Rand, Mat and Thom continue down the Arinelle on the Spray. Gelb is on everyone’s shit list, Rand has another moment of reckless courage, Mat covets his preeeecious dagger, and Thom tries to keep it all from coming apart at the seams.
The Ways aren’t quite like this. But they’re close enough to make you feel like you need Dramamine.
Rand begins the chapter in tel’aran’rhiod, the world of dreams. Or is he somewhere else entirely? Because it sounds pretty similar to the Ways if you ask me, where “what seemed far away might be reached by turning a corner” and “what appeared close could be out of reach altogether.” From that surreal space, suddenly he is in a maze of thorny hedges and passages paved with human skulls. He pricks his finger and Ba’alzamon chases him through the dream like a demented clown from a low budget horror movie. When he wakes up, he still has the cut on his finger. Dun dun dun!
Back in the world of the wakeful, Gelb is in the dog house. Everyone on the ship knows that he was sleeping through his watch, and the least offensive treatment he receives is a fellow crewman spitting on his foot and telling him to get lost. Between the name and the lack of brain cells, I’m starting to wonder if Gelb and Caniedrin from New Spring share a bloodline. I don’t recall what role Gelb ultimately plays in The Eye of the World, but if the Caniedrin parallel holds, he’s going to end up being a Darkfriend, trying to murder Rand, betraying Rand out of spite, or some combination of these.
I’m the king of the world! Also possibly going insane!
Rand, meanwhile, is still struggling with his latent channeling abilities without even knowing it. He climbs to the top of the mast, then sits there and laughs maniacally as he feels the sway of the ship and does his best Leonardo DeCaprio impression. Thom has to climb up to let him know that everyone is staring at him like he’s insane, so he slides down to the deck, acting like it was all part of being a gleeman’s apprentice.
This is when we get our first glimpse at the ruby-studded dagger. Mat has been withdrawn, and his obsession with treasure has reached cartoonish levels — even for him. He confesses that he took the dagger from Shadar Logoth, but insists that it doesn’t count because Mordeth didn’t give it to him. For fuck’s sake, Mat. What do you think Shadar Logoth is — a bureaucracy? Evil doesn’t operate on technicalities! This is like saying you can’t get food poisoning from a buffet if you weren’t charged for the plate. Rand promises not to tell anyone about the dagger, and the journey continues.