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The sul'dam stared at the fallen collar as if at a poisonous snake. The damane put a shaking hand to her throat, but before the woman in the lightning-marked dress had time to move, the damane turned and punched her in the face; the sul'dam's knees buckled, and she almost fell. "Good for you!" Elayne shouted. She was already running forward, too, and so was Min. Before any of them reached the two women, the damane took one startled look around, then ran as hard as she could. "We won't hurt you!" Elayne called after her. "We are friends!" "Be quiet!" Nynaeve hissed. She produced a handful of rags from her pocket and ruthlessly stuffed them into the gaping mouth of the still staggering sul'dam. Min hastily shook out the sack in a cloud of dust and plunged it over the sul'dam's head, shrouding the woman to the waist. "We are already attracting too much attention." It was true, and yet not entirely true. The four of them stood in a rapidly emptying street, but the people who had decided to be elsewhere were avoiding looking at them. Nynaeve had been counting on that - people doing their best to ignore anything that had to do with Seanchan to gain them a few moments. They would talk eventually, but in whispers; it might take hours for the Seanchan to learn anything had happened. The hooded woman began to struggle, making rag-muffled shouts from the sack, but Nynaeve and Min threw their arms around her and wrestled her toward a nearby alley. The leash and collar trailed across the cobblestones behind them, clinking. "Pick it up," Nynaeve snapped at Elayne. "It won't bite you!" Elayne took a deep breath, then gathered the silver metal gingerly, as if she feared it very well might. Nynaeve felt some sympathy, but not much; everything rested on each of them doing as they had planned. The sul'dam kicked and tried to throw herself free, but between them, Nynaeve and Min forced her along, down the alley into another, slightly wider passage behind houses, to yet another alley and at last into a rough wooden shed that had apparently once housed two horses, by the stalls. Few could afford to keep horses since the Seanchan came, and in a day of Nynaeve's watching, no one had gone near it. The interior had a musty dustiness that spoke of abandonment. As soon as they were inside, Elayne dropped the silver leash and wiped her hands on some straw.