A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 4

a bench,
and he says something then, something without sound.
    A moment later two imps trundle into view and stop in
their tracks, staring at Harllo, and then they squeal and
rush towards him.
    The woman looks up.
    She is silent for a long time, watching Mew and Hinty
clutching the boy. And then a sob escapes her and she
makes as if to turn away—
    But Harllo will have none of that. 'No! I've come home.
That's what this is, it's me coming home!'
    She cannot meet his eyes, but she is weeping none the
less. She waves a hand. 'You don't understand, Harllo. That
time, that time – I have no good memories of that time.
Nothing good came of it, nothing.'
    'That's not true!' he shouts, close to tears. 'That's not
true. There was me.'
    As Scillara now knew, some doors you cannot hold back.
Bold as truth, some doors get kicked in.
    Stonny did not know how she would manage this. But
she would. She would. And so she met her son's eyes, in a
way that she had never before permitted herself to do. And
that pretty much did it.
    And what was said by Harllo, in silence, as he stood
there, in the moments before he was discovered? Why, it
was this: See, Bainisk, this is my mother.

EPILOGUE
    Rage and tell me then
Not every tale is a gift
When anguish gives the knife
One more twist
And blood is thinned by tears
    Cry out the injustice
Not every tale is a gift
In a world harsh with strife
Leaving us bereft
Deeds paling through the years
    And I will meet your eye
Neither flinching nor shy
As I fold death inside life
And face you down
With a host of mortal fears
    And I will say then
Every tale is a gift
And the scars borne by us both
Are easily missed
In the distance between us
    Bard's Curse
Fisher kel Tath
    Nimander stood on the roof of the keep, leaning
with his arms on the battlement's cold stone, and
watched the distant figure of Spinnock Durav as
he crossed the old killing ground. A fateful, fretful meeting
awaited that warrior, and Nimander was worried, for it was
by Nimander's own command that Spinnock now went to
find the woman he loved.
    Skintick arrived to stand at his side.
    'It's madness,' said Nimander. 'It should be Durav on the
throne. Or Korlat.'
    'It's your lack of confidence we find so charming,'
Skintick replied.
    'Is that supposed to be amusing?'
    'Well, it amuses me, Nimander. I settle for that, most
times. Listen, it's simple and it's complicated. His blood
courses strong within you, stronger than you realize.
And like it or not, people will follow you. Listen to you.
Spinnock Durav was a good example, I'd venture. He
took your command like a body blow, and then he set
out to follow it. Not a word of complaint – your irritated
impatience stung him.'
    'Precisely my point. It was none of my business in the
first place. I had no right to be irritated or impatient.'
    'You were both because you cared, and you barely know
the man. You may not know it, but you made friends in
that throne room, right then and right there. Korlat's
eyes shone. And the High Priestess actually smiled. Like
a mother, both proud and indulgent. They are yours,
Nimander.' He hesitated, and then added, 'We all are.'
    Nimander wasn't ready to contemplate such notions.
'How fares Nenanda?'
    'Recovering, as thin-skinned as ever.'
    'And Clip?'
    Skintick shrugged. 'I wish I could say humbled.'
    'I wish you could as well.'
    'He's furious. Feels cheated, personally slighted. He'll be
trouble, I fear, an eternal thorn in your side.'
    Nimander sighed. 'They probably felt the same at the
Andara, which was why they sent him to find us.'
    'On a wave of cheering fanfare, no doubt.'
    Nimander turned. 'Skin, I truly do not know if I can do
this.'
    'Unlike Anomander Rake, you are not alone, Nimander.
The burden no longer rests upon one person. She is with
us now.'
    'She could have left us Aranatha.'
    'Aranatha was not Aranatha for some time – perhaps
you don't remember when she was younger. Nimander, our
sister was a simpleton. Barely a child in her mind, no matter
that she grew into a woman.'
    'I always saw it as . . . innocence.'
    'There again, your generosity of spirit.'
    'My inability to discriminate, you mean.'
    They were silent for a time. Nimander glanced up at the
spire. 'There was a dragon up there.'
    'Silanah. Er, very close to Anomander Rake, I'm told.'
    'I wonder where she went?'
    'You could always awaken Tiam's blood within you, and
find out, Nimander.'
    'Ah, no thank you.'
    Spinnock Durav had moved out past Night and had
reached the razed stretch