House of Chains/Chapter 17

Seven faces in the rock
Six faces turned to the Teblor
One remains Unfound
Mother to the tribe of ghosts—
the Teblor children
we were told
to turn away

Mother's Prayer of Giving
among the Teblor

Jhag Odhan

Karsa

Karsa by GenKael

Karsa Orlong shapes the blade of his flint sword in the heated T'lan Imass cavern. The irony of Bairoth Gild and the loyalty of Delum Thord infuse the weapon. The seven gods are present in full, carrying their own weapons, and now free from the ritual that had bound them. They tell Karsa the Warren of Tellann has found his sword, and it will never shatter. Urugal says they have fought wars beyond counting, and Karsa, addressing them as T'lan Imass, agrees. 'Siballe says that being resists unbeing, and that order wars with disorder. The broken-necked T'lan Imass describes a lame ranag falling inevitably to a pack of ay. Karsa says their new master would offer the ranag a haven.

'Siballe says the master seeks a new paradigm, a third force between order and dissolution. Karsa tells them that this master demands the worship of imperfection, and that they are not gods, protecting and comforting, but slave masters, the Teblor's unseen chains. He says that 'Siballe was the taker of children, and the Seven gave their own burdens to the Teblor. Urugal replies that this is because the Teblor failed. 'Siballe says the answer the Crippled God shows is to celebrate failure. Karsa says he now gives his own answer, and wheeling his sword cuts her in half. He tells the other six that her army of foundlings will follow him, and that he freed the Seven: if they appear again, he will destroy them, because they used him, then offered him a new set of chains. He tells them to get out, and they exit the cave.

'Siballe says his attack was unexpected, and he says she is hard to kill. She tells him a sea like one long ago around the hills could give her oblivion, and the Crippled God has abandoned her. Karsa intends to search for a Jhag horse. He puts 'Siballe's head and right arm in his pack. At the cave entrance, he knocks aside two intruders with the flat of his sword.

Trull

Trull Sengar and Onrack, who had been swept aside by Karsa, enter the cave. Holding T'lan Imass remains, Onrack steps into the fire that Karsa had left burning. When it goes out, Trull realises that Onrack has two hands again. They emerge from the cave in pursuit of the renegades.

Karsa

Karsa and Havok
by Anna Ploscost

Karsa looks out over the wild rolling Jhag Odhan prairie land and it captures his heart. He knows Toblakai Thelomen have walked it before. He gives the name "Bairoth Delum" to his sword, the wind, the land, or all three. The sword's first kill is a small deer for his dinner, and he wonders if the ghosts, now silent in the flint, disapprove. At sunset he meets a Jaghut, Cynnigig, who has a brazier where they cook the aras deer, and a massive iron-bound chest apparently used for travel, as a hiding place, and to store a never-emptying crystal carafe of chilled red wine. Cynnigig says Aramala contacted him, and undertakes to introduce him to Phyrlis, who can summon Jhag horses. Cynnigig says he once aspired to infamy, which Karsa is destined to achieve; Karsa says he used to care for fame but changed his mind. Cynnigig explains the chest does not use Omtose Phellack, and there is no cosmic law against Jaghut using other sorcery, so that finding a Forkrul Assail to provide bloody adjudication of the issue is fortunately not required. Karsa is quite restrained at Cynnigig's talkativeness.

Cynnigig and Karsa travel together to a vast Elder tree of great antiquity, alone on a hill and wrapped in thick but translucent spiders' webs, within which is Phyrlis, a Jaghut impaled there by T'lan Imass as a child, on a spear from which the tree grew. Speaking in Karsa's mind, she says her blood gave the Jhag horses their longevity; Trell like Mappo Runt are hunting the horses to extinction; and Icarium frequently visits wanting heartwood for a mechanism to measure time, but she only gives him branches to make a bow or arrows. Karsa mentions his unresolved argument with Icarium, and Phyrlis and Cynnigig commune silently in alarm. She calls the horses, expecting at most a dozen, but thousands arrive, answering instead the call of the blood-oil coursing in Karsa's veins. From them he chooses a young stallion with white mane and tail, and names him Havok. Karsa calms Havok easily, and the other horses wheel away. Cynnigig asks why the Teblor have not conquered Genabackis, and Karsa says they will, led by him. Cynnigig says they have witnessed the birth of infamy, and Karsa thinks to himself that they do witness but cannot imagine what he will shape.

Cynnigig

Phyrlis by Harkalé Linai

After Karsa has vaulted onto Havok's back and ridden away, Cynnigig feeds Phyrlis aras deer meat. He says she has disguised the remains of the Azath House underneath them well, and it was foolish of the T'lan Imass to drive a spear here. They discuss how the House had already been dying, fatally wounded by Icarium, who would have freed his father if not struck unconscious by his Toblakai companion—ironically, as the father did not wish to be saved. The death of the House weakened the fabric enough to tear the warren apart. They admit that Karsa surprised them. They had sensed the six T'lan Imass spirits who had hovered nearby wanting to guide Karsa with their knowledge, but who were afraid—not of the House of which only lifespirit remains in the spear, but of Karsa himself. Cynnigig says the six are not as foolish as they seem.