Malden is a city in northern Altara. The houses there are slate-roofed and built of timber or stone and the city it is encircled by a stone wall. The main commerce of the city is wool and mediocre wine. There is a fortress in the northeast corner that formerly belonged to Lady Cairen but the Shaido Aiel took over the area for some time, making many of the original residents gai'shain and driving the others away.
The Shaido stronghold at Malden was attacked by Perrin Aybara in order to save his wife Faile and others from them. He made good use of the aqueduct supplying water to the cistern in the northern wall by dumping forkroot into the water supply to disable the channelers among Sevanna's Wise Ones.