Welcome back to Reading The Wheel of Time! I’m so excited to be starting Crossroads of Twilight, the tenth book in the series. Book ten! It’s hard to believe we’ve come so far, and it’s even harder to believe it’s taken me so much longer to read the first nine books than it has for our heroes to live through them.
The main point of the Prologue seems to be catching other players up, timeline-wise, to the events that occurred at the end of Winter’s Heart, since we spend time with Gabrelle, Toveine and Logain. We know these events at least take place before Rand successfully cleanses saidin. I can’t wait to find out the world’s reaction to this absolutely momentous act, but it looks like we’re going to have to wait a bit. Since the Prologue is so long, we’re only going to cover half of it today—Ituralde’s section, Valda’s section, and Gabrelle’s section.
Rodel Ituralde—known as the Wolf, or the Little Wolf because of his short stature—waits with his men amidst the snow and frozen trees, pondering the disorder that has wracked Arad Doman.
Ever since the Council sent Alsalam into hiding, the King has been issuing orders that have been disastrous for the armies of his nobles, and even for Ituralde himself, commanding them to travel to attack armies of Dragonsworn that never appeared, or ordering movement in the night that sent allies blundering into battles with each other. Ituralde has managed to win a few battles despite all this, but he’s frustrated by the King’s blundering.
This last order was different, though. For one thing, a Gray Man had killed Lady Tuva trying to stop it from reaching him. Why the Shadow might fear this order more than any other was a mystery, yet it was all the more reason to move swiftly. Before Alsalam reached him with another. This order opened many possibilities, and he had considered every last one he could see. But the good ones all started here, today. When small chances of success were all that remained, you had to seize them.
Donjel, the scout that Ituralde has been waiting for, returns to report that everyone Ituralde hoped to meet with has assembled at the hunting lodge, as he requested. Under the truce of the white ribbon, the Domani Dragonsworn and the Taraboners who are with them have pledged temporary peace to meet with Ituralde, to hear what he has to say.
Ituralde and a few men ride to the lodge, which has been empty since its owner, lady Osana vanished early on in the troubles and her servants deserted to find other masters. He finds the Dragonsworn waiting for him there, and is greeted with ritual words by Lord Shimron. Ituralde is secretly pleased to see so many Taraboners among them.
Ituralde tells them of King Alsalam’s orders to gather as many men as he can and strike hard at the Seanchan. He points out that the Seanchan are a great danger to Arad Doman, and that they have already swallowed Tarabon, and suggests that he has a plan to defeat them, even with their “chained Aes Sedai.” He offers a truce, not to move against any of the Dragonsworn forces until after the Seanchan are beaten back, and the Domani fairly quickly pledge to follow the Wolf. The Taraboners ask if he expects them to fight for Arad Doman, but Ituralde counters by offering them an opportunity to fight for Tarabon. His plan is to sneak as many as a hundred small bands over the border of Tarabon, men disguised as the Taraboner soldiers who have sworn to the Seanchan, and then to have every group strike at once, on the same day, all across Tarabon. He offers to ride with them, to prove that this is not a stratagem to get rid of the Taraboner Dragonsworn. The Taraboners begin to argue, but the one Ituralde has pegged as their leader gives him a nod and a smile. Ituralde returns it, thinking of how the Taraboners will most likely want to stay and continue to fight for their country, leaving Ituralde and his men to lead the (hopefully furious) Seanchan to chase him back into Arad Doman and right into his trap.
Stalking through the Whitecloak camp, which isn’t nearly as orderly and precise as he would like, Eamon Valda is suddenly struck by a horrible odor, “a gagging foulness like twenty midden heaps crawling with maggots.” Convinced that the men have dug the latrines too close to camp, and too shallowly, he looks around for the source of the smell, but it vanishes as abruptly as it came. Valda walks on, thinking about how he will make an example of whoever has allowed discipline to slacken.
Valda has learned new instincts since the Seanchan swallowed Amador and the Fortress of the Light nearly a month ago. The battle, called Ailron’s Disaster by some, was just that, and Valda is not impressed with the King, who had thought he could win glory in battle with the Seanchan.
[Valda] wondered what Ailron had called it when the Seanchan’s tame witches began tearing his orderly ranks to bloody rags. He could still see that in his head, the earth turning to fountains of fire. He saw it in his dreams. Well, Ailron was dead, cut down trying to flee the field and his head displayed on a Taraboner’s lance. A suitable death for a fool.
Valda, however, is confident he can do well with the nine thousand Children he has gathered around him.
He arrives at the abandoned hut that Asunawa is using in the camp, noting the bare amount of respect he receives from the Questioners on guard. He thinks about how he would have both killed if he had the chance—and Asunawa as well. But unfortunately he can’t afford to move openly against the Chief Questioner. Inside he is greeted by Asunawa, who immediately starts up with the same argument they keep having. Asunawa has heard rumors that there is an Andoran army in Murandy and wants to cut across Altara to reach them. Valda knows the Seanchan will have spread to Altara by now, and reminds Asunawa of the Aes Sedai army that is also in Altara or Murandy.
Asunawa snaps that the witches must be destroyed, and Valda answers that he would settle for knowing how the Seanchan control them.
Asunawa repeats the the witches must be destroyed, and Valda asks if the Children should be destroyed with them. Their argument is interrupted by the arrival of the Council of the Anointed. Asunawa concedes that he can be content for now with bringing down the White Tower, and agrees to come to the meeting.
Valda smiled thinly. “Then I am content. We will see the witches fall together.” Certainly, he would see them fall. “I suggest you have your horse readied. We have a long way to ride by nightfall.” Whether Asunawa would see it with him was another matter.*
Gabrelle enjoys her rides in the woods with Logain and Toveine. Logain allows the two women some semblance of privacy as they ride, although Gabrelle would love to be truly alone. She is struggling with the strange experience of being bonded to him, and being on the wrong end of the bond as well, and compelled to obey. But she also finds it fascinating to study.
She had worked at interpreting what she sensed. At times, she could almost read his mind. Other times, it was like fumbling through a mineshaft with no lamp. She supposed she would try to study if her neck were stretched on the headsman’s block. Which, in a very real way, it was. He could sense her as well as she could him.
Gabrelle knows that Logain isn’t foolish enough to believe that all the captive Aes Sedai are resigned to their fate, but he hasn’t given them any orders not to harm or hinder the Black Tower, and Gabrelle can’t understand why.
She also can’t understand Toveine’s simpering towards Logain. All the sisters have been ordered to establish rapport with their Asha’man, but Toveine has bristled under the commands from Desandre and Lemai, and she is a Red with a reputation of holding grudges. Gabrelle can’t imagine how Toveine can smile at Logain convincingly enough that his bond to her wouldn’t give away the lie.
Gabrelle’s own bond to Logain sometimes gives away more than she would like, especially because of her attraction to him. Logain can mask the bond, but the masking often slips when he and Gabrelle are having sex, which makes things very intense. And when she thinks too long about the coupling, Logain can feel that, too.
A rider joins them in the trees, and Gabrelle feels the tension and wariness in Logain at the sight of one of his fellow Asha’man. The newcomer teases Logain, asking if he’s bedding both sisters.
Don’t ever let me hear that again, Mishraile,” Logain said quietly, and she realized the bond had changed again. It was cold, now; cold to make the snow seem warm. Cold to make a grave seem warm. She had heard that name before, Atal Mishraile, and felt distrust in Logain when he spoke it—certainly more than he felt for her or Toveine—but this was the feel of killing. It was almost laughable. The man held her prisoner, yet he was ready to do violence to defend her reputation?
Mishraile tells Logain that the M’Hael has given permission for Logain to go out recruiting, though Mishraile doesn’t understand why Logain would want such a tedious job. He suspects that Logain is bored of his training duties, and suggests that if Logain asks, he might get to join the M’Hael’s special classes at the palace.
Gabrelle feels fury in the bond. None of the captive sisters are bonded to any of the men who attend these classes, and so no one has been able to find out what they entail. All they know is that Logain and his followers don’t trust Taim or the men who attend the special classes, and vice versa. As he rides off, Mishraile tells Logain to enjoy visiting fly-speck villages and that glory waits for some of them.
“He may not enjoy his Dragon long,” Logain murmured, watching the other man gallop off. “He’s too free with his tongue.” She did not think he meant the comment about her and Toveine, but what else could he mean? And why was he suddenly worried?*
As Logain turns to look at Gabrelle and Toveine, he apologizes that they will have to cut the ride short, and Gabrelle senses that part of his worry is for them. As they ride back to the Black Tower, Toveine whispers to Gabrelle that they must make sure they go with Logain, and Gabrielle agrees, but she is alarmed by what she can feel through the bond. She doesn’t know against whom, but it’s clear to her now that Logain Ablar is riding to war.
I must say, I sometimes feel like Jordan made these impossibly dense prologues just to test me, personally, since I already have such a hard time being succinct in my recaps. But I found this one particularly striking, I think, because it was a reminder of how large the scope of the story has become. Our main characters are scattered in different places around the world, but more than that, the world itself is now becoming a player. What leaders and generals are doing in the other nations matters to Rand’s plans, and to Egwene’s, and even to Elayne’s. The Forsaken are meddling everywhere, too, not just where Rand and the other channelers happen to be. There are also other generals and other armies besides those led by, or opposed by, our heroes.
As we are continually reminded throughout the series, Rand has to unite all the forces of the Light before Tarmon Gai’don, and one would assume that includes those bad guys who aren’t Darkfriends. After all, there is a marked difference between being a bad person, even an evil person, and being sworn to the Dark. The Seanchan have a very problematic society full of cruelty and slavery, but it’s not like they are a culture dedicated to serving the Dark One. The Whitecloaks may be very far off the mark about how to serve the Light well, and about which people are actually Darkfriends, but their intention as an organization is to serve the Light.
Ostensibly, therefore, Rand will eventually have to bring both the Seanchan and the Whitecloaks, along with everyone else, under his command—and as Alanna pointed out, he doesn’t have the time or the ability to conquer everyone. At some point he’s going to need diplomacy, and treaties, and agreements. And the prophecies about the Seanchan Empress and Rand do indicate that there will be some kind of allegiance, though I doubt it’s the one the Seanchan believe has been foretold.
And thus, Ituralde’s decision to band together with the Dragonsworn feels very symbolic here. It shows these two groups, who have vastly different beliefs and vastly different loyalties, setting aside their rivalries and coming together against a common threat. Which is exactly what they and others will need to do in order to defeat the Shadow at Tarmon Gai’don.
I liked Ituralde immediately, and I feel like everything about his character is constructed to signal to the reader that he is someone we will like and respect. The association with wolves is of course a very positive one in this universe. Unless you’re one of those dummies that think wolves serve the Shadow, anyway. (I’m looking at you, Whitecloaks.) The way Ituralde thinks about battle and strategy is also very reminiscent of Bashere. He’s even short like Bashere, which as a short guy myself I find incredibly charming. And he has a special scout, which reminded me of some of Mat’s special recruits, and Donjel even has a similarity with Mat himself, since he was once hanged but is still alive. And there’s this bit:
[Ituralde] had always been called a gambler, though he was not. The trick was in knowing what risks you could take. And sometimes, in knowing which ones you had to take.
Very Mat, a little bit Perrin, a little bit Bashere—and Ituralde also reminds me of one of my favorite bit characters, Maeric, in the way he speaks and also in the way that he’s clearly being betrayed by someone posing as his leader(s).
I have a very vague recollection in my mind that there was a rumor at some point of a King being kidnapped, maybe taken on a boat somewhere? I can’t remember and it isn’t in my notes, but if my half-memory is correct, I imagine that was King Alsalam. And even outside of that, we do know that Graendal’s base is, or at least was, in Arad Doman, and that she was passing herself off as an ill noblewoman living in a palace there during the events of Lord of Chaos. When Sammael visited her, he remarked that he half expected to see the King as one of her compelled slaves, but she answered that Alsalam isn’t up to her standards. The “disappeared” Lady Osana was taken by Graendal, however, which is a nice little detail and hint, I think.
Whether Sammael was aware that Alsalam was missing/in hiding or just made the comment as an observation of Graendal’s audacity is uncertain, but whether Graendal kidnapped Alsalam, or someone else did, or if he really is in hiding (unlikely, but I suppose possible), it seems clear that the orders Ituralde and his fellows Domani nobles have been receiving are not from the King at all, but are instead being sent by Darkfriends. Probably Graendal herself. Everything that has resulted from those orders—sending armies on long marches to attack Dragonsworn that aren’t there, or giving them directions to move in the night that sent them blundering into each other and resulting in “friendly fire” casualties—smacks of the Dark One’s order for his agents to sow chaos wherever they can. Regardless of where Alsalam is right now, I’m confident that at least some, if not all, of the orders are coming from the Dark, which raises the tantalizing question as to whether Ituralde’s alliance forming is going to result in good things for the Light, despite the fact that he’s doing it to carry out orders that were probably sent to him by one of the Forsaken.
In general, any forces of the Light setting aside their differences and banding together is the opposite of what the Dark wants, of course, and an alliance between anyone and proclaimed Dragonsworn is probably generally good for Rand, specifically. At the very least, such an alliance might help everyone see the Dragonsworn as more than just bandits and madmen. Anyone managing to curtail the Seanchan in any way is also probably a good thing. It means fewer Westlanders made damane, and the more the Seanchan are defeated, or at least blocked and held back, the easier it will be for Rand to negotiate with them when that time comes.
Ituralde might not have any sense of the fact that the orders he’s following are sent to him by the Dark, but it’s clear that Logain knows, or at least strongly suspects, that Taim and his followers are Darkfriends. Unfortunately for him, Rand’s own orders make it difficult for him to just up and leave; Taim was given charge of all the Black Tower and all the training, and Rand’s orders state that anyone who leaves without permission is to be considered a deserter, to be hunted down and killed. If Logain were to leave, on his own or with those loyal to him, Taim and his followers could hunt them down and murder them all—and Rand might never suspect the truth. Logain had to obtain permission from Taim to leave the Black Tower, but now that he has, leaving under the guise of going recruiting buys him valuable time to find Rand and tell him what is going on, and also allows him to take at least some of his followers with him.
I’m still a little surprised that Rand doesn’t suspect Taim. He is generally distrustful of all the Asha’man, of course, with one or two possible exceptions, but Taim is just so blatant in his dislike and disrespect for Rand, not to mention the fact that he’s always showing up where he shouldn’t be right after Rand narrowly avoids some danger. There also was the attack on Rand in the Sun Palace, which was carried out by a coordinated group of Asha’man. Sure, they could have been acting alone, but it should at least have occurred to Rand to wonder if they weren’t acting under someone else’s direction.
I suppose it’s just one of those problems where Rand has too much on his plate, and some things are slipping through the cracks. I can certainly imagine that he’s not very eager to spend more time thinking about the Asha’man than he has to. After all, he’s relegating these men to being nothing more than living weapons; the more distance he keeps from them, the less he has to confront the fact that they are actually people. He doesn’t have time to train the Asha’man himself anyway, and there were limited options as to who else could qualify as a teacher. Rand knows Taim doesn’t like him, but may have felt that he had no other choice, and once he made that commitment, he may have felt that worrying about the choice after the fact was a waste of energy.
Unfortunately, Logain is unlikely to find Rand anytime soon, but he’s a very powerful channeler, so once he and Rand are working together, backed up by Logain’s followers and the various Aes Sedai who are supporting them, they should have a good chance of ousting Taim and his men and reclaiming the Black Tower for the Light. Logain is also knowledgeable enough and powerful enough to take Taim’s place as a teacher, if that becomes necessary. Min did have a viewing that said Logain would achieve glory, after all, and while Taim might see himself as only getting the Dragon Reborn’s scraps, I’m sure there are many people who would be more than satisfied with a role as a prominent Asha’man and lieutenant to the Dragon Reborn.
It’s interesting (and very lucky) that none of the sisters who were bonded by Asha’man ended up attached to any of Taim’s men. Probably they have no interest in having Aes Sedai around, even bound and subservient to them, but I can’t imagine what such men, men who are clearly swearing themselves to the Dark, would do to a sister if they did bond them. I even find myself wondering if Logain’s bonding of Toveine and Gabrelle was an attempt to keep them safe from the other side of the Black Tower, if all of the bondings were somehow an attempt to lay claim to, to guard, the Aes Sedai who had strayed into this unforeseen danger. If the bonding of Aes Sedai were Black Tower policy, that would have to come either from Taim or Rand himself, but we know Rand has given no such order and it doesn’t seem like Taim has either. And if other Asha’man are bonded to Aes Sedai, it would make it more difficult for Taim and his men to harm them in other ways.
Perhaps I’m getting a bit ahead of myself here, but the explanation would fit, and it would explain Logain’s feelings of concern towards Gabrelle and Toveine. It wouldn’t exactly make forcible bonding okay, but it would certainly change the context of the action, and once they are free from the Black Tower, Logain and his men might cultivate a different relationship with their Aes Sedai than they have now, though it’s probably too much to expect that they will let them go.
There isn’t much to be said about Valda and the Children right now, but that little moment with the horrible stench was certainly a precursor to something. It sounded more like a description of a brush with the Dark—Rand’s encounters with the taint often include mention of the filth of a midden-heap—than of an ordinary problem like improperly dug latrines. The way it comes and goes suddenly is a bit reminiscent of the bubbles of evil, as well.
I suppose it would be too much to hope for Valda and Asunawa to take out each other, and spare the rest of us, right? Our heroes are never so lucky.
Next week we will cover the second half of the Prologue, returning to proper Aes Sedai politics, first with the hunt for the Black Ajah within the White Tower and then in Cairhien, where Samitsu struggles to hold onto her authority in Cadsuane’s absence and several old (and much missed) faces make their way back into the narrative.
