Well, this is new. The first part of the chapter was actually kind of boring, and then it made me start thinking about one or two of the characters, then started off a promising new subplot with another. Intrigued yet?
Before we get to the good stuff, though, we sit through what feels like a retread of the previous chapter, with Rand's party sneaking furtively across the river and hoping that the bad guys don't notice or catch them. It isn't entirely the same, since now they're crossing a river with some bystanders instead of working their horses to the bone, but it feels like some of the mood has carried over from the last chapter.
Hightower the ferryman comes back with several helpers, and it's implied that they would have robbed the party if Lan hadn't hinted that he wouldn't hesitate to use his sword if they tried anything. It's really only confirmed in the conversation that he has with Rand afterwards. I'm not sure what I think about this new development. This incident basically confirms the stereotypical opinion that Rand has about Taren Ferry folk, and I don't normally approve of stereotypes being reinforced. Odds are that nothing will really come of this, though, so I'll disregard it now.
- Darkfriends! As if Fades and Trollocs and Draghkar were not enough to worry about. At least you could tell a Trolloc on sight.
Another entry for the enemy list, huh? I'm guessing that Darkfriends are normal people that sold out to evil. Yeah, I know there's a glossary at the end of the book that I could consult to know for sure, but I'm counting that as a spoiler.
The actual crossing happens without incident. Lan pays the ferryman the rest of the fee and Moiraine sinks the ferry. Wait, what?
- The haulers stumbled a few steps under Hightower's shoves, then stopped. The faint lights on the ferry spun faster, then faster still. The fog above them swirled, sucked into a spiral. The landing trembled. The cracking and splintering of wood filled the air as the ferry began breaking apart.
"Whirlpool," one of the haulers said, his voice filled with awe
"No whirlpools on the Taren," Hightower said, empty. "Never been a whirlpool..."
"An unfortunate occurence." Moiraine's voice was hollow in the fog that made her a shadow as she turned from the river.
Damn, that's cold. At least that gold will pay for it, nobody got hurt, and since Moiraine wisley kept her true nature a secret, none of these strangers will blame her. This was a good move on her part, don't get me wrong, but it makes me wonder what other tricks she's got up her sleeve, and if she'd end up turning them on Rand if her duties suggested that she had to. Her cleverness extends further when she reveals that the fog she conjured covers the river, where the bad guys will think they're going, and not the direction they're actually going. This bit of subterfuge finally givens everyone the opportunity to rest.
(Speaking of which, I just remembered another little tidbit that I read in Limyaael's fantasy rants way back when, about not treating horses like they're just four-legged machines. We finally get a mention of the horses being fed during this downtime, and Lan mentions that the spell Moiraine cast to rejuvenate them won't keep them from just dropping dead mid-gallop. There's also a mention at the beginning with the robbery that wasn't where Rand thought Mat's bowstring might be ruined by the damp. Jordan may suck at geography, but his eye for detail has served him well... so far.)
It's during this downtime that Jordan throws us a curveball. Moiraine asks to speak to Egwene alone, and it turns out they're talking about magic:
- "The One Power," Moiraine was saying, "comes from the True Source, the driving force of Creation, the force the Creator made to turn the Wheel of Time."
That's gotta be a new record for capital letter density in a single sentence. She goes on to explain that there's a Male Force and a Female Force in magic, and that the Male Force was Tainted by Evil. See, I can do it too. It looks silly, doesn't it?
When Rand hears that Egwene might get Aes Sedai training from Moiraine, he has a quiet little freakout, hoping that she'll fail the test and nothing will come of it. Sadly, Egwene proves to be one of the quickest learners Moiraine has ever seen, and she ends the chapter jubilantly celebrating the new course of her life.
At first I wondered why the hell she was celebrating. Rand has a perfectly valid reason to dread this new development, after all. The Aes Sedai are feared and hated pretty much universally throughout the world, if the stories Rand heard are as widespread as I believe. Egwene is pretty much sacrificing every opportunity she'll ever have to live a normal life (not that she values such a thing anyway, but still). Being an Aes Sedai is a dangerous line of work that could end messily, and most importantly, the Aes Sedai's agenda might actually be as sinister as everyone thinks it is. Since we only know what Rand knows, and Rand knows little, this is still a possibility. As I started typing up this post, I realized that Egwene could conceal her status like Moiraine just did, but that only alleviates my first point. The others still stand.
Still, this is a great cliffhanger to end the chapter on. After the chapter, there's actually a new map, showing the region southwest of Tar Valon. I still have no idea how it connects to the Two Rivers map, but it seems we've hit a milestone in this novel. And with that, I say goodnight.
NEXT TIME: Travel, intrigue, and refuge.
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