Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 20:21:31 -0700 (PDT) From: Tara North Subject: White Tower Saga 1 (The usual disclaimer: This story contains details of explicit sexual acts between females and females, and females and males. If you're under eighteen, or are turned off by explicit sexual contact, stop reading here. Otherwise, enjoy! This is based in a world roughly taken from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time novels. In an interview I read at www.wotmania.com, he said that he didn't mind if people wrote stories in his world, as long as they didn't use his characters. Keep in mind that I've altered many details to make the story more in line with what I really think would be and not be. Knowledge of The Wheel of Time is not necessary, but it might let you understand things that I don't take the time to explain. Feel free to email me with questions, comments or suggestions about my story and the upcoming chapters. I hope to be a professional writer someday, so I'd love to hear from you!) Chapter 1 - I awoke to the crash of thunder outside my windowpane. More streaks of lightning flashed through my window, stabbing to the ground faster than I could count. I had never been frightened of lightning before, but the fury of the storm was terrifying. There was no pattering of rain on the rooftop either. The whole storm seemed most unnatural. Suddenly, I heard the gong ringing, and stark fear flooded through me. Everyone in the Borderlands knew what that gong meant: Trolloc raid. I saw my father running, grabbing his sword as he ran. He called for me, probably to take my brother and hide, but his words were drowned out by the crashes of a thunderbolt so near that our windows shattered inwards. The door broke open, and several bestial figures ducked under the doorframe. As I was peppered with small bits of glass I shrieked and tried to hide my head under the covers. I'm not sure why; at sixteen, nearly seventeen, I should have known that covers were no protection from a Trolloc... however blind panic has a way of making your mind devoid of logic. I heard Father scream, and the running feet of my little brother. Something tore the cover off me, and I looked up into the eyes of a Trolloc. It swung its Scythesword in a slash at me, but I managed to roll out of the way. I ran to my father for protection, though he fought with a beaked Trolloc himself. Even as I ran, the Trolloc's blade struck true and he started to fall, red coating his chest. I cried out for him, and yet I knew the truth. I grabbed him as he fell, my hands slicking with blood. I turned around to see the two Trollocs moving towards me slowly. They obviously had no intent to kill, their swords by their sides. I knew the horrible truth then: that I was about to be taken captive by the monsters, a fate much worse than death. I cast my hands forward, feeling my despair and hatred flow out of me in red waves. Suddenly, the two Trollocs exploded into flames, their death cries ringing out and seeming to echo through the house. As the horrid smell of burning flesh struck my nostrils, the world faded into blackness as I collapsed. Sleep claimed me, though not restful slumber between the days. It was sleep wracked with dreams of fire, blood and death. I had little perception of time, other than I knew that days were passing me by as my body refused to wake. I finally woke up with my blond hair tangled in my eyes. My head was pounding terribly, and the bright sun didn't help any. My body was feverish, but a cool zephyr blew about me as it breezed down our path. I felt a slight bumping, and I realized that I was in a makeshift gurney, being carried down a forested path, carried by two muscular men. Both wore dark green tunics over chain mail shirts and had vicious looking swords in their belts. They had swirling cloaks on that never seemed to be the same color, playing tricks on my eyes. Then, I noticed I was still in my nightgown. I went to bed bare under my nightgown, so I adjusted my garb so that it was a bit more decent. I shielded my eyes from the sun as I tried to look at the man's at the head of the gurney's face. He smiled. I heard feminine voices from up ahead of me. "Really now, Rena, I had always thought that five was kind of excessive, but they are useful now. Combined them with Nicholas here and we have enough to carry the girls all the way to Tar Valon even without our horses." The voice was melodious and tender. Another voice, presumably Rena, responded with a laugh that was so beautiful it made my heart skip a beat. "Willow, they are very useful, for so many different things." I looked around, trying to figure out what under the Light they were talking about. I noticed that next to me were four more men, each carrying similar gurneys.. The voices had talked about six somethings, and I guessed they were talking about the men. The women had talked about the men like they owned them... five for one and one for the other. In the gurneys were girls that I knew: Amanda and Jessica. Amanda was a friend of a friend; tall, forceful, almost to the point of being a bully sometimes. She thought she could talk you into doing what she wanted. I blushed when I looked at her. She was wearing only a sheet, and it showed ample skin that was white as snow. She had a fair number of boys chasing her back home, despite how commanding she could be. Jessica looked a little more decent, in a blue skirt split for riding and a white top. Her skin was darkly tanned. The man carrying me called out. "Rena, this one is awake." The men stopped, and I could hear the girls next to me starting to stir. A woman in green walked over to me. I barely stifled a gasp at her clothing, if it could be called that. A girl wearing something like that at home would be whipped for indecency. She wore a skirt cut off at her mid thigh, so that it was barely a foot long. Her shirt barely went to the bottom of her breasts, and lying down as I was on the gurney, I could see up her shirt. I couldn't put an age to her, probably her mid twenties, but by the Light she was beautiful. She came over to me and put her hand on my forehead, her eyes closed. I glanced sideways, and saw the other women doing similar things to the other girls. After a few moments, she opened her eyes. She smiled in a loving manner, and started to talk to me. "Do you know who you are?" she said. "I am Tara, my father is Reginald, and my mother..." she cut me off quickly. "OK, what's the last thing you remember?" "I remember... oh Light! My family! Are they OK?" "Well, I'm not sure." There was deceit in her eyes, and she made little effort to conceal it. I clung to the hope that she was wrong... that I was wrong... and that they yet lived. "I'll see if I can find out. The important thing is that you are safe now. You are what is called a Wilder. Do you know what that means?" I shook my head no, barely concentrating. "It means that you will begin to touch the One Power whether you wish to or not. So will your friends here. We are taking you to Tar Valon, to be trained as Aes Sedai." I knew my mouth must have been hanging open, but I didn't care. Tar Valon? Aes Sedai? I had heard of them, of course, but they were legends... enigmas. "Well, you had best get your rest now, dear." Ignoring my protests and half started questioning, she touched my forehead, and the world spiraled into darkness again. I awoke again in the middle of the night. There were two bodies near me; I thought that they were Amanda and Jessica. I was in some sort of sleeping bag. In the moonlight I could see Rena in her indecent, green clothes. There was another of the women; the one who I thought was named Willow. I got my first good look of Willow, in her billowing yellow dress. It looked like something suited to go to a gala in, not tramp around in the woods. They seemed to be whispering to one another, but I could hear them quite clearly. "Don't worry, all six of our Warders are out patrolling, plus that wench Grenthal. No one is going to come by, friendly or otherwise." "Well, it has been a long time. I thought they we were never going to find anyone who could become even a Novice, and yet three powerful Wilders in one village..." "Hush, Willow, you talk too much." I couldn't see to well, but it looked like they began kissing. I had kissed girls before, like my mother and my friends, but this was a kiss of passion, I could tell. The kiss continued, and they locked their arms around each other's back. I felt repulsed, yet strangely attracted by it. I had never seen anything like it. Rena quickly peeled off that skimpy top, and like I had seen, wore nothing underneath it. She pressed her breasts against Willow's face, holding Willow's mass of red curls to her chest. She moaned softly, rubbing her hands up and down Willow's back. She began to unlace the gala dress that Willow wore. I knew I should have been gagging, or at the very least turning away, but for some reason I kept watching, with a morbid fascination. Willow sat down in a chair suddenly. In the back of my mind I wondered where they had gotten a chair, for there were no horses to carry luggage, and I surely would have noticed a chair on the backs of one of the strange men apparently called Warders. But that was only in the back of my mind. Rena was kneeling, pushing the billowy layers of Willow's dress back to expose her legs, then her waist. I gasped so loudly that they had to have heard me, but they didn't appear to have. Willow wore no smallclothes under her dress. Rena had her head nestled between Willow's spread legs, and Willow arched her back in the chair, her hands on Rena's head. She was moaning, obviously in ecstasy. She ran her hands over the front of her shirt, pinching her own nipples through the thick fabric. She pulled her arms out of the shirt and lowered it so that her perfect skin reflected in the moonlight from the waist up. Her dress was all scrunched around her middle, and she was still bucking her waist into Rena's face. Her back arched further and she took in air in a sharp intake, stayed with all her muscles taut for a few endless seconds, then finally settled back down gasping. Rena came up from between Willow's legs, her lips and most of her face glistening with Willow's juices. They kissed again, harder this time, and I could see Rena's hand gently stroking in between Willow's own legs. Panting, Willow stood and shook out of her dress entirely, laying it upon the ground closer to me. Rena quickly laid upon the dress, first pointing her legs up in the air out at opposite angles, then letting the legs drop at the knees but keeping them up in the air. Her skirt quickly rode up to above her waist, revealing her mound. I could see it was as bare as a newborn's, gleaming as though wet. Willow dove onto it eagerly, licking Rena while reaching up and rubbing her breasts. Rena cooed down at Willow, at first appearing to remain in control, but she quickly began to moan, looking up into the sky and gasping. She grabbed those red curls and pushed her head down, nearly screaming as Willow delved her tongue into her deep folds. Willow's hand went up to Rena's waist, sliding a finger in and out of Rena's lips as she licked wildly. Rena's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head as she let out a single sharp cry, and then opened her mouth several more times as quiet gasps. I closed my eyes for a long moment. I felt a heat inside me, though it wasn't fever, and I also felt lightheaded, short of breath, and above all else, confused. When I opened my eyes, I saw Willow was fully clothed, standing guard near me, and as I turned over, I saw Rena at the other end of the three sleeping bag line. She also looked like nothing had happened. I couldn't have imagined it. I couldn't have. Exhaustion swept over me. The two men who had been carrying me were gently pulling me out of my sleeping bag. I heard Rena tisk as I awoke, and I hoped I hadn't gotten the nice men in trouble for waking up. They gently set me on the gurney again as I rubbed by eyes. The unyielding sun was there, but I shielded my eyes and looked up. Rena's face was there, in all its perfection. She smiled at me. "You are going to be a great one when we get to Tar Valon. I can tell. You need your rest though. Most times, after your first use of the One Power, it might take you as long as two weeks of near constant sleep to recover. Don't worry, it gets better." I felt sleep overtaking me again. The last thing I saw was Rena's hungry eyes looking at me. I felt... content.