House of Chains/Chapter 8

Among the untried recruits of the Fourteenth Army, fully half originated from the continent of Quon Tali, the very centre of the empire. Young and idealistic, they stepped onto blood-soaked ground, in the wake of the sacrifices made by their fathers and mothers, their grandfathers and grandmothers. It is the horror of war that, with each newly arrived generation, the nightmare is reprised by innocents.

The Sha'ik Rebellion, Illusions of Victory
Imrygyn Tallobant

Aren

Gamet

Adjunct Tavore by Seraph777

Adjunct Tavore Paran is standing on the marshaling grounds of Aren. The first legion of the Malaz 14th Army to be arrayed is the 8th commanded by Fist Gamet. Made up of some four thousand soldiers, it is in complete chaos and disorder. The other two Fists, Tene Baralta and Blistig, and the mages Nil and Nether are present too. A sapper, Cuttle, is late to the initial muster and acts completely unruly towards Gamet and Tavore. He has just been released from prison because he broke the neck of the nobleman Lenestro in revenge for what he did in the Chain of Dogs. Sergeant Strings quickly steps out from the mass of soldiers and Cuttle asks him to draw a line on the ground. Gamet and Tavore are confused as to what is happening and start to get upset, Cuttle responds by suggesting that they move away. As Cuttle takes out explosive Moranth munitions from his bag, Gamet realizes what is happening. The two soldiers place the munitions into the cobbles at the edges of the grounds.

A large explosion catches, shocking the entire legion into silence. Cuttle tells them to assemble to the line drawn by Strings and promises to throw a Sharper into the crowd if he is not obeyed. Slowly the entire legion takes shape, and before long, is assembled in tight even ranks. Gamet comes back to speak to Cuttle calmly, and offers him a promotion, but Cuttle prefers to stay with Strings. When Gamet asks Cuttle where he knows Strings from, the sapper says they never met before today.

About to dismiss Gamet's legion, the Adjunct notices a small child standing where she had first stood, holding a human longbone and looking over the army. The toddler, named Grub, is collected by his adopted father Captain Keneb, who apologises. But the damage has been done. The event has been recognised as an evil omen, one that means that a child leads the army to their death, the leg bone signifying their march under the curse of the desert sun. The army now effectively sees itself as dead due to the omen.

Strings

Afterwards, at one of the makeshift barracks occupied by the legion, Strings notices pure terror in the eyes of the soldiers of the eight squads present. He gathers Sergeants Borduke and Gesler, and a few Corporals around him, to act as quickly as possible. Sergeant Borduke, who suspects something, then asks him if he wasn't a Bridgeburner in the past. Strings answers in the affirmative, and Cuttle calls him Fiddler in front of the whole group.

Strings relates a tale of Admiral Nok to hammer home how not to deal with a bad omen by fighting it. Nok had left with six dromons to fight the fleet of Kartool, composed of three pirate galleys blessed by priests of D'rek. After stopping on the Napan Isles to refill their barrels with fresh water, a cook's helper opened the first barrel and a Paralt snake bit his face and he died. Rumours of the death spread to all the members of the fleet. They refused to drink any water and soon began dying of thirst. Nok decided to take the problem head on, and opened a barrel in front of everyone on the deck. But it was also full of snakes. The water had been collected at the beginning of the dry season when the waters of the Koolibor River were full of snakes. The admiral was forced to delay the attack on Kartool for an entire year.

Strings tells his listeners that to overcome the omen, one has to 'swallow it whole' and suggests a visit to the local cemetery.

Gamet

The Adjunct meets the Fists and orders them to keep their soldiers in the barracks and ban alcohol and drugs. She also asks them to warn their soldiers that she would personally be visiting them. The Fists meet in private and Gamet tells them that if in two days time, the Adjunct does not deem the army worthy to march, she will make a final decision.

Lostara Yil

Lostara Yil by Mer Helv

Whilst changing her armour, Lostara Yil recalls her history and how she managed to survive on the streets of Ehrlitan after having been cast out by her family as an unwanted child. She had then been forced to join the Temple of Rashan where she had been trained as a Shadow Dancer before eventually joining the Red Blades. Her preparations are interrupted by the appearance of Cotillion, who asks her for a favour that would also benefit the Empire.

Some time later, Pearl returns, and the two head out to investigate their lead. They question veterans from the 5th squad of the 9th company. Pearl tries to wake Stormy up; Stormy, enraged and sleepy, throws him into the air, injuring him. Lostara manages to settle matters down, and is guided to Pella outside, leaving Pearl to question Gesler and Stormy inside. She asks Pella about Felisin Paran and he tells her that he helped her escape from Skullcup, but she is probably dead. For further details, she questions Truth, who tells her the same thing. Pella has figured out that Tavore sent Lostara and Pearl to find Felisin. Lostara asks them to keep it a secret and goes out to find that Pearl has heard almost the same account.

The two then head to the impounded ship, the Silanda, where they observe the severed heads of the Tiste Andii and a dead Tiste Edur captain. Pearl deduces that Felisin, Heboric and Baudin had probably jumped off the ship and ended up somewhere amidst the Rebellion. Pearl determines to travel that way to follow their trail.

Strings

Captain Keneb's 9th Company is called out to form up and muster in the parade grounds. Strings' idea to rob the nearby graveyard has been taken up and human finger bones are now part of most soldiers' outfit, including Captain Keneb. Tavore recognizes the significance and asks Lieutenant Ranal who had only just berated his troops for wearing the decorations, to procure one for himself. She suggests a uniformity to how the 'trinkets' are worn, then orders Fist Gamet to make a standard for the army, something similar to the inspiration that the soldiers have come up with.

Gamet

Gamet understands that his soldiers have foiled the bad omen. Tavore receives a report that three ships have arrived in the harbour carrying three hundred Wickan veterans of the Crow clan.