The Great Hunt

Rand retrieves the harp and flute from his room and insists Loial accompany him to meet Thom. In Thom’s room, they meet Dena, his apprentice; she will soon be the first female gleeman in history. Thom returns, sending Dena away while he and Rand catch up. Despite Loial’s protests, Rand tells him that they have the Horn and asks Thom to guide them safely back to Shienar; the gleeman refuses. Rand sends Loial out of the room and questions Thom about the prophecies surrounding the Horn and its role in the Final Battle. The gleeman’s knowledge is sketchy, and the conversation then turns to the Aes Sedai. Thom assures Rand he is better off free from their influence. Once again, Rand asks him to come with them, promising him unique access to the story of the Horn, but again, Thom refuses, arguing that he and Rand should make a “’clean break.’”

Rand leaves, and moments later, Zera the innkeeper visits, warning Thom not to be drawn into the Great Game on behalf of a young lord from Andor like Rand.

As Rand and Loial walk through Foregate, they are attacked by Trollocs. Rand and Loial slays the creatures, but several more are patrolling the streets, cutting off their access to the city gate. They are gradually forced away from the city with only open hills for refuge. Selene appears and urges Rand to channel the Power, but instead, they flee to a walled enclave in the hills.

They pass through an unlocked gate into a dim alley. There, they see an elaborate mechanism for setting off fireworks—they are in an Illuminator chapterhouse. Sneaking past the racks of fireworks, they look for a hiding place far from the gate. Loial, however, bumps one of the racks, igniting a fuse and sending a rocket exploding in the air. Rand, Loial, and Selene hide in the shadows while several Illuminators emerge from nearby buildings. Loial then notices three Trollocs have entered the enclave. Loial and Selene run down another alley while Rand fires a rocket at the Trollocs, destroying all three of them plus part of a building. While the Illuminators converge on the flaming building, Rand and Loial escape the enclave and make their way back to Foregate (Selene has disappeared once again). Safely back at the inn, the innkeeper gives Rand an unsigned note beseeching him to “Think of the Horn. Think of the glory” (405).

Ingtar’s company approaches Kinslayer’s Dagger. Perrin’s wolf brothers warn him of Trollocs in the mountain passes as well as a “Shadowkiller” who slew the Trollocs outside of Fain’s camp. While Ingtar questions Perrin about this Shadowkiller, an Aiel warrior—Urien—suddenly steps into their path. Ingtar tells him they “have come for other things than fighting” (409). Urien is deferential to Verin (calling her “Wise One”), and when Ingtar questions him about Trollocs, he recalls a prophecy: When Trollocs venture out of the Blight, the Aiel clans will reclaim the Waste—a barren stretch of land east of the Spine of the World—as their own. Verin asks the warrior why he is so far from his own land, and the warrior responds that he is searching for someone: “He Who Comes With the Dawn” (411), a man about whom many omens have foretold. The omens predict that this man will lead the Aiel out of the “’Three-fold Land’” and that he will “be of our blood’” (412). Verin professes she cannot help him find this man, and he takes his leave. Ingtar’s company now moves on foot, not wanting to provoke the Cairhienins with aggressive posturing. Mat and Perrin wonder if Rand is the man in the prophecy. Verin wonders if the Dark One is manipulating the threads of the Pattern. She urges haste.

Geofram Bornhald and his White Cloak legion ride into a village on the edge of Almoth Plain. They see buildings smoldering and dead villagers—including children—hanging from a gibbet. He orders the villagers cut down and orders one of his prisoners brought to him for questioning. Meanwhile, a rider arrives bearing a message from the Questioners. Bornhald is ordered to turn back from Toman Head and search for Darkfriends on Almoth Plain, but he is skeptical of finding any Darkfriends there. A prisoner is then brought before Bornhald, who questions him about the “strangers” responsible for the attack.

Aboard Spray, Bayle Domon notices another ship—a Seanchan vessel, he guesses—in pursuit. He orders Spray into shallow waters where the larger vessel cannot follow. On some of his port calls, Domon has heard tales of Seanchan invaders attacking and colonizing coastal villages; the invaders are said to command lightning from the sky, forcing villagers to swear oaths of fealty. Domon does not know if these tales are true, but he does not want to find out. As they near the breakers, explosions of water and flame erupt on all sides of Spray. Convinced they cannot escape, Domon orders his ship turned into the wind, to stop fleeing. Longboats from the Seanchan vessel approach, and a heavily armored warrior boards. When the warrior removes her helmet, Domon is surprised to find it is a woman, and the exploding plumes of water make him wonder if she is Aes Sedai. She asks Domon if he has any women aboard; he does not. Two more women board, one holding a leash collared to the other; the leash is an a’dam, a device used to control women who can channel. The woman with the a’dam is a damane, and it was her power that caused the water to erupt in flame. The warrior captain, Egeanin, orders the Spray to dock at Falme where Domon and his crew must swear an oath of obedience to her people.

As they approach Falme, Domon notices more than 100 Seanchan vessels docked in the harbor. He steers the ship to port, and Egeanin’s crew searches it while Domon and his men wait on the dock. While they wait, Domon spies a Seanchan soldier and a hulking, beaked creature walking down the pier. Amidst all the danger and strangeness, he reminds himself, “I do be a trader, and it is none of my business” (425). Egeanin emerges from the ship holding a small item wrapped in yellow silk and orders Domon to follow her.

As they walk down the streets, Domon notices some citizens are armed—an unusual allowance in an occupied city. Egeanin assures him that as long as the citizens “obey, await, and serve” (427), they are free to carry weapons. Indeed, they are too cowed by the Seanchan to resist. She leads Domon to a large house. Inside, Egeanin kneels on the floor—Domon does the same—as a Seanchan High Lord enters. She leaves the small object on the floor and exchanges formalities with the High Lord. The High Lord dismisses her, leaving Domon alone with the man.

The Lord bids Domon to stand, and the trader sees the confiscated object: a cuendillar, a disc marked with the Aes Sedai symbol. Leading Domon into another room, the Lord places the artifact into an ornate cabinet containing many rare and precious objects, including another cuendillar. Domon asks to leave, but the Lord insists he remain and tell him how he came into possession of such a rare object.

Cuale, the innkeeper, delivers two messages to Rand, who wonders if the innkeeper may have been listening at the door. Loial jokes that the court intrigue so commonplace in Cairhien is making Rand paranoid. Despite Hurin and Loial’s objections, Rand insists on dismissing these invitations to participate in politics as he has all the others. These letters, however, come from the highest Lord and the king himself, and Hurin presses Rand to consider the consequences of ignoring them. He decides to keep the letters—unopened—to delay the pressure of choosing between the two, hoping that Ingtar will arrive in a few days. In the event Ingtar does not, however, Rand and Loial brainstorm ways to escape Cairhien unnoticed by Fain and his Trollocs. They arrive at the city gates, and Rand checks—for the third time—for the arrival of Ingtar. The clerk at the guardhouse informs him that no “Lord Ingtar” has come, but Rand suspects he is lying.

As Rand considers Moiraine’s manipulations, his pretensions of nobility, and whether he can resist channeling the Power, Loial notices smoke ahead. Rounding a corner, they see the inn is ablaze. They charge inside, crawling through smoke and flames until they reach Hurin’s room. He is sprawled on the floor, injured, and the chest is gone. Loial carries Hurin out while Rand grabs his saddlebags containing the Dragon banner. Out on the street, a Healer tends to Hurin and declares, “’Something is broken inside his head’” (444). Just then, Rand hears a voice calling to him: Mat, Perrin, and Ingtar have arrived just as the Horn has vanished.

Rand confesses that they recaptured the Horn and dagger, only to have them stolen back again. Perrin eyes Rand warily, the word Shadowkiller faint on his lips. As Verin tends to Hurin, the gathered crowd realizes an Aes Sedai is in their presence, reacting with both awe and fear. An ailing Hurin claims he can pick up the scent immediately. Rand, however, wants to give him time to recover, so they check into another inn. Rand trusts Verin up to a point, although he is sure she is there pulling the strings as Moiraine’s proxy. While he bathes, Rand burns Selene’s letters.

Later, in Verin’s room, Rand explains that he, Hurin, and Loial vanished through a Portal Stone, met Selene, tracked Fain, and recovered the Horn and dagger. While they ponder the story, the innkeeper brings food, and Perrin finds himself more and more craving raw meat. Not for the first time, he realizes they are all changing; he wishes they had never left Emond’s Field.

Hurin leaves to follow the scent and reappears hours later, claiming to have tracked the thieves to their “lair.” They are shocked to learn that the Horn is being kept in the home of Lord Barthanes, one of the highest noble houses in Cairhien. They decide to use Rand’s invitation from Barthanes Damodred to gain access to the manor, but Rand fears he cannot pass as a lord. Perrin, who has noticed a growing confidence and stature in his friend, assures him he can. Barthanes also mentions in his invitation the excavated statue on the outskirts of the city, and Verin notes that the crystal in its hand is a sa’angreal, an object which allows one to channel much more power than usual. It is one of a pair: One is used by a woman, the other by a man. If used together, she warns, they could channel enough power to break the world a second time. For now, however, they must find a way to recover the Horn and dagger. 

With half of Ingtar’s company as escort, Rand enters Lord Barthanes’s manor, accompanied by Verin, Mat, Hurin, and Loial. The presence of an Ogier, an Aes Sedai, and Rand’s heron-marked sword creates a stir among the guests. Rand, Loial, Verin, and Ingtar mingle while Hurin and Mat—masquerading as servants—search for the Horn and dagger.

Lord Barthane approaches Rand, subtly probing for information, but Rand is careful not to divulge too much. Barthanes departs eventually, but Rand is cornered by several women, all vying for his attention and desperate for some slight advantage in the Great Game. He notices Thom Merrilin entertaining the crowd, and he sidles over to the gleeman to escape the women’s political maneuverings. He tells Thom about the stolen Horn and about freeing himself from the grasp of Aes Sedai once the Horn is recovered. Just then, Hurin approaches, telling him that Mat has injured his leg. Rand follows him out of the room to the stares of the suspicious partygoers.