The Bonehunters

'Banaschar,' Pearl said, 'the rumours do not even come close to the truth. Hundreds of thousands have died. Perhaps millions.'



Millions? 'I shall speak with the Empress,' Pearl repeated.



'When do you leave?' Banaschar asked. And what of those who are isolating Tayschrenn? What of those who contemplate killing me? 'There will be no need for that,' the Claw said, walking to the door.



'She is coming here.'



'Here? When?'



'Soon.'



Why? But he did not voice that question, for the man had gone.



****

Saying it needed the exercise, Iskaral Pust was sitting atop his mule, struggling to guide it in circles on the mid deck. From the looks of it, he was working far harder than the strange beast as it was cajoled into a step every fifty heartbeats or so.



Red-eyed and sickly, Mappo sat with his back to the cabin wall. Each night, in his dreams, he wept, and would awaken to find that what had plagued his dreams had pushed through the barrier of sleep, and he would lie beneath the furs, shivering with something like a fever. A sickness in truth, born of dread, guilt and shame. Too many failures, too many bad judgements; he had been stumbling, blind, for so long.



Out of friendship he had betrayed his only friend.



I will make amends for all of this. So I vow, before all the Trell spirits.



Standing at the prow, the woman named Spite was barely visible within the gritty, mud-brown haze that engulfed her. Not one of the bhok' arala, scrambling about in the rigging or back and forth on the decks, would come near her.



She was in conversation. So Iskaral Pust had claimed. With a spirit that didn't belong. Not here in the sea, and that wavering haze, like dust skirling through yellow grasses – even to Mappo's dull eyes, blatantly out of place.



An intruder, but one of power, and that power seemed to be growing.



'Mael,' Iskaral Pust had said with a manic laugh, 'he's resisting, and getting his nose bloodied. Do you sense his fury, Trell? His spitting outrage? Hee. Hee hee. But she's not afraid of him, oh no, she's not afraid of anyone!'



Mappo had no idea who that 'she' was, and had not the energy to ask.



At first, he had thought the High Priest had been referring to Spite, but no, it became increasingly apparent that the power manifesting itself over the bow of the ship was nothing like Spite's. No draconean stink, no cold brutality. No, the sighs of wind reaching the Trell were warm, dry, smelling of grasslands.



The conversation had begun at dawn, and now the sun was directly overhead. It seemed there was much to discuss… about something.



Mappo saw two spiders scuttle past his moccasined feet. You damned witch, I don't think you're fooling anyone.



Was there a connection? Here, on this nameless ship, two shamans from Dal Hon, a land of yellow grasses, acacias, huge herds and big cats – savannah – and now, this… visitor, striding across foreign seas.



'Outraged, yes,' Iskaral Pust had said. 'Yet, do you sense his reluctance? Oh, he struggles, but he knows too that she, who chooses to be in one place and not many, she is more than his match. Dare he focus? He doesn't even want this stupid war, hah! But oh, it is that very ambivalence that so frees his followers to do as they please!'



A snarling cry as the High Priest of Shadow fell from the back of the mule. The animal brayed, dancing away and wheeling round to stare down at the thrashing old man. It brayed again, and in that sound Mappo imagined he could hear laughter.



Iskaral Pust ceased moving, then lifted his head. 'She's gone.'



The wind that had been driving them steady and hard, ever on course, grew fitful.



Mappo saw Spite making her way down the forecastle steps, looking weary and somewhat dismayed. 'Well?' Iskaral demanded.



Spite's gaze dropped to regard the High Priest where he lay on the deck. 'She must leave us for a time. I sought to dissuade her, and, alas, I failed. This places us… at risk.'



'From what?' Mappo asked.



She glanced over at him. 'Why, the vagaries of the natural world, Trell. Which can, at times, prove alarming and most random.' Her attention returned to Iskaral Pust. 'High Priest, please, assert some control over your bhok'arala. They keep undoing knots that should remain fast, not to mention leaving those unsightly offerings to you everywhere underfoot.'



'Assert some control?' Iskaral asked, sitting up with a bewildered look on his face. 'But they're crewing this ship!'



'Don't be an idiot,' Spite said. 'This ship is being crewed by ghosts.



Tiste Andii ghosts, specifically. True, it was amusing to think otherwise, but now your little small-brained worshippers are becoming troublesome.'