They appeared to be rebuilding huge gaps in the stonework. From the north gate a sluggish stream of wagons wound out toward the hills, the air above them filled with crows. Along the edge of those hills ran a line of mounds too regular to be natural.
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He'd heard the rumors, here and there.
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Five dead mages, two of them High Mages.
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The 2nd's losses enough to fire speculation that it would be merged with the 5th and the 6th to form a new regiment. And Moon's Spawn had retreated south, across the Tahlyn Mountains to Lake Azur, trailing smoke, drifting and leaning to one side like a spent thunderhead. But one tale reached into the captain's thoughts deeper than all the rest: the Bridge-burners were gone. Some stories said killed to a man; others insisted that a few squads had made it out of the tunnels before the collapse.
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Paran was frustrated. He'd been among Moranth for days. The uncanny warriors hardly ever spoke, and when they did it was to each other in that incomprehensible tongue of theirs. All of his information was out of date, and that put him in an unfamiliar position. Mind you, he thought, since Genabaris it had been one unfamiliar situation after another.
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So here he was, on the waiting end of things once again. He readjusted his duffel bag and was preparing for a long wait when he saw a horseman
top the far plateau's crest. The man had an extra mount with him, and he rode straight for the captain.
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He sighed. Dealing with the Claw always grated. They were so damn smug. With the exception of that man in Genabaris, none seemed to like him much. It had been a long time since he'd known someone he could call a friend. Over two years, in fact.
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The rider arrived. Seeing him up close, Paran took an involuntary step back. Half the man's face had been burned away. A patch covered the right eye and the man held his head at an odd angle. The man flashed a ghastly grin, then dismounted.
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"You're the one, huh?" he asked in a rasping voice.
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"Is it true about the Bridgeburners?"
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Paran demanded. "Wiped out?"
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"More or less. Five squads left, or there-abouts. About forty in all." His left eye squinted and he reached up to adjust his battered helmet. "Didn't know where you'd be heading before. Do now. You're Whiskeyjack's new captain, huh?"
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"Sergeant Whiskeyjack is known to you?" Paran scowled. This Claw wasn't like the others. Whatever thinking they did about him they kept to themselves, and he preferred it that way.
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The man climbed back into his saddle. "Let's ride. We can talk on the way."
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Paran went to the other horse and tied his bag to the saddle, which was of the Seven Cities style, high-backed and with a hinged horn that folded forward~-he'd seen several like this on this continent. It was a detail he'd already filed away. Natives from the Seven Cities had a predisposition for making trouble, and this whole Genabackis Campaign had been a foul-up from the very start. No coincidence, that. Most of the 2nd, 5th, and 6th Armies had been recruited from the Seven Cities subcontinent.
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He mounted and they settled into a steady canter across the plateau.
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The Claw talked. "Sergeant Whiskeyjack's got a lot of followers around here. Acts like he don't know it. You got to remember something that's been damn near forgotten back in Malaz-Whiskeyjack once commanded his own company.
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Paran's head snapped around. That fact had been thoroughly stripped from the annals. As far as Empire history was concerned, it had never happened.
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"... back in the days when Dassem Ultor ran the military," the Claw continued blithely. "It was Whiskeyjack's Seventh Company that ran down the Seven Cities' mage cabal out in the Panpot'sun Wastes. He ended the war then and there. Of course, everything went bad after that, what with Hood taking Ultor's daughter. And not long after that, when Ultor died, all his men were pulled down fast. That's when the bureaucrats swallowed up the Army. Damn jackals. And they've been sniping at each other ever since and to Hood's Gate with the campaigns." The Claw sat forward, pushing the saddlehorn down, and spat past his horse's left ear.
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Paran shivered, seeing that gesture. In the old days it had announced the beginning of tribal war among the Seven Cities. Now, it had become the symbol of the Malaz 2nd Army. "Are you suggesting," he cut in, "that the story you've just told me is commonplace?"
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"Not in detail," the Claw admitted. "But some old veterans in the Second fought with Ultor, not just in Seven Cities but as far back as Falar."
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Paran thought for a time. The man riding beside him, though a Claw, was also 2nd Army. And he'd been through a lot with them. It made for an interesting perspective. He glanced at the man and saw him grinning.
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"What's so funny?"
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The man shrugged. "The Bridgeburners are a little hot, these days. They're getting chaff for recruits and that makes it look like they're about to be disbanded. You talk with whoever it is you talk with back in Malaz, you tell them they'd end up with a mutiny on their hands, they start messing with the Bridgeburners. That's in every report I send but no one seems to listen to me." His grin broadened. "Maybe they think I've been turned or something, eh?"
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Paran shrugged. "You were called in to meet me, weren't you?"
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The Claw laughed. "You've really been out of touch, haven't you? They called me in because I'm the last Active in the Second. And as for the Fifth and Sixth--forget it. Brood's Tiste Andii could pick out a Claw from a thousand paces. None of them left, either. My own Claw Master was garotted two days back—that's something else, ain't it? You, I inherited, Captain. Once we hit the city, I send you on your way, and that's probably the last we'll ever see of each other. You deliver your mission details as Captain of the Ninth Squad, they either laugh in your face or they stick a knife in your eye-it's even betting what they'll do. Too bad, but there it is."
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Up ahead loomed the gates of Pale.
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"One more thing," the Claw said, his eyes on the merlons above the gate, "just a bone I'll throw you in case Oponn's smiling on you. The High Mage Tayschrenn's running things here. Dujek's not happy, especially considering what happened with Moon's Spawn. It's a bad situation between them, but the High Mage is relying on his being in close and constant communication with the Empress, and that's what's keeping him on top. A warning, then. Dujek's soldiers will follow him anywhere. And that goes for the Fifth and Sixth Armies, too. What's been gathered here is a storm waiting to break."
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Paran stared at the man. Topper had explained the situation, but Paran had dismissed the man's assessment-it had seemed too much like a scenario devised to justify the Empress filling the gallows. Not a tangle I want to get involved in. Leave me to complete my single task-I desire no more than that.
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As they passed into the gate's shadow, the Claw spoke again. "By the by, Tayschrenn just watched us arrive. Any chance he knows you, Captain?"
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"No." I hope not, he added silently.
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As they trotted into the city proper and a wall of sound rose to meet them, Paran's eyes glazed slightly. Pale was a madhouse, buildings on all sides gutted by fire; the streets, despite being cobble-heaved in places and dented in others, were packed with people, carts, braying animals, and marines. He wondered if he should start measuring his life in minutes. Taking command of a squad that had gone through four captains in three years, then delivering a mission that no sane soldier would consider, coupled with a brewing firestorm of a large-scale insurrection possibly headed by the Empire's finest military commander, against a High Mage who looked to be carving his own rather big niche in the world--all of this had Paran feeling somewhat dismayed.
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He was jolted by a heavy slap on his back. The Claw had moved his horse close and now he leaned over.
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"Out of your depth, Captain? Don't worry, every damn person here's out of their depth. Some know it, some don't. It's the ones who don't you got to worry about. Start with what's right in front of you and forget the rest for now. It'll show up in its own time. Find any marine and ask direction to the Bridgeburners. That's the easy part."
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Paran nodded.
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The Claw hesitated, then leaned closer. "I've been thinking, Captain. It's a hunch, mind you, but I think you're here to do some good. No, don't bother answering. Only, if you get into trouble, you get word to Toc the Younger, that's me. I'm in the Messenger Corps, outrider class, the Second. All right?"
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