'They have, Warlord. Their … donations … have allowed us to fulfil our resupply needs.'
'I believe a delegation is on its way from Darujhistan and should be here in a short while,' Brood added. 'Should you require additional assistance. '
'Generous of them,' the High Fist said, nodding.
'The command tent awaits us,' the warlord said. 'There are details that need to be discussed.'
'As you say,' Dujek agreed. 'Warlord, we have battled one another for a long time — I look forward to fighting side by side for a change. Let us hope the Pannion Domin proves a worthy foe.'
Brood grimaced. 'But not too worthy.'
'Granted,' Dujek said, grinning.
Still standing slightly apart with the Tiste Andii and the Mhybe, Silverfox smiled and spoke quietly. 'So we have it. They have locked gazes. Taken the measure of the other… and both are pleased.'
'A remarkable alliance, this,' Korlat muttered with a faint shake of her head. 'To so easily relinquish so much…'
'Pragmatic soldiers,' the Mhybe said, 'are the most frightening among the people whom I have known in my short life.'
Silverfox laughed low in her throat. 'And you doubt your own wisdom, Mother …'
Caladan Brood's command tent was situated in the centre of the Tiste Andii encampment. Though she had visited it many times and had acquired some familiarity with the Tiste Andii, the Mhybe was once again struck by the sense of strangeness as she strode with the others into their midst. Antiquity and pathos were twin breaths filling the aisles and pathways between the high-peaked narrow tents. There was little in the way of conversation among the few tall, dark-clothed figures they passed, nor was any particular attention accorded Brood and his entourage — even Korlat, Anomander Rake's second-in-command, received but scant notice.
It was difficult for the Mhybe to understand — a people plagued by indifference, an apathy that made even the efforts of civil discourse too much to contemplate. There were secret tragedies in the long, tortured past of the Tiste Andii. Wounds that would never heal. Even suffering, the Rhivi had come to realize, was capable of becoming a way of life. To then extend such an existence from decades into centuries, then into millennia, still brought home to the Mhybe a dull shock of horror.
These narrow, arcane tents might be home to ghosts, a restless, roving necropolis haunted with lost spirits. The strangely stained, ragged ribbons tied to the iron tent poles added a votive touch to the scene, as did the gaunt, spectral figures of the Tiste Andii themselves. They seemed to be waiting, an eternal expectation that never failed to send shivers through the Mhybe. And worse, she knew their capabilities — she had seen them draw blades in anger, then wield them with appalling efficiency. And she had seen their sorcery.
Among humans, cold indifference was often manifested in acts of brutal cruelty, was often the true visage of evil — if such a thing existed — but the Tiste Andii had yet to reveal such wanton acts. They fought at Brood's command, for a cause not their own, and those few of them who were killed on such occasions were simply left on the ground. It had fallen to the Rhivi to retrieve those bodies, to treat them in the Rhivi way and to mourn their passing. The Tiste Andii looked upon such efforts without expression, as if bemused by the attention accorded to a mere corpse.
The command tent waited directly ahead, octagonal and wood-framed, the canvas a much-mended sun-faded orange that had once been red. It had once belonged to the Crimson Guard, and had been left on a rubbish heap before Outrider Hurlochel had come to rescue it for the warlord. As with the standard, Brood wasn't much for proud accoutrements.
The large flap at the entrance had been tied back. Atop the front support pole sat a Great Raven, head cocked towards the group, beak open as if in silent laughter. The Mhybe's thin lips quirked into a half-smile upon seeing Crone. Anomander Rake's favoured servant had taken to hounding Caladan Brood, offering incessant advice like a conscience twisted awry. The Great Raven had tested the warlord's patience more than once — yet Brood tolerates her in the same way he tolerates Anomander Rake himself. Uneasy allies. the tales all agree that Brood and Rake have worked side by side for a log, long time, yet is there trust between them? That particular relationship is a hard one to understand, with layers upon layers of complexity and ambiguity, all the more confusing for Crone's dubious role in providing the bridge between the two warriors.
'Dujek Onearm!' Crone screamed, the outburst followed by a mad cackle. 'Whiskeyjack! I bring you greetings from one Baruk, an alchemist in Darujhistan. And, from my master, Anomander Rake, Lord of Moon's Spawn, Knight of High House Darkness, son of Mother Dark herself, I convey to you his … no, not greeting as such… not greeting … but amusement. Yes, amusement!'
