A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 2

him—'
    'Wait! I do not serve Rake! Aye, I saw him in person, and not very long ago, and he looked young enough at the time. But I did not kneel to him – Hood knows, he was too busy at the time in any case! Too busy fighting a demon to converse with me! We but crossed paths. I don't know what you're talking about, Darist. Sorry. And I am most certainly not in any position to find him and tell him whatever it is you want me to say to him.'
    The Tiste Andii studied Cutter for a moment longer, then he swung about and resumed the journey.
    The Daru followed, his thoughts wild with confusion. It was one thing to accept the charge of a god, but the further he travelled on this dread path, the more insignificant he himself felt. Arguments between Anomander Rake and these Tiste Andii of Drift Avalii ... well, that was no proper business of his. The plan had been to sneak onto
this island and remain unseen. To determine if indeed the Edur had found this place, though what Cotillion would do with such knowledge was anyone's guess.
    But that's something I should think about, I suppose. Damn it, Cutter — Crokus would've had questions! Mowri knows, he would've hesitated a lot longer before accepting Cotillion's bargain. If he accepted at all! This new persona was imposing a certain sense of stricture – he'd thought it would bring him more freedom. But now it was beginning to appear that the truly free one had been Crokus.
    Not that freedom ensured happiness. Indeed, to be free was to live in absence. Of responsibilities, of loyalties, of the pressures that expectation imposed. Ah, misery has tainted my views. Misery, and the threat of true grieving, which draws nearer – but no, she must be alive. Somewhere up above. On an island assailed ...
    'Darist, please, wait a moment.'
    The tall figure stopped. 'I see no reason to answer your questions.'
    'I am concerned ... for my companion. If she's alive, she's somewhere above us, on the surface. You said you were under attack. I fear for her—'
    'We sense the presence of strangers, Cutter. Above us, there are Tiste Edur. But no-one else. She is drowned, this companion of yours. There is no point in holding out hope.'
    The Daru sat down suddenly. He felt sick, his heart stuttering with anguish. And despair.
    'Death is not an unkind fate,' Darist said above him. 'If she was a friend, you will miss her company, and that is the true source of your grief – your sorrow is for yourself. My words may displease you, but I speak from experience. I have felt the deaths of many of my kin, and I mourn the spaces in my life where they once stood. But such losses serve only to ease my own impending demise.'
    Cutter stared up at the Tiste Andii. 'Darist, forgive me. You may be old, but you are also a damned fool. And I
begin to understand why Rake left you here then forgot about you. Now, kindly shut up.' He pushed himself upright, feeling hollowed out inside, but determined not to surrender to the despair that threatened to overwhelm him. Because surrendering is what this Tiste Andii has done.
    'Your anger leaves me undamaged,' Darist said. He turned and gestured to the double doors directly ahead. 'Through here you will find a place to rest. Your salvage awaits there, as well.'
    'Will you tell me nothing of the battle above?'
    'What is there to tell you, Cutter? We have lost.'
    'Lost! Who is left among you?'
    'Here in the Hold, where stands the Throne, there is only me. Now, best rest. We shall have company soon enough.'
     
    The howls of rage reverberated through Onrack's bones, though he knew his companion could hear nothing. These were cries of the spirits – two spirits, trapped within two of the towering, bestial statues rearing up on the plain before them.
    The cloud cover overhead had broken apart, was fast vanishing in thinning threads. Three moons rode the heavens, and there were two suns. The light flowed with shifting hues as the moons swung on their invisible tethers. A strange, unsettling world, Onrack reflected.
    The storm was spent. They had waited in the lee of a small hill while it thrashed around the gargantuan statues, the wind howling past from its wild race through the rubble-littered streets of the ruined city lying beyond. And now the air steamed.
    'What do you see, T'lan Imass?' Trull asked from where he sat hunched, his back to the edifices.
    Shrugging, the T'lan Imass turned away from his lengthy study of the statues. 'There are mysteries here ... of which I