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At the door he paused and glanced back at Blistig ‘You gave good answer, Blistig I no longer suspect you’ In reply, the man simply nodded

Lostara Yil placed the last of her Red Blade accoutrements into the chest then lowered the lid and locked it She straightened and stepped back, feeling bereft There had been a vast co to that dreaded company That the Red Blades were hated by their tribal kin, reviled in their own land, had proved surprisingly satisfying For she hated thehter instead of the desired son in a Pardu family, as a child she had lived on the streets of Ehrlitan It had been common practice-before the Malazans ca many tribes to cast out their unwanted children once they reached the fifth year of life Acolytes froularly rounded up such abandoned children No-one kneas done with theh circle of fellow urchins Lostara had known had believed that, a the cults, there could be found a kind of salvation Schooling, food, safety, all leading to eventually beco an acolyte in turn But the majority of children suspected otherwise They’d heard tales of-or had theures e down alleyith a covered cart, on their way to the crab-infested tidal pools east of the city, pools not so deep that one could not see the glimmer of s all could agree on The hunger of the temples was insatiable

Optimistic or pessimistic, the children of Ehrlitan’s streets did all they could to evade the hunters with their nets and pole-ropes A life could be eked out, a kind of freedoh her seventh year, Lostara was dragged down to the greasy cobbles by an acolyte’s net Her shrieks went unheeded by the citizens who stepped aside as the silent priest dragged his prize back to the temple Impassive eyes met hers every now and then on that horrible journey, and those eyes Lostara would never forget

Rashan had proved less bloodthirsty thanchildren She had found herself a a handful of new arrivals, all tasked with rounds, destined, it seeery continued until her ninth year, when for reasons unknown to Lostara she was selected for schooling in the Shadow Dance She had caught rare and brief gliroup of men and women for orship was an elaborate, intricate dance Their only audience were priests and priestesses-none of ould watch the actual dancers, only their shadows

You are nothing, child Not a dancer Your body is in service to Rashan, and Rashan is this realht When you dance, it is not you that is watched It is the shadow your body paints The shadow is the dancer, Lostara Yil Not you

Years of discipline, of li that loosened every joint, that drew out the spine, that would allow the Caster to floith seaht

The world had been changing outside the teh walls Events unknown to Lostara were syste their entire civilization The Malazan En ships had blockaded Ehrlitan’s harbour

The cult of Rashan was spared the purges of the new, harsh ion Other te s at its source, and she akened at night by terrible sounds of chaos in the streets

Lostara was aCaster Her shadow see partner in the training She did not ask herself if she was happy or otherwise Rashan’s Empty Throne did not draw her faith as it did the other students’ She lived, but it was an unquestioning life Neither circular nor linear, for in her ress wasthe exercises forced upon her

The cult’s destruction was sudden, unexpected, and it caht when it had all begun Great exciteh Priest fro Come to speak with Master Bidithal on matters of vast ier’s honour, for which Lostara and her fellow students would provide a background sequence of rhythms to complement the Shadow Dancers

Lostara herself had been indifferent to the whole affair, and had been nowhere close to the best of the students in their er