A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 1

scarred veteran did not recoil.
    'Well,' the marine muttered, 'this is as close as I've ever been.' His grin was sickly. 'Once is enough.'
    The T'lan Imass raised his grey flint sword.
    'Hold it,' Gesler growled. 'If you need a soul to stopper that wound ... use mine.'
    Legana Breed's head pivoted.
    Gesler's jaw clenched. He nodded.
    'Insufficient,' Hentos Ilm pronounced.
    Legana Breed faced Stormy again. 'I am the last of my clan,' he rumbled. 'L'echae Shayn shall end. This weapon is our memory. Carry it, mortal. Learn its weight. Stone ever thirsts for blood.' He offered the marine the four-foot-long sword.
    Face blank, Stormy accepted it. Felisin saw the muscles of his forearms stiffen as they took the weight and held it.
    'Now,' Hentos Ilm said.
    Legana Breed stepped back and collapsed in a column of dust. The column twisted, spinning in on itself. The air on all sides stirred, then swept inward, pulled to the whirling emanation. A moment later the wind fell away and Legana Breed was gone. The remaining T'lan Imass turned and lifted their gazes skyward.
    Felisin was never certain whether she only imagined seeing the T'lan Imass reassume his form upon striking the heart of that wound, a tiny, seemingly insignificant splayed figure that was quickly swallowed in the inky darkness. A moment later the wound's edges seemed to flinch, faint waves rippling outward. Then the lesion began folding in on itself.
    Hentos Ilm continued staring upward. Finally she nodded. 'Sufficient. The wound is bridged.'
    Stormy slowly lowered the flint sword's point until it rested on the deck.
    A beat-up old veteran, knocked down cynical, just another of the Empire's cast-offs. He was clearly overwhelmed. Insufficient, she said. Indeed.
    'We shall go now,' Hentos Ilm said.
    Stormy shook himself. 'Bonecaster!'
    There was obvious disdain in her tone as she said, 'Legana Breed claimed his right.'
    The marine did not relent. 'This "bridging" ... tell me, is it a thing of pain?'
    Hentos Ilm's shrug was an audible grate of bones, her only answer.
    'Stormy—' Gesler warned, but his companion shook his head, descended to the main deck. As he approached the Bonecaster, another T'lan Imass stepped forward to block him.
    'Soldier!' Gesler snapped. 'Stand off!'
    But Stormy only moved back to clear space as he raised the flint sword.
    The T'lan Imass facing him closed again, the motion a blur, one arm shooting out, the hand closing on Stormy's neck.
    Cursing, Gesler pushed past Felisin, his own hand finding the sword's grip at his side. The corporal slowed when it became obvious that the T'lan Imass was simply holding Stormy. And the marine himself had gone perfectly still. Quiet words slipped between them. Then the undead warrior released his grip and stepped back. Stormy's anger had vanished. Something in the set of his shoulders reminded Felisin of Heboric.
    All five T'lan Imass began to dissolve.
    'Wait!' the mage shouted, rushing forward. 'How in Hood's name do we get out of here?'
    It was too late. The creatures were gone.
    Gesler rounded on Stormy. 'What did that bastard tell you?' he demanded.
    The soldier's eyes were wet – shocking Felisin – as he turned to his corporal.
    Gesler whispered, 'Stormy...'
    'He said there was great pain,' the man muttered. 'I asked How long? He said For ever. The wound heals around him, you see. She couldn't command, you see. Not for something like that. He volunteered—' The man's throat closed up, then. He spun away, bolted through the gangway and out of sight.
    'Clanless,' Heboric said from the forecastle. 'As good as useless. Existence without meaning ...'
    Gesler kicked one of the severed heads across the deck. Its uneven thumping was loud in the still air. 'Who still wants to live for ever?' he growled, then spat.
    Truth spoke, his voice quavering. 'Didn't anybody else see?' he asked. 'The Bonecaster didn't – I'm sure of it, she didn't...'
    'What're you going on about, lad?' Gesler demanded.
    'That T'lan Imass. He tied it to his belt. By the hair. His bear cloak hid it.'
    'What?'
    'He took one of the heads. Didn't anybody else see?'
    Heboric was the first to react. With a wild grin he leapt down to the main deck, making for the galley. Even as he plunged through the doorway Kulp was clambering down to the first oar deck. He disappeared from view.
    Minutes passed.
    Gesler, still frowning, went to join Stormy and the ex-priest.
    Kulp returned. 'One of them's dead as a post,' he said.
    Felisin thought to