The God is Not Willing/Chapter 16

Epigraph

Death has but one gate leading in Yet infinite ones leading out Life has but one gate leading in Yet infinite ones leading out Your life has but one path It leads in and it leads out Each step you take has infinite choices And each step taken reduces to one This morning seven birds crossed the sky Moving as if bound into one Yet I thought of tail-feathers and wings Each in turn making minute adjustments No two the same, no two ever the same In the Age of Simplicity Elder Fisher kel Tath

Rant slept deeply until a sudden, fierce strike at the base of his skull jolted him into a dream where he lay in swaddled furs at the edge of the Teblor encampment. In this dream, he struggled to move, his limbs heavy, crawling as a child toward his unseen mother, filled with muted fear. Upon waking, he found himself still in the furs, surrounded by a chaotic night sky. Reflecting on the previous day, Rant recalled arriving at the Great Army of Elade Tharos, overwhelmed by the Teblor warriors, Saemdhi cries, and the news of Tracker Damisk’s capture. Elade Tharos, the Warleader, mocked Rant in the Teblor language, belittling him and referencing Karsa Orlong contemptuously. Delas Fana and Tonith Agra, his sisters, were present but unable to translate, while Sathal, another sister, was kept at a distance. The Jheck, Gower and Nilghan, faced hostility from the Saemdhi, and tensions rose as Damisk was dragged into view.

Rant drew his knife, intending to protect Damisk, and was surrounded by ten Teblor hounds, kin to Karsa Orlong’s dog, which protected him. Delas Fana urged restraint to prevent bloodshed, revealing Elade Tharos’s refusal to acknowledge Rant as kin and his campaign against the worship of Karsa Orlong, the Shattered God. Rant wanted to challenge Elade Tharos but was deemed a child by the Rathyd warriors, who called his knife demon-possessed. Tonith Agra secured a promise of a “clean death” for Damisk, though Rant rejected Elade Tharos’s authority and refused to learn the Teblor language, anticipating an invasion of the south.

Delas Fana revealed the Teblor’s migration, driven by an omen of thunder, not just an invasion, threatening places like Silver Lake, where Rant’s mother lived. Rant felt chained by his family’s expectations but insisted on seeing Damisk, despite Delas Fana’s warnings of Elade Tharos’s cruelty, rooted in Karsa Orlong’s past actions against his family. At Damisk’s side, Rant learned of the Saemdhi and Sunyd’s attack on Silver Lake and the presence of Malazan marines. Damisk, nailed to bedrock with iron spikes, accepted his fate, urging Rant to avoid the war. Delas Fana called it a “clean” Teblor death, though Rant disagreed.

Damisk reflected on his past as a hunter in the Wilds, delivering silence to animals and later the Sunyd, weakened by slaughter. He regretted his role in destroying the Wilds, realizing humanity’s impact. Alone, he faced death as a grey bear approached with her cubs. Damisk provoked her, seeking a swift end. When their eyes met, the bear attacked, and Damisk screamed, fulfilling his punishment in the Teblor way.