Memories of Ice/Chapter 22

Glass is sand and sand is glass!
The ant dancing blind as blind ants do
on the lip of the rim and the rim of the lip.

White in the night and grey in the day -
smiling spider she never smiles but smile
she does
though the ant never sees, blind as it is-

and now was!

Tales to Scare Children
Malesen the Vindictive (b.?)

Coral

Toc the Younger is on the floor of a meeting room in Coral with the Pannion Seer and various Septarchs and Seerdomin. He is so deformed he can barely move on his own, his ribs so mangled he has trouble breathing. During much of the meeting, he doesn't know his own name, but remembers it when he hears the Seer mention the approaching Malazan army. Toc tells the Seer that Onearm's Host is the deadliest force ever produced, and that even the Matron has the sense to fear them. The Seer scoffs, saying that the Matron only fears the sight of Moon's Spawn, as it was the original creation of the K'Chain Nah'ruk, the short-tailed kin responsible for the extinction of the Matron's people. Even if the Tiste Andii could use it to its fullest potential, Moon's Spawn has not been seen for hundreds of miles in any direction and has most likely succumbed to the damage it received over Pale. Toc quails at the Seer's power over him, and is taken back to the Matron. On the way back, however, the Seerdomin he met earlier tells him he'll be placed just out of the Matron's reach, and that food and water will be brought to him. Toc surprises the Seerdomin by telling him not to risk his own life for his comfort, but the Seerdomin insists.

Coral Bay

Lady Envy and Lanas Tog talk while riding the floating piece of a Meckros city toward Coral. Envy tells her that Baaljagg was once a mortal Ay whose pack was destroyed. When the Crippled God fell, Fanderay was mortally wounded. An Elder God placed Fanderay in Baaljagg's body to heal. Envy and Lanas Togg both agree it was perhaps unmerciful to have Baaljagg survive so isolated for so many years.

Near Lest

Crone is talking to Caladan Brood while Kallor and Korlat listen. Crone is panicking because she cannot find Anomander Rake or Moon's Spawn, and no one seems to know whether or not the Tiste Andii still live. She tells them that the Malazans are closing in on Setta, making a faster march of it than Brood's forces. Kallor and Brood argue over whether this means deceit, and Korlat's thoughts drift towards Whiskeyjack. She finds it remarkable that he opened up to her, and that Rake befriended him. Throughout history, Rake has had only one friend, Caladan Brood, and that friendship has only survived so long because they keep their distance from each other. Crone continues to moan as the city of Lest comes into view. Korlat tells Crone that the Tiste Andii are still alive, but admits to herself that she isn't totally certain.

Gruntle, Itkovian, and Stonny Menackis are riding near the Grey Swords and Trake's Legion when they find out that Bauchelain and Korbal Broach are following not far behind with no sign of Buke. Gruntle makes a mad dash towards their carriage, and Itkovian, at Stonny's request, goes with him. As they ride, Itkovian tells Gruntle he met Buke once and offered to take away his pain, but Buke refused. Gruntle says he should have forced him, but Itkovian mentions Anaster. After having his pain taken from him by the Grey Swords' new Shield Anvil, he seems to be an empty shell, incapable of speech. Buke's fate might have been the same, had Itkovian forced him. When they reach the carriage, Gruntle asks Emancipor Reese, who is suffering from a broken tooth, about Buke. Reese tells him that Buke flew away, and Bauchelain appears. After a brief and awkward exchange, Itkovian tells Bauchelain about Reese's tooth. Bauchalain says that Korbal Broach will have to perform surgery, to Reese's horror. As they leave, Gruntle tells Itkovian that Korbal Broach's idea of "healing" might cause Reese to curse Itkovian's name.

Capustan

Coll and Murillio are inside a temple of Hood in Capustan. The unnamed warrior that rescued them is "preparing a bed" for the Mhybe in another room. As he waits, Coll recalls his ex-wife, Lady Simtal, telling him she was pregnant. When he asks about it, Murillio demurs at first, but tells him that she probably was, but nobody told Coll because he was busy drinking himself to death. Murillio thinks Simtal hid the child so she could use it later as marriage-bait. Coll initially wants to take the child back, but Murillio convinces him that despite his three months of sobriety, he is definitely not prepared to raise a child. Coll decides to be a hidden benefactor. The nameless warrior appears saying the preparations are complete. Coll and Murillio enter the room and find he's carved a sarcophagus into the stone of the temple's floor.

The Mhybe dreams she is in a desolate, featureless wasteland. The wolves that once pursued her are gone, but the vast emptiness is far worse to her mind. She finds she's losing a sense of self, of substantiality in her dream world when something appears in the distance. It swiftly grows enormous, a cage of bloody, malformed ribs with skin stretched over it. Blood vessels pulse and the Mhybe senses that life is ebbing from both the cage and herself. Dust suddenly flies about, and the skin becomes a web and the ribs become legs, and she begins sliding towards it.