Chapter 42

Perrin’s group rides into Illian, noting canals, grand squares, and a populace with simmering, unrecognized anger. Loial worries Ogier masons might force him home. Moiraine and Lan sense something wrong in the city. They reach the inn Easing the Badger, where the proprietress, Nieda, greets “Mistress Mari” (Moiraine) and mentions recent fights among normally orderly patrons.

While they eat, Nieda reports the abrupt rise of Lord Brend to the Council of Nine, widespread talk of war with Tear alongside a puzzling embargo on Tear-bound ships, and recurring strange dreams that she and her guard Bili both share. Moiraine is shaken by the mention of shared dreams. Loial learns Ogier masons left Illian suddenly, abandoning work. Moiraine presses for ships to Tear but finds none available.

Moiraine’s tension grows; she forces Zarine to eat and forbids questions. As the common room buzzes with song and laughter, Perrin smells a wrongness like he sensed before. Six very ordinary-looking men approach; when Perrin recognizes the threat, they draw daggers. A chaotic fight erupts: Lan engages, Moiraine’s single firebolt drops one, Loial brandishes a chair, Zarine throws a knife, and Perrin batters attackers with a chair leg. All six fall quickly.

Moiraine identifies the attackers as Gray Men targeting Perrin. Nieda deflects talk of Shadowspawn, ordering Bili to dispose of the bodies. With the danger confirmed and the city’s oddities unresolved, Moiraine decides to act that night. She tells Lan that if she fails he will feel it and must return to the White Tower with Perrin, whose importance in the Pattern she now acknowledges, while she goes to confront the threat alone.