The Stack of WoTbooks grows and Ages seem to pass, rehashing memories that become theories. Theories blur into Loonyness, but all the theories are happily forgotten, when the event that gave them birth comes around again. For one book, called the Path of Daggers by some, a Book yet to come, a Book long past due, a contest rose in the great Mazes of Usenet. The contest was not the beginning, there is no beginning before november the 20th. But it was a beginning.
North and East the contest rose, as the summer sun stayed hidden behind the clouds and rain of global warming. South and West the contest rose, as there are no directions in the fields of Ras'Vue'Arji, until it rose over the fields of an elder continent, where a gleeman was gripped by prophecy because he had a quiet weekend, and twice times seven where his prophecies. Hear now the words of the gleeman.
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1 Matt, Suroth and the Daughter of the Nine Moons (DoT9M)
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And it will come to pass that Matt will be found by common Seanchans under the rubble from that wall in Ebou Dar. Some henchman will notice the Border of Nine (Crescent) Moons on the ring Matt is wearing. He will assume that the birds are ravens and, deciding Matt is to hot to handle, buck him up to Lady Suroth in the Tremalking Headquarters.
There Suroth will recognize Matt as the Trickster shown at the Gathering of Faithfull Darkfriends (DFS) and an unremembered compulsion, left by Ishamael, will grip her mind. Moridin will come Gating in on flows of the True Power to give her his commands.
Fortunately around the same time the DoT9M arrives on Tremalking and hears about the strange ta'veren wearing her sigil. Following Moridins command Suroth tries to keep Matt away from the DoT9M which results in a power struggle that Suroth looses, after Matt gets a change to save the DoT9M, so laying the groundwork for both trust with (part of) the Seanchan and his romance with the DoT9M.
With some mysterious help Suroth gets away and uses rumours that Matt has captured the DoT9M to keep her influence on the Forerunners, and so the struggle on the mainland does not diminish in the least.
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2 Elayne, Aviendha and Nyneave
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Elayne, Aviendha and Nyneave in the meantime have taken the things from the cache, the Kin and the Windfinders to the retreat of the Kin. First things having to come first they decide that they will use the Bowl of Winds to fix the weather, before they try to rescue Matt.
At their first try to do that another object from the cache starts resonating. The Windfinders recognize it from their legends as Stormbringers Staff, that allows the wielder to use concentrated windgusts as a weapon.
Upon this discovery the Windfinders demand that it be used to turn the tide of battle in Ebou Dar. Elayne definetely wants to rescue Matt for a change, and thinks she can learn to duplicate Stormbringers Staff, so she insists on accompanying them. Aviendha "dares" not be seen to be afraid of the sea and is really starting to like Elayne, so she decides to come too.
After a circle of thirteen has used the Bowl of Winds to bring the cold and dreary weather everyone is hunkering for, Nyneave and Lan take a boat upstream with the Kin and the cache to bring all to Egwene.
With Stormbringers Staff the fight in Ebou Dar is easily won. Interrogating some Seanchan officers to test her powers of persuasion, Elayne hears that Matt has been taken to Tremalking, so an expedition sets out to retake Tremalking and the other islands for the Seafolk and rescue Matt. They arrive in time to help Matt out of the next pickle he landed in, and after some headbanging between Elayne and the DoT9M, everyone happily joins in the hunt for Suroth.
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3 Egwene, the Salidar Aes Sedai and the Black Ajah
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After their arrival with the Salidar Aes Sedai, Lan and Nyneave discover that Egwene's influence on the Salidar Aes Sedai has continued to rise, but so has Halima's influence on Egwene. Nyneave decides to check Egwene for those haedaches, and as she is not able to heal anything, she gets suspicious. Her main suspect however is Meri, the unsympathetic maid Romanda set to spy on Egwene (Romanda being Yellow of course).
Her accusations bring all the scheming in the Hall out in the open. Both Romanda and Lelaine openly try to call on Delana's support and so it becomes apparent that Delana can lie. Delana is captured but Halima succeeds in getting away.
Now having a perfect, if unwilling, subject, the differences in their approaches to discover the members of the Black Ajah between Romanda and Lelaine are resolved by trying both methods out on Delana. Of course either Elayne or Nyneave has to contribute something suitably essential to put Romanda and Lelaine back in their places.
With a proven technique to discover Black Sisters, and a growing cadre that is already committed to Egwene the great cleansing of the Salidar Aes Sedai takes no more than a few days. The boost in morale that ensues makes the integration of the Kin a relative rollover, and after Lans bond has been passed to Nyneave they all continue north to beat Elaida and the Tower Aes Sedai.
In a Halima POV we will be shown that this was just what the Dark One intented all along, as he does not want any BA fence sitters, he needs them as Dreadlord Cannon Fodder(tm), so he can't allow them the luxury of a relatively save hideout.
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4 Perrin, his Birds and the Prophet.
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After a visit to queen Alliandre and lot's of Faile trouble, Perrin will manage to protect his beard from being ripped out of his face by sending Berelain off as ambassador to the Whitecloaks, while he and Faile and the Two Rivermen go off in search of Masema the Prophet.
Instead of finding Masema they will meet with Elias or some new Wolfbrother, who will give them clues to the treasure the Hunters in Reemen where searching in the Mountains of Mist. Because Perrin and Faile will become convinced Rand really needs whatever it is, they will go off and disappear into the mountains for the rest of the book.
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5 Morgase, Galad and Selwyn Balwer.
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On their flight from Amadicia, Selwyn Balwer (Nialls former spymaster) convinces Morgase that her best chance lies with Galad. Balwer is looking for a "worthy" replacement for Niall and hopes to make Galad the new Lord Captain Commander.
They arrive at the same time Berelain does. Galad turns out to be Berelains man in white and with some prompting from Morgase he even manages to return her love. With three accomplished schemers like Morgase, Balwer and Berelain to promote him, even Galads sense of honor cannot prevent him from becoming the new Lord Captain Commander of the Whitecloaks.
As Berelain knows that Rand intended Cairhein and Caemlyn for Elayne, the suspicions of Morgase and Galad are somewhat diminished. However she is the only one in that group loyal to Rand, so she has to do a lot of fast talking to prevent them from "taking back" Andor. During one of these talks they get to comparing Shaiels story, that Berelain knows from Rhuarc, with Tigraines story as Morgase and Galad know it.
They decide to send a messenger, who gets killed by Lanfear.
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6 Logain, Taimandred and Toveine
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Logain has gone north after his release by Egwene and is secretly snooping around in Caemlyn while he considers wether he will use Rand's amnesty or not. So doing he notices some of Toveines Red Aes Sedai, who where also involved with his own capture.
He decides this combines the perfect bargaining chip to get in on an upper level, with appropriate revenge and tells Rand. Together they go to the farm to warn the Asha'man, where Taimandred flies into a rage when Rand publicly tries to force him to accept Logain as his second in command.
This once again rouses the voice of LTT, but this time Rand realizes that the voice has somehow recognized Taim as Demandred. In a One Power shootout Logain saves Rand, but the Black Tower is destroyed. Because of his better training, and the help of his Dedicated, Demandred manages to escape, taking most of the Dedicated with him as future Dreadlords.
Logain is made commander of the remaining Ashaman and a few days later Toveines Aes Sedai safely walk the grounds of the Black Tower, because there is nothing but grounds left. The farmbuildings have been destroyed and everyone has either fled or gone off to search for a safer place.
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7 Rand, Elayne and Alanna
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In the meantime Rand has been wounded again, as we saw, and is once again forced to take to his bed. This is also the moment Elayne decides the hunt for Suroth is not her first priority and that saving Matt once, is definitely one time to many.
In a huff about a slight by the DoT9M, who has most kindly been explaining the Seanchan view on the responsibilities of the nobility, she rips a gate from Tremalking to the Caemlyn Throneroom and walks in to hear the servants talking about Rand again being healed by Alanna.
The only things that prevents her from balefiring Alanna on the spot is that Aviendha has come with her, and that she still does not know how. In her efforts to force Alanna to transfer the Bond with Rand as quickly as possible, she alienates Rand to the point where he demands that she be bonded to him first in the way the Ashaman have discovered.
When Aviendha concurs that that is according to ji'e'toh she gives in. Once this and the transfer are done, she gets a chance to catch up with Aviendha and Min and, with the added feedback, they both really like it. Of course Randy bonds the other two also, afterwards. They insist. All three.
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8 -11 Foretellings about assorted heroes
(and villains) of lesser renown
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Loial will finally get caught by Erian, his mother and Elder Haman. But that will be after such a long and merry chase, that most of the waygates will already have been closed/guarded. Erian will further be so impressed by having landed the first real Ogier Hero in eons, that she will actively support him in his helping of Rand. To the deep chagrin of his mother and grave doubts of Elder Haman.
Now that Ilian is fallen most of the Aiel will be used to mop up the surviving Shaido in Kinslayers dagger. Galina will be freed from Sevanna's slavery, only to be taken to Rand. In the meantime Egwenes Patented Black Ajah Delurker will have been perfected, so Galina will be exposed as such and become a fount of information about the misdeeds of the Red and Black Ajahs in the recent past.
The old man on the barrel will turn out to be Jaim Farstrider, who has been following Shiaine to Carridin, because he discovered she was a Darkfriend. Carridin wil be slain on Nialls posthumous command while trying to wrest advantage for himself during the Seanchan invasion. Farstrider will give essential information about the Tower of Genjei, but disappear mysteriously while traveling north with Lan and Nyneave.
Olver will be sent with Lan and Nyneave to the Salidar Aes Sedai, but will manage to join the expedition against Tremalking. While trying to assist Matt he will land Brigitte in heaps of trouble. While searching to help Brigitte our heroines will find the hill with the arm sticking out. Aviendha and Elayne will both be influenced by the female mega sa'angreal, but like Rand in Cairhien no overt effects will be readily apparent. There will be some suspicion about Olvers motives, it will look like another effort to harm Aviendha gone astray.
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12 -14 Shades of Uncertain Futures
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Rand will ask Darlin to rule Tear, but only if he can find a solution for Callandor. As long as Callandor stays fixed in the Stone Darlin will have to wait. So this might still take a book or two. The Tear soldiery in the meantime will be used to contain the Seanchan invasion.
Hurin will return as a messenger, leading a group of soldiers from Shienar. While telling about the situation in Shienar and the other Borderlands, he will let slip some facts about the curious custom in Shienar, called "the Broken Crown" that means that the eldest heir to a cadet branch of the ruling house has, on his or her reaching formal maturity, the right to challenge the ruling King or Queen for a formalized competition for the throne. If a correctly delivered challenge goes unanswered within a specified timespan the throne defaults to the challenger.
Bela will return carrying a packsaddle and gravid from Mandarbs attentions.
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This I Foretell for the Path of Plots.
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