We're back, for a dive into book two, Deadhouse Gates and it's a meaty one, about the size of LOTR.
Deadhouse Gates
It is the 1163rd year of Burn's Sleep. 9th Year of the Reign of Empress Laseen.
We begin with a stark reminder that Malazan is a grimdark setting. We see Felisin, who you might remember is the younger sister of Ganoes Paran and she is in chains on a line of prisoners. It seems Empress Laseen has culled the nobles of Unta although it's not just the aristocracy on the chain. Next to Felisin is a large, bestial man named Baudin and a priest of Fener named Heboric, covered in tattoos resembling his god, the Boar of Summer. Heboric has no hands, his wrists ending in scarred, suppurating stumps.
At the same time, a priest of Hood is slowly approaching the chain of prisoners. He is covered in flies which have been drawn to the blood covering his body, a ritual in which Hood's priests smear themselves with the blood of executed murderers. This rite is part of the season of rot, performed by the priests when there is pestilence. The priest of Hood approaches the chain and exchanges words with Heboric. Then, suddenly, the cloud of flies bursts apart to reveal... no one. This unsettles Heboric and his fellow prisoners who wonder if this was a direct visitation by Hood himself.
A mob is forming and Felisin sees a familiar face on horseback behind them. Tavore... Adjunct Tavore. Her sister and the new embodiment of Empress Laseen's will. It seems Tavore was involved in orchestrating this cull.
As the guards try to move the prisoners, the mob attacks. Heboric protects Felisin as it gets gory. Eventually the mob are stopped when Baudin violently decapitates one of the female prisoners to appease their bloodlust.
This backdrop of plague, pestilence and violence in the Malazan Empire is gonna be a thing for a while. Our key takeaway from this prologue is that Tavore is the new Adjunct and her sister enslaved. Heboric seems highly respected and has been punished for challenging Empress Laseen's version of historic events.
We move forward, to year 1164 and find ourselves in the Pan'potsun Odhan, a desert. This book is gonna get very desert-y.
Here we meet Mappo Runt, a Trell, who is anything but a runt. He is in the company of a half-Jaghut with grey skin tanned olive green by the sun. His name, is Icarium. The two appear to be friends and it soon becomes apparent that Icarium has some degree of memory loss. They are wary that there is a demon somewhere nearby. They believe it to belong to Sha'ik who has an army nearby. Mappo goes to scout and Icarium sets about looking after his weapons, a longbow and sword.
As night falls they approach some ruins and we learn that the Holy Raraku desert flanks this one to the west. We get some subtle hints that Mappo knows things Icarium does not. They find the marks of many tiny claws near the ruins and realise they are the marks of rats, but not normal rats. These are the marks of a D'ivers, a shapeshifter who exists as multiple creatures. They believe this one to be Gryllen. Icarium laments that there will be others, following the Path to Ascendancy. It seems we have our first sense of convergence here. Icarium is following the Path in the hope of finding answers. Privately, Mappo laments that the answers will bring Icarium no peace. Icarium says he has lived for centuries, yet has no memories of his past. Mappo seems sad for Icarium but the moment is fleeting as they sense another D'ivers approaching. This one is in the form of six wolves, Mappo names him Ryllandaras. They opt to try conversing with him and the pack of wolves communicates telepathically. There's an exchange and when Ryllandaras realises this is Mappo and Icarium, he changes his tune swiftly, promising them no harm, that he was following the demon and came upon them by coincidence. During this exchange, privately Mappo hopes that Ryllandaras will leave before angering Icarium and "unleashing all I am sworn to prevent". They warn the D'ivers that the demon is with Sha'ik but he seems unconcerned, not knowing who that is. The pair think that he soon will.
We jump over to Seven Cities, the sub-continent north of Quon Tali that is under the control of the Malazan Empire. We're in a city called Hissar which isn't one of the Seven Cities from which this area draws its name. There we meet Duiker, an Imperial Historian and Mallick Rel, chief advisor to High Fist Pormqual (who is the commander of the Malazan armies on Seven Cities). Mallick is also a priest of Mael, the Elder god of the seas. Just for now, I want you to know, Mael is one of my favourite gods in this series. You won't find out why for a while. Anyways, they're here to welcome Coltaine as the new Fist of the Malazan 7th Army. This is a political move by the Empress. Coltaine was previously a rebel who fought against the Malazans and by putting him in a position of power, Laseen hopes to quell the potential uprising of rebels within the Empire. We also briefly meet Kulp, a white haired wizard who is a mage in the 7th Army.
We now jump to a boat where Fiddler, Kalam, Crokus and Apsalar are sailing to Ehrlitan, actually one the seven cities on Seven Cities. They have a run in with a giant sea serpent, a dhenrabi. They aren't usually found in waters this shallow but it soon becomes apparent that this dhenrabi is a Soletaken, another shapeshifter. The Soletaken warns the humans that it must kill them for having witnessed its passage. It attacks but Fiddler fires a munition from his crossbow and blows its head to smithereens. The Malazans are suspicious as to why the Soletaken was here. Spoilers, we know already. The shapeshifters are converging. But Kalam and Fiddler can't figure it out and so they continue heading to a small village outside Ehrlitan. Crokus demands some answers. He thinks Kalam and Fiddler only agreed to return Apsalar to Quon Tali in order to pursue their own agenda. The two admit it. Kalam is an assassin and this is a business trip. Kalam intends to assassinate...
Did you figure it out?
...Empress Laseen.
Dun dun DUN!!
Well damn. One chapter in and the stakes are enormous already.
Duiker has a walk around Hissar, giving us some local flavour before eventually arriving at a meeting with Coltaine. Also present is Coltaine's second in command, Bult, Mallick Rel and Kulp. We find a little of the history of Coltaine's fight with the Malazans. It seems Bult almost killed Duiker in that conflict before realising he was unarmed. Although he refrained, he was attacked by Dujek who scarred his face with his sword, but Bult's horse bit Dujek's arm, ultimately infecting it and causing its amputation later. Now we know how he became Dujek Onearm.
The meeting hasn't begun yet because Coltaine is waiting on his warlock. This surprises Duiker who thought all the Wickan warlocks were killed when the conflict was won by the Malazans. To summarize, Laseen ordered them all spiked up outside the walls. Coltaine is from the Crow Clan and they believe that the crows took the spirits of the dying warlocks and brought them back to his people to be reborn. When the warlock enters, a young teen boy, he claims to be Sormo E'nath. Kulp is outwardly dismissive but later, privately confesses to Duiker that the boy shows way more power than he has any right to and is probably the real Sormo E'nath reborn. Anyways, Mallick Rel says he has orders from Pormqual and Coltaine instantly dismisses them and Rel from the meeting. Duiker and Coltaine discuss some political issues. We learn that Crust was High Fist before Pormqual and that he drowned at night, despite being a strong swimmer and his body was never found. He was one of Kellanved's close friends and we learn that those are all dead with no bodies found either, including Toc the Elder and Ameron. They discuss whether it was Laseen cleaning house or whether someone else wished to deny Laseen the solid counsel Kellanved had access to. The meeting ends with Coltaine attaching Duiker to the 7th.
As I mentioned, Duiker and Kulp converse in private where Kulp claims the warlock is genuine and that he intends not to let on, in the hopes the warlock might consider him insignificant. They also express some surprise that both Coltaine and Bult seem loyal to the Empress.
Duiker isn't done. He has a personal favour to ask of Kulp. He wants help in freeing a prisoner from the Otataral Mines. Kulp is less than enthusiastic, Otataral kills sorcery, sends mages insane. Duiker promises they'll just be in a boat nearby, ready to collect the escapee and retreat. Kulp asks who they're freeing. Duiker names him Heboric Light Touch. Well, well, well. Kulp is still hesitant and when pressed by Duiker says he worries about releasing a second traitorous historian into the world.
Back to Ehrlitan to catch up with Fiddler. He witnesses some rebels killing people and in the confusion a pimp snatches two young girls whose mother is killed. One 9, the other smaller. Fiddler follows the pimp and manages to rescue the girls before they are violated. He returns them back to their people where they recognise him as a Gral, a tribe local to Ehrlitan. As a reward, Fiddler is invited inside to speak to a Spiritwalker. The two converse, the Spiritwalker has heard of the Bridgeburners. Fiddler confesses he is not a Gral but a Malazan in disguise though not to fool the locals but to hide from the Malazans and says he wishes to get passage to Quon Tali. The Spiritwalker tells Fiddler that he will not find a boat to Quon Tali and instead must cross the Pan'potsun Odhan. He also warns that the whirlwind of the Apocalypse will emerge from Raraku and that there will be a convergence. Fiddler makes the connection with the Soletaken dhenrabi he killed. The Spiritwalker says the Soletaken and D'ivers are being drawn to a gate by the Prophecy of the Path of Hands. Fiddler doesn't understand why the shapeshifters would be seeking a warren's gate. The Spiritwalker doesn't know either but suggests the shapeshifters might not know either, drawn by instinct more than knowledge. The worry is that the last one standing might Ascend, to become a god of shapeshifters. He gives Fiddler some sort of magical conch shell as a gift. Fiddler discovers the Spiritwalker is named Kimloc and understand this is a great honour. There are details about how Kimloc has history with the bridgeburners but it's not important right now.
Fiddler returns to Kalam and tells him about the convergence in the Pan'potsun Odhan but holds back information about Kimloc lest Kalam go kill him.
Kalam goes off and meets a shady guy who owes him a favour but is reluctant to deliver. Kalam roughs him up a bit. To cut a long story short, Kalam discovers that this man has stolen a book from Pormqual. The Holy Book of Dryjhna. If the book is taken into Raraku Desert and given to Sha'ik it will release the whirlwind of the apocalypse. Kalam agrees to take the book to Sha'ik and the spy gives him instructions of a ritual that must be performed each day he holds the book. When Kalam leaves, the spy converses with someone else. This unknown figure converses with the spy and we realise this was a setup. The book has been foisted off onto Kalam and the ritual will allow him to be followed in order to lead them directly to Sha'ik so they can kill her and stop the apocalypse. Getting complicated, isn't it? I found it all pretty difficult to follow first time round.
We go back to Mappo and Icarium. They were attacked by another D'ivers, this one twelve leopards. They killed it though Mappo worried as he saw Icarium's anger rising but thankfully it subsided again. They carry on but realise another Soletaken is following them. A bear arrives, sembling back into the form of a man, Messremb. They converse and as before, Messremb recognises Icarium and wishes them no harm, veering back into a bear and heading off on his way.
Next the pair come across a man on a mule. This is fan favourite character Iskaral Pust, a somewhat crazy priest of shadow. Some comical scenes occur in which Pust falls from the mule and berates it, calling it Servant and demanding it bring him wine. The mule wanders off into a cave. As the pair help Pust up, a man emerges from the cave and Pust continues to call him Servant. Pust offers the pair shelter for the night in his tower which is occupied by hordes of flying monkeys which Pust claims are a curse he has to deal with but that he has also made use of them as servants.
As they climb Pust's tower, Icarium and Mappo converse. They think Pust is touched by Ammanas (Shadowthrone, Kellanved, remember?) and might be slightly mad but extremely powerful. Mappo notes a warren opened in the cave when the mule entered. Icarium also expresses some confusion as to why Mappo is wounded and Icarium's sword has blood on it as he does not remember fighting. Mappo assures him it was nothing, he was beset by a leopard as Icarium slept and used Icarium's sword to defend himself, that is all. Icarium is worried that he seems to have lost memories again and Mappo assures him that if anything important had happened, he would have told him.
And so chapter two comes to a close, leaving us with many questions about the relationship between this pair. Mappo is clearly lying to Icarium, but is it for his own good? Are these lies an act of friendship as Mappo claims? Or is Icarium being misled? What is it Icarium is capable of, that Mappo seems to fear so much? Well, we have seen the power of a full blooded Jaghut. Is it simply his heritage that is to be feared? I guess we'll read on and find out.
Oh dear. Back to Felisin, who is now 15. She's mid-coitus with a man named Beneth and it seems she's doing so in order to gain favours for herself and Heboric. We get a quick run down of the situation so far. Felisin discovered her body was valuable currency on the ship over here, managing to get her, Heboric and Baudin out of the hold. A valuable manoeuvre as many left down there died on the trip. Now in the mines, Felisin has attached herself to Beneth, not the big man on campus but certainly second dog behind him. The problem is that although Beneth is content to make life better for Felisin, he seems reluctant to do any favours for Heboric, agreeing to take him off duty pulling the heavy minecarts but only to put him to work ploughing the fields. Felisin has her suspicions that Captain Sawark, the guy in charge, has orders to see to it that Heboric dies here and intends to give him the most punishing duties to ensure that it happens. Beneth gives Felisin food and she returns back to Heboric to give it to him. Heboric doesn't approve of her newfound promiscuity even though he's grateful for the benefits it brings. He has other concerns. Felisin has been drinking and smoking durhang. Felisin wants to say nice things to Heboric but finds herself being mean instead and the pair have a falling out.
Back in Hissar, the Red Blades arrive by boat. These are a Malazan unit of fanatics made up of Seven Cities natives and the ones who caused the ruckus back when Fiddler rescued the two girls in Ehrlitan. Observed by Duiker and Kulp, it seems the Red Blades are about to attack the citizenry when some of Coltaine's Wickans step up to face off against them. Kulp steps in and manages to defuse the situation before it gets ugly.
Crokus and Fiddler have a chat about Kalam leaving. Kalam has left to deliver the book, hoping to further undermine Laseen's hold on the Empire. Fiddler disagreed, focusing on the fact that the plan is to kill Laseen, not bring down the entire Empire. Crokus is worried that Apsalar's skills left over from The Rope's possession make her Fiddler's backup plan. Fiddler claims that's not true, but it no doubt occurred to Kalam and if not him, Quick Ben for sure.
Back with Iskaral Pust for some more comedy. Mappo asks how to get to the library and after Pust finishes giving him instructions containing a suspicious amount of right turns, the Trell replies "Or turn left, nineteen paces?".
He joins Icarium in the library. Icarium is surprised at the books he has found here. Well crafted, clearly expensive tomes, yet about trivial subjects such as seed dispersal patterns. What's more they seem to be thousands of years old.
Privately, Mappo is surprised Icarium is able to read the language. He tries to convince Icarium that the triviality of the knowledge was probably what led to the downfall of said civilization and even quotes Gothos' Folly to support his argument. He seems extremely keen to get Icarium off the subject of these older civilizations. He has a brief flashback to the time his tribe was approached by the Nameless Ones.
And back to the mines, where bodies are being removed from a collapse. Felisin realises that her actions have saved Heboric's life. Had she not had him removed to the fields, he would have been in that collapse. Indeed, the old priest has regained some of his vigour. Felisin laments that she and Heboric don't talk as much any more. He is upset at her durhang addiction but she can't think straight due to the substance, which I always presumed to be some kind of opiate given the dulling of mind and physical ravaging of body it causes, combined with its strong addictive quality. It has only been two weeks but already Felisin is in deep and many people here comment on her aged appearance. Sawark thinks she is nineteen and is surprised to learn she is actually fifteen. Anyways, Felisin has basically been offering herself around to fund this drug fuelled existence. Even Beneth is sick of her, describing her lovemaking as "torpid".
Beneth has a meeting with Captain Sawark, the man that runs the mines and takes Felisin with him. Beneth is seeking information about Baudin who has been arrested for violating curfew. There's some subtle hints that the two might have been friends in the past. Beneth is hoping to offer Felisin as a bribe but Sawark comments that nineteen is not young enough which is the aforementioned surprise. But there's something more here. Sawark pays her close attention and his face goes pale. The meeting ends swiftly.
Beneth takes Felisin outside and interrogates her, trying to figure out who she is that could cause Sawark such shock. Felisin pleads innocence, claiming to be a foundling who was at the temple of Fener when Heboric was arrested. Beneth thinks she's lying and might be a noble. He beats her severely but she sticks to her story, ultimately passing out beneath the blows.
Between the drugs and the battering Felisin struggles in and out of consciousness until eventually waking up back at the hovel she shares with Heboric, being attended to by the priest who is ministering to her wounds. She begs for durhang, for the pain and/or the addiction but is in no condition to smoke a pipe so Heboric reluctantly makes durhang tea for her.
Out in the desert, Kalam is on horseback when a sandstorm arises. He manages to make it to Ladro Landing before the worst of it and takes shelter in an inn. A Malaz sergeant tries to give him some grief but Kalam shows him a talisman that marks him as a Clawmaster and the sergeant drops his hostilities. A merchant's wife is also present with a deck of dragons, offering readings to the patrons. Another man and woman enter the inn, also seeking refuge from the storm. We'll cover them some more later. Right now we have no idea who they are or what they want. As the merchant's wife offers Kalam a reading and draws a card Kalam laughs. The card she drew is the Obelisk, a card that is inactive in Seven Cities and marks her as a fraud, with no skill in reading the deck. She tries to defend herself but Kalam rips her a new one, using his knowledge of the deck learned from being around it in the Bridgeburners. Angered, the woman chucks the deck at Kalam. Silence falls as the cards hit the floor... revealing a pattern. Kalam looks down to see a single card, The Rope, Assassin of Shadow, surrounded by six cards, King, Queen, Herald, Mason, Spinner and Knight. All of one suit. House Death. As Kalam notes, Hood's house, surrounding the one carrying the book. A portentous omen.
The next morning, an hour after Kalam leaves, the woman who we now see named as Lostara Yil also prepares to depart. We do not learn the name of her companion but it is clear they have killed everyone in the inn and are purposefully following Kalam, having tracked him here in the first place.
Mappo and Icarium are exploring Iskaral Pust's monastery and have discovered an old crypt with strange paintings and an unusual carving on the floor. One passageway is blocked by fallen stones and the pair move them, surprised at their weight. Beyond they find a hallway with solid wooden pillars and Icarium sniffs the centuries old residue of a warren which he likens to Kurald Galain. Mappo says that doesn't make sense as the Tiste Andii have never been present on Seven Cities. Icarium says he is uncertain, it feels like Kurald Galain only because it is elder but definitely not any of the other elder warrens which he reminds us are Omtose Phellack, Starvald Demelain and Tellann. Descending further they find a chamber where magic bleeds from the stones. Icarium says it smells like Kurald Galain but corrupted. They see signs of Soletaken and D'ivers here and realise that this is the gate. They wonder whether Pust and by extension, the shadow realm, is behind the convergence. So far, in the previous book, we may have seen Shadowthrone as a somewhat incompetent bungler. Was that true? Or is he simply up to something much bigger? We have a quote here from Mappo as he watches Icarium ascend that I'll use directly.
"My curse is to silence your every question, and the hand I offer as a brother will lead you only into deceit."
It's curious to see that Mappo knows he is misleading Icarium and yet shows genuine regret in doing so.
The pair confront Pust but he's having one of his insane moments and is obsessed with clearing out the spiders but has lost his broom and demands the pair look for it. Strangely, Icarium agrees and to Mappo's surprise, he goes off to look for the broom.
Ok, time for a weird scene. Duiker, Kulp, Bult and Sormo E'nath are heading to an old Wickan holy site where the warlock intends to... commune with the spirits? It's a little unclear what his intentions are but Kulp thinks it's a bad idea. Also, it seems the flies are increasing in number. We see numerous mentions of people swatting flies here and it's worth mentioning that though I'm summarizing, assume there is pretty much constant mention of flies through the book so far. Anyways, Sormo claims the spirits here are from Tellann. Duiker complains that Sormo will be dealing with T'lan Imass and that the undead warriors turned their back on the Empress after the Emperor's assassination. Sormo asks whether Duiker ever wondered why. Sormo begins his ritual and the shit immediately hits the fan. A D'ivers as a swarm of wasps attacks. More D'ivers attack, a swarm of rats, a colony of fire ants, a bundle of snakes. Kulp tries to defend Duiker with his magic.
And then a demon arrives and a huge white furred bear Soletaken. The shapeshifters fight the demon. Kulp punches Sormo to disrupt the ritual and the group make their escape.
Quick side note, Sormo E'nath supposedly has eleven souls which is what makes him so powerful. The aftermath of this event, by his own admission, cost him one of those souls.
The group speculate on what happened, with Sormo wondering if the shapeshifters are using Tellann to travel somewhere, assuming it unoccupied by the absent T'lan Imass. We, the reader, know that he essentially got a taste of the convergence which seems to be well underway.
Fiddler approaches G'danisban with Crokus and Apsalar in tow. He is disguised as a Gral once more. They hear news of a massacre at Ladro Keep. News spreads fast, huh. A whole bunch of shit happens here but it's not of particular import until they are almost free of G'danisban where it begins to come extremely clear that Apsalar has some very specific memories left over from The Rope's possession. This isn't necessarily news but.
This town is under rebel control and they've raped and slaughtered the townsfolk, butchered the children, it's grim work. When Crokus asks if this is payment, if the Malazans behaved like this during the initial conquest, Apsalar is quick to state that the Emperor fought armies not civilians. Fiddler voices the massacre at Aren as an exception, when the T'lan Imass ran rampant among the civilian population. Apsalar angrily states that this was not at Kellanved's command but at Surly's, the Claw commander who eventually became Empress Laseen. Fiddler isn't sure how Apsalar knows this and she mutters that she should have killed Surly when she had the chance. Apsalar knows she was but a baby when the events she describes took place, that they are not her memories but they seem so vivid. She remembers arguing with Surly about it. Crokus says the memories she holds should belong to The Rope but these memories are... Dancer's. Fiddler makes the connection. Dancer is The Rope. He realises that the Emperor's assassination may have been fabricated. Fiddler can't believe how stupid he is (and neither can we, didn't the Bridgeburners figure this out already?!). He realises the House of Shadow appeared in the Deck of Dragons shortly after the Emperor's disappearance, that the bodies were never found and that just maybe, Kellanved and Dancer didn't get assassinated but actually ascended to become Shadowthrone and Cotillion. What really stings for Fiddler is why Cotillion didn't tell the Bridgeburners. They were friends after all. Apsalar says Cotillion only trusted two people, Kellanved and Dassem Ultor. Dassem is dead and The Rope's trust in Kellanved is waning. The man, the Emperor, he trusted, but the god, Shadowthrone, he is more wary of.
Kalam is deep in the desert and it seems he finds it familiar. It seems likely he is from here originally as he knows about false trails, designed to lead people away from water and to their doom. He is stopped by a man and a giant, Leoman and Toblakai (whose real name is unknown). They are Sha'ik's bodyguard and check Kalam's possessions to confirm he is the genuine bookbearer. Satisfied he's legit, Sha'ik appears. Kalam hands over the book and Sha'ik speaks of something she has seen. She summons the aptorian demon. These things are hideous, have a google. She thinks Shadowthrone sent it into Raraku to spy. Sha'ik took control of it and has used to to kill D'ivers. She sends Kalam on his way with the demon.
Just before dawn, as she is supposed to do, Sha'ik opens the book. A crossbow bolt strikes her in the head, killing her instantly. Lostara Yil and her men, and her boss, Baralta, have ambushed them. Furious, Leoman and Toblakai fight back. Toblakai has a wooden sword and yet manages to kill a bunch of Lostara's men and almost her too. The group beat a hasty retreat, amazed at the Toblakai's prowess. Baralta tells Lostara to continue following Kalam.
Leoman and Toblakai decide to wait by Shai'k's corpse. Leoman is unsure what to do, but Sha'ik had opened the book and had previously told Leoman she would be renewed and so, he waits. Toblakai sniffs the air and claims a storm is brewing.
Charon Deep Dives Malazan Book of the Fallen (Part Two)
Charon Deep Dives Malazan Book of the Fallen (Part Two)
"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else." - Charles Dickens.
“Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed and you haven’t been.” - Marcus Aurelius
“Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed and you haven’t been.” - Marcus Aurelius
Re: Charon Deep Dives Malazan Book of the Fallen (Part Two)
Ok, into part two and it starts to get more difficult to follow here.
We start back with Felisin. She's on the durhang again, chilling with Beneth. He's heading out with his militia to patrol and enforce the curfew. Baudin has gone missing and the assumption is that he escaped. However, things go bad.
This section of the book is called Whirlwind after the apocalyptic event of the prophecy and it feels like it starts here. The rebellion. The Seven Cities rising up against the Malazan rule. Rebels have infiltrated the prison and fighting breaks out. Malazan enforcers swiftly arrive to try and deal with them and in the chaos, Felisin flees to find Heboric. She finds Heboric and Baudin planning their escape. She accuses Heboric of planning to leave her behind, he suggests he didn't think she'd want to leave Beneth. On that note, Felisin insists they take Beneth with them. Baudin promises he'll go find him.
Heboric and Felisin flees, heading towards the lake. Before they can arrive, Heboric sees a swarm of bloodflies heading their way. He instruct Felisin to cover herself in mud and then him, but with her mind still dulled by the durhang, Felisin is too slow. The bloodflies start to sting her legs, causing waves of agony so bad she starts screaming and doesn't stop. The flies sting around her eyes, her ears, in her mouth and she continues screaming as she tries to cover herself in the mud. When the cloud eventually passes, the ordeal is not yet over. Heboric warns her that those bites are the flies inserting their larvae into her skin. There's a tincture in his pack and she needs to use it on each sting and pulls the larva out, a job too delicate for him without hands. She manages to follow his instructions but it's clear Heboric is somewhat appalled by the amount of damage done to her and he promises they'll find a healer once they escape. As for Heboric, the flies were turned aside by his tattoos, something that surprises them both as Fener is not considered a particularly forgiving god. To appreciate just how tattooed Heboric is, have a google. I did want to link fanart but it's one of those sites that blocks links.
Baudin catches them up, claiming that Beneth is already dead. Felisin doesn't believe him but has no choice but to escape anyway. They swim to the bottom of the lake and into hidden tunnels beneath.
Duiker and Kulp are in a small fishing village trying to procure a boat for their rescue. They run into a company of Malazans, Corporal Gesler, Stormy and Truth among them. The rebellion hits here and the group is attacked by magic, with Kulp claiming the attacker must be a high mage as they are way more powerful than him. The Malazans make for their boat which is fully provisioned and Kulp goes to try deal with the mage. Duiker makes for the stables to get a horse, realising he needs to get back to Hissar and warn Coltaine.
Kulp runs back into Duiker, warning him that the mage is insanely powerful. He just got hit by magic so bad it made him shit his pants. Literally. Duiker is about to know how that feels as another spell hits him, Kulp and Stormy, causing the group to writhe around on the floor as liquid agony scours their bones. Duiker both pisses and shits himself before it wears off. Duiker tells Kulp to stay with the Malazans and try rescue Heboric as planned while he goes to Hissar. Kulp persuades Gesler's group to follow the plan after mentioning Heboric's name. It turns out, this is boar squad, all sworn to Fener.
Long story short, Duiker gets to Hissar and finds it dead. The slaughter is brutal to the point of madness, with men gutted and their wives strangled with their entrails as they were raped. Babies have been spitted on skewers. However, Duiker starts to realise that Coltaine and the Seventh fought back and seem to have killed many of the rebels before making their escape. Some rebels find him and Duiker passes himself off as one of them. The rebels tell him Coltaine fled but has ten thousand Malazan refugees with him. They intend to pursue him and harry until they can eventually overpower them. He learns the rebellion was led by Kamist Reloe, a high mage thought to have died ten years ago, facing Sha'ik in Raraku. It seems he may instead have joined forces with her. Worse, Coltaine will be heading to Sialk seeking refuge, but Kamist Reloe has already attacked Sialk and driven another ten thousand refugees out. By the time the beleaguered 7th arrive, they will find themselves trying to protect 20'000 civilians.
Mappo and Icarium have found a boat in the basement of the temple. The speculate on how it got here and draw the conclusion that it must belong to Servant. They find Pust's broom and go to face him.
Iskaral Pust is wielding the deck of dragons. He draws Obelisk. He draws The Rope and Oponn and then a bunch of other cards.
Now, we know obelisk is inactive, because Kalam previously told us so, What has changed? Common opinion is that Obelisk is Icarium, now present in the area. There's debate about The Rope but for me, it seems like it could still be Kalam, who kicked off the events by providing the book to Sha'ik. Oponn could be anything. Some of the other cards reference characters we might not have met yet. Soldier of Life could be Coltaine. It really is one of those things people chat about and throw up suggestions for and it's looking back at these readings and trying to see how they entwine with events that makes a reread so much fun. Icarium and Pust are at loggerheads as the Jhag demands he speak plain. Pust yells that the pair need to go into Raraku because Sha'ik is dead. The pair think Shadowthrone wants them to witness Sha'ik's rebirth. Icarium seems keen but Mappo is reluctant, wondering if this could lead to some revelation for Icarium.
Fiddler, Crokus and Apsalar get swallowed up by the whirlwind, trapped in a sandstorm with warring D'ivers and Soletaken.
Kalam is also out there somewhere, with the demon. They too are attacked by a D'ivers and the demon defeats it.
Duiker and the rebels come across evidence of another battle between Coltaine's forces and the rebels and it seems Coltaine won. The aftermath of sorcery and slaughter and piles of dead rebels. The rebels with Duiker make it clear that Kamist Reloe still lives and that they intend to join him. Duiker manages to give them the slip, claiming to want to search the bodies for his nephew. Duiker knows what Coltaine will face. Relentless harrying by the rebels, slowly chipping away at his numbers. He also knows that Coltaine will know this, having done the same when he was a rebel. He witnesses a cloud of capemoths descending on the corpses to feed. Worth pointing out that the capemoths become a recurring feature now and just like the pestilence and considered a sign of Hood.
Back to Felisin. The group are crossing the desert to try get to the spot where Duiker is supposed to be meeting them by boat, unaware of the futility of that effort. Felisin is being a massive asshole. She's rude, argumentative, bitter, she takes more than her fair share of the water rations. It's interesting, cos a lot of people absolutely hate her and that's the true tragedy of her character. It really drives home the price of Oponn's protection for Ganoes. She's been through so much and it's hard to even rustle up any pity for her because she's such a bitch. Anyways, she whinges, whines and makes life difficult for the other two who put up with her with the patience of a saint. Felisin thinks Baudin killed Beneth and is snappier than usual to him. He tells her that she gave herself to Beneth for nothing, that he didn't really help them, giving them barely anything and exaggerating to her what he had provided and that Beneth laughed at her naivete behind her back. They find a giant green pillar, out in the desert. Heboric realises it's a finger made of jade. He touches it with one of his stumps but nothing happens. The group camp there, Baudin pointing out there must have been a storm because the dust falling from the air is otataral dust and they need immediate shelter.
They leave in the morning and we note Heboric's left stump is hurting. His tattoos have also darkened. They struggle on for the next day with Heboric falling further behind than usual. When Felisin and Baudin stop to make camp there is no sign of him. Baudin goes to find him and Felisin takes the time to go through Baudin's stuff. She finds lockpicks and poisoned needles, the tools of an assassin. She also finds the talon of a large cat. We don't understand the significance of this yet, but the Talon were Dancer's elite assassins back in the day.
The next night they finally arrive at another water source only to find it full of dead capemoths and their larvae, poisoning it. Heboric is on the brink of death, severely dehydrated. Felisin grills Baudin on why he isn't feeling it as bad as they are and he admits he's been drinking his own piss. He starts examining Heboric's tattoos and Felisin realises what he's looking for, Heboric having talked to her of his history when she was drugged up on durhang after the beating. There's a tattoo that is Fener's own mark and as a priest, Heboric could touch it with his hand to call upon Fener. When he was excommunicated from the priesthood, his hands were removed to deny him that ability. Baudin finds the mark and shoves Heboric's stump against it. There's a scream, but not from Heboric. Felisin and Baudin find themselves bleeding form the ears and eyes as a massive hoof appears, so big that Felisin's mind has trouble reconciling the reality of it. The sky twists, the scream continues. When it eventually fades, Heboric's tattoos extend across the skies and earth. Baudin's hamfisted attempt to open Fener's warren seems to have pulled the god through to the mortal world entirely. Heboric awakes and confirms, Fener is here, in the mortal world and is now vulnerable. He complains that he is feeling phantom pains in his hands, a problem he hasn't had for years.
We have a brief scene where Mappo flashbacks to when the Nameless Ones chose him for a task. We don't really learn much but we can assume the task involved babysitting Icarium.
Back with Fiddler and Co, the battle between the D'ivers and Soletaken is catching them up. Apsalar kills a few and Fiddler tries to engage with his munitions but then a swarm of thousands of rats appear. It's Gryllen. In fear, Fiddler tells Apsalar to grab another cusser from his pack. She says it wouldn't make a dent. He says not for him, for us.
Just as it seems things are hopeless, a loud voice commands Gryllen to stand down, claiming that these three are now under his protection. A Jhag and a Trell appear, Fiddler feels like he should know who they are. Gryllen leaves and though they know it not, our trio is now under Icarium's protection.
Duiker is still on Coltaine's trail and finds that the seventh's fist is even more capable than expected. It seems he made the refugees pretend to make camp and as his enemies did the same, his men rode out and slaughtered them while they were unprepared then moved the camp on. The pursuers outnumbered Coltaine's men seven to one and yet the highly trained Wickan and Malazan forces made short work of them. Duiker estimates the rebels lost a hundred men for every one of Coltaine's that fell. What's more, it seems Coltaine has veered off course to the west, into the steppes. Duiker has no idea why, there's nothing at all out there. He camps and continues pursuing the next morning.
Back with Felisin's group that has reached the shore. She has a plan to attack Baudin. She offers herself to him and he resists at first but she mocks him, suggesting he likes boys and so he relents. Once in her tent, she beds him. Baudin is surprisingly clumsy, finishes quickly and falls asleep. She draws the dagger she stole from his pack but before she can do the deed Baudin grabs the dagger off her, pointing out that he regularly checks his gear and knew full well what her plan was. He confesses that he killed Beneth and ultimately went along with this ploy to show Felisin what she's become.
As the group is walking past the shore, a wave of lightning erupts over the sea. As the sorcery rapidly approaches the land, Heboric stands in its way to shield Felisin and the magic is nullified by his tattoos. Heboric finally figures out what's going on and I'll tell you in a moment if you don't know yet.
Anyway, a boat appears, being chased down by sorcery and it quickly heads their way. It's not Duiker but it is Kulp and boar company.
Flashback to Kulp and co escaping on the Ripath, boar company's boat. It was going great until they got near the island and started getting attacked by a mage. The sorcery is so powerful and wild and uncontrolled that Kulp reckons it is an escaped mage, driven mad by the otataral at the mines, cursed to burn himself out. He sees a weird oasis in the magic, like some sort of null field and steers the boat towards it where they find, Heboric. With his warren open and his sight enhanced by magic, Heboric looks odd to Kulp. The priest's tattoos extend from his left stump, forming a ghostly green hand. On the right, the green mixes with otataral red, forming another hand made of two conflicting energies. Heboric is somehow pushing the sorcery aside like he's extending an otataral field around himself.
Ok, let's sidebar. First time through this was confusing as hell and to be fair, people do debate the specifics of it but my reading of it is this. When they reached jade finger, it was raining otataral dust. The jade finger, although we don't know it yet, is something to do with the crippled god. It is this combination that Heboric has somehow merged, drawing some of the crippled god's power in such a way that it gives him otataral powers. In truth, this ability to turn away magic may have begun affecting him when back in the mines. Remember how his tattoos turned away the bloodflies, much to his surprise. It's possible the long exposure to otataral had already giving him this antimagic quality and the contact with the crippled god's giant enhanced it somehow.
Ok, back to it. Introductions are made and a plan formed. They can sail away if they use Heboric as a shield from the mage's magic. The downside to the plan is that this close to Heboric, Kulp will be unable to open his own warren, meaning if Heboric isn't enough to shield them, they're toast. They decide to camp first, and as they do, Felisin confronts Baudin again. She asks him about the talon and he refuses to tell her anything but Heboric overhears them. Realising what Baudin is, Heboric congratulates him. Felisin demands Heboric tell her what the talon means but he also refuses.
Felisin offers herself to Gesler and his men, hoping to ingratiate herself with the Malazans but they decline, already less than impressed with her.
The following morning, as they prepare to leave, we get a really nice scene where Kulp ponders his warren, Meanas. It's one of the first real insights we get of a warren and interesting that it's the warren of shadow, the warren that Quick Ben called a false warren. We've yet to see the elder warren of shadow named so I'll go ahead and tell you it's Kurald Emerlahn. Meanas and Mockra (shadow and illusion) are smaller warrens that have essentially spun off from that warren. Sub-warrens perhaps, divergences. Of course, you may remember that Quick Ben was actually referring to Rashan and that is supposedly a typo. QB was meant to be talking about Meanas. If we're getting into it... and we are, let's face it. Rashan is the human warren of darkness. We already know the elder warren of darkness, Kurald Galain, the Tiste Andii warren. If you've been paying attention you can probably start to piece some of this together. The warren of shadow, Kurald Emerlahn is the Tiste Edur warren. That leaves one more part of the trifecta. The Tiste Liosan warren, Kurald Thyrllan and it's human spinoff, Thyr, the warren of light. What''s more, as the story progresses, different mages have different opinions on this interplay. For example, some speculate Mockra is a blend of Thyr and Rashan. It's possible they are all interlinked, especially as they are all born, essentially from Kurald Galain, even the other Tiste warrens.
I've mentioned it before and I'll say it again, I really like this version of light and dark elf history, the opposite of the DnD version, more in line with Abrahamic religions, in which first there is darkness and then comes light. It is such a damn shame the Kharkanas Trilogy hasn't been finished because I loved that delve into the origins of this.
Anyway, they go out on the water and naturally, it's pretty bad. Everyone gets battered around and injured. Stormy especially so. He's bleeding out on the deck when Heboric plunges a stump into the wound. Tattoos spread from Heboric and seal the wound, healing Stormy, but leaving him with tattoos of his own. Worse, the water is thickening and the Ripath is sinking. They realise they have been pulled into the crazed mage's warren. With no choice, they grab supplies and abandon ship, swimming through the soupy waters. They see another boat ahead, an abandoned dromon, a pre-Imperial ship. Baudin recognises it as the Silanda, the only ship sanctioned to trade with the Tiste Andii. They head towards it and board. The soon find a head in a bag and then more and more until they have a pile of mostly Tiste Andii heads with some human ones. Kulp can sense sorcery below decks and he and Gesler reluctantly head down. They discover the headless corpses of the Tiste Andii, sat at the oars, perfectly intact despite the decades they've been here. They head into the captain's quarters and find four bodies. Three appear to have been crushed somehow, the fourth, the captain, has a spear through his chest. All seem frozen in time, the blood still wet. What's more, these men are grey skinned. Kulp speculates that these men killed the Tiste Andii and the Quon sailors, beheaded them and magicked them to the oars then travelled into this warren where they met something nastier than them. He fetches Heboric, seeking insight and the priest suggests these grey skinned men might be Tiste Edur. Little is known of them but they are mentioned in Gothos Folly (and if it wasn't stated explicitly yet, Kulp says that Gothos was a Jaghut).
Weirder, Heboric says the spear through the Edur's chest is Barghast. Kulp says it's too big. Heboric agrees but says it's still Barghast.
The dead captain has a bone whistle around his neck and Gesler takes it. When he blows it, the corpses begin rowing. As they leave, Kulp asks Heboric if they are in Fener's warren. Heboric says no, he has no idea which warren this is.
Felisin almost has a tender moment with Truth but then she spoils it by being her usual bitchy self.
Fiddler awakes to find himself being "tended" by Iskaral Pust who is trying to sweep the spiders out of his beard. He converses with Mappo, realising now who they are and knowing that Icarium has a fearsome reputation. Iskaral Pust has a prophetic rant in which he mentions the Chain of Dogs. We don't know what that is yet... but we soon will. He also mentions Tremorlor. Fiddler knows what that is, he's been seeking it. Mappo also knows. An Azath house, out in the desert. Quick Ben has theorized that each Azath contains a gate and that those gates are linked, allowing near instantaneous travel between them. Fiddler starts to think Pust might be an avatar of Shadowthrone and his group is suddenly worried that bringing Apsalar here could have been a mistake but Pust insists The Rope has no further interest in the girl...
I should point out here that Pust often speaks his thoughts aloud and it is very clear this is a lie. Anyway, he leaves as the others converse and then Icarium calls him out and he appears in the shadows, where he was lurking magically. The group discuss the Azath house. Fiddler intends to use it to travel to another house, the one they know of in Malaz City, the one Kellanved and Dancer resided in for a time. Icarium names it the Deadhouse and confirms the truth of the Emperor's occupation. Fiddler intends to travel there, skipping most of their journey. Pust has another rant and Fiddler notices something that Mappo and Icarium touched upon a while ago, in that Pust's rant has a certain mesmerizing quality, leaving the recipient a little disoriented afterwards.
Kalam is in the Orbala Odhan. Yup, another desert. He meets some rebels, passing himself off as one of them. They are planning to raid a group of Malazan survivors a short distance away with murder and rape on their minds. Kalam accompanies them only to turn on them and rescue the Malazans who turn out to be Captain Keneb and his family. When Kalam mentions his unit and his name, Keneb knows the legends and welcomes his assistance. He's in poor shape, having being trampled and dragged behind a horse. He's cheerful enough but keeps passing out. Kalam realises they'll need supplies and they head back to the bandit camp to take out the remainder. Kalam goes 1 v 8 against the bandits and comes out on top. We also learn he's left handed. We learn that this group is quite far from Kamist Reloe's army but there is a second rebel army here headed by Korbolo Dom, a renegade Malazan. Great, more complications.
Back in the unknown warren, Felisin's group comes across some T'lan Imass who are seeking 'renegade kin'. They are slowed because they did not expect this warren to be flooded. The rogue mage caused it, by wounding the warren. Even now he is in the skies above, leaving trails of blood in his wake. The T'lan intend to stop him and seal the hole in the warren. They also reveal that this warren is Kurald Emurlahn and seem surprised Kulp does not know it, given that he wields Meanas Rashan.
Ok, ok, hold up. There's only so many times you can use "typo" as an excuse. There are multiple references here to Meanas and Rashan being one warren!
Sigh. Well fan theory falls into the similar camp as what I mentioned earlier, that Meanas, Rashan and Thyr might all be constituent parts of Kurald Emurlahn, formed from its breaking a long time ago. At this point, who knows. The one thing in its favour here is that magic is confusing and ancient history is confusing and all these conflicting theories about it echo similar things in the real world. The truth, in world, is that no one really knows how these are all related and are simply drawing conclusions based on the evidence available to them.
Anyway, one of the Imass goes and kills the wayward mage which now fully reveals the gaping wound in the sky. It terrifies Felisin and mesmerizes Kulp.
One of the Imass sacrifices himself to seal the warren's hole and gives Stormy his sword and then the T'lan Imass gtfo. When they are gone, Truth reveals that he saw the Imass (Legana Breed) take one of the heads when he went to seal the hole and he may not have sacrificed himself after all. Sure enough, when they check the oars, one of the Tiste Edur is dead.
Back with Duiker once more in a pretty slow section that I'm gonna condense massively. He catches up with Coltaine and sees the sheer scale of what we're dealing with. Near thirty thousands refugees and a ton of wounded soldiers, yet the 7th are still holding strong. Malazan discipline and the indomitable spirit of Coltaine's Crow Clan are proving a tough match for Kamist Reloe's rebel army. Coltaine has led the train to a ford in the river and is in the process of arranging a way to get across. The nobles among the refugees have formed a council and are petitioning him for favourable treatment to no effect. We find out it's taken Duiker three months to get here, just to put this whole thing into scale. Coltaine knows he can't go to Sialk, indeed, the refugees and soldiers from there have already joined the caravan. Instead, they plan to go to the only city the know could have held out, Aren. Two hundred leagues away. That's 600 miles. And we're going with them. Because this book's action is about to slow to a crawl as we follow the Chain of Dogs, for that is what this is. It's something of a sticking point for first time readers who are turned off by the slow pace and the bleakness of it all but it is necessary to understand the stakes, to see what the mortals have gone through and what they value in order that we might then understand the Tiste's motivations and ambitions and eventually that of the gods themselves. Anyway, long story short, warrens aren't working too good right now due to the Soletaken and D'ivers infesting them and Kamist Reloe isn't able to assault the Chain with magic. Coltaine's warlocks however, know of older magics, spirits and totems and the like and have gone all traditional in order to continue providing support. We meet two more of those warlocks, Nether and Nil, nine year old twins, though obviously much older in reality. Coltaine chose to cross the river because a second army awaits ahead and he has a plan. The sappers have laid explosives under the river bed so when the entire Chain has eventually crossed, they blow it sky high, stranding one pursuing army on the other side of the river. And this is an insane amount of explosives by the way, literally liquefying masses of pursuers.
We close with one more complaint from the nobles, who harass Duiker, complaining that Coltaine has stolen their servants.
And we're at the halfway point. Next time, we begin the Chain of Dogs section. It's a lot of combatty stuff and grim descriptive work so I'll just summarize the key points.
In the mean time, I want to close by saying I love how many different D'ivers we saw recently. It's one of the cooler ideas in this story and something I wish was easier to replicate in DnD. Annoyingly, action economy being what it is, it's really hard to do without being super overpowered but the concept is fantastic and we didn't really mention that the D'ivers tend to suffer a growing insanity the more time they spend in their veered form, their mind fractured among so many beasts. But for all their power they all seem pretty scared of Icarium, huh? Maybe we'll find out more further down the line.
We start back with Felisin. She's on the durhang again, chilling with Beneth. He's heading out with his militia to patrol and enforce the curfew. Baudin has gone missing and the assumption is that he escaped. However, things go bad.
This section of the book is called Whirlwind after the apocalyptic event of the prophecy and it feels like it starts here. The rebellion. The Seven Cities rising up against the Malazan rule. Rebels have infiltrated the prison and fighting breaks out. Malazan enforcers swiftly arrive to try and deal with them and in the chaos, Felisin flees to find Heboric. She finds Heboric and Baudin planning their escape. She accuses Heboric of planning to leave her behind, he suggests he didn't think she'd want to leave Beneth. On that note, Felisin insists they take Beneth with them. Baudin promises he'll go find him.
Heboric and Felisin flees, heading towards the lake. Before they can arrive, Heboric sees a swarm of bloodflies heading their way. He instruct Felisin to cover herself in mud and then him, but with her mind still dulled by the durhang, Felisin is too slow. The bloodflies start to sting her legs, causing waves of agony so bad she starts screaming and doesn't stop. The flies sting around her eyes, her ears, in her mouth and she continues screaming as she tries to cover herself in the mud. When the cloud eventually passes, the ordeal is not yet over. Heboric warns her that those bites are the flies inserting their larvae into her skin. There's a tincture in his pack and she needs to use it on each sting and pulls the larva out, a job too delicate for him without hands. She manages to follow his instructions but it's clear Heboric is somewhat appalled by the amount of damage done to her and he promises they'll find a healer once they escape. As for Heboric, the flies were turned aside by his tattoos, something that surprises them both as Fener is not considered a particularly forgiving god. To appreciate just how tattooed Heboric is, have a google. I did want to link fanart but it's one of those sites that blocks links.
Baudin catches them up, claiming that Beneth is already dead. Felisin doesn't believe him but has no choice but to escape anyway. They swim to the bottom of the lake and into hidden tunnels beneath.
Duiker and Kulp are in a small fishing village trying to procure a boat for their rescue. They run into a company of Malazans, Corporal Gesler, Stormy and Truth among them. The rebellion hits here and the group is attacked by magic, with Kulp claiming the attacker must be a high mage as they are way more powerful than him. The Malazans make for their boat which is fully provisioned and Kulp goes to try deal with the mage. Duiker makes for the stables to get a horse, realising he needs to get back to Hissar and warn Coltaine.
Kulp runs back into Duiker, warning him that the mage is insanely powerful. He just got hit by magic so bad it made him shit his pants. Literally. Duiker is about to know how that feels as another spell hits him, Kulp and Stormy, causing the group to writhe around on the floor as liquid agony scours their bones. Duiker both pisses and shits himself before it wears off. Duiker tells Kulp to stay with the Malazans and try rescue Heboric as planned while he goes to Hissar. Kulp persuades Gesler's group to follow the plan after mentioning Heboric's name. It turns out, this is boar squad, all sworn to Fener.
Long story short, Duiker gets to Hissar and finds it dead. The slaughter is brutal to the point of madness, with men gutted and their wives strangled with their entrails as they were raped. Babies have been spitted on skewers. However, Duiker starts to realise that Coltaine and the Seventh fought back and seem to have killed many of the rebels before making their escape. Some rebels find him and Duiker passes himself off as one of them. The rebels tell him Coltaine fled but has ten thousand Malazan refugees with him. They intend to pursue him and harry until they can eventually overpower them. He learns the rebellion was led by Kamist Reloe, a high mage thought to have died ten years ago, facing Sha'ik in Raraku. It seems he may instead have joined forces with her. Worse, Coltaine will be heading to Sialk seeking refuge, but Kamist Reloe has already attacked Sialk and driven another ten thousand refugees out. By the time the beleaguered 7th arrive, they will find themselves trying to protect 20'000 civilians.
Mappo and Icarium have found a boat in the basement of the temple. The speculate on how it got here and draw the conclusion that it must belong to Servant. They find Pust's broom and go to face him.
Iskaral Pust is wielding the deck of dragons. He draws Obelisk. He draws The Rope and Oponn and then a bunch of other cards.
Now, we know obelisk is inactive, because Kalam previously told us so, What has changed? Common opinion is that Obelisk is Icarium, now present in the area. There's debate about The Rope but for me, it seems like it could still be Kalam, who kicked off the events by providing the book to Sha'ik. Oponn could be anything. Some of the other cards reference characters we might not have met yet. Soldier of Life could be Coltaine. It really is one of those things people chat about and throw up suggestions for and it's looking back at these readings and trying to see how they entwine with events that makes a reread so much fun. Icarium and Pust are at loggerheads as the Jhag demands he speak plain. Pust yells that the pair need to go into Raraku because Sha'ik is dead. The pair think Shadowthrone wants them to witness Sha'ik's rebirth. Icarium seems keen but Mappo is reluctant, wondering if this could lead to some revelation for Icarium.
Fiddler, Crokus and Apsalar get swallowed up by the whirlwind, trapped in a sandstorm with warring D'ivers and Soletaken.
Kalam is also out there somewhere, with the demon. They too are attacked by a D'ivers and the demon defeats it.
Duiker and the rebels come across evidence of another battle between Coltaine's forces and the rebels and it seems Coltaine won. The aftermath of sorcery and slaughter and piles of dead rebels. The rebels with Duiker make it clear that Kamist Reloe still lives and that they intend to join him. Duiker manages to give them the slip, claiming to want to search the bodies for his nephew. Duiker knows what Coltaine will face. Relentless harrying by the rebels, slowly chipping away at his numbers. He also knows that Coltaine will know this, having done the same when he was a rebel. He witnesses a cloud of capemoths descending on the corpses to feed. Worth pointing out that the capemoths become a recurring feature now and just like the pestilence and considered a sign of Hood.
Back to Felisin. The group are crossing the desert to try get to the spot where Duiker is supposed to be meeting them by boat, unaware of the futility of that effort. Felisin is being a massive asshole. She's rude, argumentative, bitter, she takes more than her fair share of the water rations. It's interesting, cos a lot of people absolutely hate her and that's the true tragedy of her character. It really drives home the price of Oponn's protection for Ganoes. She's been through so much and it's hard to even rustle up any pity for her because she's such a bitch. Anyways, she whinges, whines and makes life difficult for the other two who put up with her with the patience of a saint. Felisin thinks Baudin killed Beneth and is snappier than usual to him. He tells her that she gave herself to Beneth for nothing, that he didn't really help them, giving them barely anything and exaggerating to her what he had provided and that Beneth laughed at her naivete behind her back. They find a giant green pillar, out in the desert. Heboric realises it's a finger made of jade. He touches it with one of his stumps but nothing happens. The group camp there, Baudin pointing out there must have been a storm because the dust falling from the air is otataral dust and they need immediate shelter.
They leave in the morning and we note Heboric's left stump is hurting. His tattoos have also darkened. They struggle on for the next day with Heboric falling further behind than usual. When Felisin and Baudin stop to make camp there is no sign of him. Baudin goes to find him and Felisin takes the time to go through Baudin's stuff. She finds lockpicks and poisoned needles, the tools of an assassin. She also finds the talon of a large cat. We don't understand the significance of this yet, but the Talon were Dancer's elite assassins back in the day.
The next night they finally arrive at another water source only to find it full of dead capemoths and their larvae, poisoning it. Heboric is on the brink of death, severely dehydrated. Felisin grills Baudin on why he isn't feeling it as bad as they are and he admits he's been drinking his own piss. He starts examining Heboric's tattoos and Felisin realises what he's looking for, Heboric having talked to her of his history when she was drugged up on durhang after the beating. There's a tattoo that is Fener's own mark and as a priest, Heboric could touch it with his hand to call upon Fener. When he was excommunicated from the priesthood, his hands were removed to deny him that ability. Baudin finds the mark and shoves Heboric's stump against it. There's a scream, but not from Heboric. Felisin and Baudin find themselves bleeding form the ears and eyes as a massive hoof appears, so big that Felisin's mind has trouble reconciling the reality of it. The sky twists, the scream continues. When it eventually fades, Heboric's tattoos extend across the skies and earth. Baudin's hamfisted attempt to open Fener's warren seems to have pulled the god through to the mortal world entirely. Heboric awakes and confirms, Fener is here, in the mortal world and is now vulnerable. He complains that he is feeling phantom pains in his hands, a problem he hasn't had for years.
We have a brief scene where Mappo flashbacks to when the Nameless Ones chose him for a task. We don't really learn much but we can assume the task involved babysitting Icarium.
Back with Fiddler and Co, the battle between the D'ivers and Soletaken is catching them up. Apsalar kills a few and Fiddler tries to engage with his munitions but then a swarm of thousands of rats appear. It's Gryllen. In fear, Fiddler tells Apsalar to grab another cusser from his pack. She says it wouldn't make a dent. He says not for him, for us.
Just as it seems things are hopeless, a loud voice commands Gryllen to stand down, claiming that these three are now under his protection. A Jhag and a Trell appear, Fiddler feels like he should know who they are. Gryllen leaves and though they know it not, our trio is now under Icarium's protection.
Duiker is still on Coltaine's trail and finds that the seventh's fist is even more capable than expected. It seems he made the refugees pretend to make camp and as his enemies did the same, his men rode out and slaughtered them while they were unprepared then moved the camp on. The pursuers outnumbered Coltaine's men seven to one and yet the highly trained Wickan and Malazan forces made short work of them. Duiker estimates the rebels lost a hundred men for every one of Coltaine's that fell. What's more, it seems Coltaine has veered off course to the west, into the steppes. Duiker has no idea why, there's nothing at all out there. He camps and continues pursuing the next morning.
Back with Felisin's group that has reached the shore. She has a plan to attack Baudin. She offers herself to him and he resists at first but she mocks him, suggesting he likes boys and so he relents. Once in her tent, she beds him. Baudin is surprisingly clumsy, finishes quickly and falls asleep. She draws the dagger she stole from his pack but before she can do the deed Baudin grabs the dagger off her, pointing out that he regularly checks his gear and knew full well what her plan was. He confesses that he killed Beneth and ultimately went along with this ploy to show Felisin what she's become.
As the group is walking past the shore, a wave of lightning erupts over the sea. As the sorcery rapidly approaches the land, Heboric stands in its way to shield Felisin and the magic is nullified by his tattoos. Heboric finally figures out what's going on and I'll tell you in a moment if you don't know yet.
Anyway, a boat appears, being chased down by sorcery and it quickly heads their way. It's not Duiker but it is Kulp and boar company.
Flashback to Kulp and co escaping on the Ripath, boar company's boat. It was going great until they got near the island and started getting attacked by a mage. The sorcery is so powerful and wild and uncontrolled that Kulp reckons it is an escaped mage, driven mad by the otataral at the mines, cursed to burn himself out. He sees a weird oasis in the magic, like some sort of null field and steers the boat towards it where they find, Heboric. With his warren open and his sight enhanced by magic, Heboric looks odd to Kulp. The priest's tattoos extend from his left stump, forming a ghostly green hand. On the right, the green mixes with otataral red, forming another hand made of two conflicting energies. Heboric is somehow pushing the sorcery aside like he's extending an otataral field around himself.
Ok, let's sidebar. First time through this was confusing as hell and to be fair, people do debate the specifics of it but my reading of it is this. When they reached jade finger, it was raining otataral dust. The jade finger, although we don't know it yet, is something to do with the crippled god. It is this combination that Heboric has somehow merged, drawing some of the crippled god's power in such a way that it gives him otataral powers. In truth, this ability to turn away magic may have begun affecting him when back in the mines. Remember how his tattoos turned away the bloodflies, much to his surprise. It's possible the long exposure to otataral had already giving him this antimagic quality and the contact with the crippled god's giant enhanced it somehow.
Ok, back to it. Introductions are made and a plan formed. They can sail away if they use Heboric as a shield from the mage's magic. The downside to the plan is that this close to Heboric, Kulp will be unable to open his own warren, meaning if Heboric isn't enough to shield them, they're toast. They decide to camp first, and as they do, Felisin confronts Baudin again. She asks him about the talon and he refuses to tell her anything but Heboric overhears them. Realising what Baudin is, Heboric congratulates him. Felisin demands Heboric tell her what the talon means but he also refuses.
Felisin offers herself to Gesler and his men, hoping to ingratiate herself with the Malazans but they decline, already less than impressed with her.
The following morning, as they prepare to leave, we get a really nice scene where Kulp ponders his warren, Meanas. It's one of the first real insights we get of a warren and interesting that it's the warren of shadow, the warren that Quick Ben called a false warren. We've yet to see the elder warren of shadow named so I'll go ahead and tell you it's Kurald Emerlahn. Meanas and Mockra (shadow and illusion) are smaller warrens that have essentially spun off from that warren. Sub-warrens perhaps, divergences. Of course, you may remember that Quick Ben was actually referring to Rashan and that is supposedly a typo. QB was meant to be talking about Meanas. If we're getting into it... and we are, let's face it. Rashan is the human warren of darkness. We already know the elder warren of darkness, Kurald Galain, the Tiste Andii warren. If you've been paying attention you can probably start to piece some of this together. The warren of shadow, Kurald Emerlahn is the Tiste Edur warren. That leaves one more part of the trifecta. The Tiste Liosan warren, Kurald Thyrllan and it's human spinoff, Thyr, the warren of light. What''s more, as the story progresses, different mages have different opinions on this interplay. For example, some speculate Mockra is a blend of Thyr and Rashan. It's possible they are all interlinked, especially as they are all born, essentially from Kurald Galain, even the other Tiste warrens.
I've mentioned it before and I'll say it again, I really like this version of light and dark elf history, the opposite of the DnD version, more in line with Abrahamic religions, in which first there is darkness and then comes light. It is such a damn shame the Kharkanas Trilogy hasn't been finished because I loved that delve into the origins of this.
Anyway, they go out on the water and naturally, it's pretty bad. Everyone gets battered around and injured. Stormy especially so. He's bleeding out on the deck when Heboric plunges a stump into the wound. Tattoos spread from Heboric and seal the wound, healing Stormy, but leaving him with tattoos of his own. Worse, the water is thickening and the Ripath is sinking. They realise they have been pulled into the crazed mage's warren. With no choice, they grab supplies and abandon ship, swimming through the soupy waters. They see another boat ahead, an abandoned dromon, a pre-Imperial ship. Baudin recognises it as the Silanda, the only ship sanctioned to trade with the Tiste Andii. They head towards it and board. The soon find a head in a bag and then more and more until they have a pile of mostly Tiste Andii heads with some human ones. Kulp can sense sorcery below decks and he and Gesler reluctantly head down. They discover the headless corpses of the Tiste Andii, sat at the oars, perfectly intact despite the decades they've been here. They head into the captain's quarters and find four bodies. Three appear to have been crushed somehow, the fourth, the captain, has a spear through his chest. All seem frozen in time, the blood still wet. What's more, these men are grey skinned. Kulp speculates that these men killed the Tiste Andii and the Quon sailors, beheaded them and magicked them to the oars then travelled into this warren where they met something nastier than them. He fetches Heboric, seeking insight and the priest suggests these grey skinned men might be Tiste Edur. Little is known of them but they are mentioned in Gothos Folly (and if it wasn't stated explicitly yet, Kulp says that Gothos was a Jaghut).
Weirder, Heboric says the spear through the Edur's chest is Barghast. Kulp says it's too big. Heboric agrees but says it's still Barghast.
The dead captain has a bone whistle around his neck and Gesler takes it. When he blows it, the corpses begin rowing. As they leave, Kulp asks Heboric if they are in Fener's warren. Heboric says no, he has no idea which warren this is.
Felisin almost has a tender moment with Truth but then she spoils it by being her usual bitchy self.
Fiddler awakes to find himself being "tended" by Iskaral Pust who is trying to sweep the spiders out of his beard. He converses with Mappo, realising now who they are and knowing that Icarium has a fearsome reputation. Iskaral Pust has a prophetic rant in which he mentions the Chain of Dogs. We don't know what that is yet... but we soon will. He also mentions Tremorlor. Fiddler knows what that is, he's been seeking it. Mappo also knows. An Azath house, out in the desert. Quick Ben has theorized that each Azath contains a gate and that those gates are linked, allowing near instantaneous travel between them. Fiddler starts to think Pust might be an avatar of Shadowthrone and his group is suddenly worried that bringing Apsalar here could have been a mistake but Pust insists The Rope has no further interest in the girl...
I should point out here that Pust often speaks his thoughts aloud and it is very clear this is a lie. Anyway, he leaves as the others converse and then Icarium calls him out and he appears in the shadows, where he was lurking magically. The group discuss the Azath house. Fiddler intends to use it to travel to another house, the one they know of in Malaz City, the one Kellanved and Dancer resided in for a time. Icarium names it the Deadhouse and confirms the truth of the Emperor's occupation. Fiddler intends to travel there, skipping most of their journey. Pust has another rant and Fiddler notices something that Mappo and Icarium touched upon a while ago, in that Pust's rant has a certain mesmerizing quality, leaving the recipient a little disoriented afterwards.
Kalam is in the Orbala Odhan. Yup, another desert. He meets some rebels, passing himself off as one of them. They are planning to raid a group of Malazan survivors a short distance away with murder and rape on their minds. Kalam accompanies them only to turn on them and rescue the Malazans who turn out to be Captain Keneb and his family. When Kalam mentions his unit and his name, Keneb knows the legends and welcomes his assistance. He's in poor shape, having being trampled and dragged behind a horse. He's cheerful enough but keeps passing out. Kalam realises they'll need supplies and they head back to the bandit camp to take out the remainder. Kalam goes 1 v 8 against the bandits and comes out on top. We also learn he's left handed. We learn that this group is quite far from Kamist Reloe's army but there is a second rebel army here headed by Korbolo Dom, a renegade Malazan. Great, more complications.
Back in the unknown warren, Felisin's group comes across some T'lan Imass who are seeking 'renegade kin'. They are slowed because they did not expect this warren to be flooded. The rogue mage caused it, by wounding the warren. Even now he is in the skies above, leaving trails of blood in his wake. The T'lan intend to stop him and seal the hole in the warren. They also reveal that this warren is Kurald Emurlahn and seem surprised Kulp does not know it, given that he wields Meanas Rashan.
Ok, ok, hold up. There's only so many times you can use "typo" as an excuse. There are multiple references here to Meanas and Rashan being one warren!
Sigh. Well fan theory falls into the similar camp as what I mentioned earlier, that Meanas, Rashan and Thyr might all be constituent parts of Kurald Emurlahn, formed from its breaking a long time ago. At this point, who knows. The one thing in its favour here is that magic is confusing and ancient history is confusing and all these conflicting theories about it echo similar things in the real world. The truth, in world, is that no one really knows how these are all related and are simply drawing conclusions based on the evidence available to them.
Anyway, one of the Imass goes and kills the wayward mage which now fully reveals the gaping wound in the sky. It terrifies Felisin and mesmerizes Kulp.
One of the Imass sacrifices himself to seal the warren's hole and gives Stormy his sword and then the T'lan Imass gtfo. When they are gone, Truth reveals that he saw the Imass (Legana Breed) take one of the heads when he went to seal the hole and he may not have sacrificed himself after all. Sure enough, when they check the oars, one of the Tiste Edur is dead.
Back with Duiker once more in a pretty slow section that I'm gonna condense massively. He catches up with Coltaine and sees the sheer scale of what we're dealing with. Near thirty thousands refugees and a ton of wounded soldiers, yet the 7th are still holding strong. Malazan discipline and the indomitable spirit of Coltaine's Crow Clan are proving a tough match for Kamist Reloe's rebel army. Coltaine has led the train to a ford in the river and is in the process of arranging a way to get across. The nobles among the refugees have formed a council and are petitioning him for favourable treatment to no effect. We find out it's taken Duiker three months to get here, just to put this whole thing into scale. Coltaine knows he can't go to Sialk, indeed, the refugees and soldiers from there have already joined the caravan. Instead, they plan to go to the only city the know could have held out, Aren. Two hundred leagues away. That's 600 miles. And we're going with them. Because this book's action is about to slow to a crawl as we follow the Chain of Dogs, for that is what this is. It's something of a sticking point for first time readers who are turned off by the slow pace and the bleakness of it all but it is necessary to understand the stakes, to see what the mortals have gone through and what they value in order that we might then understand the Tiste's motivations and ambitions and eventually that of the gods themselves. Anyway, long story short, warrens aren't working too good right now due to the Soletaken and D'ivers infesting them and Kamist Reloe isn't able to assault the Chain with magic. Coltaine's warlocks however, know of older magics, spirits and totems and the like and have gone all traditional in order to continue providing support. We meet two more of those warlocks, Nether and Nil, nine year old twins, though obviously much older in reality. Coltaine chose to cross the river because a second army awaits ahead and he has a plan. The sappers have laid explosives under the river bed so when the entire Chain has eventually crossed, they blow it sky high, stranding one pursuing army on the other side of the river. And this is an insane amount of explosives by the way, literally liquefying masses of pursuers.
We close with one more complaint from the nobles, who harass Duiker, complaining that Coltaine has stolen their servants.
And we're at the halfway point. Next time, we begin the Chain of Dogs section. It's a lot of combatty stuff and grim descriptive work so I'll just summarize the key points.
In the mean time, I want to close by saying I love how many different D'ivers we saw recently. It's one of the cooler ideas in this story and something I wish was easier to replicate in DnD. Annoyingly, action economy being what it is, it's really hard to do without being super overpowered but the concept is fantastic and we didn't really mention that the D'ivers tend to suffer a growing insanity the more time they spend in their veered form, their mind fractured among so many beasts. But for all their power they all seem pretty scared of Icarium, huh? Maybe we'll find out more further down the line.
"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else." - Charles Dickens.
“Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed and you haven’t been.” - Marcus Aurelius
“Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed and you haven’t been.” - Marcus Aurelius
Re: Charon Deep Dives Malazan Book of the Fallen (Part Two)
Over to Pust's place where Fiddler and Mappo are chewing the fat. They theorize that Pust may be planning to use Apsalar as a vessel for Sha'ik to be reborn into. Mappo tells him about the thing they found below the temple which he now believes is some sort of deck of dragons but far more ancient, using holds instead of houses, more elemental and primal. The holds thing is gonna get confusing but we'll deal with that as we get to it. Mappo tells Fid that Pust has been leaving false trials in the desert to distract the Soletaken and D'ivers so they don't find the gate beneath the temple. He also confirms that the shapeshifters are old, the first ones being around before the founding races and that they are all driven by a lust to become the one most powerful shapeshifter, a god over all the others. Mappo is also worried that Pust knows about Mappo and Icarium but won't confide in Fiddler what he actually means. Fid suggests Pust might be using the pair, knowing full well that now they know the gate is here, they will defend it against the shapeshifters. Mappo has decided he and Icarium will take Fiddler's group to the Azath. The pair chat a little more about Icarium and his obsession with time, the devices he builds which Mappo refers to as temporal maps. Fiddler asks whether Mappo intentionally keeps Icarium ignorant and Mappo confesses that he does. It's surprising how open the Trell has been with Fiddler, all things considered.
The pair hear Crokus kicking off and rush to find him choking out Iskaral Pust, having realised what Pust intends. Fiddler talks him down. Pust placates Crokus and Apsalar but reveals his true thoughts in a stage whisper. Apsalar is determined not to let Sha'ik take her body. She leaves and the others fill Crokus in on another thing they've figured out. Servant is Apsalar's father. Wow. I mean this comes out of nowhere and didn't make any sense on first read. I still think it's a weak point now. However, if we accept it as fact, it starts to show Shadowthrone's long term plan. The group unravel it. Save Apsalar's father from the hound attack so that when she gets to this point, her father can be used as leverage to convince her to house the reborn soul of Sha'ik. Oh that's sneaky. Indeed, Servant has already left for the point where Sha'ik is supposed to be reborn. Hold that thought.
Mappo and Icarium prep to leave and have a poignant exchange. Icarium asks Mappo how discovering his past will change him, saying Mappo should know, given that though Icarium has no memories of his, Mappo does and refuses to share them. Mappo claims he does so because Icarium deserves to find himself and become his true self, not merely a version of himself twisted by Mappo's perception. Icarium accepts this, but also tells Mappo he has accepted something else. The worry that when he discovers who he truly is, the pair might no longer be friends. However, he also makes it clear that until that point, they are of course, still friends.
The pair also discover the depths of Shadowthrone's scheming. Cotillion said he relinquished his hold on Apsalar due to Anomander Rake's threats, which implies the possession was meant to last longer. Yet the pair know that a possessed Apsalar would not have stood a chance of getting close enough to Laseen to assassinate her. Cotillion's presence would have been detected within her. Of course, conveniently, Apsalar now has all of The Rope's skills without any hint of his presence. And what a co-incidence that now, at this time, her memories of how Surly betrayed Dancer are returning with such clarity. If Apsalar becomes Sha'ik, she could lead the rebel armies against the Malazan Empire, draw out Laseen and kill her, likely becoming the new Empress, with Shadowthrone over her shoulder. Wow. Maybe Shadowthrone and Cotillion weren't as incompetent as we thought. They're playing the long game here.
Kalam, still with Keneb's family, finds their path blocked by Korbolo Dom's rebel army that have set up camp ahead. Rows of dead, crucified and mutilated children ring the encampment. Kalam has no other options so he pulls out a rock Quick Ben gave him to use in an emergency and smashes it. It opens a warren and as Kalam and his group go through they realise that they are in the Imperial Warren. It's a dangerous prospect, but Kalam realises his options are limited and so they set off.
Lostara Yil is still on Kalam's trail and is about to follow him into the warren when a man emerges. It's Pearl, remember him? The Claw? He knows Lostara is following Kalam and wants information about him. She agrees and the pair enter the Imperial Warren.
The rift through to the warren takes hours to fully close.
Korbolo Dom's soldiers are panicking. The 1300 Malazan children they crucified have gone missing and no one saw the bodies go. Only the crosses remain, stained with blood, urine and excrement.
Off to one side, the demon that Sha'ik gave to Kalam is carrying one of the mutilated corpses, the face horribly chewed and pecked by animals. Somehow, he's not quite dead. The demon sits and waits. Shadows gather and a portal opens and Shadowthrone steps out. He's glad to haver his demon back from Sha'ik but is annoyed at her actions, questioning what he is supposed to do with 1300 dying children. He questions whether the demon has mistaken him for a kindly uncle. The demon suggests they could be servants but Shadowthrone is not sure he has need of so many servants, much less the space to keep them but relents and agrees. He lets the demon keep the boy she is holding, using his magic to rebuild the boy's face. At the demon's request, he gives the boy one single large eye, just like the demon. Shadowthrone looks at the portal into the Imperial Warren, recognising it as Quick Ben's handiwork. He sends the demon on its way, into the warren, to continue protecting Kalam.
Duiker has assessed the Chain of Dogs. It now stands at roughly 50'000 refugees to approximately 10'000 soldiers, of which 10% or so are walking wounded. The chain is being relentless harassed, with Kamist Reloe's army nipping at the rearguard and the outriders guarding the flanks without cease. Duiker has entered a kind of melancholy fugue state at the hopelessness of the situation, especially as the children have begin dying and a thirst sets upon everyone. He's pulled back to reality when he receives orders to attend Nil at tenth bell.
That night, he does so and finds the warlock planning a hit on the enemy commander. The logic is that this current commander is very strategic and effective and by killing him, it will send a message. The next commander, if he values his life, will be slightly less effective, knowing that if he is too good at his job, he will suffer the same fate. This then, is an assassination squad, with Duiker as witness. Under cover of night and magical fog summoned by Nil they head into the enemy camp and assault the warleader. It doesn't go great, he fights back with sorcery and hell breaks loose. They manage to disengage and escape but Duiker seems to think they had assistance as he sees a foe that was about to kill him, downed by a throwing star, a weapon of the Claw. He sees more evidence of Claw involvement as he runs. How queer. The upside of all this is that they manage to find water in a tunnel during the mission.
Felisin, Kulp and Heboric have been stuck in the whirlwind in the desert for three days and finally find shelter. Heboric is in a poor state, blinded by the sandstorm and rambling about nothing. They head through some tunnels then find that they need to climb a high ledge. Heboric puts his stumps together, claiming he can give Kulp a boost and sure enough, when the mage puts his foot there, Heboric has invisible hands. They explore further, finding dead Imass which Heboric claims fought against Soletaken long ago. He also mentions that the undead dragon we saw a while back was an Imass bonecaster. More importantly, they find water.
Kalam and co are lost in the Imperial Warren. We get a little character development for Keneb and his family but nothing super important happens.
Fiddler and co are on the move, following the trail of Apsalar's father. She has gone on ahead and they see signs of her passing in the dead she has killed. Soletaken and D'ivers fight around them but Icarium's presence keeps them clear.
Finally, we see Pearl and Lostara. Pearl says they need to take a quick detour on orders of the Empress and they leave the warren to find themselves in the dead of night... and fog. Unknown to the 7th and the Wickans, the pair assist in the assault on the enemy warleader, saving Duiker's life. The enemy commander is super strong but before the pair are killed by him, Kalam's demon appears with its new monocular son riding it and kills the enemy.
Back with the Chain of Dogs there's a very detailed military engagement as they need to cross another river. Basically the soldiers cross and charge the enemy, leaving the refugees behind with a small force guarding them. Ultimately, the refugees are bait and the unit of the enemy that attacks them is wiped out. Hundreds of refugees are killed, but an important chunk of the enemy army is eradicated. Naturally, this causes further division between the nobles and Coltaine but Duiker notes that the decision was not taken lightly and indeed, the soldiers respect the fallen civilians. In many ways, defence of the chain is a responsibility of both the soldiers and the civilians and this was a necessary price for the whole to continue. Yet there is still months of travel ahead before reaching Aren.
Speaking of Aren, Kalam and co emerge from the Imperial Warren into the Necropolis at Aren. Kalam scouts around and comes across a shady man in an inn. The man has blue skin,marking him as a Napan and gives no name but he tells Kalam he is captain of a ship called the Ragstopper and that someone has already paid him to take Kalam where he needs to go. Naturally suspicious as to how this could have been arranged Kalam asks who arranged it. The man gives the name Salk Elan. We do not yet know who this is. Quick Ben first wonders if Quick Ben has set this up before coming to the conclusion that this must be someone else. He goes and gets his stuff, bids farewell to Keneb and his family and heads for the Ragstopper.
Lostara and Pearl are in Aren. Lostara leaves him to go check in with the commander of the Red Blades (the unit she is in). She doesn't get far before being accosted by Malazan soldiers who arrest her. The High Fist has issued a warrant against the Red Blades, marking them for detention on charges of treason against the Empire. Lostara doesn't resist but is confused.
I glossed over a lot of the Keneb's family stuff but let's quickly mention Minala, his sister in law, who took a shine to Kalam. She bids Keneb farewell and sets off in pursuit.
Felisin's group is being hunted by a shapeshifter so despite having this shelter from the whirlwind they realise they are going to have to leave it. They drink as much water as they can and make a break for it. They get to an area where they need to climb down and Heboric gets them to hang on to him while he uses his super strong invisible hands to climb down. The sand in the wind is so fine that it starts stripping the flesh from Felisin's bones, which sets her off screaming. They get to the bottom and stagger off into the storm which looks like a pretty bleak situation until they hit a sudden calm zone. They meet a guy who claims he has magics that keeps the storm at bay. He heals Felisin, not really sure why, because after lulling the group into a false sense of security he turns into a swarm of rats and eats Kulp. Surprise, it's Gryllen. Baudin appears, no idea how, and drags Felisin and Heboric outta there but gets swarmed by Gryllen. Another soletaken bear appears and it gets messy. They stagger through the whirlwind, finding an outcrop of rock that creates a small shelter where they can get some respite. Baudin eventually staggers in but he's toast. Most of his face has been eaten off and he dies in Felisin's arms. Heboric too is worried, he was bitten and claims he can feel the poison of the bites seeping into him.
Mappo, Fid, etc are still on Apsalar's trail. Mappo reckons she must have caught up to her dad by now. Together the group theorize that Apsalar might be dumb enough to think she can resist Sha'ik and will end up being possessed unintentionally. There's also the worry that Cotillion might have taken her already and be driving her towards this. They also discuss the co-incidence of the prophetic whirlwind happening at the same time as the shapeshifter convergence. They muse that perhaps someone manipulated the shapeshifters to time their convergence with the whirlwind... or manipulated the timing of the whirlwind to co-incide with the convergence. Hmmm. Think on that for a while.
Finally we see Toblakai and Leoman, still guarding the corpse of Sha'ik as they are approached by two people emerging from the whirlwind. An older man and younger woman with long dark hair. Leoman realises this is Sha'ik reborn. The woman laughs and asks them to help with the older man... but beware his hands...
...
Oh boy. What a place to end part three.
The pair hear Crokus kicking off and rush to find him choking out Iskaral Pust, having realised what Pust intends. Fiddler talks him down. Pust placates Crokus and Apsalar but reveals his true thoughts in a stage whisper. Apsalar is determined not to let Sha'ik take her body. She leaves and the others fill Crokus in on another thing they've figured out. Servant is Apsalar's father. Wow. I mean this comes out of nowhere and didn't make any sense on first read. I still think it's a weak point now. However, if we accept it as fact, it starts to show Shadowthrone's long term plan. The group unravel it. Save Apsalar's father from the hound attack so that when she gets to this point, her father can be used as leverage to convince her to house the reborn soul of Sha'ik. Oh that's sneaky. Indeed, Servant has already left for the point where Sha'ik is supposed to be reborn. Hold that thought.
Mappo and Icarium prep to leave and have a poignant exchange. Icarium asks Mappo how discovering his past will change him, saying Mappo should know, given that though Icarium has no memories of his, Mappo does and refuses to share them. Mappo claims he does so because Icarium deserves to find himself and become his true self, not merely a version of himself twisted by Mappo's perception. Icarium accepts this, but also tells Mappo he has accepted something else. The worry that when he discovers who he truly is, the pair might no longer be friends. However, he also makes it clear that until that point, they are of course, still friends.
The pair also discover the depths of Shadowthrone's scheming. Cotillion said he relinquished his hold on Apsalar due to Anomander Rake's threats, which implies the possession was meant to last longer. Yet the pair know that a possessed Apsalar would not have stood a chance of getting close enough to Laseen to assassinate her. Cotillion's presence would have been detected within her. Of course, conveniently, Apsalar now has all of The Rope's skills without any hint of his presence. And what a co-incidence that now, at this time, her memories of how Surly betrayed Dancer are returning with such clarity. If Apsalar becomes Sha'ik, she could lead the rebel armies against the Malazan Empire, draw out Laseen and kill her, likely becoming the new Empress, with Shadowthrone over her shoulder. Wow. Maybe Shadowthrone and Cotillion weren't as incompetent as we thought. They're playing the long game here.
Kalam, still with Keneb's family, finds their path blocked by Korbolo Dom's rebel army that have set up camp ahead. Rows of dead, crucified and mutilated children ring the encampment. Kalam has no other options so he pulls out a rock Quick Ben gave him to use in an emergency and smashes it. It opens a warren and as Kalam and his group go through they realise that they are in the Imperial Warren. It's a dangerous prospect, but Kalam realises his options are limited and so they set off.
Lostara Yil is still on Kalam's trail and is about to follow him into the warren when a man emerges. It's Pearl, remember him? The Claw? He knows Lostara is following Kalam and wants information about him. She agrees and the pair enter the Imperial Warren.
The rift through to the warren takes hours to fully close.
Korbolo Dom's soldiers are panicking. The 1300 Malazan children they crucified have gone missing and no one saw the bodies go. Only the crosses remain, stained with blood, urine and excrement.
Off to one side, the demon that Sha'ik gave to Kalam is carrying one of the mutilated corpses, the face horribly chewed and pecked by animals. Somehow, he's not quite dead. The demon sits and waits. Shadows gather and a portal opens and Shadowthrone steps out. He's glad to haver his demon back from Sha'ik but is annoyed at her actions, questioning what he is supposed to do with 1300 dying children. He questions whether the demon has mistaken him for a kindly uncle. The demon suggests they could be servants but Shadowthrone is not sure he has need of so many servants, much less the space to keep them but relents and agrees. He lets the demon keep the boy she is holding, using his magic to rebuild the boy's face. At the demon's request, he gives the boy one single large eye, just like the demon. Shadowthrone looks at the portal into the Imperial Warren, recognising it as Quick Ben's handiwork. He sends the demon on its way, into the warren, to continue protecting Kalam.
Duiker has assessed the Chain of Dogs. It now stands at roughly 50'000 refugees to approximately 10'000 soldiers, of which 10% or so are walking wounded. The chain is being relentless harassed, with Kamist Reloe's army nipping at the rearguard and the outriders guarding the flanks without cease. Duiker has entered a kind of melancholy fugue state at the hopelessness of the situation, especially as the children have begin dying and a thirst sets upon everyone. He's pulled back to reality when he receives orders to attend Nil at tenth bell.
That night, he does so and finds the warlock planning a hit on the enemy commander. The logic is that this current commander is very strategic and effective and by killing him, it will send a message. The next commander, if he values his life, will be slightly less effective, knowing that if he is too good at his job, he will suffer the same fate. This then, is an assassination squad, with Duiker as witness. Under cover of night and magical fog summoned by Nil they head into the enemy camp and assault the warleader. It doesn't go great, he fights back with sorcery and hell breaks loose. They manage to disengage and escape but Duiker seems to think they had assistance as he sees a foe that was about to kill him, downed by a throwing star, a weapon of the Claw. He sees more evidence of Claw involvement as he runs. How queer. The upside of all this is that they manage to find water in a tunnel during the mission.
Felisin, Kulp and Heboric have been stuck in the whirlwind in the desert for three days and finally find shelter. Heboric is in a poor state, blinded by the sandstorm and rambling about nothing. They head through some tunnels then find that they need to climb a high ledge. Heboric puts his stumps together, claiming he can give Kulp a boost and sure enough, when the mage puts his foot there, Heboric has invisible hands. They explore further, finding dead Imass which Heboric claims fought against Soletaken long ago. He also mentions that the undead dragon we saw a while back was an Imass bonecaster. More importantly, they find water.
Kalam and co are lost in the Imperial Warren. We get a little character development for Keneb and his family but nothing super important happens.
Fiddler and co are on the move, following the trail of Apsalar's father. She has gone on ahead and they see signs of her passing in the dead she has killed. Soletaken and D'ivers fight around them but Icarium's presence keeps them clear.
Finally, we see Pearl and Lostara. Pearl says they need to take a quick detour on orders of the Empress and they leave the warren to find themselves in the dead of night... and fog. Unknown to the 7th and the Wickans, the pair assist in the assault on the enemy warleader, saving Duiker's life. The enemy commander is super strong but before the pair are killed by him, Kalam's demon appears with its new monocular son riding it and kills the enemy.
Back with the Chain of Dogs there's a very detailed military engagement as they need to cross another river. Basically the soldiers cross and charge the enemy, leaving the refugees behind with a small force guarding them. Ultimately, the refugees are bait and the unit of the enemy that attacks them is wiped out. Hundreds of refugees are killed, but an important chunk of the enemy army is eradicated. Naturally, this causes further division between the nobles and Coltaine but Duiker notes that the decision was not taken lightly and indeed, the soldiers respect the fallen civilians. In many ways, defence of the chain is a responsibility of both the soldiers and the civilians and this was a necessary price for the whole to continue. Yet there is still months of travel ahead before reaching Aren.
Speaking of Aren, Kalam and co emerge from the Imperial Warren into the Necropolis at Aren. Kalam scouts around and comes across a shady man in an inn. The man has blue skin,marking him as a Napan and gives no name but he tells Kalam he is captain of a ship called the Ragstopper and that someone has already paid him to take Kalam where he needs to go. Naturally suspicious as to how this could have been arranged Kalam asks who arranged it. The man gives the name Salk Elan. We do not yet know who this is. Quick Ben first wonders if Quick Ben has set this up before coming to the conclusion that this must be someone else. He goes and gets his stuff, bids farewell to Keneb and his family and heads for the Ragstopper.
Lostara and Pearl are in Aren. Lostara leaves him to go check in with the commander of the Red Blades (the unit she is in). She doesn't get far before being accosted by Malazan soldiers who arrest her. The High Fist has issued a warrant against the Red Blades, marking them for detention on charges of treason against the Empire. Lostara doesn't resist but is confused.
I glossed over a lot of the Keneb's family stuff but let's quickly mention Minala, his sister in law, who took a shine to Kalam. She bids Keneb farewell and sets off in pursuit.
Felisin's group is being hunted by a shapeshifter so despite having this shelter from the whirlwind they realise they are going to have to leave it. They drink as much water as they can and make a break for it. They get to an area where they need to climb down and Heboric gets them to hang on to him while he uses his super strong invisible hands to climb down. The sand in the wind is so fine that it starts stripping the flesh from Felisin's bones, which sets her off screaming. They get to the bottom and stagger off into the storm which looks like a pretty bleak situation until they hit a sudden calm zone. They meet a guy who claims he has magics that keeps the storm at bay. He heals Felisin, not really sure why, because after lulling the group into a false sense of security he turns into a swarm of rats and eats Kulp. Surprise, it's Gryllen. Baudin appears, no idea how, and drags Felisin and Heboric outta there but gets swarmed by Gryllen. Another soletaken bear appears and it gets messy. They stagger through the whirlwind, finding an outcrop of rock that creates a small shelter where they can get some respite. Baudin eventually staggers in but he's toast. Most of his face has been eaten off and he dies in Felisin's arms. Heboric too is worried, he was bitten and claims he can feel the poison of the bites seeping into him.
Mappo, Fid, etc are still on Apsalar's trail. Mappo reckons she must have caught up to her dad by now. Together the group theorize that Apsalar might be dumb enough to think she can resist Sha'ik and will end up being possessed unintentionally. There's also the worry that Cotillion might have taken her already and be driving her towards this. They also discuss the co-incidence of the prophetic whirlwind happening at the same time as the shapeshifter convergence. They muse that perhaps someone manipulated the shapeshifters to time their convergence with the whirlwind... or manipulated the timing of the whirlwind to co-incide with the convergence. Hmmm. Think on that for a while.
Finally we see Toblakai and Leoman, still guarding the corpse of Sha'ik as they are approached by two people emerging from the whirlwind. An older man and younger woman with long dark hair. Leoman realises this is Sha'ik reborn. The woman laughs and asks them to help with the older man... but beware his hands...
...
Oh boy. What a place to end part three.
"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else." - Charles Dickens.
“Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed and you haven’t been.” - Marcus Aurelius
“Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed and you haven’t been.” - Marcus Aurelius
Re: Charon Deep Dives Malazan Book of the Fallen (Part Two)
Kalam is aboard the Ragstopper as it prepares to depart. Also present are a ton of High Fist Pormqual's personal boxes and his personal treasurer and the enigmatic Salk Elan who makes an effort to befriend Kalam, revealing that he knows a little about Quick Ben's plans. We also learn that Pormqual has had Admiral Nok arrested which is why the fleet hasn't set out to support the Chain of Dogs or retake any of the coastal cities the rebels hold. What's more, the Captain muses that the Empress might not even be aware this has happened because there haven't been any Claw in Aren for months.
Meanwhile, Minala manages to stowaway on the next boat.
Over with Felisin and Heboric who are of course, with Leoman and Toblakai. What a curve ball. It's not Apsalar that's going to be Sha'ik but Felisin. Is this just happenstance? Or is Oponn directly opposing Shadowthrone? Felisin is eager to embrace her new role as leader of the Whirlwind, knowing full well that if she can crush the Malazan forces on Seven Cities Laseen will send an army and leading that army will be... Tavore Paran. But first, she has to undergo a rite to prove she is Sha'ik reborn. A rite that will kill her if she isn't.
Fiddler's group has arrived at the ruins of an ancient destroyed city. They lose track of Icarium and find him standing in the ruins in front of one intact device. One of his devices, a mechanical time tracking machine. Icarium is confused, on two counts. First, the fact that the device shows it is 94'000 years old. Secondly, although it has sorcery to protect it from the ravages of time, this city was clearly destroyed, intentionally. Icarium ponders that anyone powerful enough to lay waste to an entire city would have been able to smash his machine and yet seemingly, they left it intact. The only thing intact. Mappo's silence speaks volumes and in case we needed more his thoughts betray the truth. Icarium destroyed this city, in a fit of rage, leaving only his own handiwork intact, and did so 94'000 years ago. more, there is evidence that the T'lan Imass tried to defend the city but were crushed. Icarium can't quite make the connection, likely not seeing himself as that powerful and as he ponders who could even achieve such a feat. Mappo is close to tears, unable to respond and so Fiddler steps in and tells Icarium that he believes only an Ascendant could achieve such a thing. Icarium says they have long since learnt not to meddle in mortal affairs in so direct a fashion but thanks Fiddler for providing the answer to his question. We think he's bought it, or at least the crew do. I'm not so convinced. I think Icarium has his suspicions.
Pust arrives with the group as do Apsalar and her father, Rellock, and we find out that there is a fragment of a warren here and this is where all the fake paths laid by Pust and Servant lead, drawing all the Soletaken and D'ivers here.
The Chain of Dogs is approaching another rive crossing. Surprisingly, they find the Silanda moored there, along with Gesler, Truth and Stormy. There's some back and forth as their status as members of the 7th is discussed and when Gesler refuses a promotion, Coltaine punches him... and breaks his fist in the process. This shocks Nil who points out that from Gesler's blood he can see the man has nearly ascended and yet Coltaine bust Gesler's nose... which means he too is on that road. Potential ascendants all round it seems.
The nobles accost Coltaine again having contacted Korbolo Dom to appeal for clemency. Korbolo Dom has agreed to let the civilian refugees cross the water unaccosted. Coltaine naturally refuses.
Felisin makes her first act as Sha'ik, starting the ritual early by forcing Leoman to open the book and gaze upon its pages. He sees only blank pages and is confused. The book is passed to Toblakai and whatever he sees is so beautiful it brings tears to his eyes. Heboric refuses to look inside and Toblakai attacks him with his sword which Heboric catches... in his hands. Hands that everyone sees this time, one bright red, the other furry. Felisin suggests that this may be what Fener had in mind for Heboric the whole time and the severing of his hands was simply preparation for his new improved ones. She, on the other hand, will wait til dawn, as the prophecy foretells.
Fiddler and co have crossed the threshold into the fragmented warren. I can't remember if it's ever explicitly stated but I always assumed this was yet another fragment of Kurald Emurlahn. Anywho, at the centre of this fragment lies the Azath house, holding the tattered warren fragment together.
As they approach further, Mappo confronts Icarium, warning him that the Azath house imprisons those of power, eternally. Icarium is confused at first but Mappo makes it clear that the worry is that the house will try to imprison him and if Icarium resists he may kill the Azath. Icarium is surprised at that, given the power required to do so and Mappo finally confesses. Icarium destroyed the city they found before and many others besides, even entire races, unstoppable once his rage is upon him. Icarium decides that perhaps eternal imprisonment in the Azath house is the preferable option, for everyone else's sake. Pust is hoping Icarium will kill all the shapeshifters he has lured there. Crokus suggests they could use even more help and compels Pust to appeal to Shadowthrone. He does so and five hounds of Shadow arrive. Mappo's surprise at the number is explained by Crokus who tells him Rake slew the other two. This new fellowship heads towards the Azath House.
Man, Icarium is basically an epic level barbarian.
Coltaine has had the wounded loaded onto the Silanda to be shipped to Aren. However, suddenly the refugees begin crossing the river, having made the agreement with Korbolo Dom against Coltaine's wishes. Realising it's an obvious trap, Coltaine tells a unit of sappers to infiltrate the refugees and assist. Archers begin slaughtering the civilians, now sitting ducks. Still, there are enough of them that they start to make it across. In their anger the civilians begin mobbing the enemies completely unarmed, taking them out by sheer numbers and Duiker and the sappers provide assistance. Sormo E'nath also assists but is killed. As he dies, thousands of butterflies mob his body and Duiker wonders if they'll be able to reclaim the warlock's soul. Finally, Duiker is confronted by Nepthara, one of the annoying ass nobles who was the architect of this disaster. He thinks they've won and demands to speak to Coltaine. Unable to comprehend the sheer idiocy of this man, Duiker begins throttling him and only relents when someone else chokes him out from behind.
Back aboard the Ragstopper, an unusual series of events is playing out. The ship is being pursued by privateers. Not surprising given that it has all of Pormqual's stolen loot from Aren on board and the Captain is preparing to turn around and fight them. The treasurer seems less keen, preferring to surrender and buy their way free with the loot. The captain sticks to his guns and as he preps for the attack, the treasurer's bodyguards take out some of the crew, killing the first mate and badly wounding the captain. Kalam and Salk realise that the treasurer is in cahoots with the pirates and is essentially trying to rob Pormqual's already stolen booty. They fight back, killing his bodyguards and taking the treasurer hostage who admits the pirates are his uncles and cousins. The pair use him to coax the pirates aboard then slay them, finally tying sacks of coins to the treasurer's feet and throwing him overboard.
The captain is alive but suffering and for longer than Kalam thought he would be. He has his suspicions that the captain may have had his mind ensorcelled the whole time. A fleet is spotted by the crow's nest and it turns out to be Adjunct Tavore, leading an army to go retake Seven Cities. Looks like Felisin was right. Will the Paran sisters end up toe to toe?
Fiddler's group are making their way through a maze of roots towards the Azath house. They find some bodies which belong to the creatures Mappo knows as "Nameless Ones". This is a little misleading to us, the reader, if I recall as the Nameless Ones are more an organization made up of people from different races, it's just that Mappo only knows of a certain few. Or is it simply that he recognizes their robes? Icarium definitely does and mentions he has seen them before in a dream. In his dream, Icarium arrives a Trellish town that has been destroyed by sorcery. A woman, wearing such robes approaches him and when Icarium asks what she has done she tells him she has done what was necessary to source him a companion so he will not wander alone and Icarium knows he has had many companions, of which Mappo is only the most recent. He does not know if he killed them. It seems her magical staff could be the source of his amnesia.
Mappo is concerned at this. We've had a few glimmers of flashback into his past and this contradicts his own account where the Nameless Ones told him Icarium had been the one to destroy the town thus setting Mappo on his path.
Uh-oh. Well for now, Mappo is inclined to believe his original version of events but it's starting to look like whoever was responsible for Icarium's wanderings might have an ulterior motive.
Apsalar, pulling from Cotillion's memories says that the cult of the Nameless Ones was supposed to have been destroyed, by Cotillion himself. Pust starts ranting about how the cult tried to prevent Kellanved from entering the Deadhouse and Apsalar tells him to shut it. The crew grow wary, wondering if that was Dancer speaking through Apsalar. She claims to still be herself but says her memories carry certain responsibilities. I guess the implication is that it's somehow in her best interest for Pust to not reveal what he was about to. Mappo confirms that while they may have been driven out of the Empire, the Nameless Ones still exist and are the group that arranges Icarium's companions. So now we're all on the same page.
They delve further into the root maze. The further in they get the more they realise there are creatures trapped here. A wide variety too. Demons, ascendants, even aliens that Fiddler not only can't recognise but struggles to comprehend. Worse, Soletaken and D'ivers are fighting everywhere. One such fight spills out towards them and the group defend themselves against two soletaken. One is defeated by Mappo and as it touches the root wall it is held there in place. The other is a bear and before Mappo can intervene, one of the Hounds of Shadow forces it towards the wall where it too is imprisoned. Too late, Mappo recognises the soletaken as his friend Messremb, who we met earlier. Worse, Gryllen turns up and that angers Icarium who had already warned Gryllen. The D'ivers is now tens of thousands of rats, having levelled up somehow. Icarium's group steps back warily as the Jhag's anger rises.
Felisin arrives at Sha'ik's encampment. There are a great number of people here and Leoman informs her they have forty thousand cavalry. Thousands start to gather and Felisin prepares to address the crowd. Three high mages stand behind them, watching on. It seems that Felisin isn't just blagging it any more. She knows the mage's names, knows things about them and as she mentally assesses them, they kneel, one seemingly forced to by her will. Felisin raises her arms and the whirlwind rises above her, proof, if we needed it, that Sha'ik has actually been reborn.
Fiddler is firing flamers at the D'ivers. I promised we'd learn a little about Moranth munitions and we will but so far we've seen three in action which I'll try clarify now. Flamers are kinda like molotovs, they can be thrown or more usually fired from a crossbow. Cussers are like satchel charges, extremely damaging, we saw them used by Coltaine's sappers during the river crossing, buried underground they were still powerful enough to kill with the shockwave. We've also seen sharpers which I can best describe as a bit like a claymore mine, throwing out shrapnel in a conical pattern. There's more and we're gonna get a lot of sapper action in a later book. Fiddler is almost out of munitions. He has one cusser left and pulls it, throwing it at Gryllen. It's only after he's thrown it that he realises it's not a cusser after all, it's the conch shell given to him by the Tanno Spiritwalker at the start of the book. It realises a powerful magic song that temporarily incapacitates the group and ultimately kills Gryllen. As the effect wears off, Mappo knocks Icarium unconscious. Pust and the Hounds face off against Mappo. Pust claims it is time to let the Azath imprison Icarium as he himself requested but Mappo refuses. Fiddler persuades Pust to wait and stand down. As Mappo picks up Icarium, Crokus announces that he can see the house up ahead.
In the aftermath of the massacre at the river crossing, Duiker estimates over 20'000 refugees were killed, a lot of them children. Over 700 soldiers of the 7th dead and a significant number of Wickans too, not to mention the warlock, Sormo E'nath. The Chain of Dogs continues, with Korbolo Dom's army relentlessly nipping at their heels.
Back on the Ragstopper, Kalam is convinced that the sorcery meddling with the captain's mind might be effecting everyone on board. It's no longer clear how long they've been at sea. He wonders if someone is trying to protect the loot by ensuring they will all forget where it is being delivered to. In his bunk, he pulls out one more stone given to him by Quick Ben and shatters it to open communications with the mage. The pair converse, a little cryptically, with Quick confirming that there's a mind altering warren interfering but claiming that the Path of Hands, the convergence of the shapeshifters, is messing with the warrens. Quick worries that Fiddler's mission might now be impossible. Before he can say much more, he mentions feeling weak from his recent blood loss and the connection is severed. Kalam heads to see the captain and finds Salk Elan with him who takes pleasure in telling Kalam that the ship has been blown off course and instead of going to Unta, it's now going to Malaz City.
Fiddler's group make for the Azath house. A watery portal opens nearby and multiple dhenrabi emerge. Fiddler remembers the one he killed near the start of the book and realises it wasn't a soletaken but one part of this D'ivers. Another D'ivers, this one a swarm of bloodflies, turns up. Apsalar rushes to the door to open it but Tremorlor rebuffs her.
The Chain of Dogs marches on, out of food and water, soldiers dying of thirst as yet more refugees join the chain, fleeing from Korbolo Dom's harrying forces. Two of the three local tribes have Joined Korbolo Dom's forces, swelling their numbers.
Suddenly a tear opens in the sky and a series of carriages emerge from a warren. This is the Trygalle Trade Guild, who will brave the warrens to deliver goods anywhere, for a hefty price. It seems someone paid them to bring Coltaine food and water. They were supposedly paid by the people of Darujhistan but it is soon revealed the the payment was made by Dujek Onearm. He has also sent a talisman to Coltaine, a smoky bottle to wear around his neck at all times, with the message to never underestimate the Empress.
Well this just reeks of Quick Ben's meddling, doesn't it?
The secret in the message is lost on Coltaine initially but soon he realises. Dujek is still in league with the Empress and his outlawing is simply a ruse. What better way to ally with Darujhistan against the Pannion Domin.
The next day, Coltaine's forces prepare to attack despite the fact that Korbolo's forces outnumber them five to one. The last local tribe, the Kundryl, arrive in their tens of thousands and their warleaders ride forth to parlay with Coltaine. Duiker is hesitant and argues with Coltaine but the Fist brushes him off and gives Duiker the talisman to wear. The Khundryl are interested to see which tribe is the most powerful. Coltaine points out that his soldiers are part of the Malazan army now and are not concerned with such things. The Khundryl back off and the fighting breaks out. Coltaine's forces are heavily pressed when the Khundryl finally decide to join the fray... against Korbolo Dom's forces. They fight for around four hours with the Khundryl defeating most of Korbolo Dom's tribal allies and causing his main force to rout. When the Khundryl warleaders approach Coltaine again they tell him they have found their answer and that the Wickans are the strongest of the tribes.
Back on the Ragstopper, the boat arrives at Malaz City. Kalam and Salk exchange words and Salk makes it clear he knows Kalam is going to assassinate Laseen, even though the assassin tries to brush it off, claiming he's going to meet his contacts. Salk wonders if those contacts will be at Smiley's, a bar once owned by Kellanved before he became Emperor. Kalam seems surprised Salk knows this, but claims his contacts are actually at the Deadhouse, seemingly to entice Salk to go there and get himself killed.
Back a Tremorlor... well look, I've skipped over Crokus' Uncle's familiar this whole time cos what was the point. All you need to know is it's a monkey and it opens the door to Azath and now he's its guardian. It's a pretty weird point that didn't make sense the first time through and still doesn't on the reread. Whatever. The Hounds of Shadow bail out, presumably because the Azath seemed kind of eager to eat them. once inside they find the house's previous guardian or rather, their remains. Apsalar mentions they're not human, their limbs are too long and have too many joints. It's Mappo that puts a name to them. Forkrul Assail.
I don't know what it is exactly but the Forkrul Assail creep me out majorly. I'd love to play in a campaign that featured them as the bad guys. We'll see more of them later, for now, Apsalar mentions that they're not even hinted at in any Seven Cities legend, they're that ancient. She also notes the interior layout of Tremorlor is almost identical to the Deadhouse.
Before they can explore further, a bell rings outside and the gang poke their heads out to see... the Trygalle Trade Guild who've brought a box of supplies from Quick Ben. Inside are more munitions for Fiddler, cusser, flamers and 'masonry crackers'. We haven't seen those before but we can take an educated guess what they might do.
One final weird point. They find a human corpse which is Dassem Ultor's daughter. He apparently brought her here when he broke his vow to Hood. Oh boy. We keep getting mention of this guy. Who is he? I guess we'll find out later. Malazan in a nutshell.
Duiker is fighting as the Chain of Dogs struggles on, relentless hounded by the rebel forces. Many soldiers are dying due to exhaustion or gradual blood loss. The refugees need to pass over more tribal land to reach Aren, land owned by the Kherahn Dhobri, a tribe that are generally ok with the Malazans who have historically treated them fairly. Coltaine intends to purchase passage through their lands, with Duiker leading the refugees on the final stretch to Aren as Coltaine and the soldiers hold the rear against the rebels. Everyone contributes to the payment and Duiker meets with the tribal leaders, offering them over 100'000 silver jakatas for passage. The Dhobri state the price is too much simply for passage but neither do they wish the money to end up in Korbolo Dom's hands. The only fair thing is to match the price. They will provide food and water and escort the refugees to the edge of their lands, three leagues from Aren. That leaves 9 miles for the refugees to cover on their own.
Duiker pushes the refugees on trying to keep up the pace before the soldiers are overwhelmed and the rebels catch them up. Many die from exhaustion. The gates of Aren are open but the soldiers do not come out to defend them. It seems Pormqual has ordered them to stay inside the city no matter what and they are not happy about it. Duiker meets Keneb there and eventually all the remaining refugees end up inside the city.
Ok back to the demon, named Apt for short, and the one eyed boy that rides it. They're in the Shadow Realm. Cotillion arrives, talking kindly to the boy and says he's Uncle Cotillion. As they talk it becomes apparent that the boy seems the Shadow Realm differently to Cotillion. The boy claims he walks through things as though they aren't solid. Cotillion says that explains why the hounds never seem to run in a straight line. Cotillion mentions that the boy is seeing the Shadow Hold, which came before. There's that mention of Holds again. Cotillion is keen on learning more about what the boy can see. The boy, now called Panek, is going with the demon to check in on Kalam but will return.
Speaking of Kalam, back on the Ragstopper, he's peering out over the edge of the boat when he realises he's immobile. Salk Elan appears and reveals he is in fact, Pearl, the Claw. He explains that one does not leave the Claw freely and that they will deal with deserters in their own way and just a reminder that Laseen used to run the Claw. He shanks Kalam, not badly enough to kill, just to weaken then tosses him overboard with the implication that the Claw will soon begin hunting him through Malaz City.
Moments too late, Apt and Panek arrive, looking for Kalam and attack Elan. He summons a demon of his own and makes his escape into the Imperial Warren. Apt kicks the other demon's ass, pretty much wrecking the ship as she goes. Free of Pearl's mind magic, the captain corrals his crew to the lifeboats. as they flee, one almost reveals his name. All we get is "Carther..." before the Captain cuts him off, warning him not to utter that name so close to Malaz City as he supposedly drowned years ago.
Sound familiar? Yep, the captain of the Ragstopper is Cartheron Crust, one of Kellanved's old buddies.
One last thing we note here is Minala also arriving. Guess her boat got blown off course too? Oh well, she's here now.
Back with Felisin we get confirmation that she is not necessarily Sha'ik reborn but has made a deal with the Goddess that resides within Raraku, of which Sha'ik was her high priestess. Basically Felisin is now the high priestess and the Goddess has given her Sha'ik's memories.
Back in Aren, Duiker makes it to a vantage point on top of a tower where Pormqual and Mallick Rel are. Off in the distance, outside the city, 400 of Coltaine's remaining forces are fighting a losing retreat towards Aren. Pormqual still holds his forces back. Duiker believes the ten thousand soldiers in Aren are witnessing the greatest crime ever committed by a High Fist as he basically leaves Coltaine and the 7th to be butchered by Korbolo Dom's forces. The rebels kill everyone but Coltaine, who they crucify. Thousands of crows appear, to carry Coltaine's soul but Korbolo Dom begins killing them with sorcery, refusing to let Coltaine die. Nil and Nether realise they intend to prevent him being reborn. Commander Blistig, the leader of the Aren garrison order one of his snipers to try and take Coltaine out. Despite his age and the range, the marksman manages to headshot Coltaine, who seems to look towards the shot and raise his head in order to make contact. The crows divebomb the cross and when they finally disperse, Coltaine is nowhere to be seen.
Hoo boy. It's powerful stuff. A grim end for Coltaine and the 7th but we're far from done with the grimness...
Kalam makes it ashore, having ditched all his gear in order to make the swim. He assesses the situation, realising he'll need to acquire weapons and that the Claw will be looking for him using magically enhanced vision, basically infrared, looking for his body heat. Using that to his advantage he realises they will rely too heavily on that, allowing him freedom of movement providing he gives off no heat. He uses a technique that it seems Surly also had access to which is to mentally lower one's body heat. In a book about magic and gods why does this seem so bullshit? Anyway, he makes like Arnie in Predator and stealths to a building and grabs some makeshift weapons and armour. He basically decides that to survive this he has to be the hunter rather than the prey and sets about killing the Claw. He takes out a couple of groups, looting their bodies and uses their communication device to speak with Topper, the Claw leader, taunting him.
In the Azath, the group find tiles that have maps on. Some of them are of various places they know but many aren't, and there are "leagues" of these map tiles, leading Fiddler to suspect they might be maps of other worlds.
Pust disappears and they realise one of the tiles disappeared, dropping him through a hole. A little further on, Mappo and Icarium suffer a similar fate. Fiddler thinks the Azath releases them when they get where they are going. Ok, a little bullshit, but sure. We'll roll with it.
Back in Aren, where Duiker has learned that the Silanda never arrived with the wounded, Adjunct Tavore is less than a week away and Sha'ik is supposedly on her way with a force double the size of Korbolo Dom's forces. Worse, Pormqual has decided now is the moment to find his balls and is preparing to march out and engage the rebel forces. He's also been conversing with the nobles from the Chain and is planning on having Coltaine dishonoured for causing the slaughter of the refugees. Duiker finds Pormqual wearing what is essentially ceremonial armour. Pormqual orders Duiker to accompany him as historian while he defeats the rebels after which Duiker, Nil and Nether will be arrested and punished for their crimes. The nobleman, Nepthara gloats over Duiker, this being the man Duiker almost choked out last time. Duiker corrects that mistake now, kicking the guy in the throat and killing him instantly. Duiker threatens Mallick Rel too but Pormqual orders soldiers to surround Duiker with weapons and ensure he escorted outside with the troops.
Pormqual leads the entire army out of Aren to engage the rebels who retreat in panic. You can probably see where this is going. Duiker certainly does. The Malazans chase and naturally, it's a trap. The army ends up surrounded. Pormqual sends Mallick Rel to parlay with Korbolo Dom, who promises Pormqual that if he surrenders and has the army pass out their weapons, he'll take them hostage and trade them back to Tavore. Duiker sees where this is going and sets his horse free. As the order is given, there's a resigned silence before the Malazan soldiers slowly disarm and embrace their fate. With that, Mallick Rel reveals his true colours, as one of Sha'ik's faithful, revealing the plan was to deliver Aren to Korbolo Dom. Much to his chagrin, Duiker informs him that Aren isn't empty. Captain Blistig ignored orders and stayed behind with his garrison of three hundred. That, coupled with Aren's walls which are laced with otataral should let them hold out until Tavore arrives. The coup has been foiled. Rel bitchslaps Duiker, knocking him to the ground and smashing the bottle talisman the historian was given by Coltaine. Korbolo Dom decapitates Pormqual and his forces set about nailing the Malazans to the nine miles of trees outside of Aren. Duiker is purposely left until last, crucified in agony along with the ten thousand Malazan soldiers. Slowly... he dies...
Kalam is in Malaz City doing Kalam things, basically over the top assassining. He fights a heap of Claw but eventually his luck runs out and just as things look dire, Minala turns up on horseback and saves him. Together the pair ride off. Kalam asks where she's taking him and Minala tells him they're going to Mock's Hold (a fortress) because that's where the Empress is.
Fiddler, Crokus and Apsalar have made it to the Deadhouse. As they go to leave they come across a Jaghut. He admonishes them for failing to capture Icarium in the Azath. He tells them that Icarium's previous guardian killed himself and when he was left to wander alone, the Nameless Ones acted in haste, destroying the Trell village and blaming Icarium so as to recruit Mappo to the cause. Well, now we know which version is true. Fiddler notices the resemblance in the man's features and the Jaghut admits, he is Icarium's father. He explains that when he became the guardian of this Azath, voluntarily, Icarium came thinking to free him. He fought against the Azath but failed and was "damaged", explaining both his uncontrollable rage and his memory loss. A revelation comes to Apsalar and she asks the Jaghut if he is Gothos. He does not reply. The conversation is over and the trio are spaffed out into the streets of Malaz City. Apsalar can sense the Claw sorcery and suggests the group head to Smiley's to see if they can find Kalam but before they do, Apt and Panek turn up. Panek tells them Kalam is in Mock's Hold and they'll take the group there, through Shadow.
Back to Kalam and Minala. The Imperial Warren opens in front of the horse and deposits them within Mock's Hold. It seems the Empress is tired of waiting for Kalam to make his way there and has hastened the meeting. Wounded and ill equipped, Kalam leaves Minala here and heads through some doors to meet the Empress. He finds himself in a completely dark room with the Empress' voice all around him but unable to pinpoint the exact direction. He makes his accusations and Laseen reveals the ruse with Dujek and that only Onearm and Tayschrenn are in on it. As they converse, Kalam comes to a realisation that Laseen isn't actually there and is somehow magically projecting her voice. When he mentions Seven Cities, she seems generally angry and determined to take it back. Realising she is speaking in the best interest of the Empire, he sheathes his weapons and tells Laseen he will no longer attempt to kill her. Laseen warns him that she cannot call off the Claw. Kalam understands, this is a matter of pride for them. He leaves with Minala.
When he leaves we see a chair with a corpse on that Laseen was using to project her voice. Topper arrives via Imperial warren and converses with her. Topper makes it clear that Pearl has been punished and that the Claw will continue their hunt and while he doesn't actually expect any of them to kill Kalam, he does think it will easily weed out their weaker members.
Kalam and Minala are attacked by more Claw but Apt arrives and saves them, pulling them into the Shadow Warren where Fiddler, Crokus and Apsalar await. Reunited, everyone fills everyone in on everything.
Shadowthrone arrives to address the intruders and Fiddler calls him out as Kellanved. He offers them a minor boon, sending Apsalar, Servant and Crokus to Itko Kan as Apsalar requests. Shadowthrone offers to return Fiddler to the Bridgeburners but the sapper requests to join Tavore's troops in retaking Seven Cities instead. In what is probably the weirdest moment yet, Shadowthrone offers Kalam and Minala the chance to settle down in the Shadow Realm and look after the 1300 crucified children he rescued. And they agree to it!
Little bit more weirdness to come before we're through here.
Sha'ik (Felisin, but we should probably start calling her Sha'ik for a reason you're about to discover) finally meets up with Korbolo Dom and Kamist Reloe. Against their protestations, she insists the army retreats into Raraku so she can choose the time and place to face Tavore. She also tells Heboric that the unnamed orphan she met when she first arrived in Raraku is now her adopted daughter, Felisin the Younger. So, we've got two Apsalars and two Felisins and I guess, two Tocs.
Skip forward a bit to Tavore arriving in Aren. She has with her an aide called' T'amber who is rumoured to be her lover. Blistig also informs us that the Silanda eventually arrived (what took so long?) offloaded the wounded and headed off again.
Mappo and a sleeping Icarium are outside Aren, somewhere near the crucified Malazan corpses. Gesler, Stormy and Truth arrive in a wagon. Why? Who knows. They have two dying dogs that belonged to the Wickans in the cart and seem to be searching the bodies for someone specific. As Gesler checks the last of the corpses and returns, Truth asks him if he found him, presumably they mean Duiker. Gesler tells him he wasn't there but Mappo realises Gesler is lying. He gives the Malazans his last two healing potions to save the dogs.
We see Iskaral Pust shaking spiders out of his clothing and admonishing them. Remember his obsession with clearing out the spiders? Weird huh. The spiders veer into a woman, Mogora, who was a D'ivers the whole time. She tells Pust she spied on him the whole time and knew he was leading the shifters false but did nothing about it because she didn't want to be the one to ascend. As they head to Pust's tower the see the undead dragon soletaken flying away and Pust knows it's the Imass bonecaster who guarded the portal while Pust was absent.
Remember the monkeys Pust had issues with? Well Crokus' uncle's familiar was also a monkey, who we saw open the Azath and become its guardian. Well we now see two more of those monkeys called Irp and Rudd. These are servants of Baruk, the archmage in Darujhistan and unlike the other monkeys, these two speak fluent Daru. For some reason, they are here searching for Coltaine's body and being only dumb monkeys, they are going to identify it by the bottle talisman. Not sure why Baruk knows about the talisman but ok. They find what they think is Coltaine, but is obviously Duiker and take the bottle and the body.
Icarium awakes. He realises he is injured but can't remember anything since they began following the Aptorian (yes, the start of the book). His friend, Mappo tells him they they followed the demon through a warren which spat them out here and Icarium hit his head on a rock as they were ejected. Icarium asks how long he's been out and Mappo tells him it's only been a day. Icarium is thankful to have such a friend and wonders what he'd do without him.
Finally, we have an epilogue. A pregnant Wickan who has been told her unborn child is empty, devoid of a soul. She is about to drink a substance to abort it when thousands of crows appear. Inside her, the child moves.
---
Well, that's a lot to unpack isn't it. The good news is we're over the hump. These two books have done all the scene setting and it's gonna get bigger and more bombastic from here on out. A lot of people hate all these insanely powerful ascendants running around with the mortals but from a DnD perspective, I love it. I feel like this is a perfect example of a world with active gods and epic level characters, which is what the ascendants are to me. Icarium, for instance, is a prime example of an epic level barbarian and judging from his power he'd probably be getting close to level 40. We've also seen some of the greater scheming going on and I stand by it that this book series is perfect for anyone wishing to run a game in which the gods are scheming. We've seen that Shadowthrone and Cotillion's plans run deeper than we initially thought and we've also seen that the same is true for Laseen, far from the incompetent figurehead we may have pegged her as. We don't know it yet, but we'll also see that Quick Ben's plans are not what we (and Kalam) initially thought they were.
We've seen the scope set for the mortal problems. The rebel undercurrent within the Empire and Laseen's expected iron response. We've also seen her working with Dujek on the plan to recruit allies to help fight the Pannion Seer without those allies being aware they are allying with the Empire. We're also back on that theme of rebirth quite heavily with Sha'ik and Felisin being obvious examples along with Coltaine, Sormo E'nath and Duiker and to a lesser extent, Heboric.
Next time we're going to learn more about the Pannion Seer as we delve into book three, Memories of Ice.
Meanwhile, Minala manages to stowaway on the next boat.
Over with Felisin and Heboric who are of course, with Leoman and Toblakai. What a curve ball. It's not Apsalar that's going to be Sha'ik but Felisin. Is this just happenstance? Or is Oponn directly opposing Shadowthrone? Felisin is eager to embrace her new role as leader of the Whirlwind, knowing full well that if she can crush the Malazan forces on Seven Cities Laseen will send an army and leading that army will be... Tavore Paran. But first, she has to undergo a rite to prove she is Sha'ik reborn. A rite that will kill her if she isn't.
Fiddler's group has arrived at the ruins of an ancient destroyed city. They lose track of Icarium and find him standing in the ruins in front of one intact device. One of his devices, a mechanical time tracking machine. Icarium is confused, on two counts. First, the fact that the device shows it is 94'000 years old. Secondly, although it has sorcery to protect it from the ravages of time, this city was clearly destroyed, intentionally. Icarium ponders that anyone powerful enough to lay waste to an entire city would have been able to smash his machine and yet seemingly, they left it intact. The only thing intact. Mappo's silence speaks volumes and in case we needed more his thoughts betray the truth. Icarium destroyed this city, in a fit of rage, leaving only his own handiwork intact, and did so 94'000 years ago. more, there is evidence that the T'lan Imass tried to defend the city but were crushed. Icarium can't quite make the connection, likely not seeing himself as that powerful and as he ponders who could even achieve such a feat. Mappo is close to tears, unable to respond and so Fiddler steps in and tells Icarium that he believes only an Ascendant could achieve such a thing. Icarium says they have long since learnt not to meddle in mortal affairs in so direct a fashion but thanks Fiddler for providing the answer to his question. We think he's bought it, or at least the crew do. I'm not so convinced. I think Icarium has his suspicions.
Pust arrives with the group as do Apsalar and her father, Rellock, and we find out that there is a fragment of a warren here and this is where all the fake paths laid by Pust and Servant lead, drawing all the Soletaken and D'ivers here.
The Chain of Dogs is approaching another rive crossing. Surprisingly, they find the Silanda moored there, along with Gesler, Truth and Stormy. There's some back and forth as their status as members of the 7th is discussed and when Gesler refuses a promotion, Coltaine punches him... and breaks his fist in the process. This shocks Nil who points out that from Gesler's blood he can see the man has nearly ascended and yet Coltaine bust Gesler's nose... which means he too is on that road. Potential ascendants all round it seems.
The nobles accost Coltaine again having contacted Korbolo Dom to appeal for clemency. Korbolo Dom has agreed to let the civilian refugees cross the water unaccosted. Coltaine naturally refuses.
Felisin makes her first act as Sha'ik, starting the ritual early by forcing Leoman to open the book and gaze upon its pages. He sees only blank pages and is confused. The book is passed to Toblakai and whatever he sees is so beautiful it brings tears to his eyes. Heboric refuses to look inside and Toblakai attacks him with his sword which Heboric catches... in his hands. Hands that everyone sees this time, one bright red, the other furry. Felisin suggests that this may be what Fener had in mind for Heboric the whole time and the severing of his hands was simply preparation for his new improved ones. She, on the other hand, will wait til dawn, as the prophecy foretells.
Fiddler and co have crossed the threshold into the fragmented warren. I can't remember if it's ever explicitly stated but I always assumed this was yet another fragment of Kurald Emurlahn. Anywho, at the centre of this fragment lies the Azath house, holding the tattered warren fragment together.
As they approach further, Mappo confronts Icarium, warning him that the Azath house imprisons those of power, eternally. Icarium is confused at first but Mappo makes it clear that the worry is that the house will try to imprison him and if Icarium resists he may kill the Azath. Icarium is surprised at that, given the power required to do so and Mappo finally confesses. Icarium destroyed the city they found before and many others besides, even entire races, unstoppable once his rage is upon him. Icarium decides that perhaps eternal imprisonment in the Azath house is the preferable option, for everyone else's sake. Pust is hoping Icarium will kill all the shapeshifters he has lured there. Crokus suggests they could use even more help and compels Pust to appeal to Shadowthrone. He does so and five hounds of Shadow arrive. Mappo's surprise at the number is explained by Crokus who tells him Rake slew the other two. This new fellowship heads towards the Azath House.
Man, Icarium is basically an epic level barbarian.
Coltaine has had the wounded loaded onto the Silanda to be shipped to Aren. However, suddenly the refugees begin crossing the river, having made the agreement with Korbolo Dom against Coltaine's wishes. Realising it's an obvious trap, Coltaine tells a unit of sappers to infiltrate the refugees and assist. Archers begin slaughtering the civilians, now sitting ducks. Still, there are enough of them that they start to make it across. In their anger the civilians begin mobbing the enemies completely unarmed, taking them out by sheer numbers and Duiker and the sappers provide assistance. Sormo E'nath also assists but is killed. As he dies, thousands of butterflies mob his body and Duiker wonders if they'll be able to reclaim the warlock's soul. Finally, Duiker is confronted by Nepthara, one of the annoying ass nobles who was the architect of this disaster. He thinks they've won and demands to speak to Coltaine. Unable to comprehend the sheer idiocy of this man, Duiker begins throttling him and only relents when someone else chokes him out from behind.
Back aboard the Ragstopper, an unusual series of events is playing out. The ship is being pursued by privateers. Not surprising given that it has all of Pormqual's stolen loot from Aren on board and the Captain is preparing to turn around and fight them. The treasurer seems less keen, preferring to surrender and buy their way free with the loot. The captain sticks to his guns and as he preps for the attack, the treasurer's bodyguards take out some of the crew, killing the first mate and badly wounding the captain. Kalam and Salk realise that the treasurer is in cahoots with the pirates and is essentially trying to rob Pormqual's already stolen booty. They fight back, killing his bodyguards and taking the treasurer hostage who admits the pirates are his uncles and cousins. The pair use him to coax the pirates aboard then slay them, finally tying sacks of coins to the treasurer's feet and throwing him overboard.
The captain is alive but suffering and for longer than Kalam thought he would be. He has his suspicions that the captain may have had his mind ensorcelled the whole time. A fleet is spotted by the crow's nest and it turns out to be Adjunct Tavore, leading an army to go retake Seven Cities. Looks like Felisin was right. Will the Paran sisters end up toe to toe?
Fiddler's group are making their way through a maze of roots towards the Azath house. They find some bodies which belong to the creatures Mappo knows as "Nameless Ones". This is a little misleading to us, the reader, if I recall as the Nameless Ones are more an organization made up of people from different races, it's just that Mappo only knows of a certain few. Or is it simply that he recognizes their robes? Icarium definitely does and mentions he has seen them before in a dream. In his dream, Icarium arrives a Trellish town that has been destroyed by sorcery. A woman, wearing such robes approaches him and when Icarium asks what she has done she tells him she has done what was necessary to source him a companion so he will not wander alone and Icarium knows he has had many companions, of which Mappo is only the most recent. He does not know if he killed them. It seems her magical staff could be the source of his amnesia.
Mappo is concerned at this. We've had a few glimmers of flashback into his past and this contradicts his own account where the Nameless Ones told him Icarium had been the one to destroy the town thus setting Mappo on his path.
Uh-oh. Well for now, Mappo is inclined to believe his original version of events but it's starting to look like whoever was responsible for Icarium's wanderings might have an ulterior motive.
Apsalar, pulling from Cotillion's memories says that the cult of the Nameless Ones was supposed to have been destroyed, by Cotillion himself. Pust starts ranting about how the cult tried to prevent Kellanved from entering the Deadhouse and Apsalar tells him to shut it. The crew grow wary, wondering if that was Dancer speaking through Apsalar. She claims to still be herself but says her memories carry certain responsibilities. I guess the implication is that it's somehow in her best interest for Pust to not reveal what he was about to. Mappo confirms that while they may have been driven out of the Empire, the Nameless Ones still exist and are the group that arranges Icarium's companions. So now we're all on the same page.
They delve further into the root maze. The further in they get the more they realise there are creatures trapped here. A wide variety too. Demons, ascendants, even aliens that Fiddler not only can't recognise but struggles to comprehend. Worse, Soletaken and D'ivers are fighting everywhere. One such fight spills out towards them and the group defend themselves against two soletaken. One is defeated by Mappo and as it touches the root wall it is held there in place. The other is a bear and before Mappo can intervene, one of the Hounds of Shadow forces it towards the wall where it too is imprisoned. Too late, Mappo recognises the soletaken as his friend Messremb, who we met earlier. Worse, Gryllen turns up and that angers Icarium who had already warned Gryllen. The D'ivers is now tens of thousands of rats, having levelled up somehow. Icarium's group steps back warily as the Jhag's anger rises.
Felisin arrives at Sha'ik's encampment. There are a great number of people here and Leoman informs her they have forty thousand cavalry. Thousands start to gather and Felisin prepares to address the crowd. Three high mages stand behind them, watching on. It seems that Felisin isn't just blagging it any more. She knows the mage's names, knows things about them and as she mentally assesses them, they kneel, one seemingly forced to by her will. Felisin raises her arms and the whirlwind rises above her, proof, if we needed it, that Sha'ik has actually been reborn.
Fiddler is firing flamers at the D'ivers. I promised we'd learn a little about Moranth munitions and we will but so far we've seen three in action which I'll try clarify now. Flamers are kinda like molotovs, they can be thrown or more usually fired from a crossbow. Cussers are like satchel charges, extremely damaging, we saw them used by Coltaine's sappers during the river crossing, buried underground they were still powerful enough to kill with the shockwave. We've also seen sharpers which I can best describe as a bit like a claymore mine, throwing out shrapnel in a conical pattern. There's more and we're gonna get a lot of sapper action in a later book. Fiddler is almost out of munitions. He has one cusser left and pulls it, throwing it at Gryllen. It's only after he's thrown it that he realises it's not a cusser after all, it's the conch shell given to him by the Tanno Spiritwalker at the start of the book. It realises a powerful magic song that temporarily incapacitates the group and ultimately kills Gryllen. As the effect wears off, Mappo knocks Icarium unconscious. Pust and the Hounds face off against Mappo. Pust claims it is time to let the Azath imprison Icarium as he himself requested but Mappo refuses. Fiddler persuades Pust to wait and stand down. As Mappo picks up Icarium, Crokus announces that he can see the house up ahead.
In the aftermath of the massacre at the river crossing, Duiker estimates over 20'000 refugees were killed, a lot of them children. Over 700 soldiers of the 7th dead and a significant number of Wickans too, not to mention the warlock, Sormo E'nath. The Chain of Dogs continues, with Korbolo Dom's army relentlessly nipping at their heels.
Back on the Ragstopper, Kalam is convinced that the sorcery meddling with the captain's mind might be effecting everyone on board. It's no longer clear how long they've been at sea. He wonders if someone is trying to protect the loot by ensuring they will all forget where it is being delivered to. In his bunk, he pulls out one more stone given to him by Quick Ben and shatters it to open communications with the mage. The pair converse, a little cryptically, with Quick confirming that there's a mind altering warren interfering but claiming that the Path of Hands, the convergence of the shapeshifters, is messing with the warrens. Quick worries that Fiddler's mission might now be impossible. Before he can say much more, he mentions feeling weak from his recent blood loss and the connection is severed. Kalam heads to see the captain and finds Salk Elan with him who takes pleasure in telling Kalam that the ship has been blown off course and instead of going to Unta, it's now going to Malaz City.
Fiddler's group make for the Azath house. A watery portal opens nearby and multiple dhenrabi emerge. Fiddler remembers the one he killed near the start of the book and realises it wasn't a soletaken but one part of this D'ivers. Another D'ivers, this one a swarm of bloodflies, turns up. Apsalar rushes to the door to open it but Tremorlor rebuffs her.
The Chain of Dogs marches on, out of food and water, soldiers dying of thirst as yet more refugees join the chain, fleeing from Korbolo Dom's harrying forces. Two of the three local tribes have Joined Korbolo Dom's forces, swelling their numbers.
Suddenly a tear opens in the sky and a series of carriages emerge from a warren. This is the Trygalle Trade Guild, who will brave the warrens to deliver goods anywhere, for a hefty price. It seems someone paid them to bring Coltaine food and water. They were supposedly paid by the people of Darujhistan but it is soon revealed the the payment was made by Dujek Onearm. He has also sent a talisman to Coltaine, a smoky bottle to wear around his neck at all times, with the message to never underestimate the Empress.
Well this just reeks of Quick Ben's meddling, doesn't it?
The secret in the message is lost on Coltaine initially but soon he realises. Dujek is still in league with the Empress and his outlawing is simply a ruse. What better way to ally with Darujhistan against the Pannion Domin.
The next day, Coltaine's forces prepare to attack despite the fact that Korbolo's forces outnumber them five to one. The last local tribe, the Kundryl, arrive in their tens of thousands and their warleaders ride forth to parlay with Coltaine. Duiker is hesitant and argues with Coltaine but the Fist brushes him off and gives Duiker the talisman to wear. The Khundryl are interested to see which tribe is the most powerful. Coltaine points out that his soldiers are part of the Malazan army now and are not concerned with such things. The Khundryl back off and the fighting breaks out. Coltaine's forces are heavily pressed when the Khundryl finally decide to join the fray... against Korbolo Dom's forces. They fight for around four hours with the Khundryl defeating most of Korbolo Dom's tribal allies and causing his main force to rout. When the Khundryl warleaders approach Coltaine again they tell him they have found their answer and that the Wickans are the strongest of the tribes.
Back on the Ragstopper, the boat arrives at Malaz City. Kalam and Salk exchange words and Salk makes it clear he knows Kalam is going to assassinate Laseen, even though the assassin tries to brush it off, claiming he's going to meet his contacts. Salk wonders if those contacts will be at Smiley's, a bar once owned by Kellanved before he became Emperor. Kalam seems surprised Salk knows this, but claims his contacts are actually at the Deadhouse, seemingly to entice Salk to go there and get himself killed.
Back a Tremorlor... well look, I've skipped over Crokus' Uncle's familiar this whole time cos what was the point. All you need to know is it's a monkey and it opens the door to Azath and now he's its guardian. It's a pretty weird point that didn't make sense the first time through and still doesn't on the reread. Whatever. The Hounds of Shadow bail out, presumably because the Azath seemed kind of eager to eat them. once inside they find the house's previous guardian or rather, their remains. Apsalar mentions they're not human, their limbs are too long and have too many joints. It's Mappo that puts a name to them. Forkrul Assail.
I don't know what it is exactly but the Forkrul Assail creep me out majorly. I'd love to play in a campaign that featured them as the bad guys. We'll see more of them later, for now, Apsalar mentions that they're not even hinted at in any Seven Cities legend, they're that ancient. She also notes the interior layout of Tremorlor is almost identical to the Deadhouse.
Before they can explore further, a bell rings outside and the gang poke their heads out to see... the Trygalle Trade Guild who've brought a box of supplies from Quick Ben. Inside are more munitions for Fiddler, cusser, flamers and 'masonry crackers'. We haven't seen those before but we can take an educated guess what they might do.
One final weird point. They find a human corpse which is Dassem Ultor's daughter. He apparently brought her here when he broke his vow to Hood. Oh boy. We keep getting mention of this guy. Who is he? I guess we'll find out later. Malazan in a nutshell.
Duiker is fighting as the Chain of Dogs struggles on, relentless hounded by the rebel forces. Many soldiers are dying due to exhaustion or gradual blood loss. The refugees need to pass over more tribal land to reach Aren, land owned by the Kherahn Dhobri, a tribe that are generally ok with the Malazans who have historically treated them fairly. Coltaine intends to purchase passage through their lands, with Duiker leading the refugees on the final stretch to Aren as Coltaine and the soldiers hold the rear against the rebels. Everyone contributes to the payment and Duiker meets with the tribal leaders, offering them over 100'000 silver jakatas for passage. The Dhobri state the price is too much simply for passage but neither do they wish the money to end up in Korbolo Dom's hands. The only fair thing is to match the price. They will provide food and water and escort the refugees to the edge of their lands, three leagues from Aren. That leaves 9 miles for the refugees to cover on their own.
Duiker pushes the refugees on trying to keep up the pace before the soldiers are overwhelmed and the rebels catch them up. Many die from exhaustion. The gates of Aren are open but the soldiers do not come out to defend them. It seems Pormqual has ordered them to stay inside the city no matter what and they are not happy about it. Duiker meets Keneb there and eventually all the remaining refugees end up inside the city.
Ok back to the demon, named Apt for short, and the one eyed boy that rides it. They're in the Shadow Realm. Cotillion arrives, talking kindly to the boy and says he's Uncle Cotillion. As they talk it becomes apparent that the boy seems the Shadow Realm differently to Cotillion. The boy claims he walks through things as though they aren't solid. Cotillion says that explains why the hounds never seem to run in a straight line. Cotillion mentions that the boy is seeing the Shadow Hold, which came before. There's that mention of Holds again. Cotillion is keen on learning more about what the boy can see. The boy, now called Panek, is going with the demon to check in on Kalam but will return.
Speaking of Kalam, back on the Ragstopper, he's peering out over the edge of the boat when he realises he's immobile. Salk Elan appears and reveals he is in fact, Pearl, the Claw. He explains that one does not leave the Claw freely and that they will deal with deserters in their own way and just a reminder that Laseen used to run the Claw. He shanks Kalam, not badly enough to kill, just to weaken then tosses him overboard with the implication that the Claw will soon begin hunting him through Malaz City.
Moments too late, Apt and Panek arrive, looking for Kalam and attack Elan. He summons a demon of his own and makes his escape into the Imperial Warren. Apt kicks the other demon's ass, pretty much wrecking the ship as she goes. Free of Pearl's mind magic, the captain corrals his crew to the lifeboats. as they flee, one almost reveals his name. All we get is "Carther..." before the Captain cuts him off, warning him not to utter that name so close to Malaz City as he supposedly drowned years ago.
Sound familiar? Yep, the captain of the Ragstopper is Cartheron Crust, one of Kellanved's old buddies.
One last thing we note here is Minala also arriving. Guess her boat got blown off course too? Oh well, she's here now.
Back with Felisin we get confirmation that she is not necessarily Sha'ik reborn but has made a deal with the Goddess that resides within Raraku, of which Sha'ik was her high priestess. Basically Felisin is now the high priestess and the Goddess has given her Sha'ik's memories.
Back in Aren, Duiker makes it to a vantage point on top of a tower where Pormqual and Mallick Rel are. Off in the distance, outside the city, 400 of Coltaine's remaining forces are fighting a losing retreat towards Aren. Pormqual still holds his forces back. Duiker believes the ten thousand soldiers in Aren are witnessing the greatest crime ever committed by a High Fist as he basically leaves Coltaine and the 7th to be butchered by Korbolo Dom's forces. The rebels kill everyone but Coltaine, who they crucify. Thousands of crows appear, to carry Coltaine's soul but Korbolo Dom begins killing them with sorcery, refusing to let Coltaine die. Nil and Nether realise they intend to prevent him being reborn. Commander Blistig, the leader of the Aren garrison order one of his snipers to try and take Coltaine out. Despite his age and the range, the marksman manages to headshot Coltaine, who seems to look towards the shot and raise his head in order to make contact. The crows divebomb the cross and when they finally disperse, Coltaine is nowhere to be seen.
Hoo boy. It's powerful stuff. A grim end for Coltaine and the 7th but we're far from done with the grimness...
Kalam makes it ashore, having ditched all his gear in order to make the swim. He assesses the situation, realising he'll need to acquire weapons and that the Claw will be looking for him using magically enhanced vision, basically infrared, looking for his body heat. Using that to his advantage he realises they will rely too heavily on that, allowing him freedom of movement providing he gives off no heat. He uses a technique that it seems Surly also had access to which is to mentally lower one's body heat. In a book about magic and gods why does this seem so bullshit? Anyway, he makes like Arnie in Predator and stealths to a building and grabs some makeshift weapons and armour. He basically decides that to survive this he has to be the hunter rather than the prey and sets about killing the Claw. He takes out a couple of groups, looting their bodies and uses their communication device to speak with Topper, the Claw leader, taunting him.
In the Azath, the group find tiles that have maps on. Some of them are of various places they know but many aren't, and there are "leagues" of these map tiles, leading Fiddler to suspect they might be maps of other worlds.
Pust disappears and they realise one of the tiles disappeared, dropping him through a hole. A little further on, Mappo and Icarium suffer a similar fate. Fiddler thinks the Azath releases them when they get where they are going. Ok, a little bullshit, but sure. We'll roll with it.
Back in Aren, where Duiker has learned that the Silanda never arrived with the wounded, Adjunct Tavore is less than a week away and Sha'ik is supposedly on her way with a force double the size of Korbolo Dom's forces. Worse, Pormqual has decided now is the moment to find his balls and is preparing to march out and engage the rebel forces. He's also been conversing with the nobles from the Chain and is planning on having Coltaine dishonoured for causing the slaughter of the refugees. Duiker finds Pormqual wearing what is essentially ceremonial armour. Pormqual orders Duiker to accompany him as historian while he defeats the rebels after which Duiker, Nil and Nether will be arrested and punished for their crimes. The nobleman, Nepthara gloats over Duiker, this being the man Duiker almost choked out last time. Duiker corrects that mistake now, kicking the guy in the throat and killing him instantly. Duiker threatens Mallick Rel too but Pormqual orders soldiers to surround Duiker with weapons and ensure he escorted outside with the troops.
Pormqual leads the entire army out of Aren to engage the rebels who retreat in panic. You can probably see where this is going. Duiker certainly does. The Malazans chase and naturally, it's a trap. The army ends up surrounded. Pormqual sends Mallick Rel to parlay with Korbolo Dom, who promises Pormqual that if he surrenders and has the army pass out their weapons, he'll take them hostage and trade them back to Tavore. Duiker sees where this is going and sets his horse free. As the order is given, there's a resigned silence before the Malazan soldiers slowly disarm and embrace their fate. With that, Mallick Rel reveals his true colours, as one of Sha'ik's faithful, revealing the plan was to deliver Aren to Korbolo Dom. Much to his chagrin, Duiker informs him that Aren isn't empty. Captain Blistig ignored orders and stayed behind with his garrison of three hundred. That, coupled with Aren's walls which are laced with otataral should let them hold out until Tavore arrives. The coup has been foiled. Rel bitchslaps Duiker, knocking him to the ground and smashing the bottle talisman the historian was given by Coltaine. Korbolo Dom decapitates Pormqual and his forces set about nailing the Malazans to the nine miles of trees outside of Aren. Duiker is purposely left until last, crucified in agony along with the ten thousand Malazan soldiers. Slowly... he dies...
Kalam is in Malaz City doing Kalam things, basically over the top assassining. He fights a heap of Claw but eventually his luck runs out and just as things look dire, Minala turns up on horseback and saves him. Together the pair ride off. Kalam asks where she's taking him and Minala tells him they're going to Mock's Hold (a fortress) because that's where the Empress is.
Fiddler, Crokus and Apsalar have made it to the Deadhouse. As they go to leave they come across a Jaghut. He admonishes them for failing to capture Icarium in the Azath. He tells them that Icarium's previous guardian killed himself and when he was left to wander alone, the Nameless Ones acted in haste, destroying the Trell village and blaming Icarium so as to recruit Mappo to the cause. Well, now we know which version is true. Fiddler notices the resemblance in the man's features and the Jaghut admits, he is Icarium's father. He explains that when he became the guardian of this Azath, voluntarily, Icarium came thinking to free him. He fought against the Azath but failed and was "damaged", explaining both his uncontrollable rage and his memory loss. A revelation comes to Apsalar and she asks the Jaghut if he is Gothos. He does not reply. The conversation is over and the trio are spaffed out into the streets of Malaz City. Apsalar can sense the Claw sorcery and suggests the group head to Smiley's to see if they can find Kalam but before they do, Apt and Panek turn up. Panek tells them Kalam is in Mock's Hold and they'll take the group there, through Shadow.
Back to Kalam and Minala. The Imperial Warren opens in front of the horse and deposits them within Mock's Hold. It seems the Empress is tired of waiting for Kalam to make his way there and has hastened the meeting. Wounded and ill equipped, Kalam leaves Minala here and heads through some doors to meet the Empress. He finds himself in a completely dark room with the Empress' voice all around him but unable to pinpoint the exact direction. He makes his accusations and Laseen reveals the ruse with Dujek and that only Onearm and Tayschrenn are in on it. As they converse, Kalam comes to a realisation that Laseen isn't actually there and is somehow magically projecting her voice. When he mentions Seven Cities, she seems generally angry and determined to take it back. Realising she is speaking in the best interest of the Empire, he sheathes his weapons and tells Laseen he will no longer attempt to kill her. Laseen warns him that she cannot call off the Claw. Kalam understands, this is a matter of pride for them. He leaves with Minala.
When he leaves we see a chair with a corpse on that Laseen was using to project her voice. Topper arrives via Imperial warren and converses with her. Topper makes it clear that Pearl has been punished and that the Claw will continue their hunt and while he doesn't actually expect any of them to kill Kalam, he does think it will easily weed out their weaker members.
Kalam and Minala are attacked by more Claw but Apt arrives and saves them, pulling them into the Shadow Warren where Fiddler, Crokus and Apsalar await. Reunited, everyone fills everyone in on everything.
Shadowthrone arrives to address the intruders and Fiddler calls him out as Kellanved. He offers them a minor boon, sending Apsalar, Servant and Crokus to Itko Kan as Apsalar requests. Shadowthrone offers to return Fiddler to the Bridgeburners but the sapper requests to join Tavore's troops in retaking Seven Cities instead. In what is probably the weirdest moment yet, Shadowthrone offers Kalam and Minala the chance to settle down in the Shadow Realm and look after the 1300 crucified children he rescued. And they agree to it!
Little bit more weirdness to come before we're through here.
Sha'ik (Felisin, but we should probably start calling her Sha'ik for a reason you're about to discover) finally meets up with Korbolo Dom and Kamist Reloe. Against their protestations, she insists the army retreats into Raraku so she can choose the time and place to face Tavore. She also tells Heboric that the unnamed orphan she met when she first arrived in Raraku is now her adopted daughter, Felisin the Younger. So, we've got two Apsalars and two Felisins and I guess, two Tocs.
Skip forward a bit to Tavore arriving in Aren. She has with her an aide called' T'amber who is rumoured to be her lover. Blistig also informs us that the Silanda eventually arrived (what took so long?) offloaded the wounded and headed off again.
Mappo and a sleeping Icarium are outside Aren, somewhere near the crucified Malazan corpses. Gesler, Stormy and Truth arrive in a wagon. Why? Who knows. They have two dying dogs that belonged to the Wickans in the cart and seem to be searching the bodies for someone specific. As Gesler checks the last of the corpses and returns, Truth asks him if he found him, presumably they mean Duiker. Gesler tells him he wasn't there but Mappo realises Gesler is lying. He gives the Malazans his last two healing potions to save the dogs.
We see Iskaral Pust shaking spiders out of his clothing and admonishing them. Remember his obsession with clearing out the spiders? Weird huh. The spiders veer into a woman, Mogora, who was a D'ivers the whole time. She tells Pust she spied on him the whole time and knew he was leading the shifters false but did nothing about it because she didn't want to be the one to ascend. As they head to Pust's tower the see the undead dragon soletaken flying away and Pust knows it's the Imass bonecaster who guarded the portal while Pust was absent.
Remember the monkeys Pust had issues with? Well Crokus' uncle's familiar was also a monkey, who we saw open the Azath and become its guardian. Well we now see two more of those monkeys called Irp and Rudd. These are servants of Baruk, the archmage in Darujhistan and unlike the other monkeys, these two speak fluent Daru. For some reason, they are here searching for Coltaine's body and being only dumb monkeys, they are going to identify it by the bottle talisman. Not sure why Baruk knows about the talisman but ok. They find what they think is Coltaine, but is obviously Duiker and take the bottle and the body.
Icarium awakes. He realises he is injured but can't remember anything since they began following the Aptorian (yes, the start of the book). His friend, Mappo tells him they they followed the demon through a warren which spat them out here and Icarium hit his head on a rock as they were ejected. Icarium asks how long he's been out and Mappo tells him it's only been a day. Icarium is thankful to have such a friend and wonders what he'd do without him.
Finally, we have an epilogue. A pregnant Wickan who has been told her unborn child is empty, devoid of a soul. She is about to drink a substance to abort it when thousands of crows appear. Inside her, the child moves.
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Well, that's a lot to unpack isn't it. The good news is we're over the hump. These two books have done all the scene setting and it's gonna get bigger and more bombastic from here on out. A lot of people hate all these insanely powerful ascendants running around with the mortals but from a DnD perspective, I love it. I feel like this is a perfect example of a world with active gods and epic level characters, which is what the ascendants are to me. Icarium, for instance, is a prime example of an epic level barbarian and judging from his power he'd probably be getting close to level 40. We've also seen some of the greater scheming going on and I stand by it that this book series is perfect for anyone wishing to run a game in which the gods are scheming. We've seen that Shadowthrone and Cotillion's plans run deeper than we initially thought and we've also seen that the same is true for Laseen, far from the incompetent figurehead we may have pegged her as. We don't know it yet, but we'll also see that Quick Ben's plans are not what we (and Kalam) initially thought they were.
We've seen the scope set for the mortal problems. The rebel undercurrent within the Empire and Laseen's expected iron response. We've also seen her working with Dujek on the plan to recruit allies to help fight the Pannion Seer without those allies being aware they are allying with the Empire. We're also back on that theme of rebirth quite heavily with Sha'ik and Felisin being obvious examples along with Coltaine, Sormo E'nath and Duiker and to a lesser extent, Heboric.
Next time we're going to learn more about the Pannion Seer as we delve into book three, Memories of Ice.
"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else." - Charles Dickens.
“Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed and you haven’t been.” - Marcus Aurelius
“Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed and you haven’t been.” - Marcus Aurelius
