Chapters 40-44 Summary

Mat and Thom are preparing to sleep in the barn of an inn when a woman enters pulling a small wagon. When two men arrive and try to kill the woman, Mat leaps to the rescue and renders the attackers unconscious. The woman, whose name is Aludra, is an Illuminator, a maker of fireworks, and she rewards Mat with a small cache of fireworks. She decides she must keep moving and departs, and Mat and Thom are forced to be on their way as well.

Moiraine's group arrives in Illian, and Moiraine suggests to Faile that she would do best to leave them. Faile refuses, and Moiraine makes her swear that, if she wishes to remain with them, she will do what she is told, not run away, and keep any secrets she learns to herself. Faile finds out that Perrin...