Chapters (43)

'In Darujhistan,' K'rul replied. 'Around Darujhistan. Above Darujhistan. His presence is a lodestone to power, and great is the danger.' The Elder God faced Kruppe. 'He is in league with Master Baruk and the T'orrud Cabal – Darujhistan's secret rulers have found a two-edged ally. Dragnipur tasted a demon's soul this night, Kruppe, in your city. It is never thirsty for long, and it will feed on more blood before this is done.'

'Can anyone withstand it?' Kruppe asked.

K'rul shrugged. 'None could when it was first forged, but that was long ago, before even my time. I cannot answer for the present. I have one other piece of information, Kruppe, a small piece, I'm afraid.'

'Kruppe hearkens.'

'The journey Master Baruk is sending you on to the Gadrobi Hills. Elder magic brews anew, after so long. It is Tellann – of the Imass – but what it touches is Omtose Phellack – Jaghut Elder magic. Kruppe, stay out of their way. Especially guard the Coin Bearer. What is about to come is a danger as grave as the Knight and his sword, and as ancient. Step carefully, Kruppe.'

'Kruppe always steps carefully, Eldering One.'

BOOK FIVE - THE GADROBI HILLS

Beyond these thin hide walls

a child sits, before her on worn silk

a Deck is arrayed.

She cannot yet speak

and the scenes before her

she's never before seen in this life.

The child gazes upon a lone card

named Obelisk, the stone grey

she can feel its roughness in her mind.

Obelisk stands buried in a grassy knoll

like a knuckle protruded

from the earth, past and future.

This child's eyes are wide

with terror, for cracks have appeared

in the stone of stones and she knows

the shattering is begun.

Silverfox

Outrider Hurlochel,

6th Army

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

I saw them on the shores

the deepening pits of their gaze

vowed immortal war

against the sighing calm

of Jaghut seas ...

Gothos' Folly Gothos (b.?)

907th Year in the Third Millennium

The Season of Fanderay in the Year of the Five Tusks

By Malazan reckoning, 1163rd Year of Burn's Sleep

T'lan Imass reckoning, The Year of Gathering, Tellann Arise

As the days passed, Adjunct Lorn felt a sharpness return to her mind, the exhaustion and depression fading away. The thought that she could allow herself to slip into carelessness so easily had left her shaken, and that was not a feeling with which she was familiar. She did not know how to deal with it, and this kept her unbalanced, not quite sure of her own efficacy.

As the Gadrobi Hills appeared, first to the south and then to the west as well, she sensed a desperate urgency to regain her confidence. The mission approached a vital juncture. Success with the Jaghut barrow would almost ensure success with everything else.