Chapter 33 Chapter 28 The Message in the Sack

The morning after Mat promised to help Teslin escape, as he was distraught about Teslin, Joline, and the Edsina he had never met, Tylin announced that she would temporarily Leave Abouda. "Surose will show me the land of Atla which I now rule, my little dove." Her dagger was on the carved bedpost, and they lay between the tangled linen, while he Only the silk scarf that covered the scar on her neck, she was completely naked.Her skin was indeed fine, the smoothest he had ever touched.She was lazily sliding her green-painted nails across another scar on his body.Mat already had a lot of scars on his body, but apart from the strangulation on his neck, Mat never tried to hide them.Now his skin probably won't sell for much money, but Tai Lin likes these scars very much. "It wasn't actually her idea, Tuon thought it would be... helpful to my rule... I should see my country with my own eyes instead of relying on a map to understand it. As long as it's that girl's suggestion, Sue Rose will comply, but she asked yesterday for this suggestion to be implemented immediately. We will be flying across the kingdom in the Julecon, which will speed up our inspections. It looks like we will be traveling two hundred miles a day. Oh, don't worry, Piggy, I won't let you climb that monster."

Mat let out a long breath. It wasn't flying on the Raken that bothered him. In fact, he really wanted to try it.He was just worried that if he couldn't escape from Ebouda as soon as possible, God knows if Tesslin, Julien, or even that Edsina would do something stupid.And that idiotic Betheran, that supercilious prince who worried Mat almost as much as the women.Tylin, on the other hand, seemed quite excited about her upcoming flight on the Seanchan, which made her look more like a hawk than usual. "I'll be away for over a week, baby, um," her green nails slid across a foot-long scar on his ribs, "should I tie you to the bed to make sure you'll be Are you safe and sound?"

Facing Tailin's mischievous smile, Matt did his best to put on his most charming smile.Of course he knew she was joking, but he had reason to worry that her joke would become the truth.Today she chose a bright red dress for him, and now he is not red, only the flowers embroidered on the jacket and cape, the black silk scarf around the neck, and the white lace on the neckline and cuffs, and these white laces make him His clothes looked even redder.However, he dressed very quickly because he wanted to leave here earlier.With Tylin, a smart man should learn not to assume that there will be certainties, and she may not be joking.

It seemed that Tylin did not exaggerate Su Luosi's impatience.Tylin's living room now has a jeweled column clock, a gift from Suros.Since Matt got up, the clock has only run for more than two hours, and he accompanied the queen to the pier.Su Luosi and Tylin rode at the front, and behind them were about twenty king's blood and their saints, who always bowed their half-shaved heads to the king's blood, and then And squinting over the tip of his nose at everyone else.Matt followed them on a nut. Queen Atla's "pet" could not be compared with the blood of the king, which of course included Tailin.In this respect, he is not even comparable to those hereditary servants.

The King's Blood and most of the Acolyte mounts are handsome, smooth-furred, bow-necked, gracefully gaiting mares, or broad-chested, strong-shouldered, and piercing-eyed geldings.Mat had never had much luck with horses, but he would bet his nuts on any of these horses.The broad-nosed bay gelding was unremarkable in appearance, but Mat believed that few of these steeds could keep up with Nut in the sprint;Nut has been stuck in the stable for a long time, even if he can't run, he still wants to jump.Mat had to use all his horse-handling skills (some of them from other people's memories) to keep him on track, and he was only halfway to the pier, and his legs were hurting up to his ass.If he wanted to leave Ebouda quickly, he could only take the sea, or follow Luca's circus.He had a great idea, guaranteed to get the guy out by the spring.Perhaps it was a dangerous idea, but he had no choice, and it might be more dangerous to go by sea.

He was not alone at the end of the line, more than fifty men and women lined up behind him in two columns.Now their translucent everyday clothes were finally supplemented by a thick white woolen robe.Some of them led pack horses carrying large wicker baskets.The blood of kings cannot be served without servants. For them, such a small number of servants may not even be enough to serve them to sleep.These Dakovi have always lowered their heads, staring at the stone pavement, with expressions as smooth as milk.He had once seen a Dakovi ordered to be flogged, a blond man about his own age, who ended up running to deliver the order to punish him without any delay, let alone trying to evade the flogging. punished.Matt couldn't understand that at all.

In front of Mat were half a dozen more sinners, their ankles protruding from their slit riding skirts, and one or two of them had pretty ankles.These women also looked arrogant, as if they were the blood of kings.Cloaks embroidered with lightning bolts hung from their backs and were often lifted by the cold wind, but they ignored them, as if the cold did not touch them, or dared not touch them at all.Two of the slave masters lead the slaves alongside their horses. Matt peered at the women furtively.One of the slaves was short, with light blue eyes, and the other end of the shackles around her neck were fastened to the wrist of a plump, olive-skinned slave master.Rand had seen this slave master leading Teslin for training.The dark-haired sin slave she called Pura, but her flawless face could only have belonged to an Aes Sedai.When Tesslyn told Mat that the Aes Sedai had become a true slave to sin, he was dubious.But now, Pura laughed and clapped her hands with glee whenever the gray-haired sin master leaned over the saddle to say something to the woman who had once been called Rema Gaffrey.

Mat shuddered. If he tried to remove the manacles from Pula's neck, she would scream for help.Light, what is he thinking!Just getting rid of the three Aes Sedai was enough for him, he didn't want to save any more.May the light burn him, but that Pura is still in his head! Abbott is a huge seaport, perhaps the largest in the world. The piers are like long fingers of gray rock, stretching out from the embankment that surrounds the city. Almost all the berths are occupied by Seanchan ships of various sizes. up.When Suloth appeared in the harbor, the sailors who climbed the rigging cheered loudly, and voices like thunder called her name.People from other ships waved their arms and shouted, too, but many of them seemed to have no idea who they were cheering for.No doubt they felt it had to be done.On those ships could be seen the banners of the golden bee of Illian blown by the wind, the banner of the crescent moon of Tyre, and the banner of the golden eagle of Maine.Rand apparently did not forbid merchants from trading with Seanchan-controlled ports, or that merchants sneaked here behind his back.Various colors flashed through Matt's mind, and he shook his head to clear his mind.Merchants would even do business with the man who killed his own mother if it was profitable.

The southernmost pier has been cleared of all idle ships, and the Seanchan officer wearing a painted helmet with fine feathers is waiting there, helping Suros and Tailin into one of the large rowboats on standby there. There are eight oarsmen on each side of the boat with long oars.Tylin stood on the rowboat and gave Mat one last kiss, nearly snapping his hair off in order for his head to hang down.Then she squeezed Matt's boobs like they were still in the goddamn bed! Su Luosi frowned impatiently, and until Tailin sat firmly in the rowboat, she was still gesturing angrily to her sage Alvin, making the woman with sharp features keep rowing Crawling between the seats, fetching this or that for her.

The Seanchan officers bowed to the other Kingbloods too, but those Kingbloods could only climb ladders into the rowboats with the help of their own sages.The sin slave masters help the sin slaves climb down the ladder.The unaided Dakovi in ​​white robes carried the large wicker basket into the rowboat and climbed in themselves.Soon all the rowboats were heading south of Lahad Quarter, where the Seanchan Raken and Juraken were kept.They passed through a convoy of many Seanchan ships and dozens of captured Sea Folk ships along the way.The Seanchan ships had been replaced with Seanchan multi-beam sails and new rigging, and the sailors on board were also Seanchan.Except for those Windfinders that Mat didn't want to think about and some people who were sold into slavery, the surviving Asan Miyar were all gathered in the Lahad area to clean up the silted canal with other Dakovi .There was nothing Mat could do to save them, he didn't owe them anything, and he had enough trouble with him now that there was nothing he could do, that's all!

Mat wanted to gallop away at once, away from the seafolk ships.No one on the pier gave him a second look. The officers left after seeing off the rowboat, and some people Mat didn't know took the pack horses.Seanchan's sailors climbed down from the rigging and went on with their work, while the men of the Shipping Guild were busy pushing their low-wheeled carts full of sacks, chests, and barrels.But if Mat walked too fast, Talyn might think he was trying to get out of town, and she'd send for him right away.So he just sat on Nut's back, waving his arms like a goose at the end of the pier, until it was impossible for Tylin to see him with the binoculars. Despite tingling pain in his leg, Mat let Kernel jog away from the pier.He tried not to look at the sea.Modesty-dressed merchants oversee the loading and unloading of their goods, sometimes slipping a sack to a man in a green leather waistcoat so that their goods may be transported with special care, or carried Faster, but it was hard for Matt to imagine how much faster the workers here could be.Southerners always trot when they walk, except in the midday sun of summer, when the sun can almost roast a duck.But now, under the gray sky, the cold wind rolled up the waves, no matter where the sun rose, people would not feel warm. When Matt arrived at Mohaila Square, he had already seen more than twenty slave masters, leading the slaves, patrolling among the foreign ships on the pier, and boarded every ship that had just arrived at the port to search.Matt believed that there would always be slave masters in the port, so he could only count on Luca.The sea route is too risky and can only be used as an alternative in an emergency. Although Luca is not reliable, it is his only choice. Back at Terrassine, Mat climbed off Nut's back, grinning in pain, before pulling his cane from the horse's girth.A groom ran over and took Nutkin away, and he limped into the palace. His left leg could hardly support his weight. Maybe taking a hot bath would relieve some pain, and maybe he would Just be able to think.A move against Luca has to be a surprise, but he has a few other niggles to sort out before his showdown with Luca. "Ah, you are here." Nuo'ao suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.Matt had rarely seen the old man since he arranged for Noah to live in the palace.He knew that Noah would slip away to the city every day, and only went back to Terrassine Palace to sleep at night.But now he looked refreshed, and his gray coat was freshly laundered.Noah straightened the lace on his sleeves and gave Mat a trusting smile, letting Mat see the gaps in his teeth. "What are you planning, Master Matt, I am willing to work for you." "I'm planning to make my legs easier," Mat said as lightly as possible.Noah didn't seem dangerous, and according to Hanan's report, he always told the Red Arms some stories before going to bed, and they liked his stories very much.He told them that there is a place called Shiboya on the other side of the Aiel Desert, where women who can channel will have tattoos all over their faces, and they will only be sentenced if they commit more than 300 crimes death penalty.Giants lived at the foot of the mountains, they were taller than the Ogiers, and they had faces on their bellies, and he said he had been there.People who like to tell such stories are not dangerous, but Mat has seen him handle the long dagger hidden under his coat, and from the way a man holds the weapon, he knows what he can do with it. , so Matt did not believe that Noah would be a safe and harmless person. "If I have other plans, I will remember you." Noah smiled and tapped his nose with a crooked finger. "You still don't trust me, that's understandable. But if I'm mean to you, then I should have done it in the alley that night. You have a special look, I've seen powerful people make plans I've seen the shadows in the eyes of villains that are darker than the abyss of doom. I see this in your eyes. You are thinking of a dangerous plan, but even you don't know how dangerous it really is .” "My eyes are just a little tired." Mat smiled and leaned on the cane.Powerful people making plans?This old guy may have seen this kind of scene in Shiboya, and of course, he may have seen those so-called giants. "But I want to thank you for saving me in that alley. If there's anything else I can do for you, let's say yes. But now, I'm going to find a bathtub full of hot water." "Is that ancient blue drinking blood?" When Mat staggered and wanted to walk away, Noah grabbed his arm. Bright, Mat wished he hadn't mentioned the name to the old guy, and he wished Birgitte had never told him about the monster. "Why do you ask this?" The ancient blue survived by drinking blood, and they didn't eat anything except blood. "Another body with its throat slit was found last night, and there was not a trace of blood in the man or in his bed. Did I tell you about this? He lived in an inn near Modine Gate. Maybe That monster once left the city of Eboder, but now it is back." Noah glanced behind Mat, and then bowed respectfully as if to someone, and when he straightened up, he bowed again. "If you change your mind, I'm always ready to help." When Noal ran away, Mat turned and saw Tuon standing under a gilded standing lamp, looking at him through the veil.Did she just see him by chance?As usual, when Mat saw her, she had turned and walked away down the corridor, the white pleated skirt rustling slightly on her body.Today, she has no one by her side. For the second time in a day Mat shivered.It was a pity that the girl didn't leave with Su Luosi and Tylin.But he had already got the bread after all, so he should no longer feel sorry for the crumbs that fell on the ground.But he has to deal with Aes Sedai, deal with Seanchan, Gu Lan wants to kill him, more than one old guy is poking around at him, and now there is a skinny girl who is always staring at his back, which can only make him Feel like a monster.Maybe he shouldn't waste his time with baths anymore. When Mat sent Robin to get his remaining clothes from Bethelan's toy closet, and sent Nerim to Zeling, he finally felt better.His legs still ached like fire and he wobbled when he walked, but if he wasn't going to waste time, then maybe he should move faster.He wanted to leave Ebodar before Tailin returned, and now he had ten days, if he wanted to ensure safety, then this time should be shortened. When the thief-catcher poked his head into the bedroom of Tylin's apartment, Mat was looking at himself in front of Tylin's tall mirror.The red dress had been tucked away in the closet, among other fancy clothes, maybe Tylin's next pet would like them.The coat Mat wore now was the most modest of all his clothes, a blue wool coat of fine material without any embroidery.No one would find the dress shabby, no one would stare at him all the time, but it was a suitable dress. "It would be nice to have some more lace," he muttered, pinching the neckline of his shirt again, "just a little bit." This dress is indeed very plain, almost dull. "I don't know much about lace," Zeling said. "That's why you asked me to come?" "No, of course not. What are you laughing at?" The guy's wide grin almost split his black face in half. "I'm glad Suros is gone. If you don't want to ask me about Lace, what do you want to do?" damn it!The woman that Zeling hooked up with must be one of Suros' Dakovi!And now this Dakovi is still kept by Su Luosi, otherwise Ze Ling would have absolutely no reason to care so much about whether Su Luosi left, let alone be happy about it.This guy actually planned to abduct Su Luosi's property!Well, maybe that's nothing compared to two sin slaves. Matt limped over to Zeling, put an arm around his shoulders, and led him into the living room. "I need a set of slave clothes. The woman who wears them is about this tall." He raised one hand to the level of his shoulders, "and it's relatively thin." He showed his most sincere smile to Ze Ling, But the smile on Zeling's face disappeared immediately. "I also need three sets of slave master's clothes, and a pair of criminal shackles. And I happened to think that the best person to steal should be the thief catcher." "I'm a thief catcher," Zeling threw off Matt's hand and shouted, "I'm not a thief!" Mat wiped off the smile on his face: "Zelling, you know, if we want to take those Aes Sedai out of the city gate, we have to make those guards think they are sin slaves. Teslin and Edsina were originally Wearing the clothes of the slaves, and they also have the shackles, but we need to pretend to be Julien. Su Luosi will be back in ten days, if we have not escaped by then, when we leave later, it is likely that you will never be able to take it away Your little beauty." In fact, Matt doubted that if they couldn't escape this time, then they wouldn't be able to escape again in the future.Light, this city can really torture men to death. Zeling stuffed his fists into the pockets of his dark Tyr coat and glared at Mat.In fact, he was staring at something behind him, and there must be something there that the thief-catcher didn't like very much.Finally, his face contorted, and he murmured, "It's not easy." The days that followed were not easy.The maids were laughing at Matt's new clothes, which, of course, were his old clothes.They laughed and made bets around Mat on how quickly he would change back to those old clothes when Tylin came back.Most of the maids thought Mat would run down the corridors stripping off his clothes as soon as he heard Tylin come back.Mat didn't care what they said, except the part about Tylin's return.The first time he heard a maid mention this, his heart almost jumped out of his chest, and he thought Tailin really came back early. Many women and almost all men took his change of clothes as a harbinger of his departure. They said that Matt was going to "run away" and were not happy about it. They even started to hinder Matt by all means.In their eyes, Maite is a good medicine to appease Tailin's bad temper, and they don't want Tailin to punish them severely for losing Maite when they come back.If he hadn't ordered Luopin and Nerim to keep an eye on his belongings in Tailin's apartment, his old clothes might be gone again.Chell and the Red Arms watched his nuts in the stables.When he disappeared with the two slaves, people must have linked them.But Mat tried his best to convince himself that because Tylin was not in Abuda during this period, and he showed a look of eagerness to escape, so Tylin would not be punished.Every day, even if it rains, he will ride Nutty around the stables a few times, and the time will be lengthened every day, as if he is exercising his strength.After a while, he found that his physical strength had really improved. Although his legs and buttocks still hurt badly, he was confident that he could ride ten miles continuously, at least eight miles. If the weather is fine, the sin slave master will take the sin slave out for a walk while Matt walks the horse.The Seanchan women knew he wasn't Tylin's property, but Mat had heard them call him Tylin's toy! "Tylin's Toy", as if that was his name!They didn't care whether he had another name. For them, a person could only be Dakovi or not Dakovi, and Mat's plausible identity seemed to make them feel endlessly interesting.Mat continued to ride amidst the Slave Master's laughter, trying to tell himself that it was the right thing to do.The more people thought he was going to run away before Tylin came back, the safer Tylin would be, but it wasn't something he was happy about. Occasionally he saw the faces of Aes Sedai among the prowling sinners, and there were three Aes Sedai here besides Tesslyn, but Mat still didn't know which of them was Edsina.She could be the short, fair woman Mat always thought of Moiraine when he saw her, or the tall one with the pale blond hair, or the slender brunette.All these men were shackled around the neck by silver collars of sin-shackles, and the silver cords attached to the collars were connected at the other end to silver bracelets on the wrists of the slave masters.However, the slave masters will not pull the silver rope to force the slaves to go in a certain direction.Every time Mat saw Tesslin, she felt that her expression was more serious than before, and she was always just staring straight ahead.Each time, there was more determination on her face; sometimes determination mixed with a little panic.Matt began to worry about her patience, and he wanted to reassure Teslyn.He didn't need those ancient memories to tell him that a mix of flustered determination could kill a man.It's just that he didn't dare to go near those sin slave lairs in the attic anymore, and Tuon would still appear in front of him when he turned his head inadvertently, looking at him, glancing at him, or doing something else.It's just that she shows up too often, which makes Matt very uncomfortable.But Matt didn't have enough evidence to be sure she was following him.She had no reason to follow him, but she did show up too often. Sometimes, her attendant Selucia also accompanied her.Mat had seen Annesse beside her, too, but the strange tall woman had disappeared from the Terrassin palace, at least not in the corridors.Mat heard that she was "resting", and Mat didn't quite know the meaning of this word. He only hoped that if Anather really left, it would be best to take Tuon with her.If the girl saw him off to the Slave's Lair again, she probably wouldn't believe that he was on a tryst with some Windfinder.Maybe she still wants to buy him?If so, Matt still didn't understand her motives. He had never understood what women were attracted to in men. They seemed to stare at an ordinary man.No matter what Tailin said, Mat knew he was not beautiful.Women lie to get men in bed, and when they get it, they lie more. Anyway, Tuon was just a nuisance, a fly circling his ear, that's all.Talking women and girls staring at him don't make him nervous, it's Tailin who makes his palms sweat, though she's gone now.If she came back suddenly and found Mat ready to flee, she might change her mind and sell him to Tuon.Now that Tailin was Maharaja, Mat believed that she would shave her hair in the near future.As a true Seanchan bloodline, who knows what else she could do?Tylin just made Mat's palms sweat, but there was something else that would make a man sweat through his clothes. Mat heard something about Gulan's murder from Noah again, and sometimes Tom would tell him such news.Now a new corpse would appear every night, but no one except Mat and the two old men would think of their real cause of death.Matt continued to stay out in public places whenever he could, and he no longer slept in Tylin's bed, and he never slept in the same place for two nights.If he was going to sleep in a haystack in the stable, that was all right, he had slept in a haystack before, though he didn't quite remember what it was like to have hay in his clothes.Either way, sleeping in hay is better than getting your throat slit. The first thing Matt did after deciding he wanted to rescue Teslin was to find Tom, who was in the kitchen talking to the chef about how to cook a honey-roasted chicken.Tom has as much in common with the cook as he does with the farmer, businessman, or nobleman, and he gets along well with all of them, adept at combining the information that each gives him into effective intelligence.He looks at a problem from different angles and immediately picks out the missing key link.Immediately after discussing the roast chicken, Tom pointed out to Mat the only way to get the Aes Sedai past the guards, and then the whole task became easier, at least for a short while. Feel.It's just that they soon discovered new obstacles. Zeling also has the same vision as Tom, perhaps it has something to do with his experience as a thief catcher.Some evenings, in the little room he and Tom shared in the servants' quarters, Mat would plan how to overcome the obstacles that really made Mat break out in a cold sweat. They had their first meeting the night Tylin left.At this time, Bethelan happened to come in to find Tom.Unfortunately, Bethelan had listened to what they were saying at the door first, and he had heard enough of them to not be able to make up a story to get away with it.Unfortunately, he also wanted to get involved, and he even came up with his own plan of action. "An uprising," he said, sitting on the three-legged stool between the two narrow beds.Besides these, the only furniture in the room was a washstand with a washbasin and a chipped terracotta pitcher, but no mirror.Ze Ling was sitting on the edge of a bed, wearing only a shirt, with an indecipherable complex expression on his face.Tom lay on the other bed, frowning, studying his thick knuckles.Matt had no choice but to lean against the door panel to prevent someone from breaking in, he was a little dumbfounded.Tom obviously knew about Bethelan's crazy plans, which is why he's been trying to reassure the prince. "Whenever I raise my arms, people respond," Bethelan continued. "My friends and I have convinced the whole city that they are ready to fight!" Mat sighed, shifting more of his weight to his uninjured leg.He suspected that if Betheran raised his arms, he and his friends would have to rise up alone. Most people might like to talk about rebellion and war, but actually doing it is another matter, especially when When their opponents are real soldiers. "Bethelan, in the legend of the walkers, the groom with the pitchfork and the baker who threw the pebbles can defeat the regular army for freedom." Tom snorted heavily, and his long white beard shook accordingly. for a moment.Matt ignored him. "But in real life, the groom and the baker would just be killed. I can tell a good soldier at a glance, and those Seanchan soldiers are very good." "If we free those slaves, and those Aes Sedai, they will fight for us!" Betheran insisted. "Bethelan, there are at least two hundred sin slaves in the attic, or even more, most of them Seanchan. If they can be rescued, they will immediately run to the sin slave master. Light, we even Not even those slaves who are not Seanchan can be trusted!" Mat held up a hand, stopping Betheran who was about to speak. "We have no way of figuring out who to trust. I'm not going to kill a woman whose only crime is being in chains, are you?" Betheran's eyes turned away, but his jaw was still set.He is not going to give up. "Whether we can free the slaves or not," Mat continued, "if the people revolt, the Seanchan will turn Eboudar into a slaughterhouse, and their methods of suppressing rebellion are tough, Betheran, tough! We could kill all the sin slaves in the attic, and they'd bring more from the camp. When your mother comes back, only to see the city in rubble, with your head stuck in the gate. Her head will be lined up with yours soon. If your mother said she didn't know her son's plan, they wouldn't believe it, would you believe it?" Guangming, did she really not know?This woman has enough courage to do such a thing.He didn't think she was that stupid, but... "She said we were mice," Bethelan said bitterly. "'A mouse has to lie still around the hound or be eaten.' I don't like being a mouse, Mat." Mat breathed a little easier: "Live mice are better than dead people, Bethelan." Judging from Bethelan's expression, Mat's words may not give him any comfort, but they are indeed true.He encouraged Bethelan to join their meeting, at least it would restrain Bethelan a little bit, but the prince seldom came.Now he could only rely on Tom to appease the prince's enthusiasm, but Tom could only make Bethelan promise that he would not call for an uprising within a month after they left.Matt can accept such a result, although he is not satisfied with it.And in other things, every two steps they take they run into a stone wall or a trap. Zeling's lover seemed very important to him. For her, Zeling didn't mind at all taking off his Tire clothes and changing into the white and green uniform of a servant of the Terrassin Palace. Sweep the floor near the nest steps.No one would take a second look at the servant with the broom, not even the servants would notice Zeling.There are so many people in the Terrassin Palace, it is normal for one or two strange faces to appear.After sweeping the ground for two days and two nights, Ze Ling reported that the sin slave master would check the sin slave lair in the morning and once at dusk, and would go in and out from time to time during the day, but at night, the sin slaves would be left unattended up. "I heard a sin slave master say that she was glad she wasn't assigned to the camp..." Zeling lay flat on her thin mattress, covering a yawn that came out of her mouth with her hand.Tom sat on the edge of his bed, and Mat was left with the stool, which was better than standing, though not by much.It was very late now, and the people in this palace were basically asleep. "At the camp, they have a night watch," continued the thief-catcher, "and she said she was glad to let the sin slaves sleep well at night, so that they would be refreshed when the sun came up." "So we must go at night," murmured Tom, stroking his long white whiskers with his fingers, but they both knew the dangers of going at night.The Seanchan patrols would patrol the streets all night long, which the old militia wouldn't do.And those soldiers of Eboudar still like to accept bribes, but they have all been disbanded by the Seanchan.Now the Night Watch on the streets of Abbott are death watchers, and anyone who tries to bribe them will never live to be judged. "Did you find the shackles, Zeling?" Mat asked. "And the clothes? Clothes won't be as hard to come by as the shackles." Ze Ling covered her mouth with her hand again and yawned. "If you should get it, you will get it naturally. You also know that these things will not be thrown around casually." Slaves couldn't have walked through the gates by themselves, Tom had discovered, or, as Tom said, Liesel had discovered.This was told to her by a senior officer living in the "Wandering Woman" inn, and Liesel liked the officer's melodious singing voice very much. “王之血脉能够随意将罪奴带出城。”汤姆在随后的一次会议中说道。这次，他和泽凌都坐在床上，麦特已经开始恨那张凳子了。“不过如果跟随王之血脉的罪奴人数太多，可能还是会受到盘问，但罪奴主就需要一份经过王之血脉签署并盖章的命令，才能带罪奴出城。城门和码头上的卫兵那里有全部有效的印章图案，所以我没办法随便刻个章蒙混过去。我需要一份真正的出城令，复制上面的印章。那么，剩下的问题就是三个罪奴主要去哪里找了。” “也许莉赛勒能算一个。”麦特提出建议。她不知道他们在做什么，把这个计划告诉她是有风险的。汤姆曾经问过她各种问题，当然，对她来说，汤姆只是想要彻底了解霄辰人的生活状况，所以她也很愿意用汤姆的问题去问她的霄辰友人们，不过她应该不会愿意冒险让她漂亮的头颅被插在城门口。如果她只是拒绝参与麦特的计划，没有把这个计划透露出去，那还是麦特的幸运。“你的情人女士如何，泽凌？”对于第三名罪奴主，麦特也有了人选。他要求泽凌去找一套适合赛塔勒的罪奴主衣服，只是他现在还没机会让赛塔勒试穿看看。自从在“流浪的女人”旅店见到裘丽恩之后，他只去过那里一次，为的是让裘丽恩明白他正竭尽全力实现对她的承诺。裘丽恩并不明白，但赛塔勒却抑制住了那名两仪师的怒火，没有让她向麦特大喊大叫。看起来，赛塔勒能成为裘丽恩最合适的罪奴主。 泽凌不安地耸耸肩。“为了说服瑟拉跟我一起走，我费了很大的力气，她很……胆小，我能帮助她克服这种心态，我可以的，我知道。但她肯定不可能假扮成罪奴主。” 汤姆抚着胡须。“莉赛勒不可能离开，看样子，她很喜欢旗将亚玛达的歌声，甚至已经打算要嫁给他了，”他遗憾地叹了口气，“恐怕以后从她那里得不到什么讯息了。”而他的表情似乎是在说，以后也不能枕在她的胸前了。 “那么，你们两个想想我们还能请谁扮演罪奴主，再想办法找到一张那种命令。” 汤姆找到了制作命令用的墨水和纸张，他也能够模仿任何人的字迹，仿制一切印章。他很瞧不起仿制印章这种手艺，他说，任何人只要有萝卜和小刀，就都能做好这件事。而仿写另一个人的字迹，直到那个人以为这是他自己写的，这才是一门艺术。但他们都还没能找到一纸出城令。霄辰人不会随便放置他们的命令，就像他们不会乱扔罪铐一样，所以，泽凌也没能找到一副罪铐。只要向前走两步，就会撞上石墙。六天时间就这样过去了。还剩四天。麦特觉得自从泰琳走后仿佛已经过了六年，而距离她回来只剩下四个小时了。 第七天，汤姆在走廊里拦住刚刚骑马回来的麦特。这名曾经的走唱人脸上带着悠闲的微笑，说话的声音压得很低。匆匆经过的仆人们根本不可能听到他在说些什么。“根据诺奥的说法，古蓝昨晚又杀人了。觅真者已经接受命令，就算不吃不睡也要找到杀人犯，但我不知道下这道命令的是谁。他们的所有行动都是秘密。但我可以确认，他们已经准备好拷问台，烧红了烙铁。” 无论汤姆的声音有多小，麦特仍然不由自主地回过头去，想要看看是否有人在偷听。他只看到一个名叫纳尔文的矮个子灰发男人，他穿着仆人制服，但麦特从没见过他为什么差事奔忙，或者是搬运什么东西。他朝麦特眨眨眼，然后又向四周张望着，并皱起眉头。麦特想要吼叫，但他露出一副笑容，并竭力表现出安全无害的样子。纳尔文就这样皱着眉头走开了，麦特确信这家伙会是泰拉辛宫中第一个尝试想把果仁偷走的人。 “是诺奥告诉你觅真者的事？”等到纳尔文走远，麦特立刻以怀疑的语气悄声说道。 汤姆不以为然地摇晃着干瘦的手掌，“当然不是，他只跟我说了死人的事情。不过他听到一些小道讯息，而且知道它们的含义，这是一种罕见的天赋。我真想知道他是不是真的去过沙塔，”汤姆喃喃地说道，“他说他……”然后前走唱人在麦特的瞪视下清了清喉咙：“好吧，这些事以后再说。除了令人伤心的莉赛勒，我的确还有别的讯息来源。他们之中有几个是窥听者，窥听者真的好像是能听到所有的事情。” “你和窥听者聊过？”麦特的声音仿佛是生锈铰链的摩擦声。他的确觉得自己喉咙生锈了！ “这和普通人谈话没什么不同，只要他们不知道你知道，”汤姆笑了出来，“麦特，对待霄辰人，你必须假定他们全都是窥听者，这样，你就能知道你想要知道的，并且不会说错话。”他咳嗽着，用指节抚了抚胡子，他脸上谦逊的微笑除了是在要求得到赞扬以外，不可能有其他意思。“我只是恰巧知道有两或三个人真的是窥听者，不管怎样，多一点情报总没坏处。不过，你真的想要在泰琳回来之前走掉吗？她走了以后，你看起来好像有一点……被遗弃的样子。” 麦特只能呻吟一声。 那天晚上，古蓝再次发动袭击。还没等麦特吃完早餐的鱼，罗平和尼瑞姆就七嘴八舌地把这件事告诉了他。他们说现在整座城市都陷入骚动，最新的牺牲者是一个女人，她是在一个巷口被发现的。突然之间，人们都开始谈论这件事，将最近发生的几起凶杀案联系在一起。人们相信有个疯子正在街巷中游荡，所以要求霄辰人加派夜间巡逻队。麦特推开盘子，他的饥饿感已经消失了。加强夜间巡逻，这还不是唯一的坏消息。苏罗丝如果知道这件事，也许会提前回来。当然，也会把泰琳带回来。也许只剩下两天的时间了，麦特这时感觉有些想吐。 在这天上午剩下的时间里，他一直在泰琳卧室的地毯上一瘸一拐地踱着步，完全不在意腿部的疼痛。他要想出一个办法，想出一个能在这两天里逃出去的办法，但他找不到任何可能性。腿部的疼痛的确在减轻，他已经丢下手杖，并努力让自己恢复一些体力。他也许能连续走上两三里路不休息，至少不需要长时间的休息。 中午时，泽凌给他带来仿佛是一个纪元以来唯一的好消息。严格说来，这也不算是什么消息。在泽凌带来的布袋中，用两件衣服裹着一副银色的罪铐。