The camp, in a large thicket where he had once pretended to be in a far wilderness, was a rough place among the undergrowth, with blankets strung between trees to make shelters, and more scattered on the ground between the small cook fires. The branches dripped here, too. Most of the nearly fifty men in the camp, all young, were unshaven, either in imitation of Perrin or because it was unpleasant shaving in cold water. They were good hunters — he had sent home any who were not — but unaccustomed to more than a night or two outdoors at a time. And not used to what he had them doing, either.
Right then they were standing around gaping at Faile and Luc, and only four or five had longbow in hand. The rest of the bows lay with the bedding, and the quivers, too, more often than not. Luc stood idly flipping the reins of a tall black stallion, the very pose of indolent, redcoated arrogance, cold blue eyes ignoring the men around him. The man's smell stood out among the others, cold and separate, too, almost as if he had nothing in common with the men around him, not even humanity.
Faile came hurrying to meet Perrin with a smile, her narrow divided skirts making a soft whiskwhisk as gray silk brushed silk. She smelled faintly of sweet herbal soap, and of herself. “Master Luhhan said we might find you here.”
He meant to demand what she was doing there, but found himself putting his arms around her and saying into her hair, “It's good to see you. I have missed you.”
She pushed back enough to look up at him. “You look tired.”
He ignored that; he had no time to be tired. “You got everyone safely to Emond's Field?”
“They are at the Winespring Inn.” She grinned suddenly. “Master al'Vere found an old halberd and says if the Whitecloaks want them, they will have to go through him. Everyone's in the village now, Perrin. Verin and Alanna, the Warders. Pretending to be someone else, of course. And Loial. He certainly created a sensation. Even more than Bain and Chiad.” The grin faded into a frown. “He asked me to deliver a message to you. Alanna vanished twice without a word, once alone. Loial said Ihvon seemed surprised to find her gone. He said I wasn't to let anyone else know.” She studied his face. “What does it mean, Perrin?”
“Nothing, maybe. Just that I can't be sure I can trust her. Verin warned me against her, but can I trust Verin? You say Bain and Chiad are in Emond's Field? I suppose that means he knows about them.” He jerked his head toward Luc. A few of the men had approached him, asking diffident questions, and he was answering with a condescending smile.
“They came with us,” she said slowly. “They are scouting around your camp now. I do not think they have a very high opinion of your sentries. Perrin, why don't you want Luc to know about the Aiel?”
“I've talked to a number of people who were burned out.” Luc was too far to overhear, but he held his voice low. “Counting Flann Lewin's place, Luc was at five on the day they were attacked, or the day before.”
“Perrin, the man's an arrogant fool in some ways — I hear he's hinted at a claim to one of the Borderland thrones, for all he told us he's from Murandy — but you cannot really believe he is a Darkfriend. He gave some very good advice in Emond's Field. When I said everyone was there, I meant everyone.” She shook her dark head wonderingly. “Hundreds and hundreds of people have come in from north and south, from every direction, with their cattle and their sheep, all talking of Perrin Goldeneyes's warnings. Your little village is preparing to defend itself if need be, and Luc has been everywhere the last days.”
“Perrin who?” he gasped, wincing. Trying to change the subject, he said, “From the south? But this is as far south as I've gone. I haven't talked to a farmer more than a mile below the Winespring Water.”
Faile tugged at his beard with a laugh. “News spreads, my fine general. I think half of them expect you to form them into an army and chase the Trollocs all the way back to the Great Blight. There will be stories about you in the Two Rivers for the next thousand years. Perrin Goldeneyes, hunter of Trollocs.”
“Light!” he muttered.
Hunter of Trollocs. There had been little so far to justify that. Two days after freeing Mistress Luhhan and the others, the day after Verin and Tomas rode on their own way, they had come on the stillsmoking ruins of a farmhouse, he and the fifteen Two Rivers lads with him then. After burying what they found in the ashes, it was easy enough to follow the Trollocs, between Gaul's tracking and his own nose. The sharp fetid stink of the Trollocs had not had time to fade away, not to him. Some of the lads had grown hesitant when they realized he meant what he had said about hunting Trollocs. If they had had to go very far, he suspected most would have drifted away when no one was looking, but the trail led to a thicket no more than three miles off. The Trollocs had not bothered with sentries — they had no Myrddraal with them to overawe their laziness — and the Two Rivers men knew how to stalk silently. Thirtytwo Trollocs died, many in their filthy blankets, pierced through with arrows before they could raise a howl, much less sword or axe. Dannil and Ban and the others had been ready to celebrate a great triumph — until they found what was in the Trollocs' big iron cookpot sitting in the ashes of the fire. Most dashed away to throw up, and more than one wept openly. Perrin dug the grave himself. Only one: there was no way to tell what had belonged to whom. Cold as he felt inside, he was not sure he could have stood it himself if there had been.
Late the next day no one hesitated when he picked up another fetid trail, though a few mutters wondered what he was following, until Gaul found the tracks of hooves and boots too big for men. Another thicket, close to the Waterwood, held fortyone Trollocs and a Fade, with sentries set, though most snored at their posts. It would have made no difference had they all been awake. Gaul killed those that were, sliding through the trees like a shadow, and the Two Rivers men were nearly thirty themselves by then. Besides, those who had not seen the cookpot had heard of it; they shouted as they shot, with a satisfaction not much less savage than the guttural Trolloc howls. The blackgarbed Myrddraal had been last to die, a porcupine quilled with arrows. No one cared to recover a shaft from that, even after it finally stopped thrashing.
That evening the second rain came, hours of drenching downpour with a sky full of roiling black clouds and stabbing lightning. Perrin had not smelled Trolloc scent since, and the ground had been washed clean of tracks. Most of their time had been spent avoiding Whitecloak patrols, which everyone said were more numerous than in the past. The farmers Perrin had spoken to said the patrols seemed more interested in finding their prisoners again and those who had broken them free than in looking for Trollocs.
Quite a few of the men had gathered around Luc now. He was tall enough for his redgold hair to show above their darker heads. He seemed to be talking, and they listening. And nodding.
“Let's see what he has to say,” Perrin said grimly.
The Two Rivers men gave way before Faile and him with only a little prodding. They were all intent on the redcoated lord, who was indeed holding forth.
“. . . so the village is quite secure, now. Plenty of people gathered together to defend it. I must say I enjoy sleeping under a roof when I can. Mistress al'Vere, at the inn, provides a tasty meal. Her bread is among the best I have ever eaten. There truly is nothing like freshbaked bread and freshchurned butter, and putting your feet up of an evening with a fine mug of wine, or some of Master al'Vere's good brown ale.”
“Lord Luc was saying we should go to Emond's Field, Perrin,” Kenley Ahan said, scrubbing his reddened nose with the back of a grimy hand. He was not the only one who had been unable to wash as often as he would like, and not the only one coming down with a cold, either.
Luc smiled at Perrin much the way he would have at a dog he expected to see do a trick. “The village is quite secure, but there is always a need for more strong backs.”
“We are hunting Trollocs,” Perrin said coolly. “Not everyone has left their farms yet, and every band we find and kill means farms not burned and more people with a chance to reach safety.”
Wil al'Seen barked a laugh. He was not so pretty with a red puffy nose and a spotty, sixday growth of beard. “We've not smelled a Trolloc in days. Be reasonable, Perrin. Maybe we've killed them all already.” There were mutters of agreement.
“I do not mean to spread dissension.” Luc spread his hands guilelessly. “No doubt you have had many great successes beside those we have heard of. Hundreds of Trollocs killed, I expect. You may well have chased them all away. I can tell you, Emond's Field is ready to give you all a hero's welcome. The same must be true at Watch Hill for those who live up that way. Any Deven Riders?” Wil nodded, and Luc clapped him on the shoulder with a hollow good fellowship. “A hero's welcome, without a doubt.”
“Anyone who wants to go home, can,” Perrin said in a level voice. Faile directed a warning frown at him; this was no way to be a general. But he did not want anyone with him who did not want to be there. He did not want to be a general, for that matter. “Myself, I don't think the job is done yet, but it is your choice.”
No one took him up, though Wil at least looked ready to, but twenty more stared at the ground and scuffed their boots in last year's leaves.
“Well,” Luc said casually, “if you have no Trollocs left to chase, perhaps it is time to turn your attentions to the Whitecloaks. They are not happy at you Two Rivers folk deciding to defend yourselves. And I understand they meant to hang the lot of you in particular, as outlaws, for stealing their prisoners.”
Anxious frowns passed between a good many of the Two Rivers lads.
It was then that Gaul came pushing through the crowd, followed close by Bain and Chiad. Not that the Aiel had to push, of course; the men cleared aside as soon as they realized who it was. Luc frowned at Gaul thoughtfully, perhaps disapprovingly; the Aielman stared back stonyfaced. Wil and Dannil and the others brightened at sight of the Aiel; most still believed hundreds more were hiding somewhere in the thickets and forests. They never questioned why all those Aiel stayed hidden, and Perrin certainly never brought it up. If believing in a few hundred Aiel reinforcements helped them keep their courage, well and good.
“What did you find?” Perrin asked. Gaul had been gone since the day before; he could move as fast as a man on horseback, faster in woods, and he could see more.
“Trollocs,” Gaul replied as though reporting the presence of sheep, “moving up through this wellnamed Waterwood to the south. They number no more than thirty, and I believe they mean to make camp on the edge of the forest and strike tonight. There are men still holding to the soil to the south.” He gave a sudden, wolfish grin. “They did not see me. They will have no warning.”
Chiad leaned closer to Bain. “He moves well enough, for a Stone Dog,” she whispered loudly enough to be heard twenty feet off. “He makes little more nois