Blend nudged her. 'Congratulations — oh, I suppose I should have saluted.'
'Shut up,' Picker growled. 'But you're right on one thing — don't ever bump me again, woman.'
'That's a hard order to follow. sir.'
Paran drained the last of his tea and straightened. 'I've only got one order for you, Lieutenant.'
She looked up at him. 'Captain?'
'The Bridgeburners,' Paran said, and his expression was suddenly severe. 'Keep them together, no matter what happens. Together, Lieutenant.'
'Uh, yes, sir.'
They watched Paran return to his horse and lead it away.
Neither woman said much for a while thereafter, then Blend sighed. 'Let's go to bed, Picker.'
'Aye.'
They stamped out the remnants of the fire. Darkness closing around them, Blend stepped closer and hooked her arm around Picker's.
'It's all down,' she murmured, 'to what the night hides …'
To Hood it is. It's all down to what the captain was saying behind what he said. That's what I need to figure out. Something tells me it's the end of sleeping peacefully for Lieutenant Picker.
They strode from the dying embers and were swallowed by darkness.
Moments later, no movement was visible, the stars casting their faint silver light down on the camp of the Bridgeburners. The oft-patched tents were colourless in the dull, spectral glow. A scene that was ghostly and strangely timeless. Revealing its own kind of peace.
Whiskeyjack entered Dujek's command tent. As expected, the High Fist was prepared for him. Hooded lantern on camp table, two tankards of ale and a block of Gadrobi goat cheese. Dujek himself sat in one of the chairs, head lowered in sleep.
'High Fist,' Whiskeyjack said as he removed his gauntlets, eyes on the ale and cheese.
The old commander grunted, sat straighter, blinking. 'Right.'
'We've lost her.'
'Too bad. You must be hungry, so I — oh, good. Keep filling your mouth and leave the talking to me, then.' He leaned forward and retrieved his tankard. 'Artanthos found Paran and delivered the orders. So, the captain will get the Bridgeburners ready — ready for what, they won't know and that's probably for the best. As for Paran himself, all right, Quick Ben convinced me. Too bad, that, though I'll be honest and say as far as I can see we'll miss the wizard more than we will that noble-born lad-'
Holding up one hand to stop Dujek, Whiskeyjack washed down the last of the cheese with a mouthful of ale.
The High Fist sighed, waited.
'Dujek-'
'Comb the crumbs from your beard,' the High Fist growled, 'since I expect you'll want me to take you seriously.'
'A word on Paran. With the loss of Tatter- of Silverfox, I mean, the captain's value to us can't be overestimated. No, not just us. The Empire itself. Quick Ben's been adamant on this. Paran is the Master of the Deck. Within him is the power to reshape the world, High Fist.' He paused, mulling on his own words. 'Now, maybe there's no chance of Laseen ever regaining the man's favour, but at the very least she'd be wise to avoid making the relationship worse.'
Dujek's brows lifted. 'I'll so advise her the next time I see her.'
'All right. Sorry. No doubt the Empress is cognizant-'
'No doubt. As I was saying, however, it's the loss of Quick Ben that stings the most. From my own point of view, that is.'
'Well, sir, what the wizard has in mind … uh, I agree with him that the less Brood and company know of it the better. So long as the division of forces proceeds as planned, they'll have no reason but to believe that Quick Ben marches in step with the rest of us.'
'The wizard's madness-'
'High Fist, the wizard's madness has saved our skins more than once. Not just mine and the Bridgeburners', but yours as well-'
'I am well aware of that, Whiskeyjack. Forgive an old man his fears, please. It was Brood and Rake and the Tiste Andii — and the damned Elder Gods, as well — who were supposed to step into the Crippled God's path. They're the ones with countless warrens and frightening levels of potency — not us, not one mortal squad wizard and a young noble-born captain who's already died once. Even if they don't mess things up, look at the enemies we'll acquire.'
'Assuming our present allies are so short-sighted as to fail to comprehend.'
'Whiskeyjack, we're the Malazans, remember? Nothing we do is ever supposed to reveal a hint of our long-term plans — mortal empires aren't supposed to think that far ahead. And we're damned good at following that principle, you and I. Hood take me, Laseen inverted the command structure for a reason, you know.'