‘Agayla would not deceive me! I trust her completely!’
He turned, walking backwards. ‘Kiska. She did not object to me…’
She stopped. Objections crowded her throat but none could escape. Agayla was deceived? Hardly. She didn’t know? The Queen of Dreams, ignorant? Even less likely. And yet… how could she accept this criminal? Nothing less than a mass murderer?
A dark shape caught her eye ahead. A figure, prone, wearing dark torn robes. Tayschrenn! She dashed ahead.
‘Kiska! Wait!’
She dropped to her knees next to the figure, an old man on his back, thin, with long grey hair. ‘Tayschrenn!’ She touched a shoulder. ‘It’s me…’
The figure stirred, turning over. A hand grasped her wrist. Kiska stared, stunned. For it was not Tayschrenn. The man stood, his grip on her wrist inhumanly strong. He was sun-darkened, with a great hooked nose and black glittering eyes. ‘And you are?’ he grated in accented Talian.
Kiska could not speak, couldn’t think. Impossible. All this… impossible…
The avid eyes slid aside, narrowing. ‘And who is this?’
Kiska followed his gaze to Leoman, kneeling, bowed.
‘Arise,’ the man growled.
Leoman straightened, inclined his head in obeisance. ‘Greetings, Yathengar. Faladan, priest of Ehrlitan. The Seven bless us.’
The man, Yathengar, pushed Kiska away. He took an uncertain step, his gaze furrowed. ‘Leoman? In truth? Leoman — Champion of Sha’ik?’ He clasped Leoman’s shoulders and laughed. ‘The Seven Gods are not so easily swept aside, yes? How they must have schemed to bring us together! We shall return, you and I. All Seven Cities will rise aflamed! You shall be my general. We will destroy them.’
Leoman bowed again. ‘I am yours to command.’
To one side a brightening disturbed the uniformity of this island, or eye of calm, at the centre of the Whorl. Yathengar peered aside, frowning. ‘What is this?’
Leoman shot Kiska a warning glance. ‘Tiste Liosan, m’lord. This place touches upon their Realm and they are here to destroy it.’
‘Fools to challenge me here. I will sweep them aside like chaff.’
Leoman had backed away a step. ‘No doubt, m’lord.’
Kiska eyed him — what was the bastard up to? Has he deceived everyone? Every friend or loyalty he has ever established, he has betrayed. And now he would whip this madman upon the Liosan? Was there no limit to his debasement? Was it all nothing more than gleeful nihilism?
Leoman looked up, directing her gaze to the sky. Unwilling to cooperate, she reluctantly glanced up anyway. And she saw it. A tiny bat-like dot flapping overhead.
Her gaze snapped back to him, her heart lurching. The man took another careful step away from Yathengar. She followed suit.
‘Watch, Leoman,’ the priest commanded. ‘See how I have grown in might here.’
Leoman bowed again. ‘Yes, m’lord.’
Kiska cast quick furtive glances to their little guide. It descended to the rear, behind them, where the ground fell away to the dark abyss that seemed to surround them. It disappeared, arcing down into the gulf, and Kiska’s gaze rose to Leoman, appalled.
He nodded, his gaze steady, insistent.
And she, hardly able to breathe, terrified, nodded back.
Leoman kicked her staff over the edge. Yathengar turned. ‘What?’
Kiska leapt into the black emptiness. A surprised roar burst behind her. Then, a bellow of pure outrage: ‘Leoman!’
It seemed Leoman could not help but remain true to his character.
Bakune imagined himself the most coddled prisoner in the history of Banith’s Carceral Quarters. Guards smuggled food and wine to him; guards’ wives whispered news from the countryside through the grate of his door. Even the commander of the quarters, Ibarth, a man who once openly scorned his judgements from the bench, appeared at his door to express his horror at the Malazans’ treatment of him.
‘Imagine,’ the man had huffed, ‘after all your efforts to be civil. These Malazans are barbarians!’ He assured Bakune that he’d have him out in an instant if it was up to him — but that the Malazans had his hands tied.
Bakune gave his understanding and the man fairly fainted his relief; he wiped his flushed sweating face and bowed his gratitude. News came only later via a guard’s wife that the Roolian resistance had named Bakune a patriot of the freedom struggle — a title he personally could not make any sense of.
The next night he was startled awake by a rattling at his door. A guard holding a lantern gently swung it open to wink and touch the side of his nose in a sort of comical pantomime. Bakune stared sleepily at the man. Whatever was he up to?
Another fellow slipped inside, wrapped in a cloak, hood up, a heavyset great lump of a fellow who sat on the end of his pallet. The guard set the lantern on a hook and backed away.
Bakune eyed the figure. ‘And who are you?’
The man threw back his hood. ‘Really, Assessor. Don’t you recognize old friends?’
It was Karien’el, just as fat, nose just as swollen, if a touch more tanned. Bakune jumped up. ‘Whatever are you doing here? You’re a wanted man!’
‘I was here in town so I thought I’d break you out.’
That silenced Bakune for a moment. He flexed his arm, massaging it and wincing. ‘Here? In town? Why? I told Hyuke there was to be no trouble here.’
Chuckling, Karien’el raised his hands. ‘Granted. The Malazans can have this pimple.’ He pointed to Bakune. ‘It’s you I want.’
‘Me?’
Karien’el chuckled again, shaking his head. ‘From anyone else I would take that as false modesty — but not you. I know you. That’s why I want you. I need an administrator. One I can trust.’
‘An administrator? What for?’
Karien’el lost his grin. ‘Gods you’re dense, man! For the bloody kingdom, that’s what!’
Bakune sat heavily. ‘There are others much more qualified…’
Karien made a farting noise. ‘Lady forgive you, but you’re taking all this fairness too damned far. Why them? Why not you? No, at this point it’s all about relationships. I know you. For example, I know you won’t waste both our time by scheming against me. Or trying to undermine my power to further your own.’ The man raised his eyes to the ceiling, sighing. ‘You have no idea what a relief that would be.’
Bakune couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. ‘But the Malazans…’
‘Neither the new Malazans nor the old Malazans have the men to hold the kingdom. And they both know it. It’s ours for the meantime — and we’re already fighting over it. Oh, they can try to retake it. But until then someone has to enforce order.’
Bakune looked him up and down. ‘And that would be you?’
If the man was offended he didn’t show it. ‘Or the next lucky bastard in line.’ Leaning over, he tapped a knuckle on the door.
Four armoured soldiers crowded the hall. Karien’el nodded to them and stood, letting out a long tired breath. ‘Welcome to the struggle, Chancellor, and Lord High Assessor of Rool.’
The guards bowed. One gestured up the hall. ‘This way, if you please, m’lord.’
Outside, it was a dark overcast night. Snow lay gathered against walls, melting, the streets glistening with water. He was hurried into a covered carriage. Two of the guards sat with him. Karien’el excused himself, saying he still had other business. Bakune did not like the sound of that, but he could hardly show such ingratitude now after the man had broken him out of prison.
As they rattled through the streets he peered out at lit windows. The town appeared just as it had, if a touch quieter, if not anxious. The garrison, he noted, sat completely black without sentries or watchfires. ‘The garrison is dark,’ he said to a guard.
‘They moved out. They’re building a fort outside the town.’
‘Ah. And us? Where are we headed?’
‘To Paliss, m’lord.’
Paliss? The capital? He sat back astounded. Karien’el controlled the capital? All the gods sustain him! He’d imagined a tent camp near some front, not the High Court itself! And without any interference from Karien’el, as well. Just as Karien’el said he knew him, so too did he know Karien’el. Just as he had no interest in ruling, so did Karien’el have no interest in the law itself.