Rand says the Dark One’s name out loud and everything goes to hell: Trollocs invade, the Horn of Valere is stolen, Fain escapes, and Rand finds a bloody note with his name on it.
In Egwene’s room, Rand is having a terrible time in the world of dreams before he wakes up next to Nynaeve, who is knitting. Jesus, what is it with Aes Sedai and knitting? Rand learns that Egwene went to see Fain again, and that there might be a search underway for him.
RAND: Where’s Egwene?
NYNAEVE: She went to see Padan Fain.
RAND: He’s dangerous — she should stay away from him.
NYNAEVE: She wants to help him, Rand.
RAND: Whatever. I’m out of here as soon as they unbar the doors.
NYNAEVE: I don’t know, Rand. Moiraine says you are ta’veren. The Dark One–
RAND: Shai’tan is dead. I saw him die.
Really, Rand? It has been a month since the Eye of the World, and nobody has had a talk with you about this? When I was ten, I unearthed a bone and thought I’d discovered a dinosaur fossil. Turns out it was a squirrel skull. Rand, buddy — I was wrong, and so are you. The Dark One ain’t dead, and he’s listening.
The room seems to lurch when Rand names the Dark One, and alarm bells sound throughout the keep. I suppose this is all part of the plan. Can’t get out of the keep? No problem! This must be like Beetlejuice, right? Just say his name and capitalize on the chaos. Rand straps on his sword and storms out into the corridor. At first, the shouts are about Rand storming through the women’s apartments with a sword. Then the screams stop being about him — the fortress is under attack. Trollocs eviscerate men in the corridors, and Fades face down generals. Concerned about Egwene, Rand hurries on to the dungeon where he finds a message scrawled in blood on the inner door:
WE WILL MEET AGAIN ON TOMAN HEAD.
IT IS NEVER OVER, AL’THOR.
Oh great, it’s the summoning. Not wanting anyone to see his name written in blood on the wall, Rand hurriedly scrubs it off, but Liandrin walks in. She uses her compulsion weave on him, demanding to know who he is and what he is doing. He is just on the edge of embracing saidin when Moiraine also walks in:
MOIRAINE: What in the Light’s name is going on here, bitch?
Amusingly, Liandrin has completely dropped the Yoda act. What, does she only use it when operating in evil-mastermind mode?
Thinking of Egwene, Rand pushes forward into the cell block. Mat and Egwene lie unconscious in front of Fain’s cell. Egwene has a head wound, and Mat is missing his dagger from Shadar Logoth. Moiraine heals Egwene, then goes to rally the other sisters to finally finish the half-assed exorcism she started in The Eye of the World‘s Chapter 41: Old Friends and New Threats.
Fain himself has evidently flown the coop with the dagger, but that is the least of their problems. The treasure room has been looted and the Horn of Valere is missing. Well, that sucks. But hey — if the Horn’s gone, maybe the end of the world’s been rescheduled.