Page 118 (1/1)

The desert sun’s heat was bludgeoning, oppressive It had a power of its own, transfor the Holy Desert into a prison, pervasive and relentless Heboric had grown to despise that heat, to curse Seven Cities, to cultivate an abiding hatred for its people And he was trapped a them, now The Whirlwind’s barrier was indiscriminate, impassable both to those on the outside and those within-at the discretion of the Chosen One

Moveure Who then settled down beside hiht I was alone’

‘We are both alone, Ghost Hands’

‘Of that, Felisin, neither of us needs reer, but that is a name I cannot speak out loud The mother who adopted you, lass, has her own secrets‘What is that you have in your hands?’

‘Scrolls,’ the girl replied ‘Froer for writing poetry’

The tattooed ex-priest grunted, ‘I thought it was a love, not a hunger’

‘You are not a poet,’ she said ‘In any case, to speak plainly is a true talent; to bury beneath obfuscation is a poet’s calling these days’

‘You are a brutal critic, lass,’ Heboric observed

‘ Call to Shadow , she has called it Or, rather, she continues a poean’

‘Ah, well, Shadow is a murky realm Clearly she has chosen a style to match the subject, perhaps to match that of her own mother’

‘Too convenient, Ghost Hands Now, consider the naslayersThat, old ht with diffidence behind its proud bluster A name to match Korbolo Dom himself, who stands square-footed in his terror’ Heboric reached out and plucked the first flower head He held it to his nose aat his belt ‘ "Square-footed in his terror" An arresting ie, lass But I see no fear in the Napan The Malazan arions of recruits Commanded by a woman devoid of any relevant experience Korbolo Doirl’s laugh was a trill that seeh the air ‘No reason, Ghost Hands? Many reasons, in fact Shall I list them? Leoman Toblakai Bidithal L’oric Mathok And, the one he findsof all: Sha’ik Mywith dissent You havefrenzy Mother has banished Mallick Rel and Pullyk Alar Cast thele-’

‘There is no power struggle,’ Heboric growled, tugging at a handful of flowers ‘They are fools to believe that one is possible Sha’ik has thrown those two out because treachery flows in their veins She is indifferent to Korbolo Dos about it’

‘He believes otherwise, and that conviction is ht not be true And how does Mother respond to the aftermath of her pronouncements?’ Felisin swiped the plants before her with the scrolls ‘With poetry’

‘The gift of knowledge,’ Heboric muttered ‘The Whirlwind Goddess whispers in the Chosen One’s ear There are secrets within the Warren of Shadow, secrets containing truths that are relevant to the Whirlwind itself’

‘What do youwas nearly full ‘Alas, I possess ood it does hout the realms The Whirlwind Goddess possesses power, but it was not her own, not at first Just one oddess, I wonder, when she first stumbled onto the Whirlwind? Some desert tribe’s minor deity, I suspect A spirit of the su, possibly One afor her to destroy her old rivals, to assert complete, ruthless domination over the Holy Desert’

‘A quaint theory, Ghost Hands,’ Felisin drawled ‘But it speaks nothing of the Seven Holy Cities, the Seven Holy Books, the prophecy of Dryjhna the Apocalyptic’

Heboric snorted ‘Cults feed upon one another, lass Whole myths are co-opted to fuel the faith Seven Cities was born of no them was that of an ancient civilization, which in turn rested uneasy on the foundations of a still older empire-the First Empire of the T’lan Imass That which survives in memory or falters and fades away is but chance and circumstance’