Contents
Chapter 20
Overview
Rand leads the group into Cairhien, where Selene’s pressure to claim the Horn collides with Rand’s resolve. A colossal buried statue with a gleaming crystal sphere triggers an overwhelming, uncontrolled draw to saidin in Rand, alarming his companions. They evade guards, reach Tremonsien’s inn, and Selene pointedly urges Rand to flee with the Horn, which he refuses.
Summary
Through the night, Rand drives the party—Loial, Hurin, and Selene—into Cairhien, keeping the Horn and Mat’s dagger sealed together. At dawn Selene demands to see the Horn, but Rand refuses, fearing the dagger’s evil influence. When Rand asks if she is Aes Sedai, Selene indignantly denies it and grows cold.
After a tense day of travel and a cool truce in camp, they descend from Kinslayer’s Dagger into rolling hills and aim for a nearby village. Selene warns that inns are dangerous, but Rand argues villagers offer safety in numbers. They disguise the Horn’s chest under Loial’s blanket.
Drawn by a brilliant reflection, Rand finds a vast excavation where a gigantic stone hand clutches a flawless crystal sphere and a bearded stone face lies half-buried. Without noticing, Rand slips into the void; saidin surges, the sphere seeming to pulse with him. Despite Selene’s urgent pleas to leave, he is overwhelmed, murmurs a fierce oath, then shouts and startles his horse, finally breaking free as guards below notice them.
Shaken and unable to recall the episode clearly, Rand leads the group away before the guards can reach them. They enter the meticulously ordered village of Tremonsien and arrive at the stone inn, The Nine Rings. Outside, Selene, still rattled, temptingly urges Rand to ride off immediately with her and the Horn, promising lifelong loyalty and greatness.
Rand refuses, insisting the Horn is not his to claim. Selene turns away, and they head inside, tensions unresolved, with Rand’s troubling connection to saidin now undeniable.
Who Appears
- Rand al’ThorLeads the group into Cairhien; resists Selene’s urgings; is perilously overwhelmed by saidin at a colossal crystal sphere.
- SeleneDemands to see the Horn, denies being Aes Sedai, urges Rand to flee with the Horn, shows fear of Rand’s saidin episode.
- LoialOgier companion; helps hide the Horn’s chest; worries over Rand’s strange behavior at the excavation.
- HurinSniffer; supports caution, urges leaving the dig as guards notice them; accompanies Rand to Tremonsien.