The Great Hunt

Having passed through Atuan’s Mill—the sight of some unspeakable brutality—Rand, Verin, and company ride toward Falme, the site of Rand’s date with destiny. They stop in an abandoned, burned-out village and take refuge from the cold and the rain. Ingtar chafes at their slow progress, but Verin and Rand both insist they are on the right course.

Rand finds an empty room and beds down for the night. As he tosses and turns, he suddenly has a vision of Ba’alzamon, holding the Dragon banner and taunting him with predictions of his own death. Without thinking, Rand reaches for the Void and for saidin, hurling the Power at the Dark One until Ba’alzamon warns, “You will destroy yourself” (588). Thinking of Mat and of their urgent need to recover the dagger and the Horn, he shuts off the Power, collapsing to the ground. Ba’alzamon offers him immortality and the ability to wield the One Power without madness or death if he will join forces with the Dark One; but Rand, in defiance of his fate and of his old incarnation Lews Therin, cries out his true identity: Rand al’Thor. After a moment, he opens his eyes and sees a room that is empty, except for a smoldering chair where the Dark One had just stood.

After a few weeks in Falme—living above a fishmonger, scrounging for food, and hiding in the shadows—Nynaeve and Elayne are no closer to finding Egwene and Min. Despite the risk, they have both channeled while in Falme: Elayne to procure food and Nynaeve to try to break the collar of a passing damane in the event they find Egwene. Hiding in an alley, they keep watch over a row of stone houses where a damane lives.

Egwene gazes out the window of her bare room at the gardens below. As a damane, she has no rights and no privacy, and she must submit to the will of any sul’dam who carries her leash. Channeling the merest trickle of Power—any more would make her sick—Egwene probes the collar around her neck, searching for weaknesses but unable to find any. Min enters, and they discuss their situation. Egwene has become quite valuable since demonstrating the rare ability to sense minerals in the ground. She has also learned destructive uses of the Power, for battle and killing, the Aes Sedai never taught her. They plan to ship Egwene back to Seanchan, and she fears she will never see any of them again. She reports that some of the damane are full-fledged Aes Sedai, but even they are powerless against the collar. Fearing she will inevitably lose the will to fight back, she begs Min to remember her as she was. Renna enters. As she clasps the bracelet to her wrist, completing her bond with Egwene, she senses that her damane has been channeling, a clear violation. She must be punished severely, she tells her; and in an effort to erase all of Egwene’s prior identity, she renames her “Tuli.”

Hearing Egwene’s screams behind the closed door, Min flees into the streets. Feeling helpless, she wanders alone until she hears people calling her name—Nynaeve and Elayne. She tells them of Egwene’s enslavement and of finding a ship they might use to escape. She takes them to the docks to see the ship’s captain, Bayle Domon. Nynaeve seeks passage for all four of them, promising that she, Egwene, and Elayne can handle any damane that try to stop Spray from leaving the harbor. Domon agrees to be ready to sail at a moment’s notice, and the women leave to make plans.

As Ingtar’s company passes through village after village, they encounter the same averted eyes and fearful silence in each one. Perrin, Mat, and Hurin, scouting one such village in search of Fain’s trail, notice smoke rising from nearby hills, and a regiment of Whitecloaks rides into town. Fleeing into the hills, Perrin reaches out to his nearby wolf brothers who report that no “two-legs” are following. Mat is eager to find Fain’s trail again, but the way is through the village, and they dare not risk contact with the Whitecloaks.

Geofram Bornhald, the Commander of the Whitecloaks, orders the villagers locked in an inn, with the doors and windows nailed shut. His troops have skirmished with the Seanchan several times along Toman Head, and Bornhald is not sure if he will survive another encounter. He orders his second-in-command to carry a message to Whitecloak commanders in the event of his death: Aes Sedai are now fighting openly with Seanchan. Bornhald orders his troops to move out once the village is secured.

Mat, Perrin, and Hurin return to Ingtar’s camp and report the Whitecloak sighting. They are near Falme now, so Verin suggests a small contingent ride into town after Fain and the Horn. Ingtar, Hurin, Perrin, Mat, and Rand are chosen. Loial and others ask to come along, but Verin is adamant: “Five will ride forth” (620).

In the early morning hours, Nynaeve, Min, and Elayne wait near the harbor. As a sul’dam named Seta approaches with her leashed damane, Nynaeve focuses her anger until she feels the Power fill her, and, like a snapping whip, she flicks it at the damane’s collar, severing it. As it falls to the ground, the damane turns to her startled master, punches her in the face, and runs off. Nynaeve, Min, and Elayne throw a sack over the struggling sul’dam and drag her to an abandoned stable where they leave her in a stall, bound and gagged. Nynaeve dons the woman’s dress and snaps the bracelet on her wrist. Elayne changes into a gray shift—the “uniform” of the damane—and Nynaeve places the collar on the neck of the captive sul’dam. She has questions, but Seta only scoffs; Nynaeve channels the Power through the leash, jolting the woman into compliance. Using Seta as Nynaeve’s damane, they head furtively to the residence to rescue Egwene. Domon, meanwhile, stands ready aboard Spray.

Having entered Falme unnoticed, Ingtar, Hurin, Rand, Mat, and Perrin gather in a stable. Leaving the horses tethered there and with Hurin in the lead, they crisscross the streets searching for Fain. They pass a building across from the damane residence, and Mat stops, claiming the dagger is inside. Rand argues that wherever they find Fain—and the dagger is a good starting point—the Horn must be close by. Ingtar grows impatient and wants to keep following the trail, but they decide to follow up on Mat’s intuition. Ingtar leads them through an alley into the back gardens, killing the lone guard and hiding the body. Once inside, Mat takes the lead, eventually guiding them to the same large room in which Fain gave the Horn to the Seanchan High Lord. On a table in the center of the room sit both the Horn and the dagger. As Ingtar relishes their momentary victory, Rand gazes from a window and sees Egwene in the gardens across the street, chained and collared. At that moment, the High Lord Turak enters with armed guards. As Turak draws his scimitar and prepares to “kill one or two of you for disturbing my morning” (636), a guard nonchalantly approaches to take back the Horn. Mat slashes the man’s hand with the dagger, and a dark infection spreads quickly through his body, bloating and putrefying it. As Turak and his guards are taken aback, Ingtar leaps into action, leading the others against the Seanchan guards while Turak saves himself for Rand. Rand notices that Turak, too, carries a heron-marked blade.

As they duel, Rand seeks the Void, becoming one with his surroundings. Turak, once overconfident, senses the change and is forced to take his opponent seriously. Wanting to end this, Rand goes on the offensive, pushing Turak against the wall until he delivers the killing blow. Ingtar and the others return, having dispatched the soldiers. With Horn and dagger in their possession, Ingtar orders them to leave, but Rand cannot abandon Egwene. As the others flee, Rand realizes he must save himself first before he can save Egwene. They escape through the back gardens and out into the alleys, Rand swearing he will find a way to come for Egwene.

With Seta leashed, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Min slip past the other sul’dam and enter the residence unnoticed. Min leads them to Egwene’s room where they find her asleep at her table. She wakes, astounded and overjoyed to see her friends. Nynaeve uses the Power to sever Egwene’s collar, and, leaving the collared Seta in the room, they prepare to leave. Just then, Renna enters. Before she can react, Egwene pounces, throwing her to the floor and snapping her own collar on Renna neck and inflicting punishment until Nynaeve pulls her off. As a Wisdom, Nynaeve pronounces it “justice” to leave both women collared, to suffer what so many damane have suffered.

They exit the building and head toward the harbor, but a legion of Seanchan soldiers approaches. Fearing they will take her back, Egwene channels the Power into a destructive burst, blowing a crater into the street and hurling soldiers to the ground. From somewhere in their ranks, a damane hurls fireballs at them. While they scatter and run for the docks, Nynaeve channels the Power herself, summoning lightning in defense.

From the deck of Spray, Domon watches the firestorm, praying the women arrive soon. On the outskirts of Falme, Geofram Bornhald and his legions of Whitecloacks advance slowly on the city. Meanwhile, back in the abandoned stable, Rand intuits that any threat to Egwene is a threat to his own fate. He then notices Ingtar mumbling nonsensically to himself; he catches random references—to Fain, to the Dark One, and to holding the Borderlands against the encroaching Blight—until Rand pieces together that Ingtar is a Darkfriend. Now, however, about to make a last stand, Ingtar sees a chance to redeem himself. Sending Rand and Hurin away to join Mat and Perrin, he chooses to stand alone against the Seanchan while the others escape.

Rand joins Mat and Perrin, leaving behind Ingtar’s battle cries. He tells them to take the Horn to Verin, and he rides off in search of Egwene. Mat, Perrin, and Hurin follow, however, watching the burning Falme from a distance. Within the city, ranks of Seanchan troops are massing, while across the hills to the east, the Whitecloak army approaches. Rand can only think of Egwene, so Mat raises the Horn of Valere to his lips and blows. A thick mist rises from the ground, shrouding the entire area. Bornhald leads his legions blindly through the fog until they are suddenly in the streets of Falme, in the middle of the chaos.

Out of the rolling fog appear men and women on horseback, charging down the hill toward Falme: They the Heroes of the Ages led by Artur Hawkwing. They gather around Rand, addressing him as Lews Therin, and Rand orders them to repel the Seanchan invasion and help him to rescue Egwene. They are ready to comply, but they must follow the banner of the Dragon. Rand pulls it from his saddlebag and unfurls it. Blowing the Horn, the company of Heroes advances with Rand in the lead. Mat, Perrin, and Hurin join their ranks. As the company charges, Rand finds himself in solitude—he “senses” the others just as he “senses” the unfolding battle in Falme—but as Lews Therin, he rides alone. Suddenly, Ba’alzamon appears in the mist, directly in his path. His horse throws him and bolts, but Rand is uninjured. As they clash, Rand tries to keep the Dark One occupied to give Hawkwing and his army time to drive out the Seanchan and rescue Egwene. Rand, dimly aware of the battle in Falme, realizes it mirrors his own battle with Ba’alzamon: When he advances, so do Hawkwing’s forces; when he is driven back, the Seanchan advance. As he and Ba’alzamon face each other, Rand suddenly remembers Lan’s final lesson: Sheathing the Sword. Leaving himself vulnerable, the Dark One thrusts his staff into Rand’s side, piercing his body but also leaving himself open. Taking advantage, Rand plunges his own sword into Ba’alzamon’s heart, and “The world exploded in fire” (666).

Fighting the tide of panicked Falmen, Min makes her way back to the damane residence and to the gardens in the back (Spray has sailed without them). There, she finds Rand lying unconscious on the ground, his sword melted nearly to the hilt. She finds the burned wound in his side—now cauterized—but his flesh is cold. She drags him into the house and places him in a bed, but his body has no heat to retain, so she crawls in bed with him. Moments later, Egwene enters. She tells Min that “he cannot marry. He isn’t…safe…for any of us’” (670). Min understands the truth of Egwene’s words, but her heart pulls her to him nevertheless. Egwene goes to look for Nynaeve, who has the power to heal Rand.

Min whispers to Rand, but a beautiful woman suddenly appears at the door, correcting her: “’Not Rand al’Thor…Lews Therin Telamon. The Dragon Reborn’” (671). She is Lanfear, one of the Forsaken, and she claims Lews Therin as her own. She bids Min to tend to him well until she returns for him, and then she vanishes.

Bornhald’s second-in-command, Byar, rides toward Tar Valon to deliver a message to Bornhald’s superior. With Bornhald and his entire army dead, Byar must report what he has seen in the skies over Falme.

Rand wakes in a bed, a binding across his chest. Min waits at his bedside. She reports that Egwene is free of the collar and headed back to Tar Valon with Nynaeve to continue training. Mat has gone with them to see if the Aes Sedai can heal his toxic bond with the dagger. Moiraine enters, telling Rand it is just as well he never found Fain. With a soul blackened by exposure to the Dark One, Fain, she argues, is far more dangerous than Rand thinks. She produces his ruined blade and reports that their battle took place in the sky over Falme, “in full view of every soul’” (676). Much to Rand’s displeasure, the tale of his battle has spread across the land. The Dark One, however, is not slain. His spirit is still trapped in Shayol Ghul, though three of the seven seals holding him inside are now broken. Min and Moiraine help Rand walk from his tent to the encampment. Loial and Perrin are there. The remainder of Ingtar’s men swear their allegiance to him as the Dragon. Moiraine asks him to choose: He may hide from his true destiny and abandon the world to the Dark One, or accept his fate and his identity. He makes his choice.

Over time, the tale spreads of how Artur Hawkwing and his army destroyed a legion of Whitecloaks and drove the Seanchan into the ocean. They now ride across the land under the banner of the Dragon with the Dragon Reborn at their head.