The other snarled in frustration. “I’m the one who’s linked, right? Not you, Irp, not you. Baruk would never be such a fool as to task you with anything—except grunt work.”
“You got that right, Rudd. Grunt work. I’m good at that, ain’t I? Grunt work. Grunt, grunt, grunt—you sure about this? Really sure?”
They made their way up the bank and approached the last tree lining the road. Both creatures squatted down before it, staring up in silence at the withered corpse nailed to the bole.
“I don’t see nothing,” Irp muttered. “I think you’re wrong. I think you’ve lost it, Rudd, and you won’t admit it. I think—”
“I’m one word away from killing you, Irp, I swear it.”
“Fine. I die good, you know. Grunt, gasp, grunt, sigh…grunt.”
Rudd ambled to the tree’s base, the few stiff hairs of his hackles the only sign of his simmering temper. He clambered upward, pulled himself onto the chest of the corpse and rummaged with one hand beneath the rotted shirt. He plucked loose a tattered, soiled piece of cloth. Unfolding it, he frowned.
Irp’s voice rose from below. “What is it?”
“A name’s written on here.”
“Whose?”
Rudd shrugged. “ ‘Sa’yless Lorthal.’ ”
“That’s a woman’s name. He’s not a woman, is he?”
“Of course not!” Rudd snapped. A moment later he tucked the cloth back under the shirt. “Mortals are strange,” he muttered, as he began searching beneath the shirt again. He quickly found what he sought, and drew forth a small bottle of smoky glass.
“Well?” Irp demanded.
“It broke all right,” Rudd said with satisfaction. “I can see the cracks.” He leaned forward and bit through the thong, then, clutching the bottle in one hand, scrambled back down. Crouched at the base, he held the bottle to the sun and squinted through it.
Irp grunted.
Rudd then held the bottle against one pointed ear and shook it. “Ah! He’s in there all right!”
“Good, let’s go—”
“Not yet. The body comes with us. Mortals are particular that way—he won’t want another. So, go get it, Irp.”
“There’s nothing left of the damned thing!” Irp squawked.
“Right, then it won’t weigh much, will it?”
Grumbling, Irp climbed the tree and began pulling out the spikes.
Rudd listened to his grunts with satisfaction, then he shivered. “Hurry up, damn you! It’s eerie around here.”
The Jhag’s eyes fluttered open and slowly focused on the wide, bestial face looking down on him. Puzzled recognition followed. “Mappo Trell. My friend.”
“How do you feel, Icarium?”
He moved slightly, winced. “I—I am injured.”
“Aye. I’m afraid I gave away my last two elixirs, and so could not properly heal you.”
Icarium managed a smile. “I am certain, as always, that the need was great.”
“You may not think so, I’m afraid. I saved the lives of two dogs.”
Icarium’s smile broadened. “They must have been worthy beasts. I look forward to that tale. Help me up, please.”
“Are you certain?”
“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.
Epilogue
Hood’s sprites are revealed
the disordered host
Whispering of deaths
in wing-flap chorus
Dour music has its own
beauty, for the song of ruin
is most fertile.
WICKAN DIRGE
FISHER
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
Book of the Fallen
Glossary
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
THE WARRENS (THE PATHS—THOSE WARRENS 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
THE ELDER WARRENS
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
MEMORIES OF ICE
BOOK THREE OF THE
MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN
STEVEN ERIKSON
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
MEMORIES OF ICE: BOOK THREE OF THE MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN
Copyright © 2001 by Steven Erikson
All rights reserved.
Originally published in Great Britain in 2001 by Bantam Press, a division of Transworld Publishers.
Maps by Neil Gower
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor ® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
ISBN 978-0-7653-4880-7
First Tor Edition: November 2005
First Tor Mass Market Edition: August 2006
eISBN 9781429926638
First eBook edition: October 2012
To
R. S. LUNDIN
Acknowledgments
I extend my gratitude to the following for their support and friendship: Clare, Bowen, Mark, David, Chris, Rick, Cam, Courtney; Susan and Peter, David Thomas Sr. and Jr., Harriet and Chris and Lily and Mina and Smudge; Patrick Walsh and Simon and Jane. Thanks also to Dave Holden and his friendly staff (Tricia, Cindy, Liz, Tanis, Barbara, Joan, Nadia, Amanda, Tony, Andi and Jody) of the Pizza Place, for the table and the refills. And thanks to John Meaney for the disgusting details on dead seeds.
The Complete Malazan Book of the Fallen Page 155