Crossroads of Twilight

In Arad Doman, General Rodel Ituralde waits in a winter forest, frustrated by the chaotic orders of King Alsalam, which have undermined his war against the Dragonsworn. Believing the king is no longer mentally fit to command, Ituralde has secretly instructed nobles loyal to him to ignore the king’s couriers. When the king commands the army to attack the Seanchan Empire’s forces, who are invading Arad Doman, having already conquered numerous neighboring kingdoms, Ituralde uses the order as a pretext to implement his own complex plan to save the nation. He meets with Dragonsworn leaders—including both Domani, who are Ituralde’s compatriots despite their allegiance to Rand al’Thor, and Taraboners from the distant kingdom of Tarabon—under a truce flag, the “White Ribbon.” He proposes they unite against the common Seanchan threat, offering a truce in the king’s name. The Domani lords agree. Ituralde then outlines a plan for the Taraboners to infiltrate their occupied homeland in disguise and incite a rebellion, which he will join. A Taraboner leader agrees, setting Ituralde’s true plan in motion: to lure the enraged Seanchan army into a trap.

Elsewhere, Eamon Valda, the new Lord Captain Commander of the Children of the Light—a militant group from the Southern kingdom of Amadicia, dedicated to routing out those aligned with the evil Dark One—leads the 9,000 survivors of Amadicia’s defeat by the Seanchan.