The Dragon Reborn

He shifted to peer toward the wall, trying to choose his spot to climb, and suddenly there was steel across his throat. Without thinking, he knocked it away and swept the man's feet out from under him with his staff. Someone else kicked his own feet away and he fell almost on top of the man he had knocked down. He rolled off onto the roof tiles, loosing the bundle of fireworks – If that falls into the street, I'll break their necks! – staff whirling; he felt it strike flesh, and a second time, heard grunts. Then there were two blades at his throat.

He froze, arms outflung. The points of short spears, dull so they hardly caught the faint light of the moon at all, pressed into his flesh just short of bringing blood. His eyes followed them up to the faces of whoever was holding them, but their heads were shrouded, their faces veiled in black except for their eyes, staring at him. Burn me, I have to run into real thieves! What happened to my luck?

He put on a grin, with plenty of teeth so they could see it in the moonlight. "I do not mean to trouble you in your work, so if you let me go my way, I'll let you go yours and say nothing." The veiled men did not move, and neither did their spears. "I want no more outcry than you. I'll not betray you." They stood like statues, staring down at him. Burn me, I do not have time for this. Time to toss the dice. For a chilling moment he thought the words in his head had been strange. He tightened his grip on the quarterstaff, lying out to one side of him – and almost cried out when someone stepped hard on his wrist.

He rolled his eyes to see who. Burn me for a fool, I forgot the one I fell on. But he saw another shape moving behind the one standing on his wrist, and decided maybe it was as well he had not managed to bring the staff into use after all.

It was a soft boot, laced to the knee, that rested on his arm: It tugged at his memory. Something about a man met in mountains. He eyed the night-cloaked shape the rest of the way up, trying to make out the cut and colors of his clothes – they seemed all shadow, colors that blended with the darkness too well to see them clearly – past a long-bladed knife at the fellow's waist, right up to the dark veil across his face. A black-veiled face. Black-veiled.

Aiel! Burn me, what are bloody Aiel doing here! He had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he remembered hearing that Aiel veiled themselves when they killed.

"Yes," said a man's voice, "we are Aiel." Mat gave a start; he had not realized he had spoken aloud.

"You dance well for one caught by surprise," a young woman's voice said. He thought she was the one standing on his wrist. "Perhaps another day I will have time to dance with you properly."

He started to smile – If she wants to dance, they can't be going to kill me, at least! – then frowned instead. He seemed to remember Aiel sometimes meant something different when they said that.

The spears were pulled back, and hands hauled him to his feet. He shook them away and brushed himself off as if he were standing in a common room instead of on a night-cloaked rooftop with four Aiel. It always paid to let the other man know you had a steady nerve. The Aiel had quivers at their waists as well as knives, and more of those short spears on their backs with cased bows, the long spear points sticking up above their shoulders. He heard himself humming "I'm Down at the Bottom of the Well," and stopped it.

"What do you do here?" the man's voice asked. With the veils, Mat was not entirely sure which one had spoken; the voice sounded older, confident, used to command. He thought he could pick out the woman, at least; she was the only one shorter than he, and that not by much. The others all stood a head taller than he or more. Bloody Aiel, he thought. "We have watched you for some little time," the older man went on, "watched you watch the Stone. You have studied it from every side. Why?"

"I could ask the same of all of you," another voice said. Mat was the only one who gave a start as a man in baggy breeches stepped out of the shadows. The fellow appeared to be shoeless, for better footing on the tiles. "I expected to find thieves, not Aiel," the man went on, "but do not think your numbers frighten me." A slim staff no taller than his head made a blur and a hum as he whirled it. "My name is Juilin Sandar, and I am a thief-catcher, and I would know why you are on the rooftops, staring at the Stone."

Mat shook his head. How many bloody people are on the roofs tonight? All that was needed was for Thom to appear and play his harp, or someone to come looking for an i

"You stalk well, for a city man," the older man's voice said. "But why do you follow us? We have stolen nothing. Why have you looked so often at the Stone tonight yourself?"

Even in the moonlight this Sandar's surprise was evident. He gave a start, opened his mouth – and closed it again as four more Aiel rose out of the dimness behind him. With a sigh, he leaned on his slender staff. "It seems I am caught myself," he muttered. "It seems I must answer your questions." He peered toward the Stone, then shook his head. "I... did a thing today that... troubles me." He sounded almost as though he were talking to himself, trying to puzzle it out. "Part of me says it was right, what I did, that I must obey. Surely, it seemed right when I did it. But a small voice tells me I... betrayed something. I am certain this voice is wrong, and it is very small, but it will not stop." He stopped then himself, shaking his head again.

One of the Aid nodded, and spoke with the older man's voice. "I am Rhuarc, of the Nine Valleys sept of the Taardad Aiel, and once I was Aethan Dor, a Red Shield. Sometimes the Red Shields do as your thief-catchers do. I say this so you will understand that I know what it is you do, and the kind of man you must be. I mean no harm to you, Juilin Sandar of the thief-catchers, nor to the people of your city, but you will not be suffered to raise the armcry. If you will keep silence, you will live; if not, not."

"You mean no harm to the city," Sandar said slowly. "Why are you here, then?"

"The Stone." Rhuarc's tone made it plain that was all he meant to say.

After a moment Sandar nodded, and muttered, "I could almost wish you had the power to harm the Stone, Rhuarc. I will hold my tongue."

Rhuarc turned his veiled face to Mat. "And you, nameless youngling? Will you tell me now why you watch the Stone so closely?"

"I just wanted a walk in the moonlight," Mat said lightly. The young woman put her spearpoint to his throat again; he tried not to swallow. Well, maybe I can tell them something of it. He must not let them know he was shaken; if you let the other fellow know that, you lost whatever edge you might have. Very carefully, with two fingers, he moved her steel away from him. It seemed to him that she laughed softly. "Some friends of mine are inside the Stone," he said, trying to sound casual. "Prisoners. I mean to bung them out."

"Alone, nameless one?" Rhuarc said.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be anyone else," Mat said dryly. "Unless you care to help? You seem interested in the Stone yourself. If you mean to go into it, perhaps we could go together. It is a tight roll of the dice any way you look at it, but my luck runs good." So far, anyway. I've run into black-veiled Aiel and they have not cut my throat; luck ca

"We are not here for prisoners, gambler," Rhuarc said.

"It is time, Rhuarc." Mat could not tell from which of the Aiel that came, but Rhuarc nodded.

"Yes, Gaul." He looked from Mat to Sandar and back. "Do not give the armcry." He turned away, and in two steps he had blended into the night.