A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 4

draw her cloak tighter about her
shoulders. After a moment, she set off into the dark.
    Somewhere in the crags far away, wolves began howling.
    Something huge loomed just outside the flickering orange
light, and Samar Dev saw both Karsa and Traveller twist
round to face it, and then they rose, reaching for their
weapons. The shape shifted, seemed to wag from side
to side, and then – at the witch's eye level had she been
standing – a glittering, twisting snout, a broad flattened
halo of fur, the smear of fire in two small eyes.
    Samar Dev struggled to breathe. She had never before
seen such an enormous bear. If it reared, it would tower over
even Karsa Orlong. She watched that uplifted head, the
flattened nose testing the air. The creature, she realized,
clearly relied more on smell than on sight. I thought fire
frightened such beasts – not summoned them.
    If it attacked, things would happen . . . fast. Two swords
flashing into its lunge, a deafening bellow, talons scything
to sweep away the two puny attackers – and then it would
come straight for her. She could see that, was certain of it.
The bear had come for her.
    De nek okral. The words seemed to foam up to the surface
of her thoughts, like things belched from the murky
depths of instinct. 'De nek okral,' she whispered.
    The nostrils flared, dripping.
    And then, with a snuffling snort, the beast drew back,
out of the firelight. A crunch of stones, and the ground
trembled as the animal lumbered away.
    Karsa and Traveller moved their hands away from their
weapons, and then both eased back down, resuming their
positions facing the fire.
    The Toblakai warrior found a stick and dropped it into
the flames. Sparks whirled skyward, bright with liberation,
only to wink out. His expression looked thoughtful.
    Samar Dev glanced down at her trembling hands, and
then slipped them beneath the woollen blanket she had
wrapped about herself.
    'Strictly speaking,' said Traveller, 'not an okral. De nek
. . .' He raised his brows. '"Short nose"?'
    'How should I know?' Samar Dev snapped.
    His brows lifted higher.
    'I don't know where those words came from. They just
. . . arrived.'
    'They were Imass, Samar Dev.'
    'Oh?'
    'Okral is the word for a plains bear, but that was no
plains bear – too big, legs too long—'
    'I would not,' said Karsa, 'wish to be chased by that beast,
even on horseback. That animal was built for running its
prey down.'
    'But it was not hunting,' said Traveller.
    'I don't know what it was doing,' Karsa conceded with a
loose shrug. 'But I am glad it changed its mind.'
    'From you two,' Samar said, 'it would have sensed no
fear. That alone would have made it hesitate.' Her voice
was harsh, almost flinging the words out. She was not sure
why she was so angry. Perhaps naught but the aftermath of
terror – a terror that neither companion had the decency to
have shared with her. They made her feel . . . diminished.
    Traveller was still studying her, and she wanted to snarl
at him. When he spoke, his tone was calm. 'The old gods
of war are returning.'
    'War? The god of war? That was Fener, wasn't it? The
Boar.'
    'Fener, Togg, Fanderay, Treach, and,' he shrugged, 'De
nek Okral – who can say how many once existed. They
arose, I would imagine, dependent on the environment of
the worshippers – whatever beast was supreme predator,
was the most savage—'
    'But none were,' cut in Karsa Orlong. 'Supreme. That title
belonged to us two-legged hunters, us bright-eyed killers.'
    Traveller continued to stare at Samar Dev. 'The savagery
of the beasts reflected the savagery in the souls of the
worshippers. In war, this is what was shared. Boar, tigers,
wolves, the great bears that knew no fear.'
    'Is this what Fener's fall has done, then?' Samar Dev
asked. 'All the hoary, forgotten ones clambering back to
fight over the spoils? And what has that to do with that
bear, anyway?'
    'That bear,' said Traveller, 'was a god.'
    Karsa spat into the fire. 'No wonder I have never before
seen such a beast.'
    'They once existed,' said Traveller. 'They once ruled
these plains, until all that they hunted was taken from
them, and so they vanished, as have so many other proud
creatures.'
    'The god should have followed them,' said Karsa. 'There
are too many faces of war as it is.'
    Samar Dev grunted. 'That's rich coming from you.'
    Karsa eyed her over the flames, and then grinned, the
crazed tattoos seeming to split wide open on his face.
'There need be only one.'
    Yours. Yes, Toblakai,