Contents
Chapter 54
Overview
Mat infiltrates the Stone of Tear, detonating fireworks to breach an arrowslit and, aided by Juilin Sandar, battles Defenders and High Lords while pushing toward the cells. Simultaneously, Aiel scale the fortress and alarms erupt.
Rand climbs inside seeking Callandor; Egwene, imprisoned, uses Tel’aran’rhiod to capture and punish Joiya and search for escape, while Perrin hunts Faile in the wolf dream. The converging assaults set the rescue and confrontation in motion.
Summary
On Tear’s rooftops, Mat scouts the Stone and decides the city wall offers his only approach. Ambushed by veiled Aiel, he parleys with Rhuarc’s group and meets thiefcatcher Juilin Sandar, who, wracked by doubt over a recent betrayal, offers a secret gate to the cells. Seeing many Aiel scaling the Stone, Mat chooses to create a diversion first.
He wedges altered fireworks into an arrowslit and ignites them. The explosion widens the slit into a man-sized breach. Mat dives inside and clashes with confused Defenders; Juilin joins him, and together they down the guards. With gongs sounding and Aiel fighting elsewhere, they race deeper. Mat defeats the High Lord Darlin and clubs another High Lord insensible as Juilin searches for a private stair to the dungeons.
Meanwhile, Rand, aching from his climb, moves through the Stone with a fixed, precarious smile, intent on ending the hunt by seizing Callandor. His arrival coincides with the alarms.
In a cell, Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne sit shielded and bruised, ignored as “bait.” Egwene realizes she still has the stone ring ter’angreal and enters Tel’aran’rhiod. In the Heart of the Stone she confronts Joiya Byir near the pulsing light of Callandor, shields and binds her with Air, and exacts a controlled punishment that will endure into waking. Leaving Joiya trapped, Egwene searches the dream for a path to the cells.
In the wolf dream, Perrin and Hopper kill strange, misplaced guards before Perrin smashes into a chamber where Faile lies chained. She vanishes as he frees her, proving the dream’s shifting nature. Snarling, Perrin vows to continue the hunt. Across stone and dream, assaults converge toward the cells and the Heart of the Stone.
Who Appears
- Mat CauthonBreaches the Stone with fireworks; fights Defenders; knocks out High Lords; pushes toward the cells with Juilin.
- Juilin SandarTairen thiefcatcher, conflicted over betrayal; aids Mat inside the Stone and seeks the private stair to the cells.
- Rand al'ThorClimbs into the Stone, ignoring alarms, intent on reaching Callandor and ending the hunt.
- Egwene al'VereImprisoned and shielded; uses the stone ring to enter Tel’aran’rhiod, binds and punishes Joiya, searches for escape.
- Perrin AybaraIn the wolf dream with Hopper; kills guards, nearly frees Faile before she vanishes; resumes the hunt.
- RhuarcTaardad Aiel leader; oversees Aiel infiltration of the Stone; warns against raising the alarm.
- GaulAiel who signals it is time; part of the group scaling and infiltrating the Stone.
- Nynaeve al'MearaImprisoned, bruised, and shielded; angry and determined while Egwene attempts a dream escape.
- Elayne TrakandImprisoned and shielded; supports Egwene’s plan to use Tel’aran’rhiod despite fear.
- Joiya ByirBlack Ajah sister found in the Heart; Egwene shields and binds her in Tel’aran’rhiod.
- High Lord DarlinSkilled swordsman; confronts Mat and is swiftly defeated and knocked unconscious.
- HopperWolf guide in the dream; warns Perrin of nearby evil and fights at his side.