A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 3

smiled, revealing worn, chipped teeth. 'This city
belongs to you, now, Chosen One—'
    'Stop calling me that!'
    'Please – you have been delivered and blood has been
spilled in that deliverance – it falls to you to give such
sacrifice meaning—'
    'Sacrifice? That was murder! They killed my friends!'
    'I will help you grieve, for that is my weakness, you see?
I grieve always – for myself – because of drink, and the
thirst always within me. Weakness. Kneel before it, child.
    Make of it a thing to worship. There is no point in
fighting – the world's sadness is far more powerful than you
can ever hope to be, and that is what you must come to
understand.'
    'I want to leave.'
    'Impossible. The Unbound have delivered you. Where
could you go even if you might? We are leagues upon
leagues from anywhere.' He sucked on the pebbles,
swallowed spit, then continued, 'You would have no food.
No water. Please, Chosen One, a temple awaits you within
this buried city – I have worked so long, so hard to ready it
for you. There is food, and water. And soon there will be
more servants, all desperate to answer your every desire –
once you accept what you have become.' He paused to
smile again, and she saw the stones – black, polished, at
least three, each the size of a knuckle bone. 'Soon, you shall
realize what you have become – leader of the greatest cult
of Seven Cities, and it will sweep beyond, across every sea
and every ocean – it shall claim the world—'
    'You are mad,' Felisin said.
    'The Whispers do not lie.' He reached for her and she
recoiled at that glistening, pustuled hand. 'Ah, there was
plague, you see. Poliel, the goddess herself, she bowed
before the Chained One – as must we all, even you – and
only then shall you come into your rightful power. Plague –
it claimed many, it left entire cities filled with blackened
bodies – but others survived, because of the Whispers, and
so were marked – by sores and twisted limbs, by blindness.
For some it was their tongues. Rotting and falling off, thus
leaving them mute. Among others, their ears bled and all
sound has left their world. Do you understand? They had
weakness, and the Chained One – he has shown how
weakness becomes strength. I can sense them, for I am the
first. Your seneschal. I sense them. They are coming.'
    She continued staring down at his sickly hand, and after
a moment he returned it to his side.
    Clicking. 'Please, follow me. Let me show you all that I
have done.'
    Felisin lifted her hands to her face. She did not understand.
None of this made any sense. 'What,' she asked, 'is
your name?'
    'Kulat.'
    'And what,' she said in a whisper, 'is mine?'
    He bowed. 'They did not understand – none of them did.
The Apocalyptic – it is not just war, not just rebellion. It is devastation. Not just of the land – that is but what follows –
do you see? The Apocalypse, it is of the spirit. Crushed,
broken, slave to its own weaknesses. Only from such a tormented
soul can ruin be delivered to the land and to all
who dwell upon it. We must die inside to kill all that lies
outside. Only then, once death takes us all, only then shall
we find salvation.' He bowed lower. 'You are Sha'ik
Reborn, Chosen as the Hand of the Apocalypse.'
     
    'Change of plans,' muttered Iskaral Pust as he scurried
about, seemingly at random, moving into and out of the
campfire's light. 'Look!' he hissed. 'She's gone, the mangy
cow! A few monstrous shadows in the night and poof!
Nothing but spiders, hiding in every crack and cranny.
Bah! Snivelling coward. I was thinking, Trell, that we
should run. Yes, run. You go that way and I'll go this way –
I mean, I'll be right behind you, of course, why would I
abandon you now? Even with those things on the way ...'
He paused, pulled at his hair, then resumed his frantic
motion. 'But why should I worry? Have I not been loyal?
Effective? Brilliant as ever? So, why are they here?'
    Mappo drew out a mace from his sack. 'I see nothing,' he
said, 'and all I can hear is you, High Priest. Who has come?'
    'Did I say anything was coming?'
    'Yes, you did.'
    'Can I help it if you've lost your mind? But why, that's
what I want to know, yes, why? It's not like we need the
company. Besides, you'd think this was the last place they'd
want to be, if what I'm smelling is what I'm smelling, and I
wouldn't be smelling what I'm smelling if something wasn't
there that didn't smell, right?' He paused, cocked his head.
'What's that smell? Never mind,