The comment provoked almost as much surprise as Mat’s announcement. Captain-General Galgan looked as if he would rather swallow his own boots than have Mat in command. Min found herself being led away by a group of servants and soldiers, and she gave a squawk of annoyance.
Tuon moved her horse nearer to Mat’s. “I am told,” she said softly, “that in the battle moments ago, you not only claimed a
I
“You dropped your nail at his feet.”
“Oh. That … All right, maybe I did that. Accidentally. And the
No, Tuon said. It is well for you to have taken one of your own. You cannot train her, of course, but there are many
Mat shrugged. What else could he do? Maybe, if the
“I will have the officer you raised transferred to be your personal retainer,” Tuon said. “He has a good record, perhaps too good. He had been assigned that duty at the ford because he was considered. . potentially part of a faction who would have moved against us. He is now spouting your praises. I do not know what you did to change his opinion. You seem to have a particular skill at that.”
“Lets just hope I have as much skill for retrieving a victory,” Mat grumbled. “This is bad, Tuon.”
“Nobody else thinks so.” She said the words carefully, not arguing with him, really. Stating a fact.
“I’m right, anyway. I wish I wasn’t, but I am. I bloody am.”
“If you are not, I will lose influence.”
“You’ll be fine,” Mat said, leading the way back toward the Seanchan camp a few miles north at a brisk pace. “I may lead you wrong now and then, but in the end, you can be sure that I’m always a safe bet.”
CHAPTER 30
Perrin and Gaul did another dismayed round of Egwene’s camp-at least, the little of it that reflected in the wolf dream. Her army had been pushed far to the east, and the tents had not been placed long enough at the river to reflect strongly in the wolf dream.
The wolves had spotted Graendal here, but Perrin had not been able to catch her at whatever she was doing.
Three times now, Slayer had tried attacking the Bore, and the wolves had warned Perrin. Each time, Slayer had withdrawn before Perrin arrived. The man was testing them. It was the way of the predator, surveying the herd, searching for the weak.
At least Perrin's plan with the wolves had worked. Time progressed slowly in the Bore, and so Slayer-by necessity-was slowed down as he tried to reach Rand. That gave Perrin a chance to reach him in time.
“We need to warn the others about Graendal,” Perrin said, stopping in the center of camp. “She must be communicating with Darkfriends in our camps.”
Perhaps we could go to those at the Bore? You managed to speak to Nynaeve Sedai.”
“Maybe,” Perrin said. “I don’t know if it would be good to distract Nynaeve again, considering what she is up to.” Perrin turned about, looking at the bedrolls that flickered, then vanished in the wolf dream. He and Gaul had checked at Merrilor for a gateway, but none was there currently. If he wanted to go back to the waking world, he’d need to camp there and wait for hours. It seemed like such a waste.
If only he could figure out how to
He shook his head. He’d gone over and over that, and had come to no conclusions. With a sigh, he quested out for the wolves.
The wolves sent amusement. He had been asking them too frequently.
This earned a vague response. Wolves paid attention to men only to avoid them; in the wolf dream, that didn’t matter much. Still, where men congregated, nightmares sometimes ran wild, so the wolves had learned to keep their distance.
He would have liked to know how the other battles were progressing. What of Elayne’s army, Perrin’s men, Lord and Lady Bashere? Perrin led Gaul away; they ran with quick strides, rather than jumping to a place immediately. Perrin wanted to think.
The longer he remained in the wolf dream in the flesh, the more he felt that he should know how to
There was also an ache of fatigue inside him, growing stronger. He didn’t know if he could sleep in this place. His body wanted rest, but had forgotten how to find it. It reminded him a little of when Moiraine had dispelled their fatigue while fleeing the Two Rivers all that time ago. Two years now.
A very long two years.
Perrin and Gaul inspected Lan’s camp next. It was even more ephemeral than Egwene’s; using the wolf dream for surveillance here was pointless. Lan moved with lots of cavalry, retreating at speed. He and his men did not remain in one place long enough to reflect in the wolf dream except in the most fleeting of ways.
There were no signs of Graendal. “
Gaul looked up, scanning the landscape to the west. “If they keep falling back from here, they will eventually reach the Field of Merrilor again. Perhaps that is the goal.”
“Perhaps,” Perrin said. “I want to visit Elayne’s battlefront and-”
Perrin grabbed Gaul by the arm and
They arrived on a ledge overlooking the valley. He and Gaul went down immediately to their stomachs, peering over the edge, inspecting the valley. An old, grizzled wolf appeared beside Perrin. He knew this wolf, he was certain of it-the scent was familiar, but he could not place a name to him, and the wolf did not send one.
“Where?” Perrin whispered. “Is she in the cavern?”
The wolf sent an image of tents clustered in the valley just below the entrance to the cavern. She had not been spotted in this valley since that first time Perrin had caught her here.
Ituralde’s troops had been holding here for long enough that their tents were becoming more and more stable in the wolf dream. Perrin