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Memories of Ice
Group Read - Memories of Ice
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MOI - Chapter Two - NO SPOILERS
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Mod
Picker ends up buying some torcs that are supposedly made from the mange of Treach - of whom we heard mentioned last book.
‘Treach, the Tiger of Summer.’
Picker sneered. ‘That’s not a god, you fool. Treach is a First Hero, a demigod, a Soletaken ascendant—’
‘A new temple has been sanctified in his name,’ the old man interrupted.
Once Picker puts on the torcs he is unable to take them off. Quick Ben is none to pleased with the corporal
The corporal scowled. ‘What’s wrong with Treach? Perfect for a soldier – the Tiger of Summer, the Lord of Battle—’
‘Five centuries ago, maybe! Treach veered into his Soletaken form hundreds of years ago – the beast hasn’t had a human thought since! It’s not just mindless – it’s insane, Picker!’
Ooops
And we get to meet the Crippled God for the first time.
Manug, the merchant who sold the torcs to Picker is making a special delivery. A Deck of Cards,(Deck of Dragons?) with deliberate flaws -
For services rendered Manug was to be rewarded with his genitals healed of a tumour. The Crippled god delivers said reward, but not without first "crippling" Manug's legs - nice
‘You are healed, mortal. You are granted more years of your miserable life. Alas, as perfection is anathema to me, so it must be among my cherished children.’
‘M-master, I cannot feel my legs!’
‘They are dead, I am afraid. Such was the price of curing.
Note we learn that "perfection" is anathema to the twisted god.
As it turns out, along with payment for the torcs, Picker has slipped Manug one of Quick Ben's tracking pebbles and the mage follows it right into the Crippled god's warren. And we learn a few more things
‘Who are you?’ the wizard asked.
‘Broken. Shattered. Chained to this fevered corpse beneath us. I did not ask for such a fate. I was not always a thing of pain ...’
I suppose Millenia of being chained and broken would tend to twist even a god. The "fevered corpse" he refers to is The Sleeping goddess we know as Burn
Quick Ben tries a swift move to retrieve his pebble from the god, afraid that it would tie him to the god. He manages to get one sucker punch in before attempting to get out of dodge, but the god recovers and manages to drag Quick Ben back. Before the Crippled god can get the better of him, an unknown creature drags Quick deep underground into the warren of the Sleeping goddess.
Jagged rocks ripped along the wizard’s body as he was pulled further down through the flesh of the Sleeping Goddess.
I am indeed within Burn, the Sleeping Goddess. A living warren. Flesh, and bone. And these . . . servants ...
The servant's, children of Burn, 15 times taller than Quick cry out to the wizard for help. The Crippled god is poisoning the Sleeping goddess.
‘Help us.’
The voice was childlike, filled with despair.
Quick Ben gaped. Help?
‘She weakens,’ the creature moaned. ‘Mother weakens. We die. Help us.’
The Crippled God’s killing them, poisoning Burn’s flesh.
Burn dying would be very bad
What would happen if Burn dies? Beru fend, I don’t think I want to find out. All right, then, it’s my war, now.
And Quick Ben starts a mission to save the world. And he's very afraid
‘Queen of Dreams,’ Picker muttered as she wrapped the leather harness around Quick Ben’s limbs. ‘I ain’t never seen you this scared, Wizard. You got me ready to piss ice-cubes.’
And we hook up again with Paran. He is being given command of The Bridgeburners and it's a daunting task given that outside commanders have a habit of turning up dead.
I might take a knife in the back, is what he’s telling me. Bridgeburners have an abiding dislike for noble-born officers.
And Paran is also struggling against magics wrought in him from his links to the Hounds of Shadow and the events in book one. Whatever it is isn't doing the captain any good - as squad healer Mallet explains to WhiskeyJack...
Paran’s journey to Darujhistan – something happened to him on the way. No, not something. Lots of things. Anyway, he’s fighting those sorceries, and that’s what’s killing him. I could be wrong in that, sir. We need Quick Ben—’
Hopefully Quick Ben can take time out from saving the universe to check the captain out.
Poor Mallet. I cant imagine what it must be like to be trying to heal so many unhealable things...and QB has just absorbed a whole infodump worth of info...lol. I am so glad it didnt come off as an info dump!
And let's remember Burn is also bleeding from good ole Raest when he stepped on her. I would think if time is measured in Burn, buried in the earth, and she dies, the time/space continuum of Chaos in this world is busted. David said "Once Picker puts on the torcs he is unable to take them off." Picker is a she! Altho until we know more about each character it IS hard to tell gender with SE! Which I adore.
Poor Manug! This fallen god is indeed full of pain and hate. Injured and rent in pieces. For what? Kallor, an immortal human, is still around.
Mod
@Lori But Burn's been asleep for only 1,100 or so years. A tiny amount of time in the scope of SE's worlds. Is all time measured in reference to Burn? What does it mean that she currently sleeps? How is this age different from previous ones because of that? What was her status before her sleep and how does she relate to the earth? All delicious questions that I will have half an eye on during this read.
Me too Chaz, me too! No I don't think all time is measured in terms of Burn's sleep but only the most recent. Does she affect everything, the warrens too? And where exactly are the warrens in relationship to "reality"? I'm so trying to figure that out! It's the scifi geek in me that loves physics, and usually in fantasy I don't pay attention (except Zelany) but for some reason I think SE has that all figured out. Not the physics so much, just the whole puzzle of how all the pieces fit.
What Burn's sleep is I have no idea, nor do I know if I'm even right! But it seems that way.
(view spoiler)
Mod
This shows us quite well the worshippers of the Fallen One, The Crippled One. All of the pain and Misery in the world would mean that he has some potential to become great.
Mod
What I'm really interested in is what the Crippled God intends to do with a flawed Deck (of Dragons?)
What on earth are these Trygalles? Quite impressive to use such a carriage to deliver money into the mountains. I felt a bit sorry for Quick Ben here. he's already got so much to deal with (including stupid moves by the bridgeburner soldiers), and now Burn's servants are begging for help too.
Burn's sleeping (of course i have even less of a clue what that is than most of you) but it must be very important given that time has been measured by that event for at least a millinium.
It kind of looked like the Crippled God intends to have some fun with that deck, though not in the way we usually play with cards :)
Mod
We get an idea of that in Chapter 7. (Chapter 7 spoiler(view spoiler)
Mod
You remember we meet them first in Deadhouse Gates right? They basically gatecrash warrens to make their deliveries. They delivered supplies to Coltaine that one time - and then they delivered extra munitions from Quick Ben to Fiddler at Tremorlor
Yes, and they are absolutely insane, even by the standards of the people in the Malazan Book of the Fallen.
Not read this whole chapter yet so not read all of the posts in this thread, sorry if it was already postedBut I pmsl at this
“Three hundred councils to buy my arm falling off. Wonderful.'
'Think positive, Corporal. It'll give you something to talk about with Dujek.”
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was confused about Picker's gender for a bit. It was not written very clearly.How are torc's one-size-fits-all? (I'm fine with warrens, dragons, and wizards, but this annoyed me.... haha)
The progression on how we view the crippled god is so cool.
Silverfox
Outrider Hurlochel