Mat and Thom board a vessel headed downriver and survive an assassination attempt.
Dear Robert Jordan:
I get it — you feel guilty about throwing Mat into a cocoon back in The Eye of the World and leaving him on ice for two books. I would feel the same way. I just wanted to let you know that this whole thing with Mat turning into a badass? It’s working. More please.
At the docks, Mat uses the letter from the Amyrlin Seat to Jedi-mind-trick the dockmaster into letting him leave. He’s so eager to be away from Tar Valon that he makes a running leap onto the nearest departing vessel, forcing Thom to scramble after him.
Captain Mallia is not happy about picking up two additional passengers aboard the Gray Gull. He’s ready to have his goons throw them overboard, but Mat puts his golden coins — and his golden tongue — to work. Soon it is a done deal that he and Thom will stay in the captain’s cabin and eat the captain’s food. Mallia takes the ostentatious display of wealth to mean Mat is a young Lord in disguise, no matter how much Mat might deny it. Which is funny, because it’s exactly the sort of thing he was giving Rand shit about during The Great Hunt.
In the night, the footpads from the city board the boat, intent on murdering Mat. He and Thom manage to dispatch most of them, and the rest jump overboard. Their identity and motive remain a mystery. Maybe they’re Darkfriends trying to assassinate Mat because he’s linked to the Horn of Valere? I really don’t know — I’m just throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.