A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 4

signal
flags, fast ten-man pursuit galleys moored alongside.
    A dozen ships rode at anchor in the choppy waters.
Along the docks, she saw, tiny figures were racing in every
direction, like ants on a kicked nest. 'Pretty, have us drop
anchor other side of that odd-looking dromon. Seems like
nobody's going to pay us much attention – hear that roar?
That's the northwest shore getting hit.'
    'The whole damned island could go under, Captain.'
    'That's why we're staying aboard – to see what happens.
If we have to run east, I want us ready to do so.'
    'Look, there's a harbour scow comin' our way.'
    Damn . 'Typical. World's falling in but that don't stop the
fee-takers. All right, prepare to receive them.'
    The anchor had rattled down by the time the scow
fought its way alongside. Two officious-looking women
climbed aboard, one tall, the other short. The latter
spoke first. 'Who's the captain here and where d'you hail
from?'
    'I am Captain Shurq Elalle. We've come up from
Letheras. Twenty months at sea with a hold full of goods.'
    The tall woman, thin, pale, with stringy blonde hair,
smiled. 'Very accommodating of you, dear. Now, if you'll be
so kind, Brevity here will head down into the hold to
inspect the cargo.'
    The short dark-haired woman, Brevity, then said, 'And
Pithy here will collect the anchoring fee.'
    'Fifteen docks a day.'
    'That's a little steep!'
    'Well,' Pithy said with a lopsided shrug, 'it's looking like
the harbour's days are numbered. We'd best get what we
can.'
    Brevity was frowning at Shurq's first mate. 'You wouldn't
be Skorgen Kaban the Pretty, would you?'
    'Aye, that's me.'
    'I happen to have your lost eye, Skorgen. In a jar.'
    The man scowled across at Shurq Elalle, then said, 'You
and about fifty other people.'
    'What? But I paid good money for that! How many
people lose an eye sneezing? By the Errant, you're famous!'
    'Sneeze is it? That's what you heard? And you believed
it? Spirits of the deep, lass, and you paid the crook how
much?'
    Shurq said to Pithy, 'You and your friend here are
welcome to inspect the cargo – but if we're not offloading
that's as far as it goes, and whether we offload or not
depends on the kinds of prices your buyers are prepared to
offer.'
    'I'll prove it to you,' Brevity said, advancing on Skorgen
Kaban. 'It's a match all right – I can tell from here.'
    'Can't be a match,' the first mate replied. 'The eye I lost
was a different colour from this one.'
    'You had different-coloured eyes?'
    'That's right.'
    'That's a curse among sailors.'
    'Maybe that's why it ain't there no more.' Skorgen nodded
towards the nearby dromon. 'Where's that hailing
from? I never seen lines like those before – looks like it's
seen a scrap or two, asides.'
    Brevity shrugged. 'Foreigners. We get a few—'
    'No more of that,' Pithy cut in. 'Check the cargo, dearie.
Time's a-wasting.'
    Shurq Elalle turned and examined the foreign ship with
more intensity after that peculiar exchange. The dromon
looked damned weather-beaten, she decided, but her first
mate's lone eye had been sharp – the ship had been in a
battle, one involving sorcery. Black, charred streaks
latticed the hull like a painted web. A whole lot of sorcery. That ship should be kindling.
    'Listen,' Pithy said, facing inland. 'They beat it back, like
they said they would.'
    The cataclysm in the making seemed to be dying a rapid
death, there on the other side of the island where clouds of
ice crystals billowed skyward. Shurq Elalle twisted round to
look out to the sea to the south, past the promontory. Ice,
looking like a massive frozen lake, was piling up in the
wake of the violent vanguard that had come so close to
wrecking the Undying Gratitude . But its energy was fast
dissipating. A gust of warm wind backed across the
deck.
    Skorgen Kaban grunted. 'And how many sacrifices did
they fling off the cliff to earn this appeasement?' He
laughed. 'Then again, you probably got no shortage of
prisoners!'
    'There are no prisoners on this island,' Pithy said, assuming
a lofty expression as she crossed her arms. 'In any case,
you ignorant oaf, blood sacrifices wouldn't have helped –
it's just ice, after all. The vast sheets up north went and
broke to pieces – why, just a week past and we was sweating
uncommon here, and that's not something we ever get
on Second Maiden. I should know, I was born here.'
    'Born to prisoners?'
    'You didn't hear me, Skorgen Kaban? No prisoners on
this island—'
    'Not since you ousted your jailers, you