The Great Hunt
The Great Hunt opens with a secret Darkfriend gathering where Ba'alzamon displays images of three young men and orders his followers to find them. At Fal Dara, the Amyrlin Seat Siuan Sanche arrives and privately confirms to Rand that he is the Dragon Reborn. That same night, Trollocs breach the keep. Padan Fain escapes his cell with the Horn of Valere and the ruby-hilted dagger Mat carried out of Shadar Logoth. Without the dagger, Mat is dying.
Rand rides south with Ingtar's Shienaran column to recover the Horn, accompanied by Mat, Perrin, Loial, and the sniffer Hurin. Rand channels in his sleep and transports himself, Loial, and Hurin into a mirror world through a Portal Stone. There they meet Selene, who urges Rand to claim the Horn for himself. They steal the chest from Fain's camp and ride for Cairhien.
Egwene and Nynaeve travel to the White Tower in Tar Valon. Nynaeve passes the test for Accepted; Egwene befriends Elayne Trakand and Min. Across the Aryth Ocean, the Seanchan, descendants of Artur Hawkwing's armies, invade Toman Head and collar channelers as damane. Captain Bayle Domon is captured and taken to Falme, where High Lord Turak commands the occupation.
In Cairhien, Rand reunites with Thom Merrilin, alive but lamed. The Horn is stolen a second time and carried through a Waygate to Fain, who hands it to Turak. Liandrin of the Red Ajah, secretly Black, lures Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Min through the Ways to Toman Head and delivers them to the Seanchan. Egwene is collared as a damane; Nynaeve and Elayne escape and begin planning a rescue.
Rand's party uses a Portal Stone to cross to Toman Head and loses four months in transit, each rider living through countless other lives. They slip into Falme: Rand kills Turak in a duel and recovers the Horn and dagger. Ingtar confesses he was the traitor who opened the gates at Fal Dara, and stays behind to die. Nynaeve frees Egwene from the a'dam, and Egwene works out that the sul'dam themselves can channel, a fact the Seanchan have hidden from themselves.
Mat sounds the Horn of Valere, calling the Heroes of the Horn led by Artur Hawkwing. They ride under the Dragon Banner against the Seanchan. Above the town, Rand duels Ba'alzamon in the sky in view of all of Falme. Remembering Lan's lesson of Sheathing the Sword, Rand lets Ba'alzamon's staff pierce his side while driving the heron-mark blade into Ba'alzamon's heart. He wakes days later. Moiraine brings the news: three of the seven seals on the Dark One's prison are broken, Lanfear has revealed herself, and sketches of Rand's face under the Dragon Banner are spreading across the land. The Shienaran soldiers kneel and swear to him. The Dragon is Reborn, and the world knows it.