…now, we flash back.<\/p>\n
Tattersail is woken from her warm bed, which she currently shares with fellow (but subordinate) sorcerer Calot. \u00a0They’re summoned to a gathering called by High Fist Dujek Onearm. \u00a0They hurry in that direction, and then we get to see the first bit of visual imagery in the book that made me go “WHOA.”<\/p>\n
Drawing her cloak against the chill, Tattersail paused outside the tent and turned to study the enormous mountain hanging suspended a quarter-mile above the city of Pale. \u00a0She scanned the battered face of Moon’s Spawn – it’s name for as long as she could remember. \u00a0Ragged as a blackened tooth, the basalt fortress was home to the most powerful enemy the Malazan Empire had ever faced. \u00a0High above the earth, Moon’s Spawn could not be breached by siege. \u00a0Even Laseen’s own undead army, the T’lan Imass, who traveled as easily as dust on the wind, were unable, or unwilling, to penetrate its magical defenses.<\/p>\n
In other words, the besieged city of Pale has found some powerful friends. \u00a0Sorcerers called the Tiste Andii, commanded by warlord Caladan Brood (that name!) dropped from the floating mountain to drive back Malazan forces. \u00a0The long siege has ground to a halt, except for the efforts by the Bridgeburners to keep tunneling under the city walls.<\/p>\n
The sorcerers continue into their meeting with Onearm and the Empress’s high mage Tayschrenn, and fellow sorcerer Hairlock (who is dying so dramatically at the beginning of the chapter). \u00a0It’s an uncomfortable meeting. \u00a0Hairlock is a dour presence, Tayschrenn a dramatic one, and the plan — to toss six high mages’s power up at Moon’s Spawn — seems a crazy one. \u00a0It takes more discussion and some poetry before the front-line mages realize who they’re really up against: \u00a0Anomander Rake, one of the Tiste Andii, and Archmage of Moon’s Spawn. \u00a0All we know of the Tiste Andii at this time is that they have “elder blood,” and are scary, scary peeps.<\/p>\n
The battle begins. \u00a0The mages cast fiery spells at the floating mountain. \u00a0It stops in place, something it hasn’t done in years. \u00a0A portal atop it opens. \u00a0Great Ravens pour out, and for the first time, Anomander Rake is seen:<\/p>\n
(Italics are in the original) \u00a0Mane of Chaos. \u00a0Anomander Rake. \u00a0Lord of the black-skinned Tiste Andii, who has looked down on a hundred thousand winters, who has tasted the blood of dragons, who leads the last of his kind, seated in the Throne of Sorrow and a kingdom tragic and fey – a kingdom with no land to call its own.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>The mages loose all their power, but Rake responds with a black, necrous power that engulfs the whole army as it roils toward them. \u00a0This is something\u00a0different. \u00a0“Kurald Galain sorcery. \u00a0Elder magic, the Breath of Chaos.”<\/em> \u00a0Hairlock is struck down. \u00a0Calot diverts his power to protect his lover and commander Tattersail’s. \u00a0Mages fall to demons and fire. \u00a0When Tattersail can raise her head again, she sees the cost of this battle: \u00a0Onearm’s host is obliterated. \u00a0Three of the six mages are dead.<\/p>\n And, something worse: \u00a0she can feel that something else<\/em> was involved, something big, something different. \u00a0The scene feels like it was touched by the involvement of …a god? \u00a0Hood, the god of Death? \u00a0No. \u00a0Something else. \u00a0Her sight keeps swiveling back toward the young woman who travels with the Bridgeburners, but that seems like a dead end.<\/p>\n Flashback’s over.<\/p>\n Quick Ben and the other Bridgeburners work hurriedly to do something with Hairlock’s fading body. \u00a0It’s strange magic, magic Tattersail doesn’t know (to her shock). \u00a0They work swiftly to try and avoid the attention of the fifteen year old girl called Sorry in their ranks. \u00a0In the end, they hand Tattersail a small package and send her across the killing fields to set it in her tent. \u00a0Ravens scatter as the package moves through them.<\/p>\n The siege of Pale is done. \u00a0Next up is Daujhistan. \u00a0The army doesn’t pause.<\/p>\n Tattersail returns to her tent with the package. \u00a0She sets it down and reaches for her prophetic Deck of Dragons. \u00a0It calls to her. \u00a0She’s indulging in some anguished reflection when the package moves. \u00a0Twitches. \u00a0Then says her name. \u00a0And out of the wrapping steps a yellow marionette that speaks with Hairlock’s voice. \u00a0He’s undergone soul shifting, an ancient, chaotic magic. \u00a0In his presence, Tattersail’s warren (her magical source and conduit) springs to life. \u00a0The deck is calling her. \u00a0She has to answer.<\/p>\n First card to set the stage! \u00a0The Knight of Dark, black-skinned, half-dragon, with something just out of sight above his head. \u00a0Second card! \u00a0Oponn. \u00a0The Jester of Chance. \u00a0A lady and a lord, twins, balancing. \u00a0A tiny disc is suspended in the small space between them. \u00a0The coin is spinning in the card. \u00a0Hairlock commands her to draw a third card, but …no. \u00a0She holds. \u00a0The marionette is furious, but Tattersail knows what she needs to know. \u00a0She hears a spinning coin; Hairlock does not. \u00a0The Knight of Dark is out there, unpredictable and cold, but Chance’s coin is spinning. \u00a0“Oponn whirled two faces to the cosmos, but it was the Lady’s bet. \u00a0Spin on, silver. \u00a0Spin on.<\/em>“<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" …now, we flash back. Tattersail is woken from her warm bed, which she currently shares with fellow (but subordinate) sorcerer Calot. \u00a0They’re summoned to a gathering called by High Fist Dujek Onearm. \u00a0They hurry in that direction, and then we get to see the first bit of visual imagery in the book that made me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,43],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/natterings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/natterings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/natterings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natterings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natterings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=321"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/natterings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324,"href":"https:\/\/natterings.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321\/revisions\/324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/natterings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natterings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/natterings.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}