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"They’re watching us, aren’t they?" Noal asked His voice was soft, faintly nervous Light! Mat felt as if he was going to ju it behind Compared to that, Noal seemed steady

"I suspect they are, at that," Mat said

Within a fewhallway Here, they entered a chamber that was identical to the first, save it had no doorway in the center It split off in four directions, each corridor disappearing into the distant darkness

They picked another direction,at their backs His footsteps grew th of the hallway and entered another chamber It was exactly like the previous one

"Easy to be disoriented in a place like this," Noal said He opened his pack and got out a sheet of paper and a charcoal pencil He made three dots on his paper, then connected theone through "It’s all a ood map can mean life or death; you can trustback the way they had co, not look backward, but he had to know "Co back the way they had coain hurried to catch up It took theood half-hour to retrace their steps back to the first chamber, the one that should contain the doorway They found it empty Those columns of steam rose from the corners They had in the other two rooms, too

"Impossible!" Noal said "We retraced our steps perfectly! The way out should be here"

In the distance--faint and alhter Malicious

Mat’s skin grew icy "Thoitte Silverbow and her visit to the Tower of Ghenjei?"

"Birgitte?" Tho up from his inspection--with Noal--of the floor They seemed convinced that the doorway must have been pulled down into some hidden trapdoor "No, can’t say that I have"

"What about a story of a woman trapped for two months in a maze of corridors inside a fortress?"

"Two months?" Thom said "Well, no But there’s the tale of El in aof Sund to save her lover’s life"

That was probably it The story had survived; it had changed foret out, did she?"

"No She died at the end, only two steps away from the fountain, but separated fro; it was the last sound she heard before dying frolanced about unco such a story in this place

Mat shook his head, worried Burn him, but he hated these foxes There had to be a way to--