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The desert warriors were aons now, and Corabb heard the first of those bolas whip outward, the sound followed by a whooshing roar of fire The darkness vanished in a red glare

And then Corabb saw a figure running fro-bladed axe The i Malazan’s helmed head, nearly dislocated Corabb’s shoulder A spray of blood spattered hard against his foreared the weapon free-it was suddenly heavier, and he glanced down at it, to see that the blade had taken the helh

Brains and bits of bone and scalp were spilling fro, he slowed his e and tried to shake the axe clear There was fighting on all sides, now, as well as raging flaons-and squad-tents And soldiers appearing, more and ue, and crossbow quarrels had begun flitting through the air towards the horse warriors

A horn sounded, high and wavering His curses growing fiercer, Corabb wheeled his horse round He had already lost contact with Leoht All of the to the call to withdraw As heshoulder, still burdened with that damned helm He drove his horse back up the broad track between thethe view before his

Sudden burning agony slashed across his cheek, snapping his head around A quarrel clattered against the ground fifteen paces ahead and to one side Corabb ducked loisting in search of where it had come from

And saw a squad of Malazans, all with crossbows-all but one cocked and trained on the desert warrior, with a sergeant berating the soldier who had fired too early A scene taken in, in its entirety, between heartbeats The bastards were less then ten paces distant

Corabb flung his axe away With a scream, he pitched his horse sideways, directly into the wall of one of the mess-tents Ropes tautened and snapped heavy stakes skyward, poles splintering A chaos, the warrior heard the crossbows loose-but his horse was going down, onto its side-and Corabb was already leaping clear of the saddle, hisout fro tent wall, awith a scream, followed

The pressure of that waxed fabric vanished suddenly and Corabb tumbled into a so round-

-- in tiht

Corabb leapt alongside his mount and vaulted up into the saddle and they were off

And in the desert warrior’s mind: numb disbelief

On the opposite side of the avenue, seven Malazanas the rider thundered off into the smoke