Reaper's Gate & Toll the Hounds - By Steven Erikson Page 0,442

was now magically dead. Probably permanently. At this news the captain had turned away, although Keneb thought he heard her say: 'Not a candle left to light, then.'

As the marines set out for the city of Letheras, they could hear the rumble of detonations from the south, where the Adjunct had landed with the rest of the Bonehunters and was now engaging the Letherii armies. That thunder, Keneb knew, did not belong to sorcery.

He should be leading his troops to that battle, to hammer the Letherii rearguard, and then link up with Tavore and the main force. But Keneb agreed with the captain and with Fiddler and Gesler. He and his damned marines had earned this, had earned the right to be the first to assail this empire's capital city.

'Might be another army waiting on the walls,' Sergeant Thom Tissy had said, making his face twist in his singular expression of disapproval, like a man who'd just swallowed a nacht turd.

'It's possible there is,' the Fist had conceded. And that particular conversation went no further.

Up onto the imperial road with its well-set cobbles and breadth sufficient to accommodate a column ten soldiers wide. Marching amidst discarded accoutrements and the rubbish left by the Letherii legions as the day drew to a close and the shadows lengthened.

Dusk was not far off and the last sleep had been some time past, yet his soldiers, Keneb saw, carried themselves – and their gear – as if fresh from a week's rest.

A few hundred paces along, the column ran into the first refugees.

Smudged, frightened faces. Sacks and baskets of meagre provisions, wide-eyed babies peering from bundles. Burdened mules and two-wheeled carts creaking and groaning beneath possessions. No command was given, yet the Letherii shuffled to the roadsides, pulling whatever gear they had with them, as the column continued on. Eyes downcast, children held tight. Saying nothing at all.

Faradan Sort moved alongside Keneb. 'This is odd,' she said.

The Fist nodded. 'They have the look of people fleeing something that's already happened. Find one, Captain, and get some answers.'

'Aye, sir.'

Studying the refugees he passed, Keneb wondered what was behind the glances a few of them furtively cast on these marching soldiers, these white-haired foreigners in their gleaming armour. Do they see saviours? Not a chance. Yet, where is the hostility? They are more frightened of what they've just left behind in Letheras than they are of us. What in Hood's name is happening there?

And where are the Tiste Edur?

The crowds got thicker, more reluctant to move aside. Fiddler adjusted the pack on his shoulder and settled a hand on the grip of his shortsword. The column's pace had slowed, and the sergeant could feel the growing impatience among his troops.

They could see the end – Hood's breath – it was behind that white wall to the northeast, now a league or less distant. The imperial road stretching down towards them from a main gate was, in the red glare of sunset, a seething serpent. Pouring out by the thousands.

And why?

Riots, apparently. An economy in ruins, people facing starvation.

'Never knew we could cause such trouble, eh Fid?'

'Can't be us, Cuttle. Not just us, I mean. Haven't you noticed? There are no Tiste Edur in this crowd. Now, either they've retreated behind their estate walls, or to the palace keep or whatever it is where the Emperor lives, or they were the first to run.'

'Like those behind us, then. Heading back to their homelands in the north.'

'Maybe.'

'So, if this damned empire is already finished, why are we bothering with the capital?'

Fiddler shrugged. 'Bottle might have hidden one of his rats in the Adjunct's hair – why not ask him?'

'Adjunct ain't got enough hair for that,' Cuttle muttered, though he did glance back at the squad mage. Bottle did not deign to reply. 'See anybody on those walls, Fid? My eyes are bad in bad light.'

'If there are, they're not holding torches,' Fiddler replied.

There had been so little time to think. About anything, beyond just staying alive. Ever since the damned coast. But now, as he walked on this road, Fiddler found his thoughts wandering dusty paths. They had set out on this invasion in the name of vengeance. And, maybe, to eradicate a tyrannical Emperor who viewed anyone not his subject as meat for the butcher's cleaver. All very well, as far as it goes. Besides, that hardly makes this Emperor unique.

So why is this our battle? And where in Hood's name do we go from here? He