Nynaeve has been going to the dream world every night so she has an excuse not to see Egwene, and this time it pays off when Birgitte meets her and shows her a meeting of the Forsaken. Sammael is planning to act as the bait for Rand, possibly by killing one of his friends, and when he’s distracted Lanfear, Moghedien, and Graendal will attack him.
Birgitte gets them away before they can hear more, but Moghedien had already spotted them. She knocks out Birgitte and is about to compel Nynaeve to bring Elayne to her, when Birgitte has a Crowning Moment Of Awesome when she wakes up and runs Moghedien through with an arrow. Moghedien retaliates and possibly kills Birgitte, then has to leave to be healed. Liandrin tries to turn on her when she’s weak, but Moghedien still has her power and blocks off her connection to the Source before leaving her to be a maid in the house they’d taken over and with a case of I Cannot Self-Terminate, then leaves, knowing where to find Nynaeve again.
As usual, the book is really heating up in the second half. It’s a quite well done negation of any Badass Decay Moghedien might have suffered from her defeat in the last book, and Liandrin’s comeuppance is delicious, though I very much doubt we’ve seen the last of her. Maybe this could trigger a Heel–Face Turn.
