A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 3

among the Tiste Edur.'
    Samar Dev looked back at the bodies lying sprawled
through the camp. And for these fallen kin, Preda Hanradi
Khalag, you care nothing? No, gods below, something is very
wrong here —
    'Samar Dev,' Karsa said, 'will you stay here?'
    She shook her head.
    'Good,' he grunted. 'Go get Havok.'
    'Get him yourself, Toblakai.'
    The giant grinned. 'It was worth a try.'
    'Stop looking so damned pleased, Karsa Orlong. I don't
think you have any idea to what you are now bound. Can
you not hear the shackles snapping shut? Chaining you to
this ... this absurd challenge and these damned bloodless
Tiste Edur?'
    Karsa's expression darkened. 'Chains cannot hold me,
witch.'
    Fool, they are holding you right now.
    Glancing across, she saw the yellow-haired witch
appraising Karsa Orlong with avid eyes.
    And what does that mean, I wonder, and why does it frighten
me so?
     
    'Fist Temul,' Keneb asked, 'how does it feel, to be going
home?'
    The young, tall Wickan – who had recently acquired
full-body blue tattooing in the style of the Crow Clan, an
intricate geometric design that made his face look like a
portrait fashioned of tesserae – was watching as his soldiers
led their horses onto the ramps down on the strand below.
At Keneb's question he shrugged. 'Among my people, I
shall face yet again all that I have faced here.'
    'But not alone any more,' Keneb pointed out. 'Those
warriors down there, they are yours, now.'
    'Are they?'
    'So I was led to understand. They no longer challenge
your orders, or your right to command, do they?'
    'I believe,' Temul said, 'that most of these Wickans will
choose to leave the army once we disembark at Unta. They
will return to their families, and when they are asked to
recount their adventures in Seven Cities, they will say
nothing. It is in my mind, Fist Keneb, that my warriors are
shamed. Not because of how they have shown me little
respect. No, they are shamed by this army's list of failures.'
He fixed dark, hard eyes on Keneb. 'They are too old, or too
young, and both are drawn to glory as if she was a forbidden
lover.'
    Temul was not one for speeches, and Keneb could not
recall ever managing to pull so many words from the
haunted young man. 'They sought death, then.'
    'Yes. They would join with Coltaine, Bult and the
others, in the only way still possible. To die in battle,
against the very same enemy. It is why they crossed the
ocean, why they left their villages. They did not expect
ever to return home, and so this final journey, back to
Quon Tali, will break them.'
    'Damned fools. Forgive me—'
    A bitter smile from Temul as he shook his head. 'No
need for that. They are fools, and even had I wisdom, I
would fail in its sharing.'
    From the remnants of the camp behind them, cattle-dogs
began howling. Both men turned in surprise. Keneb
glanced over at Temul. 'What is it? Why—'
    'I don't know.'
    They set off, back towards the camp.
     
    Lieutenant Pores watched Bent race up the track, skirls of
dust rising in the dog's wake. He caught a momentary
glimpse of wild half-mad eyes above that mangled snout,
then the beast was past. So only now we find out that they're
terrified of water. Well, good. We can leave the ugly things
behind. He squinted towards the file of Wickans and Seti
overseeing the loading of their scrawny horses – not many
of those animals would survive this journey, he suspected,
which made them valuable sources of meat. Anything to
liven up the deck-wash and bilge-crud sailors call food. Oh,
those horse-warriors might complain, but that wouldn't
keep them from lining up with their bowls when the bell
tolled.
    Kindly had made sure the Adjunct knew, in torrid detail,
his displeasure with Fist Keneb's incompetence. There was
no question of Kindly lacking courage, or at least raging
megalomania. But this time, dammit, the old bastard had
had a point. An entire day and half a night had been
wasted by Keneb. A Hood-damned kit inspection, presented
squad by squad – and right in the middle of boarding
assembly – gods, the chaos that ensued. 'Has Keneb lost his
mind?' Oh yes, Kindly's first question to the Adjunct, and
something in her answering scowl told Pores that the
miserable woman had known nothing about any of it, and
clearly could not comprehend why Keneb would have
ordered such a thing.
    Well, no surprise, that, with her moping around in her
damned tent doing who knew what with that cold beauty
T'amber. Even the Admiral's frustration had been