Crossing Toman Head is a wet and miserable experience for Rand and company. Ba’alzamon visits Rand’s dreams again.
Rand’s group trudges across Toman Head toward Falme, searching for Padan Fain’s trail. Honestly, I could stop right there, because that comfortably covers the events of this chapter. Everyone’s soaked to the bone from the rain, so they hole up in an abandoned village. The inn is the biggest structure, so they take it, and Rand trudges upstairs to get some sleep.
Ba’alzamon makes his first appearance since he helped Rand with that heron-mark brand on his palm in Chapter 15: Kinslayer. Unfortunately, this guy is a one-trick pony, and it’s getting kind of pathetic. At this point he’s like a circus performer who phones it in every night, yet always holds his arms wide open at the end, announcing, “Tada!” — only nobody ever claps. You will die, Lews Therin. I will win in the end. You will be mine. Blah blah blah. There are Saturday morning cartoon villains who are more nuanced and threatening than this clown.