- For other uses of the word "stone," see Stone.
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| Setting: Stone of Tear |
Summary[]
- Point of view: Rand al'Thor
Rand leaves Lanfear and sees his six Aiel guards dead in the hallway along with three Gray Men. The Aiel had clearly been surprised before retaliating, landing multiple spears in each of the dead Gray Men. Defenders of the Stone fight for their lives against Shadowspawn in the anteroom. A gong of alarm alerts the inhabitants of the Stone of Tear that they are under attack. Rand taunts a Fade ripping the face from one of the guards and leaps to face it, trying to rally the fleeing Defenders to his side. The Myrddraal's Thakan'dar forged blade clashes with Rand's channeled sword, lights flashing whenever the blades collide. Rand can only parry attacks for a while until he gets an opening and cleaves the Fade's sword and face in two. He urges the Tairen guards to follow him deeper into the Stone, leaving the headless Fade to thrash blindly.
The Defenders hesitantly follow Rand's lead and eventually shout his name in respect. His group travels deeper and deeper into the Stone where Rand engages Shadowspawn. His companions change from Tairen to Aiel to him alone. Some of his followers fall, others break off into groups to fight. He sees Moiraine and Lan fighting with the One Power and sword. Lan takes a blow while saving Moiraine from an attack from behind but Rand cannot help as he is beset by a group of Trollocs; when he is free again, the two are nowhere to be seen. He sees Darkfriends more afraid of their Trolloc allies than the Defenders and Aiel, and the odd occurrence of Trolloc killing Trolloc.
Rand found himself alone against a trio of Trollocs feasting on a dead noblewoman. Rand kills the first with a sneak attack and uses Lizard in the Thornbush against the other two, but the first fallen Trolloc causes him to stumble and miss the second enemy. Before the surviving Trolloc can kill him, a fourth Trolloc kills it and leaves Rand alone. Further down the hall, a pair of Myrddraal duel.[1] Rand starts to think that he has gone mad and this is all a hallucination.
Lanfear appears, berating Rand for the foolish risks he has taken thus far. She tells him that he could have destroyed the Shadowspawn easily but instead he labors with a sword; she tells him to come with her to learn. She denies aiding him when he confronts her about the Trolloc saving his life. Rand refuses her offer, slamming her against the wall with a weave of Air. He tries to remember how he shielded Egwene and Elayne but cannot.[2] Lanfear sends him flying across the air with the same weave and taunts him about Callandor. Now that it is free, anyone can claim the sword and any male channeler can use it, such as Sammael if he has come to the Stone. Rand worries about Sammael taking the sa'angreal and tries in vain to break free of the trap until Lanfear frees him. She then destroys his previous weave holding her with little effort. She mocks him, implying that he would not stand a chance if she truly chose to fight. She reminds him of Callandor again and Rand races to his rooms, cutting through any Shadowspawn in his way. He sees Perrin and Faile fighting back to back as he runs.
Suddenly he stopped, surrounded by the dead, in a wide hallway. He had to do more. The Power slid along his bones, pure essence of fire. Something more. The power froze his marrow. Something to kill them all; all of them at once. The taint on saidin rolled over him, a mountain of rotting filth threatening to bury his soul. Raising Callandor, he drew on it till it seemed he must scream screams of frozen flame. He had to kill them all.
Rand finds the sword safe and pulls on saidin through the Sword That Is Not a Sword. The Power, and the taint, magnifies through the blade. He dispatches Shadowspawn without thought as he walks back into the anteroom. He goes through the Stone, killing any Shadowspawn in sight with Fire but realizes it is too slow, as people are still dying everywhere. He must do more, kill all of them at once. He stops and draws in more Power, as much as he can hold. Rand creates a construct of lightning that races throughout the Stone and kills all the Shadowspawn with lightning strikes.
As the channeled construct dissipates, Rand sees Moiraine, looking battered and shocked at his display of power. She halts her Warder from checking on Rand, seemingly afraid. She asks if he is well, but Rand ignores her when he notices a girl sprawled on the floor with blood across her dress. Rand despairs that he did not channel his attack earlier and save the child. Buffeted by the Power, he feels he can do anything while holding Callandor and he tries to resurrect the child, tries to make the child breathe and have her heart beat again. Moiraine tells him to stop, as Death cannot be Healed and he is not the Creator. Rand looks again at the lifeless eyes of the dead child and knows Moiraine speaks true; he gives up and howls in sadness.
Rand withdraws his flows from the corpse and releases saidin. Rand asks after the others, his friends, wondering if he was too late to save them. Moiraine assures him that they are safe. He is still angry at himself, angry that he delayed moving so that he could spend three days with Elayne while she remained in Tear. Still, the three days were not spent in vain as he had gained knowledge reading during them, which will be useful if he can put the pieces together.
He queries about how the Trollocs got into the Stone. Lan breaks down a plot that had grain barges coming downriver[3] without anyone noticing them - barges filled to the brim with Shadowspawn. Thirty covered wagons entering Tear from the countryside were also filled with Shadowspawn, supposedly belongings from a lord returning to the Stone. Now that it is all over, strength leaves Rand, and he almost collapses if not for Lan catching him. Moiraine partially Heals him, leaving the fatigue so he can sleep. Rand confesses that Lanfear came to see him but he believes her that she was not behind the attack. Moiraine is not surprised at the news, as it is well known that she loved Lews Therin Telamon. She warns Rand that he does not yet possess the skill to defeat her unaided, and that Lanfear won't kill Rand without trying to win Lews Therin back.
Rand promises to tell everyone his plans tomorrow. His reading has been helpful and even Lanfear unknowingly gave him a piece of the puzzle on what he must do.
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Notes
- ↑ It is later revealed that Semirhage sent the Shadowspawn to aid the Dragon Reborn. (Lord of Chaos, Chapter 6)
- ↑ The Shadow Rising, Chapter 7
- ↑ Tear has a big grain surplus as mentioned in The Shadow Rising, Chapter 8. Barges usually ship upriver, toward Cairhien, although the Cairhienin are currently unable to pay due to economic trouble brought upon by civil war.
- At least one edition has the wheel icon for this chapter.
