The Complete Malazan Book of the Fallen (189 page)

“Yes.”

Mappo supported Icarium as he struggled to his feet. The Jhag tottered, then found his balance. He raised his head and looked around. “Where—where are we?”

“What do you remember?”

“I—I remember nothing. No, wait. We'd sighted a demon—an aptorian, it was, and decided to follow it. Yes, that I recall. That.”

“Ah, well, we are far to the south, now, Icarium. Cast out from a warren. Your head struck a rock and you lost consciousness. Following that aptorian was a mistake.”

“Evidently. How—how long?”

“A day, Icarium. Just a day.”

The Jhag had steadied, visibly regaining strength until Mappo felt it safe to step away, though one hand remained on Icarium's shoulder.

“West of here lies the Jhag Odhan,” the Trell said.

“Yes, a good direction. I admit, Mappo, I feel close this time. Very close.”

The Trell nodded.

“It's dawn? Have you packed up our camp?”

“Aye, though I suggest we walk but a short distance today—until you're fully recovered.”

“Yes, a wise decision.”

It was another hour before they were ready to leave, for Icarium needed to oil his bow and set a whetstone to his sword. Mappo waited patiently, seated on a boulder, until the Jhag finally straightened and turned to him, then nodded.

They set off, westward.

After a time, as they walked on the plain, Icarium glanced at Mappo. “What would I do without you, my friend?”

The nest of lines framing the Trell's eyes flinched, then he smiled ruefully as he considered his reply. “Perish the thought.”

As it reached into the wasteland known as the Jhag Odhan, the plain stretched before them, unbroken.

The young widow, a small clay flask clutched in her hands, left the horsewife's yurt and walked out into the grassland beyond the camp. The sky overhead was empty and, for the woman, lifeless. Her bare feet stepped heavily, toes snagging in the yellowed grass.

When she'd gone thirty paces she stopped and lowered herself to her knees. She faced the vast Wickan plain, her hands resting on her swollen belly, the horsewife's flask smooth, polished and warm beneath the calluses.

The searching was complete, the conclusions inescapable. The child within her was
…empty
. A thing without a soul. The vision of the horsewife's pale, sweat-beaded face rose to hover before the young woman, her words whispering like the wind.
Even a warlock must ride a soul—the children they claimed were no different from children they did not claim. Do you understand? What grows within you possesses…nothing. It has been cursed—for reasons only the spirits know
.

The child within you must be returned to the earth
.

She unstoppered the flask. There would be pain, at least to begin with, then a cooling numbness. No one from the camp would watch, all eyes averted from this time of shame.

A storm cloud hung on the north horizon. She had not noticed it before. It swelled, rolled closer, towering and dark.

The widow raised the flask to her lips.

A hand swept over her shoulder and clamped onto her wrist. The young woman cried out and twisted around to see the horsewife, her breath coming in gasps, her eyes wide as she stared at the storm cloud. The flask fell to the ground. Figures from the camp were now running toward the two women.

The widow searched the old woman's weathered face, seeing fear and
…hope
? “What? What is it?”

The horsewife seemed unable to speak. She continued staring northward.

The storm cloud darkened the rolling hills. The widow turned and gasped. The cloud was not a cloud. It was a swarm, a seething mass of black, striding like a giant toward them, tendrils spinning off, then coming around again to rejoin the main body.

Terror gripped the widow. Pain shot up her arm from where the horsewife still clutched her wrist, a hold that threatened to snap bones.

Flies! Oh, spirits below—flies…

The swarm grew closer, a flapping, tumbling nightmare.

The horsewife screamed in wordless anguish, as if giving voice to a thousand grieving souls. Releasing the widow's wrist, she fell to her knees.

The young woman's heart hammered with sudden realization.

No, not flies. Crows. Crows, so many crows—

Deep within her, the child stirred.

 

This ends the Second Tale
of the
Malazan
Book of the Fallen

Tribes of the Seven Cities Subcontinent

Arak:
Pan'potsun Odhan

Bhilard:
east of Nenoth Odhan

Can'eld:
northeast of Ubaryd

Debrahl:
north regions

Dhis'bahl:
Omari and Nahal Hills

Gral:
Ehrlitan foothills down to Pan'potsun

Kherahn Dhobri:
Geleen Plain

Khundryl:
west of Nenoth Odhan

Pardu:
north of Geleen Grasslands

Semk:
Karas Hills and Steppes

Tithan:
south of Sialk

Tregyn:
west of Sanimon

Seven Cities (Bisbrha and Debrahl)
Language (Selected Words)

bhok'arala:
a squall of cliff-dwelling winged monkeys (common)

(bhok'aral:
singular)

bloodfly:
a biting insect

chigger fleas:
windborne fleas of the desert

dhenrabi:
a large marine carnivore

Dryjhna:
the Apocalypse

durhang:
an opiate

emrag:
an edible cactus favored by Trell

emulor:
a poison derived from flowers

enkar'al:
a winged reptile equivalent in size to a horse (very rare)

esanthan'el:
a dog-sized winged reptile

guldindha:
a broad-leafed tree

jegura:
a medicinal cactus

kethra knife:
a fighting weapon

Marrok:
dry-season siesta

Mezla:
vaguely pejorative name for Malazans

odhan:
plains, wastelands

rhizan:
a squirrel-sized winged lizard (common)

sawr'ak:
a thin light beer served cold

sepah:
unleavened bread

She'gai:
a hot wind of the dry season

simharal:
a seller of children

tapu:
a food-hawker

tapuharal:
a seller of goat meat (cooked)

tapusepah:
a seller of bread

taputasr:
a seller of pastries

tasr:
sepah with honey

telaba:
a sea cloak of the Dosii (Dosin Pali)

tralb:
a poison derived from mushrooms

White Paralt:
a poison derived from spiders

Place Names

Aren:
Holy City and site of Imperial Headquarters

Balahn
(Battle of)

Bat'rol:
a small village near Hissar

Caron Tepasi:
an inland city

Chain of Dogs:
Coltaine's train of soldiers and refugees journeying from Hissar to Aren

Dojal Spring
(Battle of)

Dosin Pali:
a city on the south coast of Otataral Island

Ehrlitan:
Holy City

G'danisban:
a city near Pan'potsun

Galeen:
a city on the coast of the Clatar Sea

Gelor Ridge
(Battle of Gelor)

Guran:
an inland city

Hissar:
a city on the east coast

Holy Desert Raraku:
a region west of the Pan'potsun Odhan

Karakarang:
a Holy City on Otataral Island

Nenoth
(Battle of)

Pan'potsun:
Holy City

Rutu Jelba:
a port city on north Otataral Island

Sanimon
(Battle of)

Sekala Plain
(Battle of)

Silak:
a city on the east coast

The Path of Hands:
a Soletaken and D'ivers path to Ascendancy

Tremorlor
(the Azath House in the Wastes, also Odhanhouse)

Ubaryd:
a Holy City on the south coast

Vathar Crossing
(Coltaine's Crossing, the Vathar Massacre): the Day of Pure Blood, Mesh'am tho'ledann

Vin'til Basin:
southwest of Hissar

The World of Sorcery

T
HE
W
ARRENS (THE
P
ATHS—THOSE
W
ARRENS ACCESSIBLE TO HUMANS
)

Denul:
the Path of Healing

D'riss:
the Path of Stone

Hood's Path:
the Path of Death

Meanas:
the Path of Shadow and Illusion

Ruse:
the Path of the Sea

Rashan:
the Path of Darkness

Serc:
the Path of the Sky

Tennes:
the Path of the Land

Thyr:
the Path of Light

 

T
HE
E
LDER
W
ARRENS

Kurald Galain:
the Tiste Andii Warren of Darkness

Kurald Emurlahn:
the Tiste Edur Warren

Tellann:
the T'lan Imass Warren

Omtose Phellack:
the Jaghut Warren

Starvald Demelain:
the Tiam Warren, the First Warren

Titles and Groups

First Sword of Empire:
Malazan and T'lan Imass, a title denoting an Imperial champion

Fist:
a military governor in the Malazan Empire

High Fist:
a commander of armies in a Malazan Campaign

Kron T'lan Imass:
the name of the clans under the command of Kron

Logros T'lan Imass:
the name of the clans under the command of Logros

The Bridgeburners:
a legendary élite division in the Malaz 2nd Army

The Pannion Seer:
a mysterious prophet ruling the lands south of Darujhistan

The Warlord:
the name for Caladan Brood

The Claw:
the covert organization of the Malazan Empire

Peoples (human and non-human)

Barghast (non-human):
pastoral nomadic warrior society

Forkrul Assail (non-human):
extinct mythical people (one of the Four Founding Races)

Jaghut (non-human):
extinct mythical people (one of the Four Founding Races)

Moranth (non-human):
highly regimented civilization centered in Cloud Forest

T'lan Imass:
one of the Four Founding Races, now immortal

Tiste Andii (non-human):
an Elder Race

Tiste Edur (non-human):
an Elder Race

Trell (non-human):
pastoral nomadic warrior society

The Deck of Dragons—The Fatid
(and associated Ascendants)

High House Life

King

Queen (Queen of Dreams)

Champion

Priest

Herald

Soldier

Weaver

Mason

Virgin

 

High House Death

King (Hood)

Queen

Knight (once Dassem Ultor)

Magi

Herald

Soldier

Spinner

Mason

Virgin

 

High House Light

King

Queen

Champion

Priest

Captain

Soldier

Seamstress

Builder

Maiden

 

High House Dark

King

Queen

Knight (Son of Darkness)

Magi

Captain

Soldier

Weaver

Mason

Wife

 

High House Shadow

King (Shadowthrone/Ammanas)

Queen

Assassin (the Rope/Cotillion)

Magi

Hound

 

Unaligned

Oponn (the Jesters of Chance)

Obelisk (Burn)

Crown

Scepter

Orb

Throne

 

Bonecaster:
a shaman of the T'lan Imass

D'ivers:
a higher order of shapeshifting

Otataral:
a magic-negating reddish ore mined from the Tanno Hills, Seven Cities

Soletaken:
an order of shape-shifting

Warrens of Chaos:
the miasmic paths between the Warrens

Ascendants

Apsalar
, Lady of Thieves

Beru
, Lord of Storms

Burn
, Lady of the Earth, the Sleeping Goddess

Caladan Brood
, the Warlord

Cotillion/The Rope
(the Assassin of High House Shadow)

Dessembrae
, Lord of Tragedy

D'rek
, the Worm of Autumn (sometimes the Queen of Disease,
see
Poliel)

Fanderay
, She-Wolf of Winter

Fener
, the Boar (
see also
Tennerock)

Gedderone
, Lady of Spring and Rebirth

Great Ravens
, ravens sustained by magic

Hood
(King of High House Death)

Jhess
, Queen of Weaving

Kallor
, the High King

K'rul
, Elder God

Mael
, Elder God

Mowri
, Lady of Beggars, Slaves and Serfs

Nerruse
, Lady of Calm Seas and Fair Wind

Oponn
, Twin Jesters of Chance

Osserc
, Lord of the Sky

Poliel
, Mistress of Pestilence

Queen of Dreams
(Queen of High House Life)

Shadowthrone/Ammanas
(King of High House Shadow)

Shedenul/Soliel
, Lady of Health

Soliel
, Mistress of Healing

Tennerock/Fener
, The Boar of Five Tusks

The Crippled God
, King of Chains

The Hounds
(of High House Shadow)

Togg
(
see
Fanderay), the Wolf of Winter

Trake/Treach
, The Tiger of Summer and Battle

Son of Darkness/Moon's lord/Anomander Rake
(Knight of High House Dark)

Treach
, First Hero