin noticed that the four wolves by the fire were all staring at him.He had a feeling that all the wolves in the woods were staring at him too, and it made his skin tingle.He carefully moved his hand away from the handle of the ax again.In his imagination, the tension between the wolves and him also eased.He sat back slowly, but his hands were still shaking until he gripped his knees.Egwene was also stiff all over, almost trembling violently.A wolf with black fur and a gray patch on its face lay beside her. Bella had stopped neighing and struggling, and just stood there trembling, trying not to look at the wolves, and occasionally kicking her hoof to let the wolves understand that she was not easy to mess with.And the wolves seemed to ignore him and these people completely.They all hung their tongues out of their mouths, waiting peacefully. "Well," said Ellis, "that's much better." "Have they all been tamed yet?" Egwene asked hopefully in a low voice. "Are they... pets?" Elise snorted, "Wolves can't be tamed, girl, just like people can't be tamed. They're my friends, and we see each other as companions, hunting and talking together. Like all friends, right? , dapples?" A wolf with a dozen stripes of gray, black, and light gray interlaced turned to look at them. "You talk to them?" Perrin was taken aback. "It's not talking exactly," Ayres replied slowly. "We're not talking about words. Its name is not Dapple. Its name should be-- Strange Shadows Reflected on a Forest Pond at Midwinter's Dusk, The breeze wrinkled the surface of the pond, and the water met the tongue, delivering the taste of ice, and the smell of snow seeping through the darkening air. But even that was not an exact description. No one could express it in words, that It's just a feeling. That's how wolves talk. The other three are Burn, Leap, and Wind." An old scar on Burn's shoulder explained its name, but Perrin could see nothing in the other two wolves that had anything to do with it. related to their names. Although Aerys sounded a little rude, Perrin felt that he was very happy to talk to other humans, at least he was very interested in it.Perrin glanced at the fangs flickering in the firelight, and thought it might be a good idea to let Alys continue talking. "How... how did you learn to talk to wolves, Ellis?" "That's how they found it," replied Ellis, "not me. I know they've been using it all the time. It's the wolf who found you, not you who found the wolf. Some people think I was touched by the Dark Lord, because Wolves started showing up everywhere I went. For a while, I started to think so too, and most decent people started avoiding me, and others came to me for reasons I didn't want to know about. Then I noticed a few Second wolves seem to know what I'm thinking and respond in my head. That's where it really started. They're curious about me. Wolves have always sensed people, but not this way. They're happy to find I, they said that hunting with people was a long time ago, and after they said it for a long time, I felt as if a cold wind had been blowing through my body since the day of creation." "I've never heard of a man hunting with a wolf," said Egwene, her voice unsteady.But those wolves just lay beside them and did nothing else, which seemed to make her stronger. Ellis completely ignored Egwene. "What a wolf remembers is different from what a human being remembers." His strange eyes looked at the distant place, as if he was drifting in the river of memory. "Every wolf remembers the history of all wolves, or what history looks like. Like As I said, it's beyond words. They remember walking shoulder to shoulder with man in pursuit of prey, ancient times like shadows within shadows." "It's interesting," Egwene said.Ellis stared at her sharply. "No, I'm serious, really." Egwene licked her lips, "You... ah... can you teach us to talk to them?" Ellis snorted again. "This can't be taught. Some people can learn it, some people can't. They say he can." He pointed at Perrin. Perrin watched Ayles point at his finger as if it were a knife.He really is crazy.The wolves turned their eyes to him again.He could only move his body uneasily. "You said you were going to Caemlyn," said Ellis, "but that still doesn't explain why you came here and walked like that for two days." He spread out his fur cloak, lay down on it, and Resting his head on one hand, he waited. Perrin glanced at Egwene.They had previously made up a story so that when they found the locals they could explain why they were there and avoid trouble.In that story, they don't let others know where they really came from and where they're going.Who knows if some easily disclosed information will reach the ears of Yin Yao?They discuss the story every day, find the flaws in it, make it more real and complete.And they decided that Egwene would tell the story, and Egwene was better at expressing it than Perrin.Egwene said that every lie Palin told would be evident on his face. Egwene immediately began to tell the story smoothly.They came from a farm in a small village in Saldaea in the north. Before that, none of them had been outside the range of twenty miles from their hometown.But they had heard the stories of the walking singers, and the legends brought by the merchants.They wanted to see the rest of the world, Caemlyn, and Illian, the Storm Sea, and even those fabled Sea Folk islands. Perrin listened with satisfaction, even if Tom Merrylin had only what the Two Rivers knew about the outside world, he couldn't have made a better story, more suitable for their needs now. "From Saldaea, huh?" Aires asked. Perrin nodded. "Yes. We want to go to Marlandon first. I would like to see the king of the great southern kingdom, but the capital is the place our fathers most wanted to go." It was part of him to say it, to show that they had never been to Marlandon, so that no one would think they knew anything about the city.This is in case they actually run into someone who has been there.What happened in Aemon's Village on the winter's farewell night was so far away that no one who heard the story would have thought that they had anything to do with Tar Valon or the Aes Sedai. "Nice story," Ellis nodded, "yes, good story, with very few mistakes. But Dapple says it's all a lie, every word." "Lie!" cried Egwene. "Why do we lie?" The four wolves didn't move, but they didn't seem to be just lying around the fire anymore.In fact, they were curled up, watching the two Emontians with their yellow eyes without blinking. Perrin said nothing, but his hand began to move toward the handle again.The four wolves stood up in the blink of an eye.His hands froze.They made no sound, but the coarse hair on their necks stood up.A wolf ran back under the tree and let out a long howl into the night sky, and immediately there were more howls, five, ten, twenty, spreading out like waves in the darkness.Suddenly, they all stopped.Cold sweat scorched Palin's face. "If you think..." Egwene paused and swallowed.Despite the cold weather, sweat was dripping from her face. "If you think we're lying, then you might prefer that we sleep elsewhere tonight, apart from you." "Usually I would, girl, but now I want to know about the Trollocs, and half-humans." Perrin tried to keep his expression impassive, and he wished he could do better than Egwene.Ayres went on in a chatty tone, "Dapple says it smelled half-humans and Trollocs out of your minds when you told that stupid story, and they smelled them all. The eyed ones get mixed up. Wolves hate Trollocs and half-humans more than wildfire, more than anything, and so do I. "Burning wants to kill you guys, the Trollocs gave him that scar when he was little. He says there's been a shortage of game lately, and you're fatter than any deer he's seen in months. We should Kill you guys, but burning is always impatient. Why don't you tell me? I hope you are not Darkfriends, I don't like to kill people after feeding them. Remember, they know if you are lying , even the dapples are troubled almost like burning." His yellow, wolf-like eyes were as unblinking as they were.Perrin felt that those were really a pair of wolf eyes. Perrin realized that Egwene was watching him, waiting for him to decide what they should do.Light, how did I become the leader again.They'd decided long ago that they couldn't risk telling anyone what happened to them, but Perrin knew they'd have nowhere to go if they didn't, even if he could get the ax out first... Dapple roared from the back of his throat, echoed by the other three wolves by the fire, and then all the wolves in the darkness.Menacing growls filled the night sky. "Okay," Perrin said hastily, "Okay!" The roar stopped abruptly.Egwene forcefully loosened her clenched hands and nodded. "It started a few days before Winter's Farewell Night," Perrin said, "when our friend Mat saw a man in a black cloak..." Aires didn't change his expression, nor did he change his lying posture, but he tilted his head and listened carefully, as if he was different from before.The four wolves sat back following Perrin's narration.It seemed to Perrin that they were listening too.It was a long story, and Palin had missed few details, though he didn't mention the dreams he had with two other friends.He thought the wolves would get impatient with this long story, but they just looked at him.Dapple looks friendly, while Burn is angry.It gave a hoarse growl when Perrin finished speaking. "...if she doesn't find us in Caemlyn, we'll go to Tar Valon. There's nothing we can do but get the Aes Sedai's help." "Trollocs and half-humans are so far south," Aires mused. "It's something to think about." He touched behind him and threw Perrin a leather waterskin, but he didn't Instead of looking at Palin, he was clearly still thinking.After Perrin had had a drink and replaced the stopper, he said again, "I don't like the Aes Sedai, and their Red Ancestors, who hunt men with connections to the Power. They wanted to Tame me. I told them in front of them that they are the Black Sect and serve the Dark Emperor, so they don't like me very much. But as long as I am in the forest, they can't catch me. Although they Tried, yes, they tried. So I doubt any Aes Sedai will ever be kind to me. I had to kill two Warders. That was bad, killing Warders. I don't like that." "Talking to the wolf," Perrin said uneasily, "this... must have something to do with the One Power?" "Of course not," Alys said, raising his voice. "Taming means nothing to me, but it would drive me mad. This conversation is very old, boy, older than Aes Sedai, older than anyone who wields the Power." Old, as old as man itself, as old as wolves. Aes Sedai don't like this, but old things have returned to the world. I'm not the only one, there are others, and there are other things. These Makes the Aes Sedai nervous, they mutter about the weakening of the ancient barrier. They say the rupture has begun, and they fear the Dark Lord will be unleashed. If you saw what they thought of me, you'd probably think I was the one who started it. Not just The Reds, and the others as well. Amyr... Ha! I avoid them as much as I can, and I avoid Aes Sedai's friends. If you're smart, you should avoid them too." "I would very much like to be where there are no Aes Sedai," Palin said. Egwene shot Perrin a stern look.Perrin hoped she wouldn't blurt out that she was trying to become an Aes Sedai.But Egwene said nothing, just tightened her lips.Palin continued: "But it seems we have no other choice. Trollocs and Invisibles are after us, and even man-bats, only Darkfriends we haven't met yet. We can't hide, and we can't fight alone. Master, who else will help us? Who else has such power?" Ellis was silent for a while.He looked at the wolves, mostly on Dapple and Burning.Perrin moved nervously, trying not to look at them, and when he saw them, he had the feeling that he could hear Alys talking to the wolves.Even if it had nothing to do with the One Power, he didn't want to have anything to do with it.He must have made some crazy joke, there's no way I could talk to a wolf.A wolf (Flying Leap, Perrin remembered its name) looked at him as though laughing.Perrin wondered how he had come up with its name. "You can stay with me," Aires said finally, "with us." Egwene's eyebrows arched, and Perrin's mouth fell open in surprise. "How could it be safer?" Ellis said defiantly. "The Trollocs will never miss a chance to kill a lone wolf, but they would rather go the extra mile to bypass the pack. You don't have to." Worry about the Aes Sedai, they don't go into these woods very often." "I don't know." Perrin looked away from the wolves beside him, but he could feel Dapple's eyes watching him. "The Trollocs aren't the only problem we're facing right now." Ellis sneered, "I've also seen a pack of wolves kill an Eyeless. Half of those wolves are dead, but as long as they smell the scent of an Eyeless, they will never give up. Trollocs, demons Dao, they're all the same to wolves. What they really want is you, boy. They've heard of other people who can talk to wolves, but you're the first they've ever met besides me, They'll accept you as a friend too. You'll be safer here than in any city where there are Darkfriends." "Listen," Perrin said urgently, "I hope you don't say this again. There's no way I'm going to... what you do is what you say." "Whatever you want, boy. You can hang out with goats if you want. But don't you want to be safe?" "I'm not going to lie to myself, I don't need to lie to myself. We just want to..." "We're going to Caemlyn," Egwene said firmly, "and then to Tar Valon." Perrin shut his mouth, looked at Egwene angrily, and saw Egwene's annoyed eyes.Egwene could at least let him answer for herself! "What about you, Perrin?" Perrin asked himself. "Me? Well, let me think. Yes, yes, I think I'll go on." He gave Egwene a gentle smile. “好吧，艾雯，这件事是关于我们两个的，我猜我要和你一起去，能在做出决定之前谈论一下这些事很好，不是吗？”艾雯脸红了，但她紧绷的下巴没有丝毫放松。 艾莱斯哼了一声。“斑纹说这就是你的决定。它说那个女孩牢固地根植于人类世界，而你……”他朝佩林点点头，“站在边缘上。既然事已至此，我想我们最好和你们一同前往南方，否则你们也许会饿死，或者迷路，或者……” 燃烧突然站了起来，艾莱斯转过头去看着那匹大狼。转瞬间，斑纹也站起身。它走到艾莱斯身边，同样看着燃烧。这种情形持续了好一会儿，随后燃烧风一样地转过身，消失在夜色里。斑纹动了一下身体，躺回原来的位置上，仿佛什么事都没有发生一样。 艾莱斯望着一脸疑惑的佩林，“斑纹率领这个狼群。一些雄狼如果向它挑战，是能够击败它的，但它比它们之中的任何一个都聪明。这点它们全都知道。它不止一次救了狼群。但燃烧认为狼群正在你们身上浪费时间。它只是痛恨兽魔人，如果有兽魔人出现在这么远的南方，它只想杀死它们。” “我们明白。”艾雯语气中有一种放松的感觉，“我们可以自己找到路……当然，我们需要一些指引，只要你愿意协助我们。” 艾莱斯挥挥手，“我说过，这群狼的首领是斑纹。到了早晨，我会和你们一同前往南方，它们也是。”艾雯看起来仿佛觉得这并不是她听到的最好的讯息。 佩林一言不发地坐着。他能感觉到燃烧的离开。离开的雄性并不只是它一个，所有年轻的雄性都追随在它身后。佩林想要相信这是艾莱斯在玩弄想象的把戏，但他无法相信。就在那些离去的狼消失在他的意识中时，他感觉到一个来自燃烧的意念。他懂得这个意念——清澈、犀利，如同是他自己的。痛恨，痛恨和血的味道。