A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 3

you ain't goin' t'waste being a heavy an' that. A soljer.'
    'I ain't smart, Flashwit. Trust me on that, an' you know
how I know?'
    'No, how?'
    ''Cause ... down there ... you an' me, an' Saltlick an'
Shortnose an' Uru Hela an' Hanno, us heavies. We didn't
get scared, not one of us, and that's how I know.'
    'It wasn't scary. Jus' dark, an' it seemed t'go on for ever
an' waitin' for Bottle to get us through, well that got boring
sometimes, you know.'
    'Right, and did the fire get you scared?'
    'Well, burnin' hurt, didn't it?'
    'Sure did.'
    'I didn't like that.'
    'Me neither.'
    'So, what do you think we're all gonna do now?'
    'The Fourteenth? Don't know, save the world, maybe.'
    'Yeah. Maybe. I'd like that.'
    'Me too.'
    'Hey, is that the sun comin' up?'
    'Well, it's east where it's getting brighter, so I guess, yeah,
it must be.'
    'Great. I bin waiting for this. I think.'
     
    Cuttle found sergeants Thorn Tissy, Cord and Gesler
gathered near the base of the slope leading up to the west
road. It seemed they weren't much interested in the rising
sun. 'You're all looking serious,' the sapper said.
    'We got a walk ahead of us,' Gesler said, 'that's all.'
    'The Adjunct had no choice,' Cuttle said. 'That was a
firestorm – there was no way she could have known there'd
be survivors – digging under it all that way.'
    Gesler glanced at the other two sergeants, then nodded.
'It's all right, Cuttle. We know. We're not contemplating
murder or anything.'
    Cuttle turned to face the camp. 'Some of the soldiers are
thinking wrong on all of this.'
    'Aye,' said Cord, 'but we'll put 'em straight on it before
this day's out.'
    'Good. Thing is,' he hesitated, turning back to the
sergeants, 'I've been thinking on that. Who in Hood's
name is going to believe us? More like we did our own deal
with the Queen of Dreams. After all, we got one of
Leoman's officers with us. And now, with the captain and
Sinn going and getting themselves outlawed, well, it could
be seen we're all traitors or something.'
    'We made no deal with the Queen of Dreams,' Cord
said.
    'Are you sure about that?'
    All three sergeants looked at him then.
    Cuttle shrugged. 'Bottle, he's a strange one. Maybe he
did make some deal, with somebody. Maybe the Queen of
Dreams, maybe some other god.'
    'He'd have told us, wouldn't he?' Gesler asked.
    'Hard to say. He's a sneaky bastard. I'm getting nervous
about that damned rat biting every one of us, like it knew
what it was doing and we didn't.'
    'Just a wild rat,' said Thorn Tissy. 'Ain't nobody's pet, so
why wouldn't it bite?'
    Gesler said, 'Listen, Cuttle, sounds like you're just
finding new things to worry about. What's the point of
doing that? What we've got ahead of us right now is a long
walk, and us with no armour, no weapons and virtually no
clothing – the sun's gonna bake people crisp.'
    'We need to find a village,' Cord said, 'and hope to Hood
plague ain't found it first.'
    'There you go, Cuttle,' Gesler said, grinning. 'Now you
got another thing to worry about.'
     
    Paran began to suspect that his horse knew what was coming:
nostrils flaring, tossing its head as it shied and stamped,
fighting the reins all the way down the trail. The freshwater
sea was choppy, silty waves in the bay rolling up to batter
at sun-bleached limestone crags. Dead desert bushes poked
skeletal limbs out of the muddy shallows and insects
swarmed everywhere.
    'This is not the ancient sea,' Ganath said as she
approached the shoreline.
    'No,' Paran admitted. 'Half a year ago Raraku was a
desert, and had been for thousands of years. Then, there
was a ... rebirth of sorts.'
    'It will not last. Nothing lasts.'
    He eyed the Jaghut woman for a moment. She stood
looking out on the ochre waves, motionless for a dozen
heartbeats, then she made her way down into the shallows.
Paran dismounted and hobbled the horses, narrowly
evading an attempted bite from the gelding he had been
riding. He unpacked his camp kit and set about building a
hearth. Plenty of driftwood about, including entire
uprooted trees, and it was not long before he had a cookfire
lit.
    Finished her bathing, Ganath joined him and stood
nearby, water streaming down her oddly coloured, smooth
skin. 'The spirits of the deep springs have awakened,' she
said. 'It feels as if this place is young once again. Young, and
raw. I do not understand.'
    Paran nodded. 'Young, aye. And vulnerable.'
    'Yes. Why are you here?'
    'Ganath, it might be safer for you if you left.'
    'When do you begin the