Blood and Bone: A Novel of the Malazan Empire (Novels of the Malazan Empire)
Ian C. Esslemont
Language: English
Pages: 592
ISBN: 0765330016
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In the western sky the bright emerald banner of the Visitor descends like a portent of annihilation. On the continent of Jacuruku, the Thaumaturgs have mounted yet another expedition to tame the neighboring wild jungle. Yet this is no normal wilderness. It is called Himatan, and it is said to be half of the spirit realm and half of the earth. And it is said to be ruled by a powerful entity whom some name the Queen of Witches, and some a goddess: the ancient Ardata.
Saeng grew up knowing only the rule of the magus Thaumaturgs―but it was the voices out of that land's forgotten past that she listened to. And when her rulers mount an invasion of the neighboring jungle, those voices send her and her brother on a desperate mission.
To the south, the desert tribes are united by the arrival of a foreign warleader, a veteran commander in battered ashen mail whom his men call the Grey Ghost. This warleader takes the tribes on a raid like none other, deep into the heart of Thaumaturg lands. Meanwhile word comes to K'azz, and mercenary company the Crimson Guard, of a contract in Jacuruku. And their employer...none other than Ardata herself.
Ian Esslemont thrills again with another gripping entry into the New York Times bestselling Malazan World in Blood and Bone.
business.’ ‘It would seem you have made it our business as well. Spite, daughter of Draconus, sister to—’ The woman threw a hand up. ‘Not that name! If you wish to live.’ The Enchantress inclined her head, acquiescing. Spite seemed to think on the Enchantress’s words, for she waved a hand dismissively. ‘If you must know … I am seeking something. Something stolen. You must have a presence, sorceress, for I sensed you and I thought I glimpsed … well, I was mistaken.’ She turned and walked off,
dressed as always in his blackened shimmering coat of armour, his barrel helm pushed back high on his head, stood at the open cloth flap of his tent where he appeared to be watching the descending curtains of rain. Within, Mara and her fellow mage Petal leaned over a tabletop cluttered in maps and documents of rotting woven plant fibres. Sighing, Mara picked up a glass of wine. She eyed her commander’s scaled back. That armour. Gift of Ardata, he called it. Everyone else had abandoned their
endless horizons day after day. Yes, what was he to make of her? The heat of lingering sidelong glances from above her veil as she rode by with her guard of lancers. Their brief exchanges at chance encounters, during which she was in turns mocking or mildly provoking. All a pose? And what of his behaviour? Resolutely formal and courtly: the very model of the traditional Adwami aristocrat. That, too, no more than a pose? And how much of a provocation was that, given her proposal? And all the
to its litter. So, no manifestation here. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Could it – she – hear, see, what was going on around it? Could he communicate with her? Did he want the responsibility? Captain Yusen emerged from the mist as Sour wandered off on some errand of his own. He squatted to study Murk through his narrowed slit gaze. ‘You find something?’ Murk inclined his head to the litter. ‘It’s aware, Captain.’ The gaze shifted to the pack, narrowed almost closed amid all the
The scout chewed, thoughtful, then he ventured, ‘South?’ Murk let his head fall until his forehead pressed against his knees. ‘Yes. South. For now – south.’ He heard nothing but knew the man was gone. May the gods learn wisdom! What choice did he have? It would have to be him. No one else around here seemed sane enough. * * * It was perhaps the constant unchanging drone of the insects that did it. That insistent buzzing that grated on one’s consciousness, sleeping and waking. The only defence