Make sure to read Part 7 here first!
Chapter 15 – Into Canluum
We’re back with Lan and it appears he is heading back to his home. He is in Kandor right now.
‘Bandits had sprung up like weeds this past year, and more troubles than usual out of the Blight. Rumor even spoke of a man who channeled the One Power, but then, rumor often did.’ Interesting. Surely in this case it is more than just rumor? We shall see I guess.
The Blight and Lan’s connection to it is interesting. I’d like to know more about that and I am sure we will in time.
‘The Blight meant death to most men. Death and the Shadow, in a rotting land tainted by the Dark One’s breath, where anything at all could kill, an insect bite, the prick of the wrong thorn, a touch of the wrong leaf. Abode of Trollocs and Myrddraal and worse.’ Lan is crazy for living here! So Trollocs are still about then. Not sure what Myrddraal are. And there are worse?! Cannot say I am surprised I guess. But why the heck does Lan live in such a place and why is he so eager to return? Is it perhaps what became of his homeland? I’m not sure if that would line up right.
Oh! Trollocs and Myrddraal launch raids beyond the Blight? Again, no surprise I guess. But the city of Canluum sounds very safe anyway.
‘The law in every Borderland forbade hiding your face inside village or town, and no one wanted to be mistaken for one of the Eyeless trying to sneak into the city.’ And the Eyeless are what exactly?
One of the young guards of the city recognises Lan and seems to bow to him and call him ‘Majesty’ but of course Lan seems to have no interest in being King of what he sees as a dead nation. Bukama also gets angry at the young guard for not wearing the hadori and for serving a Kandori lord, and so in Bukama’s eyes he does not deserve to be Malkieri.
This exchange almost causes things to go South. Bukama seems to be poor at keeping his temper, especially when it came to what he sees as violation of tradition. We meet another soldier called Seroku who sounds like he is quite experienced along the Blight, he is shocked when Bukama apologises for his actions – Lan too was shocked as well although hid it. Very interesting. Maybe he is just being smart?
I always love a good scenic description of different areas that characters enter into. And Lan spots some Aes Sedai about too – apparently there have been a lot more of them around since their old Amyrlin Seat died – do they speak of Tamra? Must be – and Lan reckons it is possible they may be looking for the rumoured channeling man if he existed.
Oh. So apparently Aes Sedai’s looking to bond a Warder would be interested in Lan due to his hadori. I guess they prize men like him for being fighters? Makes sense. But this is one of the reasons Lan avoids them because although apparently they ask permission first before bonding but Lan does not entirely trust this as he has been shocked each time by some of the people he had heard of taking the bond.
Bukama does not seem to be himself at all and it is worrying Lan. Very strange!
Chapter 16 – The Deeps
So they seem to be avoiding the more richer and upstanding estate called the Stag’s Hand that they would be welcome to stay at in the city. Instead they are in the Deeps – a poor area of the city looking for an inn.
They arrive at an inn called The Blue Rose where they come across a character called Racelle who is the innkeeper and that I am also assuming was a lover of Bukama? Although she had not seen him for six years, which she is annoyed about but still clearly loves him? And then Ryne Venamar, Lan’s oldest friend aside from Bukama, and he is also Malkieri.
AH HAH! So by the sounds of it the Blight was Malkier at some point. In this conversation Lan and Ryne are having. A name Edeyn Arrel is mentioned which is apparently a nobel or a royal or something? But Ryne thought he’d be with her instead of going off to fight the Aiel but Lan dislikes this assumption, I’m assuming since he still seems to have shame around Malkier? Anyway apparently the Lady Arrel as Lan called her raised the Golden Crane – whatever that is – in Lan’s name. It seems she is gathering followers for an army perhaps, that she wants Lan to lead maybe? And then:
‘Old Kurenin (who is another Malkieri first mentioned in the previous chapter) wept when he heard her speak. All ready to carve Malkier out of the Blight again.’ So yeah that confirms what I half-suspected. Although it is possible this was already established before but if it was I missed it/do not recall – so I may be being dumb.
Lan is not for it though seemingly and believes ‘what dies in the Blight is gone.’ I mean there has to be more to that surely. He can’t simply have given up due to that line alone. There has to be a lot more we do not know. It also seems like there was some kind of relationship between Lan and Edeyn previously.
Damn that ring he has – a gold signet ring worked with a flying crane – has a lot of depth and lore to it. A ring of Malkieri kings – worn by men who had held back the Shadow 900 years and more. The ring had been remade countless times as it wore down over the centuries – with the old ring always melted to become part of the new. The ring was also worn by rulers of the previous Rhamdashar that existed before Malkier and then by rulers of Aramaelle that existed before Rhamdashar. Representing over 3,000 years of fighting the Blight! Damn! Has it really been a problem for that long? I guess Malkier was the last before the area become taken over by the Blight then, after so long of fighting against it? Maybe that is why Lan feels such shame it seems?
But Lan has never worn the ring himself despite having it since almost as long as he has lived – and he disciplines himself by looking at it! Hmm. Certainly shame there. The ring was one of four gifts he had been given in the cradle – including a locket which contained painted pictures of his parents he does not remember but is still most precious to him – he also got that badass sword we learned of in the very first chapter as well as an oath:
‘To stand against the Shadow so long as iron is hard and stone abides. To defend the Malkieri while one drop of blood remained. To avenge what cannot be defended.’
I wonder why he considers the oath a gift? Is he still trying to keep to that oath? Also he was consecrated as King of Malkier shortly before the nation seemingly fell to the Shadow. Also Lan’s actual name – Dai Shan. Or his ‘King’ name I guess. But yeah it sounds like he still aims to avenge so I guess he is sticking to the oath. I mean of course he is, this is Lan.
So it seems he fights to avenge Malkier but not to lead men into the Blight in order to try and rebuild once again as he does not believe it possible.
So Edeyn was his first lover and they have not seen each other for ten years pretty much. I’m guessing that’s what Carneira means.
Sounds to me like Bukama may be interested in trying to take Malkier back from the Shadow.
Damn! So they seem about to be attacked by six armed men and Lan just gave Bukama a command in a way he apparently never had before. And Bukama of course obeys and even called Lan – Dai Shan – which I am just going to refer to as his King name from now on. Since Bukama had a hand in getting Lan out of Malkier when he was just a baby he can get away with saying a lot more around Lan than anyone else could without encuring Lan’s wrath.
Also that’s quite lucky that Lan had just done some ko’di to calm himself beforehand – so that should make things easier for him in the fight. I am really liking the description of this fight – it is quite different to what I’ve seen in other books. Here it is not only just describing but also giving the names of different forms/moves that Lan is using in the fight. It also sounds like Lan is expecting to die in the fight… as he is fighting alone against six.
So far he seems to be doing well though, with some brutal descriptions of his attacks. Of course though he manages to best them all, taking some minor injuries himself, does not sound like anything serious.
But who were they? Just some criminals? Seems doubtful. Lan’s friend – Ryne – identifies a couple of the dead attackers as people who had listened to the Lady Edeyn’s speech and had been roused by it – so that makes it strange that they would attack Lan – and Ryne seems to suggest that perhaps the Lady Edeyn herself had a hand in this as with Lan being dead then she would be the main leader – although he quickly backs down on this as Lan and Bukama gave him sharp looks. A very bold thing for him to say and I doubt myself that is the case, it would be a twist for sure, but I just don’t think it is the case.
Interestingly though Lan does not rule it out – he merely just did not like that Ryne said it aloud – as it was still disrespectful. But Lan does believe it is something Edeyn may do if it suited her purposes. I don’t know though, I think even if she did want the power to herself she could still use Lan as a great rallying figure – even more so with him alive and visible – and then betray him later on and take the power for herself once they had retaken Malkier. Or maybe I am just being foolish.
Anyway! It looks like they are going to be traveling to Edeyn now.
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