‘What are you doing here?’ he demanded.
The old woman blinked up at him. She wore the tattered remains of layered wraps over frayed skirts. ‘Making lunch.’ She dropped handfuls of freshly cut green grass and green leaves on the fire. A great gout of white smoke billowed up.
‘Would you stop that!’
‘Stop it? I’m hungry.’
‘You’re making all this smoke!’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. All this smoke is from the city.’
Carr came running up, waving the fumes from his face and coughing. ‘The cavalry has fled. The field is clear.’
Ivanr eyed the old woman crouched before the fire like a penitent, bony elbows sticking out like wings. She gave Ivanr a wink. ‘Horses, they say, are in a terrible fear of fire.’
‘What is your name?’
‘Sister Gosh.’
‘Well, Sister Gosh. If the Lady knew there was magery here on this field, you’d be a dead woman.’
‘Then it’s a good thing there was none o’ that. Just an errant gust of wind and smoke from the city, hey?’
‘You play a dangerous game, Sister.’
‘Now’s the time for it.’
Ivanr grunted his agreement. He faced Carr. ‘Have the company form up for advance. Martal wants us past the city.’
Carr saluted. ‘Aye, sir.’
Sir? When did that happen? And what did that make him? Ivanr frankly had no idea and he decided he didn’t care.
Those veterans who managed to doze off below decks were woken in the late afternoon just before evening. Some twenty Malazan squads and a horde of Blue marines crowded the two dromonds that constituted the ungainly catamaran. A meal of watery soup came around in pots and ladles. Sails were trimmed. The bow-crest eased to almost nothing. Suth nudged Len while they ate their flat hardbread. ‘We’ve slowed, yes?’
‘Yeah. Have to give the others time to catch up, hey? And the sun’s setting — can’t have that in our eyes.’
Suth returned to the grainy bread. He hadn’t thought of that. To the west the shore passed as distant green hills, wooded, with few signs of habitation. Beyond rose a crest of tall misted mountains, dark and snow-peaked. Goss came round, gripping shoulders and making a last equipment check. He and Len grasped forearms. ‘We’re sixth in line. Form up along the port side.’
‘Any munitions to share out?’
Goss snorted. ‘I suspect these Blues will be supplying more to the fight than any of us would like.’
Len waved that off. ‘Had to ask. And that thing between the ships. What is it?’
‘Don’t know. Blues are all mum about it. May be a catapult.’
After Goss moved on Keri sat with them. ‘That’s no catapult.’
‘Been checking it out, have you?’ Len rumbled with a sly smile.
‘Yeah. And it ain’t no catapult.’
‘What is it then?’
She hunched, peering round. ‘I got a theory… too crazy to say, though.’ She drew her weapon, what Suth had learned the Malazans called a ‘long-knife’. She checked its edge.
Suth frowned. ‘You’re not coming with us on the assault, are you?’
Keri’s gaze narrowed on him and her thin lined face lost all expression. ‘Why?’ she asked, her voice flat.
‘’Cause you’re only wearing leathers.’
She relaxed, slapped her weapon home in its wooden sheath. ‘Listen, kid… this is your first engagement, so maybe you should stay behind me…’
Len laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘Take it easy, Kerr. He’s green.’ To Suth: ‘Just remember, in battle, we saboteurs tell you to do something — you do it. Okay?’
Len was the corporal so Suth said nothing, though he saw no reason why he should do whatever the saboteurs told him. They weren’t even armoured heavily enough to last the first exchange. It was useless bringing them along on what he assumed would be a plain frontal assault.
As the afternoon gave way to the evening more Blue and Malazan vessels gathered. The ships manoeuvred into battle groups. Messages passed as brilliant flaring colours, while Malazan vessels exchanged coded signals by flags. Suth heard from the talk going around that the Blue Admiral, Swirl, was in charge and that the sergeants weren’t particularly happy about it. They’d have preferred to have Greymane here. No one mentioned the young Adjunct.
The fleet rounded the headland of a bay and there before them was the harbour of Aamil. It had the look of a fortress stronghold built specifically to resist any assault from the sea. Suth thought of Mare nearby to the south. Twin curving moles met at a narrow harbour entrance flanked by stout guard towers. The main fortress rose straight from the water in a tall featureless curtain wall of salt-stained grey limestone blocks. Access from the harbour was limited to the narrow inlet between the fortified towers.
Voicing Suth’s thoughts, Len let go a long low whistle. ‘Now that’s a stronghold.’
‘These Blues better know what they’re doin’,’ Keri grumbled.
‘They have so far.’
Yana squeezed by, cuffed Suth. ‘Let’s go. Form up.’
Distantly, the ringing of bells echoed from across the bay. The Skolati were readying themselves.
Four Blue men-of-war led the attack. As the ships closed on the harbour entrance, what appeared to be a dark flight of birds erupted from each of the broad squat towers. The flights resolved themselves into twin showers of arrows. The bow-fire scoured the decks of the men-of-war. Suth could just make out the oval shapes of raised shields lining those decks. Then twin thumps echoed and two great rocks, both trailing flames, came flying from atop the towers. The rocks screamed down to scatter immense showers of spray between the ships.
Suth was kneeling with his squad next to the portside railing, in line with the other marines. ‘Damned big onagers on those towers,’ Len mused.
‘Have to sneak by close,’ Keri said.
‘Why?’ Suth asked.
‘With them machines,’ Keri said, ‘their aim’s worse the closer you are.’
The voices of the squad sergeants rang out: ‘Ready shields!’
Ahead, two of the men-of-war rocked on the water as another pair of fiery boulders crashed into the sea between them, while the remaining two swung wide, one to each side, drawing close to the tumbled rock shore of the mole and out of sight. Len chuckled at that.
‘What?’ Suth asked.
‘There’s a nasty choice. Shoot at the ship whose crew’s about to besiege you, or keep firing at the rest?’
Suth bit down and resorted to pleading with his insane collection of Dal Hon gods that the gigantic target he currently rode — two dromonds side by side! — would somehow fail to be hit.
A third volley of stones, now no longer flaming, arced skyward. One came hurtling down on a Blue transport, cleanly smashing the vessel in half in a terrific shattering of wood. The other sent a wash of spume over the lumbering catamaran.
‘Can we even fit through?’ Len shouted to a nearby Blue marine.
The Moranth peered ahead. ‘It will be… how do you Malazans say… a close thing.’
Bellows rose from all sides: ‘Raise shields!’
Suth quickly huddled beneath his. Everyone likewise hunched. He heard a hissing as of sleet or heavy rain and he tensed his arm. Then came a hammering all around as a forest of arrows slammed into the hardwood decking and the layered wood, leather, and lacquer of the shields. A few men and women cried out as arrows punched through to impale arms, or found unprotected flesh. A marine next to Suth snarled his pain and outrage as an arrow nailed his foot to the deck.
A warning shout went up from the stern and Suth twisted to see the helmsman down and Blue sailors scrambling to right the tiller arm. The awkward behemoth lost headway, began edging sideways in the narrow harbour inlet. Everyone started yelling warnings.
‘Stay under cover!’ the sergeants warned.
An immense explosion from the port tower punched the catamaran. Rocks tumbled down the mole. A cloud of dust and smoke engulfed the guard tower on that side. Just visible above the smoke, the roof platform canted, tilting in slow motion, to fall backwards away from the harbour inlet. Keri jumped to her feet, shield held over her head. ‘Yeah! Hood take you! That’s the way to do it!’ She was hopping up and down. Everyone was cheering as the tower disappeared into the cloud of debris and rocks that came churning the water and even clattering on to the decking.