# TtH Ch 1 - 3

## Prologue

"Speak truth, grow still, until the water is clear between us." It's a lovely aphorism on finding interpersonal peace by being one's own best self. It's _also_ not an accident this starts the book.

We open on an unnamed town with two anonymous people and their dogs. The dogs are killing one another as the people chat.

Things repeat in the town. Also, the people are dead. The town is falling apart.

The dialogue is laden with barely-veiled commentary. The man was once a priest who closed his eyes and sang louder in the face of storms. He has no idea why he isn't with is god in death.

Three others arrive, but we know them: Edgewalker, Shadowthrone, and someone else. Someone as tall as Edgewalker, someone who needs Edgewalker to "mitigate". Someone choosing to act out of "disgust".

In the distance, there is a rumbling sound of a carriage.
___

Inside Dragnipur, we meet Ditch, a wizard of Pale killed by Rake. Dragnipur's warren isn't a happy place:

> This oily mud and its sharp black stones that cut through the rotted soles of his boots; the deathly damp air that layered a grimy film upon the skin, as if the world itself was fevered and slick with sweat. The faint cries – strangely ever distant to Ditch’s ears – and, much nearer, the groan and crunch of the massive engine of wood and bronze, the muted squeal of chains.

Countless others pull the wagon with Ditch, but countless more have fallen and now either ride the wagon or are dragged behind it. All are both alive and dead, even those with irreparably broken bodies.

Another prisoner gets Ditch's attention: Pearl, the demon Quick released in Gardens of the Moon. _Not_ Pearl the Claw, mind. Pearl is doing his best to carry the fallen since the bed of the wagon is full.

They can see the end coming. If Rake doesn't kill more beings, more _powerful_ beings, the wagon will stop and chaos will finally catch up. And what then?

Neither know. But someone else in the sword almost certainly does: Draconus.

___

Apsal'ara, the mistress of thieves, is also stuck in Dragnipur, but she's not about to pull chains for eternity. Since she was killed, she has sought to break her chain. She hides under the wagon, slowly working her chain.

She had been ready to give up, in as much as she was resigned to work her chain forever. But then two Hounds of Shadow showed up and jumped through the gate. Apsal'ara tried to follow, but the gate was too cold, absolutely cold.

Her resolve redoubled. She would break free.

___

High on the Laederon Plateau, an old three-legged dog stirs. It doesn't belong to anyone, but the village keeps it anyhow. The dog turns and walks out of the village.

Two girls, almost the same age, notice. They leave, following the dog south.

___

Kruppe frames our story. He will tell the story to his friends, the Elder God K'rul and a "grey-haired, gaunt" newcomer. And Kruppe asks us all to _witness_.

___

## Chapter 1

We begin with a banger of a section with the sad and lonely Lady Chalice Vidikas, née Estraysian of Darujhistan. It's the first night of the fete of Gedderone, there are wild dancing crowds on the streets. As befitting her status, she has accompanied her husband, Gorlas Vidikas to banquets. He is a councilman now, which was expected going by her comments in GotM. He is also a duelist who seems to look down on everyone. After the banquets, she stands alone on the balcony, reminiscing about a different fete that happened years ago. Though it's mentioned in passing, do note that the moon seems hazy now. Also, technically Gorlas was of House Tholius and Chalice was of House D'Arle back in Gotm.

Now we head down to the street level, in the midst of the revellers. Kruls bar, being run by clueless marines, has run out of rhivi flatbread and saltoan wine on a night like this. Picker has gone quite a distance to find some flatbread and heartily blames Blend's addiction to the food plus her ankle sprain which may or may not be sprained. To set the mood, the retired bridgeburners are grouchy with mallet being the worst.

Well, turns out Picker has a stalker, a guild assassin no less! Dester Thrin seems happy with his new guild master (Seba Krafar) and he thinks these kruls bar ex soldiers are soft targets. Things have changed now, of course. The assassins seem to carry poisoned knives, using Moranth tralb. They seem to be inspired by Rallick nom's legendary night of blood. He has adherents now though they are not welcome in the guild.

Next we see the demon Chilbais stalking the Azath house for months. He sees some movement as if something escaped the house and tries to follow. Something scares it off and Chillbais decides to go and tell his master. If you don't remember this demon from Gotm where he was unnamed, >!he belonged to Baruk!

Picker, Antsy and Bluepearl are all accosted by their respective assassins who don't stand a chance against the veterans. Just before reaching Krul's bar, Picker notices another would-be assassin hiding in the shadows and takes him out. The shopping trip is over and it is decided to have an official meeting. Except Spindle who has gone on a pilgrimage. Duiker is invited too, lets see if he joins them. Also note that Krul's now has a bard who sings Anomandaris.

Chalice comes in to find her husband and his 2 friends- Shardan Lim (openly flirty with her) and Hanut Orr (a Daru playboy). She wishes them goodnight though seems to be slightly responsive to Lim's attention. Back in her room, she looks through her jewelry from back in the day, they feel cheap and gaudy now and she can't to get rid of them the next day.

Murillio is ageing. He still seduces women but now even their daughters seem interested in him. This night he meets Delish, a stand in for young Chalice and tells her to watch out for the quiet ones. She is not interested in advice and they have sex right there in the garden. Just when they finish, her boyfriend stabs Murillio through his chest. He somehow walks away into the crowd.

We now meet Scorch and Leff who are playing a game(troughs? bones? knuckles? who knows?) with Kruppe at the Phoenix inn. Kruppe is winning, they now owe him money from their next week's wages. Magnanimous Kruppe allows it. Meanwhile these 2 are worried about a list of defaulters they are working through. Savvy Kruppe offers to help them out in return for a cut of the earnings, a miniscule 33%. Meanwhile, Meese and Irilta call Kruppe since their friend Murillio has returned with a stab wound. Kruppe sends for Coll.

The bridgeburners plus Duiker meet. There is an old tapestry which depicts a number of dragons flying towards Krul's tower. They have no rivals interested in buying their bar, there are no news of any priests wanting the temple back and they conclude they need more information on why the guild is after them in the first place. Coll rushes into the meeting asking for Mallet's High Denul.

We find a fascinating excerpt from an ancient book that Baruk is reading. Baruk takes the time to question the reliability of the author there. It is written like an epic poem and we are left to wonder how much of it is exaggerated. Anomander and Osserc face each other, Dark vs Light. Evil tryant Draconus who has escaped Osserc's guardianship. Osserc blames Sister Spite. Anomander is very angry and promises a lot of dark fates for Osserc's kin. Apparently the deceiving Lady Envy is on his side. These 2 men are being wielded like weapons by those 2 sisters, they both decide to go in search of their quarries. Further on, there is description of a war between dragons. The First Born have bowed to Krul's bargain but their children are not happy about it. The Gates of Starvald Demalain are open and unguarded. Kurald Liosan has sealed itself off from Starvald and OSserc has apparently cleansed the world of Soletakens and Divers. Kilmandaros has been trying to stop Anomander and Osserc from fighting each other.

Baruk hates the book and complains to Crone. She states that a written history that makes sense is true fiction. We find that it was Anomander himself who gifted this book to Baruk. For fun. She clarifies that the alliance with Osserc fell apart because of a growing dislike for each other. She seems judgemental that Osserc fell for Spite, Baruk points out that Anomander fell for Envy the same way. She gets defensive and says that Anomander knew what he was doing.

Crone tells Baruk that the Grey Swords purchased ships and sailed away, following the Barghast. Baruk asks Crone to ask her master if he is interested in opening up diplomatic relations between the 2 cities of Darujhistan and Black Coral. Something is up and Crone asks Baruk a bunch of questions from her master (when will it begin, does he need help, overt or covert etc). Chillbais bursts in shouting 'Out! Out!'. Baruk then replies that it has begun indeed.
___

## Chapter 2

Black Coral has a tower with a red scaled dragon on top that has remained motionless and watchful for almost an entire year. Endest Silann, once a formidable Andii sorcerer and now a castellan to the Andiian palace is familiar with Silanah. After the unveiling of Kurald Galain, the entire city of Coral and part of the surrounding sea is perpetually dark. So the fish caught and sold in the markets are of 2 varieties- Outwater and Nightwater (which is the Warren itself and hence may contain beasts).

Endest is the sorcerer who held down moon's spawn under the sea during the battle in MoI. The strain of magic has left him weak, he feels episodes of crushing pressure in his skull (probably stroke, don't ignore such things). He was young when they stepped into this world, Anomander's rage had ebbed when they had reached. But now he is the oldest Andii except for Anomander.

An ex Seerdomin of the Pannion Domin and an Andii called Spinnock Durav regularly play Kef Tanar at Scour Tavern. It is a game based on the succession wars of the First children of Mother Dark, the tiles are aspected to Light, Dark or Shadow. One of the king figures has a white mane, another is made of bleached bonewood, and there's an opal crowned queen of white fire. Spinnock is not too caught up in these details, because it is the game that counts.

At this moment, 2 players of the game have been subdued by Seerdomin's queen. A third one is deciding if he should throw in his lot with Spinnock or Seerdomin. He offers to join Spinnock for a price and is refused. He reveals his next tile- a gate. He retreats through the gate while holding on to his coins. Next turn is Spinnock's, who has dragons at his disposal. With the Gate in play, he can bring them in and attack Seerdomin's ground defences. His allies leave the field and by the time the turn reaches Seerdomin, he accepts defeat. Spinnock generously buys ale for the both of them. They discuss the game though they both understand that the arrival of the Gate tile changed the outcome in an instant. Seerdomin says he welcomes this eternal darkness. Spinnock understands, since this man, in his grief and sorrow, is more Tiste Andii than human. Seerdomin tells him that every night he climbs the ruins to look out over the Nightwater and almost everyday he sees Lord Anomander doing the same from the walls of his keep. Spinnock wonders if the humans chafe under an indifferent ruler like Anomander and Seerdomin wonders if he chafes under the burden of rulership. Seerdomin calls the Son of Darkness benign and thinking of Dragnipur, Spinnock finds the description ironic. Spinnock says he can't speak for his lord, since he is only a minor warrior who has lived so long by sheer luck. He is self aware enough to know he is lying but does so anyway. They fix a time for the next game and separate as the day begins.

Nimander is lost within himself as he follows Clip endlessly, first through Kurald Galain and now through the usual realm. He wonders if his identity is nothing but a collection of memories which are made up of the dying Andii girlfriend in Drift Avalii, strangling Phaed etc.Clip is exhausted with the journey and calls for a halt. Skintick who calls himself the Blind Jester of House Dark in a mockery of Clip's titles drags Nimander away for a quiet chat. Skintick argues that they can choose to follow Clip or not, he knows that the meeting with Anomander will be some kind of letdown, but he also thinks that following Clip would atleast lead them to a community of the remaining Andii which is a gift they have earned. Nimander doesn't think he's earned anything of that sort but agrees to keep following Clip since his people deserve it. His people being Aranatha (who seems to be lost to the outside world most of the time), Nenanda (angry). Kedeviss (frail) and Desra. Aranatha finds them and repeats what Clip has said, that they have reached south of their destination and their journey still continues.

Clip weighs the people around him. He concludes that Nimander is too weak to be a leader whereas Nenanda can be used by someone like him. He is also happy with Desra's attentions and concludes he can use her too.The rest of his companions are of no interest to him. Self- serving child of an Andii is an accurate description. We now see that the rings and chain he carries actually has the crying trapped souls of the Andara sorcerers who had died in fashioning these items. What is with the Andii and trapping souls in objects?

A drunk Spinnock stumbles back to the Andii palace. He can feel Silanah's regard on him. He remembers her fierceness in attacking the Crimson Guard at Mott wood and her wounding by a mage called Cowl- which awakened Anomander to rage. He remembers her fighting the Jaghut tyrant. But he is still uneasy about the Tiste and Eleint alliance since once upon a time, they had warred against each other. Anomander had opposed them when they decided to usurp K'rul's power for themselves. Although Silanah's arrival itself was a mystery to him.

Inside the palace there is a domed chamber with a mosaic floor of blackwood and black silver inlay- 28 spiralling terondai of Mother Dark. The room has mirrors on the ceiling. He sees 2 bored human servants cleaning the stairs because they have no other task to complete. In Rake's chamber, he sees his Lord staring out to sea through a length of crystal windows. Turns out Spinnock has recently returned from his travels to Assail and seems to warn Rake that there is madness in that place though it is self contained. He has seen a lot of fighting and this period of peace and quiet does not suit Spinnock. He calls himself a weapon that must be used, lest it rust. Anomander replies that weapons should not be overused lest they dull. As Spinnock leaves, Endest reaches bearing good news. That they have found a supplier of cadaver eels.

At some roadside 'restaurant' in Black Coral, Seerdomin overhears a conspiracy of ex Pannion soldiers planning to take out the Andii lord and take back leadership from these demons. They finish their drink of Bastion kelyk and head to a secret meeting. Seerdomin loosens his sword, says a silent prayer to the North and follows them.

What's in the north? Only Silanah is high enough to see the pilgrim camp and the trail of dust which leads to the Great Barrow covered with gifts and knick knack offerings of all kinds. Beneath the barrow is the mortal remains of the Redeemer.

___

## Chapter 3

Back to Darujhistan. Are you getting used to the back and forth of the 2 cities so far?

Still thinking about the Redeemer? Fisher's got you covered with the epigraph here.

> (..He stands alone
>
> Because none of you dare
>
> Stand with him)

Anyway this is a chapter of arrivals. As the narrator tells us, some are grand and some are modest and some might set Burn's bones trembling.

The first is a Trygalle Guild Carriage crash landing outside Quip's bar. There are a few decaying bodies in its trail and the survivors walk into the bar for a drink- Shareholders Faint, Reccanto Ilk, Glanno Tarp, Sweetest Sufferance with High Mage, Master Quell.

Kruppe is at the other bar annoying Meese and later Mallet who pronounces that Murillio will live though he is depressed. Kruppe is worried enough about Mallet's safety that he sends him with Irilta as escort. He confides with Meese that the Guild is involved and he intends to find out who hired them. During his long ramblings, Kruppe mentions that ships are arriving with gangplanks that will bridge worlds, and there are sudden turns in roads for the arrival of macabre mechanisms. We have already seen the Trygalle carriage, the rest are coming up now.

At the quayside, Scorch and Leff are keeping a watch for deserters. At South Worrytown, a caravan of 4 wagons rides in, led by a mysterious figure with tiger tattoes skin and tiger striped twin cutlasses. The lead driver seems to be a corpse who is so dead that crows start eating his face. Gruntle is back and he is goes to collect wages from the merchant who hired him as guard. The merchant, Sirik and his bodyguards are surprised that he survived, they have lost half the goods and the rest of the drivers and guards. Gruntle is scary enough for the merchant to pay him in full. About the undead drivers (all 4 are undead), Gruntle says he shouted something during the fight and they seem to obey him even beyond death. He then dismisses them to Hood and all the corpses collapse. He walks around the city and sees the Trygalle carriage. They have a system of shareholders where the risk is high but the pay is high too. As he walks past, he notices that the Trygalle horses pay him no attention at all, this surprises him.

At the shore, a coracle lands and a tall, wiry, ponytailed man arrives. He is almost immediately caught by Scorch and Leff, Torvald Nom is deep in debt but since his disappearance years ago, he's pretty low on their list. Torvald asks for one night's time to arrange the money, pay off the debt and then help these two get through the rest of the list. They agree and he walks home while adjusting his Moranth raincape which conceals some 'fragile' objects under them.

We move to One Eye Cat and see the backstory of Rhivi half breed, Humble Measure. He has reasons to hate the Malazans and after being rescued by Jorrick Sharplance, he made his way to Pale where the Malazans attacked. He finally reached the last surviving office of his family in Darujhistan. He comes from a long line of iron mongers and he takes over the same business here. But in the vaults below, he finds a secret that will ensure that his city will not fall to the Malazans again. Anyway, he is involved in super secret, unpleasant activities. One of them is hiring the Guild to take out the Bridgeburners.

One more ship arrives with a very beautiful woman standing at the prow and the whole ship crewed by scores of Bhokarala. The ship lands and the woman disappears into the cabin. Cutter is restless and wants to go and warn his friends immediately, Scillara decides not to accompany him because they were just FWB and now it's time to move on. Cutter seems to be caught up in his insecurities about homecoming. Pust and Mogora bicker in their berths, mainly because the mule seems to have changed gender. Pust thinks to himself he should meet the Shadow priestesses in this city.
Mappo realises that he needs to arrange an alternative means of travel to reach Lether and find Icarium, Barathol (alongwith Chaur) offers to accompany him and is refused. At dusk, one by one they disembark. Except for Spite who knows that the moment she steps on the land her arrival will be noticed. She wants to delay it a little longer.

Now, the other Nom is coming back in action too. The trapped tyrant, Raest kicks awake Rallick within the Azath. He's apparently been sleeping for so long that even the poison on his knives have lost their potency. He calls Raest a demon who calls his missing Guild Mistress, Vorcan, a demon in truth. She has awakened some time back and walked out.

Rallick walks out and sees the city is celebrating a fete. He stares at the crowd and another man who has the same look in his eyes but only younger, walks to the Phoenix Inn. At a high tower, a woman dressed in black and with eyes as cold as a raptor thinks of her future. We basically get a rundown of all the characters in Darujhistan, from Gruntle sitting down for a quiet drink to Barathol/Chaur/Scillara joining the revellers, Humble Measure sending another dispatch to the Guild master, Torvald sneaking up to a rich estate and Murillio who is recovering but also intensely depressed about his age.

> Such a night!