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Sought Couladin out? He had done his best to keep the pikes between him and any of the Shaido But that arrow had clipped the side of his head, and he was on the ground before he knew it, struggling to get to his feet with the fight raging all around hi toout of air, veiled for killing, but there had been no oldandred Thea swath into the pike for Rand to show hi that he was the true Car’a’carn Maybe he really believed it by then Mat still did not knohether Couladin had recognized him, but it had made no difference, not when the fellow decided to carve a hole through him to find Rand He did not knoho had cut off Couladin’s head afterward, either

I was too busy trying to stay alive to watch, he thought sourly And hoping he would not bleed to death Back in the Two Rivers he had been as fine a hand with a quarterstaff as anyone, and a quarterstaff was not so different fros in his hands Of course, that skill had not availed the man much in the end Maybe I still have a little bit of luck Please, Light, let it show itself now!

He was thinking of how to get rid Of Melindhra so he could saddle Pips when Talmanes presented himself with a formal bow, hand to heart in the Cairhienin fashion "Grace favor you, Mat"

"And you," Mat said absently She was not going to go because he asked Asking would certainly put a fox in the henyard Maybe if he told her he wanted to take a ride They said Aiel could run down horses

"A delegation caht There will be a triuratitude from Cairhien"

"Will there?" She had to have duties of so around Rand; h, he did not think he had better count on it Her wide sh Lord Meilan," Nalesean said, joining the wide, but hasty "It is he who offers the procession to the Lord Dragon"

"Lord Dobraine, Lord Maringil and Lady Colavaere, aon"

Mat pulled histo pretend the other of theht at him, with never the flicker of an eye toward each other -- but their faces were as tight as their voices from the strain, their hands white knuckled on sword hilts It would be a cap to everything if they ca to hobble out of reach when one of theh by accident "What does it ets his procession?"

"It htful place at the head," Talmanes said quickly "You slew Couladin, and earned us that place" Nalesean closed his mouth and scowled; plainly he had been about to say the sa

"You two ask him," Mat said "It’s none of htened on the back of his neck, but he did not care Moiraine would surely not be far from Rand He was not about to put his neck in a second noose while still trying to think his way out of the first

Talaped at him as if he were demented "You are our battle leader," Nalesean protested "Our general"

"My bodyservant will polish your boots," Talmanes put in with a small smile that he carefully did not direct at the squarefaced Tairen, "and brush and mend your clothes So you will appear at your best"

Nalesean gave his oiled beard a jerk; his eyes darted halfway to the other ood coat I think will fit you well Gold satin and crilower

"General!" Mat exclai hi --! I ure out which one of them he meant

"Burn my soul," Nalesean said, "it was your battle skill that won for us, and kept us alive Not to ht card, but it is more than that I’d follow you if you had never on"

"You are our leader," Talht on top of him, in a voice more sober if no less certain "Until yesterday I have followed men of other lands because I must You I will follow because I want to Perhaps you are not a lord in Andor, but here, I say that you are, and I pledge myself your h startled at voicing the saed brief nods If they did not like each other -- and only a fool would bet against that -- they could room to prepare your horse for the procession," Talmanes said, and barely frohen Nalesean added, "Mine can share the work Your mount must do us proud And burn my soul, we need a banner Your banner" At that the Cairhienin nodded eh hysterically or sit down and cry Those bloody memories If not for them, he would have ridden on If not for Rand, he would not have the things He could trace the steps that led to the an end in itself, yet each leading inevitably to the next At the beginning of it all lay Rand And bloody ta’veren He could not understand why doing so that seemed absolutely necessary and as close to harmless as he could make it always seeun stroking the back of his neck instead of squeezing it All he needed now

He glanced up the hill, and there she was Moiraine, on her delicatestepping whiteat her side The Warder bent toward her as if to listen, and there seeument, a violent protest on his part, but after a ht toward, the opposite slope Lan re the ca Mat

He shivered Couladin’s head really did appear to be grinning at him He could almost hear the man speak You may have killed me, but you’ve put your foot squarely in the trap I’m dead, but