Midnight Tides & The Bonehunters - By Steven Erikson Page 0,348

least one of us has got the timeline right. Clare and Bowen, as always. To the staff at Bar Italia for seeing me through another one – three novellas and four novels and twenty-two thousand lattes, that was quite a run, wasn't it? Steve, Perry and Ross Donaldson, for the friendship. Simon Taylor, Patrick Walsh and Howard Morhaim, for the good work done each and every time.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

THE MALAZANS

Empress Laseen, ruler of the Malazan Empire

Adjunct Tavore, commander of the Fourteenth Army

Fist Keneb, division commander

Fist Blistig, division commander

Fist Tene Baralta, division commander

Fist Temul, division commander

Nil, a Wickan warlock

Nether, a Wickan witch

T'amber, Tavore's aide

Lostara Yil, aide to Pearl

Pearl, a Claw

Nok, Admiral of the Imperial Fleet

Banaschar, an ex-priest of D'rek

Hellian, a sergeant in the city guard of Kartool

Urb, a city guard in Kartool

Brethless, a city guard in Kartool

Touchy, a city guard in Kartool

Quick Ben, High Mage in the Fourteenth Army

Kalam Mekhar, an assassin

Grub, a foundling

SELECTED SOLDIERS IN THE FOURTEENTH ARMY

Captain Kindly, Ashok Regiment

Lieutenant Pores, Ashok Regiment

Captain Faradan Sort

Sergeant Fiddler/Strings

Corporal Tarr

Cuttle

Bottle

Koryk

Smiles

Sergeant Gesler

Corporal Stormy

Master Sergeant Braven Tooth

Maybe

Lutes

Ebron

Sinn

Crump

Sergeant Balm

Corporal Deadsmell

Throatslitter

Masan Gilani

OTHERS

Barathol Mekhar, a blacksmith

Kulat, a villager

Nulliss, a villager

Hayrith, a villager

Chaur, a villager

Noto Boil, company cutter (healer) in Onearm's Host

Hurlochel, an outrider in Onearm's Host

Captain Sweetcreek, an officer in Onearm's Host

Corporal Futhgar, an officer in Onearm's Host

Fist Rythe Bude, an officer in Onearm's Host

Ormulogun, artist

Gumble, his critic

Apsalar, an assassin

Telorast, a spirit

Curdle, a spirit

Samar Dev, a witch of Ugarat

Karsa Orlong, a Teblor warrior

Ganath, a Jaghut

Spite, a Soletaken and sister to Lady Envy

Corabb Bhilan Thenu'alas

Leoman of the Flails, last leader of the rebellion

Captain Dunsparrow, Y'Ghatan city guard

Karpolan Demesand, Trygalle Trade Guild

Torahaval Delat, a priestess of Poliel

Cutter, once Crokus of Darujhistan

Heboric Ghost Hands, Destraint of Treach

Scillara, refugee from Raraku

Felisin the Younger, refugee from Raraku

Greyfrog, a demon

Mappo Runt, a Trell

Icarium, a Jhag

Iskaral Pust, a priest of Shadow

Mogora, a D'ivers

Taralack Veed, a Gral and agent of the Nameless Ones

Dejim Nebrahl, a D'ivers T'rolbarahl of the First Empire

Trull Sengar, a Tiste Edur

Onrack the Broken, an unbound T'lan Imass

Ibra Gholan, a T'lan Imass

Monok Ochem, a T'lan Imass Bonecaster

Minala, commander of the Company of Shadow

Tomad Sengar, a Tiste Edur

Feather Witch, a Letherii slave

Atri-Preda Yan Tovis (Twilight), commander of Letherii forces

Captain Varat Taun, officer under Twilight's Command

Taxilian, an interpreter

Ahlrada Ahn, a Tiste Andii spy among the Tiste Edur

Sathbaro Rangar, Arapay warlock

For all that is made real

In this age descending

Where heroes leave naught

But the iron ring of their names

From bardic throats

I stand in this silent heart

Yearning the fading beat

Of lives fallen to dust

And the sifting whisper

Proclaims glory's passing

As the songs fail

In dwindling echoes

For all that is made real

The chambers and halls

Yawn empty to my cries –

For someone must

Give answer

Give answer

To all of this

Someone

The Age Descending

Torbora Fethena

PROLOGUE

1164 Burn's Sleep

Istral'fennidahn, the season of D'rek, Worm of Autumn

Twenty-four days since the Execution of Sha'ik in Raraku

The webs between the towers were visible in glistening sheets far overhead, and the faint wind coming in from the sea shivered the vast threads so that a mist of rain descended on Kartool City, as it did every morning in the Clear Season.

Most things a person could get used to, eventually, and since the yellow-banded paralt spiders had been the first to occupy the once infamous towers following the Malazan conquest of the island, and that was decades past now, there had been plenty of time to become inured to such details. Even the sight of gulls and pigeons suspended motionless between the score of towers every morning, before the fist-sized spiders emerged from their upper-floor dens to retrieve their prey, yielded little more than faint revulsion among the citizens of Kartool City.

Sergeant Hellian of the Septarch District city guard, alas, was an exception to this. There were gods, she suspected, convulsed in perpetual hilarity at her wretched fate, for which they were no doubt responsible. Born in the city, cursed with a fear of all manner of spiders, she had lived the entirety of her nineteen years in unrelieved terror.

Why not just leave? A question asked by comrades and acquaintances more times than she cared to count. But it wasn't that simple. It was impossible, in fact. The murky waters of the harbour were fouled with moult-skins and web-fragments and sodden, feather-tufted carcasses bobbing here and there. Inland, things got even worse. The young paralt, upon escaping their elders in the city, struggled to maturity among the limestone cliffs ringing Kartool. And though young, they were no less aggressive or virulent. While traders and farmers told her that one could walk the trails and roads all day without encountering a single one, Hellian