Before I started reading this chapter, I gave those two maps after the prologue another look, and discovered how they're connected. As it turns out, the Mountains of Mist, which form the Western border of the second map, appear inside the first one. The second map is zoomed in on a region of the first. I can't pinpoint which region exactly (aside from telling it's next to those mountains), either because I'm just being dense or because the maps aren't well drawn. It's not like the region is highlighted on the bigger map.
Anyway, the chapter starts with all of the party riding on horses galloping for dear life on the road north. It's an exhilarating ride, and the music that played in my head as I read it... was the travel music from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I don't think I'm completely invested in this narrative yet.
Bran has trouble controlling his horse, Cloud, which wants to race up ahead and catch up with Lan's horse when Bran's supposed to be watching the rear. I didn't think it was worth mentioning earlier, but the previous chapter brought up the last-minute alterations to the travel plans resulting from two unexpected companions. Bran was forced to ride on a problem horse, and Egwene got Bran's old horse, Bela, which he worries will have trouble keeping pace with the others. But they make it to Watch Hill, the next town on the road, just fine.
The boys make the suggestion of stopping to rest, but Lan and Moiraine not only put the kibosh on that idea, but make it unnecessary as well:
- [Rand] had vaguely noticed [Moiraine] moving among the horses, but he had paid no real attention to what she did. Now she brushed past him to lay her hands on Cloud's neck. Rand fell silent. Suddenly the horse tossed his head with a soft whicker, nearly pulling the reins from Rand's hands. The gray danced a step sideways, as restive as if he had spent a week in the stable. Without a word Moiraine went to Bela.
One of the perks of being an Aes Sedai is the ability to rejuvenate your friends. I wish I had a friend like that in college.
Then the Draghkar swoops over the party, spotting them and spooking the horses (except for Lan and Moiraine's horses, naturally).
- "Hurry, Rand!" Egwene shouted. The Draghkar gave shrill voice once more, and Bela ran a few steps before she could rein the mare in. "Hurry!"
With a start Rand realized that instead of trying to mount Cloud he had been standing there staring at the sky in a vain attempt to locate the sounds of those vile shrieks. More, all unaware, he had drawn Tam's sword as if to fight the flying thing.
Heh. Points for bravery, but I don't think you're quite ready for that, Rand. Also, I bet Egwene believes Rand's story now, doesn't she?
Once again the group gallops north like mad, this time through a cover of fog, and at first I had no idea if Moiraine conjured this fog or not. On one hand, she tells Lan that she can't do something, but that something is implied to do direct harm to the Myrddraal or Draghkar. She says that she'll "use the Myrddraal's slyness against it," which I suppose means creating fog. Rand's afraid to breath in the fog at first, because it was created by an Aes Sedai, but he has to anyway.
- Rand had met few people from Taren Ferry. He tried to recall what little he knew about them. They seldom ventrued down into what they called "the lower villages," with their noses up as if they smelled something bad. The few he met bore strange names, like Hilltop and Stoneboat. One and all, Taren Ferry folk had a reputation for slyness and trickery. If you shook hands with a Taren Ferry man, people said, you counted your fingers afterwards.
The stereotyping make me a little uncomfortable here, but really, what did I expect?
Lan bangs on the ferryman's door to wake him up-
- "I thought he wanted quiet," Mat muttered.
-and demands passage, bribing the ferryman with gold when he says the ferry only leaves in the daytime. Passage is secured, and the chapter ends.
Not really a bad chapter, all in all. It kept up a sense of urgency and moved the characters forward. Nothing new was really revealed, but I'm okay with that for now.
NEXT TIME: Curveball!
Travel chapters are always a bit awkward. I think my only question here would be about the safety of galloping horses both at night and in fog thick enough to hide them. If they really want to move stealthily, better to go slower and quieter. Galloping hooves make a lot of noise.
ReplyDeleteI assume that their intent is to get to Tar Valon as quickly as possible. Also, stealth would be pointless on the leg of their journey after Watch Hill, when they were spotted by the Draghkar.
ReplyDeleteI barely know anything about riding horses, so I'l take your word for it.
I did a number of years of equestrian camp, though I'm nowhere near as experienced as someone who owns a horse. But basically, galloping on anything besides a reasonably flat field or smooth road is pretty dangerous for the horse. It is very easy for a horse to stumble or catch a leg in, say, a rabbit hole, and that means a broken leg-- which usually means a dead horse. So galloping at night, or in a fog, or even in a forest is a bad idea. Also all the movies that involve horses galloping on stairs or on polished marble? Also would hurt the horses; the marble is too slick and will cause them to fall if they tried to run on it. It's also quite easy for a horse to pick up a stone in its hoof which can injure or lame them if not attended to promptly.
ReplyDelete(From personal experience, galloping is also slightly terrifying; 20-30 mph doesn't feel fast in a car, but when you're on the back of a horse it feels plenty fast.)
I'll take your word from it. I know a little about horses, but nothing about the act of riding or training them. So it seems to me that Jordan neglected to research the logistics of traveling for this part of the story.
ReplyDeleteThis is a literary "sin" on his part, no doubt about that (I kinda hate to use the word "sin" because of the overblown connotations, but whatever.), but I think it's a comparatively minor one. There are worse things that an author can do (and maybe Jordan has done, I don't know) like inconsistent characterization or excessively purple prose. Anyone can notice mistakes like those, whereas this mistake is only noticeable by the minority of people who have ridden horses. I'm not excusing this, it just doesn't bug me all too much personally.