Contents
Chapter 13
Overview
Rand, Loial, and Hurin awaken in a pale, distorted world beside a carved Portal Stone; everyone else is gone. Loial identifies the Stone as a relic linking “worlds that might be.” Rand fails to use saidin to return and, fearing to try again, decides to follow Fain’s faint trail south.
The pursuit keeps hope of reclaiming the Horn and Mat’s dagger alive while stranding the trio in an alien landscape, deepening Rand’s burden of leadership and his perilous connection to the One Power.
Summary
At sunrise, Rand wakes to a transformed hollow: the Shienarans, Mat, and Perrin are gone, the ground is polished stone, trees are charred, and a carved stone column stands amid concentric steps. Only Rand, Loial, Hurin, and their horses remain. The world’s colors are washed out, and everything feels unnaturally subdued.
Loial identifies the column as a Portal Stone, relics used by some Aes Sedai in the Age of Legends to reach “worlds that might be.” Rand, recalling touching the void as he slept, fears he may have brought them here by channeling. Hurin, distraught for his family, begs Rand to get them home; Rand pledges by his house and honor.
Rand attempts to use the Stone to return. He seizes for saidin but feels a fouled, oily corruption; the void shatters painfully, and he fails. Shaken and nauseated, he postpones another try. Hurin suggests tracking the Darkfriends; surprisingly, he can still smell their trail, faint and pale but present at the rim of the hollow.
Reasoning that Fain’s party must know a way back—and remembering the urgent need to recover the Horn and Mat’s dagger—Rand decides to pursue them. He reassures Loial that other Stones might exist and vows to find a means home without the Power if necessary, despite Loial’s doubts about non-channeled use.
They ride south through a pale, warped landscape that distorts distance and movement, with no signs of habitation. Rand wonders if the monument to Artur Hawkwing exists in this world as well, and the trio presses on, following the trail into the unknown.
Who Appears
- Rand al'ThorAwakens in a strange world by a Portal Stone, fails to return using saidin, and chooses to pursue Fain’s trail south.
- HurinShienaran sniffer; pleads to be taken home, renews faith in Rand, and follows the Darkfriends’ faint scent.
- LoialOgier scholar; identifies the Portal Stone and cautions about its Age of Legends origins and reliance on the One Power.