Moraval Keep on the other side of the river, besieged with no hope of succour.'
'You are wrong in that,' Karsa said.
She wanted to kick him. Then again, look how that had turned out the last time? All right, you ox, go and hang yourself.
'What do you mean?' Captain Inashan asked.
'The rebellion is broken, the Malazans have retaken cities by the score. They will come here, too, eventually. I suggest you make peace with the garrison.'
'Would that not put you at risk?' Samar asked.
The warrior bared his teeth. 'My war is done. If they cannot accept that, I will kill them all.'
An outrageous claim, yet no-one laughed. Captain Inashan hesitated, then he sheathed his scimitar, his soldiers following suit. 'We have heard of the rebellion's failure,' he said. 'For the Malazans in the keep, alas, it might well be too late. They have been trapped in there for months. And no-one has been seen on the walls for some time-'
'I will go there,' Karsa said. 'Gestures of peace must be made.'
'It is said,' Inashan muttered, 'that Leoman still lives. That he leads the last army and has vowed to fight on.'
'Leoman rides his own path. I would place no faith in it, were I you.'
The advice was not well received. Arguments rose, until Inashan turned on his guards and silenced them with an upraised hand. 'These matters must be brought to the Falah'd.' He faced Karsa again. 'You will stay this night at the Inn of the Wood?'
'I shall, although it is not made of wood, and so it should be called Inn of the Brick.'
Samar laughed. 'You can bring that up with the owner, Toblakai.
Captain, are we done here?'
Inashan nodded. 'I will send a healer to mend your leg, Samar Dev.'
'In return, I bless you and your kin, Captain.'
'You are too generous,' he replied with a bow.
The squad headed off. Samar turned to regard the giant warrior. '
Toblakai, how have you survived this long in Seven Cities?'
He looked down at her, then slung the stone sword once more over his shoulder. 'There is no armour made that can withstand the truth…'
'When backed by that sword?'
'Yes, Samar Dev. I find it does not take long for children to understand that. Even here in Seven Cities.' He pushed open the gates.
'Havok will require a stable away from other beasts… at least until his hunger is appeased.'
'I don't like the looks of that,' Telorast muttered, nervously shifting about.
'It is a gate,' Apsalar said.
'But where does it lead?' Curdle asked, indistinct head bobbing.
'It leads out,' she replied. 'Onto the Jen'rahb, in the city of Ehrlitan. It is where I am going.'
'Then that is where we are going,' Telorast announced. 'Are there bodies there? I hope so. Fleshy, healthy bodies.'
She regarded the two ghosts. 'You intend to steal bodies to house your spirits? I am not sure that I can permit that.'
'Oh, we wouldn't do that,' Curdle said. 'That would be possession, and that's difficult, very difficult. Memories seep back and forth, yielding confusion and inconsistency.'
'True,' Telorast said. 'And we are most consistent, are we not? No, my dear, we just happen to like bodies. In proximity. They… comfort us.
You, for example. You are a great comfort to us, though we know not your name.'
'Apsalar.'
'She's dead!' Curdle shrieked. To Apsalar: 'I knew you were a ghost!'
'I am named after the Mistress of Thieves. I am not her in the flesh.'
'She must be speaking the truth,' Telorast said to Curdle. 'If you recall, Apsalar looked nothing like this one. The real Apsalar was Imass, or very nearly Imass. And she wasn't very friendly-'
'Because you stole from her temple coffers,' Curdle said, squirming about in small dust-clouds.
'Even before then. Decidedly unfriendly, where this Apsalar, this one here, she's kind. Her heart is bursting with warmth and generosity-'
'Enough of that,' Apsalar said, turning to the gate once more. 'As I mentioned earlier, this gate leads to the Jen'rahb… for me. For the two of you, of course, it might well lead into Hood's Realm. I am not responsible for that, should you find yourselves before Death's Gate.'
'Hood's Realm? Death's Gate?' Telorast began moving from side to side, a strange motion that Apsalar belatedly realized was pacing, although the ghost had sunk part-way into the ground, making it look more like wading. 'There is no fear of that. We are too powerful. Too wise. Too cunning.'
'We were great mages, once,' Curdle said. 'Necromancers, Spiritwalkers, Conjurers, Wielders of Fell Holds, Masters of the Thousand Warrens-'
'Mistresses, Curdle. Mistresses of the Thousand Warrens.'
'Yes, Telorast. Mistresses indeed. What was I thinking? Beauteous mistresses, curvaceous, languid, sultry, occasionally simpering-'
Apsalar walked through the gate.
She stepped onto broken rubble alongside the foundations of a collapsed wall. The night air was chill, stars sharp overhead.
'-and even Kallor quailed before us, isn't that right, Telorast?'
'Oh yes, he quailed.'
Apsalar looked down to find herself flanked by the two ghosts. She sighed. 'You evaded Hood's Realm, I see.'
'Clumsy grasping hands,' Curdle sniffed. 'We were too quick.'
'As we knew we'd be,' Telorast added. 'What place is this? It's all broken-'
Curdle clambered atop the foundation wall. 'No, you are wrong, Telorast, as usual. I see buildings beyond. Lit windows. The very air reeks of life.'
'This is the Jen'rahb,' Apsalar said. 'The ancient centre of the city, which collapsed long ago beneath its own weight.'
'As all cities must, eventually,' Telorast observed, trying to pick up a brick fragment. But its hand slipped ineffectually through the object. 'Oh, we are most useless in this realm.'
Curdle glanced down at its companion. 'We need bodies-'
'I told you before-'
'Fear not, Apsalar,' Curdle replied in a crooning tone, 'we will not unduly offend you. The bodies need not be sentient, after all.'
'Are there the equivalent of Hounds here?' Telorast asked.
Curdle snorted. 'The Hounds are sentient, you fool!'
'Only stupidly so!'
'Not so stupid as to fall for our tricks, though, were they?'
'Are there imbrules here? Stantars? Luthuras – are there luthuras here? Scaly, long grasping tails, eyes like the eyes of purlith bats-'
'No,' Apsalar said. 'None of those creatures.' She frowned. 'Those you have mentioned are of Starvald Demelain.'
A momentary silence from the two ghosts, then Curdle snaked along the top of the wall until its eerie face was opposite Apsalar. 'Really?
Now, that's a peculiar coincidence-'
