In the oldest, most fragmentary of texts, will be found obscure mention of the Eres’al, a name that seems to refer to those most ancient of spirits that are the essence of the physical world. There is, of course, no empirical means of determining whether the attribution of meaning-the power inherent in making symbols of the inanimate-was causative, in essence the creative force behind the Eres’al; or if some other mysterious power was involved, inviting the accretion of meaning and significance by intelligent forms of life at some later date.
In either case, what cannot be refuted is the rarely acknowledged but formidable power that exists like subterranean layers in notable features of the land; nor that such power is manifested with subtle yet profound efficacy, even so much as to twist the stride of gods-indeed, occasionally sufficient to bring them down with finality…
Preface to the Compendium of Maps
THE VAST SHELVES AND RIDGES OF CORAL HAD BEEN WORN INTO flat-topped islands by millennia of drifting sand and wind. Their flanks were ragged and rotted, pitted and undercut, the low ground in between them narrow, twisting and filled with sharp-edged rubble. To Gamet’s eye, the gods could not have chosen a less suitable place to encamp an army.
Yet there seemed little choice. Nowhere else offered an approach onto the field of battle, and, as quickly became evident, the position, once taken, was as defensible as the remotest mountain keep: a lone saving grace.
Tavore’s headlong approach into the maw of the enemy, to the battleground of their choosing, was, the Fist suspected, the primary source of the unease and vague confusion afflicting the legions. He watched the soldiers proceeding, in units of a hundred, on their way to taking and holding various coral islands overlooking the basin. Once in place, they would then construct from the rubble defensive barriers and low walls, followed by ramps on the south sides.
Captain Keneb shifted nervously on his saddle beside the Fist as they watched the first squads of their own legion set out towards a large, bone-white island on the westernmost edge of the basin. ‘They won’t try to dislodge us from these islands,’ he said. ‘Why bother, since it’s obvious the Adjunct intends to march us right into their laps?’
Gamet was not deaf to the criticisms and doubt hidden beneath Keneb’s words, and he wished he could say something to encourage the man, to bolster faith in Tavore’s ability to formulate and progress sound tactics. But even the Fist was unsure. There had been no sudden revelation of genius during the march from Aren. They had, in truth, walked straight as a lance northward. Suggesting what, exactly? A singlemindedness worthy of imitation, or a failure of imagination? Are the two so different, or merely alternate approaches to the same thing? And now they were being arrayed, as stolid as ever, to advance-probably at dawn the next day-towards the enemy and their entrenched fortifications. An enemy clever enough to create singular and difficult approaches to their positions.
‘Those ramps will see the death of us all,’ Keneb muttered. ‘Korbolo Dom’s prepared for this, as any competent, Malazan-trained commander would. He wants us crowded and struggling uphill, beneath an endless hail of arrows, quarrels and ballista, not to mention sorcery. Look at how smooth he’s made those ramp surfaces, Fist. The cobbles, when slick with streaming blood, will be like grease underfoot. We’ll find no purchase-’
‘I am not blind,’ Gamet growled. ‘Nor, we must assume, is the Adjunct.’
Keneb shot the older man a look. ‘It would help to have some reassurance of that, Fist.’
‘There shall be a meeting of officers tonight,’ Gamet replied. ‘And again a bell before dawn.’
‘She’s already decided the disposition of our legion,’ Keneb grated, leaning on his saddle and spitting in the local fashion.
‘Aye, she has, Captain.’ They were to guard avenues of retreat, not for their own forces, but those the enemy might employ. A premature assumption of victory that whispered of madness. They were outnumbered. Every advantage was with Sha’ik, yet almost one-third of the Adjunct’s army would not participate in the battle. ‘And the Adjunct expects us to comply with professional competence,’ Gamet added.
‘As she commands,’ Keneb growled.
Dust was rising as the sappers and engineers worked on the fortifications and ramps. The day was blisteringly hot, the wind barely a desultory breath. The Khundryl, Seti and Wickan horse warriors remained south of the coral islands, awaiting the construction of a road that would give them egress to the basin. Even then, there would be scant room to manoeuvre. Gamet suspected that Tavore would hold most of them back-the basin was not large enough for massed cavalry charges, for either side. Sha’ik’s own desert warriors would most likely be held in reserve, a fresh force to pursue the Malazans should they be broken. And, in turn, the Khundryl can cover such a retreat… or rout. A rather ignoble conclusion, the remnants of the Malazan army riding double on Khundryl horses-the Fist grimaced at the image and angrily swept it from his mind. ‘The Adjunct knows what she is doing,’ he asserted.
Keneb said nothing.
A messenger approached on foot. ‘Fist Gamet,’ the man called out, ‘the Adjunct requests your presence.’
‘I will keep an eye on the legion,’ Keneb said.
Gamet nodded and wheeled his horse around. The motion made his head spin for a moment-he was still waking with headaches-then he steadied himself with a deep breath and nodded towards the messenger. They made slow passage through the chaotic array of troops moving to and fro beneath the barked commands of the officers, towards a low hill closest to the basin. Gamet could see the Adjunct astride her horse on that hill, along with, on foot, Nil and Nether. ‘I see them,’ Gamet said to the messenger.
‘Aye, sir, I’ll leave you to it, then.’
Riding clear of the press, Gamet brought his horse into a canter and moments later reined in alongside the Adjunct.
The position afforded them a clear view of the enemy emplacements, and, just as they observed, so too in turn were they being watched by a small knot of figures atop the central ramp.
‘How sharp are your eyes, Fist?’ the Adjunct asked.
‘Not sharp enough,’ he replied.
‘Korbolo Dom. Kamist Reloe. Six officers. Kamist has quested in our direction, seeking signs of mages. High Mages, specifically. Of course, given that Nil and Nether are with me, they cannot be found by Kamist Reloe’s sorceries. Tell me, Fist Gamet, how confident do you imagine Korbolo Dom feels right now?’
He studied her a moment. She was in her armour, the visor of her helm lifted, her eyes half-lidded against the bright glare bouncing from the basin’s hard-packed, crackled clay. ‘I would think, Adjunct,’ he replied slowly, ‘that his measure of confidence is wilting.’
She glanced over. ‘Wilting. Why?’
‘Because it all looks too easy. Too overwhelmingly in his favour, Adjunct.’
She fell silent, returning her gaze to the distant enemy.
Is this what she wanted me for? To ask that one question?
Gamet switched his attention to the two Wickans. Nil had grown during the march, leading Gamet to suspect that he would be a tall man in a few years’ time. He wore only a loincloth and looked feral with his wild, unbraided hair and green and black body-paint.
Nether, he realized with some surprise, had filled out beneath her deer-skin hides, a chubbiness that was common to girls before they came of age. The severity of her expression was very nearly fixed now, transforming what should have been a pretty face into a mien forbidding and burdened. Her black hair was shorn close, betokening a vow of grief.
‘Kamist’s questing is done,’ the Adjunct suddenly pronounced. ‘He will need to rest, now.’ She turned in her saddle and by some prearranged signal two Wickan warriors jogged up the slope. Tavore unhitched her sword-belt and passed it to them. They quickly retreated with the otataral weapon.
Reluctantly, Nil and Nether settled cross-legged onto the stony ground.
‘Fist Gamet,’ the Adjunct said, ‘if you would, draw your dagger and spill a few drops from your right palm.’
Without a word he tugged off his gauntlet, slid his dagger from its scabbard and scored the edge across the fleshy part of his hand. Blood welled from the cut. Gamet held it out, watched as the blood spilled down to the ground.
Dizziness struck him and he reeled in the saddle a moment before regaining his balance.
Nether voiced a hiss of surprise.
Gamet glanced down at her. Her eyes were closed, both hands pressed against the sandy ground. Nil had assumed the same posture and on his face flitted a wild sequence of emotions, fixing at last on fear.
The Fist was still feeling light-headed, a faint roaring sound filling his skull.
‘There are spirits here,’ Nil growled. ‘Rising with anger-’
‘A song,’ Nether cut in. ‘Of war, and warriors-’
‘New and old,’ her brother said. ‘So very new… and so very old. Battle and death, again and again-’
‘The land remembers every struggle played out on its surface, on all its surfaces, from the very beginning.’ Nether grimaced, then shivered, her eyes squeezed shut. ‘The goddess is as nothing to this power-yet she would… steal.’
The Adjunct’s voice was sharp. ‘Steal?’
‘The warren,’ Nil replied. ‘She would claim this fragment, and settle it upon this land like a parasite. Roots of shadow, slipping down to draw sustenance, to feed on the land’s memories.’
‘And the spirits will not have it,’ Nether whispered.
‘They are resisting?’ the Adjunct asked.
Both Wickans nodded, then Nil bared his teeth and said, ‘Ghosts cast no shadows. You were right, Adjunct. Gods, you were right!’
Right? Gamet wondered. Right about what?
‘And will they suffice?’ Tavore demanded.
Nil shook his head. ‘I don’t know. Only if the Talon Master does what you think he will do, Adjunct.’
‘Assuming,’ Nether added, ‘Sha’ik is unaware of the viper in her midst.’
‘Had she known,’ Tavore said, ‘she would have separated his head from his shoulders long ago.’
‘Perhaps,’ Nether replied, and Gamet heard the scepticism in her tone. ‘Unless she and her goddess decided to wait until all their enemies were gathered.’
The Adjunct returned her gaze to the distant officers. ‘Let us see, shall we?’
Both Wickans rose, then shared a glance unwitnessed by Tavore.
Gamet rubbed his uncut hand along his brow beneath the helm’s rim, and his fingers came away dripping with sweat. Something had used him, he realized shakily. Through the medium of his blood. He could hear distant music, a song of voices and unrecognizable instruments. A pressure was building in his skull. ‘If you are done with me, Adjunct,’ he said roughly.
She nodded without looking over. ‘Return to your legion, Fist. Convey to your officers, please, the following. Units may appear during the battle on the morrow which you will not recognize. They may seek orders, and you are to give them as if they were under your command.’
‘Understood, Adjunct.’
‘Have a cutter attend to your hand, Fist Gamet, and thank you. Also, ask the guards to return to me my sword.’
‘Aye.’ He wheeled his horse and walked it down the slope.
The headache was not fading, and the song itself seemed to have poisoned his veins, a music of flesh and bone that hinted of madness. Leave me in peace, damn you. I am naught but a soldier. A soldier…
Strings sat on the boulder, his head in his hands. He had flung off the helm but had no memory of having done so, and it lay at his feet, blurry and wavering behind the waves of pain that rose and fell like a storm-tossed sea. Voices were speaking around him, seeking to reach him, but he could make no sense of what was being said. The song had burgeoned sudden and fierce in his skull, flowing through his limbs like fire.
A hand gripped his shoulder, and he felt a sorcerous questing seep into his veins, tentatively at first, then flinching away entirely, only to return with more force-and with it, a spreading silence. Blissful peace, cool and calm.
Finally, the sergeant was able to look up.
He found his squad gathered around him. The hand fixed onto his shoulder was Bottle’s, and the lad’s face was pale, beaded with sweat. Their eyes locked, then Bottle nodded and slowly withdrew his hand.
‘Can you hear me, Sergeant?’
‘Faint, as if you were thirty paces away.’
‘Is the pain gone?’
‘Aye-what did you do?’
Bottle glanced away.
Strings frowned, then said, ‘Everyone else, back to work. Stay here, Bottle.’
Cuttle cuffed Tarr and the corporal straightened and mumbled, ‘Let’s go, soldiers. There’s pits to dig.’
The sergeant and Bottle watched the others head off, retrieving their picks and shovels as they went. The squad was positioned on the south-westernmost island, overlooking dunes that reached out to the horizon. A single, sufficiently wide corridor lay directly to the north, through which the enemy-if broken and fleeing-would come as they left the basin. Just beyond it lay a modest, flat-topped tel, on which a company of mounted desert warriors were ensconced, the crest dotted with scouts keeping a careful eye on the Malazans. ‘All right, Bottle,’ Strings said, ‘out with it.’
‘Spirits, Sergeant. They’re… awakening.’
‘And what in Hood’s name has that got to do with me?’
‘Mortal blood, I think. It has its own song. They remember it. They came to you, Sergeant, eager to add their voices to it. To… uh… to you.’
‘Why me?’
‘I don’t know.’
Strings studied the young mage for a moment, mulling on the taste of that lie, then grimaced and said, ‘You think it’s because I’m fated to die here-at this battle.’
Bottle looked away once more. ‘I’m not sure, Sergeant. It’s way beyond me… this land. And its spirits. And what it all has to do with you-’
‘I’m a Bridgeburner, lad. The Bridgeburners were born here. In Raraku’s crucible.’
Bottle’s eyes thinned as he studied the desert to the west. ‘But… they were wiped out.’
‘Aye, they were.’
Neither spoke for a time. Koryk had broken his shovel on a rock and was stringing together an admirable list of Seti curses. The others had stopped to listen. On the northern edge of the island Gesler’s squad was busy building a wall of rubble, which promptly toppled, the boulders tumbling down the far edge. Distant hoots and howls sounded from the tel across the way.
‘It won’t be your usual battle, will it?’ Bottle asked.
Strings shrugged. ‘There’s no such thing, lad. There’s nothing usual about killing and dying, about pain and terror.’
‘That’s not what I meant-’
‘I know it ain’t, Bottle. But wars these days are fraught with sorcery and munitions, so you come to expect surprises.’
Gesler’s two dogs trotted past, the huge cattle dog trailing the Hengese Roach as if the hairy lapdog carried its own leash.
‘This place is… complicated,’ Bottle sighed. He reached down and picked up a large, disc-shaped rock. ‘Eres’al,’ he said. ‘A hand-axe-the basin down there’s littered with them. Smoothed by the lake that once filled it. Took days to make one of these, then they didn’t even use them-they just flung them into the lake. Makes no sense, does it? Why make a tool then not use it?’
Strings stared at the mage. ‘What are you talking about, Bottle? Who are the Eres’al?’
‘Were, Sergeant. They’re long gone.’
‘The spirits?’
‘No, those are from all times, from every age this land has known. My grandmother spoke of the Eres. The Dwellers who lived in the time before the Imass, the first makers of tools, the first shapers of their world.’ He shook his head, fought down a shiver. ‘I never expected to meet one-it was there, she was there, in that song within you.’
‘And she told you about these tools?’
‘Not directly. More like I shared it-well, her mind. She was the one who gifted you the silence. It wasn’t me-I don’t have that power-but I asked, and she showed mercy. At least’-he glanced at Strings-‘I gather it was a mercy.’
‘Aye, lad, it was. Can you still… speak with that Eres?’
‘No. All I wanted to do was get out of there-out of that blood-’
‘My blood.’
‘Well, most of it’s your blood, Sergeant.’
‘And the rest?’
‘Belongs to that song. The, uh, Bridgeburners’ song.’
Strings closed his eyes, settled his head against the boulder behind him. Kimloc, that damned Tanno Spiritwalker in Ehrlitan. I said no, but he did it anyway. He stole my story-not just mine, but the Bridgeburners’-and he made of it a song. The bastard’s gone and given us back to Raraku…
‘Go help the others, Bottle.’
‘Aye, Sergeant.’
‘And… thanks.’
‘I’ll pass that along, when next I meet the Eres witch.’
Strings stared after the mage. So there’ll be a next time, will there? Just how much didn’t you tell me, lad? He wondered if the morrow would indeed be witness to his last battle. Hardly a welcome thought, but maybe it was necessary. Maybe he was being called to join the fallen Bridgeburners. Not so bad, then. Couldn’t ask for more miserable company. Damn, but I miss them. I miss them all. Even Hedge.
The sergeant opened his eyes and climbed to his feet, collecting then donning his helm. He turned to stare out over the basin to the northeast, to the enemy emplacements and the dust and smoke of the city hidden within the oasis. You too, Kalam Mekhar. I wonder if you know why you’re here…
The shaman was in a frenzy, twitching and hissing as he scuttled like a crab in dusty circles around the flat slab of bone that steadily blackened on the hearth. Corabb, his mouth filled with a half-dozen of the scarab shells strung round his neck to ward off evil, winced as his chattering teeth crunched down on one carapace, filling his mouth with a bitter taste. He plucked the necklace from his mouth and began spitting out pieces of shell.
Leoman strode up to the shaman and grabbed the scrawny man by his telaba, lifted him clear off the ground, then shook him. A flurry of cloth and hair and flying spittle, then Leoman set the shaman down once more and growled, ‘What did you see?’
‘Armies!’ the old man shrieked, tugging at his nose as if it had just arrived on his face.
Leoman scowled. ‘Aye, we can see those too, you damned fakir-’
‘No! More armies!’ He scrabbled past and ran to the southern crest of the tel, where he began hopping about and pointing at the Malazans entrenching on the island opposite the old drainage channel.
Leoman made no move to follow. He walked over to where Corabb and three other warriors crouched behind a low wall. ‘Corabb, send another rider to Sha’ik-no, on second thought, you go yourself. Even if she will not bother acknowledging our arrival, I want to know how Mathok’s tribes will be arrayed come the dawn. Find out, once you have spoken with Sha’ik-and Corabb, be certain you speak with her in person. Then return here.’
‘I shall do as you command,’ Corabb announced, straightening.
Twenty paces away the shaman wheeled round and screamed, ‘They are here! The dogs, Leoman! The dogs! The Wickan dogs!’
Leoman scowled. ‘The fool’s gone mad…’
Corabb jogged over to his horse. He would waste no time saddling the beast, especially if it meant hearing more of the shaman’s insane observations. He vaulted onto the animal, tightened the straps holding the lance crossways on his back, then collected the reins and spurred the animal into motion.
The route to the oasis was twisting and tortured, winding between deep sand and jagged outcrops, forcing him to slow his mount’s pace and let it pick its own way along the trail.
The day was drawing to a close, shadows deepening where the path wound its way into high-walled gullies closer to the southwestern edge of the oasis. As his horse scrabbled over some rubble and walked round a sharp bend, the sudden stench of putrefaction reached both animal and man simultaneously.
The path was blocked. A dead horse and, just beyond it, a corpse.
Heart thudding, Corabb slipped down from his mount and moved cautiously forward.
Leoman’s messenger, the one he had sent as soon as the troop had arrived. A crossbow quarrel had taken him on the temple, punching through bone then exploding out messily the other side.
Corabb scanned the jagged walls to either side. If there’d been assassins stationed there he would already be dead, he reasoned. Probably, then, they weren’t expecting any more messengers.
He returned to his horse. It was a struggle coaxing the creature over the bodies, but eventually he led the beast clear of them and leapt onto its back once more. Eyes roving restlessly, he continued on.
Sixty paces later and the trail ahead opened out onto the sandy slope, beyond which could be seen the dusty mantles of guldindha trees.
Breathing a relieved sigh, Corabb urged his horse forward.
Two hammer blows against his back flung him forward. Without stirrups or saddlehorn to grab on to, Corabb threw his arms out around the horse’s neck-even as the animal squealed in pain and bolted. The motion almost jolted loose his panicked grip, and the horse’s right knee cracked hard, again and again, into his helm, until it fell away and the knobby joint repeatedly pounded against his head.
Corabb held on, even as he continued slipping down, then around, until his body was being pummelled by both front legs. The encumbrance proved sufficient to slow the animal as it reached the slope, and Corabb, one leg dangling, his heel bouncing over the hard ground, managed to pull himself up under his horse’s head.
Another quarrel cracked into the ground and skittered away off to the left.
The horse halted halfway up the slope.
Corabb brought his other leg down, then pivoted around to the opposite side and vaulted onto the animal once more. He’d lost the reins, but closed both fingers in the horse’s mane as he drove his heels into the beast’s flanks.
Yet another quarrel caromed from the rocks, then hooves were thudding on sand, and sudden sunlight bathed them.
Directly ahead lay the oasis, and the cover of trees.
Corabb leaned onto the mount’s neck and urged it ever faster.
They plunged onto a trail between the guldindhas. Glancing back, he saw a deep rip running down his horse’s left flank, leaking blood. And then he caught sight of his lance, dangling loose now from his back. There were two quarrels embedded in the shaft. Each had struck at a different angle, and the impact must have been nearly simultaneous, since the splits had bound against each other, halting the momentum of both quarrels.
Corabb lifted the ruined weapon clear and flung it away.
He rode hard down the trail.
‘A tiger’s barbs,’ she murmured, her eyes veiled behind rust-leaf smoke, ‘painted onto a toad. Somehow, it makes you look even more dangerous.’
‘Aye, lass, I’m pure poison,’ Heboric muttered as he studied her in the gloom. There was life in her gaze once more, a sharpness that went beyond the occasional cutting remark, hinting at a mind finally cleared of durhang’s dulling fog. She still coughed as if her lungs were filled with fluid, although the sage mixed in with the rust-leaf had eased that somewhat.
She was returning his regard with an inquisitive-if slightly hard-expression, drawing steadily on the hookah’s mouthpiece, smoke tumbling down from her nostrils.
‘If I could see you,’ Heboric muttered, ‘I’d conclude you’ve improved some.’
‘I have, Destriant of Treach, though I would have thought those feline eyes of yours could pierce every veil.’
He grunted. ‘It’s more that you no longer slur your words, Scillara.’
‘What do we do now?’ she asked after a moment.
‘Dusk will soon arrive. I would go out to find L’oric, and I would that you accompany me.’
‘And then?’
‘Then, I would lead you to Felisin Younger.’
‘Sha’ik’s adopted daughter.’
‘Aye.’
Scillara glanced away, meditative as she drew deep on the rust-leaf.
‘How old are you, lass?’
She shrugged, ‘As old as I have to be. If I am to take Felisin Younger’s orders, so be it. Resentment is pointless.’
An awkward conversation, progressing in leaps that left Heboric scrambling. Sha’ik was much the same. Perhaps, he reflected with a grimace, this talent for intuitive thinking was a woman’s alone-he admittedly had little experience upon which he could draw, despite his advanced years. Fener’s temple was predominantly male, when it came to the holy order itself, and Heboric’s life as a thief had, of necessity, included only a handful of close associations. He was, once more, out of his depth. ‘Felisin Younger has, I believe, little interest in commanding anyone. This is not an exchange of one cult for another, Scillara-not in the way you seem to think it is, at any rate. No-one will seek to manipulate you here.’
‘As you have explained, Destriant.’ She sighed heavily and sat straighter, setting down the hookah’s mouthpiece. ‘Very well, lead me into the darkness.’
His eyes narrowed on her. ‘I shall… as soon as it arrives…’
The shadows were drawing long, sufficient to swallow the entire basin below their position. Sha’ik stood at the crest of the northernmost ramp, studying the distant masses of Malazan soldiery on the far rises as they continued digging in. Ever methodical, was her sister.
She glanced to her left and scanned Korbolo Dom’s positions. All was in readiness for the morrow’s battle, and she could see the Napan commander, surrounded by aides and guards, standing at the edge of the centre ramp, doing as she herself was doing: watching Tavore’s army.
We are all in place. Suddenly, the whole thing seemed so pointless. This game of murderous tyrants, pushing their armies forward into an inevitable clash. Coldly disregarding of the lives that would be lost in the appeasement of their brutal desires. What value this mindless hunger to rule? What do you want with us, Empress Laseen? Seven Cities will never rest easy beneath your yoke. You shall have to enslave, and what is gained by that? And what of her own goddess? Was she any different from Laseen? Every claw was outstretched, eager to grasp, to rend, to soak the sand red with gore.
But Raraku does not belong to you, dear Dryjhna, no matter how ferocious your claims. I see that now. This desert is holy unto itself. And now it rails-feel it, goddess! It rails! Against one and all.
Standing beside her, Mathok had been studying the Malazan positions in silence. But now he spoke. ‘The Adjunct has made an appearance, Chosen One.’
Sha’ik dragged her gaze from Korbolo Dom and looked to where the desert warchief pointed.
Astride a horse from the Paran stables. Of course. Two Wickans on foot nearby. Her sister was in full armour, her helm glinting crimson in the dying light.
Sha’ik’s eyes snapped back to Korbolo’s position. ‘Kamist Reloe has arrived… he’s opened his warren and now quests towards the enemy. But Tavore’s otataral sword defies him… so he reaches around, into the army itself. Seeking High Mages… unsuspected allies…’ After a moment she sighed. ‘And finds none but a few shamans and squad mages.’
Mathok rumbled, ‘Those two Wickans with the Adjunct. They are the ones known as Nil and Nether.’
‘Yes. Said to be broken of spirit-they have none of the power that their clans once gave them, for those clans have been annihilated.’
‘Even so, Chosen One,’ Mathok muttered, ‘that she holds them within the fog of otataral suggests they are not as weak as we would believe.’
‘Or that Tavore does not want their weakness revealed.’
‘Why bother if such failure is already known to us?’
‘To deepen our doubt, Mathok,’ she replied.
He curtly gestured, adding a frustrated growl. ‘This mire has no surface, Chosen One-’
‘Wait!’ Sha’ik stared once again at Tavore. ‘She has sent her weapon away-Kamist Reloe has withdrawn his questing-and now… ah!’ The last word was a startled cry, as she felt the muted unveiling of power from both Nil and Nether-a power far greater than it had any right to be.
Sha’ik then gasped, as the goddess within her flinched back-as if stung-and loosed a shriek that filled her skull.
For Raraku was answering the summons, a multitude of voices, rising in song, rising with raw, implacable desire-the sound, Sha’ik realized, of countless souls straining against the chains that bound them.
Chains of shadow. Chains like roots. From this torn, alien fragment of warren. This piece of shadow, that has risen to bind their souls and so feeds upon the life-force. ‘Mathok, where is Leoman?’ We need Leoman.
‘I do not know, Chosen One.’
She turned once more and stared at Korbolo Dom. He stood foremost on the ramp, his stance squared, thumbs hitched into his sword-belt, studying the enemy with an air of supreme confidence that made Sha’ik want to scream.
Nothing-nothing was as it seemed.
To the west, the sun had turned the horizon into a crimson conflagration. The day was drowning in a sea of flame, and she watched shadows flowing across the land, her heart growing cold.
The alley outside Heboric’s tent was empty in both directions. The sun’s sudden descent seemed to bring a strange silence along with the gloom. Dust hung motionless in the air.
The Destriant of Treach paused in the aisle.
Behind him Scillara said, ‘Where is everyone?’
He had been wondering the same thing. Then, slowly, the hairs rose on the back of his neck. ‘Can you hear that, lass?’
Only the wind But there was no wind.
‘No, not wind,’ Scillara murmured. ‘A song. From far away-the Malazan army, do you think?’
He shook his head, but said nothing.
After a moment Heboric gestured Scillara to follow and he set out down the alley. The song seemed suspended in the very air, raising a haze of dust that seemed to shiver before his eyes. Sweat ran down his limbs. Fear. Fear has driven this entire city from the streets. Those voices are the sound of war.
‘There should be children,’ Scillara said. ‘Girls…’
‘Why girls more than anyone else, lass?’
‘Bidithal’s spies. His chosen servants.’
He glanced back at her. ‘Those he… scars?’
‘Yes. They should be… everywhere. Without them-’
‘Bidithal is blind. It may well be he has sent them elsewhere, or even withdrawn them entirely. There will be… events this night, Scillara. Blood will be spilled. The players are, no doubt, even now drawing into position.’
‘He spoke of this night,’ she said. ‘The hours of darkness before the battle. He said the world will change this night.’
Heboric bared his teeth. ‘The fool has sunk to the bottom of the Abyss, and now stirs the black mud.’
‘He dreams of true Darkness unfolding, Destriant. Shadow is but an upstart, a realm born of compromise and filled with impostors. The fragments must be returned to the First Mother.’
‘Not just a fool, then, but mad. To speak of the most ancient of battles, as if he himself is a force worthy of it-Bidithal has lost his mind.’
‘He says something is coming,’ Scillara said, shrugging. ‘Suspected by no-one, and only Bidithal himself has any hope of controlling it, for he alone remembers the Dark.’
Heboric halted. ‘Hood take his soul. I must go to him. Now.’
‘We will find him-’
‘In his damned temple, aye. Come on.’
They swung about.
Even as two figures emerged from the gloom of an alley mouth, blades flickering out.
With a snarl, Heboric closed on them. One taloned hand shot out, tore under and into an assassin’s neck, then snapped upward, lifting the man’s head clean from his shoulders.
The other killer lunged, knife-point darting for Heboric’s left eye. The Destriant caught the man’s wrist and crushed both bones. A slash from his other hand spilled the assassin’s entrails onto the dusty street.
Flinging the body away, Heboric glared about. Scillara stood a few paces back, her eyes wide. Ignoring her, the Destriant crouched down over the nearest corpse. ‘Korbolo Dom’s. Too impatient by far-’
Three quarrels struck him simultaneously. One deep into his right hip, shattering bone. Another plunging beneath his right shoulder blade to draw short a finger’s breadth from his spine. The third, arriving from the opposite direction, took him high on his left shoulder with enough force to spin him round, so that he tumbled backward over the corpse.
Scillara scrabbled down beside him. ‘Old man? Do you live?’
‘Bastards,’ he growled. ‘That hurts.’
‘They’re coming-’
‘To finish me off, aye. Flee, lass. To the stone forest. Go!’
He felt her leave his side, heard her light steps patter away.
Heboric sought to rise, but agony ripped up from his broken hip, left him gasping and blinded.
Approaching footsteps, three sets, moccasined, two from the right and one from the left. Knives whispered from sheaths. Closing… then silence.
Someone was standing over Heboric. Through his blurred vision, he could make out dust-smeared boots, and from them a stench, as of musty, dry death. Another set of boots scuffed the ground beyond the Destriant’s feet.
‘Begone, wraiths,’ a voice hissed from a half-dozen paces away.
‘Too late for that, assassin,’ murmured the figure above Heboric. ‘Besides, we’ve only just arrived.’
‘In the name of Hood, Hoarder of Souls, I banish you from this realm.’
A soft laugh answered the killer’s command. ‘Kneel before Hood, do you? Oh yes, I felt the power in your words. Alas, Hood’s out of his depth on this one. Ain’t that right, lass?’
A deep, grunting assent from the one standing near Heboric’s feet.
‘Last warning,’ the assassin growled. ‘Our blades are sanctioned-they will bleed your souls-’
‘No doubt. Assuming they ever reach us.’
‘There are but two of you… and three of us.’
‘Two?’
Scuffing sounds, then, sharp and close, the spray of blood onto the ground. Bodies thumped, long breaths exhaled wetly.
‘Should’ve left one alive,’ said another woman’s voice.
‘Why?’
‘So we could send him back to that fly-blown Napan bastard with a promise for the morrow.’
‘Better this way, lass. No-one appreciates surprise any more-that’s what’s gone wrong with the world, if you ask me-’
‘Well, we wasn’t asking you. This old man going to make it, you think?’
A grunt. ‘I doubt Treach will give up on his new Destriant with nary a meow. Besides, that sweet-lunged beauty is on her way back.’
‘Time for us to leave, then.’
‘Aye.’
‘And from now on we don’t surprise no-one, ’til come the dawn. Understood?’
‘Temptation got the better of us. Won’t happen again.’
Silence, then footsteps once more. A small hand settled on his brow.
‘Scillara?’
‘Yes, it’s me. There were soldiers here, I think. They didn’t look too good-’
‘Never mind that. Pull the quarrels from me. Flesh wants to heal, bone to knit. Pull ’em out, lass.’
‘And then?’
‘Drag me back to my temple… if you can.’
‘All right.’
He felt a hand close on the quarrel buried in his left shoulder. A flash of pain, then nothing.
Elder Sha’ik’s armour was laid out on the table. One of Mathok’s warriors had replaced the worn straps and fittings, then polished the bronze plates and the full, visored helm. The longsword was oiled, its edges finely honed. The iron-rimmed hide-covered shield leaned against one table leg.
She stood, alone in the chamber, staring down at the accoutrements left by her predecessor. The old woman reputedly had skill with the blade. The helm seemed strangely oversized, its vented cheek guards flared and full length, hinged to the heavy brow-band. Fine blackened chain hung web-like across the eye-slits. A long, wide lobster-tail neck guard sprawled out from the back rim.
She walked over to the quilted under-padding. It was heavy, sweat-stained, the laces beneath the arms and running the length of the sides. Boiled leather plates covered her upper thighs, shoulders, arms and wrists. Working methodically, she tightened every lace and strap, shifting about to settle the weight evenly before turning to the armour itself.
Most of the night remained, stretching before her like infinity’s dark road, but she wanted to feel the armour encasing her; she wanted its massive weight, and so she affixed the leg greaves, footplates and wrist vambraces, then shrugged her way into the breastplate. Sorcery had lightened the bronze, and its sound as it rustled was like thin tin. The design allowed her to cinch the straps herself, and moments later she picked up the sword and slid it into its scabbard, then drew the heavy belt about her waist, setting the hooks that held it to the cuirass so that its weight did not drag at her hips.
All that remained was the pair of gauntlets, and the under-helm and helm itself. She hesitated. Have I any choice in all this? The goddess remained a towering presence in her mind, rooted through every muscle and fibre, her voice whispering in the flow of blood in her veins and arteries. Ascendant power was in Sha’ik’s grasp, and she knew she would use it when the time came. Or, rather, it would use her.
To kill my sister.
She sensed the approach of someone and turned to face the entrance. ‘You may enter, L’oric.’
The High Mage stepped into view.
Sha’ik blinked. He was wearing armour. White, enamelled, scarred and stained with use. A long, narrow-bladed sword hung at his hip. After a moment, she sighed. ‘And so we all make preparations…’
‘As you have observed before, Mathok has over three hundred warriors guarding this palace, Chosen One. Guarding… you.’
‘He exaggerates the risk. The Malazans are far too busy-’
‘The danger he anticipates, Chosen One, lies not with the Malazans.’
She studied him. ‘You look exhausted, L’oric. I suggest you return to your tent and get some rest. I shall have need for you on the morrow.’
‘You will not heed my warning?’
‘The goddess protects me. I have nothing to fear. Besides,’ she smiled, ‘Mathok has three hundred of his chosen warriors guarding this palace.’
‘Sha’ik, there will be a convergence this night. You have readers of the Deck among your advisers. Command they field their cards, and all that I say will be confirmed. Ascendant powers are gathering. The stench of treachery is in the air.’
She waved a hand. ‘None of it matters, L’oric. I cannot be touched. Nor will the goddess be denied.’
He stepped closer, his eyes wide. ‘Chosen One! Raraku is awakening!’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Can you not hear it?’
‘The rage of the goddess consumes all, L’oric. If you can hear the voice of the Holy Desert, then it is Raraku’s death-cry. The Whirlwind shall devour this night. And any ascendant power foolish enough to approach will be annihilated. The goddess, L’oric, will not be denied.’
He stared at her a moment longer, then seemed to sag beneath his armour. He drew a hand across his eyes, as if seeking to claw some nightmarish vision from his sight. Then, with a nod, he swung about and strode towards the doorway.
‘Wait!’ Sha’ik moved past him then halted.
Voices sounded from beyond the canvas walls.
‘Let him pass!’ she cried.
Two guards stumbled in, dragging a man between them. Smeared in dust and sweat, he was unable to even stand, so exhausted and battered was he. One of the guards barked, ‘It is Corabb Bhilan Thenu’alas. One of Leoman’s officers.’
‘Chosen One!’ the man gasped. ‘I am the third rider Leoman has sent to you! I found the bodies of the others-assassins pursued me almost to your very palace!’
Sha’ik’s face darkened with fury. ‘Get Mathok,’ she snapped to one of the guards. ‘L’oric, gift this man some healing, to aid in his recovery.’
The High Mage stepped forward, settled a hand on Corabb’s shoulder.
The desert warrior’s breathing slowed, and he slowly straightened. ‘Leoman sends his greetings, Chosen One. He wishes to know of Mathok’s deployment-’
‘Corabb,’ Sha’ik cut in. ‘You will return to Leoman-with an escort. My orders to him are as follows-are you listening?’
He nodded.
‘Leoman is to ride immediately back to me. He is to take over command of my armies.’
Corabb blinked. ‘Chosen One?’
‘Leoman of the Flails is to assume command of my armies. Before the dawn. L’oric, go to Korbolo Dom and convey to him my summons. He is to attend me immediately.’
L’oric hesitated, then nodded. ‘As you command, Chosen One. I will take my leave of you now.’
He exited the chamber, made his way through the intervening rooms and passageways, passing guard after guard, seeing weapons drawn and feeling hard eyes on him. Korbolo Dom would be a fool to attempt to reach her with his assassins. Even so, the night had begun, and in the oasis beyond starlight now played on drawn blades.
Emerging onto the concourse before the palace, L’oric paused. His warren was unveiled, and he made that fact visible through a spark-filled penumbra surrounding his person. He wanted no-one to make any fatal mistakes. Feeling strangely exposed none the less, he set out towards Korbolo Dom’s command tent.
The Dogslayers were ready in their reserve trenches, a ceaseless rustling of weapons and armour and muted conversations that fell still further as he strode past, only to rise again in his wake. These soldiers, L’oric well knew, had by choice and by circumstance made of themselves a separate force. Marked by the butchery of their deeds. By the focus of Malazan outrage. They know that no quarter will be given them. Their bluster was betrayed by diffidence, their reputed savagery streaked now with glimmers of fear. And their lives were in Korbolo Dom’s stained hands. Entirely. They will not sleep this night.
He wondered what would happen when Leoman wrested command from the Napan renegade. Would there be mutiny? It was very possible. Of course, Sha’ik possessed the sanction of the Whirlwind Goddess, and she would not hesitate to flex that power should Leoman’s position be challenged. Still, this was not the way to ready an army on the night before battle.
She has waited too long. Then again, perhaps this was intended. Designed to knock Korbolo off balance, to give him no time to prepare any counter-moves. If so, then it is the boldest of risks, on this, the most jagged-edged of nights.
He made his way up the steep pathway to the Napan’s command tent. Two sentries emerged from near the entrance to block his progress.
‘Inform Korbolo Dom that I bring word from Sha’ik.’
He watched the two soldiers exchange a glance, then one nodded and entered the tent.
A few moments later the sorceress, Henaras, strode out from the entrance. Her face knotted in a scowl. ‘High Mage L’oric. You shall have to relinquish your warren to seek audience with the Supreme Commander of the Apocalypse.’
One brow rose at that lofty title, but he shrugged and lowered his magical defences. ‘I am under your protection, then,’ he said.
She cocked her head. ‘Against whom do you protect yourself, High Mage? The Malazans are on the other side of the basin.’
L’oric smiled.
Gesturing, Henaras swung about and entered the command tent. L’oric followed.
The spacious chamber within was dominated by a raised dais at the end opposite the doorway, on which sat a massive wooden chair. The high headrest was carved in arcane symbols that L’oric recognized-with a shock-as Hengese, from the ancient city of Li Heng in the heart of the Malazan Empire. Dominating the carvings was a stylized rendition of a raptor’s talons, outstretched, that hovered directly over the head of the seated Napan, who sat slouched, his hooded gaze fixed on the High Mage.
‘L’oric,’ he drawled. ‘You foolish man. You are about to discover what happens to souls who are far too trusting. Granted,’ he added with a smile, ‘you might have assumed we were allies. After all, we have shared the same oasis for some time now, have we not?’
‘Sha’ik demands that you attend her, Korbolo Dom. Immediately.’
‘To relieve me of my command, yes. With the ill-informed belief that my Dogslayers will accept Leoman of the Flails-did you peruse them on your way here, L’oric? Were you witness to their readiness? My army, High Mage, is surrounded by enemies. Do you understand? Leoman is welcome to attempt an approach, with all the desert warriors he and Mathok care to muster-’
‘You would betray the Apocalypse? Turn on your allies and win the battle for the Adjunct, Korbolo Dom? All to preserve your precious position?’
‘If Sha’ik insists.’
‘Alas, Sha’ik is not the issue,’ L’oric said. ‘The Whirlwind Goddess, however, is, and I believe her toleration of you, Korbolo Dom, is about to end.’
‘Do you think so, L’oric? Will she also accept the destruction of the Dogslayers? For destroy them she must, if she is to wrest control from me. The decimation of her vaunted Army of the Apocalypse. Truly, will the goddess choose this?’
L’oric slowly cocked his head, then he slowly sighed. ‘Ah, I see now the flaw. You have approached this tactically, as would any soldier. But what you clearly do not understand is that the Whirlwind Goddess is indifferent to tactics, to grand strategies. You rely upon her common sense, but Korbolo, she has none. The battle tomorrow? Victory or defeat? The goddess cares neither way. She desires destruction. The Malazans butchered on the field, the Dogslayers slaughtered in their trenches, an enfilade of sorcery to transform the sands of Raraku into a red ruin. This is what the Whirlwind Goddess desires.’
‘What of it?’ the Napan rasped, and L’oric saw sweat beading the man’s scarred brow. ‘Even the goddess cannot reach me, not here, in this sanctified place-’
‘And you call me the fool? The goddess will see you slain this night, but you are too insignificant for her to act directly in crushing you under thumb.’
Korbolo Dom bolted forward on the chair. ‘Then who?’ he shrieked. ‘You, L’oric?’
The High Mage spread his hands and shook his head. ‘I am less than a messenger in this, Korbolo Dom. I am, if anything at all, merely the voice of… common sense. It is not who she will send against you, Supreme Commander. It is, I believe, who she will allow through her defences. Don’t you think?’
Korbolo stared down at the High Mage, then he snarled and gestured.
The knife plunging into his back had no chance of delivering a fatal wound. L’oric’s tightly bound defences, his innermost layers of Kurald Thyrllan, defied the thirst of iron. Despite this, the blow drove the High Mage to his knees. Then he pitched forward onto the thick carpets, almost at the Napan’s boots.
And already, he was ignored as he lay there, bleeding into the weave, as Korbolo rose and began bellowing orders. And none were close enough to hear the High Mage murmur, ‘Blood is the path, you foolish man. And you have opened it. You poor bastard…’
‘Grim statement. Grey frog must leave your delicious company.’
Felisin glanced over at the demon. Its four eyes were suddenly glittering, avid with palpable hunger. ‘What has happened?’
‘Ominous. An invitation from my brother.’
‘Is L’oric in trouble?’
‘There is darkness this night, yet the Mother’s face is turned away. What comes cannot be chained. Warning. Caution. Remain here, lovely child. My brother can come to no further harm, but my path is made clear. Glee. I shall eat humans this night.’
She drew her telaba closer about herself and fought off a shiver. ‘I am, uh, pleased for you, Greyfrog.’
‘Uncertain admonition. The shadows are fraught-no path is entirely clear, even that of blood. I must needs bob and weave, hop this way and that, grow still under baleful glare, and hope for the best.’
‘How long should I wait for you, Greyfrog?’
‘Leave not this glade until the sun rises, dearest she whom I would marry, regardless of little chance for proper broods. Besotted. Suddenly eager to depart.’
‘Go, then.’
‘Someone approaches. Potential ally. Be kind.’
With that the demon scrambled into the shadows.
Potential ally? Who would that be?
She could hear the person on the trail now, bared feet that seemed to drag with exhaustion, and a moment later a woman stumbled into the glade, halting in the gloom to peer about.
‘Here,’ Felisin murmured, emerging from the shelter.
‘Felisin Younger?’
‘Ah, there is but one who calls me that. Heboric has sent you?’
‘Yes.’ The woman came closer, and Felisin saw that she was stained with blood, and a heavy bruise marred her jaw. ‘They tried to kill him. There were ghosts. Defending him against the assassins-’
‘Wait, wait. Catch your breath. You’re safe here. Does Heboric still live?’
She nodded. ‘He heals-in his temple. He heals-’
‘Slow your breathing, please. Here, I have wine. Say nothing for now-when you are ready, tell me your tale.’
Shadow-filled hollows rippled the hills that marked the northwest approach to the oasis. A haze of dust dulled the starlight overhead. The night had come swiftly to Raraku, as it always did, and the day’s warmth was fast dissipating. On this night, there would be frost.
Four riders sat still on motionless horses in one such hollow, steam rising from their lathered beasts. Their armour gleamed pale as bone, the skin of their exposed faces a pallid, deathly grey.
They had seen the approaching horse warrior from a distance, sufficient to permit them this quiet withdrawal unseen, for the lone rider was not their quarry, and though none said it out loud, they were all glad for that.
He was huge, that stranger. Astride a horse to match. And a thousand ravaged souls trailed him, bound by ethereal chains that he dragged as if indifferent to their weight. A sword of stone hung from his back, and it was possessed by twin spirits raging with bloodthirst.
In all, a nightmarish apparition.
They listened to the heavy hoofs thump past, waited until the drumming sound dwindled within the stone forest on the edge of the oasis.
Then Jorrude cleared his throat. ‘Our path is now clear, brothers. The trespassers are camped nearby, among the army that has marched to do battle with the dwellers of this oasis. We shall strike them with the dawn.’
‘Brother Jorrude,’ Enias rumbled, ‘what conjuration just crossed our trail?’
‘I know not, Brother Enias, but it was a promise of death.’
‘Agreed,’ Malachar growled.
‘Our horses are rested enough,’ Jorrude pronounced.
The four Tiste Liosan rode up the slope until they reached the ridge, then swung their mounts southward. Jorrude spared a last glance back over his shoulder, to make certain the stranger had not reversed his route-had not spied them hiding there in that hollow. Hiding. Yes, that is the truth of it, ignoble as the truth often proves to be. He fought off a shiver, squinting into the darkness at the edge of the stone forest.
But the apparition did not emerge.
‘In the name of Osric, Lord of the Sky,’ Jorrude intoned under his breath as he led his brothers along the ridge, ‘thank you for that…’
At the edge of the glade, Karsa Orlong stared back at the distant riders. He had seen them long before they had seen him, and had smiled at their cautious retreat from his path.
Well enough, there were enemies aplenty awaiting him in the oasis, and no night lasted for ever.
Alas.