Welcome back to my re-read, recap, and reaction to Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. This post will only have spoilers through the current chapter.
You can find my previous chapter recaps HERE.
Chapter 54: The Sending
NOTE: The following chapter summary comes from wot.fandom.com
Point of view: Perrin Aybara
Perrin, Gaul, and Loial head toward the river to cross over to chase the Aes Sedai that have taken Rand. On the other side of the river they meet up with Dobraine and Havien Nurelle from Mayene with their Winged Guards. Later they meet up with the Aiel who can only bring five thousand siswai’aman and another thousand Maidens. Amys is one of ninety-four Wise Ones that are coming.
That evening Perrin seeks the wolves and identifies himself to them as Young Bull. He asks them about the Aes Sedai camp and estimates it is sixty to seventy miles ahead. The wolves ask why he is seeking their help. He tells them that the Aes Sedai have caged Shadowkiller, the wolf name for Rand. The wolves are consumed with terror and rage and their howls can be heard for miles.
There are tensions between the groups in Perrin’s company, especially Cairhienin and Aiel but also the siswai’aman and the Maidens. Perrin is worried that the tensions won’t be kept in check until they catch up to the Aes Sedai. Sulin and Nandera both want to be in charge of the Maidens and they finally have a contest to decide. Sulin wins, but then lets Nandera have the leadership anyway. Sorilea and Amys appear to disagree on how to deal with the Aes Sedai but they finally resolve it peacefully between themselves, with Sorilea being in charge.
On the seventh day the wolves let Perrin know another large group is heading the same direction and getting close. The banners they picture identify them as the Two Rivers men. Perrin rides out to meet them. There are nine Aes Sedai which Perrin hopes will be useful in the fight, but there were only supposed to be six. He recognizes Verin and Alanna. Alanna was able to point them in the direction of Rand and the Two Rivers men followed since they expected Perrin to be with Rand. The Aes Sedai are outraged and terrified that Rand has been abducted. They accompany Perrin and keep trying to take charge, but Perrin ignores them. On the tenth day they are closing in on the Aes Sedai when the wolves send that Perrin should come right away because there are many two-legs.
REACTION:
Perrin and the rescue force sets out. They have to keep their numbers relatively small (in the single-digit thousands instead of one hundred thousand) so that rumors don’t spring up and bring the governance of the city into turmoil. So to that end, Berelaine remains behind, as do all but one thousand Maidens. The biggest thing working in their favor is that they are also bringing 94 Wise Ones – and the strongest in the One Power, too. That should more than offset the Aes Sedai, except that the Shaido Wise Ones will be (presumably) fighting on behalf of the Aes Sedai, too.
Of course… the Shaido seem to be planning a betrayal of the White Tower Aes Sedai so this could end up being a three way fight and with Rand as a trump card should he break free of his shield.
If a freed Rand is a trump card, then the wolves are a wildcard. Perrin’s conversation with / recruitment of the wolves did not disappoint. First he is able to use them to track the party he’s chasing. He kind of did this once before in The Great Hunt, but the talent seems to have improved slightly. I guess maybe the difference is that he wasn’t asking about distance as much in Book 2.
“Why?” that was Halftail, passed along and scent-marked. Perrin hesitated before answering. He had dreaded this. He felt about the wolves as he did about Two Rivers people.
“They have caged Shadowkiller,” he thought at last. That was what the wolves called Rand, but he had no idea whether they considered Rand important.
The shock filling his mind was answer enough, the howls filled the night, near and far, howls filled with anger and fear. In the camp, horses whinnied fearfully, stamping their hooves as they shied against the picket ropes. Men ran to calm them and others to peer into the darkness, as if expecting a huge pack to come after the mounts.
“We come,” Halftail replied at last. Only that, and then others answered.
We’ve spent the first five books of this series with Rand saving others. Here his allies are rallying to save him. It feels so satisfying. It’s like we get a chance to see how successful Rand’s work of unifying the world has been by putting it to a very serious stress test.
The meet-up with the Two Rivers men and the Salidar Aes Sedai embassy should probably have been expected, but it was still surprising. Of course… Alanna knows where Rand is and that he is being tortured. The group seems to be listening to her at least enough so to go where she points and maybe even enough to hurry, even if they aren’t really letting her call any shots otherwise. The Salidar Aes Sedai try to take charge, as Aes Sedai do. But… they also notice how many Aiel Wise Ones can channel and that they are strong. Perrin’s group in total has 103 women who can channel, and about 90% of them are Aiel who despise all Aes Sedai. He’s got about 7,000 troops total. And the wolves. They seem to be stronger than the White Tower group, by far, but that is not factoring in the Shaido who are probably the late arrivals the wolves warn them about as the chapter ends. It also doesn’t factor in what they’d do if the Aes Sedai held a knife to Rand’s neck.
We have a boiling cauldron of chaos befitting the name of the book as the chapter ends. The next chapter is the last one in the book. It looks like we’re in for a chaotic finish.
Note: We learn here that the wolves can sense when a woman can channel. Is that something Perrin might eventually learn? Or is that an ability specific to the actual wolves? I feel like he needs another “power up” at some point to be on more equal footing with Mat and Rand.
Note 2: Do we think the Shaido arrived (assuming the wolves mean them as the chapter ends) to protect the White Tower delegation or to attack it? I’m guessing the latter, or else Perri’s scouts would have seen them rather than the wolves being the ones who see them.
Note 3: This is setting up to be one of the biggest disasters in the history of the Aes Sedai. They could lose dozens of Sisters all in one day. Of course… this is an organization that seems to *need* a disaster to get itself back on a better track.
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