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| %%(display:block; text-align:center;) [{Image src='Chapter Icons/harp_bw.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=Gleeman Chapter Icon' align='center'}] ''[TEotW|The Eye of the World]: Whitebridge'' %% 
| [{Image src='Chapter Icons/btar_rgt.gif' link='Wiki.jsp?page=TEotW,Ch27' align='right'}]
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! __Rand__ POV

[Rand|Rand alThor], [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] and [Thom|Thom Merrilin] are on the ''[Spray]''. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] is trying to learn to play [Thom|Thom Merrilin]'s flute. [Rand|Rand alThor] is good at the flute and [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] is good at juggling. They dock at [Whitebridge]. Captain [Domon|Bayle Domon] kicks [Floran Gelb] off his boat. When [Rand|Rand alThor] looks at the [White Bridge] he sees a shadow ripple through the structure.[1] There are merchants[2] waiting for [Domon|Bayle Domon] on the dock. [Domon|Bayle Domon] wants [Thom|Thom Merrilin] to go to [Illian|Illian (Country)] with him. They will be there by the [Feast of Sefan|Calendar] when there is a gleeman's contest. [Rand|Rand alThor], [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] and [Thom|Thom Merrilin] go to the square where the [White Bridge] ends and enter an inn, [The Wayfarer's Rest|The Wayfarers Rest]. The innkeeper, [Bartim], gives them the latest news. The roads in the south are packed with fleeing people. [Logain|Logain Ablar] was captured near [Lugard] while he was trying to move his army from [Ghealdan] to [Tear|Tear (Country)]. The [Aes Sedai] are taking him north to [Tar Valon]. They are stopping at every village and town along the way to display [Logain|Logain Ablar]. One of the stops will be [Caemlyn] to show him to Queen [Morgase|Morgase Trakand]. [Logain|Logain Ablar] can [channel|True Source]. Two years ago [Bartim] saw the previous [false Dragon|False Dragons] paraded through the countryside. He was just some poor guy who wanted to be king.[3] [Bartim] then tells them that two days ago, a man from [Illian|Illian (Country)] read a proclamation about the new hunt for the [Horn|Horn of Valere]. [Thom|Thom Merrilin] recites a bit from the tale of the [Great Hunt of the Horn|Horn of Valere]:

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''"In the last, lorn fight\\
'gainst the fall of long night,\\
the mountains stand guard,\\
and the dead shall be ward,\\
for the grave is no bar to my call."''
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[Rand|Rand alThor] asks about their friends. [Bartim|bartim] asks for descriptions. After [Rand|Rand alThor] gives them, [Bartim] asks them all to leave. [Bartim] says about a week previous a crazy man[4] came over the [White Bridge] and was asking about all of them. He went towards [Caemlyn]. The next day a hooded man all in black came into town and asked about them. They realize it was a [Fade]. [Bartim] leaves them and they discuss what to do next. They discover that [Floran Gelb] is on the other side of the inn talking about the events on the ''[Spray]'' ([TEotW,Ch20]). [Thom|Thom Merrilin] leads [Rand|Rand alThor] and [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] as they sneak out of the inn through a window into an alley. [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] asks [Thom|Thom Merrilin] why he is helping them. [Thom|Thom Merrilin] tells them about his nephew [Owyn]. [Thom|Thom Merrilin] leaves to get a disguise and then returns. [Thom|Thom Merrilin] wraps his instruments inside his gleeman cloak. They all leave the alley and enter the square. A [Fade] is coming toward them. [Thom|Thom Merrilin] takes his bundle and gives it to [Rand|Rand alThor]. [Thom|Thom Merrilin] tells them to go to [Caemlyn] to an inn called [The Queen's Blessing|The Queens Blessing]. [Thom|Thom Merrilin] then pushes the boys away and charges the [Fade]. There is a flash of blue light.[5] [Rand|Rand alThor] and [Mat|Matrim Cauthon] run out of town and down the road.
\\%%follow [Follow Rand|TEotW,Ch31] %%
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More [Category Rand POV|Rand POV]
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! Notes (Possible Spoilers)

[#1] This odd effect is never explained. The [White Bridge] is a remnant from the [Age of Legends] and was built with the [One Power].\\
[#2] One of the merchants is [Howal Gode], a [Darkfriend|Darkfriends]. ([TEotW,Ch32])\\
[#3] [Gorin Rogad] was captured and killed in [Illian|Illian (Country)], so perhaps this guy was the third [false Dragon|False Dragons] in the last five years mentioned in [TEotW,Ch3].\\
[#4] The crazy man must be [Padan Fain].\\
[#5] Implying that these knives of [Thom|Thom Merrilin]'s are [One Power] wrought. The recent correction in [TEotW,Ch20] that now has [Thom|Thom Merrilin] using his "second-best knives" against the [Trollocs] outside [Shadar Logoth|Aridhol (City)] makes this plausible.\\
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