The historian stepped outside into the rain, drawing in lungfuls of clean, cool air as he once more wrapped cloak about him.
Conquerors could overrun a city’s walls, could kill every living soul within it, fill every estate and every house and every store with its own people, yet rule nothing but the city’s thin surface, the skin of the present, and would one day be brought down by the spirits below, until they themselves were but one momentary layer among many. This is an enemy we can never defeat, Duiker believed. Yet history tells the stories of those who would challenge that enemy, again and again. Perhaps victory is not achieved by overcoming that enemy, but by joining it, becoming one with it.
The Empress has sent a new Fist to batter down the restless centuries of this land. Had she abandoned Coltaine as I’d suggested to Mallick Rel? Or had she just held him back in readiness, like a weapon forged and honed for one specific task?
Duiker left the encampment, once more hunched beneath the driving rain. Ahead loomed the gates of the Imperial Compound. He might well find some answers to his questions within the next hour, as he came face to face with Coltaine of the Crow Clan.
He crossed the rutted track, sloshing through the murky puddles filling the horse and wagon ruts, then ascended the muddy slope toward the gatehouse.
Two cowled guards stepped into view as he reached the gate’s narrow side passage.
“No petitions today, Dosii,” one of the Malazan soldiers said. “Try tomorrow.”
Duiker unclasped the cloak, opened it to reveal the Imperial diadem pinned to his tunic. “The Fist has called a council, has he not?”
Both soldiers saluted and stepped back. The one who’d spoken earlier smiled apologetically. “Didn’t know you were with the other one,” he said.
“What other one?”
“He came in just a few minutes ago, historian.”
“Yes, of course.” Duiker nodded to the two men, then passed within. The stone floor of the passage bore the muddy tracks of a pair of moccasins. Frowning, he continued on, coming to the inside compound. A roofed causeway followed the wall to his left, leading eventually to the side postern of the squat, unimaginative headquarters building. Already wet, Duiker ignored it, electing to cross the compound directly toward the building’s main entrance. In passing he noticed that the man who had preceded him had done the same. The pooled prints of his steps betrayed a bowlegged gait. The historian’s frown deepened.
He came to the entrance, where another guard appeared, who directed Duiker to the council room. As he approached the room’s double doors, he checked for his predecessor’s footprints, but there were none. Evidently he’d gone to some other chamber within the building. Shrugging, Duiker opened the doors.
The council room was low-ceilinged, its stone walls unplastered but washed in white paint. A long marble table dominated, looking strangely incomplete in the absence of chairs. Already present were Mallick Rel, Kulp, Coltaine and another Wickan officer. They all turned at the historian’s entrance, Rel’s brows lifting in mild surprise. Clearly, he’d been unaware that Coltaine had extended to Duiker an invitation. Had it been the new Fist’s intention to unbalance the priest, a deliberate exclusion? After a moment the historian dismissed the thought. More likely the result of a disorganized new command.
The chairs had been specifically removed for this council, as was evident in the tracks their legs had left through the white dust on the floor. The discomfort of not knowing where to stand or how to position oneself was evident in both Mallick Rel and Kulp. The Jhistal priest of Mael was shifting weight from one foot to the other, sweat on his brow reflecting the harsh glare of the lanterns set on the tabletop, his hands folded into his sleeves. Kulp looked in need of a wall to lean against, but was clearly uncertain how the Wickans would view such a casual posture.
Inwardly smiling, Duiker removed his dripping cloak, hanging it from an old torch bracket beside the doors. He then turned about and presented himself before the new Fist, who stood at the nearest end of the table, his officer on his left—a scowling veteran whose wide, flat face seemed to fold in on itself diagonally in a scar from right jawline to left brow.
“I am Duiker,” the historian said. “Imperial Historian of the Empire.” He half bowed. “Welcome to Hissar, Fist.” Up close, he could see that the warleader of the Crow Clan showed the weathering of forty years on the north Wickan Plains of Quon Tali. His lean, expressionless face was lined, deep brackets around the thin, wide mouth, and squint tracks at the corners of his dark, deep-set eyes. Oiled braids hung down past his shoulders, knotted with crow-feather fetishes. He was tall, wearing a battered vest of chain over a hide shirt, a crowfeather cloak hanging from his broad shoulders down to the backs of his knees. He wore a rider’s leggings, laced with gut up the outer sides to his hips. A single horn-handled long-knife jutted out from under his left arm.
In answer to Duiker’s words he cocked his head. “When I last saw you,” he said in his harsh Wickan accent, “you lay in fever on the Emperor’s own cot, about to rise and walk through the Hooded One’s Gates.” He paused. “Bult was the young warrior whose lance ripped you open and for his effort a soldier named Dujek kissed Bult’s face with his sword.” Coltaine slowly turned to smile at the scarred Wickan at his side.
The grizzled horseman’s scowl remained unchanged as he glared at Duiker. After a moment he shook his head and swelled his chest. “I remember an unarmed man. The lack of weapons in his hands turned my lance at the last moment. I remember Dujek’s sword that stole my beauty even as my horse bit his arm crushing bone. I remember that Dujek lost that arm to the surgeons, fouled as it was with my horse’s breath. Between us, I lost the exchange, for the loss of an arm did nothing to damage Dujek’s glorious career, while the loss of my beauty left me with but the one wife that I already had.”
“And was she not your sister, Bult?”
“She was, Coltaine. And blind.”
Both Wickans fell silent, the one frowning and the other scowling.
Off to one side Kulp voiced something like a strangled grunt. Duiker slowly raised an eyebrow. “I am sorry, Bult,” he said. “Although I was at the battle, I never saw Coltaine, nor you. In any case, I had not noticed any particular loss of your beauty.”
The veteran nodded. “One must look carefully, it’s true.”
“Perhaps,” Mallick Rel said, “time to dispense with the pleasantries, entertaining as they are, and begin this council.”
“When I’m ready,” Coltaine said casually, still studying Duiker.
Bult grunted. “Tell me, Historian, what inspired you to enter battle without weapons?”
“Perhaps I lost them in the melee.”
“But you did not. You wore no belt, no scabbard, you carried no shield.”
Duiker shrugged. “If I am to record the events of this Empire, I must be in their midst, sir.”
“Shall you display such reckless zeal in recording the events of Coltaine’s command?”
“Zeal? Oh yes, sir. As for reckless,” he sighed, “alas, my courage is not as it once was. These days I wear armor when attending battle, and a short sword and shield. And helm. Surrounded by bodyguards, and at least a league away from the heart of the fighting.”
“The years have brought you wisdom,” Bult said.
“In some things, I am afraid,” Duiker said slowly, “not enough.” He faced Coltaine. “I would be bold enough to advise you, Fist, at this council.”
Coltaine’s gaze slid to Mallick Rel as he spoke, “And you fear the presumption, for you will say things I will not appreciate. Perhaps, in hearing such things, I shall command Bult to complete the task of killing you. This tells me much,” he continued, “of the situation at Aren.”
“I know little of that,” Duiker said, feeling sweat trickle beneath his tunic. “But even less of you, Fist.”
Coltaine’s expression did not change. Duiker was reminded of a cobra slowly rising before him, unblinking, cold.
�
�Question,” Mallick Rel said. “Has the council begun?”
“Not yet,” Coltaine said slowly. “We await my warlock.”
The priest of Mael drew a sharp breath at that. Off to one side, Kulp took a step forward.
Duiker found his throat suddenly dry. Clearing it, he said, “Was it not at the command of the Empress—in her first year on the throne—that all Wickan warlocks be, uh, rooted out? Was there not a subsequent mass execution? I have a memory of seeing Unta’s outer walls…”
“They took many days to die,” Bult said. “Hung from spikes of iron until the crows came to collect their souls. We brought our children to the city walls, to look upon the tribal elders whose lives were taken from us by the short-haired woman’s command. We gave them memory scars, to keep the truth alive.”
“An Empress,” Duiker said, watching Coltaine’s face, “whom you now serve.”
“The short-haired woman knows nothing of Wickan ways,” Bult said. “The crows that carried within them the greatest of the warlock souls returned to our people to await each new birth, and so the power of our elders returned to us.”
A side entrance Duiker had not noticed before slid open. A tall, bow-legged figure stepped into the room, face hidden in the shadow of a goat’s-head cowl, which he now pulled back, revealing the smooth visage of a boy no more than ten years old. The youth’s dark eyes met the historian’s.
“This is Sormo E’nath,” Coltaine said.
“Sormo E’nath—an old man—was executed at Unta,” Kulp snapped. “He was the most powerful of the warlocks—the Empress made sure of him. It’s said he took eleven days on the wall to die. This one is not Sormo E’nath. This is a boy.”
“Eleven days,” Bult grunted. “No single crow could hold all of his soul. Each day there came another, until he was all gone. Eleven days, eleven crows. Such was Sormo’s power, his life will, and such was the honor accorded him by the black-winged spirits. Eleven came to him. Eleven.”
“Elder sorcery,” Mallick Rel whispered. “Most ancient scrolls hint at such things. This boy is named Sormo E’nath. Truly the warlock reborn?”
“The Rhivi of Genabackis have similar beliefs,” Duiker said. “A newborn child can become the vessel of a soul that has not passed through Hood’s Gates.”
The boy spoke, his voice reedy but breaking, on the edge of manhood. “I am Sormo E’nath, who carries in his breastbone the memory of an iron spike. Eleven crows attended my birth.” He hitched his cloak behind his shoulders. “This day I came upon a ritual of divination and saw there among the crowd the historian Duiker. Together we witnessed a vision sent by a spirit of great power, a spirit whose face is one among many. This spirit promised armageddon.”
“I saw as he did,” Duiker said. “A trader caravan has camped outside the city.”
“You were not discovered as a Malazan?” Mallick asked.
“He speaks the tribal language well,” Sormo said. “And makes gestures announcing his hatred of the Empire. Well enough of countenance and in action to deceive the natives. Tell me, Historian, have you seen such divinations before?”
“None so…obvious,” Duiker admitted. “But I have seen enough signs to sense the growing momentum. The new year will bring rebellion.”
“Bold assertion,” Mallick Rel said. He sighed, clearly uncomfortable with standing. “The new Fist would do well to regard with caution such claims. Many are the prophecies of this land, as many as there are people, it seems. Such multitudes diminish the veracity of each. Rebellion has been promised in Seven Cities each year since the Malazan conquest. What has come of them? Naught.”
“The priest has hidden motives,” Sormo said.
Duiker found himself holding his breath.
Mallick Rel’s round, sweat-sheened face went white.
“All men have hidden motives,” Coltaine said, as if dismissing his warlock’s claim. “I hear counsel of warning and counsel of caution. A good balance. These are my words. The mage who yearns to lean against walls of stone views me as an adder in his bedroll. His fear of me speaks for every soldier in the Seventh Army.” The Fist spat on the floor, his face twisting. “I care nothing for their sentiments. If they obey my commands I in turn will serve them. If they do not, I will tear their hearts from their chests. Do you hear my words, Cadre Mage?”
Kulp was scowling. “I hear them.”
“I am here,” Rel’s voice was almost shrill, “to convey the commands of High Fist Pormqual—”
“Before or after the High Fist’s official welcome?” Even as he spoke Duiker regretted his words, despite Bult’s bark of laughter.
In response, Mallick Rel straightened. “High Fist Pormqual welcomes Fist Coltaine to Seven Cities, and wishes him well in his new command. The Seventh Army remains as one of the three original armies of the Malazan Empire, and the High Fist is confident that Fist Coltaine will honor their commendable history.”
“I care nothing for reputations,” Coltaine said. “They shall be judged by their actions. Go on.”
Trembling, Rel continued, “The High Fist Pormqual has asked me to convey his orders to High Fist Coltaine. Admiral Nok is to leave Hissar Harbor and proceed to Aren as soon as his ships are resupplied. High Fist Coltaine is to begin preparations for marching the Seventh overland…to Aren. It is the High Fist’s desire to review the Seventh prior to its final stationing.” The priest produced a sealed scroll from his robes and set it on the tabletop. “Such are the High Fist’s commands.”
A look of disgust darkened Coltaine’s features. He crossed his arms and deliberately turned his back on Mallick Rel.
Bult laughed without humor. “The High Fist wishes to review the army. Presumably the High Fist has an attendant High Mage, perhaps a Hand of the Claw as well? If he wishes to review Coltaine’s troops he can come here by Warren. The Fist has no intention of outfitting this army to march four hundred leagues so that Pormqual can frown at the dust on their boots. Such a move will leave the eastern provinces of Seven Cities without an occupying army. At this time of unrest it would be viewed as a retreat, especially when accompanied by the withdrawal of the Sahul Fleet. This land cannot be governed from behind the walls of Aren.”
“Defying the High Fist’s command?” Rel asked in a whisper, eyes glittering like blooded diamonds on Coltaine’s broad back.
The Fist whirled. “I am counseling a change of those commands,” he said, “and now await a reply.”
“Reply I shall give you,” the priest rasped.
Coltaine sneered.
Bult said, “You? You are a priest, not a soldier, not a governor. You are not even recognized as a member of the High Command.”
Rel’s glare flicked from Fist to veteran. “I am not? Indeed—”
“Not by Empress Laseen,” Bult cut in. “She knows nothing of you, priest, apart from the High Fist’s reports. Understand that the Empress does not convey power upon people whom she does not know. High Fist Pormqual employed you as his messenger boy and that is how the Fist shall treat you. You command nothing. Not Coltaine, not me, not even a lowly mess cook of the Seventh.”
“I shall convey these words and sentiments to the High Fist.”
“No doubt. You may go now.”
Rel’s jaw dropped. “Go?”
“We are done with you. Leave.”
In silence they watched the priest depart. As soon as the doors closed Duiker turned to Coltaine. “That may not have been wise, Fist.”
Coltaine’s eyes looked sleepy. “Bult spoke, not I.”
Duiker glanced at the veteran. The scarred Wickan was grinning.
“Tell me of Pormqual,” Coltaine said. “You have met him?”
The historian swung back to the Fist. “I have.”
“Does he govern well?”
“As far as I have been able to determine,” Duiker said, “he does not govern at all. Most edicts are issued by the man you—Bult—just expelled from this council. There are a host of others behind the curtain, most
ly nobleborn wealthy merchants. They are the ones primarily responsible for the cuts in duty taxation on imported goods, and the corresponding increases in local taxes on production and exports—with exemptions, of course, in whatever export they themselves are engaged in. The Imperial occupation is managed by Malazan merchants, a situation unchanged since Pormqual assumed the title of High Fist four years ago.”
Bult asked, “Who was High Fist before him?”
“Cartheron Crust, who drowned one night in Aren Harbor.”
Kulp snorted. “Crust could swim drunk through a hurricane, but then he went and drowned just like his brother Urko. Neither body was ever found, of course.”
“Meaning?”
Kulp grinned at Bult, but said nothing.
“Both Crust and Urko were the Emperor’s men,” Duiker explained. “It seems they shared the same fate as most of Kellanved’s companions, including Toc the Elder and Ameron. None of their bodies were ever found, either.” The historian shrugged. “Old history now. Forbidden history, in fact.”
“You assume they were murdered at Laseen’s command,” Bult said, baring his jagged teeth. “But imagine a circumstance where the Empress’s most able commanders simply…disappeared. Leaving her isolated, desperate for able people. You forget, Historian, that before Laseen became Empress, she was close companions with Crust, Urko, Ameron, Dassem and the others. Imagine her now alone, still feeling the wounds of abandonment.”
“And her murder of the other close companions—Kellanved and Dancer—was not something she imagined would affect her friendship with those commanders?” Duiker shook his head, aware of the bitterness in his voice. They were my companions, too.
“Some errors in judgment can never be undone,” Bult said. “The Emperor and Dancer were able conquerors, but were they able rulers?”
“We’ll never know,” Duiker snapped.
The Wickan’s sigh was almost a snort. “No, but if there was one person close to the throne capable of seeing what was to come, it was Laseen.”
The Malazan Empire Page 73