Toll the Hounds (Malazan Book of the Fallen, #8)

by Steven Erikson

‘What is your name?’ Ditch asked. ‘What matter any of that?’ ‘For when I next speak to Draconus.’ ‘He knows me.’ ‘I don’t.’ ‘I am Kadaspala, brother to Enesdia who was wife to Andarist.’ Andarist. That’s one name I recognize. ‘You wanted to murder the brother of your sister’s husband?’ ‘I did. For what he did to them, what he did to them. For what he did to them!’ Ditch stared at the anguish in the man’s ravaged face. ‘Who blinded you, Kadaspala?’ ‘It was a gift. A mercy. I did not comprehend the truth of that, not the real truth of it, the real truth. No. Besides, I thought my inner sight would be enough – to challenge Draconus. To steal Dragnipur. I was wrong, wrong. I was wrong. The truth is a gift, a mercy.’ ‘Who blinded you?’ The Tiste Andii flinched, then seemed to curl into himself. Tears glistened in the pits of his sockets. ‘I blinded myself,’ Kadaspala whispered. ‘When I saw what he’d done. What he’d done. To his brother. To my sister. To my sister.’