#lord ingtar shinowa

[iviarellereads]

The Eye of the World, Chapter 48 - The Blight

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one!)

(Blighted tree icon)(1) In which there's a conversation that catches some readers off guard.

That morning, Lord Agelmar and all the lances rode east at daybreak, the farmers and most of the common people riding out a different gate toward a city further from the Blight and battle. The only people remaining in the city were a few old men, and a handful of soldiers who volunteered. Fal Dara could not be allowed to fall totally undefended, in the worst case. The smallest column leaving the city were headed north, to the Blight.

Ingtar and a hundred lances accompany the party to the border with what used to be Malkier. He's grumpy because this means he'll be late to the battle at Tarwin's Gap, but he's also been commanded not to set foot in the Blight, and Agelmar wouldn't tell him why. Moiraine tells him it's as she planned with Agelmar, and Ingtar grumps and bids them farewell, so he can ride hard to Tarwin's Gap and get some battle in. Nynaeve asks if he's so eager to fight Trollocs, and Ingtar replies that it's what he is, what he was born for.

An hour's ride north of the border, the temperature starts to rise, but it feels wrong. Rand sees a tree that looks mottled with yellow and red spots, and Lan tells them some of the dangerous creatures that live here, a stick bug which can bite and leave a venom that will digest a whole body being the least of them.(2) Every mile further they ride, the wrongness gets more intense. Lan and Perrin are the only two who don't seem to be affected.

Eventually they get to an area near enough to the mountains to have cold breezes, but even those feel bad, like the icy chill of opening a tomb. Moiraine says there's an area nearby where they can make camp, it will be a good omen to camp there, and they'll be able to cross the mountains at noon, when the DO's eye is weakest. They crest a hill, and Lan slows, so Rand looks where Lan does. There are seven hills in the distance, and as the sun lowers to a certain angle near the horizon, a couple of them glint. Not hills: seven towers. Lan dismounts, his face as stony as ever.

Nynaeve asks if they can't camp by some small lakes in sight of their hill, and Mat adds that he'd stick his head in and maybe never take it out. Then something disturbs the surface of the water, rolling on and on, until a tail raises five spans into the air. And along the whole length of the tail, tentacles writhing like worms. It fades, and Rand exchanges a look with Perrin, both disbelieving. There couldn't have been *HANDS* on the ends of those tentacles. Mat changes his mind about the lake.(3)

They make camp, and settle down for the evening. The camp is surrounded by a “Bending” of the light, to keep them less visible with the fire going. Egg says she could probably do it even now. Nynaeve says she should go to Tar Valon with Egg after this, just so she’ll have a familiar face around. Egg gets excited and says the boys will come too, right, and Rand can train to be her Warder. Rand agrees, even as he remembers Min’s warning.

Later, Rand lays in his spot though he has trouble finding sleep, but nearly everyone else is snoring in short order. Everyone except Lan and Nynaeve, who are still sitting up by the fire.

Nynaeve hands Lan a cup of tea and says, she should have known he would be a king. He says he's not a king, just a man, with nothing to his name. Not even a farm. Nynaeve says steadily that some women don't ask for land, or gold, just the man. Lan counters saying the man who would ask her to accept so little wouldn't be worthy of her. He calls her remarkable, a lioness.

“A Wisdom seldom weds.” She paused to take a deep breath, as if steeling herself. “But if I go to Tar Valon, it may be that I will be something other than a Wisdom.” “Aes Sedai marry as seldom as Wisdoms. Few men can live with so much power in a wife, dimming them by her radiance whether she wishes to or not.” “Some men are strong enough. I know one such.” If there could have been any doubt, her look left none as to whom she meant. “All I have is a sword, and a war I cannot win, but can never stop fighting.” “I’ve told you I care nothing for that. Light, you’ve made me say more than is proper already. Will you shame me to the point of asking you?” “I will never shame you.” The gentle tone, like a caress, sounded odd to Rand’s ears in the Warder’s voice, but it made Nynaeve’s eyes brighten. “I will hate the man you choose because he is not me, and love him if he makes you smile. No woman deserves the sure knowledge of widow’s black as her brideprice, you least of all.” He set the untouched cup on the ground and rose. “I must check the horses.” Nynaeve remained there, kneeling, after he had gone.(4) Sleep or no, Rand closed his eyes. He did not think the Wisdom would like it if he watched her cry.

=====

(1) Not to be confused with the dead tree, which is for forests at night. This one is special for the Blight. (2) How very bidi-taurabo-haza of you. (I've been rereading Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series leading up to book 13, and one of the Patreon shorts has one of these as a plot point. I couldn't just NOT comment on it and drop a rec for one of my other favourite book series.) (3) Good call, bud. (4) This really came out of nowhere for me the first time I read it, but in retrospect, it's sort of set up, particularly in Nynaeve's chapters. Just. Sigh. Lan so firmly believes that he's doomed because of the promise on his behalf as a child to avenge his country, as part of the oath of kingship. And Nynaeve has grown feelings for him anyway. And the best-worst is that he has no lack of feelings for her, but he wants so much more for her than what he thinks his life has to offer. Tragedy.

#wheel of time #wot #the wheel of time #twot #the eye of the world #eye of the world #eotw #teotw #wot blighted tree icon #rand al'thor #loial #mat cauthon #perrin aybara #egwene al'vere #nynaeve al'meara #moiraine damodred #lan mandragoran #lord ingtar shinowa

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

New cast members for season two of The Wheel of Time:

Thomas Chaanhing as Lord Agelmar

Sandra Yi Sencindiver as Lady Amalisa

Guy Roberts as Uno Nomeshta

Arnas Fedaravicius as Mesema

Gregg Chillingirian as Ingtar Shinowa

#wheel of time #wot on prime #wot spoilers #wheel of time season two #the great hunt

[hazelcephalopod]

The Great Hunt Ch 9-10

Consequences catch up. An unexpected return -and unexpected joy to read. Followed by, new horrors found on the road.

Sry it’s bit late. But here. Things really picked up.

Disclaimer: this is my first read thru but I’ve watched all of the show thus far and been spoiled on some book things. So… I’m going to lean into that. Enjoy figuring out what I know, and what I think I know, and what I just don’t. Also s/x I add commentary when I edit.

Spoilers for the first and second book and all of season 1 under the cut. Potential spoilers for later books -idk if they’re light spoilers or not.

Ch 9: Leavetakings

The Flame of Tar Valon

POV Rand

Will they actually get out of the city this chapter? (Editors note- I think so. Just barely)

So TV (Tar Valon) does have some sort of armed force even outside Warders it seems like

Like horns! The moon that is

Love naming the man with one eye Uno

Awww. You were kinda an asshole tho bud. Like, I get why the boys are mad at him. Still tragic

The clothes thing is so infuriating yet funny to me. Because truly, some people stole his clothes and replaced them with different ones. Which is a fucking weird problem to have but still a problem here. Like all of this would be solved if they just talked to each other tho

… I suspect I’m going to be saying something like that a lot aren’t I!

Oh he’s trying so hard tho. Like apologizing and shit. That’s nice

Loial is the best. Loial and Verin both are currently on my list of favorite characters

Lan ‘Loial privacy’ Loial *steps five feet away* *opens a book* ( that’s how I imagined it, it’s wrong but eh)

Uhhh. “There will come a time when you must achieve a goal at all costs. It may come in attack or defense. And the only way will be to allow the sword to be sheathed in your own body.” -Lan to Rand on his last lesson ‘Sheathing the Sword’. No!

… I think at least one of them is going to regret that advice.

That is called self harm and potentially death Lan

Do the Aes Sedai even want people to like them? Like at all? Fear only goes so far

I mean a little but yes. Agreed Rand

Oh yea the town map

Bud I think that is a false equivalence but emotionally I get it

Lol. Sure. Nothing at all /s

“If Loial was an excitable Ogier, Rand thought most of them must be made of stone.” -(Rand)

I love everything about Ogiers

“Those who come to answer its call, well come whoever blows it, and they are bound to the Horn not the Light.” -Siuan on the Horn of Valere

Watching. Again. Is it something? Is it madness? Who knows?

Well there was someone there. And they appear to have attacked Siuan. And then vanished

… going for Rand?

“Lord Ingtar of House Shinowa”

Yea see so many people are traveling together in these sorts of things. There is for sure at least one laundress amongst them

Ok cool. Magic smelling prescience = sniffer. Cool

Many Shienaran cities have a sniffer on the payroll. Hurin is Fal Dara’s. He describes it as smelling violence and the worse the violence the longer the smell lasts. I think he can smell other things too?

Aes Sedai don’t understand them and they don’t like that

Magic tracker man basically

Is Fain worse than a Fade now?! Oof

Going to Toman Head I’d wager

POV change?

Illian?

Bayle Domon?! POV Capt Bayle Domon!

Oh right that contest!

Fireworks!

So two ironic names to go to a foul smelling port. I’m amused

So Capt Domon is from Illian. And Illian has warm summers

Bat and big knife. Excellent.

Inn: Easing the Badger. Innkeep: Nieda Sidoro (she/her)

Oh right that accent!

Three men, Cairhienin, coats embroidered with silver scarlet and gold

The ones Domon is meeting. They want someone brought from Mayene to Illian (I soon learn this is a lie)

Don’t want to deal with Trollocs anymore? Fair!

1k to pick someone -unknown and not meeant to be known- up and bring them back. No questions asked

Ok. Domon suspects the First of Mayene -a city state/province of Tear that doesn’t want to be- wants help form Illian’s Council of Nine for aid defending her land (I soon learn half of that maybe wasn’t important at all)

Some in Illian are all too willing to war with Tear b/c they think they a hogging trade from the Sea of Storms.

Indeed why is the Shadow after you Domon? They have to know he isn’t with Rand

Doesn’t believe in snow?

Illian must be really far south then

Cairhienin who paid in TV marks

Tarim Maeldan, the Sprays second

People have been killing his men? And they, or at least the most recent attackers wanted information

Ya leaving is probably a good idea. Sry anyone who doesn’t make it.

Yes! Fixing excellent! Opening the letter with a hot knife so he can reseal it!

Fucking love this guy. Best POV so far tbh

Ohhhh those fucks! He’s wanted, according to this letter, by the king of flaming Cairhien.

Galldrian su Riatin Rie King of Cairhien [house Riatin. Seal of Five Stars]

Lol. Truly, pretty shit at that if the Aiel war is any measure. (I know different guy but still)

Keeping it not a bad idea.

Ok Bayle Domon is now on my favorite characters list.

Antique collector too?!

…now I just want the adventures of Domon, Verin and Loial and trying to uncover history.

Oh this it great

Wait! Darkfriends want his antiques?! Amazing. Indiana Jones adventure but better! Oh guess that’s basically pirates too

Still pretty sure that was not about you but I love that you have like your whole own thing going on dude! I man sry but still, you seem very capable!

He’s being chased for a magic fucking flash light. [Lightstick technically]. They are very fragile and cause fires when broken. So love that (I soon learn he is not being chased for that. Probably. Certainly not that alone)

Allegedly makes you warm if you hold it long enough… feel like there’s something missing about that information

A saber tooth tiger skull?!

Oh shit… ya they don’t want the lightstick. They want the Seal to the Dark Ones Prison that Domon bought from a fucking shopkeep in Maradon!

Holy shit! That’s fucking amazing?! Oh I love this actually!

Also! Is that carving an angreal? The little man with a sword

I don’t even know if tasting fear is Talent I’m or just his feelings?

Eek. Too close to Almoth Plain better going to Tar Valon or the Borderlands imo

Well that was an unexpected fucking joy

I will be very sad if we never see Bayle Domon in the show. I’ll understand but still such a shame if we dont

10: The Hunt Begins

Horn

POV Rand

1/4 way thru

Finally truly left the city. Perfect time to fuckingtwlk to each other! Come on. You can do it

Mat you fucking shit!

Tbf pretty sure Rand has spent a month or so pushing them away soooo

Not dislike doesn’t actually mean like

Loial outran a horse?! Amazing

I like that a small contingent is still several dozen people

Deep breathes

Tbf. Maybe pack your own stuff next time.

Just don’t wear a coat

Lol

So Mat has just decided to be an asshole then. K.

… kinda curious as to why. Like is it jealousy? Being scorned? Dagger sickness? All of the above?

Oh good old prejudice. Lovely /s (allegedly the reason for Uno’s looks at Rand. He’s been doing that)

“An Aiel lord, maybe.” -Mat (scoffing) at Rand

I think Rand should give Mat one of those coats. Maybe he’ll shut the fuck up about it and is bs then. I’d say Perrin too but fear their sizes are too different also may not be his problem

Yea yea the Aiel don’t like anyone but gleemen and traders. Used to like Cairhien until that king fucked it up

Oh. Aiel don’t use swords, won’t touch one, and don’t ride horses. But are fierce warriors all the same

“If you have a sword, and the Aielman has his bare hands, it is an even fight. If you’re good… They’ve been there since the Breaking, near enough. Artur Hawkwing tried to dig them out and was bloodied, the only major defeats he ever suffered. By day the air in the Aiel Wastes shimmers with heat, and by night it freezes. And an Aiel will give you that blue-eyed stare and tell you there is no place on earth he would rather be… If they ever tried to come out, we would be hard-pressed to stop them. The Aiel War lasted three years, and that was only four out of thirteen clans.” -Ingtar to the boys -including Loial- ‘bout the Aiel

… meanwhile Rand is like ‘this stew reminds me of shepherding sheep and growing tabac in the two rivers where I’m from. And am a shepherd with my dad.’

Nearly caught them

“Hurin rode the circumference of the site, sniffing.” -Tgh

Camps a camp

That’s a person. Yup. Person. He’s gonna want away from that quick. & yup

When people say they don’t like Darkfriends they are not playing

Many days on a zigzagging chase after servants of the Shadow

Found a village at River Erinin

(Editors note. Not a POV change but a tonal shift)

Oh yea something horrible happened in this village

“Gone, my lord. But she was there. A woman in a white dress, at the window.” -Uno reporting on women he believes he saw in the abandoned village

Don’t like that

Oh something really horrible happened here

“…Ragan trotted up… His face was pale, the arrow scar on his cheek sharp, and he sounded shaken.” -Tgh. Ragan, one of the Shienaran men in the Hunt returning from scouting across the River.

… going back. I wonder what Siuan said to Mat and Perrin more and more

Uhg. Something real fucked up happened huh?

Hmm. Another option for Mat being a dick. Stress?

“Let Ingtar have the Horn. I just want the dagger for Mat.” -(Rand) thinking to himself seeing Mats reluctance for all this but having to do it to live

Loial always a pal

Yeesh Perrin. “This is how we left home…It we’ll be worse, this time.”

‘Cuz your about to see something truly horrific (I soon learn I’m right. B/c it’s obvious)

I think Hurin has some idea what Perrin is

Well that’s fucking awful. Won’t… don’t need to write out that one

Ohhhh yea. That’s pretty fucking bad. Uh.

Two named characters too. Changu and Nidao

Real dark.

I mean. That you want to bury. Just. Yea

Well um lore I guess. Shienarans bury their dead naked and with neither shroud nor coffin. Say a phrase. (Editors note: phrase below)

Probably Loial. Probably.

Very fucked up

“The Light shine on you, and the Creator shelter you. The last embrace of the mother welcome you home.” -Ingtar over the graves of Changu and Nidao

… apparently they saved Agelmar at Tarwin’s Gap so despite everything Ingtar believes they deserved at least that

Damn. Talidar was a battleground where Artur Hawkwing beat Trollocs and Fades so badly they never challenged him again. He raised a monument as a memorial for all the men who died in the battle. Sometime after his reign the monument was torn down and only the mound remains.

Hawkwing’s kingdoms broke into many others which then became the modern kingdoms due to conquest and alliances

Harad Dakar was a city of Hardan roughly in Shienar. Haddon Mirk was Mar Haddon. Almoth, Kintara. Altara and Murandy were formed via alliance. Other old nations included Maredo, Goabon, and Caralain.

Kinda confusing

Time happened to them

I… I feel like there’s more to it than that

A village in the wilderness after all?

Another abandoned village. This time in the wilderness

Ok. So the few people still living here basically bow down to anyone who offers them protection. They live in these tiny villages with short walls and ditches full of spikes mainly due to brigands. So basically lawless country, because no one actually want to hold the land. It was Hardan, then Cairhien and now the people think it’s Shienar and Shienar is like ‘I guess? Uh, we fight Trollocs. G’luck with those human bandits’

But this one is fully abandoned thus far

This is not a good room at all. That’s some horror movie psychological shit

Wtf? What is happening? Rand is having visions of the past? What?

What the fuck? What is happening? What is this?

Wtf?! What is this? What?

… I am horrified! This is fucking terrifying! Uhhh

Just dead… flies? No dead family that looks like they, idk, died of terror?

Ok. So… I have no idea. Das not good! (Editor me- kinda reminds me of a bad trip)

Oh. There’s more? Maybe… maybe it will make more sense (I soon learn. Not really. Not in this chapter)

I would not want to either. I’d never go in a house anything like that again. Ever

Oh no… village meeting hall everyone is standing in front of? Noooo…. Not- nope

“Everyone was standing like statues in front of a large building with wide double doors… a village meeting place. He joined the silent circle, and stared along with the rest.” -(Rand)

So. Yes.

Someone nailed to the door. Lots of nails

“Rand’s breathe caught. Not a man. Those black clothes, blacker than black… there had never been any eyes in that pale, bloodless face. ‘Myrddraal,’ he breathed, and it was as if his speaking released all the others. They began to move again, and breathe.” -Rand. And the wind moved a cloak which usually is not affected by wind…

Yea I think Fain did that. Uhhh…

Ingtar- ‘don’t know how that happened. Don’t want to. Let’s flaming go!’

Yes. Leave

Well the horror return bigger than ever tbh

“They rode away leaving the dead Myrddraal where it hung, the wind stirring is black cloak. Hurin was first beyond the wall, not waiting on Ingtar for a change, but Rand came close behind him.” -Tgh

#series of many thoughts on twot #< block or filter to stop seeing these posts #Tgh #tgh spoilers #the great hunt #the wheel of time #wheel of time #wot #wot book spoilers #twot book #twot book spoilers

[iviarellereads]

The Great Hunt, Chapter 14 - Wolfbrother

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one!)

(Wolf icon) In which Perrin tells someone his biggest secret.

PERSPECTIVE: Perrin, while Ingtar's in a fuss about Rand and co being gone. They can't have disappeared into thin air, surely? But even Uno can't find a trail. Mat wonders if they ran away, but blessedly doesn't give any detail  why he thinks that. Ingtar half believes the Darkfriends took them to throw the rest off the trail, because neither Hurin nor Rand would have abandoned their duty at this stage.

Perrin realizes there might be a way out of this, though he's loath to take it. He thinks it serves him right for telling Rand that sometimes you can't run away. He's tried to deny what he's become, especially at first, thinking it was something of the Dark One's work. He had some idea of what Rand was going through, from that. But now, he reaches out gently with his mind, and he can feel them. His brothers, the wolves.

In the rudimentary way of wolf communication, they ask if he's Long Tooth (Elyas), so he pictures himself in his mind for them. They have heard of him, yes, as Young Bull.(1) An image of a young man with heavy shoulders and shaggy, curly hair comes to him, overlaid with a massive wild bull with metal horns, throwing himself at Whitecloaks.

Perrin is so shocked that they've given him a name that he loses the connection. He focuses again, and gives the wolves the scent-appearance of Rand, Loial, and Hurin, but the wolves say they haven't seen them since everyone went to the hollow to make camp. Perrin hesitates, but remembers going to the dungeon with Egwene, and scenting Fain. The wolves react so strongly, the horses in the camp hear them and get fearful. The wolves hate Fain’s scent more than they even hate Trollocs. He asks where Fain went.

The sky rolled in his head; the land spun. East and west, wolves did not know. They knew the movements of sun and moon, the shift of seasons, the contours of the land. Perrin puzzled it out. South. And something more. An eagerness to kill the Trollocs. The wolves would let Young Bull share in the killing. He could bring the two-legs with their hard skins if he wanted, but Young Bull, and Smoke, and Two Deer, and Winter Dawn, and all the rest of the pack would hunt down the Twisted Ones who had dared come into their land. The inedible flesh and bitter blood would burn the tongue, but they must be killed. Kill them. Kill the Twisted Ones.(2)

Their fury infuses him, and his lips peel back in the beginnings of a snarl, which he barely breaks free of, reminding himself that he's a man, not a wolf. Mat sees him and asks if he's alright? That's all Mat needs, for Rand to run off and then Perrin to take ill...

Perrin shakes Mat off, saying he's alright, but goes forth to tell Ingtar he doesn't know where the missing men have gone, but wolves told him the ones they seek, with the Horn and all, went south. Ingtar thinks for a moment, and says he has heard of this, rumours of a Warder named Elyas Machera. Perrin confirms that he knows him.

“These wolves,” Ingtar said, “they will track the Darkfriends and Trollocs for us?” Perrin nodded. “Good. I will have the Horn, whatever it takes.” The Shienaran glanced around at Uno and the others still searching for tracks. “Better not to tell anyone else, though. Wolves are considered good luck in the Borderlands. Trollocs fear them. But still, better to keep this between us for the time. Some of them might not understand.” “I would as soon nobody else ever found out,” Perrin said. “I will tell them you think you have Hurin’s talent. They know about that; they’re easy with it. Some of them saw you wrinkling your nose back in that village, and at the ferry. I’ve heard jokes about your delicate nose. Yes. You keep us on the trail today, Uno will see enough of their tracks to confirm it is the trail, and before nightfall every last man will be sure you are a sniffer. I will have the Horn.”(3)

The men all accept Ingtar's declaration with minimal protest. Mat's the hardest to convince, but he shuts up after Uno starts finding tracks. Perrin pays it almost no attention, as he's fighting in his mind to keep the wolves from running on ahead and killing the Trollocs and such themselves.

Eventually he stops, as they're approaching another village where the Trollocs have done evil. Then they look behind them and realize someone's following them. Mat thinks it might be Rand, he still has faith Rand wouldn’t run out on him.(4) As the figure gets closer, though, it's... Verin Sedai! She declares that Moiraine sent her, and she saw the business with the Myrddraal. Shame she didn't have time to take it down and study it, but...

Suddenly her eyes narrowed, and the absent manner vanished like smoke. “Where is Rand al’Thor?”(5) Ingtar grimaced. “Gone, Verin Sedai. Vanished last night, without a trace. Him, the Ogier, and Hurin, one of my men.” “The Ogier, Lord Ingtar? And your sniffer went with him? What would those two have in common with . . . ?” Ingtar gaped at her, and she snorted. “Did you think you could keep something like that secret?” She snorted again. “Sniffers. Vanished, you say?”

Yes, vanished, but they have a new sniffer, in Perrin, and they will find the Horn of Valere. Verin remarks that it's very convenient that they found another sniffer just when they lost one.(6) Ingtar asks if their disappearance might have something to do with the Horn, and Verin thinks not, but it's an odd coincidence, and she doesn't like odd things until she can understand them. She takes Ingtar's offer to ride with them, for now, and asks him to tell her everything Rand ever said or did in his presence.

Even Mat can see it's Rand she's after, not the Horn at all. Perrin hopes Rand stays where he is, it's no doubt safer than this.

=====

(1) So, Perrin is finally accepting his place in the story, and he has a wolf name! Young Bull, very apt indeed. And they can help him fake being a sniffer, which is helpful. Even more helpful is that Ingtar understands and doesn't judge him. (2) No relation to T. Kingfisher's horror novel, The Twisted Ones, with a surprisingly effective jumpscare for being in print. (3) Ingtar, that's a little bit fervent even for you and even for this quest. (4) Well, at least we the readers know Rand had no intention of leaving. But, poor Mat. On the road to Caemlyn they took such care of each other, it's gotta feel pretty shit having your bestie disappear like this in your hour of need. (5) Why was she looking for him? What more would Moiraine have had to say to him, and more, why wouldn't she have come herself? Anaiya said Verin ran off after Moiraine from the Amyrlin's travel party. Hmm, so many questions. (6) Oh, Verin, you know he's ta'veren too. She's almost laying it on too thick, you know?

#wheel of time #wot #the wheel of time #twot #tgh #the great hunt #wot wolf icon #perrin aybara #lord ingtar shinowa #uno nomesta #mat cauthon #verin mathwin

[iviarellereads]

The Great Hunt, Chapter 11 - Glimmers of the Pattern

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one!)

(Wheel icon) In which I can once again say, that doesn't bode well at all.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand, as Ingtar calls for camp very early in a deep hollow that's easily defended if they're attacked in the night. Everyone's feeling the effects of the last village. Rand overhears Uno saying he saw the same woman in white in a window there, and anyone who wants to take issue with that can take issue with his knife.(1)

Ingtar commands no fires, and every man sleeps next to his horse. There's something even worse than Darkfriends, Trollocs, or even Myrddraal out there. Rand thinks about, and tries to forget, the vision he saw in the house.

Ingtar interrupts Rand's thoughts and gives him a package. Moiraine Sedai said to give it to him at the first camp south of the Erinin, though he has no idea what's in it. It feels soft, maybe just cloth, and Rand would suddenly rather think of the house and the Myrddraal than that cloth. Ingtar was also told to say that if anything happens to him, the lances will take Rand's commands.

“Me!” Rand gasped, forgetting the bundle and everything else. Ingtar met his incredulous stare with a calm nod. “That’s crazy! I’ve never led anything but a flock of sheep, Ingtar. They would not follow me anyway. Besides, Moiraine can’t tell you who your second is. It’s Uno.” “Uno and I were called to Lord Agelmar the morning we left. Moiraine Sedai was there, but it was Lord Agelmar who told me. You are second, Rand.”

Ingtar explains that there's a very clear chain of command, so that if any number of men fall, there's a clear commander, and if only one man is left standing, he's not a straggler, he has the command and must do the duty that they all set out to accomplish. Rand feels Moiraine tugging his leash from a hundred leagues away, and tries to refuse, but Ingtar says too much is already falling apart in the world, this mission can't afford to lose the chain of command. He walks away before Rand can protest further.(2)

Rand is left to find out what's in the package, though he thinks he already knows. He sneaks off into the trees, picks out the knots that speak of Moiraine's own precise handiwork, and finds just what he dreaded: the Dragon's banner.

“Look at that! Look what he’s got, now!” Mat burst into the clearing. Perrin came after him more slowly. “First fancy coats,” Mat snarled, “and now a banner! We’ll hear no end of lording it now, with—” Mat got close enough to see the banner clearly, and his jaw dropped. “Light!” He stumbled back a step. “Burn me!” He had been there, too, when Moiraine named the banner. So had Perrin. Anger boiled up in Rand, anger at Moiraine and the Amyrlin Seat, pushing him, pulling him. He snatched up the banner in both hands and shook it at Mat, words boiling out uncontrollably. “That’s right! The Dragon’s banner!” Mat took another step back. “Moiraine wants me to be a puppet on Tar Valon strings, a false Dragon for the Aes Sedai. She’s going to push it down my throat whatever I want. But—I—will—not—be—used!” Mat had backed up against a tree trunk. “A false Dragon?” He swallowed. “You? That . . . that’s crazy.”

Perrin reasons that if they want to make him a false Dragon, Rand must be able to channel. Rand admits, he doesn’t want to, but he doesn’t know how to stop it either. Mat's paranoid about Rand getting found out and all of them killed for knowing him so well, which goes on a bit. Perrin tells him to shut up, and asks why Rand came with them.

Rand shrugged. “I was going, but first the Amyrlin came, and then the Horn was stolen, and the dagger, and Moiraine said Mat was dying, and. . . . Light, I thought I could stay with you until we found the dagger, at least; I thought I could help with that. Maybe I was wrong.” “You came because of the dagger?” Mat said quietly. He rubbed his nose and grimaced. “I never thought of that. I never thought you wanted to. . . . Aaaah! Are you feeling all right? I mean, you aren’t going mad already, are you?” Rand dug a pebble out of the ground and threw it at him. “Ouch!” Mat rubbed his arm. “I was just asking. I mean, all those fancy clothes, and all that talk about being a lord. Well, that isn’t exactly right in the head.” “I was trying to get rid of you, fool! I was afraid I’d go mad and hurt you.” His eyes dropped to the banner, and his voice lowered. “I will, eventually, if I don’t stop it. Light, I don’t know how to stop it.”

Mat tells a story he heard from a merchant guard once, about a man who could channel who woke up one morning to find his whole village flattened, except his own bed. He says he plans to sleep as far away from Rand as he can in case of anything like that, though Perrin jokes that he should sleep cuddled up to Rand in that case.(3) Mat says he's grateful that Rand came to help him, but Rand isn't the same anymore. He waits a moment, as if expecting Rand to protest, then walks back into the camp. Rand asks Perrin what he thinks, and Perrin says he'd burn or bury the Dragon banner, if it were him, and run as far as he could go, but... maybe sometimes you can't run. Then he leaves, too.(4)

Rand knelt there, staring at the banner spread out on the ground. “Well, sometimes you can run,” he muttered. “Only, maybe she gave me this to make me run. Maybe she has something waiting for me, if I run. I won’t do what she wants. I won’t. I’ll bury it right here. But she said my life may depend on it, and Aes Sedai never lie so you can see it. . . .” Suddenly his shoulders shook with silent laughter. “Now I’m talking to myself. Maybe I am going mad already.” When he returned to the camp, he carried the banner wrapped in the canvas once more, tied with knots less neat than Moiraine’s had been.

The light's beginning to fail, and Rand brings his horse over near Loial and Hurin, who stumbles over his words to say he hopes Rand doesn't mind him here, he was chatting with Loial. Loial points Rand at a stone column nearby, and says it looks like it was worked once, then left to the weather. There are markings that look familiar but strange. Rand says maybe Loial will be able to see better in the morning, and he's glad of Hurin's company, thinking to himself that he's glad of the company of anyone who isn't afraid of him.

He packs the banner in his saddle bags, so nobody else will touch it, and refuses any supper. He was too queasy for even the best meal he'd ever had, just then.

The camp was silent now, but Rand lay awake past the fall of full dark. His mind darted back and forth. The banner. What is she trying to make me do? The village. What could kill a Fade like that? Worst of all, the house in the village. Did it really happen? Am I going mad already? Do I run, or do I stay? I have to stay. I have to help Mat find the dagger. An exhausted sleep finally came, and with sleep, unbidden, the void surrounded him, flickering with an uneasy glow that disturbed his dreams.(5)

PERSPECTIVE: Padan Fain still thinks of himself as Padan Fain, that man is still the core of him, but he's been changed. First the things Baa did to him, to track down the boys in his hunt for the Dragon, and then in Shadar Logoth...

He touches the ruby-hilted dagger, feeling whole, and remembers how he nailed the Myrddraal to the door of the building himself, to establish true control over the pack, which the Myrddraal had kept trying to wrest away from him. He shouldn't have let the Trollocs take so many from the village to slow them down, but Trollocs are greedy, and he was overcome by such euphoria watching the Myrddraal die that he had a momentary soft spot.(6) He tells the Trollocs to kill them all, and leave the heads atop the pile of the bodies, for their pursuers to find. He ignores the pleas of the remaining Darkfriends to save some of the villagers, knowing they just don't want to be the next meal.

He kneels next to the box holding the Horn. He takes the dagger out and lays it on top the chest, to warn off anyone who might try to come near. They’ve all seen, by now, what happens when it’s touched.

Lying there in his blankets, he stared northward. He could not feel al’Thor, now; the distance between them was too great. Or perhaps al’Thor was doing his vanishing trick. Sometimes, in the keep, the boy had suddenly vanished from Fain’s senses. He did not know how, but always al’Thor came back, just as suddenly as he had gone.(7) He would come back this time, too. “This time you come to me, Rand al’Thor. Before, I followed you like a dog driven on the trail, but now you follow me.” His laughter was a cackle that even he knew was mad, but he did not care. Madness was a part of him, too. “Come to me, al’Thor. The dance is not even begun yet. We’ll dance on Toman Head, and I’ll be free of you. I’ll see you dead at last.”

=====

(1) I dunno about you, but I believe him. (2) So, Moiraine's definitely trying to force Rand to A) gain battle experience, B) find the truth within himself that he is the Dragon, and C) declare himself such. Poor Rand, but also, it super doesn't help that he's so, so resistant to feeling manipulated. Sorry, bud, you're fate's plaything for this and the next 12 remaining books. But, the complete chain of command is an interesting way for an army to work. (3) Pour one out for the Cauthor shippers. (4) At least he's starting to mend bridges with Mat and Perrin. Mat still isn't himself, right now, what with the Mashadar corruption in him, growing slowly at the edges. And, at least Perrin's more understanding and level-headed. (5) You caught Mat's story, right? The one about a male channeler folding a mountain over his village in his sleep, with only him and his bed untouched. And then Rand is surrounded by the void as he falls asleep, the same void that made him feel so sick before, now it's described as "an uneasy glow". OH YES, THIS WILL END EXTREMELY WELL! (6) So he's havin a real normal one. (7) What was Rand doing that he might disappear? All we know he did was a lot of sword training with Lan, which would have meant holding the flame and the void to concentrate… just as he's holding the void as he falls asleep and disappears again.

#wheel of time #wot #the wheel of time #twot #tgh #the great hunt #wot wheel icon #rand al'thor #lord ingtar shinowa #perrin aybara #mat cauthon #hurin (wot) #loial #padan fain

[iviarellereads]

The Great Hunt, Chapter 10 - The Hunt Begins

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one!)

(Horn icon) In which that's something beyond evil.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand, as Ingtar sets a fast pace, hoping to catch them up despite the head start. Rand worries about the horses, but says nothing, because it’s Ingtar’s command and Rand is still just a shepherd.(1) At one point though, one of the men, Uno, says Ingtar's going to kill the horses at this rate. It's not until much later in the day that Ingtar sees sense, and they start alternating walked and ridden miles. Mat and Perrin continue to avoid Rand, along with some of the retinue.

The path avoids all settlements. They sometimes see farms or villages in the distance, but never close enough that they'd have seen the Trollocs et al coming or going clearly. Eventually, Ingtar finally calls to make camp for the night after twilight. When Rand takes out his bundles from the pack horses, he shouts so loudly that several men come running, swords out. He's a little embarrassed that it was just because he saw his coats, the supposedly serviceable, low-key ones: both more ornate than the one he's already wearing. Ingtar points out that they are wearable, and Moiraine Sedai saw to Rand's packing personally. Rand thinks he'd almost rather go naked.(2)

Masema is serving the stew, and slops a bit of Rand's meanly. Ingtar is sitting next to Mat and Perrin, so Rand sits near them, glad that his friends don't leave again. He wonders aloud why Masema hates him. Ingtar hesitates, but says that Masema fought against the Aiel for three years once, and he (Ingtar) is glad to take everyone's word that Rand is from the Two Rivers, but Masema can't see past the resemblance to his enemies.(3)

Rand dropped his spoon in the plate with a sigh. “Everybody thinks I’m somebody I am not. I am from the Two Rivers, Ingtar. I grew tabac with—with my father, and tended his sheep. That is what I am. A farmer and shepherd from the Two Rivers.” “He’s from the Two Rivers,” Mat said scornfully. “I grew up with him, though you’d never know it now. You put this Aiel nonsense in his head on top of what’s already there, and the Light knows what we’ll have. An Aiel lord, maybe.” “No,” Loial said, “he has the look. You remember, Rand, I remarked on it once, though I thought it was just because I didn’t know you humans well enough then. Remember? ‘Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the Last Day.’ You remember, Rand.” Rand stared at his plate. Wrap a shoufa around your head, and you would be the image of an Aielman. That had been Gawyn, brother to Elayne, the Daughter-Heir of Andor. Everybody thinks I’m somebody I’m not.

Ingtar says Aiel only recognize themselves, gleemen, peddlers, and their enemies. They changed that for Cairhien 500 years ago, for no reason anyone else can tell, but after the Aiel War 20-odd years ago, he doesn't think they ever will again. Loial says they're willing to let the Tuatha'an into their Wastes, and they trade with Ogier sometimes, for sung wood, but they're a hard people. Ingtar wishes he had some men half as hard as any Aiel. Mat wonders if that's a joke.

“Aiel are hard,” Ingtar said. “Man and woman, hard. I’ve fought them, and I know. They will run fifty miles, and fight a battle at the end of it. They’re death walking, with any weapon or none. Except a sword. They will not touch a sword, for some reason. Or ride a horse, not that they need to. If you have a sword, and the Aielman has his bare hands, it is an even fight. If you’re good. They herd cattle and goats where you or I would die of thirst before the day was done. They dig their villages into huge rock spires out in the Waste. They’ve been there since the Breaking, near enough. Artur Hawkwing tried to dig them out and was bloodied, the only major defeats he ever suffered. By day the air in the Aiel Waste shimmers with heat, and by night it freezes. And an Aiel will give you that blue-eyed stare and tell you there is no place on earth he would rather be. He won’t be lying, either. If they ever tried to come out, we would be hard-pressed to stop them.(4) The Aiel War lasted three years, and that was only four out of thirteen clans.”

Mat mutters that grey eyes from his mother don't make him Aiel, but Rand remembers Moiraine's story about his birth, and as he settles in for sleep, he repeats that he won't be used.

The next morning they continue before dawn, until they come on an abandoned camp. Hurin says there was worse than murder done here, and they turned northeast. An hour's ride later, Hurin says they turned south again, and another murder. The next day continues the same, slowly gaining ground based on the tracks and remains, but more direction changes, and more murders. After Ingtar says they won’t lose time burying Darkfriends, the subject doesn’t come up, even when they believe the victims are Shienaran.

Eventually, they come upon the River Erinin, a few hours past breaking camp. Long past time to have found the Trolloc camp and first direction changes, from the pattern of the last several days, but instead they come to a quiet village near a river much smaller than the stories made it out to be.(5)

Perrin says the village smells wrong, getting him a look from Hurin.(6) But he's right: there's no one left here. Uno sees a woman in a white dress in a window, and runs for the house, but it's empty after all.(7) Hurin says there was no murder here, but violence of a sort he's never smelled before, and something across the river.

Ingtar sends two men to retrieve the ferry, sitting on the far bank, and to scout for any ambush. They come back unable to put words to what they saw, but there's no ambush, for certain. Rand et al are in the first group to cross the ferry, though Mat still sneers at Rand's coat. Perrin remarks that this is how they left home, on Taren Ferry, and says it will be worse this time. Both Rand and Mat are curious why he'd say this. Perrin just says he can smell it.

Fifty paces from the ferry, they find the bodies, strung up to a tree. The two faces are intact, Changu and Nidao, the guards Rand met the first time Egwene brought him to see Fain. They've been skinned alive. Rand seeks the Void, but feels more sick inside it.(8) Some men start digging graves, and Loial explains Shienaran burial rites: no clothes, no shroud, no coffin, just plain burial. Someone might say a particular ritual phrase over the graves, but that's unlikely here: these must have been the men who killed the guards and let the Trollocs into the Keep.

However, before they leave, Ingtar does say the words over the two unmarked graves. Nobody comments, but he looks at every man in turn before saying that they saved Lord Agelmar at Tarwin's Gap.(9) Then off they ride.

They come upon an old, abandoned manor house, and there's some discussion of countries that once were, but are no longer. Loial talks about how many cities and countries fail, sometimes because the population dwindles, sometimes trade stops, and sometimes crops fail too many years in a row. Ingtar says yes, and what city will not fail tomorrow, or the next day? Humankind is being swept away. How long until there's nothing left but the borderlands, and how long until not even that? The whole group is shocked into silence, and rides on.(10)

They come upon another village some time later that day, abandoned too. All the villages here have a grudge against Shienarans, because Shienar can’t or won’t spare soldiers to defend them against human brigands, when the Blight is right there. The men prepare for a fight as they near.

Some of the men go to check the houses for occupants, and Rand approaches a door, but stops short, then chides himself for being afraid of an empty door. Inside is a tidy room, flies buzzing around the food laid out on the table, even a roast, cold in its own congealed grease. He blinks, and sees a vision of a smiling family, serving themselves from the food, when it was fresh. Suddenly, one of the girls screams, pointing at the road. The door bursts open and...

Rand blinks again, and they're gone, the flies sounding louder. Blink again, and the vision starts over from the beginning. Over and over. Between the visions, the room starts to feel very, very cold to him, but he can't move, until suddenly he starts to feel warm and breaks free of it, tearing at unseen cobwebs holding him.(11)

He hears Mat yell that there's nothing in the house he looked in, and Rand resolves not to enter another house in the village. There's a commotion in the main square, and when he approaches, it's not more people murdered... not exactly. A Myrddraal, a Fade, has been murdered and near crucified on the biggest door in the village.

“Who,” Mat began, and had to stop to swallow. “Who could do this to a Fade?” His voice squeaked at the end. “I don’t know,” Ingtar said. “I do not know.”(12) He looked around, examining faces, or perhaps counting to be sure everyone was there. “And I do not think we will learn anything here. We ride. Mount! Hurin, find the trail out of this place.” “Yes, my Lord. Yes. With pleasure. That way, my Lord. They’re still heading south.” They rode away leaving the dead Myrddraal where it hung, the wind stirring its black cloak. Hurin was first beyond the wall, not waiting on Ingtar for a change, but Rand came close behind him.

=====

(1) Is he still just that? Was he ever just a shepherd? (2) As much as Rand, rightly and fairly, doesn't want to be manipulated into doing something against his will, we've known since the first page that he was the Dragon, and if he's going to fulfill all these prophecies, better to look a lord than a beggar, to look the way people will expect the Dragon to look and be more willing to accept him in the role even as they may despise what he means for the world. (3) Especially when Aiel looks seem so distinctive. There were a few folk in Caemlyn who had paler skin and lighter hair, like the Trakands, but the implication is that's pretty rare in the wider world. No wonder he's been treated very oddly by the Shienarans since his arrival there, and no wonder Moiraine's been fighting so hard to build him up a reputation as a lordling so he couldn't possibly be an Aielman. (4) Gee, I wonder if that'll become relevant again. (5) The narration (Rand) attributes this to it being far from its source. Do you think Robert Jordan knew how rivers work? That they're fed all along and tend to get bigger the further they travel, biggest as they approach their lake or ocean endpoint. Rand probably wouldn't know that, whether RJ did or not. (6) Given everything, it's possible Perrin just smelled the decay or some such, from a greater distance. Who knows what wolves smell? (7) A mysterious woman in a white dress? Keep a pin in that for now. (8) Now THAT'S odd. What about the flame and void might make Rand feel sick, or is it just too much for even that trick to work? (9) After leaving so many behind, he takes the time for this? Just because we recognize their names, or does he finally feel guilty over leaving the others? (10) This guy seems real pessimistic suddenly. But, look at Shienar. They watched Malkier fall to the Blight well within living memory. Who wouldn't be a bit pessimistic about humanity's chances as the signs ramp up for the final confrontation? And when faced with this much death and betrayal and just everything? (11) Rand's visions in the house are creepy as hell, and the cold kinda makes me wonder if this is Power at play, or something else… perhaps the same kind of "strange thing" that Lan refers to happening close to the Blight, when Rand gets caught by the wind during their practice fight in chapter 1. But, the Dark One is stirring in his prison, his influence on the world growing. Who's to say what effect that might have? (12) Who could do this to a Fade? What could be WORSE than a Fade? Why do all my sentences now end in question marks?

#wheel of time #wot #the wheel of time #twot #tgh #the great hunt #wot horn icon #rand al'thor #lord ingtar shinowa #uno nomesta #hurin (wot) #perrin aybara #mat cauthon #masema dagar #ragan (wot) #loial

[iviarellereads]

The Great Hunt, Chapter 9 - Leavetakings

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one!)

(Flame icon) In which it's time to hit the road, for real this time, right after one itsy bitsy assassination attempt.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand's finally done packing, and the courtyard's crowded with the Aes Sedai retinue. He finds his horse and Ingtar's group in a corner. Loial rides up, and when Rand says he thought Loial would have had enough of travel, he replies that he can't pass up the chance to see history weave itself around ta'veren.

Mat and Perrin ride up behind Loial, Rand apologizes, they whisper to each other and ride off. Rand looks down and notices the gold embroidery on his fancy coat, and thinks he realizes why they think he's still putting on airs,(1) but when he looked in his wardrobe everything was at least as ornate as this coat, and the servants claimed his plainer garb was already on packhorses.(2)

Lan appears at Rand's stirrup, and asks to speak to him alone. He has one lesson left for Rand: Sheathing the Sword.

“You’ve spent an hour every morning making me do nothing but draw this bloody sword and put it back in the scabbard. Standing, sitting, lying down. I think I can manage to get it back in the sheath without cutting myself.” “I said listen, sheepherder,” the Warder growled. “There will come a time when you must achieve a goal at all costs. It may come in attack or in defense. And the only way will be to allow the sword to be sheathed in your own body.” “That’s crazy,” Rand said. “Why would I ever—?” The Warder cut him off. “You will know when it comes, sheepherder, when the price is worth the gain, and there is no other choice left to you. That is called Sheathing the Sword. Remember it.”(3)

The Amyrlin makes her way across the courtyard, speaking to Agelmar. Rand overhears him trying to convince her to stay another day to rest and feast, but she can't. By the time Rand looks away, Lan's gone. 

Loial returns and says he heard a rumour that the Amyrlin is sending someone to Almoth Plain, to see what the fuss is about down that way. Rand remembers that Toman Head is next to Almoth Plain, and the words he barely wiped off the wall after Fain's jailbreak: We will meet again on Toman Head.

The Amyrlin approaches and wishes them luck, saying that the fate of the world rests with them. The heroes will fight for whoever blows the Horn, for Light or Dark. Rand gets distracted from her speech, feeling someone watching him, the same presence he felt before.(4) He turns his horse, looking on the guards' catwalks and windows, when suddenly something flashes across Rand's face, and the Amyrlin looks down at a tear in her gown, where blood is beginning to stain the silk. The Amyrlin tells Leane to see to the man who took the whole of the arrow's hit, and remarks that it was poorly aimed, if they were aiming at her. She looks at Rand as she says this, but looks away before she can draw attention to the glance. She knows it was meant for him.(5)

Leane says that the man is dead, was dead before he hit the ground. The Amyrlin says she did what she could, then, since death cannot be Healed.(6) She makes a final bit of speech to the Horn seekers, and sends them off. A man on horseback rides through the crowds outside, waiting to see the Amyrlin's procession out of town. Ingtar introduces him as Hurin, a sniffer. They didn't want the Aes Sedai to get worked up over nothing, his talent is nothing to do with the Power,(7) but Hurin can explain it himself. Hurin says, of course, my lord. Rand insists he's not a lord, and wonders if he can escape that nonsense now.

Hurin blinked. “As you wish, my Lor—ah—Rand. I’m a sniffer, you see. Been one four years this Sunday. I never heard of such a thing before then, but I hear there’s a few others like me. It started slow, catching bad smells where nobody else smelled anything, and it grew. Took a whole year before I realized what it was. I could smell violence, the killing and the hurting. Smell where it happened. Smell the trail of those who did it. Every trail’s different, so there’s no chance of mixing them up. Lord Ingtar heard of it, and took me in his service, to serve the King’s justice.”

All the smells fade with time, depending on the intensity of the violence. He once met a Brown Aes Sedai who practically kept him hostage for a month trying to figure out how his talent worked, but he doesn't do anything, he just smells it. At any rate, this trail is as clear as anything. You can't tell Darkfriends by smell, but Trollocs, and Halfmen (Myrddraal), and there's something even worse with them, which upsets Hurin to no end.(8) He can tell they definitely went south.

Rand hopes that Nynaeve keeps Egwene safe, and thinks he hears a mocking laugh on the wind.

PERSPECTIVE: Bayle Domon(9)  is in Illian, where they'll start the Great Hunt in a few days. There's festivities galore, fireworks and all. Domon pays them no mind, he's out to meet people he thinks might be trying to kill him. Plus, he's never felt comfortable in Illian, for all that he was born there.

He enters an inn by the name of Easing the Badger. There's always been an inn by that name, though not even the innkeeper knows what it means.(10) After overhearing some talk of all the false Dragons, and thinking how he doesn’t care much for false Dragons or the Hunt for the Horn, Domon spots the people he's looking for, their fancy clothes standing out against the plain dress of other patrons. Cairhienin, this time. They have someone who must be transported from Mayene to Illian. Domon says the Spray is a river craft, it doesn't have the bottom for sea travel. They thought he was giving up the river trade, but he hasn't decided yet. Well, he has, he won't go back to the Borderlands for love nor money, but he won't tell them that. He does wonder how they knew when he hadn't told anyone.

The stranger in charge offers him a thousand gold marks, and he goggles. Two hundred now, three hundred in Mayene, and the remaining five hundred when he returns, if he's taken no action to discover his cargo's identity.(11) It would almost be worth it just for the two hundred. And if he probed more, he knows he'd have hints that Illian is working with the First of Mayene, to act against Tear somehow. He might fall for it if he hadn't seen three such snares in the last month. He reaches for the pouch and the parchment that would mark him to his contact in Mayene, agreeing to sail at first light. But he knows Darkfriends have been after him since before he left Marabon, and he knows someone wants him to sail east toward Tear or Mayene. 

When the men have left, he gives one of the coins to the innkeeper, telling her to take everyone's drinks out of it until it runs out, and he'll give her another. She remarks that it's a Tar Valon coin, and asks if he's dealing with the witches. He bristles, but knows she won't say anything. Tar Valon marks. Dangerous coins, in Illian.(12) He's still sitting there, worrying, when his second mate enters to tell him another crewman is dead. There's been one every time he turned down a deal, but he accepted this time. He tells the second to round up the crew, the Spray sails as soon as there are hands to make her move. He's barely settling into his quarters on ship when the second comes back to say he's got all but three, and Domon says fine, they sail this minute, the others be damned.

When he's alone again, and sure to be so for a while, he heats a knife and cuts open the seal on the parchment. It reads that the bearer is a Darkfriend, wanted in Cairhien, and appears to be signed by the king of Cairhien himself. Real or fake, it makes no difference. In Tear or Mayene, it would be accepted as truth.(13)

He almost burns it, but instead hides the parchment in a secret compartment behind his desk, concealed by a panel nobody else knows how to access. He has a few other treasures in a chest nearby: a lightstick, a relic from the Age of Legends which glows like a lantern when held, but is fragile as glass; a small ivory carving of a man holding a sword, which is supposed to make you feel warm if you hold it long enough; the skull of a cat as big as a lion with teeth a foot long;(14) and a thick disk, about the size of a man's palm, marked with what Domon knows is the ancient Aes Sedai mark, not a safe item but not something he could pass up, when the shopkeeper didn't know what it was, not even that it was cuendillar.(15)

The second mate knocks, giving Domon a chance to cover his items with some other parchment, then pops in again to say they're past the coast. Which way from here?

West, says Domon. The second asks which city they're headed to, and Domon thinks none are far enough by half, but says maybe they'll go trade with the Domani and Taraboners. The second says there's rumours of war, and Domon says they've always squabbled over Almoth Plain and Toman head, but you can always find trade.(16)

When he's alone again, he puts everything but the cuendillar disk in the chest, and places it next to the parchment in the cubby. Darkfriends or Aes Sedai, he won't run the way they want him to. He heads up on deck to help them go west.

=====

(1) Mat and Perrin aren't just angry at Rand for putting on airs, imo. I think they also don't necessarily want to hang out with someone who's gonna brush them off when it's convenient, and come running back when it's not. Nobody likes a fairweather friend, Rand. (2) It makes sense they would assume you'd want to look your best to start a journey on a high note, especially if someone like Moiraine hinted that Rand should be at his finest because he has appearances to keep up. This was also written in the time when you'd still be expected socially to legit Dress Up to go, like, fly on an airplane. There are still some older folks who grumble about how nobody respects air travel anymore over that not being the standard these days. Whatever he felt about it, I think this might have been a loose reference to the practice. (3) RJ had the worst way of phrasing things sometimes to make anyone keep a straight face. "allow the sword to be sheathed in your own body" indeed. But, recall that swordfight training pose, Heron in the Rushes, that leaves one open to attack, from chapter 1 or whatever… hmmm, nah, can't mean anything at all, right? (4) My guess then was that Fain was watching in his odd way, but could it have been something else? (5) Why would someone try to kill Rand? Who knows how much about him to spur that on? (6) So there are some limits on the magic system, huh? I mean, if there weren't limits, then one or more of them probably would have rampaged and done all the things people accuse them of wanting to do just because, there are bad apples in every bunch. Even so, interesting. (7) So, this walking Tolkien reference has something like Perrin's wolfing? Elyas didn't show any particularly wolflike traits besides caring less about personal grooming and the eyes, and Hurin's eyes aren't described. Though, he must have the singular worst luck in the Borderlands to get his particular talent. (8) The only other thing we know of with them is Fain. Could he be THAT corrupt? Well, he does have both the Dark One evil and Shadar Logoth evil. (9) Re-enter Bayle Domon from book 1, who seems to want to be a recurring character for the series. Someone's trying to make him sail east and get himself killed, maybe even start a war with Illian and Tear while they're at it. Or are they? I have to wonder if they want him to sail west and know he's stubborn… (10) Cue thirty years of people joking about what "easing the badger" might mean. It's definitely a sex move though.

(11) So, we're getting a bit of a sneak peek at world politics here. Mayene is on the world map, right at the VERY bottom right corner, a wee peninsula next to Tear but which doesn't seem to have any roads connecting it to the continent, just mountains. Only, as he points out a bit later, Mayene is also very reliant on good relations with Tear, because Tear is their door to the rest of the continent. Not unreasonable to assume they probably have a bit of a longstanding beef with Tear, a beef which Illian shares, from indications we get this chapter as well. Are the people trying to get him killed from Tear, Cairhien, Mayene, or somewhere else in the end? How could this be used to further anyone's political plots? Why would someone have it out for Domon specifically? (I'm not suggesting we have answers to all these questions yet, just that it's worth chewing on them.) (12) Dangerous coins in most countries, it would seem. (13) Someone REALLY wants him dead. (14) The lightstick feels like an allusion to both neon lights and lightsabers from Star Wars. Moiraine carries a small robed woman carved from ivory, her angreal, which amplifies her power. She mentioned it not too long ago, in reference to using it to Heal Mat. Could this little man be a male angreal? It explains why some men (those who could learn to channel, maybe) feel warm holding it, but Domon feels nothing. And the skull… You know, I'm not sure "as big as a lion" means the same thing to Domon as it does to us, if a sabertoothed tiger's skull could fit in a little cubbyhole like this, but he DOES mention the fangs being a foot long. How big is this hidey hole behind his desk? (15) He has a fondness for collecting, does old Bayle, and getting his hands on ONE OF THE DARK ONE'S SEALS is a side effect of this being three thousand years past relevant, I guess. Nobody would recognize them, that far removed, when they're supposed to be in the White Tower's protection. At least this one's still strong, it's not cracked like the one Moiraine found. (16) Fate's drawing an awful lot of strings to one little nowhere town.

#wheel of time #wot #the wheel of time #twot #tgh #the great hunt #wot flame icon #rand al'thor #lord ingtar shinowa #uno nomesta #masema dagar #ragan (wot) #loial #lan mandragoran #lord agelmar jagad #siuan sanche #hurin (wot) #bayle domon #yarin maeldan

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The Great Hunt, Chapter 6 - Dark Prophecy

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one!)

(Trolloc icon) In which I question a lot of the narrator's assumptions.

PERSPECTIVE: Rand is dreaming that he's back at Tam's farm, the night of the Trolloc attack, only Mat and Perrin are there, with injuries that should leave them dead. Fain and then Baa tell him that it's never over, the battle's never done, and he wakes up.

Nynaeve is knitting in a rocking chair. She says Egwene told her why he's there, they won't give him up to any Aes Sedai, if that's what he wants. He can tell she's a little hesitant, knowing he can channel.(1)

Egwene has gone to see Padan Fain, thinking that familiar faces will help him. Rand asks Nynaeve if "they" have started looking for him. Nynaeve has noticed some odd behaviour in the serving women, who should be preparing for the feast that night, but Rand says Aes Sedai wouldn't use serving women to look for him.(2) Nynaeve points out they're looking for something important, at least.

Rand finally notices that Nynaeve is in a silk dress, not the Two Rivers wool he's used to seeing her in, all ready for the feast herself. Rand says she looks very pretty tonight, and as he sees her starting to glare at him,(3) he quickly tells her he'll be gone as soon as they open the gates, to somewhere he'll never see another living soul, somewhere there won't be anyone to hurt if something goes wrong while he figures this out. Nynaeve isn't so sure, Moiraine insists he's ta'veren, and the Wheel isn't finished with him. She starts to say "The Dark One seems" but gets cut off when Rand names him, "Shai'tan is dead," and then feels the room lurch. She insists he's being the biggest kind of woolhead, and he insists it's just the proximity to the Blight, strange things happen here sometimes.(4)

Suddenly the bells start going off. Rand thinks they're searching for him, but Nynaeve points out that if they are, then the alarm just warns him. It can't be for him. He looks out the arrowslit window, and realizes that whatever caused the alarm is inside the keep. Rand gets paranoid that maybe it's Fain, loose in the dungeon, maybe he's hurt Egwene! He's about to run out when Nynaeve stops him. Even if this has nothing to do with him, there will be Aes Sedai and serving women in the hall just waiting to take notice of the one man in the women's apartments. Rand ignores her and runs out into the hallway, causing quite a stir with his sword in hand. Even invited, men never go armed in the women's apartments except in direst emergencies.

Rand shoulders through them, encountering the Amyrlin Seat and the Keeper, noting by the Amyrlin’s reaction that she knows who he is, somehow, before making his way out into the courtyard. Men running everywhere with swords, the sounds of fighting, and suddenly there are three Trollocs. They're taken down in short order, but as he goes through, he finds more Trollocs, and more injured and dead Shienarans.

A Myrddraal catches his attention and he freezes in fear, but Ingtar comes up and tells him to go, he's not ready for a Fade. He goes down to the dungeon, finding the door open a hair's breadth, when it should be closed and bolted. The guards are beheaded, but the dungeons are totally empty except for torn up, chewed lumps of meat that must have been their bodies.

He started toward the inner door, took two steps, and stopped, staring. The words on the door, dark and glistening wetly in the light of his lamp, were plain enough. WE WILL MEET AGAIN ON TOMAN HEAD.(5) IT IS NEVER OVER, AL’THOR.

Rand is about to wipe the message off the wall when someone asks what he's doing. A woman, not much older than him, whose description we may match with Liandrin. All Rand notices is her red-fringed shawl. She tells him to touch nothing, and asks what he was doing. He says he was looking for Egwene, and rushes to go see if he can find her, when she stops him with something that feels cold and icy in his brain.

Icy cold squeezes him from all sides, constricting his whole body. Icy needles penetrate his brain, grate into his bones. The Void takes him, and he can sense something warm in the distance, feels it might save him if he can reach it, but before he can, someone asks what's going on here.(6) The pain and the cold stop suddenly, and he almost falls to the ground. Moiraine may just have saved his life, again.

Liandrin says she found Rand here, and Moiraine asks what Rand was doing. Rand says Egwene came down here. As he goes down the corridor, the first other prisoner has hanged himself with his belt. The second one is digging into solid stone with bare, bloody hands, and can't be stopped.

Finally he reaches Fain's cell, and Egwene and Mat are laying in front of it, but the cell itself is empty. Moiraine and Liandrin come down, and before Liandrin can touch either of them, Moiraine darts in to evaluate their injuries. Egwene's been hit on the head, but she'll be fine. Mat, on the other hand, has lost his dagger. Liandrin asks what dagger, but is interrupted by soldiers. Moiraine calls for two litters, and Liandrin says Rand was trying to erase the writing in the front entrance. Moiraine doesn't even acknowledge Rand.

Moiraine directs them to bring Egwene back to her apartments with Nynaeve, and Mat directly to the Amyrlin's chambers, and to locate the Amyrlin herself. Liandrin protests that the Amyrlin shouldn't be the Healer for Moiraine's pet,(7) and Moiraine reminds Liandrin that the Amyrlin doesn't share her Red Ajah prejudices against men. Moiraine follows the litter bearers out, while Liandrin takes another moment to study him coolly before leaving herself.

Ingtar calls Liandrin "a hard woman", then seems surprised he spoke at all, and asks Rand what happened. Rand can only explain what he came down and saw, and asks if the Fade is dead. Ingtar is angry and ashamed as he says no, it escaped. Rand says at least Ingtar is alive, and Ingtar asks if that's really worth it, when they've lost the Horn.(8)

Rand is all "...excUSE?!" But yeah, the strongroom was looted, the guards on it dead. Too many Trollocs, the first time they've ever made it into the Keep at all. Someone from the inside cut the guards' throats and opened the gate. Rand supposes that Agelmar's doubled the guard at the gates, now.

“Tripled,” Ingtar said in tones of satisfaction. “No one will pass those gates, from inside or out. As soon as Lord Agelmar heard what had happened, he ordered that no one was to be allowed to leave the keep without his personal permission.” As soon as he heard . . . ? “Ingtar, what about before? What about the earlier order keeping everyone in?” “Earlier order? What earlier order? Rand, the keep was not closed until Lord Agelmar heard of this. Someone told you wrong.”(9) Rand shook his head slowly. Neither Ragan nor Tema would have made up something like that. And even if the Amyrlin Seat had given the order, Ingtar would have to know of it. So who? And how? He glanced sideways at Ingtar, wondering if the Shienaran was lying. You really are going mad if you suspect Ingtar.

As they exit the dungeons, the two Brown sisters are there, examining the words on the wall. There are tons of Trolloc script markings all over the place. Only Verin is named, and when Rand hears her say the script is "interesting", he wants nothing more than to hightail it out of there.

He finds Lan on his way up, who tells him his things have been brought back from Egwene's apartment to his own room in the men's quarters, at Moiraine's command. Lan says the women aren't angry exactly, but they do think he might need a strong hand to settle his excitement, and talking among themselves as if deciding whose daughter is strong enough to do it.

"If you don’t watch your step, sheepherder, you will find yourself married into a Shienaran House before you realize what has happened.” Suddenly he burst out laughing; it looked odd, like a rock laughing.(10) “Running through the halls of the women’s apartments in the middle of the night, wearing a laborer’s jerkin and waving a sword. If they don’t have you flogged, at the very least they’ll talk about you for years. They have never seen a male as peculiar as you. Whatever wife they chose for you, she’d probably have you the head of your own House in ten years, and have you thinking you had done it yourself, besides. It is too bad you have to leave.” Rand had been gaping at the Warder, but now he growled, “I have been trying. The gates are guarded, and no one can leave. I tried while it was still daylight. I couldn’t even take Red out of the stable.” “No matter, now. Moiraine sent me to tell you. You can leave anytime you want to. Even right now. Moiraine had Agelmar exempt you from the order.” “Why now, and not earlier? Why couldn’t I leave before? Was she the one who had the gates barred then? Ingtar said he knew nothing about any order to keep people in before tonight.” Rand thought the Warder looked troubled, but all he said was, “When someone gives you a horse, sheepherder, don’t complain that it isn’t as fast as you’d like.”(11) “What about Egwene? And Mat? Are they really all right? I can’t leave until I know they’re all right.” “The girl is fine. She’ll wake in the morning, and probably not even remember what happened. Blows to the head are like that.” “What about Mat?”(12) “The choice is up to you, sheepherder. You can leave now, or tomorrow, or next week. It’s up to you.” He walked away, leaving Rand standing there in the corridor deep under Fal Dara keep.

=====

(1) That's one conclusion we could make. Why else might Nynaeve be uneasy? Given all she's learned and how far she is from a home she can't see again until she shepherds all her charges back there. Not to mention, the man she probably feels she made a fool of herself over. This, right here, is one of the easiest to identify points of unreliable close narration: it's all what Rand believes, what Rand assumes, but Rand isn't omniscient. Just something to keep in mind. (2) No, but one Aes Sedai under suspicious orders might have commanded the Lady Amalisa to do so in just as many words. (3) He thinks it's because, as Wisdom, she's supposed to be above being seen as a woman and will be taken less seriously as an authority if she's perceived as taking value in her appearance and desirability. Myself, I lean more toward her response setting up to be more like "What do you mean TONIGHT, as if I'm not a snack every other day?" (4) Trust your senses not your hubris… I say, in a footnote, as if I could actually influence a fictional character. Rand is altogether too casual about naming the Dark One and bringing bad luck down on himself and everyone around him, ESPECIALLY considering he's ta'veren and the Pattern pulls extra-strong on his thread. (5) Toman Head, huh? Funny, that's all the way west across the continent, a peninsula jutting off from the Almoth Plain folks are talking so much about lately… (6) What was the warmth? Why might it have saved him? (Why do women who can channel fear men who can do the same?) (7) Why else might Liandrin want Mat under lesser supervision? (8) It's awfully curious how Ingtar rushed in to fight that Fade, but the Fade got away without injuring Ingtar at all. (9) Ingtar seems to be very confused about the orders at the gates, but didn't they say Ingtar was the one who passed the orders on? Who's lying to Rand? (10) Also, another side effect of ta'veren that I haven't touched on is how people just blurt shit out around and near them, because the Pattern says it needs saying. Take Liandrin in yesterday's chapters, mentioning Almoth Plain, and then seeming surprised she said anything at all. It's a frequent occurrence in the books. Three ta'veren all in one place are gonna have that kind of effect. (11) It's entirely fair to question who's pushing your buttons, sir. (12) And now, with his freedom, Rand still can't leave, for the same reason he couldn't leave before the Amyrlin's arrival: he won't abandon his friends.

#wheel of time #wot #the wheel of time #twot #tgh #the great hunt #wot trolloc icon #rand al'thor #nynaeve al'meara #siuan sanche #lord ingtar shinowa #liandrin guirale #moiraine damodred #egwene al'vere #mat cauthon #verin mathwin #lan mandragoran

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The Eye of the World, Chapter 46 - Fal Dara

(THIS PROJECT IS SPOILER FREE! No spoilers past the chapter you click on. Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For the link index and a primer on The Wheel of Time, read this one!)

(Dead tree icon) In which we learn that yes, the whole world's been having a hella weird winter.

The countryside is rolling, forested hills, but most of the trees are leafless. There are a few evergreens, but their needles are mostly brown. This is Shienar, one of the countries in the Borderlands. The Blight itself isn't far. Some of the trees look like they've been hit by lightning, but Lan explains the winters get so cold, sometimes the sap freezes and explodes, sounds like fireworks going off, and there were more than usual the past winter.(1)

They pass an empty farm. Egwene notes they can't have been gone long, and when Mat asks, explains that the curtains in the window are too thin for winter, they can't have been up more than a week or two. Perrin laughs at curtains, but agrees with them, there was a scythe out, with no rust on it, can't have been out more than a week or two. Rand tries not to stare at Perrin, because his eyes are (or were) sharper than Perrin's and he didn't see well enough to tell if the scythe was rusted or not. Mat says he doesn't care where they went, just that they get to a place with a fire, soon. Rand wonders *why* the farm is abandoned.

Rand tries again to get the women and Loial to stay behind in Fal Dara, and Loial gets excited about meeting the Green Man. Many of the Elders have met him, and tell such stories. Nynaeve says they're part of the Pattern too, and if you boys... you men, are willing to do whatever it takes to defeat the Dark One, then she can do no less. They're all stunned that she called them men at all.

Egwene comes up beside Rand and says quietly that she only danced with Aram, he wouldn't hold it against her, would he? He wonders why she brought it up now. He also remembers Min saying she's not for him, nor him for her, but he tells her no, of course not.(2)

They approach the Fal Dara city wall and Lan pushes down his cloak's hood, and motions to the others to do the same. It's the law in the Shienar, nobody can hide their face in a town, because Fades can't hide with their face exposed. As they enter, several call out to Lan, calling him "Dai Shan" excitedly, asking if the Golden Crane will fly again, which he doesn't really answer. However, many people are crammed into the city, and many carts piled high with furniture and miscellaneous belongings. This is where the farmers went.

A man, Ingtar, meets them in the courtyard of the fortress, and leads them to Lord Agelmar, the leader of this place. He greets Moiraine and Lan with the local language, says they must have had a long journey, and calls for rooms, baths, and such to be prepared. Moiraine says they'll stay just one night. Agelmar says they're planning a confrontation in some place called Tarwin's Gap, and they both would be more than welcome, more than helpful there. Especially if Lan would fly the Golden Crane again...

“The Seven Towers are broken,” Lan said harshly, “and Malkier is dead; the few of her people left, scattered across the face of the earth. I am a Warder, Agelmar, sworn to the Flame of Tar Valon, and I am bound into the Blight.”

Agelmar says surely a few weeks can't make a difference... Lan asks how bad it is, and it's Pretty Bad. All the Borderlands have been raided by Trollocs all winter, everyone's sure a great army is coming forth from the Blight, some are even saying the world is ending, the Dark One loose and all. He begs Lan to ride with them, to hearten the men. He and Moiraine both. They both cannot, they have their own battle to fight in the Blight.

Agelmar takes a moment to evaluate the company she's keeping, and is skeptical of their chances. Moiraine says his men would distract from their purpose. Need and intention are the key to finding the Eye of the World and the Green Man. She has been there once before (at which the Duopotamians stare at her) but there is no need greater than hers right now, and she has something that may make the difference.(3)

Rand's observations of the decor of the place (all very minimal and stark) is continued into dinner talk about "there's beauty in a single flower placed among the rocks, making the rocks more beautiful in contrast" and such. Even Lan recites some poetry.(4)

Ingtar appears and tells Agelmar that a stranger tried to get into town. He ran away when the gate guards questioned him, then was found shortly thereafter trying to scale the walls. His accent marks him from Lugard, sometimes. Agelmar excuses himself to deal with this stranger, you can't know who to trust these days, and Moiraine asks to accompany him. The whole party goes with.

It doesn't take them long to recognize Padan Fain. Rand realizes he must have been the beggar in Caemlyn, and the one who followed them through the Ways. He says that "he" made him do things, "him" with the burning eyes, and then his whole manner and accent change, and he says he's overcome by spells sometimes, don't mind him, or his clothes, he had to hide from those who mean him harm. Padan Fain is one of the disguises he's had to wear over the years, but don't be fooled, he can teach you how to defeat the Dark One, yes he can. Then he changes back to Fain, saying he wants to "be free of him".(4)

Moiraine recognizes what this is. There's no time to wait, she has to question him alone.

=====

(1) True events! The effect is very similar to a burst pipe in a home, the tree's sap mostly doesn't freeze, but the right tree type under the right conditions can explode. You see 'em a lot in places like Texas when they get those freaky cold snaps. (2) I suspect it was remembering that they're both considered old enough to marry, and probably would have been nudged into it had they stayed home much longer, since Egg had only just earned her braid. The reminder from Nynaeve that the lads are men, and Egg wanting some security since all their lives have been royally upturned in the last month or two. (3) The Borderlands, and Shienar in particular, are heavily inspired by Asian folklore and tropes. Even the language has echoes of Japanese throughout it, and the whole poetry over one flower in a stone yard thing makes it pretty clear. (4) What's happened to Fain?

#wheel of time #wot #the wheel of time #twot #the eye of the world #eye of the world #eotw #teotw #wot dead tree icon #rand al'thor #loial #mat cauthon #perrin aybara #egwene al'vere #nynaeve al'meara #moiraine damodred #lan mandragoran #lord ingtar shinowa #lord agelmar jagad #padan fain