House of Chains/Chapter 4

'Has a drowned Napan's body ever surfaced?

Empress Laseen to High Mage Tayschrenn
(following the Disappearances)
Life of Empress Laseen
Abelard

Coastal road, A'rath Forest

Torvald Nom by
Corporal Nobbs aka Luktarig

As they travel through the A'rath Forest, Karsa and Torvald hear rumours of a rebellion mounting in Seven Cities against the Malazan occupiers. When they enter a village, they sense something is amiss and fear they are walking into an ambush. They are soon caught by a small army of Arak tribesmen armed with recurved bows. Seeing as they are unarmoured, the two men realize they stand no chance against the archers. Instead of fighting to the death, as he would have done in the past, Karsa unslings his bloodsword and surrenders.

They are shackled by the Araks, and Karsa's shackles are so tight, they cut off the circulation to his hands and feet. Silgar and Damisk appear. The slaver is leading the Arak and promises to get repayment from Karsa for losing his men and for his arrest by the Malazans.

The Araks make camp that night with their shackled prisoners, when Torvald stuffs his and Karsa's clothes with dry grass and kicks them into a nearby campfire, sending up flames that can be spotted for miles around. The Araks quickly try to quench the fire, muttering the word, "Gral" with fear. As one Arak cuts Torvald's throat as punishment for the fire, a group of Gral attacks the camp. Silgar and Damisk escape, taking Karsa with them through a Warren, leaving Torvald writhing on the ground.

Ehrlitan

They exit the Warren in Ehrlitan, where Silgar orders Karsa's shackles removed since the town is controlled by the Malazans and slavery is outlawed unless the slave bears a criminal brand. The return of blood to his hands and feet causes Karsa blinding pain. The trio are approached by Malazan soldiers who demand to see Karsa's slave brand. Karsa soon passes out from the pain in his hands.

As Karsa regains consciousness, he discovers that Silgar and Damisk have been put in the stocks for illegal slavery. Karsa is still in the captivity of the Malazans though. They have been told by Silgar of his crimes against the Malazans in Silver Lake and plan on sending him to the Otataral mines. Karsa shares his confines with a blue-eyed stranger, another prisoner who is also destined for the mines. The two agree it would be mutually beneficial to watch out for each other in the mines. That night, Torvald appears with a group of Gral and agents of the House of Nom and they help the prisoners escape. Torvald explains that the Gral spared his life and even helped heal his injury in return for a ransom. The blue-eyed man leads Karsa from the Malazan compound to the ruins atop the Jen'rahb, a flat-topped hill in the city's centre, where a rebel named Mebra watches over a secret tunnel by which the two leave the city.

Pan'potsun Odhan

The next day, Karsa and the blue-eyed man hide from searchers on horseback in the rocky badlands of the Pan'potsun Odhan. The blue-eyed man believes Mebra has betrayed them. When they are unable throw off their pursuers, he concludes there is a mage among them. Karsa voices his intent to attack after dark. At nightfall, the two escapees spy upon their pursuers' camp. In addition to fifteen Malazan soldiers are Silgar and Damisk, who apparently bribed their way out of the stocks. It is Silgar who has been contributing his skills to the hunt. Karsa attacks. In the melee, the Teblor kills several before the rest flee. When Silgar's magery fails and he attempts to surrender, Karsa cuts off his hands and feet, then drags him away, promising a slow and painful death for his enslavement of the Teblor people.

Eight days later the blue-eyed man brings them to the edge of the desert Raraku. Karsa carries the semiconscious Silgar on his shoulder and eyes the desert skeptically. The man says the one he serves is in the desert's heart and will surely be interested in a Teblor. Karsa asks why his people's name "Teblor" amuses the man. The man tells him: “Amuse? More like appals. The Fenn had fallen far from their past glories, yet they remembered enough to know their old name. You cannot even make that claim. Your kind walked this earth when the T'lan Imass were still flesh. From your blood came the Barghast and the Trell. You are Thelomen Toblakai.” He then names himself Leoman, servant of Sha'ik, the Chosen One to whom he will deliver Karsa at the heart of the desert. Karsa says he is no one's servant, but follows Leoman onward.