After remembering more of Trollocs fighting a Fade during the battle, Mat hears a merchant talking about Whitecloaks being in Two Rivers, looking for Rand and Perrin. He heads back to the Stone, and finds that Perrin already knows and is heading back there. By now, Mat is so tired of being told what to do that he flips a coin over it, and ends up staying with Rand.
Well, at least now it’s pretty clear that Nynaeve’s view of what was happening back home during her Accepted test wasn’t real, though Whitecloaks aren’t much better. And I very much look forward to Perrin kicking ass and taking names once he gets there. If Jordan was going to take such clear inspiration from The Lord of the Rings, the least he could do is make this a worthy successor to the Scouring of the Shire.
