- Sunlight streaming across his narrow bed finally woke Rand out of a deep but restless sleep. He pulled a pillow over his head, but it did not really shut out the light, and he did not really want to go back to sleep. There had been more dreams after the first. He could not remember any but the first, but he knew he wanted no more.
Wait, more dreams? Poor guy must wound up tight right now. I'm kinda thankful to be spared of those other dreams, if they were like the first.
But Rand soon presses on, though he doesn't get over it completely, and has some conversations with, well, strangers and friends. Oh, and he takes his dad's heron sword. Remember that.
First comes the Stag and Lion's cook, Sara, who's arguing with her boss that her cat Cirri isn't to blame for leaving out dead rats where the other customers can see them. When Rand gets some food and starts talking to her, she tells him that those rats were found with broken backs. Rand recognizes this as a Bad, Scary Thing, but I don't. I admit that I am not the most attentive reader around, but I don't remember hearing a thing about this particular omen until right now, and it feels like I should have. Oh well, I'll find out what it all means later.
Second comes Perrin, who's in less of a mood to go out and get the Baerlon experience with Rand because he had a similar nightmare, and so did Mat, no matter how much he tried to laugh it off. Rand wonders whether he should see Thom or Moiraine about this, but doesn't really make much of a decision. He does hear a snippet of a story Thom tells, though:
- "The Great Hunt of the Horm rides forth, rides to seek the Horn of Valere that will summon the heroes of the Ages back from the grave to battle for the Light..."
Huh, so that's where the title of the net book comes from.
Third comes Min, a girl who knows Moiraine's real name and a hell of a lot more. She's a friend, and she sees a lot of things about people when she looks at them. The text doesn't say "omens", but that's pretty much what they are. Before she gets to them, though, she tells Rand a metaphor I actually rather like:
- "Quiet?" Min said with a faint smile. "I've heard men talk about you Two Rivers folk. I've heard the jokes about wooden-headed sheepherders, and then there are men who have actually been downcountry."
"Wooden-headed?" Rand said, frowning. "What jokes?"
"The ones who know," she went on as if he had not spoken, "say you walk around all smiles and politeness, just as meek and soft as butter. On the surface, anyway. Underneath, they say, you're all as tough as old oak roots. Prod too hard, they say, and you dig up stone. But the stone isn't buried very deep in you, or in your friends. It's as if a storm has scoured away almost all the covering. Moiraine didn't tell me everything, but I see what I see."
Since Min describes a bunch of unrelated imagery in regards to most of the people in Rand's party, which Jordan might as well have labeled THIS IS IMPORTANT, I'll try to list it all here, because otherwise I'll forget it completely.
-The group together: sparks and a big shadow fighting each other.
-Egwene and Moiraine: things she doesn't understand.
-Lan: seven ruined towers and a baby in a cradle, with a sword.
-Thom: another man juggling fire and the White Tower, whatever that is.
-Perrin (I forgot at first which one has curly hair, as Min describes): wolf, broken crown, flowering trees.
-Mat: red eagle, eye on a balancing scale, dagger with ruby, horn, laughing face.
-Rand: lightning flowing to and from him, sword that isn't a sword, golden laurel crown, beggar's staff, him pouring water on sand, bloody hand and white-hot iron, three women standing over a funeral bier with him in it, black rock wet with blood-
- "All right," [Rand] broke in uneasily. "You don't have to list them all."
Sorry. Min breaks things up by saying they'll meet again, and when Rand walks away, she tells him he "can't escape from" her. What the hell is with this woman? Does she say that to everyone she meets?
Fourth is... Padan Fain? The peddler everyone thought died in the Trolloc attack? Apparently he made it out after all, and he's completely strung out and on edge. Rand offers to help, of course, but once Fain learns that he's traveling with an Aes Sedai, he gets even more frantic and eventually takes off into the street.
Fifth is Mat, who Rand collides with as they both chase after Fain. They talk about the dreams and the rats and both agree not to tell Moiraine, for a reason that I can't believe I forgot about. Moiraine said that she would rather kill Rand and his friends than let them fall into Ba'alzamon's hands, and if the Dark One's in their dreams, that might be all the license she needs. Of course, she might be the only person who can help them out of this, too, so either way they're kind of screwed.
Then the conversation briefly turns to the omens Min foretold before Rand and Mat spot their first glimpse of the Whitecloaks. Rand wants to get back to the inn, but Mat decides that they're not so tough and decides to play a prank on them. Jesus Christ, does that boy have a death wish or what? A well-aimed sling shot causes a bunch of barrels to splash mud onto their cloaks, which seems a lot less funny when they confront Rand about it.
Just like Min, they find his sword, and for reasons that baffle even himself, Rand stands up to their interrogation, practically daring them to fight before the city watch breaks it up. The Whitecloaks' leader, Lord Bornhald, vows revenge before leaving.
Then comes Rand's seventh conversation (why did I keep count?) with Thom. The gleeman clarifies that all of the men Ba'alzamon named were dangerous movers and shakers in history, and with the exception of Logain (the false Dragon waging war, and an old acquaintance of Lan's), they're all long gone. Lastly there's the Eye of the World (another title drop!), which we only learn is a legendary item of some sort.
And then there's one more revelation, one that elicits far more joy and laughter from me, and just as much dread as the rest of them from the actual characters. Somehow, despite the ferry being sunk, Nynaeve has followed Rand and the gang all the way to Baerlon in order to drag them back again, kicking and screaming if she has to.
- They exchanged glances, drew deep breaths, and marched inside [the inn] as if to face Trollocs.
Remember when I was complaining about the slow pace of this book? Neither do I.
NEXT TIME: Talking with Nynaeve.
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