Memories of Ice (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #3)

by Steven Erikson

They stood on a landing. Paran judged that they had gone down six, perhaps seven levels into the bowels of the earth. The stone walls had disappeared, leaving only gloom, the ground underfoot a mat of snaking roots. ‘I can go no further, Master of the Deck,’ Raest said. ‘Walk into the darkness.’ ‘And if I refuse?’ ‘Then I kill you.’ ‘Unforgiving bastard, this Azath,’ Paran muttered. ‘I kill you, not for the Azath, but for the wasted effort of this journey. Mortal, you’ve no sense of humour.’ ‘And you think you do?’ the captain retorted. ‘If you refuse to go further, then … nothing. Apart from irritating me, that is. The Azath is patient. You will make the journey eventually, though the privilege of my escort occurs but once, and that once is now.’