The Gathering Storm - By Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson Page 0,159

your little band here?”

“Two Warders and two sul’dam,” Mat said. “That’s twelve horses.”

“Two for Setalle. I assume she’ll want to be away from all of this with us.”

“Fourteen.”

“Two more for Teslyn,” Joline said. “She will undoubtedly want to go with us, though she currently has nothing to say on the matter. And we’ll need about four pack animals’ worth to carry our things. They’ll have to trade their burdens too, so four more for that. Twenty-four.”

“Which you’ll feed how?” Mat asked. “If you’re riding that hard, you won’t have time to graze your horses. There’s barely anything for them to eat these days anyway.” That had proven a big problem; the spring grass wasn’t coming in. The meadows they passed were brown with fallen leaves, the dead winter weeds pressed flat by snow, barely a new shoot of grass or weed. Horses could feed on the dead leaves and winter grass, of course, but wild deer and other animals had been active, eating down whatever they could find.

If the land didn’t decide to start blooming soon . . . well, they were in for a difficult summer. But that was another problem entirely.

“We will need you to give us feed, of course,” Joline said. “And some coin for inns. . . .”

“And who is going to take care of all those horses? You going to brush them down each night, check their hooves, see that their feed is properly measured?”

“I suppose we should take a handful of your soldiers with us,” Joline said, sounding dissatisfied. “A necessary inconvenience.”

“The only thing that is necessary,” Mat said flatly. “Is for my men to stay where they’re wanted, not where they’re an inconvenience. No, they stay—and you’ll have no coin from me. If you want to go, you can take one horse each and a single packhorse to carry your things. I’ll give you some feed for the poor beasts, and giving you that much is generous.”

“But with only one horse each, we’ll barely be faster than the army!” Joline said.

“Imagine that,” Mat said. He turned away from her. “Vanin, go and tell Mandevwin to pass the word. We’ll be camping soon. I know it’s barely afternoon, but I want the Band far enough from that village not to be threatening, but close enough that a few of us can go down to feel things out.”

“All right,” Vanin said, with none of the respect he’d shown the bloody Aes Sedai. He turned his horse and began to ride down the line.

“And Vanin,” Mat called. “Make sure Mandevwin is aware that when I say ‘a few of us’ will go down, I mean a very small group, led by myself and Talmanes. I won’t have that village invaded by seven thousand soldiers looking for fun! I’ll buy a cart in the town and what ale I can find, then send it back for the men. There is to be strict order in camp, with no one accidentally wandering down to visit, now. Understand?”

Vanin nodded, looking grim. It was never fun to be the one who had to inform the men that they weren’t going to be getting leave. Mat turned back to the Aes Sedai. “Well?” he asked. “You taking my kind offer or not?”

Joline just sniffed, then trotted her horse back down the ranks, obviously turning down the chance to go alone. Pity, that. It would have made him smile each step of the way to think of it. Though, it probably would have taken Joline all of three days to find some sap in a village somewhere to give her his horses so that her crew could ride faster.

Edesina rode away, and Teslyn trailed after, regarding Mat with a curious expression. She still looked disappointed in him too. He glanced away, then felt annoyed at himself. What did he care what she thought?

Talmanes was looking at him. “That was odd of you, Mat,” the man said.

“What?” Mat said. “The restriction on the men? They’re a good lot, the Band, but I’ve never known a group of soldiers who weren’t likely to get themselves in a little trouble now and then, particularly where there’s ale to be found.”

“I wasn’t talking about the men, Mat,” Talmanes said, bending to tap out his pipe against his stirrup, dottle falling to flutter back onto the stony roadway beside his horse. “I’m talking about how you treated the Aes Sedai. Light, Mat, we could have been rid of them! I’d count twenty-four horses and some coin a