A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 4

around the fort, only to plunge from the numerous
ledges and cliffs to either side of the approach. Some
creatures were driven to suicide – yes, that was it . . .
    The bloodlust suddenly burgeoned. The K'risnan's head
rocked back, as if he'd just been slapped. Chills swept
through him. He heard himself begin gibbering, even as he
awakened the sorcery within him. His body flinched as
chaotic power blossomed like poison in his muscles and
bones. Sister Shadow had nothing to do with this magic
racing through him, nothing at all, but he was past caring
about such things.
    Then, as shouts rose from the wall, K'risnan Ventrala
sensed another presence in the forest beyond, a focus to all
that bloodlust, a presence – and it was on its way.
    Atri-Preda Hayenar awoke to distant shouts. An alarm was
being raised, from the wall facing up-trail. And that, she
realized as she quickly donned her uniform, made little
sense. Then again, there wasn't much about this damned
assignment that did. Pursue, she'd been told, but avoid
contact. And now, one of those disgusting K'risnan had
arrived, escorted by twenty-five Merude warriors. Well, if
there was any real trouble brewing, she would let them
handle it.
    Their damned fugitives, after all. They could have them,
with the Errant's blessing.
    A moment later she was flung from her feet as a deafening
concussion tore through the fort.
    K'risnan Ventrala screamed, skidding across the floor to
slam up against the wall, as a vast cold power swept over
him, plucking at him as would a crow a rotted corpse. His
own sorcery had recoiled, contracted into a trembling core
deep in his chest – it had probed towards that approaching
presence, probed until some kind of contact was achieved.
And then Ventrala – and all that churning power within
him – had been rebuffed .
    Moments later, the fort's wall exploded.
    Atri-Preda Hayenar stumbled from the main house and
found the compound a scene of devastation. The wall
between the up-trail bastions had been breached, the
impact spilling huge pieces of stone and masonry onto
the muster area. And the rock was burning – a black,
sizzling coruscation that seemed to devour the stone even
as it flared wild, racing across the rubble.
    Broken bodies were visible amidst the wreckage, and
from the stables – where the building's back wall leaned
precariously inward – horses were screaming as if being
devoured alive. Swarming over everything in sight were
orthen, closing on fallen soldiers, and where they gathered,
skin was chewed through and the tiny scaled creatures then
burrowed in a frenzy into pulped meat.
    Through the clouds of dust in the breach, came a tall
figure with drawn swords.
    White-skinned, crimson-eyed.
    Errant take me – he's had enough of running – the White Crow—
    She saw a dozen Tiste Edur appear near the barracks.
Heavy throwing spears darted across the compound,
converging on the ghastly warrior.
    He parried them all aside, one after the other, and with
each clash of shaft against blade the swords sang, until it
seemed a chorus of deathly voices filled the air.
    Hayenar, seeing a score of her Letherii soldiers arrive,
staggered towards them. 'Withdraw!' she shouted, waving
like a madwoman. 'Retreat, you damned fools!'
    It seemed they had but awaited the command, as the
unit broke into a rout, heading en masse for the down-trail
gate.
    One of the Tiste Edur closed on the Atri-Preda. ' What are you doing? ' he demanded. 'The K'risnan is coming –
he'll slap this gnat down—'
    'When he does,' she snarled, pulling back, 'we'll be
happy to regroup!'
    The Edur unsheathed his cutlass. 'Call them into battle,
Atri-Preda – or I'll cut you down right here!'
    She hesitated.
    To their right, the other Tiste Edur had rushed forward
and now engaged the White Crow.
    The swords howled, a sound so filled with glee that
Hayenar's blood turned to ice. She shook her head, watching,
as did the warrior confronting her, as the White Crow
carved his way through the Merude in a maelstrom of
severed limbs, decapitations and disembowelling slashes
that sent bodies reeling away.
    '—your Letherii! Charge him, damn you!'
    She stared across at the Edur warrior. 'Where's your
K'risnan?' she demanded. ' Where is he? '
    Ventrala clawed his way into the corner of the room
furthest from the conflagration outside. Endless, meaningless
words were spilling from his drool-threaded mouth. His
power had fled. Abandoning him here, in this cursed room.
Not fair.