Contents
Chapter 32
Overview
Mat and Thom force passage on the first departing ship, the Gray Gull, bribing Captain Huan Mallia and obtaining his cabin. A night attack by river assassins is foiled when Mat kills several and Thom aids him, rattling Mat.
Meanwhile, Rand travels alone, sleepless and tormented by dreams of Callandor and friends in peril, underscoring his inexorable pull toward Tear.
Summary
At Southharbor in Tar Valon, Mat spots a ship casting off and, despite a dockmaster’s warning that Aes Sedai barred his departure, brandishes the Amyrlin’s writ to compel passage. He and Thom leap aboard the Gray Gull as it leaves, confronting Captain Huan Mallia, whom Mat swiftly placates with gold and Tower authority.
When Mallia demands exorbitant fees, Mat overpays, secures the captain’s cabin and meals, and learns the crew will be displaced down the chain. During small talk, Mallia reveals fervent Tairen politics and devotion to a newly prominent “High Lord Samon,” parroting calls to humble or destroy the White Tower, which unsettles Mat and Thom.
Later, unable to sleep, Mat suspects danger. Two cloaked intruders slip into the passage; Mat kills them swiftly with his quarterstaff, then bludgeons a third on deck. A fourth attacker rises, but Thom’s thrown knife drops him. Two more flee by boat after Thom cuts their line. Captain Mallia and passengers rush up to chaos; Thom frames it as river brigands, while Mat retreats, shaken by the killings.
Elsewhere, Rand camps alone, playing “Rose of the Morning,” plagued by nightmares of friends turned foes, Shadowspawn wearing familiar faces, and repeated visions urging him toward Callandor. He fears sleep and the mounting pull to Tear, worrying for Egwene, Nynaeve, and Elayne.
Who Appears
- Mat CauthonForces passage from Tar Valon, buys the captain’s cabin, kills multiple river assassins, and is shaken by the violence.
- Thom MerrilinAccompanies Mat, bargains with the captain, kills an attacker with a thrown knife, and covers the incident as brigandry.
- Huan MalliaTairen captain of the Gray Gull; greedy, politically zealous, parrots High Lord Samon’s anti–White Tower rhetoric.
- Dockmaster of SouthharborTries to bar Mat from boarding per Aes Sedai orders until overruled by the Amyrlin’s writ.
- SanorLarge crewman who nearly ejects Mat and Thom; involved during the shipboard commotion.
- VasaLarge crewman; mistaken for the dead steersman during the attack’s aftermath.
- River assassinsCloaked attackers boarding from a skiff at night; most are killed or flee into the river.
- Rand al’ThorAlone and sleepless, plays his flute, haunted by dreams and compelled toward Callandor in Tear.