off too. Mat started to become very worried when at midnight there was still
no sign of him. What if the gholam had gotten to him, or one of the
forsaken? Mat rounded up Vanin, Harnan, Metwyn, and Gorderan and organized a
search for Thom. Luca decided to get in a snit about "bothering the animals
at this time of night". The man was truly a selfish fool. The night was brisk
and the moon was waning, it was hardly a sliver in the sky. When news started
to spread around the camp that Thom was missing a lot of others joined in
the search. Bayle ran out to join the others as soon as he heard, Noal too.
Mat's heart was racing, what if someone found him dead, ripped up like all
those other victims of the gholam. Mat had thought Thom dead once before and
had been wrong, he wanted nothing more right now then for that fearful
feeling rising up in his stomach to be proved wrong. That old man had become a
good friend, Mat did not want to be thinking these thoughts. Mat ran through
the night, through the thicket and sparse forest of the surrounding area
looking for a sign. Growing up in the Two Rivers he had learned how to track a
man in the wilderness but there were far to many tracks near the camp to
distinguish one man's passing. Hopefully Mat would come upon his trail out past
all the downtrodden areas. Mat tried to focus his thoughts, why couldn't
he use his ability as tavern this way, when he really wanted something
badly. Mat realized that he had now run far from the camp, he was now all
by himself. He suddenly realized that he had taken his ashandarei with him, he
didn't remember picking it up. The ravens gleamed in the wan light. Mt
squinted in the dark looking for clues. He ran on and almost missed the
tracks that were nearly invisible in a small clearing where it looked as though a
brushfire had burned away most of the grass leaving only dirt. The boot
marks looked the size of Thom's, and would have been made by a man Thom's
weight. Mat ran full speed in the direction the tracks lead him, he ran until he
got a stitch in his side and his leg started to feel stiff from the old
injury that still hadn't completely healed. And then the worst thing possible
happened, the trail just ended, just like that the boot marks disappeared, Mat
knew what it must be, it was almost as bad as finding Thom's carcass laid out
right before him. The signs were unmistakable the grass had been perfectly
sliced where the doorway had opened, where someone had traveled. Mat failed
to remain standing any longer, he fell into a sort of kneel with his head
pressed against the ground trying to suppress a wail. And then Mat
thought about Rand, about how he might be able to help. Mat was helpless, he
could not follow the path any further than this. And then the colors came
to him, Mat continued though, he was going to get to the bottom of what this
meant, this strange state he went into every time he thought of Perrin or
Rand. He focused on Rand, on all their times together, on who he used to
be and was now. Mat swore he could see Rand's face, and could see his lips
moving. He struggled to make him out but then the swirl of colors
overwhelmed him and he saw no more.