There was pandemonium on all sides. The Circle was dissolving as Barghast warriors surged forward, weapons out yet clearly confused as to what they should do with them. Paran's head snapped round, to see his Bridgeburners contracting within a ring of shrieking, belligerent savages.
Gods, it's all coming down.
A horn cut through the cacophony. Faces turned. Senan warriors were reasserting the sanctity of the Circle, bellowing as they pushed the other tribesmen and women back. Humbrall Taur had once more raised high his mace, a silent yet inescapable demand for order.
Voices rose from the Barghast surrounding the company of Bridgeburners, and the captain saw Moranth munitions held high in the hands of his soldiers. The Barghast were recoiling, drawing lances back to throw.
'Bridgeburners!' Paran shouted, striding towards them. 'Put those damned things away! Now!'
The horn sounded a second time.
Faces turned. The deadly grenados disappeared once more beneath rain-capes and cloaks.
'Stand at ease!' Paran growled as he reached them. In a lower voice, he snapped, 'Hold fast, you damned fools! Nobody counted on a Hood-damned draw ! Keep your wits. Corporal Aimless, go to Mulch and find out what in Fener's name he did with that flickblade — and get the bad news on Trotts — I know, I know, he looked done for. But so's the lad. Who knows, maybe it's a question of who dies first-'
'Captain,' one of the sergeants cut in. 'They were gonna have at us, sir, that's all. We wasn't planning on nothing — we was waitin' for your signal, sir.'
'Glad to hear it. Now keep your eyes open, but stay calm, while I go confer with Humbrall Taur.' Paran swung round and headed towards the Circle.
The Barghast warchief 's face was grey, his gaze returning again and again to the small figure now ominously motionless on the stained ground a dozen paces away. A half-dozen minor chiefs clustered around Humbrall, each shouting to make himself heard above his rival. Taur was ignoring them one and all.
Paran pushed through the crowd. A glance to his right showed Aimless crouched down beside Mulch. The healer had a hand pressed tight against the wound in Trotts's left arm and seemed to be whispering under his breath, his eyes closed. Slight movement from Trotts revealed that the Bridgeburner still lived. And, the captain realized, he had ceased his thrashing around. Somehow, Mulch had given him a means of drawing breath. Paran shook his head in disbelief. Crush a man's throat and he dies. Unless there's a High Denul healer nearby. and Mulch isn't, he's a cutter with a handful of cantrips at his disposal — the man's pulled off a miracle.
'Malazan!' Humbrall Taur's small, flat eyes were fixed on Paran. He gestured. 'We must speak, you and I.' He switched from Daru to bellow at the warriors crowding him. They withdrew, scowling, casting venomous glares towards the captain.
A moment later Paran and the Barghast warchief stood face to face. Humbrall Taur studied him for a moment, then said, 'Your warriors think little of you. Soft blood, they say.'
Paran shrugged. 'They're soldiers. I'm their new officer.'
'They are disobedient. You should kill one or two of them, then the others will respect you.'
'It's my task to keep them alive, not kill them, Warchief.'
Humbrall Taur's eyes narrowed. 'Your Barghast fought in the style of you foreigners. He did not fight as kin to us. Twenty-three duels, my unnamed son. Without loss, without so much as a wound. I have lost one of my blood, a great warrior.'
'Trotts lives still,' Paran said.
'He should be dead. Crush a man's throat and the convulsions take him. He should not have been able to swing his sword. My son sacrificed a hand to kill him.'
'A valiant effort, Warchief.'
'In vain, it seems. Do you claim that Trotts will survive his wounds?'
'I don't know. I need to confer with my healer.'
'The spirits are silent, Malazan,' Humbrall Taur said after a moment. 'They wait. As must we.'
'Your council of chiefs might not agree with you,' Paran observed.
Taur scowled. 'That is a matter for the Barghast. Return to your company, Malazan. Keep them alive … if you can.'
'Does our fate rest on Trotts's surviving, Warchief?'
The huge warrior bared his teeth. 'Not entirely. I am done with you, now.' He turned his back on the captain. The other chiefs closed in once again.
Paran pulled away, fighting a resurgence of pain in his stomach, and strode to where Trotts lay. Eyes on the Barghast warrior, he crouched down beside the healer, Mulch. There was a hole between Trotts's collar bones, home to a hollow bone tube that whistled softly as he breathed. The rest of his throat was crumpled, a mass of green and blue bruising. The Barghast's eyes were open, aware and filled with pain.
