Erikson, Steven - Malazan 07 - Reaper's Gale by Erikson Steven
Author:Erikson, Steven [Erikson, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 2011
ISBN: 9780765316530
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Published: 2008-03-03T05:00:00+00:00
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Every field of battle
holds every cry uttered
Threaded like roots
between stones
and broken armour,
shattered weapons,
leather clasps rotting
into the earth.
Centuries are as nothing
to those voices,
those aggrieved souls.
They die in the now
And the now is for ever.
On the Deal Plains
Rael of Longspit
Fire had taken the grasses. Wind and water had taken the soil. The level stretch where the two drainage channels debouched was a scatter of button cacti, fist-sized cobbles and fire-cracked rock. The Letherii outriderâs corpse had rolled down from the ridge leaving a path of spattered blood now black as ink on the rocks. Coyotes, wolves or perhaps Awl dogs had chewed away the softer tissues â face and gut, buttocks and inner thighs â leaving the rest to the flies and their maggot spawn.
Overseer Brohl Handar â who knew he should have died at Bast Fulmar, had indeed believed at that last moment that he would, absurdly killed by his own sword â gestured to two of his troop to remain on the ridge and waved the others to the highest rise thirty paces away, on the other side of one of the gullies, then walked his horse down onto the flat. Steeling himself against the stench of the dead soldier, he forced his reluctant mount closer.
The Kârisnan had reached him in time. With the power to heal, a power pure â no stain of chaos â that was, Brohl Handar now understood, a blessing. Kurald Emurlahn. Darkness reborn. He would not question it, would not doubt it. Blessing.
The stub of an arrow jutted from the outriderâs throat. His weapons had been taken, as had the vest of fine chain beneath the light tanned leather shirt. There was no sign of the Letheriiâs horse. The buzz of the flies seemed preternaturally loud.
Brohl Handar wheeled his mount round and guided it back up onto the ridge. He spoke to the Sollanta scout. âTracks?â
âJust his horse, Overseer,â the warrior replied. âThe ambusher was, I believe, on foot.â
Brohl nodded. This had been the pattern. The Awl were collecting horses, weapons and armour. The Atri-Preda had since commanded that no outrider scout alone. To this Redmask would no doubt add more ambushers.
âThe Awl rode southeast, Overseer.â
Days ago, alas. There was no point in pursuing.
Eyes narrowed against the harsh sunlight, Brohl Handar scanned the plain on all sides. How could a warrior hide in this empty land? The drainage gullies had seemed an obvious answer, and as soon as one was spotted a troop would dismount, advance on foot, and plunge into it seeking to flush out the enemy. All they had found were bedded deer and coyote dens.
Areas of high grasses were virtually attacked, both mounted and on foot. Again, nothing but the occasional deer bolting almost from the feet of some startled, cursing soldier; or ptarmigan or thrushes exploding skyward in a flurry of feathers and drumming wings.
The mages insisted that sorcery was not at work here; indeed, much of the Awlâdan seemed strangely bereft of whatever was necessary to shape magic. The valley known as Bast Fulmar had been, it was becoming clear, in no way unique.
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