In their desperation to flee the shadowspawn and the evil presence of Shadar Logoth, the group becomes fractured. Perrin makes it across the Arinelle River. Rand, Mat, and Thom find passage downriver aboard the Spray. The fate of the other characters remains unknown.
Moving through the haunted city, Lan and Moiraine take the lead and carelessly allow the rest to fall behind. At a yell from Moiraine, the laggards screech to a halt. A thin line of fog crosses their path, growing from a wisp into a tendril, and then thickens into a sinister, smoky vine. Moiraine explains that this is Mashadar, the evil presence that infects Shadar Logoth. She tells them to head east, toward the red star in the sky and the Arinelle River.
Now that they’re separated from anyone who knows what the hell they are doing, the rest of the group — Rand, Mat, Perrin, Thom, Egwene, and Nynaeve — predictably scatters in multiple directions the moment they encounter Trollocs.
Perrin finds Egwene, and they gallop out of the city pursued by Trollocs. Perrin’s mount runs straight off a steep bluff and plunges into the Arinelle. He manages to swim to the other side, but it is unclear what became of Egwene.
Rand quickly finds Mat and Thom. They also make it to the Arinelle, but they find a boat moored there in the night. With Trollocs in pursuit, they have no choice but to toss their belongings into the boat and scramble on board. In his haste, Rand clobbers a sleeping deckhand whose parents hated him enough to name him Gelb. The crew of the boat quickly helps fight off the Trollocs and get the craft moving downriver.
The captain of the Spray is Bayle Domon, who speaks like he just got off the boat from Jamaica. Captain Domon demands payment for passage to Whitebridge and compensation for the Trolloc trouble, so Rand and Mat pony up the silver marks they got from Moiraine. Thom makes some shit up about how they ended up where they did, and in so doing makes Rand and Mat his apprentices.