Page 148 (1/1)

The assassin continued on through G’danisban’s -knives, both Wickan The same owner? Unknown They were coht would challenge anyone who sought to fight using both at the same time

In a Fenn’s hand, the heavier weapon would be littlethe investment had been a favour, or in payht have earned that? Well, Coltaine-but he carried a single long-knife, un-patterned Now, if only I knew more about that dae named Bellurdan Skullcrusher was dead

Cycles indeed And now this House of Chains The damned Crippled God-

You da, weren’t you? You should have stuck a knife in the bastard right there and then

Noonder, was Bellurdan there as well?

Oh, dahost-slayer…

The road that wound southwest out of G’danisban had been worn down to the underlying cobbles Clearly, the siege had gone on so long that the sed were probably faring worse B’ridys had been carved into a cliffside, a longstanding tradition in the odhans surrounding the Holy Desert There was no formal, constructed approach-not even steps, nor handholds, cut into the stone-and the tunnels behind the fortifications reached deep Within those tunnels, springs supplied water Kala abandoned by its original inhabitants, suggesting that the springs had dried up And while such strongholds contained vast storage chambers, there was little chance that the Malazans who’d fled to it had found those chambers supplied

The poor bastards were probably starving

Kala dusk He saw no-one else on the track, and suspected that the supply trains would not set out froht ani onto the sides of the hills

The assassin had left his horse with Cotillion in the Shadow Realreatest challenge Besides, Raraku was hard on horses Most of the outlying sources of water would have been long since fouled, in anticipation of the Adjunct’s army He knew of a few secret ones, however, which would of necessity have been kept untainted

This land, Kalae-and the enemy had yet to arrive Sha’ik had drawn the Whirlwind close, a tactic that suggested to the assassin a certain element of fear Unless, of course, Sha’ik was deliberately playing against expectations Perhaps she siht to draw Tavore into a trap, into Raraku, where her poas strongest, where her forces knew the land whilst the enemy did not

But there’s at least one man in Tavore’s army who knows Raraku And he’d daht had arrived, stars glittering overhead Kalam pressed on Burdened beneath a pack heavy with food and waterskins, he continued to sweat as the air chilled Reaching the suers’ caed horizon’s silhouette Froht at all

He continued on

It was ons, stone-ringed firepits, arrayed haphazardly in a rough se cliff-face with its smoke-blackened fortress Heaps of rubbish surrounded the area, latrine pits overflowing and reeking in the heat As he made his way down the track, Kalaed that there were about five hundred besiegers, arrisons, but of local blood There had been no assault in some time Makeshift wooden toaited off to one side

He had been spotted, but no challenge was raised, nor was e Just another fighter co he would not burden anyone else, and therefore welcoested, the patience of the attackers had ended Preparations were under way for a final push Probably not this day, but the next The scaffolds had been left untended for too long-ropes had dried out, wood had split Work crews had begun the repairs, but without haste,heat There was an air of dissolution to the camp that even anticipation could not hide

The fires have cooled here Now, they’re only planning an assault so they can get this over with, so they can go home