A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 4

difficult to believe – you fled—'
    'Fled, my Queen?'
    'The House of our mother, yes.'
    'Your father and I did not get along, Twilight. You were
but a toddler when last I saw you. But that does not matter.
I see now in your face what I saw then. No mistaking it.'
    Sighing, she dismounted.
    After a moment, the others did the same. Yedan gestured
with a tilt of his head and he and Yan Tovis walked off a
short distance. Stood beneath the tallest tree this close to
the ridge – a dead pine – as a light rain began to fall.
    'I have just come from the Keep,' she said. 'Your Dresh
attempted to escape arrest and is dead. Or will be soon. I
have had a word with the witches. There will be Tiste Edur,
from Rennis, but by the time they arrive the investigation
will be over and I will have to apologize for wasting their
time.'
    Yedan said nothing. The grilled visor thoroughly hid his
features, although the black snarl of his beard was visible –
it seemed he was slowly chewing something.
    'Watch,' she resumed, 'you called me "Queen" in front of
your soldiers.'
    'They are Shake.'
    'I see. Then, you are here . . . at the shore—'
    'Because I am the Watch, yes.'
    'That title is without meaning,' she said, rather more
harshly than she had intended. 'It's an honorific, some old
remnant—'
    'I believed the same,' he cut in – like an older brother, damn him – 'until three nights ago.'
    'Why are you here, then? Who are you looking for?'
    'I wish I could answer you better than I can. I am not sure
why I am here, only that I am summoned.'
    'By whom?'
    He seemed to chew some more, then he said, 'By the
shore.'
    'I see.'
    'As for who – or what – I am looking for, I cannot say at
all. Strangers have arrived. We heard them this night, yet
no matter where we rode, no matter how quickly we
arrived, we found no-one. Nor any sign – no tracks,
nothing. Yet . . . they are here.'
    'Perhaps ghosts then.'
    'Perhaps.'
    Twilight slowly turned. 'From the sea?'
    'Again, no tracks on the strand. Sister, since we have
arrived, the air has not stirred. Not so much as a sigh. Day
and night, the shore is still.' He tilted his head upward.
'Now, this rain – the first time.'
    A murmur from the soldiers drew their attention. They
were facing the ridge, six motionless spectres, metal and
leather gleaming.
    Beyond the ridge, the fitful rise and ebb of a glow.
    'This,' Yedan said, and he set off.
    Yan Tovis followed.
    They scrambled through loose stones, stripped branches
and naked roots, pulling themselves onto the rise. The six
soldiers in their wake now on the slope, Yan Tovis moved
to her half-brother's side, pushing through the soft brush
until they both emerged onto the shoreline.
    Where they halted, staring out to sea.
    Ships.
    A row of ships, all well offshore. Reaching to the north,
to the south.
    All burning.
    'Errant's blessing,' Yan Tovis whispered.
    Hundreds of ships. Burning.
    Flames playing over still water, columns of smoke rising,
lit from beneath like enormous ash-dusted coals in the bed
of the black sky.
    'Those,' Yedan said, 'are not Letherii ships. Nor Edur.'
    'No,' Twilight whispered, 'they are not.'
    Strangers have arrived.
    'What means this?' There was raw fear in the question,
and Yan Tovis turned to look at the soldier who had
spoken. Faint on his features, the orange glow of the distant
flames.
    She looked back at the ships. 'Dromons,' she said. Her
heart was pounding hard in her chest, a kind of febrile
excitement – strangely dark with malice and . . . savage delight.
    'What name is that?' Yedan asked.
    'I know them – those prows, the rigging. Our search – a
distant continent. An empire. We killed hundreds –
thousands – of its subjects. We clashed with its fleets.' She
was silent for a dozen breaths, then she turned to one of her
soldiers. 'Ride back to the Keep. Make sure the Dresh is
dead. The company is to leave immediately – we will meet
you north of Rennis on the coast road. Oh, and bring those
damned witches with you.'
    Yedan said, 'What—'
    She cut off her half-brother with cruel glee. 'You are the
Watch. Your Queen needs you.' She glared at him. 'You will
ride with us, Yedan. With your troop.'
    The bearded jaw bunched, then, 'Where?'
    'The Isle.'
    'What of the Letherii and their masters? We should send
warning.'
    Eyes on the burning hulks in the sea, she almost snarled
her reply. 'We killed their subjects. And clearly they will
not let that pass. Errant take the Letherii and the Edur.'
She spun