‘I know,’ he said. Through fire. Well, of course it has to be us .
‘She won’t stop,’ Stormy said, pushing himself to his feet, swaying like a drunk. ‘She’ll take it for herself – all that power.’
‘I know, Stormy! I know, damn you! ’ Gesler forced himself to his feet. He squinted inland. ‘Gods below – what is that?’
‘A ghost army,’ Kalyth said. ‘The Matron says they simply came down from the sky.’
‘Send the Ve’Gath that way – all of them, Kalyth! Do you understand – you need to get them as far away from this as possible. If Sinn reaches the heart, that fire’s likely to consume the whole fucking land for leagues around!’
She pulled at him. ‘Then you can do nothing. Don’t you see – you can’t—’
Gesler took her face in his hands and kissed her hard on the lips. ‘Teach these lizards, Kalyth, only the best in us humans. Only the best .’ He turned to Stormy. ‘All right, let’s go. Forget any weapons – they’ll get too hot in our hands. We can tear off this armour on the way.’
‘Stop ordering me around!’
Side by side, the two old marines set out.
They climbed across greasy bodies, over ground that steamed, and through air hot as the breath of a smithy’s forge.
‘Can’t believe you, Ges,’ gasped Stormy. ‘You called on Fener!’
‘I wasn’t the only one, Stormy! I heard you—’
‘Not me – must’ve been someone else. You called him and someone fucking killed him! Gesler, you went and killed our god!’
‘Go to Hood,’ Gesler growled. ‘Who crossed his finger bones when he swore off that cult? Wasn’t that you? I think it was.’
‘You told me you did the same!’
‘Right, so let’s just forget it – we both killed Fener, all right?’
Five more strides and there could be no more words – every breath scalded, and the leathers they now wore as their only clothing had begun to blacken. Now it’s going to get bad .
But this is Telas. I can feel it – we’ve been through this before . He looked for Sinn, but could not see her anywhere. Walked out of the flames at Y’Ghatan. Walked into them here. It’s her world in there, it always was. But we knew that, didn’t we?
I swear I can hear her laughing .
The two men pushed forward.
Kalyth cried out when Gesler and Stormy vanished into the flames. She did not understand. She had looked on in disbelief as they had stepped over bodies reduced to black ash – she had seen their tunics catch fire.
‘Matron – what gift is this? What power do they possess?’
‘ Destriant, this surpasses me. But it is now clear to me – as it is to all of us – that you chose most wisely. If we could, we would follow these two humans into the firestorm itself. If we could, we would follow them to the edge of the very Abyss. You ask what manner of men are these – Destriant, I was about to ask this very same question of you .’
She shook her head, shrugged helplessly. ‘I don’t know. Malazans.’
The flames drove him back. And this was a source of fury and anguish. He tried again and again, but his beloved master was beyond his reach. Howling, he raced back and forth along the third berm, the foul stench of his own burnt hair acrid in his nostrils .
And then he saw the pup – the one of tangled hair and piercing voice, the pup that never grew up – running towards the cold, towards the frozen sea .
Had the pup found a way round this burning air?
The Wickan cattledog with the scarred face tore off in pursuit .
There would be a way round – he would find his master again. To fight at his side. There was, for Bent, no other reason to exist .
The base around the Spire had been reduced to scorched bedrock – not a scrap of armour remained, nothing but molten streaks of iron tracking the slopes of the blackened stone.
Yet Gesler and Stormy walked through the conflagration. Their leathers had melted on to their bodies, hard and brittle as eggshells, and as the two marines pushed closer to the stairs the clothing’s remnants cracked, made crazed patterns like a snake’s shedding skin.
Gesler could see the stairs – but she wasn’t there. His gaze tracked upward. Shit . She was already a quarter of the way up. He punched at Stormy’s shoulder and pointed.
They reached the base, set foot on the baked, crumbling stone.
Stormy edged into Gesler’s path and began gesturing – the hand language of the marines. ‘ Leave her to me – I’ll slow her up, hold her back, whatever. You go past. You go fast as you can – get to the top .’