Chapter 19: Shadow's Waiting

The party shelters in a ruined building inside Shadar Logoth. Nynaeve tends to the exhausted Moiraine with her herbs while Thom explains that Mat's outburst in the Old Tongue was the old blood speaking through his lineage, not a dead man possessing him.

Rand, Mat, and Perrin slip out to explore the city and meet Mordeth, a bald stranger claiming to be a treasure hunter. He leads them to an underground chamber heaped with gold, gems, and jeweled weapons, offering a share if they help him carry it out. When Mat lets slip they are bound for Tar Valon, Mordeth flies into a rage. Rand sees the man casts no shadow. Mordeth swells to monstrous size, then thins like smoke and vanishes into a crack in the wall. The boys flee through darkening streets, hungry eyes watching from every doorway.

Back at camp, Moiraine tells the city's history: Mordeth corrupted King Balwen until Aridhol's own suspicion and hatred birthed Mashadar, an evil locked in the bedrock. Mordeth himself is snared within the walls and seeks to consume a soul to escape. Lan returns with three iron skull badges: over a hundred Dha'vol Trollocs have entered the city, and something has driven the Myrddraal driving them. Moiraine decides they must run for the Arinelle, where the water will block pursuit.