So the Bonehunters on the transports had been a mean-spirited bunch by the time they emptied the water out of their boots and picked up their weapons. Mean, aye, as that Letherii army could attest to, oh yes.
After the Letherii magic had faded, crashed away as if to nothing in the distance, there had been a cry from Sinn, and Balm had seen with his own eyes Grub dancing about on the foredeck. And then everyone else had seen that blue-white dome of swirling light, rising up from where the Letherii magic had come down.
What did it mean?
Cord and Shard had gone up to Sinn, but she wasn’t talking which was a shock to them all. And all Grub said was something that nobody afterwards could even agree on, and since Balm hadn’t heard it himself he concluded that Grub probably hadn’t said anything at all, except maybe ‘I got to pee’ which explained all that dancing.
‘Could it be that Letherii magic turned them all into dust?’ Throatslitter wondered now as he walked on the dew-laden field.
‘And left the grasses growing wild?’ Masan Gilani countered.
‘Something over here,’ Deadsmell said from ten or so paces on.
Balm and Throatslitter dismounted and joined Masan Gilani-slightly behind her to either side. And the three of them set off after Deadsmell, who was now fast disappearing in the gloom.
‘Slow up there, Corporal!’ It’s not like the Universal Lodestone is bouncing up there with you, is it?
They saw that Deadsmell had finally halted, standing before a grey heap of something.
‘What did you find?’ Balm asked.
‘Looks like a shell midden,’ Throatslitter muttered.
‘Hah, always figured you for a fisher’s spawn.’
‘Spawn, ha ha, that’s so funny, Sergeant.’
‘Yeah? Then why ain’t you laughing? On second thought, don’t-they’ll hear it in the city and get scared. Well, scareder than they already are.’
They joined Deadsmell.
‘It’s a damned barrow,’ said Throatslitter. ‘And look, all kinds of Malazan stuff on it. Gods, Sergeant, you don’t think all that’s left of all those marines is under this mound?’
Balm shrugged. ‘We don’t even know how many made it this far. Could be six of ‘em. In fact, it’s a damned miracle any of ‘em did in the first place.’