own.
The warrior struggled within the ever-tightening net, and in moments was rendered helpless.
The wounded soldier’s screams continued, until a hard voice rumbled a command and eerie light flashed in the room. The shrieks abruptly stopped.
Figures closed in around Karsa, one crouching down near his head. A dark-skinned, scarred face beneath a bald, tattoo-stitched pate. The man’s smile was a row of gleaming gold. ‘You understand Nathii, I take it. That’s nice. You’ve just made Limp’s bad leg a whole lot worse, and he won’t be happy about that. Even so, you stumbling into our laps will more than make up for the house arrest we’re presently under-’
‘Let’s kill him, Sergeant-’
‘Enough of that, Shard. Bell, go find the slavemaster. Tell him we got his prize. We’ll hand him over, but not for nothing. Oh, and do it quietly-I don’t want the whole town outside with torches and pitchforks.’ The sergeant looked up as another soldier arrived. ‘Nice work, Ebron.’
‘I damned near wet my pants, Cord,’ the man named Ebron replied, ‘when he just threw off the nastiest I had.’
‘Just shows, don’t it?’ Shard muttered.
‘Shows what?’ Ebron demanded.
‘Well, only that clever beats nasty every time, that’s all.’
Sergeant Cord grunted, then said, ‘Ebron, see what you can do for Limp, before he comes round and starts screaming again.’
‘I’ll do that. For a runt, he’s got some lungs, don’t he just.’
Cord reached down and carefully slid his hand between the burning strands to tap a finger against the bloodsword. ‘So here’s one of the famed wooden swords. So hard it breaks Aren steel.’
‘Look at the edge,’ Shard said. ‘It’s that resin they use that makes that edge-’
‘And hardens the wood itself, aye. Ebron, this web of yours, is it causing him pain?’
The sorcerer’s reply came from beyond Karsa’s line of sight. ‘If it was you in that, Cord, you’d be howling to shame the Hounds. For a moment or two, then you’d be dead and sizzling like fat on a hearthstone.’
Cord frowned down at Karsa, then slowly shook his head. ‘He ain’t even trembling. Hood knows what we could do with five thousand of these bastards in our ranks.’
‘Might even manage to clean out Mott Wood, eh, Sergeant?’
‘Might at that.’ Cord rose and stepped away. ‘So what’s keeping Bell?’
‘Probably can’t find no-one,’ Shard replied. ‘Never seen a whole town take to the boats like that before.’
Boots sounded in the antechamber, and Karsa listened to the arrival of at least a half-dozen newcomers.
A soft voice said, ‘Thank you, Sergeant, for recovering my property-’
‘Ain’t your property any more,’ Cord replied. ‘He’s a prisoner of the Malazan Empire, now. He killed Malazan soldiers, not to mention damaging imperial property by kicking in that door there.’
‘You cannot be serious-’
‘I’m always serious, Silgar,’ Cord quietly drawled. ‘I can guess what you got in mind for this giant. Castration, a cut-out tongue, hobbling. You’ll put him on a leash and travel the towns south of here, drumming up replacements for your bounty hunters. But the Fist’s position on your slaving activities is well enough known. This is occupied territory-this is part of the Malazan Empire now, like it or not, and we ain’t at war with these so-called Teblor. Oh, I’ll grant you, we don’t appreciate renegades coming down and raiding, killing imperial subjects and all that. Which is why this bastard is now under arrest, and he’ll likely be sentenced to the usual punishment: the otataral mines of my dear old homeland.’ Cord moved to settle down beside Karsa once more. ‘Meaning we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, since our detachment’s heading home. Rumours of rebellion and such, though I doubt it’ll come to much.’
Behind him, the slavemaster spoke. ‘Sergeant, the Malazan hold upon its conquests on this continent is more than precarious at the moment, now that your principal army is bogged down outside the walls of Pale. Do you truly wish for an incident here? To so flout our local customs-’
‘Customs?’ Still gazing down at Karsa, Cord bared his teeth. ‘The Nathii custom has been to run and hide when the Teblor raid. Your studious, deliberate corruption of the Sunyd is unique, Silgar. Your destruction of that tribe was a business venture on your part. Damned successful it was, too. The only flouting going on here is yours, with Malazan law.’ He looked up, his smile broadening. ‘What in Hood’s name do you think our company’s doing here, you perfumed piece of scum?’
All at once tension filled the air as hands settled on sword-grips.
‘Rest easy, I’d advise,’ Ebron said from one side. ‘I know you’re a Mael priest, Silgar, and you’re right on the edge of your warren right now, but I’ll turn you into a lumpy puddle if you make so much as a twitch for it.’
‘Order your thugs back,’ Cord said, ‘or this Teblor will have company on his way to the mines.’
‘You would not dare-’
‘Wouldn’t I?’
‘Your captain would-’
‘No, he wouldn’t.’
‘I see. Very well. Damisk, take the men outside for a moment.’
Karsa heard receding footsteps.
‘Now then, Sergeant,’ Silgar continued after a moment, ‘how much?’
‘Well, I admit I was considering some kind of exchange. But then the town’s bells stopped. Which tells me we’re out of time. Alas. Captain’s back-there, the sound of the horses, coming fast. All of this means we’re all official, now, Silgar. Of course, maybe I was stringing you along all the time, until you finally went and offered me a bribe. Which, as you know, is a crime.’
The Malazan troop had arrived at the corral, Karsa could hear. A few shouts, the stamping of hoofs, a brief exchange of words with Damisk and the other guards standing outside, then heavy boots on the floorboards.
Cord turned. ‘Captain-’
A rumbling voice cut him off. ‘I thought I’d left you under house guard. Ebron, I don’t recall granting you permission to rearm these drunken louts…’ Then the captain’s words trailed away.
Karsa sensed the smile on Cord’s face as he said, ‘The Teblor attempted an assault on our position, sir-’
‘Which no doubt sobered you up quick.’
‘That it did, sir. Accordingly, our clever sorcerer here decided to give us back our weapons, so that we could effect the capture of this overgrown savage. Alas, Captain, matters have since become somewhat more complicated.’
Silgar spoke. ‘Captain Kindly, I came here to request the return of my slave and was met with overt hostility and threats from this squad here. I trust their poor example is not indicative of the depths to which the entire Malazan army has fallen-’
‘That they’re definitely not, Slavemaster,’ Captain Kindly replied.
‘Excellent. Now, if we could-’
‘He tried to bribe me, sir,’ Cord said in a troubled, distressed tone.
There was silence, then the captain said, ‘Ebron? Is this true?’
‘Afraid it is, Captain.’
There was cool satisfaction in Kindly’s voice as he said, ‘How unfortunate. Bribery is a crime, after all…’
‘I was just saying the same thing, sir,’ Cord noted.
‘I was invited to make an offer!’ Silgar hissed.
‘No you wasn’t,’ Ebron replied.
Captain Kindly spoke. ‘Lieutenant Pores, place the slavemaster and his hunters under arrest. Detach two squads to oversee their incarceration in the town gaol. Put them in a separate cell from that bandit leader we captured on the way back-the infamous Knuckles is likely to have few friends locally. Barring those we strung up beside the road east of here, that is. Oh, and send in a healer for Limp-Ebron seems to have made something of a mess in his efforts on the unfortunate man.’
‘Well,’ Ebron snapped, ‘I ain’t Denul, you know.’
‘Watch your tone, Mage,’ the captain calmly warned.
‘Sorry, sir.’
