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July 18, 2014 - October 15, 2015
Truth tellers were never welcome; most especially one’s own. Better to be a storyteller – they at least have grasped the essential truth that everyone prefers lies.
All coins are worthless. It’s just that some are worth less than others.’
The so-called Malazan ‘empire’ began as a thalassocracy. That is, rule by sea power.
But it seemed to him that a society reliant on a way of life no longer viable, namely hunting and gathering, really ought to adapt. He judged farming a reasonable substitution.
It seemed strange to him that everyone should be so ready to believe that a cult that preached nonviolence should also be murdering babies. But from what he’d seen in life there was much insanity surrounding religion.
Harming others is no way to honour life.’
In Bakune’s eyes it was the worst of the innovations brought about by the pressure of foreign occupation – perhaps because the order was a sort of rival religious police adjudicating what was permitted behaviour and what was not, and perhaps because it saw itself as above the earthly laws represented locally by none other than himself.
‘Did you see that?’ he asked. ‘See what?’ ‘Pissed himself, the old guy. Wet those expensive robes of his,’ and he laughed. ‘Congratulations. You beat an old guy into pissing himself.’ The grin fell away. The young tough tossed his long hair from his pimply face. ‘You ever do any of that stuff Kargin says – cuttin’ ears and such?’ Kyle set his mouth in a leer and leaned close. ‘All the fucking time.’
‘So it is true …’ the man gasped. Blood welled up with the word. ‘The claims are true. Stonewielder … He betrayed all humanity for that artefact.’
True pure evil, Assessor, is waste. It is the blunting of potential, the cutting off of a person’s or a people’s promise, or options, for development. It is, emblematically, the death of a
And perhaps I shouldn’t have run in the first place. I had people in Korel. People who depended on me. One fellow, Ruthan he was called, he was ready to fight, but I hope he followed my warning. When I was forced to leave … well, it’s always gnawed at me. Like a betrayal. I’ve sometimes found myself wondering – are they still alive?’
‘No! I withdrew from service.’ She glared to see his eyes amused above what must be a smile hidden by his scarf. ‘I was a private bodyguard.’ It was hard to tell, but she thought the smile disappeared. ‘Not so unalike after all, then.’
And why did the tree fall on my house? Because the hundred other ones that fell did not, old man. We invent patterns when we look back on what has brought us to wherever we happen to be. This particular choice, or that particular turn. All in hindsight … when in truth all was mere chance.
Rillish wondered whether Su had ever heard of Perish; the woman had an annoying way of acting as if her every utterance or act was pregnant with meaning.
Across the way Suth caught Pyke watching. The man pointed as if still gripping his blade, and smiled a promise. Suth just looked away; it was his experience that those who made the most show and bluster were the least dangerous.
Surely these Malazans had lands enough all over the world. All that blood and treasure expended. And for what? One measly island the inhabitants of which were so self-centred, so self-deluded, that they actually named their island a continent?
‘You came all this way just to abstain? Why didn’t you just stay in your mouldy cave?’ ‘It is not a cave – it is a subterranean domicile.’
‘When I … left … Seven Cities,’ he began, musing, ‘I was with a woman. We had much in common. I thought that I’d finally met a woman I could come to think of as a partner.’ He let out a long breath, a wistful sigh. ‘But … she too couldn’t believe that the future held no fascination for me. It interested her, though. Greatly. She had ambitions. I, apparently, did not. And so we parted ways, and there was much shouting and many broken pots.
Young. ‘What accomplishments? Bashing people with a piece of metal is no accomplishment.’
For the warrior fights as one, while the soldier fights all as one.
Dim, on his right, was too slow and awkward with his shield and was absorbing terrible punishment from the blunt-edged thrusts. But he didn’t go down. Too dumb to fall! It probably didn’t even occur to the man as a possibility.
Eventually he cleared his throat. ‘Nok … I tell you this in all trust. Kyle is from Assail.’
‘Their limitations, I think, have nothing to do with us poor mortals. And that toy … it’s of no use. Let me go.’ ‘This toy is as strong as, if not stronger than, any staff. It was custom built for me by the Moranth.’ ‘I’m sure the hounds will pause to admire it.’
The woman merely smiled. But it was not a reassuring smile; it spoke of secrets and a dark humour.
History consists of nothing more than the lies we tell ourselves to justify the present.
Let the religion-mad fool rant. Faiths! Name one other thing that has brought more misery and murder into the world!
At first Bakune refused to number the days of his imprisonment. He judged it irrelevant and frankly rather clichéd.
Folk caught fish and other creatures that they sometimes gutted over the sides and ate raw – a practice Shell could not bring herself to share despite their constant pressing upon her of the limp and tentacled delicacies. Some lines should not be crossed.
She shot a glance ahead. ‘You do not know? No, of course not.’ She sighed, searching for words. ‘It is, how do you say … a cursed place. A haunt of the Lady herself. The Ring. A great circle ridge around a deep hole. Some say bottomless. And it is guarded. Korelri Stormguard are there. None dare approach.
Yes, we’re all older now. And perhaps the past glows brighter as it recedes ever further.
Still, it was said that there was no fanatic like the converted.
In this manner he fit the mould of the old Malazan commanders she’d heard of: the legendary Dujek, the gruff Urko, or the revered Whiskeyjack.
‘I’ve come to understand that the truth isn’t really what’s important.’ He cocked his head, his cold blue gaze edging back to her. ‘What really matters is what people come to agree is the truth.’
Because it is one thing to catch what you’ve always sought. After that it is quite another matter. The question really should be: what do you do with it once you’ve caught it?’
‘Of course you believe yourself fully justified,’ Beneth cut in. ‘Doesn’t certitude stand behind both sides in almost all confrontations?
Only in the doing can the measure be made, and then only in hindsight. That task he would leave to others.
Our country is invaded by a foreign power, alien troops walk our streets, and our reaction? We attempt to sue them and each other.
On the eighth day of their unopposed advance across Rool, Suth reflected that life was good. No one was trying to eviscerate him;
Corlo stared. Surely not Shellarr? How could they have captured her? Unless … ‘Was she blonde?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Attractive?’ The man almost blushed. ‘Yes.’
So ended the Priestess who brought the message of tolerance and worship of all deities to the subcontinent. What legends would arise, he wondered, from this day?
Overcast, as usual, the winter clouds scudding so low as to be almost within reach, yet stubbornly yielding none of their snow.
‘We do not follow the philosophy of purity versus pollution. That is a false choice, a false dichotomy. The truth is, nothing is “pure”. Everything is the product of something else. To name something “pure” is to pretend it has no history, nothing before it, which is obviously false.’
‘But no. I’m sorry, there’s nothing special about you. There you are. It’s disappointing, I know, but that’s how it is for everyone.’ His wide, thick-lipped mouth drew down. ‘And that just makes it all the harder, doesn’t it? Not being special. Not having that funny mark or that omen at your birth. Just an ordinary person asked to step up to do the extraordinary.’
When you do not recognize the wrongs of the past, the future takes its revenge.
‘And give my apologies to Rillish. He proved himself. He deserved better.’
Though their flesh was disintegrating in a cloud around their bones, these bodies appeared unusual: very gracile, the bones curved oddly, the skull narrow, limbs elongated. Very pale, of course, as the bleaching of the water accomplishes that. But still, very pale indeed.
Two quick strides brought Ivanr to the fellow and he slapped the bow from his hands. ‘How dare you, you evil bastard!’ he raged. The archer whipped round and he found himself staring straight into the scarred young face of the boy he’d rescued.
There are stories of a pair of travelling sorcerers. She did not destroy them.’ Hiam waved a hand. ‘I understand they were merely passing through. They were of no consequence.’
He knelt, raised the stone sword, point down. Burn, accept this offering and answer. Bless my intent. Right this ancient wrong. Heal this wound upon the world. He slammed the blade down into the earth.
He stared down at his hands, trapped in the raw living stone, and only then did the beautiful poetry of it dawn upon him and he threw back his head to laugh aloud. Oh ye gods, you have outdone yourselves! Laugh at the fool mortal, for only now do I see it. Stonewielder indeed! Yes. You scheming bastards and bitches!