Brethless

Brethless: "You all right, Sergeant?"

Hellian: "I will be after you take my skull in your hands and crush it flat."

Brethless: "I'd get in trouble if I did that."

―Brethless and Hellian

Brethless and his twin brother, Touchy, were city guards under the command of Sergeant Hellian in the Septarch District of Kartool.

Hellian thought the twins young (though not in years), lost, and unable to "fight their way out of a midwives' picnic." Neither appeared very bright. Brethless was younger than his twin by a few minutes and insisted the extra time had been crucial for his comparatively more advanced mental development.

Neither twin could swim.

In The Bonehunters

Hellian's city guard squad was called by Banaschar to investigate trouble at the Grand Temple of D'rek in Kartool. Upon breaking down the doors, they found everyone inside slaughtered. Banaschar then disappeared, leaving Hellian to predict to Corporal Urb that the squad would be in trouble over this and sent off to some trouble spot. Her prediction proved correct as Hellian, Urb, Touchy, and Brethless soon found themselves forming their own undersized squad in the 9th Company of the 8th Legion in the Malaz 14th Army.

Hellian's squad joined the 14th Army after the Battle of Raraku as Adjunct Tavore Paran led her soldiers to Y'Ghatan in pursuit of Leoman and the Army of the Apocalypse. Adjunct Tavore launched the Last Siege of Y'Ghatan by sending the army's sappers to breach the city's wall under the cover of night. First into the city were the Malazan marines, followed quickly by the heavy and medium infantry. Once inside the city, the Malazans immediately came under attack from swordsmen on the ground and archers in the buildings above them. Hellian rallied the survivors of Sobelone's squad to launch a counterattack using smokers that Brethless and Touchy had illicitly acquired.

When enough Malazans were engaged in street fighting inside the city, Leoman sprung his trap. The city's olive oil-soaked buildings were set alight and the streets quickly became an inferno. Touchy was ready to give up and die as the flames encircled them, but Hellian forged onwards. They soon joined a mixed group of survivors from Cord's, Fiddler's, and Borduke's squads, who made their way to the Temple of the Queen of Dreams. Bottle and his rat discovered a tunnel beneath the temple's floor, which they blew open using Brethless' last cracker. Brethless was among the small group of soldiers who survived Y'Ghatan by spending three days crawling on their hands and knees through the dark to safety.

Unaware that any had survived, the 14th Army made haste for the Kokakal Sea to embark on Admiral Nok's ships and escape the Bluetongue Plague ravaging Seven Cities. Faradan Sort and Sinn remained behind and discovered the survivors as they crawled from the wreckage. Captain Sort reorganised the shattered soldiers, promoting Urb to sergeant and placing him in charge of the newly created 13th squad. Brethless and Touchy squabbled over who would replace him as the squad's corporal, so Hellian promoted them both. Maybe and the other soldiers newly assigned to Hellian's squad accepted the dual promotion, saying "idiots make good corporals" and "we ain't gonna listen to you anyways." Brethless and the others made the long march west, finally catching up to the army on the coast.

When Nok's ships reached Malaz City, Tavore ordered them to remain anchored in the harbour while she went to Mock's Hold to meet with Empress Laseen. Hellian was so desperate for a drink that she jumped overboard fully armoured intending to swim to the docks. Brethless and Touchy were startled, but decided it was better she drown than they get in trouble for alerting anyone.

In Reaper's Gale

Adjunct Tavore clashed with Empress Laseen at Malaz City and took the Bonehunters rogue, following the Tiste Edur fleet that had ravaged Sepik back to Lether. Tavore invaded the Letherii Empire, burning her transport vessels on the shoreline and spreading the marines in isolated pairs of squads across thirty leagues of coast. The marines moved forward into the Letherii countryside towards Letheras, the capital, with orders to kill Edur by night and stir the occupied Letherii into rebellion. Each squad had a mage responsible for hiding their presence and confusing their enemies. Fist Keneb followed in their wake with six squads of marines, while Captain Faradan Sort and Beak attempted to keep lines of communication open between both groups.

He was joint corporal with his twin in Hellian's reorganised 8th squad as the inebriated sergeant thought he and Touchy were a single four-armed corporal named "Touchy Brethless". The two did nothing to reduce her confusion when they responded in tandem to her orders, causing her to believe he often repeated himself and spoke in two different voices.

Hellian's squad was paired with Urb's for the landings. When they assembled on the beach, Urb found her arranging casks of rum she had salvaged from the burning ships amongst her squad. The two squads remained together and Balgrid and Bowl used magic to cover their tracks. After defeating a troop of Edur at Boaral Keep they acquired mounts at Hellian's suggestion and pushed hard inland for the capital, fighting from tavern to tavern. The two squads began taking trophies of ears and fingers and tying them to their belts.

Contrary to the Adjunct's expectations, the Letherii soldiers did not use the Malazan invasion to turn against their Edur occupiers. As the marines neared Letheras fighting became more desperate, although Hellian earned the support of the Letherii slave and Indebted classes by changing tactics to slay the government officials, lawyers, moneylenders, and debt-holders in each village. Then they stayed in the village tavern--decorated with the severed heads of their victims--until it was dry before moving on to the next. Fiddler and Gesler's squads found them drinking and singing at a tavern a day's travel from the capital. Fiddler did not approve, but could not argue with Hellian's success where all the other squads had failed miserably.

Almost as soon as the marines were reunited, a force of hundreds of Edur enveloped the village. Gesler forced Corabb to hand his Crossbow over to the more qualified Brethless in the fighting. The Edur were repelled by the arrival of Badan Gruk, Sinter, and Primly's fresh squads. The new arrivals deferred to Fiddler's seniority, and the former Bridgeburner ordered the marines to hold their position in hopes they would be reinforced by Fist Keneb.

By the time Keneb's forces arrived, thousands of Edur followed in their wake, pushing the gathered Malazans towards the city where the Imperial Brigade awaited. Caught between the two armies near Kravos Hill, the 800 remaining Malazans were forced to huddle under Beak's protective spell when the Letherii mages cast a deadly ritual of Chaos upon them and the Edur. The spell was broken, but the hair of all those under Beak's protection turned white. The Edur abandoned the field after their allies' betrayal, and the shaken Imperial Brigade withdrew to meet Adjunct Tavore's more threatening main force as it disembarked from the Lether River.

Keneb marched on Letheras thinking the marines deserved to be the first to enter the capital. After the marines found a hidden entrance beneath the wall, Hellian, Urb, Fiddler, and Gesler's squads were sent into the city to cause trouble while the remaining marines opened the city's west gate to Tavore's infantry. Hellian's squad quickly disappeared into a local tavern and Urb was tasked with finding them. He found her commanding the corporals to hang a Letherii barkeep unless he revealed the tavern's hidden stock. After the main force of Malazans entered the city, the City Garrison surrendered and the city fell.

In Dust of Dreams

(Information needed)

In The Crippled God

(Information needed)

Notes and references

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