Free Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan Page A

time, I think, and whatever you take now should be safe from his touch."
    That voice . . . Those eyes, like gray gemstones cut and set in his face. "I do know you," Almen said, remembering an odd pair of youths he had given a lift in his cart years ago. "Light! You're him, aren't you? The one they're talking about?"
    The man looked back at Almen. Meeting those eyes, Almen felt a strange sense of peace. "It is likely," the man said. "Men are often speaking of me. He smiled, then turned and continued on his way down the path.
    "Wait," Almen said, raising a hand toward the man who could only be the Dragon Reborn. "Where are you going?"
    The man looked back with a faint grimace. "To do something I've been putting off. I doubt she will be pleased by what I tell her."
    Almen lowered his hand, watching as the stranger strode away, down a pathway between two fenced orchards, trees laden with blood-red apples. Almen thought   for a moment   he could see something around the man. A lightness to the air, warped and bent.
    Almen watched the man until he vanished, then dashed toward Alysa's house. The old pain in his hip was gone, and he felt as if he could run a dozen leagues. Halfway to the house, he met Adim and the two workers coming to the orchard. They regarded him with concerned eyes as he pulled to a halt.
    Unable to speak, Almen turned and pointed back at the orchards. The apples were red specks, dotting the green like freckles.
    "What's that?" Uso asked, rubbing his long face. Moor squinted, then began running toward the orchard.
    "Gather everyone," Almen said, winded. "Everyone from the village, from the villages nearby, people passing on Shyman's road. Everyone. Get them here to gather and pick."
    "Pick what?" Adim asked with a frown.
    "Apples," Almen said. "What else bloody grows on apple trees! Listen, we need every one of those apples picked before the day ends. You hear me? Go! Spread the word! There's a harvest after all!"
    They ran off to look, of course. It was hard to blame them for that. Almen continued on, and as he did, he noticed for the first time that the grass around him seemed greener, healthier.
    He looked eastward. Almen felt a pull inside of him. Something was tugging him softly in the direction the stranger had gone.
    Apples first, he thought. Then . . . well, then he'd see.
     

CHAPTER 2
     
    Questions of Leadership
     
    Thunder rumbled above, soft and menacing like the growl of a distant beast. Perrin turned his eyes toward the sky. A few days ago, the pervasive cloud cover had turned black, darkening like the advent of a horrible storm. But rain had come only in spurts.
    Another rumble shook the air. There was no lightning. Perrin patted Stayer on the neck; the horse smelled skittish   prickly, sweaty. The horse wasn't the only one. That scent hung above his enormous force of troops and refugees as they tramped across the muddy ground. That force created a thunder of its own, footsteps, hoofbeats, wagon wheels turning, men and women calling.
    They had nearly reached the Jehannah Road. Originally, Perrin had planned to cross that and continue on northward, toward Andor. But he'd lost a great deal of time to the sickness that had struck his camp   both Asha'man had nearly died. Then this thick mud had slowed them even further. All told, it had been over a month since they'd left Maiden, and they'd traveled only as far as Perrin had originally hoped to go in a week.
    Perrin put his hand into his coat pocket, feeling at the small blacksmith's puzzle there. They'd found it in Maiden, and he'd taken to fiddling with it. So far, he hadn't figured out how to get the pieces apart. It was as complex a puzzle as he'd ever seen.
    There was no sign of Master Gill or the people Perrin had sent on ahead with supplies. Grady had managed a few small gateways ahead to send scouts to find them, but they had returned without news. Perrin was beginning to worry about them.
    "My Lord?" a man asked. He stood beside Petrins