But there was no silence. Instead, a rustling and creaking whispered through the air, and Silverfox and Kruppe swung to the sound.

To see tens of thousands of T’lan Imass lowering themselves to their knees, heads bowing.

Olar Ethil was the last standing. She spoke. ‘Summoner, we beg you to release us.’ With those words, she too settled onto the ground.

The scene twisted a knife in Kruppe’s very soul. Unable to speak, barely able to breathe, he simply stared out at the broken multitude in growing horror. And when Silverfox gave answer, the Daru’s heart threatened to burst.

‘No.’

In the distance, on all sides, the undead wolves began to howl.

‘Hood’s breath!’ one of the marines swore.

Aye, theirs is a voice of such unearthly sorrow, it tears at the mortal mind. Oh, K’rul, what are we to do now?

‘One assumes a lack of complexity in people whose lives are so short.’

Whiskeyjack grinned sourly. ‘If that’s meant to be an apology, you’ll have to do better, Korlat.’

The Tiste Andii sighed, ran a hand through her long black hair in a very human gesture.

‘Then again,’ the Malazan continued, ‘from you, woman, even a grunt will do.’

Her eyes flashed. ‘Oh? And how am I to take that?’

‘Try the way it was meant, lass. I’ve not enjoyed the last few days much, and I’d rather we were as before, so I will take what I can get. There, as simple as I can make it.’

She leaned in her saddle and laid a hand against his chain-clothed arm. ‘Thank you. It seems I am the one needing things simple.’

‘To that, my lips are sealed.’

‘You are a wise man, Whiskeyjack.’

The plain before them, at a distance of two thousand paces and closing, swarmed with Tenescowri. There was no order to their ranks, barring the lone rider who rode before them, a thin, gaunt youth, astride a spine-bowed roan dray. Immediately behind the young man – whom Whiskeyjack assumed to be Anaster – ranged a dozen or so women. Wild-haired, loosing random shrieks, there was an aura of madness and dark horror about them.

‘Women of the Dead Seed, presumably,’ Korlat said, noting his gaze. ‘There is sorcerous power there. They are the First Child’s true bodyguard, I believe.’

Whiskeyjack twisted in his saddle to examine the Malazan legions formed up behind him fifty paces away. ‘Where is Anomander Rake? This mob could charge at any moment.’

‘They will not,’ Korlat asserted. ‘Those witches sense my Lord’s nearness. They are made uneasy, and cry out caution to their chosen child.’

‘But will he listen?’

‘He had bett—’

A roaring sound shattered her words.

The Tenescowri were charging, a surging tide of fearless desperation. A wave of power from the Women of the Dead Seed psychically assailed Whiskeyjack, made his heart thunder with a strange panic.

Korlat hissed between her teeth. ‘Resist the fear, my love!’