The final battle has begun. The Seals on the Dark Prison are breaking. The Pattern of the Age of Decay unravels before our eyes, and the armies of the Shadow are advancing out of the Blight. The sunset of the Third Age begins.
Ghosts from the past haunt Perrin Aybara. Whitecloaks, the wolf-killer, and the burden of responsibility laid upon him as the leader. All this time an invisible enemy is slowly tightening a noose around his neck. Perrin is forced to seek answers in Tel’aran’rhiod—at last to conquer the wolf within himself, or forever lose his human essence.
Meanwhile, Matrim Cauthon is preparing for the hardest trial of his life. Creatures from worlds beyond the stone passages—Elfin and Ilfin—have gotten tangled up with him, mocked him, and left him hanging with a noose around his neck. His memory is filled with fragments of other people’s recollections. Mat had hoped the last confrontation would end it all, but the Wheel weaves as it wishes. It is time for a new dance with Serpents and Foxes—for a game in which you cannot win. The Tower of Gendei is waiting, and its secrets will reveal the fate of a long-lost friend.