Chapter 33

Exhausted on the Lugard Road, Perrin notes a hound-like print scorched into old paving stone and a faint burnt, sulfurous smell. He refuses sleep due to troubling dreams and suppressing contact with wolves, while the group rides hard under Moiraine’s unrelenting pace toward Remen.

Along the way, signs of Rand’s passage escalate: Sidon has burned under a cascade of mischance, while other towns reel from improbable boons and disasters. Around the fire, Perrin challenges Moiraine on the seeming evil of these events; Moiraine answers that the Pattern itself is neither good nor evil, but weaves both into the Age Lace.

Near Remen, Lan scouts ahead and reports recent events. Entering town, Perrin briefly scents the same vile, vanishing stench he noticed in Jarra. In the square they find a gibbet with an iron cage holding a bloodied, stoic Aielman while local children throw stones, to townsfolk approval.

At Wayland’s Forge, innkeeper Gainor Furlan fusses over Moiraine (as a “Lady”) and Loial, and trumpets the presence of Hunters for the Horn. Lord Orban, bandaged and wine-stale, boasts that he and Lord Gann, with ten men, fought twenty Aiel, killed many, and caged one. He derides Whitecloaks currently scouring the countryside for the rest.

Lan’s curt questioning exposes the thin pride behind Orban’s tale, while Moiraine secures rooms. As they ascend, Perrin senses someone focused on him: a tall, plainly dressed young woman in riding clothes, who quickly looks away when noticed. Her attention unsettles Perrin and underscores Min’s foretelling about an Aielman in a cage marking a turning point.