A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 3

away,
maybe a touch more.
    With his message delivered, Commander Hadar's haste
to leave was pathetically obvious, and it seemed neither the
Adjunct nor the Admiral was inclined to stretch out his
stay.
    As the visitors returned to their longboat, a voice spoke
quietly behind Kalam and Quick Ben. 'Did I hear correctly?
We are now sailing for Malaz City?'
    Kalam fought down a shiver – he'd heard nothing. Again. 'Aye, Apsalar—'
    But Quick Ben had wheeled round in alarm and, now,
anger. 'The damned steps up here are right in front of us!
How in Hood's name did you get there, Apsalar? Breathing
down our damned backs!'
    'Clearly,' the Kanese woman replied, her almond-shaped
eyes blinking languidly, 'you were both distracted. Tell me,
Kalam Mekhar, have you any theories as to why an agent of
the Claw accompanied the Jakatakan commander?'
    'Plenty, but I'm not sharing any of them with you.'
    She studied him for a moment, then said, 'You are still
undecided, aren't you?'
    Oh how I want to hit her. Right here, right now. 'You don't
know what you're talking about, Apsalar. And I don't,
neither.'
    'Well, that hardly makes sense—'
    'You're right,' Quick Ben snapped, 'it doesn't. Now get
out of our shadows, damn you!'
    'High Mage, it occurs to me that you are under a certain
misapprehension. The Hounds of Shadow, in G'danisban,
were after you.'
    'Opportunistic!'
    'Certainly, if you care to believe that. In any case, it
should then follow – even for one as immune to logic as you
– that I acted then. Alone. The choice was mine, High
Mage, and mine alone.'
    'What's she talking about, Quick?' Kalam demanded.
    But his friend was silent, studying the woman before
him. Then he asked, 'Why?'
    She smiled. 'I have my reasons, but at the moment, I see
no reason to share any of them with you.'
    Apsalar then turned away, walked towards the prow.
    'It's just that, isn't it?' Quick Ben muttered under his
breath.
    'What do you mean?'
    'Undecided, Kal. We're all undecided. Aren't we?' Then
he swung round and looked back down at the Adjunct.
    The assassin did the same.
    Tavore and Nok were talking, but quietly, their words
stolen by the wind.
    'Now,' Quick Ben continued, 'is she?'
    Undecided? Not about anything, it seems. Kalam grimaced.
'Malaz City. I didn't have much fun the last time I
visited. Your skin crawling, Quick? Mine is. Crawling bad.'
    'You notice something?' the wizard asked. 'That
commander – he didn't ask a damned thing about the
Perish ships with us. Now, that Claw, he must have made
his report already, by warren, to Topper or the Empress
herself. So ...'
    'So, she knows we've got guests. Maybe that's why she
doesn't want us sailing into Unta's harbour.'
    'Right, Laseen's rattled.'
    Then Kalam grunted. 'I just realized something else,' he
said in a low voice.
    'What?'
    'The Adjunct, she sent the Destriant to her cabin. And
she made no formal invitation to the commander the way
she's supposed to – no, she made them all discuss things out
here, in the open. Anyway, maybe the Adjunct didn't want
the commander or that Claw to see Run'Thurvian, or talk
to him, about anything.'
    'She's no fool.'
    'A damned game of Troughs between them, isn't it?
Quick Ben, what is going on here?'
    'We'll find out, Kal.'
    'When?'
    The High Mage scowled, then said, 'The moment,
friend, we stop being undecided.'
     
    Aboard the Silanda, Fiddler had crawled from the hold like
a crippled rat, dishevelled, pale and greasy. He spied Bottle
and slowly, agonizingly, made his way over. Bottle was feeding
out line. There were shoals out there, and he'd seen fish
leaping clear of whatever chased them beneath the surface.
One of the Jakatakan dromons was sidling past to port, a
rock's throw away, and the rest of the squad had lined up to
give them a show.
    Bottle shook his head, then glanced over as his sergeant
arrived. 'Feeling any better?'
    'I think so. Gods, I think that nightmare realm cured me.'
    'You don't look any better.'
    'Thanks, Bottle.' Fiddler pulled himself into a sitting
position, then looked over at the rest of the squad. 'Hood's
breath!' he exploded. 'What are you doing?!'
    Koryk, Smiles, Cuttle and Tarr had joined up with
Deadsmell, Throatslitter and Widdershins, standing in a
row at the rail, looking across at the passing dromon, and
under each soldier's left arm was a Tiste Andii head.
    At Fiddler's outburst, Gesler and Stormy appeared on
deck.
    Bottle watched them take it all in, then Gesler called
out, 'Give 'em a wave!'
    The