A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 4

heard that making
them black out could sometimes kill them – if he'd held
them tight for too long – though he'd been careful. He was
always careful when doing that, though if one of them did
die, why, he would say it went to sleep and just never woke
up and that happened, didn't it, with the little ones? And
then he'd cry because that was expected.
    Poor thing, but it'd always been weak, hadn't it? So many
children were weak. Only the strong ones, the smart ones,
survived. It's what the world was like, after all, and the
world can't be changed, not one bit.
    There was a man in the Daru High Market who always
dressed well and had plenty of coin, and it was well known
he'd take little ones. Ten, twenty silver councils, boy or
girl, it didn't matter which. He knew people, rich people
– he was just the middleman, but you dealt with him if you
didn't want no one to find out anything, and if there were
any small bodies left over, well, they never ever showed up
to start people asking questions.
    It would be a bit of a walk, especially with both Mew and
Hinty, and that's why he needed to work out a sling of some
sort, like the ones the Rhivi mothers used. Only, how did
they do that?
    The door opened behind him and Snell whirled in
sudden terror.
    The man standing on the threshold was familiar – he'd
been with Stonny Menackis the last time she'd visited
– and Snell could see at once that dear Snell was in trouble.
Ice cold fear, a mouth impossibly dry, a pounding heart.
    'They're just sleeping!'
    The man stared. 'What have you done to them, Snell?'
    'Nothing! Go away. Da and Ma aren't here. They went
to the Chains Temple. Come back later.'
    Instead, the man stepped inside. One gloved hand
casually flung Snell back, away from the motionless girls
on the floor. The blow rocked Snell, and as if a stopper
had been jarred loose fear poured through him. As the
man knelt and drew off a glove to set a palm against Mew's
forehead, Snell scrabbled to the back wall.
    'I'm gonna call the guards – I'm gonna scream—'
    'Shut your damned face or I'll do it for you.' A quick,
heavy look. 'I've not yet started with you, Snell. Everything
comes back to you. On the day Harllo went missing, on
that day, Snell . . .' He lifted his hand and straightened.
'Are they drugged? Tell me how you did this.'
    He meant to keep lying, but all at once he thought
that maybe if he told the truth about this, the man might
believe the lies he used afterwards, on the other stuff. 'I
just squeeze 'em, when they cry too much, that's all. It don't
hurt them none, honest.'
    The man had glanced at the stretch of burlap lying
beside Mew. Maybe he was putting things together, but
nothing could be proved, could it? It would be all right. It
would be—
    Two quick strides and those hands – one gloved and the
other bare and scarred – snagged the front of Snell's tunic.
He was lifted into the air until his eyes were level with the
man's. And Snell saw in those deadly eyes something dark,
a lifeless whisper that could flatten out at any moment, and
all thoughts of lying whimpered away.
    'On that day,' the man said, 'you came back with a load
of sun-dried dung. Something you'd never done before, and
have never done since. No, your mother said it was Harllo
who did such things. Harllo, who at five fucking years old
did more to help this family than you ever have. Who
collected that dung, Snell?'
    Snell had widened his eyes as wide as they could go. He
made his chin tremble. 'Harllo,' he whispered, 'but I never
hurt him – I swear it!'
Oh, he hadn't wanted to lie. It just came out.
    'Past Worrytown or Two-Ox Gate?'
    'The gate. Two-Ox.'
    'Did you go with him or did you follow him? What
happened out there, Snell?'
    And Snell's eyes betrayed him then, a flicker too instinctive
to stop in time – down to where Mew and Hinty were
lying.
    The man's eyes flattened just as Snell had feared they
might.
    'I never killed him! He was breathing when I left him! If
you kill me they'll find out – they'll arrest you – you'll go to
the gallows – you can't kill me – don't!'
    'You knocked him out and left him there, after stealing
the dung he'd collected. The hills beyond Two-Ox Gate.'
    'And I went back, a couple of days – the day after – and
he was gone! He's just run off, that's all—'
    'A five-year-old boy doing everything he could to help
his family just ran off, did he? Or did you drive him off,
Snell?'
    'I never did – he was just gone – and that's not my