Itkovian pulled his gaze from the encampment ahead to study the hulking warrior at his side. 'We must assume our enemy is preparing for us. Yet, within the Domin, the last grains of the bell-glass are even now trickling down.'
Treach's Mortal Sword grunted. 'You know something the rest of us don't?'
'Not specifically, sir. I have but drawn conclusions based on such details as I was able to observe when viewing Kulpath's army, and the Tenescowri.'
'Well, don't keep them to yourself.'
Itkovian returned his gaze to the south. After a moment he sighed. 'Cities and governments are but the flowering head of a plant whose stalk is the commonalty, and it is the commonalty whose roots are within the earth, drawing the necessary sustenance that maintains the flower. The Tenescowri, sir, is the Domin's surviving commonalty — people torn from their land, from their villages, their homes, their farms. All food production has ceased, and in its place has arisen the horror of cannibalism. The countryside before us is indeed razed, but not in answer to us. It has been a wasteland for some time, sir. Thus, while the flower still blazes its colour, it is in fact already dead.'
'Drying from a hook beneath the Crippled God's shelf?'
Itkovian shrugged. 'Caladan Brood and the High Fist have selected cities as their destinations. Lest, Setta, Maurik and Coral. Of these, I believe only the last still lives. None of the others would be able to feed a defending army; indeed, not even its own citizenry — if any still remain. The Seer has no choice but to concentrate his forces on the one city where he now resides, and his soldiers will have no choice but to assume the practices of the Tenescowri. I suspect that the Tenescowri were created for that eventual purpose — as food for the soldiers.'
Gruntle's expression was troubled. 'What you describe, Itkovian, is an empire that was never meant to sustain itself.'
'Unless it could continue to expand without surcease.'
'But even then, it would be alive only on its outer, ever-advancing edges, spreading out from a dead core, a core that grew with it.'
Itkovian nodded. 'Aye, sir.'
'So, if Brood and Dujek are expecting battles at Setta, Lest and Maurik, they may be in for a surprise.'
'So I believe.'
'Those Malazans will end up doing a lot of pointless marching,' Gruntle observed, 'if you're right.'
'Perhaps there are other issues sufficient to justify the division of forces, Mortal Sword.'
'Not quite as united as they would have us believe?'