I’d rested my hand, once, on her furred shoulder. Near the neck. We’d not yet awakened, she and I. So close, travelling in step, yet not awakened . . . such tragic ignorance. Yet she’d gifted me her mortal visions, her only history – such as she knew it to be, whilst deep in her heart slept . . .

. . . slept my beloved.

‘Holy One, your mother’s embrace will kill him, should he be returned to it—’

‘You dare order me?’ the Seer hissed, and there was trembling in his voice.

‘I do not command, Holy One. I state a fact.’

‘Ultentha! Dearest Septarch, come forward! Yes, look upon this man at your Seerdomin’s feet. What think you?’

‘Holy One,’ a new voice, softer, ‘my most trusted servant speaks true. This man’s bones are so mangled—’

‘I can see!’ the Seer screamed.

‘Holy One,’ the Septarch continued, ‘relieve him from his horror.’

‘No! I will not! He is mine! He is Mother’s! She needs him – someone to hold – she needs him!’

‘Her love is proving fatal,’ the Seerdomin said.

‘You both defy me? Shall I gather my Winged Ones? To send you to oblivion? To fight and squabble over what’s left? Yes? Shall I?’

‘As the Holy One wills.’

‘Yes, Ultentha! Precisely! As I will!’

The Seerdomin spoke. ‘Shall I return him to the Matron, then, Holy One?’

‘Not yet. Leave him there. I am amused by the sight of him. Now, Ultentha, your report.’

‘The trenches are completed, Holy One. The enemy will come across the flats to face the city wall. They’ll not send scouts to the forested ridge on their right – I will stake my soul on that.’

‘You have, Ultentha, you have. And what of those damned Great Ravens? If but one has seen

‘Your Winged Ones have driven them off, Holy One. The skies have been cleared, and so the enemy’s intelligence is thus thwarted. We shall permit them to establish their camps on the flats, then we shall rise from our hidden positions and descend upon their flank. This, in time with the assault of the Mage Cadres from the walls and the Winged Ones from the sky, as well as Septarch Inal’s sortie from the gates – Holy One, victory will be ours.’

‘I want Caladan Brood. I want his hammer, delivered into my hands. I want the Malazans annihilated. I want the Barghast gods grovelling at my feet. But most of all, I want the Grey Swords! Is that understood? I want that man, Itkovian – then I will have a replacement for my mother. Thus, hear me well, if you seek mercy for Toc the Younger, bring to me Itkovian. Alive.’

‘It will be as you will, Holy One,’ Septarch Ultentha said.

It will be as he wills. He is my god. What he wills, all that he wills. The wolf cannot breathe. The wolf is dying.

He – we are dying.

‘And where is the enemy now, Ultentha?’