“We know how to get in,” Mat said.

“Olver’s story?” Noal asked skeptically.

“It’s the best we have,” Mat said. “Look, the game and the rhyme are about the Aelfinn and Eelfinn. People knew about them once. Those bloody doorframes are proof of that. So they left the game and the rhyme as warning.”

“That game can’t be won, Mat,” Noal said, rubbing his leathery chin.

“And that’s the point of it. You need to cheat.”

“But maybe we should try a deal,” Thom said, playing with the waxed tip of a mustache. “They did give you answers to your questions.”

“Bloody frustrating ones,” Mat said. He had not wanted to tell Thom and Noal about his questions—he still had not told them what he had asked.

“But they did answer,” Thom said. “It sounds like they had some kind of deal with the Aes Sedai. If we knew what it was the Aes Sedai had that the snakes and foxes wanted—the reason they were willing to bargain—then maybe we could trade it to them for Moiraine.”

“If she’s still alive,” Noal said grimly.

“She is,” Thom said, staring straight ahead. “Light send it. She has to be alive.”

“We know what they want.” Mat glanced at those flames.

“What?” Noal asked.

“Us,” Mat replied. “Look, they can see what’s going to happen. They did it to me, they did it to Moiraine, if that letter is any clue. They knew she would leave a letter for you, Thom. They knew it. And they still answered her questions.”

“Maybe they had to,” Thom said.

“Yes, but they don’t have to answer straightforwardly,” Mat said. “They didn’t with me. They answered knowing she would come back to them. And they gave me what they did knowing I’d get pulled back, too. They want me. They want us.”

“You don’t know that for certain, Mat.” Thom set his mug of ale on the floor between his feet and got out his pipe. To Mat’s right, men cheered a dice game. “They can answer questions, but that doesn’t mean they know everything. Could be like Aes Sedai foretellings.”

Mat shook his head. The creatures put memories into his head. He figured they were the memories of people who had touched the tower or been into it. The Aelfinn and the Eelfinn had those memories, and burn him, they probably had his, too. Could they watch him, see through his eyes?

He wished again for his medallion, though it would do no good against them. They were not Aes Sedai; they would not use channeling. “They do know things, Thom,” Mat said. “They’re watching. We won’t surprise them.”

“Makes them hard to defeat, then,” Thom said, lighting a tinder twig with the fire, then using it to light his pipe. “We can’t win.”

“Unless we break the rules,” Mat repeated.

“But they’ll know what we’re doing,” Thom said, “if what you say is true. So we should trade with them.”

“And what did Moiraine say, Thom?” Mat said. “In that letter you read every night.”