Mat POV#

The Hinderstap villagers have all gone crazy trying to kill anyone they can. Mat pulls Pips away from The Tipsy Gelding and he, Talmanes, Harnan and Delarn try to flee, leaving the wagon and gold behind. Delarn is dragged from his horse and badly wounded but Mat saves him. Thom joins them and they ride to the inn where the Aes Sedai are. On the first floor, the cook is the only one left alive and Mat kills him when he attacks. Master Tobrad, the innkeeper, is dead, too. They make it up the stairs and find Joline, Edesina, Teslyn, Blaeric and Fen and the three Redarms.[1] Two bound serving girls struggle to get loose. Downstairs, Edesina Heals Delarn. They all ride out of town, taking the serving girls with them, and camp on a nearby hillside to wait for dawn.

Hours later, Mat is moping that the Dark One is still chasing him. The gholam is still somewhere out there. Myrddraal and Darkfriends, too. Thom shows Mat a picture he got at another inn, an image of Mat. Someone is looking for him, a woman in a village north of here.[2] Suddenly, the two bound serving girls just vanish. Mat and Thom ride back toward Hinderstap to investigate. At the fine inn, Mat recognizes the cook that he killed! He thinks they are ghosts until they reach a spot of intense fighting the night before and see no blood on the ground. Barlden comes up and offers to explain. This has been going on for several months, since just before the Feast of Abram. Everyone goes crazy at dusk, killing everyone they can. In the morning, they all wake in their own beds. Barlden dreamed of killing old man Garken only to find him alive the next day. Sammrie the cooper had relatives come to visit. They were murdered that night and then became permanent residents. Mat asks him about the picture. Barlden told Ledron that they will not sell out visitors. The picture, and another of a man with golden eyes,[3] came from an inn called The Shaken Fist in the village of Trustair. Mat rides Pips and leads the wagon horse with their food and gold as they leave Hinderstap. Thom thinks it is sad. There is something wrong in the world. The Pattern is unraveling.
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