Chapter 20: Dust on the Wind

Fleeing Shadar Logoth at night, the party is cut off when Mashadar—a glowing, mindless fog that kills on touch—oozes into the street between them. Moiraine tells Rand and the others to ride toward a red star low in the east until they reach the Arinelle, promising she will find them. Trollocs ambush them moments later and the companions scatter.

Rand outruns his pursuers and watches Mashadar engulf the trailing Trollocs and Fade, then meets Mat in the ruins. Perrin and Egwene find each other at a fallen gate and ride for the river, but Trollocs drive them off a sheer bluff into the icy water. Perrin makes the far bank alone, with no sign of Egwene.

Thom catches up with Rand and Mat, and they reach a moored trader, the Spray. They scramble aboard under another Trolloc rush as the crew cuts the lines. The captain, Bayle Domon, takes them downriver toward Whitebridge and refuses to put back. Thom covers their story with a tale of treasure-hunting in Aridhol, and Rand and Mat pay passage with the silver coins Moiraine gave them. Domon mentions a winter of Trolloc raids on farms and villages in Saldaea. Rand stares back into the dark, sick that he could not keep Egwene safe.