A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 3

of padding. The others of the squad were
sitting some distance away, looking nervous.
    The sergeant glanced up. 'Bottle, you found them all?'
    'Aye.'
    'Good. So, how are the other squads holding up?'
    'Just fine,' Bottle replied. He regarded the others on the
far side of the hearth. 'What's the point?' he asked. 'If that
box goes up, it'll knock down Y'Ghatan's wall from here,
and you and most of this army will be red hail.'
    Sudden sheepish expressions. Grunting, Koryk rose,
deliberately casual. 'I was already sitting here,' he said.
'Then Tarr and Smiles crawled over to huddle in my
shadow.'
    'The man lies,' Smiles said. 'Besides, Bottle, why did you
volunteer to go wandering with the captain's orders?'
    'Because I'm not stupid.'
    'Yeah?' Tarr said. 'Well, you're back now, aren't you?'
    'I thought they'd be finished by now.' He waved a fly
away that had been buzzing in front of his face, then walked
over to sit downwind of the hearth. 'So, Sergeant, what do
you figure the captain's got to say?'
    'Sappers and shields,' Cuttle said in a growl.
    'Shields?'
    'Aye. We scurry in hunched low and the rest of you
shield us from all the arrows and rocks until we're done
planting the mines, then whoever's left runs back out, as
fast as they can and it won't be fast enough.'
    'A one-way trip, then.'
    Cuttle grinned.
    'It'll be more elaborate than that,' Strings said. 'I
hope.'
    'She goes straight in, that's what she does.'
    'Maybe, Cuttle. Maybe not. She wants most of her army
still breathing when the dust's settled.'
    'Minus a few hundred sappers.'
    'We're getting rare enough as it is,' Strings said. 'She
won't want to waste us.'
    'That'd be a first for the Malazan Empire.'
    The sergeant looked over at Cuttle. 'Tell you what, why
don't I just kill you now and be done with it?'
    'Forget it. I want to take the rest of you sorry humpers
with me.'
    Nearby, Sergeant Gesler and his squad had appeared and
were making their camp. Corporal Stormy, Bottle noted,
wasn't with them. Gesler strode over. 'Fid.'
    'Kalam and Quick back, too?'
    'No, they went on, with Stormy.'
    'On? Where?'
    Gesler crouched opposite Strings. 'Let's just say I'm
actually glad to see your ugly face, Fid. Maybe they'll make
it back, maybe they won't. I'll tell you about it later. Spent
the morning with the Adjunct. She had lots of questions.'
    'About what?'
    'About the stuff I'll tell you about later. So we've got a
new captain.'
    'Faradan Sort.'
    'Korelri?'
    Strings nodded. 'Stood the Wall, we think.'
    'So she can probably take a punch.'
    'Then punch back, aye.'
    'Well that's just great.'
    'She wants all the sergeants for a meeting tonight.'
    'I think I'll go back and answer a few more of the
Adjunct's questions.'
    'You can't avoid meeting her for ever, Gesler.'
    'Oh yeah? Watch me. So, where did they move Captain
Kindly to?'
    Strings shrugged. 'To some company that needs pulling
into shape, I'd imagine.'
    'And we don't?'
    'Harder terrifying us than most in this army, Gesler. I
think he'd already given up on us, in any case. I'm not sorry
to see the miserable bastard on his way. This meeting
tonight will likely be about what we'll be doing in the siege.
Either that or she just wants to waste our time with some
inspiring tirade.'
    'For the glory of the empire,' Gesler said, grimacing.
    'For vengeance,' Koryk said from where he sat tying
fetishes onto his baldric.
    'Vengeance is glorious, so long as it's us delivering it,
soldier.'
    'No it's not,' said Strings. 'It's sordid, no matter how you
look at it.'
    'Ease up, Fid. I was only half serious. You're so tense
you'd think we was heading into a siege or something.
Anyway, why ain't there a few hands of Claw to do the
dirty work? You know, infiltrate the city and the palace and
stick a knife in Leoman and be done with it. Why do we
have to get messed up with a real fight? What kind of
empire are we, these days?'
    No-one spoke for a time. Bottle watched his sergeant.
Strings was testing the pull on the crossbow, but Bottle
could see that he was thinking.
    Cuttle said, 'Laseen's pulled 'em in. Close and tight.'
    The regard Gesler fixed on the sapper was level, gauging.
'That the rumour, Cuttle?'
    'One of 'em. What do I know? Maybe she caught something
on the wind.'
    'You certainly have,' Strings muttered as he examined
the case of quarrels.
    'Only that the few veteran companies still on Quon Tali
were ordered to Unta and Malaz City.'
    Strings finally looked up. 'Malaz City? Why there?'
    'The rumour weren't that