A Massacre

Over a hundred dead trollocs and a myrddraal were brought to the Two Rivers through the Ways. But now they all lay dead and broken at John's feet. He and Moiraine had linked and channeled Saidar and Saidin together to decimate their enemies. The trollocs and the myrddraal had no chance against their power as the male half of the source was cleansed by the Dragon Reborn during the last cycle. "How did you know they were coming?" al'Lan Mandragoran, Moiraine's warder, asked. He was very suspicious of John and hadn't fallen for his charms as his Aes Sedai had.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I read about the attack in a book?" replied John. "What book?" Moiraine was very tired from channeling the one power to kill the trollocs but her Blue Ajah instinct got the better of her. She wanted to know as much about the Dragon Reborn as she could. Even though she shared his bed every night, she had only scratched the surface of his true abilities.

John told her the truth for once, "in another cycle of the wheel, the events of the Third Age were chronicled in a book with fourteen volumes. I read all fourteen volumes during that cycle so I knew that the trollocs were destined to attack the Two Rivers on the night before Bel Tine and that they were coming through the Ways." With each turn of the wheel, the same story is weaved into the pattern again and again. But each turn is slightly different. Unlike the Dragons before him, John had full knowledge of the cycle and he planned to use that knowledge to his advantage.

Lan narrowed his eyes, "you know how this cycle will end?" John said, "no, I know how the last cycle ended. The pattern changes with every turn of the wheel because we make different choices and choose different adventures at every turn. When we go to Emond's Field tomorrow for Bel Tine, the pattern will branch in different directions based on our choice."