The Dragon Reborn/Chapter 30

==Summary==
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After the girls leave, Mat immediately sets about planning his escape from Tar Valon. He eats as much food as possible and asks for extra to hoard for his trip. He asks for less perishable food such as bread, cheese, and fruit and hides it all in the wardrobe. Anaiya visits him at midday and says he is well after Delving him, but seems aware he is asking for more food than he needs. He mentions to her that he plans to visit an inn in the city as entertainment. Anaiya says he is free to do that but won't be able to leave the city. It is early evening by the time he is actually able to leave. He bundles up the food and takes everything with him, including the quarterstaff which he uses as a walking stick. It is obvious to everyone that he is planning a journey but nobody stops him because they are confident that he will be stopped by the guards. He decides it is best to make a show of it so that the Aes Sedai will expect him to fail spectacularly and in so doing wait longer before they begin a search for him.
He plans to board a ship heading toward Tear but will get off at Aringill before going overland to Caemlyn to deliver Elayne's letter to Morgase. But first he needs some money to finance the trip and heads to an inn for gambling. Mat remembers always coming out ahead at dice but tonight he is winning every toss no matter the game, however many dice or whose dice they were. Someone says that he has the Dark One's own luck, which is a common phrase, but Mat reacts violently and pushes the fellow against the wall. Mat says fervently that he is no Darkfriend and begins to wonder whether the ruby-hilted dagger did something to him that caused this outrageous luck. Preoccupied with this thought, he leaves the inn quickly and does not even collect his winnings from the last wager. He pauses in the street and thinks about it and remembers that his luck did seem to markedly improve after he took the dagger from Shadar Logoth. Maybe the Aes Sedai did it by accident when Healing him. His checks his pockets which are overflowing with gold and silver and he has two full purses besides.
A fat man comes out from a nearby tavern and seems startled to see Mat. The man mumbles to himself repeatedly and appears drunk as he walks away. Mat, suddenly feeling hungry and running out of food, decides it is past time to find a ship to take him downriver. As Mat makes his way toward the harbor he hears footsteps following behind, which he assumes are footpads. He ducks into a shadowed corner and readies his staff to attack the following men should they come closer, but they stop only a few paces away from him. The two men are holding knives and stop to talk to each other. One of them says that he has seen nothing and wishes to be done with this. Both turn and leave which makes Mat feel that his luck helped again.
He decides to try moving over the rooftops to avoid the men in the street. After traveling a ways he decides it is safe enough to get back down. He jumps down to a walkway bridge four stories above the pavement. He suddenly finds a man on the bridge with a dagger going for his throat. He stumbles and ends up half hanging over the bridge trying frantically to stop the dagger from touching him. Mat exclaims "time to toss the dice," which confuses the other man. Using the brief moment of confusion, Mat throws himself off the walkway, pulling the assassin with him. Mat lands on top and finds the assassin dead with the dagger in his heart. His luck helps him yet again. The man seemed to be very ordinary looking, hardly noticeable. He decides he needs to rest a bit before finding a ship, so he heads for a nearby inn, The Woman of Tanchico.
==Characters==
*Mat Cauthon
*Anaiya
*Raab
===Referenced===
*Nynaeve
*Elayne
*Siuan - as Amyrlin
*Hurin
*Rogosh Eagle-Eye
==Groups==
*Aes Sedai
*Tower Guards
==Places==
*White Tower
*Tar Valon
*The Tremalking Splice
*The Woman of Tanchico
===Referenced===
*Tear
*Aringill
*Caemlyn
*Shienar
*Emond's Field
*Two Rivers
*Shadar Logoth
*Baerlon
==Items==
===Referenced===
*Ruby-hilted dagger