Midnight Tides/Chapter 16

Epigraph

The old drainage trench had once been a stream, long before the huts were knocked down and the overlords began building their houses of stone. Rubble and foul silts formed the banks, crawling with vermin. But there in my chest some dark fire flamed in quiet rage as I walked the track seeking the lost voice, the voice of that freed watery flow, the pebbles beneath the streaming tongue. Oh I knew so well those smooth stones, the child's treasure of comforting form and the way, when dried, a single drop of tear or rain could make the colour blossom once more the found recollection of its home—this child's treasure and the child was me and the treasure was mine, and mine own child this very morning I discovered, kneeling smeared on the rotting bank playing with shards of broken pots that knew only shades of grey no matter how deep and how streaming these tears. Before Trate Nameless Fent

Near Trate

Udinaas

Udinaas and Feather Witch are back from the dream, and despite Feather Witch's fear, not much time has passed. She speaks to Udinaas about being beaten and used by Mayen. They debate about perspectives, slavery, freedom and vengeance. They move towards Trate.

Near High Fort

Trull Sengar

Trull Sengar sees a movement downslope, and warns his group of fifty warriors they've been discovered. They decide to wait, and a group of beasts come to them after some time. It is B'nagga and a group of Jheck. B'nagga says the Letherii are retreating, and the scout that was killed near the bridge was linked by magic to Letherii mages. That's how they've been discovered. The group are drawing closer to High Fort. They also receive news that First Maiden Fort has fallen, and Fent Reach will be besieged.

Trate

Seren Pedac

In Trate, Seren Pedac is getting drunk in a tavern. She listens to the Letherii offer their expectations about war, then she meets a foreign soldier named Iron Bars. He is with the Crimson Guard and they have just arrived from Assail. He and his friends are in debt and are looking for help, but Seren declines. Iron Bars plans to sail south and maybe see her in Letheras.

Nekal Bara

A mage named Nekal Bara is in the lighthouse of Trate, worrying.  She thinks on a sea creature that the Tiste Edur have bonded with and works to attack with another mage. However, her theory about the nature of the enslaved creature is wrong. It is in fact a forgotten and hungry spirit that was once worshipped in Trate, but the Edur had empowered it, using its strength to bring ships into the harbour. Nekal Bara is surprised by the attack and killed by the spirit's power, but calls out to the Ceda Kuru Qan before her death.

Seren Pedac

Seren awakes in a cellar, in pain from being raped. The city is in chaos and under attack. As she stumbles into the street, she encounters her three attackers, who taunt her with a sick offer of escape. They also have the body of a young girl with them. Before they can take Seren away, Iron Bars arrives and kills two of them, and begins torturing the last one until Seren intervenes, asking him to kill the man cleanly. He says Trate has fallen. The Edur fleet waited for their Shadow wraiths to kill Nekal Bara and Arahathan and destroyed their defence. The Edur are now taking their time and massacring soldiers. Iron Bars thinks they can retreat together using a warren, but they are blocked off by approaching Edur soldiers.

Udinaas

Rhulad Sengar, now deranged and consumed by madness, leads a group of Edur on a killing spree through the city, with Udinaas trailing behind. His swordsmanship is much better than it used to be, probably due to the Sword's power. Rhulad's state is deteriorating rapidly, causing him to scream and laugh hysterically. At a crossroads, Rhulad sees someone killing three Edur, and walks towards the attacker. It is Iron Bars. The Crimson Guardsman confronts Rhulad, snaps his neck, and kills him. Udinaas sees Seren.

Seren Pedac

They fight their way through the Edur to meet the rest of Iron Bars's group, and later they will use the warren to get to Letheras by the mage Corlo. He talks about the strange armour of the Edur he killed and Seren realises it was Rhulad.

The Warren of the Crippled God

Withal

Rhulad awakes on the beach of the Crippled God where Withal waits for him. The weaponsmith has been idly watching the three Nachts, Rind, Mape, and Pule, repeatedly build and destroy their nests. Rhulad does not want to go to see the Crippled God, and he does not want the sword. He tries to refuse going back and promises to kill the god with his sword. He speaks with Withal about how the sword was made, with the broken pieces of two black swords, and Withal suggests breaking it. Withal says the Crippled God lies. The weaponsmith was promised he would be freed after the forging the sword, but was not. Rhulad wonders at the man who killed him at Trate and Withal tells him it won't be so easy to kill him next time, and even harder the next time. Rhulad thinks then of how Father Shadow has abandoned his people and then, hiding his own thoughts, goes towards the Crippled God's tent.

Kurald Galain

Seren Pedac

Traveling in the Warren, the Crimson Guard Mage Corlo says the Edur he are using the Tiste Andii Elder warren Kurald Galain, perhaps unknowingly. The warren is filled with Tiste Andii spirits that are bound to the Edur. The group speaks with a female shadow wraith named Sandalath Drukorlat. There is distrust between them until Iron Bars reveals that he is Avowed and invites Sandalath to touch him to understand what that means. Overcome with sorrow, she agrees to help them. Seren later questions Iron Bars, who cryptically responds that everyone makes mistakes. Sandalath offers to guide them in exchange for a favour, to afterwards throw her ring into the sea so she can return to her bones.

The Warren of the Crippled God

Withal

Nearing the tent, Rhulad wonders if he can just kill the Crippled God, and Withal thinks it impossible in this realm because his power is almost absolute in his tent. Inside the tent, Rhulad wishes the Crippled God would use someone else, that he does not want this power. The Crippled God tells Rhulad he should be more grateful considering that he has got everything he once wanted: the throne, Mayen, his brothers' obediences. He then tells Rhuladabout Scabandari's betrayal of the Andii, and the god still demands an empire.

Rhulad accuses the god of using him. The sword appears at his feet, he reaches for it, and lunges at the Crippled God but instantly disappears. Withal and the Crippled God then argue about the god's broken and disgusting body, and the fact that his kingdom doesn't expand further than his tent. He replies that he has found a solution and he shall see. He also tells him to build a nest with the nachts.

Old Katter

Seren Pedac

The Crimson Guard and Seren leave Kurald Gulain, returning to their world near Old Katter, thirty leagues south of Trate. Seren tries to commit suicide by walking into the sea, and almost drowns herself. Iron Bars saves her after he tosses Sandalath's ring into the water.

Sandalath Drukorlat

Sandalath dies again, and then a voice says she can not die yet because she is needed. She wakes up on a beach alive.

Trate

Udinaas

Now that Trate has fallen, Rhulad's corpse has become the gathering point for hundreds: Edur soldiers, the Warlock King, Mayen, and Feather Witch. Rhulad comes back to life screaming and traumatised. Udinaas thinks the Letherii will soon learn about Rhulad's undying.

Udinaas wants to find the man who killed him to get revenge, and Rhulad replies that he cannot be beaten, thinking about the Crippled God. Midik Buhn promises to look for the soldier who killed Rhulad but Udinaas knows that the man has already left with Seren Pedac.

The Warren of the Crippled God

Withal

On the Crippled God's island, Withal is told by the god to look for his gift at the beach. There the weaponsmith finds Sandalath Drukorlat. Withal gets angry and wants to be alone. He finally decides to start praying to a god and picks the Meckros' oldest one, Mael.

External links

• Critical Conversations 02: Midnight Tides Chapter 16 with Steven Erikson - A Critical Dragon - Steven Erikson discusses this chapter