Contents
Chapter 6
Overview
Sammael visits Graendal’s hidden Domani palace. They trade guarded news on Forsaken losses and Rand, argue over plans, and part suspiciously as Graendal covertly steers Sammael toward attacking Rand.
Elsewhere, Semirhage captures Aes Sedai Cabriana and her Warder. Under Shaidar Haran’s chilling command, she kills the Warder by mistake and begins ruthlessly extracting Cabriana’s secrets.
Summary
Sammael Travels to Graendal’s opulent palace in Arad Doman, wary and holding saidin. Surrounded by Graendal’s Compelled “pets” and performances, he prods her for real news. They debate Rand al’Thor’s threat, the fates of missing Forsaken, and rumors from Cairhien. Graendal warns Rand is amassing forces against Sammael, while Sammael insists Rand is a lucky upstart.
Pressed to “stand together,” Sammael challenges Graendal to link; she refuses, exposing their mutual distrust. Graendal reports Semirhage’s absence from a recent gathering, Mesaana’s frustrations, and Deliver Demandred’s caution. Sammael pointedly sends a threat back to Demandred to keep proxies out of Illian, then departs—slicing one of Graendal’s servants in half with his gateway edge.
Alone, Graendal reveals her manipulation: the distant musicians and exotic captives were a ruse to misdirect Sammael while she subtly aims him at Rand. She reflects on Mesaana’s apparent placement in the White Tower, her inability to prise apart Mesaana, Demandred, and Semirhage, and her own secret near-promise from the Great Lord—planning to sow chaos while letting Sammael take the blame. She receives word that Lord Ituralde has come to see her as the invalid “Lady Basene.”
In a hidden prison, Semirhage methodically strips and binds Aes Sedai Cabriana Mecandes with a knotted buffer and begins clinical torture by stimulating pain centers, interspersed with controlled pleasure to condition obedience. She recalls her origins as a famed healer who turned to the Shadow when threatened with binding. Cabriana breaks enough to give her name; Semirhage knots a pain-net and leaves her in darkness to accelerate collapse.
Shaidar Haran confronts Semirhage, commanding her to drain Cabriana completely and report every detail. Uneasy at the Myrddraal’s unprecedented authority, Semirhage resumes, testing Cabriana’s Warder by overstimulating pleasure until he dies—an error she coldly accepts. Confirming Cabriana still lives by her continued screams, Semirhage returns to extract all she knows.
Who Appears
- GraendalForsaken in Arad Doman; hides as Lady Basene, manipulates Sammael toward Rand, plots to survive and rise.
- SammaelForsaken ruling Illian; meets Graendal, rejects linking, threatens Demandred’s proxies, vows to face Rand.
- SemirhageSadistic Forsaken and former healer; captures Cabriana, kills the Warder under torture, obeys Shaidar Haran.
- Shaidar HaranMyrddraal of unusual authority; orders Semirhage to extract all information from Cabriana without delay.
- Cabriana MecandesCaptured Aes Sedai; identified under torture, subjected to escalating pain to force full disclosure.
- Cabriana’s WarderCaptured with Cabriana; dies when Semirhage overstimulates pleasure centers during experimentation.
- EbramGraendal’s Domani servant; announces Lord Ituralde’s arrival to see the ‘Lady Basene.’
- OsanaGraendal’s attendant; tasked to remove a bloodied carpet and dispose of a dead servant.