The Crippled God

swore off that cult? Wasn’t that you? I think it was.’
    ‘You told me you did the same!’
    ‘Right, so let’s just forget it – we both killed Fener, all right?’
    Five more strides and there could be no more words – every breath scalded, and the leathers they now wore as their only clothing had begun to blacken. Now it’s going to get bad .
    But this is Telas. I can feel it – we’ve been through this before . He looked for Sinn, but could not see her anywhere. Walked out of the flames at Y’Ghatan. Walked into them here. It’s her world in there, it always was. But we knew that, didn’t we?
    I swear I can hear her laughing .
    The two men pushed forward.
    Kalyth cried out when Gesler and Stormy vanished into the flames. She did not understand. She had looked on in disbelief as they had stepped over bodies reduced to black ash – she had seen their tunics catch fire.
    ‘Matron – what gift is this? What power do they possess?’
    ‘ Destriant, this surpasses me. But it is now clear to me – as it is to all of us – that you chose most wisely. If we could, we would follow these two humans into the firestorm itself. If we could, we would follow them to the edge of the very Abyss. You ask what manner of men are these – Destriant, I was about to ask this very same question of you .’
    She shook her head, shrugged helplessly. ‘I don’t know. Malazans.’
    The flames drove him back. And this was a source of fury and anguish. He tried again and again, but his beloved master was beyond his reach. Howling, he raced back and forth along the third berm, the foul stench of his own burnt hair acrid in his nostrils .
    And then he saw the pup – the one of tangled hair and piercing voice, the pup that never grew up – running towards the cold, towards the frozen sea .
    Had the pup found a way round this burning air?
    The Wickan cattledog with the scarred face tore off in pursuit .
    There would be a way round – he would find his master again. To fight at his side. There was, for Bent, no other reason to exist .
    The base around the Spire had been reduced to scorched bedrock – not a scrap of armour remained, nothing but molten streaks of iron tracking the slopes of the blackened stone.
    Yet Gesler and Stormy walked through the conflagration. Their leathers had melted on to their bodies, hard and brittle as eggshells, and as the two marines pushed closer to the stairs the clothing’s remnants cracked, made crazed patterns like a snake’s shedding skin.
    Gesler could see the stairs – but she wasn’t there. His gaze tracked upward. Shit . She was already a quarter of the way up. He punched at Stormy’s shoulder and pointed.
    They reached the base, set foot on the baked, crumbling stone.
    Stormy edged into Gesler’s path and began gesturing – the hand language of the marines. ‘ Leave her to me – I’ll slow her up, hold her back, whatever. You go past. You go fast as you can – get to the top .’
    ‘ Listen – this was almost too much, even for us. She’ll cook you down to bones —’
    ‘ Never mind that. I’ll hold her back – just don’t fuck up up there, Ges! Throw the hag off the edge. Get that damned heart! ’
    Gesler’s legs ached with every step – he was too tired for this. A whole day of fighting. The strain of command. The seemingly endless slaughter. By the time he reached the top – assuming they even got past Sinn – he’d have nothing left. Weaponless, face to face with a damned Forkrul Assail.
    Sinn had not looked back down, not once. She had no idea she was being pursued. Her steps were measured, relentless but slow, almost casual.
    They had all climbed above the flames, which had at last begun dying below them.
    The girl would hold it back now – saving it for the Forkrul Assail. Telas to wage war against the Assail’s warren. Old old shit, all of this. Can’t they all just go away? Back into their forgotten graves. It’s not right, us having to fight in wars we didn’t even start – wars that have been going on for so long they don’t mean a thing any more .
    You took a foreign god’s wounded heart. I see the blood on your lips. It’s not right. It just isn’t .
    Adjunct. I know you ain’t dead. Well, no, I don’t. But I refuse to believe you failed. I don’t think there’s a thing in this world that can stop you. We’ll do our part. You’ll know that much – you’ll know it .
    Make this right. Make it all right .
    Stormy was one step up