Assail (Malazan Empire, #6)(212)

Here, two Forkrul, no different from the others as far as Kyle could discern, awaited them. They stood tall, equal even unto the Jaghut, on gangly strangely jointed legs that looked able to bend backwards, with frail-looking thin arms, and long pinched heads. Oddly, each face bore a vertical scar, or suture, that ran from chin up to sloped skull. Kyle was not fooled by their frail appearance. He knew that they faced a great danger here, and not only they: all in this region faced destruction should these Forkrul bestir themselves.

One tilted its head, studying the Jaghut. ‘You trouble us again,’ it said.

‘Through no choice of mine,’ she answered.

‘False,’ broke in the other Forkrul, its voice as harsh as cracking stone. ‘You chose.’

‘Do you dispute this judgement?’ the first one asked.

The Jaghut sighed her assent, then, raising her chin to regard them more closely, asked: ‘What do we call you?’

The first inclined its head as if to grant the appropriateness of the question. ‘That you ask reveals you are aware that names are irrelevant among any community of unadulterated Assail. All are equal. However, when communicating with you lesser kinds we adopt titles as we understand you require such props. Therefore, you may name me Arbiter, and this one Penance.’

‘Very well,’ the Matriarch answered.

‘So,’ Arbiter spoke again. ‘You trouble us though you know we could cleanse this landmass as we have others before. Do you dispute this?’

She clenched her lips in distaste, but nodded her curt agreement. ‘Cleansing would avert further irritation,’ put in Penance.

‘You Forkrul,’ Silverfox suddenly announced. ‘Your conceit is matched only by your arrogance.’

Arbiter fixed its slit eyes upon her. ‘Of all parties present, you Imass bear the greatest weight of guilt.’

‘Do you dispute this guilt?’ Penance demanded.

Silverfox’s aged features paled. She exchanged a look with Pran Chole, then cleared her throat warily. ‘If you mean the Vow, then, no. I do not dispute this.’

‘The hostilities between you and the Jaghut is what we reference,’ Penance clarified.

Silverfox pointed to the elder, outraged. ‘They started the war!’

‘Provocation matters not,’ said Arbiter. ‘What matters is you Imass broke the ancient founding of the peace.’

Kyle tensed as Fisher stepped up. The bard raised his hands, saying, ‘And we are four now, gathered here once more.’

Arbiter tilted its head once again. ‘Four?’ Its gaze fell upon Jethiss and it let out a long hissing breath. ‘Ah. I see. The K’Chain Che’Malle are for the most part gone from the lands. Yet a new race now stands among us. Dare you pledge to a new founding of the peace?’

Jethiss turned to study Fisher for a time. Kyle was oddly reassured to see the man’s hands shake slightly as he rubbed them down his thighs. He took a deep breath. ‘Yet there are other races …’

‘True,’ Arbiter acknowledged. ‘But they have not moved together in all-out hostilities against other kind. As all of us gathered here have.’

‘We never did,’ the Jaghut elder corrected.

‘So you insist,’ Penance answered brusquely. ‘Yet here you are.’

Arbiter raised a hand for silence. ‘I sense that while the others may not be here … they may have cast a vote.’ To Kyle’s horror the Forkrul pointed a crooked finger directly at him. ‘You – child of the Imass. You bear a potent token. Would you bring it forth?’

Kyle shot an uncertain glance to Fisher, who nodded his encouragement and gestured him forward. Stepping up, Kyle drew the white blade. He offered it grip first.

To his astonishment, the Forkrul shied away from the weapon and waved it aside with a disdainful flick of its fingers. ‘Not that thing of chaos. We speak of the token at your neck.’

Now Kyle flinched back, confused and shocked. Not the stone – anything but that. He clenched his free hand to the amber at his neck, sheathed the white blade. He shook his head. ‘I’ll not give this up.’

‘It speaks well that you will not. May we examine it?’

Kyle glanced again to Fisher. ‘On the understanding that he does not relinquish it,’ the bard said.

‘Of course,’ Arbiter answered, sounding almost irritated. ‘It would be of no value otherwise.’ It held out a long-fingered hand.

Kyle snapped the leather thong and handed over the modest token of polished amber – the one thing he had left of his time with the giant Ereko. The Forkrul held it in its palm, closed its eyes for an instant, then peered up with a strange new expression in its alien face. ‘We were almost as brothers, you know,’ it said. ‘We regard ourselves as children of the earth. It is … surprising … that you should carry such a gift from the Thel Akai.’

‘Speaking for the T’lan,’ Silverfox announced, ‘we pledge to a peace between us.’

A long silence followed this as even the Forkrul seemed at a startled loss. ‘You so swear?’ murmured Penance, a dangerous note in its voice.

Pran Chole bowed his head to Silverfox and she nodded her grave agreement. ‘We so pledge.’

The Forkrul extended its hand and Kyle took the necklace. ‘What of the Jaghut?’ it asked.