Rand and Mat reach the last town before Caemlyn, Four Kings. It’s a Wretched Hive and Jordan has a lot of fun just having them walk around before a storm forces them into the worst inn in town. It’s run by the mysoginist Jerkass Hake, and as they’re performing they have to watch him abusing all the waitresses, and also clearly preparing to steal Rand’s sword. Then a guy comes in who no one wants to be around, and is clearly there for the two of them. So, this combined with their playing music at the time? Forget what I said before, this is the book’s real take on The Prancing Pony.
As they take their dinner break, Rand slips out and finds that the man is a merchant from Whitebridge, though it’s nicely unclear what exactly that means. Mat stays true to form by nearly blowing the whole thing with how much he stuffs his face, but they get through the rest of the night and are shown to their room. The Whitebridge man, Howal Gode, takes care of Hake before revealing he works for the Dark One, who wants Rand and Mat with them. They’re saved when lightning hits the inn, which I won’t call Deus ex Machina just yet as the setting easily leaves open that someone could have done it. Though Moiraine is currently going after Perrin so I don’t know who it could be.
Four Kings is a great location that I hope we see more of with the other groups. The Wretched Hive stuff is kind of stock, but there’s still enough detail here to give the town its own sense of identity that can be built on. And Gode is already a pretty fun sleazy salesman type villain. After that weird filler chapter, this storyline is right back on track.
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