Chapter 4 - Shadows Sleeping

Summary

Perrin Aybara endures a series of vivid and oppressive dreams while sleeping in the camp, beginning with a confrontation in a hazy inn room where a shadowy, well-dressed man urges him to abandon his axe and destiny. The dream shifts to a vision of Perrin wearing golden armor and a lion-helm, pursued by a beautiful woman offering him glory and red wine, which he ultimately rejects in favor of his identity as a blacksmith. He is then transported to a labyrinth of stone spires and bridges where he witnesses a tense meeting between the man from the inn, a tall dark nobleman, and a white-haired nobleman, which ends in an explosion of fire. Finally, Perrin finds himself in a vast chamber beneath a dome where he observes the angreal Callandor hovering in mid-air, accompanied by a wolf who warns him that the Twisted Ones are coming before he wakes in a panic.

Characters

• Perrin — Perrin sits before a fire in the common room, where he experiences a dream of a man in shadows urging him to give up his axe. He later dreams of wearing gold armor and being tempted by a beautiful woman with red wine, but he rejects the vision of glory. In the final dream, he hides behind a stone railing as three men argue before being engulfed in fire, then walks toward the angreal Callandor while hearing a wolf warn him of the Twisted Ones, before waking up in his hut.
• the_man (the man, the speaker, the newcomer) — A handsome man in his middle years dressed in dark velvets and white lace appears in Perrin's inn dream, urging him to return to his trade as a blacksmith. He later appears in a bridge dream alongside two other noblemen, shouting at them before they are consumed by a ball of fire.
• the_woman (the woman) — A beautiful woman with midnight eyes and white silk dress appears in Perrin's second dream, offering him a golden helmet of glory and a cup of red wine, mocking his desire to remain a simple blacksmith.
• the_tall_dark_man (the tall dark man) — A tall, dark, and slender man with silver in his hair and a green coat embroidered with golden leaves appears on a stone bridge in Perrin's dream, arguing warily with the white-haired man and the newcomer.
• the_white_haired_man (the white-haired man) — A stocky, short man with close-cropped white hair and a red coat with black stripes appears on a stone bridge in Perrin's dream, joining the tall dark man in an argument against the newcomer.