A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 3

everything to be enough. And the big
man with the cut hands says yes.' He looked up, eyes bright.
'I found a bone whistle and I'm keeping it for him because
he'll want it back. We're off to collect seashells!'
    With that all three ran off, down towards the beach.
    Three days, not two. Or we all die. 'Don't worry, Grub,' he
said in a whisper, 'not all grown-ups are stupid.'
     
    Lieutenant Pores looked down at the soldier's collection.
'What in Hood's name are these?'
    'Bones, sir,' the woman replied. 'Bird bones. They was
coming out of the cliff – look, they're hard as rock – we're
going to add them to our collection, us heavies, I mean.
    Hanfeno, he's drilling holes in 'em – the others, I mean, we
got hundreds. You want us to make you some, sir?'
    'Give me a few,' he said, reaching out.
    She dropped into his hand two leg bones, each the
length of his thumb, then another that looked like a
knuckle, slightly broader than his own. 'You idiot. This
one's not from a bird.'
    'Well I don't know, sir. Could be a skull?'
    'It's solid.'
    'A woodpecker?'
    'Go back to your squad, Senny. When are you on the
ramp?'
    'Looks like tomorrow now, sir. Fist Keneb's soldiers got
delayed – he pulled half of 'em back off, it was complete
chaos! There's no figuring officers, uh, sir.'
    A wave sent the woman scurrying. Lieutenant Pores
nestled the small bones into his palm, closing his fingers
over to hold them in place, then he walked back to where
Captain Kindly stood beside the four trunks that comprised
his camp kit. Two retainers were busy repacking one of the
trunks, and Pores saw, arranged on a camel-hair blanket, an
assortment of combs – two dozen, maybe more, no two
alike. Bone, shell, antler, tortoiseshell, ivory, wood, slate,
silver, gold and blood-copper. Clearly, they had been
collected over years of travel, the captain's sojourn as a soldier
laid out, the succession of cultures, the tribes and
peoples he had either befriended or annihilated. Even so
... Pores frowned. Combs? Kindly was mostly bald.
    The captain was instructing his retainers on how to pack
the items. '... those cotton buds, and the goat wool or
whatever you call it. Each one, and carefully – if I find a
scratch, a nick or a broken tooth I will have no choice but
to kill you both. Ah, Lieutenant, I trust you are now fully
recovered from your wounds? Good. What's wrong, man?
Are you choking?'
    Gagging, his face reddening, Pores waited until Kindly
stepped closer, then he let loose a cough, loud and bursting
and from his right hand – held before his mouth – three
bones were spat out to clunk and bounce on the ground.
Pores drew in a deep breath, shook his head and cleared his
throat.
    'Apologies, Captain,' he said in a rasp. 'Some broken
bones still in me, I guess. Been wanting to come out for a
while now.'
    'Well,' Kindly said, 'are you done?'
    'Yes sir.'
    The two retainers were staring at the bones. One
reached over and collected the knuckle.
    Pores wiped imaginary sweat from his brow. 'That was
some cough, wasn't it? I'd swear someone punched me in
the gut.'
    The retainer reached over with the knuckle. 'He left you
this, Lieutenant.'
    'Ah, thank you, soldier.'
    'If you think any of this is amusing, Lieutenant,' Kindly
said. 'You are mistaken. Now, explain to me this damned
delay'
    'I can't, Captain. Fist Keneb's soldiers, some kind of
recall. There doesn't seem to be a reasonable explanation.'
    'Typical. Armies are run by fools. If I had an army you'd
see things done differently. I can't abide lazy soldiers. I've
personally killed more lazy soldiers than enemies of the
empire. If this was my army, Lieutenant, we would have
been on those ships in two days flat, and anybody still on
shore by then we'd leave behind, stripped naked with only
a crust of bread in their hands and the order to march to
Quon Tali.'
    'Across the sea.'
    'I'm glad we're understood. Now, stand here and guard
my kit, Lieutenant. I must find my fellow captains
Madan'Tul Rada and Ruthan Gudd – they're complete
idiots but I mean to fix that.'
    Pores watched his captain walk away, then he looked
back down at the retainers and smiled. 'Now wouldn't that
be something? High Fist Kindly, commanding all the
Malazan armies.'
    'Leastways,' one of the men said, 'we'd always know what
we was up to.'
    The lieutenant's eyes narrowed. 'You would like Kindly
doing your thinking for you?'
    'I'm a soldier, ain't I?'
    'And what if I told you Captain Kindly was insane?'
    'You be testing us?