'They told me I'd bloody give up half the light of the world,' Mat said, skull still throbbing. 'I didn't want to know, but they told me anyway.'
'What else did they say?' Thom asked. 'Anything that can be a clue? How did you get out last time?'
'They threw me out,' Mat said.
He and the others burst into another room—no doorway—then dashed out the left-hand exit. What Thom had said before was correct. They probably needed to double back. But they could not, not with that nest of vipers following so closely!
'They threw me out of the doorframe in the Aelfinn realm,' Mat said, feeling winded. 'It leads to the basement of the Stone of Tear.'
'Then maybe we can find that!' Thom said. 'Your luck, Mat. Have it take us to the Aelfinn realm.'
It might work. 'All right,' he said, closing his eye and spinning about.
Mat pointed in a direction and opened his eye. He was pointing directly toward the gang of Aelfinn, weaving up the corridor toward them.
'Bloody ashes!' Mat cursed, turning and running away from them, picking another corridor at random.
Thom joined him, but was looking very wearied. Mat could take Moiraine from him for a while, but Thom would be so tired he would not be able to fight. The Aelfinn were going to run them ragged, as they had Birgitte centuries ago.
In the next room, Thom stumbled to a halt, drooping, though he still held Moiraine. Like all of the chambers, this one had four ways out. But the only way that mattered was one directly toward the Aelfinn. The one they couldn't take.
'There's no winning this game,' Thom said, panting. 'Even if we cheat, there's no winning.'
'Thom…' Mat said urgently. He handed Thom his ashandarei, then picked up Moiraine. She was so light. A good thing, too, otherwise Thom would never have lasted as long as he had.
Noal glanced at them, then down the corridor. The Aelfinn would be on them in moments. Noal met Mat's eye. 'Give me your pack. I need those nightflowers.'
'But—'
'No arguing!' Noal said. He dashed over and snagged one of the nightflowers. It had a very short fuse. He lit it and tossed it into the corridor. The Aelfinn were close enough that Mat could hear them scream and hiss as they saw the firework.
The boom came, sparks spurting out of the corridor and lighting the dark room. Where sparks came close to one of the rising columns of steam, that steam shied back, dancing away from the flames. The air smelled strongly of smoke and sulphur. Light, his socket was throbbing again.
'Now, Mat,' Noal said, Mat's ears still ringing from the blast, 'give me the pack.'
'What are you doing?' Mat said warily as Noal took the pack, then fished out the last nightflower.
'You can see it, Mat,' Noal said. 'We need more time. You have to get far enough ahead of those vipers that you can double back a few times, let your luck work you out of this.'
Noal nodded to one of the corridors, 'These corridors are narrow. Good choke points. A man could stand there and only have to fight one or two at a time. He'd last maybe a few minutes.'
'Noal!' Thom said, wheezing, standing with his hands on his knees near Mat's ashandarei leaning against the wall. 'You can't do this.'
'Yes I can,' Noal said. He stepped up to the corridor, beyond which the Aelfinn gathered. 'Thom, you're in no shape to fight. Mat, you're the one whose luck can find the way out. Neither of you can stay. But I can.'
'There will be no coming back for you,' Mat said grimly. 'As soon as we double back, this flaming place will take us somewhere else.'
Noal met his eye, that weathered face determined. 'I know. A price, Mat. We knew this place would demand a price. Well, I've seen a lot of things, done a lot of things. I've been used, Mat, one too many times. This is as good a place as any to meet the end.'
Mat stood up, lifting Moiraine, then nodded in respect to Noal. 'Come on, Thom.'
'But—'
'Come on!' Mat barked, dashing to one of the other doorways. Thom hesitated, then cursed and joined him, carrying Mat's torch in one hand and his ashandarei in the other. Noal stepped into the corridor behind, hefting his shortsword. Shapes moved in the smoke beyond him.
'Mat,' Noal called, glancing over his shoulder.
Mat waved Thom on, but hesitated, looking back.
'If you ever meet a Malkieri,' Noal said, 'you tell him Jain Farstrider died clean.'
'I will, Jain,' Mat said. 'May the light hold you.'
Noal turned back to face the Aelfinn and Mat left him. There was another boom as a nightflower went off. Then Mat heard Noal's voice echo down the corridor as he screamed a battlecry. It was not in any tongue Mat had ever heard.
He and Thom entered another chamber. Thom was weeping, but Mat held his tears. Noal would die with honor. Once, Mat would have thought that kind of thinking foolish—what good was honor if you were dead? But he had too many memories of soldiers, had spent too much time with men who fought and bled for that honor, to discredit such notions now.
He closed his eye and spun, Moiraine's weight almost unbalancing him. He picked a direction and found himself pointing back the way they had come. He charged down the corridor, Thom following.
When they reached the end of the corridor, it did not open into the room where they had left Noal. This room was round and was filled with yellow columns, made in the shape of enormous vines twisting around one another with an open cylinder of space at the center. Coiled lamp stands held globes of white that gave the room a soft light, and the floor was tiled in the pattern of white and yellow strips, spiraling out from the center. It smelled pungently of dry snakeskin.
Matrim Cauthon, you're no hero, he thought, glancing over his shoulder. That man you left behind, he's the hero. Light illumine you, Noal.
'Now what?' Thom asked. He seemed to have recovered some of his strength, so Mat handed back Moiraine and took his spear. There were only two doorways in this room, the one behind and one directly across the chamber. But Mat spun with his eye closed anyway. The luck pointed them to the doorway opposite the one they had entered.
They took it. The windows in this hallway looked out at the jungle, and they were now down in the thick of it. Mat occasionally spotted those three spires. The place where they had been moments ago, the place where Noal bled.
'This is where you got your answers, isn't it?' Thom asked.
Mat nodded.
'You think I could get some of those myself?' Thom asked. 'Three questions. Any answers you like…'
'You don't want them,' Mat said, tugging down the brim of his hat. 'Trust me, you don't. They aren't answers. They're threats. Promises. We—'
Thom stopped beside him. In Thom's arms, Moiraine was beginning to stir. She let out a soft groan, eyes still closed. But that was not what made Mat freeze.
He could see another circular yellow room up ahead. Sitting in the middle of that room was a redstone doorway. Or what was left of it.
Mat cursed, running forward. The floor was strewn with chunks of red rock rubble. Mat groaned, dropping his spear and taking a few of the chunks, holding them up. The doorway had been shattered by something, a blow of awesome force.
Near the entrance to the room, Thom sank down, holding the stirring Moiraine. He looked exhausted. Neither of them had a pack anymore; Mat had given his to Noal, and Thom had left his behind. And this room was a dead end, with no other doorways.
'Burn this place!' Mat shouted, ripping off his hat, staring up into the expansive, endless darkness above. 'Burn you all, snakes and foxes! Dark One take the lot of you. You have my eye, you have Noal. That's enough of a price for you! That's too much of a price! Isn't the life of Jain bloody Farstrider enough to appease you, you monsters!'
His words rang and vanished, with no reply. The old gleeman squeezed his eyes shut, holding Moiraine. He
