****
'Look at her,' Maybe said. 'Tells us not to wander off then what does she do? Wanders off. Finds a ridge to do what? Why, check out her nails. Ooh, they're chipped! Gods, we've got a real woman for our Hood-damned sergeant-'
'She ain't a real woman,' Touchy said. 'You don't know her at all, sapper. Now, me and Brethless, we were two of the poor fools who came first to the temple in Kartool, where this whole nightmare started.'
'What are you talking about?' Balgrid demanded.
'Someone went and butchered all the priests in the D'rek temple, and we was the first ones on the scene. Anyway, you know how this goes.
That was our quarter, right? Not that we could patrol inside temples, of course, so we weren't to blame. But since when does common sense count for anything in the empire? So, they had to send us away.
Hopefully to get killed, so none of it gets out-'
'It just did,' Tavos Pond said, scratching beneath the rough, crusted bandages swathing one side of his face.
'What are you talking about?' Balgrid demanded again. 'And what's the sergeant doing over there?'
Maybe glared at Lutes. 'He's still deaf. Do something!'
'It'll come back,' the healer replied, shrugging. 'Mostly. It takes time, that's all.'
'Anyway,' Touchy resumed, 'she ain't a real woman. She drinks-'
'Right,' Brethless cut in, 'and why does she drink? Why, she's scared of spiders!'
'That don't matter,' his brother retorted. 'And now she's stuck sober and that's bad. Listen, all of you-'
'What?' Balgrid asked.
'Listen, the rest of you, we just keep her drunk and everything'll be fine-'
'Idiot,' Maybe said. 'Probably you didn't catch whoever killed all those priests because your sergeant was drunk. She did good in Y'
Ghatan, or have you forgotten? You're alive 'cause of her.'
'That'll wear off, sapper. Just you wait. I mean, look at her – she's fussing over her nails!'
****
Adopting heavies into a squad was never easy, Gesler knew. They didn't think normally; in fact, the sergeant wasn't even sure they were human. Somewhere between a flesh-and-blood Imass and a Barghast, maybe. And now he had four of them. Shortnose, Flashwit, Uru Hela and Mayfly. Flashwit could probably out-pull an ox, and she was Napan besides, though those stunning green eyes came from somewhere else; and Shortnose seemed in the habit of losing body parts, and there was no telling how far that had gone beyond the missing nose and ear. Uru was a damned Korelri who'd probably been destined for the Stormwall before stowing aboard a Jakatakan merchanter, meaning she felt she didn't owe anybody anything. Mayfly was just easily confused, but clearly as tough as they came.
And Heavies came tough. He'd have to adjust his thinking on how to work the squad. But if he ever shows up, Stormy will love these ones.
Maybe in one way it made sense to reorganize the squads, but Gesler wasn't sure of the captain's timing. It was Fist Keneb's responsibility, anyway, and he'd likely prefer splitting up soldiers who were, one and all now, veterans. Well, that was for the damned officers to chew over. What concerned him the most at the moment, was the fact that they were mostly unarmed and unarmoured. A score of raiders or even bandits happening upon them and there'd be more Malazan bones bleaching in the sun. They needed to get moving, catch up with the damned army.
He fixed his gaze on the west road, up on the ridge. Hellian was there already, he saw. Lit up by the rising sun. Odd woman, but she must have done something right, to have led her soldiers through that mess.
Gesler would not look back at Y'Ghatan. Every time he had done that before, the images returned: Truth shouldering the munitions packs, running into the smoke and flames. Fiddler and Cuttle racing back, away from what was coming. No, it wasn't worth any last looks back at that cursed city.
What could you take from it that was worth a damned thing, anyway?
Leoman had drawn them right in, made the city a web from which there was no escape – only… we made it, didn't we? But, how many didn't?
The captain had told them. Upwards of two thousand, wasn't it? All to kill a few hundred fanatics who would probably have been just as satisfied killing themselves and no-one else, to make whatever mad, futile point they felt worth dying for. It was how fanatics thought, after all. Killing Malazans simply sweetened an already sweet final meal. All to make some god's eyes shine.
Mind you, polish anything long enough and it'll start to shine.
