House of Chains
House of Chains
A Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen
Steven Erikson
For
Mark Paxton MacRae,
for the KO punch.
This one’s all yours, my friend.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to thank his cadre of readers, Chris Porozny, Richard Jones, David Keck and Mark Paxton MacRae. Clare and Bowen as always. Simon Taylor and the crew at Transworld. And the terrific (and patient) staff at Tony’s Bar Italia: Erica, Steve, Jesse, Dan, Ron, Orville, Rhimpy, Rhea, Cam, James, Konrad, Darren, Rusty, Phil, Todd, Marnie, Chris, Leah, Ada, Kevin, Jake, Jamie, Graeme and the two Doms. Thanks also to Darren Nash (for the yeast always rises) and Peter Crowther.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
THE URYD TRIBE OF THE TEBLOR
Karsa Orlong, a young warrior
Bairoth Gild, a young warrior
Delum Thord, a young warrior
Dayliss, a young woman
Pahlk, Karsa’s grandfather
Synyg, Karsa’s father
THE ADJUNCTS ARMY
Adjunct Tavore
Fist Gamet/Gimlet
T’amber
Fist Tene Baralta
Fist Blistig
Captain Keneb
Grub, his adopted son
Admiral Nok
Commander Alardis
Nil, a Wickan warlock
Nether, a Wickan witch
Temul, a Wickan of the Crow Clan (survivor of the Chain of Dogs)
Squint, a soldier in the Aren Guard
Pearl, a Claw
Lostara Yil, an officer in the Red Blades
Gall, Warleader of the Khundryl Burned Tears
Imrahl, a warrior of the Khundryl Burned Tears
Topper, the Clawmaster
MARINES OF THE 9th COMPANY, 8th LEGION
Lieutenant Ranal
Sergeant Strings
Sergeant Gesler
Sergeant Borduke
Corporal Tarr
Corporal Stormy
Corporal Hubb
Bottle, a squad mage
Smiles
Koryk, a half-Seti soldier
Cuttle, a sapper
Truth
Pella
Tavos Pond
Sands
Balgrid
Ibb
Maybe
Lutes
SELECTED HEAVY INFANTRY OF THE 9th COMPANY, 8th LEGION
Sergeant Mosel
Sergeant Sobelone
Sergeant Tugg
Flashwit
Uru Hela
Bowl
Shortnose
SELECTED MEDIUM INFANTRY OF THE 9th COMPANY, 8th LEGION
Sergeant Balm
Sergeant Moak
Sergeant Thorn Tissy
Corporal Deadsmell
Corporal Burnt
Corporal Tulip
Throatslitter
Widdershins
Galt
Lobe
Stacker
Ramp
Able
OTHER SOLDIERS OF THE MALAZAN EMPIRE
Sergeant Cord, 2nd Company, Ashok Regiment
Ebron, 5th squad, mage
Limp, 5th squad
Bell, 5th squad
Corporal Shard, 5th squad
Captain Kindly, 2nd Company
Lieutenant Pores, 2nd Company
Jibb, Ehrlitan Guard
Gullstream, Ehrlitan Guard
Scrawl, Ehrlitan Guard
Master Sergeant Braven Tooth, Malaz City Garrison
Captain Irriz, renegade
Sinn, refugee
Gentur
Mudslinger Hawl
NATHII
Slavemaster Silgar
Damisk
Balantis
Astabb
Borrug
OTHERS ON GENABACRIS
Torvald Nom
Calm
Ganal
SHA’IR’S ARMY OF THE APOCALYPSE
Sha’ik, The Chosen One of the Whirlwind Goddess (once Felisin of House Paran)
Felisin Younger, her adopted daughter
Toblakai
Leoman of the Flails
High Mage L’oric
High Mage Bidithal
High Mage Febryl
Heboric Ghost Hands
Kamist Reloe, Korbolo Dom’s mage
Henaras, a sorceress
Fayelle, a sorceress
Mathok, Warleader of the Desert Tribes
T’morol, his bodyguard
Corabb Bhilan Thenu’alas, an officer in Leoman’s company
Scillara, a camp follower
Duryl, a messenger
Ethume, a corporal
Korbolo Dom, a renegade Napan
Kasanal, his hired assassin
OTHERS
Kalam Mekhar, an assassin
Trull Sengar, a Tiste Edur
Onrack, a T’lan Imass
Cutter, an assassin (also known as Crokus)
Apsalar, an assassin
Rellock, Apsalar’s father
Cotillion, Patron of Assassins
Traveller
Rood, a Hound of Shadow
Blind, a Hound of Shadow
Darist, a Tiste Andii
Ba’ienrok (Keeper), a hermit
Ibra Gholan, a T’lan Imass Clan Leader
Monok Ochem, a Bonecaster of the Logros T’lan Imass
Haran Epal, a T’lan Imass
Olar Shayn, a T’lan Imass
Greyfrog, a demon familiar
Apt, a matron demon (Aptorian) of Shadow
Azalan, a demon of Shadow
Panek, a child of Shadow
Mebra, a spy in Ehrlitan
Iskaral Pust, a priest of Shadow
Mogora, his D’ivers wife
Cynnigig, a Jaghut
Phyrlis, a Jaghut
Aramala, a Jaghut
Icarium, a Jhag
Mappo Runt, a Trell
Jorrude, a Tiste Liosan Seneschal
Malachar, a Tiste Liosan
Enias, a Tiste Liosan
Orenas, a Tiste Liosan
PROLOGUE
Verge of the Nascent, the 943rd Day of the Search
1159 Burn’s Sleep
Grey, bloated and pocked, the bodies lined the silt-laden shoreline for as far as the eye could see. Heaped like driftwood by the rising water, bobbing and rolling on the edges, the putrefying flesh seethed with black-shelled, ten-legged crabs. The coin-sized creatures had scarcely begun to make inroads on the bounteous feast the warren’s sundering had laid before them.
The sea mirrored the low sky’s hue. Dull, patched pewter above and below, broken only by the deeper grey of silts and, thirty strokes of the oar distant, the smeared ochre tones of the barely visible upper levels of a city’s inundated buildings. The storms had passed, the waters were calm amidst the wreckage of a drowned world.
Short, squat had been the inhabitants. Flat-featured, the pale hair left long and loose. Their world had been a cold one, given the thick-padded clothing they had worn. But with the sundering that had changed, cataclysmically. The air was sultry, damp and now foul with the reek of decay.
The sea had been born of a river on another realm. A massive, wide and probably continent-spanning artery of fresh water, heavy with a plain’s silts, the murky depths home to huge catfish and wagon-wheel-sized spiders, its shallows crowded with the crabs and carnivorous, rootless plants. The river had poured its torrential volume onto this vast, level landscape. Days, then weeks, then months.
Storms, conjured by the volatile clash of tropical air-streams with the resident temperate climate, had driven the flood on beneath shrieking winds, and before the inexorably rising waters came deadly plagues to take those who had not drowned.
Somehow, the rent had closed sometime in the night just past. The river from another realm had been returned to its original path.
The shoreline ahead probably did not deserve the word, but nothing else came to Trull Sengar’s mind as he was dragged along its verge. The beach was nothing more than silt, heaped against a huge wall that seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon. The wall had withstood the flood, though water now streamed down it on the opposite side.
Bodies on his left, a sheer drop of seven, maybe eight man-heights to his right, the top of the wall itself slightly less than thirty paces across; that it held back an entire sea whispered of sorcery. The broad, flat stones underfoot were smeared with mud, but already drying in the heat, dun-coloured insects dancing on its surface, leaping from the path of Trull Sengar and his captors.
Trull still experienced difficulty comprehending that notion. Captors. A word he struggled with. They were his brothers, after all. Kin. Faces he had known all his life, faces he had seen smile, and laugh, and faces – at times – filled with a grief that had mirrored his own. He had stood at their sides through all that had happened, the glorious triumphs, the soul-wrenching losses.
Captors.
There were no smiles, now. No laughter. The expressions of those who held him were fixed and cold.
What we have come to.
The march ended. Hands pushed Trull Sengar down, heedless of his bruises, the cuts and the gouges that still leaked blood. Massive iron rings had been set, for some unknown purpose, by this world’s now-dead inhabitants, along the top of the wall, anchored in the heart of the huge stone blocks. The rings were evenly spaced down the wall’s length, at intervals of fifteen or so paces, for as far as Trull could see.
Now, those rings had found a new function.
Chains were wrapped around Trull Sengar, shackles hammered into place on his wrists and ankles. A studded girdle was cinched painfully tight about his midriff, the chains drawn through iron loops and pulled taut to pin him down beside the iron ring. A hinged metal press was affixed to his jaw, his mouth forced open and the plate pushed in and locked in place over his tongue.
The Shorning followed. A dagger inscribed a circle on his forehead, followed by a jagged slash to break that circle, the point pushed deep enough to gouge the bone. Ash was rubbed into the wounds. His long single braid was removed with rough hacks that made a bloody mess of his nape. A thick, cloying unguent was then smeared through his remaining hair, massaged down to the pate. Within a few hours, the rest of his hair would fall away, leaving him permanently bald.
The Shorning was an absolute thing, an irreversible act of severance. He was now outcast. To his brothers, he had ceased to exist. He would not be mourned. His deeds would vanish from memory along with his name. His mother and father would have birthed one less child. This was, for his people, the most dire punishment – worse than execution by far.
Yet, Trull Sengar had committed no crime.
And this is what we have come to.
They stood above him, perhaps only now comprehending what they had done.
A familiar voice broke the silence. ‘We will speak of him now, and once we have left this place, he will cease to be our brother.’
‘We will speak of him now,’ the others intoned, then one added, ‘He betrayed you.’
The first voice was cool, revealing nothing of the gloat that Trull Sengar knew would be there. ‘You say he betrayed me.’
‘He did, brother.’
‘What proof do you have?’
‘By his own tongue.’
‘Is it just you who claims to have heard such betrayal spoken?’
‘No, I too heard it, brother.’
‘And I.’
‘And what did our brother say to you all?’
‘He said that you had severed your blood from ours.’
‘That you now served a hidden master.’
‘That your ambition would lead us all to our deaths—’
‘Our entire people.’
‘He spoke against me, then.’
‘He did.’
‘By his own tongue, he accused me of betraying our people.’
‘He did.’
‘And have I? Let us consider this charge. The southlands are aflame. The enemy’s armies have fled. The enemy now kneels before us, and begs to be our slaves. From nothing, was forged an empire. And still our strength grows. Yet. To grow stronger, what must you, my brothers, do?’
‘We must search.’
‘Aye. And when you find what must be sought?’
‘We must deliver. To you, brother.’
‘Do you see the need for this?’
‘We do.’
‘Do you understand the sacrifice I make, for you, for our people, for our future?’
‘We do.’
‘Yet, even as you searched, this man, our once-brother, spoke against me.’
‘He did.’
‘Worse, he spoke to defend the new enemies we had found.’
‘He did. He called them the Pure Kin, and said we should not kill them.’
‘And, had they been in truth Pure Kin, then . . .’
‘They would not have died so easily.’
‘Thus.’
‘He betrayed you, brother.’
‘He betrayed us all.’
There was silence. Ah, now you would share out this crime of yours. And they hesitate.
‘He betrayed us all, did he not, brothers?’
‘Yes.’ The word arrived rough, beneath the breath, mumbled – a chorus of dubious uncertainty.
No-one spoke for a long moment, then, savage with barely bridled anger: ‘Thus, brothers. And should we not heed this danger? This threat of betrayal, this poison, this plague that seeks to tear our family apart? Will it spread? Will we come here yet again? We must be vigilant, brothers. Within ourselves. With each other. Now, we have spoken of him. And now, he is gone.’
‘He is gone.’
‘He never existed.’
‘He never existed.’
‘Let us leave this place, then.’
‘Yes, let us leave.’
Trull Sengar listened until he could no more hear their boots on the stones, nor feel the tremble of their dwindling steps. He was alone, unable to move, seeing only the mud-smeared stone at the base of the iron ring.
The sea rustled the corpses along the shoreline. Crabs scuttled. Water continued to seep through the mortar, insinuate the Cyclopean wall with the voice of muttering ghosts, and flow down on the other side.
Among his people, it was a long-known truth, perhaps the only truth, that Nature fought but one eternal war. One foe. That, further, to understand this was to understand the world. Every world.
Nature has but one enemy.
And that is imbalance.
The wall held the sea.
And there are two meanings to this. My brothers, can you not see the truth of that? Two meanings. The wall holds the sea.
For now.
This was a flood that would not be denied. The deluge had but just begun – something his brothers could not understand, would, perhaps, never understand.
Drowning was common among his people. Drowning was not feared. And so, Trull Sengar would drown. Soon.
And before long, he suspected, his entire people would join him.
His brother had shattered the balance.
And Nature shall not abide.
BOOK ONE - FACES IN THE ROCK
The slower the river, the redder it runs.
Nathii saying
CHAPTER ONE
Children from a dark house
choose shadowed paths.
Nathii folk saying
The dog had savaged a woman, an old man and a child before the warriors drove it into an abandoned kiln at the edge of the village. The beast had never before displayed an uncertain loyalty. It had guarded the Uryd lands with fierce zeal, one with its kin in its harsh, but just, duties. There were no wounds on its body that might have festered and so allowed the spirit of madness into its veins. Nor was the dog possessed by the foaming sickness. Its position in the village pack had not been challenged. Indeed, there was nothing, nothing at all, to give cause to the sudden turn.
The warriors pinned the animal to the rounded back wall of the clay kiln with spears, stabbing at the snapping, shrieking beast until it was dead. When they withdrew their spears they saw the shafts chewed and slick with spit and blood; they saw iron dented and scored.
Madness, they knew, could remain hidden, buried far beneath the surface, a subtle flavour turning blood into something bitter. The shamans examined the three victims; two had already died of their wounds, but the child still clung to life.
In solemn procession he was carried by his father to the Faces in the Rock, laid down in the glade before the Seven Gods of the Teblor, and left there.
He died a short while later. Alone in his pain before the hard visages carved into the cliff-face.
This was not an unexpected fate. The child, after all, had been too young to pray.
All of this, of course, happened centuries past.
Long before the Seven Gods opened their eyes.
Urugal the Woven’s Year
1159 Burn’s Sleep
They were glorious tales. Farms in flames, children dragged behind horses for leagues. The trophies of that day, so long ago, cluttered the low walls of his grandfather’s longhouse. Scarred skull-pates, frail-looking mandibles. Odd fragments of clothing made of some unknown material, now smoke-blackened and tattered. Small ears nailed to every wooden post that reached up to the thatched roof.
Evidence that Silver Lake was real, that it existed in truth, beyond the forest-clad mountains, down through hidden passes, a week – perhaps two – distant from the lands of the Uryd clan. The way itself was fraught, passing through territories held by the Sunyd and Rathyd clans, a journey that was itself a tale of legendary proportions. Moving silent and unseen through enemy camps, shifting the hearthstones to deliver deepest insult, eluding the hunters and trackers day and night until the borderlands were reached, then crossed – the vista ahead unknown, its riches not even yet dreamed of.