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"Nothing," Mat said Nothing and too much at the same time "Excuse me"

He hastily crossed the tavern As he did, he noticed one of the thick-ar to Bernherd the tavernkeeper, pointing at a piece of paper in his hands Mat could not see as on it, but he could guess: his own face

He cursed and ducked out onto the street He took the first alley he saw, breaking into a run

The Forsaken hunting him, a picture of his face in the pocket of every footpad in the city and a corpse killed and drained of its blood That could only holaotten here this quickly Of course, Mat had seen it squeeze through a hole not two handspans wide The thing did not seeht sense of as possible and as not possible

Blood and bloody ashes, he thought, ducking his head He needed to collect Thoet back to the Band’s camp outside of the city He hastened down the dark, rain-slicked street Paving stones reflected the lit oil lamps ahead Elayne kept the Queen’s Walk well illuotten a reply Hoas that for gratitude? By his count, he had saved her life twice Once should have been enough to reduce her to tears and kisses, but he had not seen even a peck on the cheek Not that he wanted one; not from royalty Best to avoid theh lady of the Seanchan, he thought Daughter of the E royalty now! Not for hi stones And very keen of wit, good for talking to, even if she was flaht now

Anyway, he had received no reply from Elayne He would need to be ons now The bloody gholae, busy street, hands pushed into the pockets of his coat In his haste, he had left his walking staff back in The Dead Man’s Breath He gru his days relaxing, his nights dicing in fine inns, and hisfor Verin’s thirty-day requirement to run out Now this

He had a score to settle with that ghola around Ebou Dar were bad enough, and Mat had not forgotten Nalesean and the five Redarms who had been h to answer for already Then it had taken Tylin

Mat re at the foxhead ainst his chest He was tired of running from that monster A plan started to for of dice He tried to banish the i in bonds Mat himself had tied, her head ripped free There would have been so hola his hand back into his pocket as he approached the city gate Despite the darkness, he could pick out signs of the battle that had been fought here An arrowhead e to his left, a dark patch on the wall of a guard house, staining the wood beneath theAa crossbow out, and had slu his lifeblood down the wood

That siege was over now, and a new Queen--the right Queen--held the throne For once, there had been a battle and he had htened his ht over the Lion Throne, and not one arrow, blade or spear had entered the conflict seeking Matri the inside of the city wall There were a lot of inns here There were always inns near city gates Not the nicest ones, but alht spilled froolden in patches Dark forms crowded the alleyways except where the inns had hired men to keep the poor away Cae, the…other , of food spoiling, of ashed walls suddenly going grimy

The inn where Thom had chosen to perforn that shoo apples, one eaten down to the core That made it stark white, the other was stark red--colors of the Andoran flag The Two Apples was one of the nicer establishments in the area

Mat could hear theatop a s his flute and wearing his patchwork gleeman’s cloak His eyes were closed as he played, hisand white on either side of the instrue of Cinny Wade" Mat had learned it as "Always Choose the Right Horse," and still was not used to it being performed as slowly as Thom did

A small collection of coins was scattered on the floor in front of Thom The inn allowed him to play for tips Mat stopped near the doorway and leaned back to listen Nobody spoke in the coh it was stuffed so full Mat could have made half a company of soldiers just with the men inside Every eye was on Thoreat deal of it on his oo feet He had nearly lost his skin in a dozen different cities, and had stayed in inns far and near He had heard gleemen, performers and bards Tho on pots

The flute was a simple instrument A lot of nobles would rather hear the harp instead; one man in Ebou Dar had told Mat the harp was one slack-jawed and saucer-eyed if he had heard Tholeeman made the flute sound like an extension of his own soul Soft trills,for?

The croatched Caereatest cities in the world, but still the variety seemed incredible Crusty Illianers sat beside smooth Do of Borderlanders Caemlyn was seen as one of the few places where one could be safe froon There was a bit of food, too

Tho his eyes Mat sighed, hating to break up Tho on back to caholah to Elayne Maybe Thom woul