The rulers of the Borderlands forge a secret alliance and ride south to find the Dragon Reborn, leaving their nations vulnerable to the Blight. Verin Mathwin takes advantage of the captured Aes Sedai to place a weave resembling Compulsion on them, binding them to her will. In a distant chamber, the Forsaken Moridin contemplates a game of sha'rah and broods over his entanglement with Rand al'Thor.
Aviendha, Elayne, Nynaeve and Lan flee the Tarasin Palace in Ebou Dar through a gateway, bringing the Sea Folk Windfinders and the Kin with them. The group hurries through the streets as the Seanchan tighten their grip on the city, racing to escape before the gateway closes behind them.
Elayne's party moves safely away from Ebou Dar, and Aviendha daringly unweaves the gateway rather than simply letting it close, a feat that astonishes and alarms the watching Forsaken Moridin. He resolves to find the women and prevent them from repairing the weather. Elsewhere, the gholam that stalked Mat in Ebou Dar picks up the scent of the fleeing channellers.
Elayne and Nynaeve's party arrives at the Kin's farm north of Ebou Dar, where Aviendha discovers that her earlier message to Elayne was never delivered. Tensions flare between the Sea Folk and the Aiel, while Adeleas and Vandene begin questioning the captured Black sister Ispan.
The arrival of the Aes Sedai at the Kin's farm throws the women there into turmoil, as centuries of hiding from the Tower collide with the reality of sisters in their midst. Nynaeve and the formidable Alise work to restore order while Vandene and Adeleas press Ispan for information about the Black Ajah.
Thirteen women link together and channel through the Bowl of the Winds, unravelling the Dark One's grip on the weather in a surge of power that leaves them shaken. As the skies begin to shift, the channellers spot Seanchan forces attacking Ebou Dar and realise they must flee the farm immediately.
Elayne opens a gateway for the group to escape to her family's estates in Andor, then stays behind with Aviendha and Birgitte to unravel the weave and cover their trail. The unravelling goes wrong, destroying the gateway in a catastrophic explosion that kills many of the arriving Seanchan and wounds all three women.
Perrin surveys the town of Bethal in Ghealdan, where Rand has sent him to deal with the Prophet Masema. He sends Berelain as an envoy to Queen Alliandre, and later rescues a noblewoman calling herself Maighdin and her companions from the Prophet's fanatical followers.
Basel Gill spins a cover story for Maighdin's group, and Faile shrewdly offers them places in her service, which Maighdin reluctantly accepts. Faile receives troubling reports from her scouts about the state of the countryside under the Prophet's influence.
Perrin inspects his sprawling, uneasy camp, frustrated by the deference everyone shows him and the growing tension between his various factions. He struggles with the burden of leadership as he tries to hold together an army of Two Rivers men, Aiel, Aes Sedai and Ghealdanin soldiers.
The old wolf-brother Elyas Machera finds Perrin's camp and rejoins his company. Queen Alliandre of Ghealdan pledges her fealty directly to Perrin rather than to the Dragon Reborn, and Faile manoeuvres Alliandre into riding with them. When rain finally breaks the long drought, Perrin orders the hanging of Dragonsworn who burned a farmstead with its inhabitants still inside.
The Shaido Wise Ones force the captive Aes Sedai Galina to swear obedience on an Oath Rod, binding her absolutely to Sevanna and Therava. Sevanna agrees to move the Shaido into the mountains, dragging their growing train of gai'shain with them.
The Forsaken Moghedien and Cyndane visit Graendal to demand she kneel to the Nae'blis, Moridin, and she is compelled to submit when Shaidar Haran appears. In Cairhien, Cadsuane and the Wise One Sorilea swear a water oath together, pledging to teach Rand al'Thor how to laugh and weep again before the Last Battle hardens him beyond saving.
Rand rides east through Illian to confront the remnants of Sammael's army, offering the soldiers a stark choice between disarming and going home or joining him. The weight of command and the taint on saidin press on him as he absorbs thousands of former enemies into his forces.
Rand receives a letter from Mazrim Taim reporting on the growing Black Tower and begins planning a campaign against the Seanchan in Altara. He studies the maps with his Asha'man, troubled by the number of new recruits Taim has gathered and the man's presumptuous tone.
Egwene wakes from prophetic dreams of Rand wearing shifting faces, Perrin hacking through screaming brambles with a Tinker, and Mat placing his own eye on a balance scale. She meets with Gareth Bryne and resolves to confront the Andoran and Murandian nobles who have gathered to block her army's march on Tar Valon.
Egwene manages the fractious politics of the rebel Aes Sedai camp, balancing the competing ambitions of the Sitters while consolidating her own authority. That night, Sheriam is found bearing the marks of a savage beating from an unseen assailant displeased with her failure to spy on the Amyrlin.
Egwene and the Hall ride out to meet the assembled Andoran and Murandian nobles who stand in the rebels' path. She deftly outmanoeuvres them by announcing that the novice book is open to women of any age, drawing recruits from among the nobles' own people.
Women from across the camp and the surrounding countryside flock to enrol as novices after Egwene's proclamation, validating her bold decision. Talmanes of the Band of the Red Hand requests permission to remain behind rather than march on Tar Valon, and Egwene grants it.
Egwene masterfully manipulates the Hall of the Tower into declaring war on Elaida's White Tower, a move that under the Law of War grants the Amyrlin sweeping new powers. It is a triumph of political cunning, cementing her authority over the rebel Aes Sedai in a single stroke.