The Gathering Storm twot-12 Read online

  "Mat, lad," Thom said, joining him, walking with his familiar limp. He'd had a fractured arm, though he'd hadn't mentioned it until Edesina had noticed him flinching and insisted on Healing him. "You should sleep." Now that the moon had risen — hidden behind the clouds — there was enough light for Mat to see Thom's concern.

  The group had stopped in a small hollow off one side of the trail. It gave a good view back toward the village, and — more importantly — it overlooked the path that Mat and the others had used to escape. The hollow lay on a steep hillside, the only approach from below. One person on watch could keep a good eye out for anyone trying to sneak into the camp.

  The Aes Sedai had bedded down near the back of the hollow, though Mat didn't think they were actually sleeping. Joline's Warders had thought to bring bedrolls, just in case. Warders were like that. Mat's men only had their cloaks, but that hadn't deterred them from sleeping. Talmanes was even snoring softly, despite the spring chill. Mat had forbidden a fire. It wasn't so cold that they needed one, and it would just signal anyone looking for them.

  "I'm fine, Thom," Mat said, making room on his rock as the gleeman settled down. "You're the one who should get some sleep."

  Thom shook his head. "One nice thing I've noticed about getting older is that your body doesn't seem to need its sleep as much anymore. Dying doesn't take as much energy as growing, I guess."

  "Don't start that again," Mat said. "Do I need to remind you about how you hauled my skinny backside out of trouble back there? What was that you were worried about earlier? That I didn't need you anymore? If you hadn't been with me today, if you hadn't come looking for me, I'd be dead in that village. Delarn too."

  Thom grinned, eyes bright in the moonlight. "All right, Mat," he said. "No more. I promise."

  Mat nodded. The two of them sat for a time on their rock, looking out at the city. "It's not going to leave me alone, Thom," Mat finally said.

  "What?"

  "All of this," Mat said tiredly. "The bloody Dark One and his spawn. They've been chasing me since that night in the Two Rivers, and nothing has stopped them."

  "You think this was him?"

  "What else could it have been?" Mat asked. "Quiet village folk, turning into violent madmen? It's the Dark One's own work, and you know it."

  Thom was silent. "Yes," he finally said. "I suppose it is at that."

  "They're still coming for me," Mat said angrily. "That bloody gholam is out there, I know it is, but that's just part of it. Myrddraal and Dark-friends, monsters and ghosts. Chasing me and hunting me. I've stumbled from one disaster to another, barely keeping my neck above water, ever since this began. I keep saying I just need to find a hole somewhere to dice and drink, but that won't stop it. Nothing will."

  "You're ta'veren, lad," Thom said.

  "I didn't ask to be. Burn me, I wish they'd all just go bother Rand. He likes it." He shook his head, dispelling the image that formed, showing Rand asleep in his bed, Min curled up beside him.

  "You really think that?" Thom asked.

  Mat hesitated. "I wish I did," he admitted. "It would make things easier."

  "Lies never make things easier in the long run. Unless they're to exactly the right person — usually a woman — at exactly the right time. When you tell them to yourself, you just bring more trouble."

  "I brought those people trouble. In the village." He glanced toward the back of the camp, where the two Warders sat, guarding the still-bound serving girls. They continued to struggle. Light! Where did they get the strength? It was inhuman.

  "I don't think this was you, Mat," Thom said thoughtfully. "Oh, I don't disagree that trouble hunts you — the Dark One himself seems to do so. But Hinderstap . . . well, when I was singing in that common room, I heard some tidbits. They seemed like nothing. But looking back, it strikes me that the people were expecting this. Or something like it."

  "How could they have been?" Mat said. "If this had happened before, they'd all be dead."

  "Don't know," Thom said thoughtfully. Then something seemed to strike him. He began fishing inside his cloak. "Oh, I forgot. Maybe there is some connection between you and what happened. I managed to take this away from a man who was too drunk for his own good." The glee-man pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Mat.

  Mat took the paper, frowning, and unfolded it. He squinted in the diffuse moonlight, leaning close, and grunted when he made out what the paper contained — not words, but a very accurate drawing of Mat's face, hat atop his head. It even had the foxhead medallion drawn in around his neck. Bloody ashes.

  He contained his annoyance. "Handsome fellow. Good nose, straight teeth, dashing hat."

  Thom snorted.

  "I saw some men showing a paper to the mayor," Mat said, refolding the drawing. "I didn't see what was on it, but I'll bet it was the same as this. What did the man you took this from say about it?"

  "An outlander woman in some village north of here is giving them out and offering a reward to anyone who has seen you. The man got the paper from a friend, so he didn't have a description of her or the town's name. Either his friend kept him ignorant, wanting the reward for himself, or he was just too drunk to remember."

  Mat tucked the paper into his coat pocket. The light of false dawn was beginning to glow to the east. He'd sat up all night, but he didn't feel tired. Just . . . drained. "I'm going back," he said.

  "What?" Thom asked, surprised. "To Hinderstap?"

  Mat nodded, rising. "As soon as it's light. I need to — "

  A muffled curse interrupted him. He spun, reaching for his asban-darei. Thom had a pair of knives in his hands in the blink of an eye. Fen,

  Joline's Saldaean Warder, was the one who had cursed. He stood, hand on his sword, searching the ground around him. Blaeric stood by the Aes Sedai, sword out, alert and on guard.

  "What?" Mat asked tersely.

  "The prisoners," Fen said.

  Mat started, realizing that the lumps that had lain near the Warders were gone. He dashed over, cursing. Talmanes' snores stopped as the sounds woke him and he sat up. The bonds made from strips of Joline's dress lay on the ground, but the serving girls were gone.

  "What happened?" Mat asked, looking up.

  "I ..." The dark-haired Warder looked dumbfounded. "I have no idea. They were here just a moment ago!"

  "Did you doze off?" Mat demanded.

  "Fen wouldn't have done such a thing," Joline said, sitting up in her bedroll, her voice calm. She still wore only that dressing robe.

  "Lad," Thom said, "we both saw those girls here barely a minute ago."

  Talmanes cursed and woke the two Redarms. Delarn was looking a great deal better, his weakness from the Healing barely seeming to bother him as he climbed to his feet. The Warders called for a search, but Mat just turned back to the village below. "The answers are there," Mat said. "Thom, you're with me. Talmanes, watch the women."

  "We have little need of being 'watched,' Matrim," Joline said grumpily.

  "Fine," he snapped. "Thom, you're with me. Joline, you watch the soldiers. Either way, you all stay here. I can't worry about a whole group right now."

  He didn't give them a chance to argue. Within minutes, Mat and Thom were on their horses, riding down the path back toward Hinder-stap.

  "Lad," Thom said, "what is it you expect to find?"

  "I don't know," Mat replied. "If I did, I wouldn't be so keen to look."

  "Fair enough," Thom said softly.

  Mat spotted the oddities almost immediately. Those goats out on the western pasture. He couldn't tell for certain in the dawn light, but it looked like someone was herding them. And were those lights winking on in the village? There hadn't been a single one of those all night long! He hastened Pips' pace, Thom following silently.

  It took the better part of an hour to arrive — Mat hadn't wanted to risk camping too close, though he'd also been disinclined to hunt a way around and back to the army in the dark. It was fully light, if still very early,
by the time they rode back into the inn's yard. A couple of men in dun coats were working on the back door, which had apparently been broken off its hinges sometime after Mat and the others left. The men looked up as Mat and Thom rode into the yard, and one of them pulled off his cap, looking anxious. Neither one made a threatening move.

  Mat slowed Pips to a halt. One of the men whispered to the other, who ran inside. A moment later, a balding man with a white apron stepped out through the doorway. Mat felt himself go pale.

  "The innkeeper," Mat said. "Burn me, I saw you dead!"

  "Best go get the mayor, son," the innkeeper said to one of the working men. He glanced back at Mat. "Quickly."

  "What in the bloody name of Hawkwing's left hand is going on here?" Mat demanded. "Was it all some kind of twisted show? You — "

  A head stuck out of the inn door, peeking around the innkeeper toward Mat. The pudgy face had curly blond hair. Last time he'd seen this man, the cook, Mat had been forced to gut the man and slit his throat.

  "You!" he said, pointing. "I killedyou!"

  "Calm down, now, son," the innkeeper said. "Come in, we'll get you some tea, and — "

  "I'm not going anywhere with you, spirit," Mat said. "Thom, you seeing this?"

  The gleeman rubbed his chin. "Perhaps we should hear the man out, Mat."

  "Ghosts and spirits," Mat muttered, turning Pips. "Come on." He urged Pips forward, charging around to the front of the inn, Thom following. Here he caught a glimpse of many workers inside, carrying buckets of white paint. To fix the places where Aes Sedai fire had scored the building, likely.

  Thom pulled up beside Mat. "I've never seen anything like this, Mat," he said. "Why would spirits need to paint walls and repair doors?"

  Mat shook his head. He'd spotted the place where he'd fought the villagers to save Delarn. He pulled Pips to a halt suddenly, making Thom curse and round his own mount around to come back.

  "What?" Thom asked.

  Mat pointed. There was a stain of blood on the ground and across several rocks beside the road. "Where they stabbed Delarn," he said.

  "All right," Thom said. Around them, men passed on the street, gazes averted. They gave Mat and Thom a wide berth.

  Blood and bloody ashes, Mat thought. I've gotten us surrounded again. What if they attack? Bloody fool!

  "So there's blood," Thom said. "What did you expect?"

  "Where's the rest of the blood, Thom?" Mat growled. "I killed a good dozen men here, and I saw them bleed. You dropped three with your knives. Where's the blood?"

  "It vanishes," a voice said.

  Mat spun Pips to find the burly, hairy-armed mayor standing on the road a short distance away. He must have been near already; there was no way the workers could have fetched him that quickly. Of course, the way things seemed to be going in this village, who could tell that for certain? Barlden wore a cloak and shirt with several fresh rips in them.

  "The blood vanishes," he said, sounding exhausted. "None of us have seen it. We just wake up and it's gone."

  Mat hesitated, looking around the village. Women peeked out of houses, holding children. Men left for the fields, carrying crooks or hoes. Save for the air of anxiety at Mat and Thom's presence, one would never know anything had gone wrong in the village.

  "We won't hurt you," the mayor said, turning away from Mat. "So you needn't look so worried. At least, not until the sun sets. I'll give you an explanation, if you want one. Either come and listen or be gone with you. I don't really care, so long as you stop disturbing my town. We've work to do. Much more than usual, thanks to you."

  Mat glanced at Thom, who shrugged. "It never hurts to listen," Thom said.

  "I don't know," Mat said, eyeing Barlden. "Not unless you think it could hurt to end up surrounded by crazy, homicidal mountainfolk."

  "We leave, then?"

  Mat shook his head slowly. "No. Burn me, they've still got my gold. Come on, let's see what he has to say."

  "It started several months back," the mayor said, standing beside the window. They were in a neat — yet simple — sitting room in his manor. The curtains and carpet were of a soft pale green, almost the color of ox-eye leaves, with light tan wood paneling. The mayor's wife had brought tea made from dried sweetberries. Mat hadn't chosen to drink any, and he had made certain to lean against the wall near the street door. His spear rested beside him.

  Barlden's wife was a short, brown-haired woman, faintly pudgy, with a motherly air. She returned from the kitchen, carrying a bowl of honey for the tea, then hesitated as she saw Mat leaning by the wall. She eyed the spear, then put the bowl on the table and retreated.

  "What happened?" Mat asked, glancing at Thom, who had also declined a seat. The old gleeman stood with arms crossed beside the door from the kitchens. He nodded to Mat; the woman wasn't listening at the door. He'd make a motion if he heard someone approach.

  "We aren't sure if it was something we did, or just a cruel curse by the Dark One himself," the mayor said. "It was a normal day, early this year, just before the Feast of Abram. Nothing really special about it that I can remember. The weather had broken by then, though the snows hadn't come yet. A lot of us went about our normal activities the next morning, thinking nothing of it.

  "The oddities were small, you see. A broken door here, a rip in someone's clothing they didn't remember. And the nightmares. We all shared them, nightmares of death and killing. A few of the women started talking, and they realized that they couldn't remember turning in the previous evening. They could remember waking, safe and comfortable in their beds, but only a few remembered actually getting into bed. Those who could remember had gone to sleep early, before sunset. For the rest of us, the late evening was just a blur."

  He fell silent. Mat glanced at Thom, who did not respond. Mat could see in those blue eyes of his that he was memorizing the tale. He'd better get it right if he puts me in any ballads, Mat thought, folding his arms. And he'd better include my hat. This is a good bloody hat.

  "I was in the pastures that night," the mayor continued. "I was helping old man Garken with a broken strip of fencing. And then . . . nothing. A fuzzing. I awoke the next morning in my own bed, next to my wife. We felt tired, as if we hadn't slept well." He stopped, then more softly, he added, "And I had the nightmares. They're vague, and they fade. But I can remember one vivid image. Old man Garken, dead at my feet. Killed as if by a wild beast."

  Barlden stood next to a window in the eastern wall, opposite Mat, staring out. "But I went to see Garken the next day, and he was fine. We finished fixing the fence. It wasn't until I got back to town that I heard the chattering. The shared nightmares, the missing hours just after sunset. We gathered, talking it through, and then it happened again. The sun set, and when it rose I woke up in bed again, tired, mind full of nightmares."

  He shivered, then walked over to the table and poured himself a cup of tea.

  "We don't know what happens at night," the mayor said, stirring in a spoonful of honey.

  "You don't know?" Mat demanded. "I can bloody tell you what happens at night. You — "

  "We don't know what happens," the mayor interrupted, looking up sharply. "And have no care to know."

  "But — "

  "We have no need to know, outlander," the mayor said harshly. "We want to live our lives as best we can. Many of us turn in early, lying down before sunset. There are no holes in our memories that way. We go to bed, we wake up in that same bed. There are nightmares, perhaps some damage to the house, but nothing that can't be fixed. Others prefer to visit a tavern and drink to the setting of the sun. There's a blessing in that, I suppose. Drink all you want, and you never have to worry about getting home. You always wake safe and sound in bed."

  "You can't avoid this entirely," Thom said softly. "You can't pretend nothing is different."

  "We don't." Barlden took a drink of tea. "We have the rules. Rules that you ignored. No fires lit after sunset — we can't have a blaze starting in the night, without anyon
e to fight it. And we forbid outsiders inside the town after sunset. We learned that lesson quickly. The first people trapped here after nightfall were relatives of Sammrie the cooper. We found blood on the walls of his home the next morning. But his sister and her family were safely asleep in the beds he'd given them." The mayor paused. "Now they have the same nightmares we do."

  "So just leave," Mat said. "Leave this bloody place and go somewhere else!"

  "We've tried," the mayor said. "We always wake up back here, no matter how far we go. Some have tried ending their lives. We buried the bodies. They woke up the next morning in their beds."

  The room fell silent.

  "Blood and bloody ashes," Mat whispered. He felt chilled.

  "You survived the night," the mayor said, stirring his tea again. "I assumed that you hadn't, after seeing that bloodstain. We were curious to see where you'd wake up. Most of the rooms in the inns are permanently taken by travelers who are now, for better or worse, part of our village. We aren't able to choose where someone awakens. It just happens. An empty bed gets a new occupant, and from then on they wake up there each morning.

  "Anyway, when I heard you talking to one another about what you'd seen, I realized that you must have escaped. You remember the night too vividly. Anyone who . . . joins us simply has the nightmares. Count yourselves lucky. I suggest you move on and forget Hinderstap."

  "We have Aes Sedai with us," Thom said. "They might be able to do something to help you. We could tell the White Tower, have them send — "

  "No!" Barlden said sharply. "Our lives aren't so bad, now that we know how to deal with our situation. We don't want Aes Sedai eyes on us." He turned away. "We nearly turned your group away flat. We do that, sometimes, if we sense that the travelers won't obey our rules. But you had Aes Sedai with you. They ask questions, they get curious. We worried that if we turned you away, they'd get suspicious and force entrance."

  "Forcing them to leave at sunset made them even more curious," Mat said. "And having their bathing attendants bloody try to kill them isn't a good way to keep the secret either."