Chapter 18: The Caemlyn Road

For three days the party rides the Caemlyn Road east toward Whitebridge, with Trolloc horns sounding behind them. Lan scouts back and returns with grim news: at least five hundred Trollocs led by several Fades, closing fast. When fresh horns answer from ahead, Moiraine turns the group north toward the Arinelle.

They crest a hill straight into a Trolloc line led by a Myrddraal. Lan charges with a cry of "For the Seven Towers!" Rand and Perrin shout "Manetheren!" Mat shouts in the Old Tongue without knowing what the words mean. Lan takes the Fade's head, and the Trollocs collapse writhing on the ground.

With the pursuit still closing, Moiraine uses an angreal to raise an earthquake and a wall of fire across the next ridge. The working drains her badly. Once mounted again, she lays a false trail to send the Trollocs west.

Moiraine translates Mat's warcry: it was the ancient cry of Manetheren's last king, and Eldrene was the Rose of the Sun. The old blood still sings in the Two Rivers. Lan leads them to a vast ruined city the Trollocs will not enter, once called Aridhol, now Shadar Logoth.