The Bonehunters

'We got everybody.'



'Strings?'



'Still with us, though the heat's working its way down.'



'Enough rope and straps, then. Good.'



'Aye. So long as they hold. Seems Urb's proposing to carry Hellian down. On his back.'



'Is the next one on their way?'



'Aye. How do these lids come off?'



'Turn them, widdershins. And keep turning them.'



Bottle listened as the man worked on one of the lids. 'Can't be very old, this stuff, to still be fresh.'



'There's glyphs on these lids, Cuttle. I can't see them, but I can feel them. My grandmother, she had a ritual blade she used in her witchery – the markings are the same, I think. If I'm right, Cuttle, this iron work is Jaghut.'



'What?'



'But the urns are First Empire. Feel the sides. Smooth as eggshell – if we had light I'd wager anything they're sky-blue. So, with a good enough seal…'



'I can still taste the flowers in this, Bottle.'



'I know.'



'You're talking thousands and thousands of years.'



'Yes.'



'Where's your favourite rat?'



'Hunting us a way through. There's another chamber opposite, but it's open, empty, I mean – we should move in there to give the others room…'



'What's wrong?'



Bottle shook his head. 'Nothing, just feeling a little… strange. Cut my back up some… it's gone numb-'



'Hood's breath, there was some kind of poppy in that honey, wasn't there? I'm starting to feel… gods below, my head's swimming.'



'Yeah, better warn the others.'



Though he could see nothing, Bottle felt as if the world around him was shuddering, spinning. His heart was suddenly racing. Shit. He crawled towards the other archway. Reached in, pulled himself forward, and was falling.



The collision with the stone floor felt remote, yet he sensed he'd plunged more than a man's height. He remembered a sharp, cracking sound, realized it had been his forehead, hitting the flagstones.



Cuttle thumped down on top of him, rolled off with a grunt.



Bottle frowned, pulling himself along the floor. The rat – where was she? Gone. I lost her. Oh no, I lost her.



Moments later, he lost everything else as well.



****

Corabb had dragged an unconscious Strings down the last stretch of tunnel. They'd reached the ledge to find the rope dangling from three sword scabbards wedged across the shaft, and vague sounds of voices far below. Heat swirled like serpents around him as he struggled to pull the Malazan up closer to the ledge.



Then he reached out and began drawing up the rope.



The last third of the line consisted of knots and straps and buckles – he checked each knot, tugged on each strand, but none seemed on the verge of breaking. Corabb bound the Malazan's arms, tight at the wrists; then the man's ankles – one of them sheathed in blood, and, checking for bandages, he discovered none remaining, just the ragged holes left by the spear – and from the rope at the ankles he made a centre knot between the sergeant's feet. With the rope end looped in one hand, Corabb worked the man's arms over his head, then down so that the bound wrists were against his sternum. He then pushed his own legs through, so that the Malazan's bound feet were against his shins.



Drawing up the centre-knotted rope he looped it over his head and beneath one arm, then cinched it into a tight knot.



He worked his way into the shaft, leaning hard for the briefest of moments on the wedged scabbards, then succeeding in planting one foot against the opposite wall. The distance was a little too great – he could manage only the tips of his feet on each wall, and as the weight of Strings on his back fully settled, the tendons in his ankles felt ready to snap.



Gasping, Corabb worked his way down. Two man-heights, taken in increasing speed, control slipping away with every lurch downward, then he found a solid projection on which he could rest his right foot, and the gap had narrowed enough to let his left hand reach out and ease the burden on that leg.



Corabb rested.



The pain of deep burns, the pounding of his heart. Some time later, he resumed the descent. Easier now, the gap closing, closing.



Then he was at the bottom, and he heard something like laughter from his left, low, which then trailed away.



He searched out that side and found the archway, through which he tossed the rope, hearing it strike a body a little way below.



Everyone's asleep. No wonder. I could do with that myself.



He untied Strings, then clambered through, found his feet balancing on tight-packed, clunking jars, the sounds of snoring and breathing on all sides and a sweet, cloying smell. He pulled Strings after him, eased the man down.