looked beaten, ground down to nothing. His hands were red and blistered from pulling her free, his coat sleeves burned.
Mat looked about, desperate. He tried spinning about with eye closed pointing. When he opened his eye, he was pointing at the center of the room. The broken doorway.
It was then that he felt hope start to die inside of him.
'It was a good try, lad,' Thom said. 'We did well. Better than we should have expected.'
'I won't give up,' Mat said, trying to defy the crushing sense inside of him. 'We'll… we'll retrace our steps, find a way back to the place between the Aelfinn and Eelfinn. The bargain said they had to leave that portal open. We'll take it and get out of here, Thom. I'll be burned if I'm going to die in here. You still owe me a couple of mugs.'
Thom opened his eyes and smiled, but did not stand up. He shook his head, those drooping mustaches wagging, and looked down at Moiraine.
Her eyes fluttered open. 'Thom,' she whispered, smiling. 'I thought I heard your voice.'
Light, but her voice took Mat back. To other times. Ages ago.
She glanced at him. 'And Mat. Dear Matrim. I knew you would come for me. Both of you. I wish you hadn't, but I knew you would…'
'Rest, Moiraine,' Thom said softly. 'We'll be out of here in two strums of a harp.'
Mat looked at her, lying there, helpless. 'Burn me. I'm not going to let it end like this!'
'They're coming, lad,' Thom said. 'I can hear them.'
Mat turned to look through the opening. He could see what Thom had heard. The Aelfinn crept through the corridor, sinuous and deadly. They smiled, and he could see fanglike incisors at the forefront of those smiles. They could have been human, save for those fangs. And those eyes. Those unnatural, slitted eyes. They moved sleekly. Terrible, eager.
'No,' Mat whispered. 'There has to be a way.' Think, he told himself. Mat, you fool. There has to be a way out. How did you escape the last time? Noal had asked. That was no help.
Thom, looking desperate, unhooked his harp from his back. He began to play it. Mat recognized the tune, 'Sweet Whispers of Tomorrow.' A mournful sound, played for the fallen dead. It was beautiful.
Remarkably, the music did seem to soothe the Aelfinn. They slowed, the ones at the front beginning to sway to the beat of the melody as they walked. They knew. Thom played for his own funeral.
'I don't know how I got out last time,' Mat whispered. 'I was unconscious. I woke up being hanged. Rand cut me down.'
He raised a hand to his scar. His original Aelfinn answers revealed nothing. He knew about the Daughter of the Nine Moons, he knew about giving up half the light of the world. He knew about Rhuidean. It all made sense. No holes. No questions.
Except…
What did the Eelfinn give you?
'If I had my way,' Mat whispered, staring at the oncoming Aelfinn, 'I would want those holes filled.'
The Aelfinn slithered forward, wearing those cloths of yellow wrapping their bodies. Thom's music spun in the air, echoing. The creatures approached with steady, slow steps. They knew they had their prey now.
The two Aelfinn at the front carried swords of gleaming bronze, dripping red. Poor Noal.
Thom began to sing. 'Oh, how long were the days of a man. When he strode upon a broken land.'
Mat listened, memories blossoming in his mind. Thom's voice carried him to days long ago. Days in his own memories, days of the memories of others. Days when he had died, days when he had lived, days when he had fought and when he had won.
'I want those holes filled…' Mat whispered to himself. 'That's what I said. The Eelfinn obliged, giving me memories that were not my own.'
Moiraine's eyes had closed again, but she smiled as she listened to Thom's music. Mat had thought Thom was playing for the Aelfinn, but now he wondered if he was playing for Moiraine. A last, melancholy song for a failed rescue.
'He sailed as far as a man could steer,' Thom sang, voice sonorous, beautiful. 'And he never wished to lose his fear.'
'I want those holes filled,' Mat repeated, 'so they gave me memories. That was my first boon.'
'For the fear of man is a thing untold. It keeps him safe, and it proves him bold!'
'I asked something else, not knowing it,' Mat said. 'I said I wanted to be free of Aes Sedai and the Power. They gave me the medallion for that. Another gift.'
'Don't let fear make you cease to strive, for that fear it proves you remain alive!'
'And… and I asked for one more thing. I said I wanted to be away from them and back to Rhuidean. The Eelfinn gave me everything I asked for. The memories to fill my holes. The medallion to keep me free from the Power…'
And what? They sent him back to Rhuidean to hang. But hanging was a price, not an answer to his demands.
'I will walk this broken road,' Thom sang, voice growing louder, 'and I will carry a heavy load!'
'They did give me something else,' Mat whispered, looking down at the ashandarei in his hands as the Aelfinn began to hiss more loudly.
Thus is our treaty written; thus is agreement made.
It was carved on the weapon. The blade had two ravens, the shaft inscribed with words in the Old Tongue.
Thought is the arrow of time; memory never fades.
Why had they given to him? He had never questioned it. But he had not asked for a weapon.
What was asked is given. The price is paid.
No, I didn't ask for a weapon. I asked for a way out.
And they gave me this.
'So come at me with your awful lies,' Thom bellowed the final line of the song. 'I'm a man of truth, and I'll meet your eyes!'
Mat spun the ashandarei and thrust it into the wall. The point sank into the not-stone. Light sprayed out around it, spilling free like blood gushing from a split vein. Mat screamed, ramming it in farther. Powerful waves of light erupted from the wall.
He drew the ashandarei down at an angle, making a slit. He pulled the weapon up the other side, cutting out a large inverse triangle of light. The light seemed to thrum as it washed across him. The Aelfinn had reached the doorway by Thom, but they hissed, shying back from the powerful radiance.
Mat finished by drawing a wavy line down the middle of the triangle. He could barely see, the light was so bright. The section of the wall in front of him fell away, revealing a glowing white passage that seemed to be cut out of steel.
'Well I'll…' Thom whispered, standing up.
The Aelfinn screamed with high-pitched anger. They entered the room, arms raised to shield their eyes, wicked swords gripped in opposing hands.
'Get her out!' Mat bellowed, spinning to face the creatures. He lifted the ashandarei, using the butt end to smash the face of the first Aelfinn. 'Go!'
Thom grabbed Moiraine, then spared a glance at Mat.
'Go!' Mat repeated, smashing the arm of another Aelfinn.
Thom leaped into the doorway and vanished. Mat smiled, spinning among the Aelfinn with his ashandarei, laying into legs, arms, heads. There were a lot of them, but they seemed dazed by the light, frenzied to get to him. As he tripped the first few, the others stumbled. The creatures became a squirming mass of sinuous arms and legs, hissing and spitting in anger, several of those in back trying to crawl over the pile to reach him.
Mat stepped back and tipped his hat to the creatures. 'Looks like the game can be won after all,' he said. 'Tell the foxes I'm mighty pleased with this key they gave me. Also, you can all go rot in a flaming pit of fire and ashes, you unwashed lumps on a pig's backside. Have a grand bloody day.'
He held his hat and leaped through the opening.
All flashed white.
