The Crippled God

Fist Bude, not straight-into-the-teeth kind of hard way. Signal the corps – we’re marching straight through the night. I want us formed up opposite the enemy come the dawn.’
    ‘Sounds like straight into the teeth, sir.’
    ‘And that’s what it will look like, too. There might end up being some fighting, but with luck, not much.’
    ‘And how’s that going to work out, sir?’
    ‘I intend to make them surrender, Fist. Gumble, get your fat lump off that rock and find your erstwhile artist and tell him it’s time. He’ll know what that means.’
    ‘He’s hardly mine, High Fist, and as for erstwhile—’
    ‘Go, before Mathok decides to skewer you with that lance.’
    ‘To raucous cheers from friend and foe alike,’ Noto Boil muttered, the fish spine working up and down with every word.
    ‘Look at him go,’ Rythe Bude commented. ‘Didn’t know he could scramble that fast.’
    Paran walked back to his horse, took the reins from one of the foundling children now accompanying the army. Swinging into the saddle, he looked down at the dirty-faced boy. ‘Still want your reward?’
    A swift nod.
    Paran reached down, lifted the boy up behind him. ‘Hold tight, we’re going to canter. Maybe even gallop. You ready for this?’
    Another nod, but the thin arms closing about Paran were tight.
    ‘Let’s go see this pass, then.’ Kicking his horse forward, Paran glanced across at Mathok as the Warleader pulled up alongside him. ‘Well?’
    ‘Well what?’ the warrior growled.
    ‘That’s hardly a happy expression you’re wearing.’
    ‘You got a sharp eye there, High Fist.’
    ‘So what’s the problem?’
    ‘There’s only a problem, sir, if you pull this off.’
    ‘Are you always this hungry for a fight, Mathok?’
    ‘Sharp eye, dumb mouth.’
    Paran grinned. ‘Can’t have everything, you know.’
    ‘So I’m learning, High Fist.’
    ‘Would’ve made us a decent captain,’ Kalam observed, as he walked with Quick Ben. They were watching Paran, flanked by a mob of Seven Cities horse-raiders, ride off towards the foot of the raw, worn range of mountains ahead. The assassin drew his cloak tighter over his broad shoulders. ‘Too bad he came to us too late.’
    ‘Did he?’ the wizard wondered. ‘If he’d arrived before Pale, he would’ve been down in the tunnels when they collapsed.’
    ‘Maybe.’
    ‘Why are you walking with me, Kalam? Where’s Minala?’
    The assassin’s only answer was a low growl.
    ‘Well,’ Quick Ben said, ‘it’s just as well that you’re here. We need to work out our next moves.’
    ‘Our next what? We’re here to kill Forkrul Assail. There’s no other moves to talk about, and those ones don’t need talking about.’
    ‘Listen, that last Pure damn near killed me.’
    ‘Rubbish.’
    ‘Well, all right. It hurt, then.’
    ‘Get over it, wizard. We’re back fighting a real war. Old style. Ugly magic, toe to toe, the works. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how to do this.’
    ‘I haven’t. But … where’s Fiddler? Hedge? Mallet, Trotts, Whiskeyjack? Where are all the ones we need to cover our backs? Paran’s sending us out into the enemy camp, Kalam. If we get in serious trouble, we’re finished.’
    ‘So fix it so that we can get back out if we have to.’
    ‘Easy for you to say.’
    Sighing, Kalam scratched at the stubble on his jaw, and then said, ‘Something happened, Quick, back in Malaz City. In Mock’s Hold. In that damned chamber with Laseen and the Adjunct. Well, just afterwards. Tavore and me … she asked me to make a choice. Laseen had already offered me whatever I wanted, pretty much. Just to turn away.’
    Quick Ben was studying him with narrowed eyes. ‘Everything?’
    ‘Everything.’
    ‘Knocking Topper off his perch?’
    ‘Aye. She was giving me the Claw, even though I had a feeling it was rotten through and through, even then – and I found out the truth of that later that night.’
    ‘So something had the Empress desperate.’
    ‘Aye.’
    ‘Fine. So … what did Tavore offer you instead?’
    Kalam shook his head. ‘Damned if I know – and I’ve been thinking about it. A lot. There was a look in her eyes – I don’t know. A need, maybe. She knew that Laseen was going to try to kill her on the way back to the ships. We all knew it.’
    ‘She wanted your help – is that so surprising? Who wants to die?’
    ‘As simple as that? Quick Ben, she was asking me to die in her place. That’s what she was