The Dragon Reborn

The i

He had thought from the directions that they must have passed the Wise Woman's house on their way up from the dock that first night, and when he saw the long, narrow house with bunches of herbs hanging in the windows, right next to a potter's shop, he remembered it. Lopar had said something about going to the back door, but he had had enough of mud.

And the stink of fish, he thought, frowning at the barefoot men squelching by with their baskets on their backs. There were tracks of horses in the street, too, just begi

Dismissing horses and wheel tracks from his mind, he took Thom to the front door and knocked. After a time he knocked again. Then again.

He was on the point of giving up and returning to The White Crescent despite Thom coughing on his shoulder when he heard shuffling footsteps inside.

The door opened barely more than a crack, and a stout, gray-haired woman peered out. "What do you want?" she asked in a tired voice.

Mat put on his best grin. Light, but I am getting sick myself at all these people who sound like there's no bloody hope. "Mother Gue

She studied them a moment, seemed to listen to Thom's wheezes, then sighed. "I suppose I can still do that, at least. You might as well come in." She swung the door open and was already plodding toward the back of the house before Mat moved.

Her accent sounded so much like the Amyrlin's that he shivered, but he followed, all but carrying Thom.

"I don't... need this," the gleeman wheezed. "Bloody mixtures... always taste like... dung!"

"Shut up, Thom."

Leading them all the way to the kitchen, the stout woman rummaged in one of the cupboards, taking out small stone pots and packets of herbs while muttering to herself.

Mat sat Thom down in one of the high-backed chairs, and glanced through the nearest window. There were three good horses tied out back; he was surprised the Wise Woman had more than one, or any for that matter. He had not seen anyone in Tear riding except nobles and the wealthy, and these animals looked as if they had cost more than a little silver. Horses again. I don't care about bloody horses now!

Mother Gue

When she took the cup away, Thom coughed and scrubbed at his mouth with equal vigor. "Gaaah! Woman... I don't know... whether you... mean to drown me ... or kill me... with the taste! You ought... to be a bloody... blacksmith!"

"You will take the same twice a day till that hacking is gone," she said firmly. "And I have a salve that you'll rub on your chest every night." Some of the weariness left her voice as she confronted the gleeman, fists on her broad hips. "That salve stinks as bad as this tea tastes, but you will rub it on – thoroughly! – or I'll drag you upstairs like a scrawny carp in a net and tie you to a bed with that cloak of yours! I never had a gleeman come to me before, and I'll not let the first one that does cough himself to death."

Thom glowered and blew out his mustaches with a cough, but he seemed to take her threat seriously. At least, he did not say anything, but he looked as if he meant to throw her tea and her salve right back at her.

The more this Mother Gue

"Perhaps." The gray-haired woman suddenly sounded tired again, and she kept staring at the floor. "I knew some girls with the sound of your speech on their tongues, too. Two of them had it, anyway." She sighed heavily.

Mat felt his scalp prickle. My luck can't be this good. But he would not bet a copper on two other women with Two Rivers accents just happening to be in Tear. "Three girls? Young women? Named Egwene, and Nynaeve, and Elayne? That one has hair like the sun, and blue eyes."

She frowned at him. "Those were not the names they gave," she said slowly, "yet I suspected they did not give me their true names. But they had their reasons, I thought. One of them was a pretty girl with bright blue eyes and red-gold hair to her shoulders." She described Nynaeve with her braid to her waist and Egwene with her big, dark eyes and ready smile, too. Three pretty women as different from one another as they could be. "I see they are the ones you know," she finished. "I am sorry, boy."

"Why are you sorry? I have been trying to find them for days!" Light, I walked right past this place the first night! Right past them! I wanted random. What could be more random than where a ship docks on a rainy night, and where you happen to look in a bloody lightning flash? Burn me! Burn me! "Tell me where they are, Mother Gue

The gray-haired woman stared wearily at the stove where her spouted kettle was steaming. Her mouth worked, but she said nothing.

"Where are they?" Mat demanded. "It is important! They are in danger if I don't find them."

"You do not understand," she said softly. "You are an outlander. The High Lords ..."

"I do not care about any —" Mat blinked, and looked at Thom. The gleeman seemed to be frowning, but he was coughing so hard, Mat could not be sure. "What do the High Lords have to do with my friends?"

"You just do not —"

"Don't tell me I do not understand! I will pay for the information!"

Mother Gue

"I promise I will never mention your name to anyone. I swear it." And I'll keep that oath, old woman, if you only tell me where they bloody are! "Please? They are in danger."

She studied him for a long time; before she was done he had the feeling she knew every detail of him. "On that oath, I will tell you. I... liked them. But you can do nothing. You are too late, Matrim Cauthon. Too late by nearly three hours. They have been taken to the Stone. The High Lord Samon sent for them." She shook her head in worried puzzlement. "He sent... women who... could cha