Chapter 45: What Follows in Shadow

The group backtracks through the Ways after finding a collapsed bridge, and Loial finds an alternate path toward Fal Dara. During a rest on an Island, Moiraine shares her belief that Thom Merrilin is still alive and that their fates are all bound together by the Pattern. They discover Trolloc runes carved into a Guiding and Trolloc corpses frozen in decaying stone—proof that Trollocs have been using the Ways, explaining how they reached the Two Rivers through the Waygate at Manetheren and massed near Caemlyn undetected.

As they near the final Waygate, Machin Shin—the Black Wind—pursues them with howling voices that whisper horrible promises. They race to the gate only to find the Avendesora leaf key missing.

Moiraine burns through the stone with the One Power and Lan smashes the weakened gate open with Mandarb. The party escapes into winter daylight near Fal Dara, and Moiraine holds back the Black Wind, which cannot pass beyond the Waygate.