A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 1

With a soft, hollow laugh, Raest's battered, withered body collapsed.
    K'rul cocked his head. 'He's found another body.' Kruppe pulled out his handkerchief. 'Oh, my,' he said.
    Kalam gestured sharply and Paran ducked down. The captain's mouth was dry. There was something very wrong with this garden. He wondered if it was simply the exhaustion he felt. The garden's air itself rubbed his senses raw. He thought he could see the darkness pulse, and the smell of decay had thickened to a stench.
     
    Kalam reached for his knives. Paran tensed, unable to see anything beyond the assassin. Too many trees, not enough light. Somewhere ahead flickered gas-lamps, and people were gathered on the terrace. But civilization seemed a thousand leagues away. Here, the captain felt as if he was within a primordial presence, breathing slowly and heavily on all sides.
    Kalam gestured that Paran remain where he was, then slipped into the shadows to their right. Crouching low, the captain edged forward to where the assassin had been standing moments earlier. There looked to be a glade, or clearing, just ahead. He couldn't be certain, however, nor could he see anything amiss. Yet his feeling of wrongness now ached in his skull. He took another step. Something occupied the glade's centre, blockish, like a dressed stone, or an altar, and before it stood a small woman, almost wraith-like in the darkness. Her back was to Paran.
    One moment she stood alone, the next Kalam rose behind her, knives glimmering in his hands. He drew back his arms.
    The woman moved in a blur, one elbow driving backwards into the assassin's stomach. She twisted round and drove her knee into the man's crotch. A shout burst from Kalam as he reeled back a step, then fell to the ground with a heavy thump.
    Paran's sword was in his hand. He dashed into the clearing.
    The woman saw him and voiced a surprised, frightened yelp. 'No!' she cried. 'Please!'
    The captain stopped at that girlish voice. Kalam sat up. He groaned, then said, 'Dammit, Sorry. Wasn't expecting you. We figured you were dead, girl.'
    The woman eyed Paran warily as he approached cautiously. 'I should know you, shouldn't I?' she asked Kalam. Then, as Paran came closer, she raised a frightened hand between them and stepped back. 'I – I killed you!' With a soft moan she fell to her knees. 'Your blood was on my hands. I remember it!'
    A fire of rage flared in Paran. He raised his sword and moved to stand over her.
    'Wait!' Kalam hissed. 'Wait, Captain. Something's not right here.'
    With great difficulty, the assassin climbed to his feet, then prepared to sit down on the stone block.
    'Don't!' the girl gasped. 'Can't you feel it?'
    'I can,' Paran growled. He lowered his weapon. 'Don't touch that thing, Corporal.'
    Kalam stepped away. 'Thought it was just me,' he muttered.
    'It's not stone at all,' the woman said, her face free of the anguish that had twisted it a moment before. 'It's wood.' She rose and faced Kalam. 'And it's growing.'
    A suspicion came to Paran. 'Girl, do you remember me? Do you know who I am?'
    She frowned at him, then shook her head. 'I know Kalam,' she said. 'He's an old friend, I think.'
    The assassin choked on something, then coughed loudly, wagging his head.
    The woman pointed at the wooden block. 'See? It's growing again.'
    Both men looked. A haze blurred the block's edges, swelling and shifting, then vanished, yet it was clear to Paran that the thing was now bigger.
    'It has roots,' the woman added.
    Paran shook himself. 'Corporal? Remain here with the girl. I won't be long.' He sheathed his sword and left the glade. After winding through the undergrowth for a minute, he came to its edge and looked out on a terrace crowded with guests. A low-walled fountain rose from the paving stones to his left, encircled by marble pillars spaced about a yard apart.
    The captain saw that Whiskeyjack and the squad had arrayed themselves in a rough line a dozen feet from the garden's edge, facing the terrace. They looked tense. Paran found a dead branch and snapped it in half.
    At the sound all six men turned. The captain pointed at Whiskeyjack and Mallet, then stepped back between the trees. The sergeant whispered something to Quick Ben. Then he collected the healer and they came over.
    Paran pulled Whiskeyjack close. 'Kalam's found Sorry, and something else besides,' he said. 'The girl's not all there, Sergeant, and I don't think it's an act. One minute she remembers killing me, the next she doesn't.