A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 3

How do you
know that? Who is guiding you?'
    'I got no answer to that one, Captain. That's why we
figured – our payment for this bargain – that you constructing
a card for us would, well, be like shaking a handful
of wheat flour over an invisible web.'
    'Part of the bargain? You might have mentioned that at
the start, Hedge.'
    'No, better when it's too late.'
    'For you, yes. All right, I'll think on it. I admit, you've
made me curious, especially since I don't think you and
your ghostly army are being directly manipulated. I suspect
that what calls to you is something far more ephemeral,
more primal. A force of nature, as if some long lost law was
being reasserted, and you're the ones who will deliver it.
Eventually.'
    'An interesting thought, Captain. I always knew you had
brains, now I'm finally getting a hint of what they're good
for.'
    'Now let me ask you a question, Hedge.'
    'If you must.'
    'That long road ahead of you. Your march – it's to war,
isn't it? Against whom?'
    'More like what—'
    Commotion behind them, the shareholders rushing back
to the carriage, the snap of leather and the clunk of buckles
as the dozen or so men and women began strapping themselves
in place. The horses, suddenly agitated, tossed their
heads and stamped, nostrils flaring. The driver had the
traces in his hands once more.
    'You two!' he said in a growl. 'It's time.'
    'Think I'll sit beside the driver,' Hedge said. 'Captain,
like the High Mage said, be sure you ride close. I knew how
to get us here, but I ain't got a clue what's coming.'
    Nodding, Paran headed towards his horse, whilst Hedge
clambered up the side of the carriage. The two Pardu
women returned from their stations on the bridge and
climbed up to take flanking positions on the roof, both
checking their heavy crossbows and supply of broad-headed
quarrels.
    Paran swung himself into the saddle.
    A shutter in the side door was opened and the captain
could make out Karpolan's round, shiny face. 'We travel
perilously fast, Ganoes Paran. If some transformation
occurs on the horse you ride, consider abandoning it.'
    'And if some transformation besets me?'
    'Well, we shall do our best not to abandon you.'
    'That's reassuring, Karpolan Demesand.'
    A brief smile, then the shutter snapped shut once more.
    Another weird cry from the driver and a snap of the
traces. The horses lunged forward, carriage slewing straight
behind them. Rolling forward. Onto the stone bridge.
    Paran rode up alongside it, opposite one of the shareholders.
The man threw him a wild, half-mad grin, gloved
hands gripping a massive Malazan-made crossbow.
    Climbing the slope, then into the mists.
    That closed like soft walls round them.
    A dozen heartbeats, then chaos. Ochre-skinned
creatures swarmed in from both sides, as if they had been
clinging beneath the bridge. Long arms, clawed at the ends,
short, ape-like legs, small heads that seemed filled with
fangs. They flung themselves at the carriage, seeking to
drag off the shareholders.
    Screams, the thud of quarrels striking bodies, hissing
pain from the creatures. Paran's horse reared, forelegs kicking
at a beast scrambling beneath it. Sword out, Paran
slashed the blade into the back of the creature clinging and
biting fierce chunks of meat from the nearest shareholder's
left thigh. He saw the flesh and muscle part, revealing
ribs. Then blood sluiced out. Squealing, the beast fell away.
    More had reached the carriage, and Paran saw one shareholder
torn from her perch, swearing as she was dragged
down onto the stones, then vanishing beneath seething,
smooth-skinned bodies.
    The captain swung his horse round and closed on the
writhing mass.
    No skill involved – it was simply lean down and hack
and slash, until the last bleeding body fell away.
    The woman lying on the bloody stones looked as though
she had been chewed by a shark, then spat out. Yet she
lived. Paran sheathed his sword, dismounted and threw the
dazed, bleeding woman over a shoulder.
    Heavier than she'd looked. He managed to settle her
down over the back of his horse, then vaulted once more
into the saddle.
    The carriage already vanishing into the mists, ochre
bodies tumbling from it. The back wheels both rose and
thumped as they rolled over flopping corpses.
    And between Paran and the carriage, half a hundred or
more of the creatures, now wheeling towards him, claws
raised and clicking. He drew out his sword again, and drove
his heels into the horse's flanks. The animal voiced an
indignant