'We must save our kin, Summoner, if we are so able. Within the Vow, our power remains. It will be needed.'
She slowly drew herself up, stilled her grief, her trembling. 'Then I will join you, Pran Chole. We. Nightchill, Tattersail, Bellurdan, and Silverfox.'
The Bonecaster was silent for a long moment, then he said, 'We are honoured, Summoner.'
Silverfox hesitated, then said, 'You are … changed. What has Itkovian done?'
A sea of bone-helmed heads bowed at mention of that name, and seeing that stole the breath from her lungs. By the Abyss, what has that man done?
Pran Chole was long in replying. 'Cast your eyes about you, Summoner. At the life now in this realm. Reach out and sense the power, here in the earth.'
She frowned. 'I do not understand. This realm is now home to the Beast Thrones. There are Rhivi spirits here … two wolf-gods …'
Pran Chole nodded. 'And more. You have, perhaps unwitting, created a realm where the Vow of Tellann unravels. T'lan Ay… now mortal once more — that gesture was easier than you had expected, was it not? Summoner, Itkovian freed our souls and found, in this realm you created, a place. For us.'
'You have been … redeemed !'
'Redeemed? No, Summoner. Only you are capable of that. The T'lan Imass have been awakened. Our memories — they live once more, in the earth beneath our feet. And they are what we will return to, the day you release us. Bonecaster — we expected nothing but oblivion, upon that release. We could not have imagined that an alternative was possible.'
'And now?' she whispered.
Pran Chole cocked his head. 'It surpasses us … what one mortal man so willingly embraced.' He swung about to make his way back down to the ranks, then paused and looked back at her. 'Summoner.'
'Yes.'
'One task awaits us … before we begin the long journey. '
Picker sat on a smoke-stained foundation stone, eyes dulled with exhaustion, and watched the Rhivi move through the rubble, seeking still more bodies. There were Pannion soldiers about, unarmed — seemingly the only citizens left in the city were either dead or gnawed down to little more than bones.
The Bridgeburners who had died within the keep had already left on a wagon — Picker and her meagre squad had retrieved most of them on the way out, even as the structure began to come down around them. A handful of other bodies had been found and recovered through sorcery, by the Tiste Andii, some of whom still lingered in the area, as if awaiting something, or someone. The only two no-one had yet found were Quick Ben and Paran, and Picker suspected it was because they weren't there.
Torches lit the area, feeble in their battling the unnatural darkness that shrouded the city. The air stank of smoke and mortar dust. Distant cries of pain rose every now and then, like haunting memories.
We were brittle. Destroyed months ago, outside Pale, it's just taken this long for the few of us left to realize it. Hedge, Trotts, Detoran. Corpses who kept saluting -Blend spoke beside her. 'I told the Rhivi on our wagon to wait inside the north gate.'
Our wagon. The wagon carrying the dead Bridgeburners.
First in.
Last out.
For the last time.
A flash of light from the keep's rubble, a warren opening, through which figures emerged. A scarred hound — a cattle-dog, it looked like — followed by Lady Envy, and two Seguleh dragging a third masked warrior between them.
'Well,' Blend murmured, 'that about does it, doesn't it?'
Picker was unsure what Blend meant, did not pursue it.
Lady Envy had seen them. 'Lieutenant dear! What a relief to see you well. Could you believe the audacity of that white-haired, sword-stuffed-'
'Would you be referring to me?' a deep voice asked.
Through the gloom stepped Anomander Rake. 'Had I known you were within the keep, Lady Envy, I would have brought Moon's Spawn all the way down.'
'Oh, what a thing to say!'
'What are you doing here?' the Son of Darkness growled.
'Oh, this and that, my love. And aren't you looking very martial this afternoon — it's still afternoon, isn't it? Hard to tell here.'
'Oh,' Blend whispered, 'there's history between those two.'
'Really,' Picker quietly drawled, 'and how could you tell?' Damned lady — not a scuff on that telaba. Now there's a different world from mine. Yet there we stood, side by side, in that hallway.
Anomander Rake was eyeing the woman standing before him. 'What do you want, Envy?'