Rand POV#

The next morning, Rand hides his injured hand from Loial and Hurin. He mounts Red and they continue to ride. In an hour, Rand sees a spire. Hurin says Hawkwing's monument that Ingtar mentioned was a spire like that, but when Agelmar sent him to Cairhien he saw it and it is now only a mound. As they ride on, they see that it is the monument, only now it is a monument to a Shadowspawn victory, with ravens killing a hawk and Trolloc symbols - the horned skull of the Dha'vol, the iron fist of the Dhai'mon, the trident of the Ko'bal and the whirlwind of the Ahf'frait. Hurin sees a woman behind them. Loial points out the mountains to the south, Kinslayer's Dagger, which are more than a hundred leagues south of the River Erinin River. Then they hear a scream in front of them. They ride forward and find a woman fending off a grolm. Rand kills it with an arrow. She identifies herself as Selene. She is the most beautiful woman Rand has ever seen and looks about Nynaeve's age.[1] She says she is from Cairhien. She stopped for a nap and woke in this world. Hurin slips and says they are following Darkfriends who stole the Horn of Valere. Selene wants to touch it when they find it. She begins urging Rand to keep the Horn with images of glory. She rubs an ointment on Rand's burned palm and it feels much better.[2] He asks if she is Aes Sedai and she sneers at the idea. He keeps reminding himself that he loves Egwene. They continue riding south and Selene talks with Loial. As they approach the mountains, Loial tells Rand how much Selene knows these worlds and the Ways. Rand is suspicious. Loial says she must have learned in the Royal Library, one of the world's greatest. Selene rides up and calls Loial alantin. She talks with Rand about killing the grolm. He tells her about holding the void. She tells him it is called the Oneness and he should use it all the time to learn its full uses.[3] He questions how she knows so much. Angry, she says she learned about these worlds from a book called Mirrors of the Wheel. She says the Portal Stone she woke up by is in the foothills to the east and wants to go to it. Rand refuses saying they have to follow the Horn. She says she does not know how to work the Portal Stone. Five more grolm come after them.

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