On the day of the battle, Rand is determined to take down Couladin himself, with his real sword. But Egwene gets Aviendha to agree to what she thinks is Rand’s own plan, to get him up the tower with them to channel over the whole battlefield. They start out with lightning strikes and melting hilltops.
Mat runs into some of the patrols Rand sent out, and sees that they’re heading into an ambush. Against his better judgment he rides down and warns them, and coordinates the groups into an attack in a Crowning Moment Of Awesome. Unfortunately, though it starts well, those lightning bolts soon start hitting them.
The start of the battle is very exciting, and Mat having to develop into a leader on his own is already a huge boost to the character. Though it suffers a bit from “who are these guys?” syndrome, his getting everyone to work as a team is just as engaging as an actual fight, and points to good things in his future.
