Rand uses a Portal Stone to escape a grolm attack. The group returns to their own world, where they realize they have jumped ahead of Fain’s party.
Rand moves to take out the grolm with his bow, but Selene says it’s an unnecessary risk and insists that if he would come with her to the Portal Stone, they could escape. But Rand stubbornly stands his ground and dispatches the monsters, landing an arrow perfectly in each one.
Good job, dude! Now, if only you were half as skilled at dealing with women as you are at archery, you’d know that there are certain arguments you just can’t win. Barely a moment passes before they hear many more grolm headed their way. It is more than Rand could possibly kill, so he capitulates and follows Selene to a Portal Stone nestled into the base of Kinslayer’s Dagger.
Selene singles out a rune on the Portal Stone and says it signifies the real world. Rand concentrates on it, embraces saidin, and manages to transport everyone back to their true reality. Selene believes that what Hurin smelled in the other reality was “future echoes” of where the Horn of Valere is going to be. If that’s true, using the Portal Stone was a masterstroke in dumb luck that catapulted them ahead of Padan Fain. The group hurries to find a place to camp and watch for the Trolloc army.