A Malazan Book of the Fallen Collection 3

silent a moment, then continued, 'The Forkrul Assail seem unwilling to pass judgement on us. And each year there seem to be fewer and fewer of them in any case. No, my friend, with this day's victory this world lies before our feet. Here, you shall not suffer from the civil wars that plague Kurald Galain. And I and my followers shall escape the rivening that now besets Kurald Emurlahn—'
    Silchas Ruin snorted. 'A rivening by your own hand, Scabandari.'
    He was still studying the Tiste forces below, and so did not see the flash of rage that answered his offhand remark, a flash that vanished a heartbeat later as Scabandari's expression returned once more to equanimity. 'A new world for us, brother.'
    'A Jaghut stands atop a ridge to the north,' Silchas Ruin said. 'Witness to the war. I did not approach, for I sensed the beginning of a ritual. Omtose Phellack.'
    'Do you fear that Jaghut, Silchas Ruin?'
    'I fear what I do not know, Scabandari ... Bloodeye. And there is much to learn of this realm and its ways.'
    'Bloodeye.'
    'You cannot see yourself,' Ruin said, 'but I give you this name, for the blood that now stains your ... vision.'
    'Rich, Silchas Ruin, coming from you.' Then Scabandari shrugged and walked to the north edge of the heap, stepping carefully on the shifting carcasses. 'A Jaghut, you said ...' He swung about, but Silchas Ruin's back was to him as the Tiste Andii stared down upon his few surviving followers on the plain below.
    'Omtose Phellack, the Warren of Ice,' Ruin said without turning. 'What does he conjure, Scabandari Bloodeye? I wonder ...'
    The Edur Soletaken walked back towards Silchas Ruin.
    He reached down to the outside of his left boot and drew out a shadow-etched dagger. Sorcery played on the iron.
    A final step, and the dagger was driven into Ruin's back.
    The Tiste Andii spasmed, then roared—
    —even as the Edur legions turned suddenly on the Andii, rushing inward from all sides to deliver the day's final slaughter.
    Magic wove writhing chains about Silchas Ruin, and the albino Tiste Andii toppled.
    Scabandari Bloodeye crouched down over him. 'It is the way of brothers, alas,' he murmured. 'One must rule. Two cannot. You know the truth of that. Big as this world is, Silchas Ruin, sooner or later there would be war between the Edur and the Andii. The truth of our blood will tell. Thus, only one shall command the gate. Only the Edur shall pass. We will hunt down the Andii who are already here – what champion can they throw up to challenge me? They are as good as dead. And so it must be. One people. One ruler.' He straightened, as the last cries of the dying Andii warriors echoed from the plain below. 'Aye, I cannot kill you outright – you are too powerful for that. Thus, I will take you to a suitable place, and leave you to the roots, earth and stone of its mangled grounds ...'
    He veered into his draconean form. An enormous taloned foot closed about the motionless Silchas Ruin, and Scabandari Bloodeye rose into the sky, wings thundering.
    The tower was less than a hundred leagues to the south, only its low battered wall enclosing the yard revealing that it was not of Jaghut construction, that it had arisen beside the three Jaghut towers of its own accord, in answer to a law unfathomable to god and mortal alike. Arisen ... to await the coming of those whom it would imprison for eternity. Creatures of deadly power.
    Such as the Soletaken Tiste Andii, Silchas Ruin, third and last of Mother Dark's three children.
    Removing from Scabandari Bloodeye's path his last worthy opponent among the Tiste.
    Mother Dark's three children.
    Three names ...
    Andarist, who long ago surrendered his power in answer to a grief that could never heal. All unknowing that the hand that delivered that grief was mine ...
    Anomandaris Irake, who broke with his mother and with his kind. Who then vanished before I could deal with him. Vanished, probably never to be seen again.
    And now Silchas Ruin, who in a very short time will know the eternal prison of the Azath.
    Scabandari Bloodeye was pleased. For his people. For himself. This world he would conquer. Only the first Andii settlers could pose any challenge to his claim.
    A champion of the Tiste Andii in this realm? I can think of no-one ... no-one with the power to stand before me ...
    It did not occur to Scabandari Bloodeye to wonder where, of the three sons of Mother Dark, the one who had vanished might have gone.
    But even that was not his greatest mistake