Chapter 39: Flight from the White Tower

Egwene, Nynaeve, Elayne, and Min slip out of the White Tower dressed as wealthy travelers, with Min in breeches playing the servant. They dodge Aes Sedai and Accepted in the corridors, bluff the stable groom by invoking Liandrin's name, and ride out through Tar Valon to the Ogier grove.

Liandrin is furious that Min and Elayne have come, but warns they would not have lived the night in the Tower—the Black Ajah would have come for anyone known as friends of Egwene and Nynaeve. She leads them through a locked iron fence to a Waygate hidden in the grove.

Inside the Ways, Liandrin drives them hard by lantern-light, following a parchment she refuses to share. The dark presses against the lantern flames, and Egwene can feel the Shadow's taint. She does not dare reach for saidar here; anything she channeled would be poisoned by it.

They halt once to eat and sleep. Talk drifts to Rand and what will become of him, and none of them sleep well. Liandrin says Toman Head is the better part of two days away. When she finally stops at another Waygate, she tells them they have arrived.