Gardens of the Moon Made Simple: Every Chapter Explained

Twelve-year-old Ganoes Paran watches from Mock’s Hold as the Mouse Quarter burns below. The Empire is purging wax-witches, and the sweet smell rising isn’t burning pigs, but burning flesh.

A scarred Bridgeburner commander offers a warning: “The best life is the one the gods don’t notice.” When Paran declares he wants to be a soldier, the commander replies: “Only if you fail at all else, son.”

A younger Bridgeburner arrives with a broken fiddle on his back, reporting that Surly – commander of the Claw – is taking a new name: Laseen, meaning “Thronemaster.” When Surly herself appears, the commander shows open contempt. The Emperor still rules, but not for long.

What to track: The commander’s warning that Paran will ignore. Surly becoming Laseen; she’s already planning her ascension. The Bridgeburner with the broken fiddle will reappear.

On a coastal road, an old seer named Rigga grabs a fishergirl and delivers a prophecy: a shadow will embrace her soul, but “the Lord spawned in Darkness” will free her. A soldier strikes Rigga dead.

Cotillion and Ammanas (Shadowthrone) materialize and send their Hounds after the passing cavalry – 175 soldiers torn apart. The gods possess the fishergirl as their weapon against Empress Laseen.

Adjunct Lorn investigates with Lieutenant Ganoes Paran, now grown. No enemy tracks, just massive teeth marks. Paran rides to the town of Gerrom and finds it abandoned, witnesses suffocated, the trail magically erased.

Topper, commander of the Claw, escorts Paran through the Imperial Warren to Unta. Paran meets the Empress, receives secret orders to hunt whoever orchestrated the massacre, then returns home. His sister Tavore has taken over the estate – cold, capable, dismissive of youngest sister Felisin as “too soft.”

At a recruiting station, the possessed fishergirl enlists for Genabackis. Her name: Sorry.

What to track: Rigga’s prophecy mentions “the Lord spawned in Darkness”; remember this. Sorry is now embedded in Onearm’s Host. Paran has been recruited to find her; she’ll find him first.

Tattersail walks through a field of vaporized soldiers and finds Hairlock torn in half but alive. High Mage Tayschrenn has just led an assault on Moon’s Spawn; he deliberately aimed friendly fire at his own troops. Tattersail’s lover Calot died shielding her with his Mockra Warren. Nightchill was torn apart by a Kenryll’ah demon. A’Karonys was frozen solid and crushed. All veterans who might question Empress Laseen.

Whiskeyjack’s squad emerges from collapsed tunnels: Quick Ben, Kalam, and the recruit Sorry among the survivors. Of two thousand Bridgeburners, only forty remain. Quick Ben performs a desperate ritual: he transfers Hairlock’s soul into a wooden puppet to spy on Tayschrenn.

Tattersail, grieving and furious, joins their conspiracy. Her Deck of Dragons reading reveals the Knight of Dark (Anomander Rake) and Oponn (the spinning coin); two forces about to collide over Darujhistan.

What to track: Tayschrenn is purging the “old guard” for Laseen. The Bridgeburners know they’re being targeted. Hairlock is now a puppet-spy. Oponn has entered the game.

Captain Paran receives orders from Topper: travel to Pale, take command of Whiskeyjack’s squad, watch the recruit named Sorry. Topper claims she has “corrupted” the Bridgeburners; a god is using her. The Empire is also moving against Dujek Onearm himself.

In Pale, Tattersail finds Bellurdan kneeling in an alley, unchanged for five days. Beside him: a burlap sack containing Nightchill’s remains. The Thelomen giant refuses to believe Tayschrenn betrayed them. “Tayschrenn is our protector. As he has always been.”

Tattersail performs a Deck reading for Tayschrenn. She sees the Virgin of Death (Sorry), the Assassin of Shadow (Cotillion), and the Crown (Darujhistan). She recognizes Sorry but lies to protect the Bridgeburners.

Paran arrives and meets Toc the Younger, a friendly Claw who warns him: the Bridgeburners are down to forty survivors, a power struggle is brewing, and neutrality isn’t an option. At the barracks, Paran faces their cynical hazing but earns grudging respect.

That night, walking through an alley, Paran is ambushed and stabbed by Sorry. As he lies dying, he hears a spinning coin; Oponn holding death at bay. Cotillion and Ammanas appear over his body: this was deliberate. They want to draw Adjunct Lorn into their game.

What to track: Sorry is possessed by Cotillion; confirmed. Bellurdan’s denial will have consequences. Paran is dying.

Paran awakens outside Hood’s Gate, the doorway to death. Oponn strikes a deal: Paran returns to life, but someone close to him dies in his place. Shadowthrone arrives with Hounds to finish the job. Paran convinces him: killing him now would blind Shadow to his enemies’ moves.

Back in Pale, Tattersail meets with the Bridgeburners. Quick Ben and Kalam reveal Sorry is an agent of High House Shadow, connected to the Itko Kan massacre. Whiskeyjack wants to believe she’s just damaged. Fiddler senses something wrong; blood and knives nearby.

Picker and Antsy find Paran’s body in an alley, still bleeding. Mallet discovers his wounds were healed by an outside force; coldly, precisely, like preparing a weapon. Quick Ben tracks Hairlock through the Warrens; the puppet has gone to Shadow’s very gates, and the Hounds have caught his trail.

Tattersail’s Deck reading shows a Hound of Shadow at the apex. That night, Gear attacks her quarters, tracking the puppet-Hairlock. A magical battle erupts; Tattersail is gravely wounded. Just as Gear seems unstoppable, Paran awakens, seizes his sword Chance, and stabs the Hound. The wound forces Gear to retreat.

As the sun rises, High Fist Dujek meets Whiskeyjack and Fiddler on the rooftop. Orders: infiltrate Darujhistan. He offers permission to desert afterward. Whiskeyjack refuses; as long as one Bridgeburner remains, they won’t back down. The squad departs on Quorls.

What to track: Oponn’s bargain means someone close to Paran will die. Chance wounded a Hound; impossible for a mortal blade. The Darujhistan mission is designed to kill them.

In a dream, Kruppe walks to a crossroads inn where six beggars sit around a candle. They are aspects of himself: his Hungers, Virtues, Doubts, Gifts. They warn him: “The Coin spins, Kruppe. It falls this very night.” A burlap figure hangs from a nearby tree; Humility, an aspect Kruppe refuses to embrace.

In the waking world, Crokus Younghand prowls Darujhistan’s rooftops. The city glows with blue gas-flames tended by the silent Greyfaces in caverns below. Crokus breaks into the D’Arle estate and strips the jewel box clean. Before leaving, he glimpses the sleeping daughter through mosquito netting; young, beautiful. He tears himself away, taking a sky-blue silk turban as a personal prize.

On another rooftop, Guild assassin Talo Krafar tends a crossbow wound. An assassin war has begun. He climbs to K’rul’s abandoned belfry to set a trap.

As Crokus crosses the rooftops, a coin clatters at his feet. He drops to catch it; a crossbow bolt hisses over his head. The coin saved his life. In the belfry, Talo takes aim at Crokus but is killed from behind by cloaked hunters speaking a language not heard in this land for millennia.

Crokus flees across the Monkey Road (hidden guidewires) and escapes to the Phoenix Inn.

What to track: Oponn’s Coin literally fell at Crokus’s feet; he’s now their pawn. The hunters speak an ancient language; these aren’t local assassins. Kruppe refuses Humility; he’ll challenge gods on his own terms.

Crone, a thousand-year-old Great Raven, flies from Moon’s Spawn toward Darujhistan. Her lord has given her a mission.

At Despot’s Barbican, Circle Breaker watches from shadow. He’s a City Watch guard; he’s also a spy for the mysterious Eel. Councilman Turban Orr paces nearby, waiting for a clandestine meeting. Circle Breaker will report the face of Orr’s contact before dawn.

High Alchemist Baruk, one of Darujhistan’s secret rulers, reads Circle Breaker’s message. A rapping at his window: Crone has arrived. “The Lord of Moon’s Spawn wishes to speak with you. He wishes to come here, this very night.”

Turban Orr visits Baruk, pushing for a Council proclamation of “neutrality”; effectively surrender to the Malazan Empire. Baruk refuses. Orr threatens him: the wizards of Pale were assassinated by Empire Claws.

On a garden wall, Rallick Nom aims his poisoned crossbow at Lady Simtal. His vendetta is personal; she destroyed someone he cared about. As he prepares to shoot, a spinning sound fills his head. His aim shifts. He kills Councilman Lim instead, framing Simtal for the murder. Phase one of an elaborate new plan.

The assassin war intensifies; five Guild Roamers dead in an hour. Ocelot, a Clan Leader, warns Rallick: Empire Claws are hunting them.

Anomander Rake arrives at Baruk’s estate. Jet-black skin, silver mane, seven feet tall; his sword bleeds darkness. He proposes alliance against the Empire. He also demands the heads of two wizards who fled Pale. “You’ll have their heads,” Baruk agrees.

What to track: Oponn’s influence redirected Rallick’s shot. Rake’s alliance with Baruk unites two powers against the Empire. The Eel is a mysterious spymaster protecting Darujhistan through agents like Circle Breaker.

Kruppe dreams again. At a fire among young trees, a hooded figure sits with hands in the flames; unburned. “I am known as K’rul.” An Elder God, ancient and forgotten, partially awakened by blood spilled on his old temple stones within Darujhistan. K’rul gives Kruppe an ancient fire and speaks of T’lan Imass who will lead “the woman.” “Play on, mortal. Every god falls at a mortal’s hands.”

Circle Breaker walks to the Lakefront before dawn, carrying a scroll; a plea to the Eel for help. He hears a coin spinning, sounding sad. He tears up the scroll and lets the pieces drift into the lake.

Lady Simtal paces. The assassination of Lim cost her gold. Turban Orr lounges on her bed, unconcerned. Their conversation reveals “the dispossessed”; a man she threw out, now drinking himself to death. Orr assures her: “I always keep a check on him for you.”

Murillio seduces Lady Orr on a balcony, obtaining two invitations to Simtal’s upcoming Fête on Gedderone’s Eve. Part of an elaborate scheme with Rallick.

Rallick warns Crokus away from Orr’s estate; “You’ll not try Orr’s house. You’ll not go near it again.” He has plans that a thief’s interference would ruin.

Crokus shows Kruppe the strange two-headed coin. Kruppe pronounces it worthless but secretly presses a wax impression. He brings it to Baruk; when the alchemist opens his Warren, the disc spins violently and his magic collapses. Oponn’s breath.

“Who carries the Coin?”
“A lad. Known to Kruppe.”

Baruk orders his agents to protect the Coinbearer. If the Lord’s face rests upon him, Rallick will be ordered to kill him.

What to track: K’rul has awakened; an Elder God has entered the game. The dispossessed is Coll; Lady Simtal destroyed him, Rallick avenges him. Baruk’s order: protect Crokus, or kill him if the Lord claims him.

Sergeant Whiskeyjack sits on bedrock overlooking Lake Azur, watching Darujhistan’s distant glow. A Black Moranth arrives with Kalam, addressing Whiskeyjack as “Bird That Steals”; the Bridgeburners are well-known among the Moranth.

The Moranth delivers a cryptic message: “There are worms within your empire’s flesh. It can be scoured clean.” The purge of Pale killed exactly 18,739 souls; this number matches each Moranth confirmed as a victim of Pale’s historical enmity. Spirit matched with spirit. The Moranth will have a patrol in the area in two weeks; an extraction option, if needed.

Whiskeyjack announces he’s scrapping the Empress’s plan; it was designed to get them killed. His new plan: two teams, two objectives. Kalam leads one with Quick Ben and Sorry. Whiskeyjack leads the other. They’ll enter Darujhistan by fishing boat, in civilian clothes.

The sappers Fiddler and Hedge are thrilled: two crates of Moranth munitions. “Cussers all the way down to Smokers. We could cook a palace.”

Quick Ben contacts Hairlock through a ritual in a forest glade. The puppet perches in the Warren of Chaos, scorched and mad, boasting of power found at the Warren’s very root. Hairlock reports: Gear attacked Tattersail. Captain Paran wounded the Hound with a mundane sword; impossible. Tayschrenn suspects the squad and wants them dead. Hairlock mutters about a coin that “has spun, but now it has fallen, it has entered someone’s hand.”

Quick Ben realizes the puppet’s control is slipping. Soon he’ll have to deal with Hairlock himself.

What to track: The 18,739 revelation connects Pale’s massacre to Moranth vengeance. The extraction offer gives them two weeks. Hairlock knows about Oponn’s Coin and is becoming uncontrollable.

Three days out from Pale, Toc the Younger rides the Rhivi Plain and finds twelve bodies: eight Jakatakan marines and four Barghast of the Ilgres Clan. The Barghast were tracking something; a shaman’s magic proved useless against it. “She’s said to be hell on mages.”

Adjunct Lorn makes a last stand at an ancient barrow with her two surviving marines. A Barghast raises his axe for the killing blow; a skeletal hand bursts from the earth beneath him. Bones snap. A flint sword impales him from below.

Onos T’oolan emerges; a T’lan Imass clad in rotting furs, face hidden beneath a horned skull-cap. Toc arrives and joins Lorn’s party. He warns her that eliminating the Bridgeburners would trigger mutiny; “if the sergeant and the Bridgeburners are eliminated, this army won’t be pulled back in line, it will mutiny.”

In Pale, Paran and Tattersail form an alliance. His sword is named Chance; its first blood came from the Hound Gear. Hairlock fears the blade. Tattersail needs Paran to stay: “If you go, Hairlock will kill me.”

At a fateful dinner, Lorn confronts Tattersail: “They burned the Mouse Quarter a week after you swept through it. In those plague-ridden caverns my mother, my father and my brother died.”

Tattersail offers herself for execution. Dujek intervenes: “If you execute those who committed crimes in the Emperor’s name, you must include me.” He was there, under Whiskeyjack’s command. The Edict came from Laseen herself.

Something dies in Lorn’s eyes. Toc witnesses it: the woman named Lorn has been executed by the thing called the Adjunct.

What to track: Tool emerges after three hundred thousand years beneath the earth. Harm the Bridgeburners and the army mutinies. Lorn’s humanity is destroyed; only the Adjunct remains. Paran’s sword Chance wounded a Hound; something protects him.

Toc meets Paran at Vimkaros Inn. The captain was supposed to be dead; Mallet and Tattersail saved him. They form an alliance, both convinced Lorn’s mission includes eliminating the Bridgeburners.

Tattersail attempts to reach Darujhistan through her Warren but finds it choked; a T’lan Imass creates a “dead space” that devours sorcery. She emerges onto the Rhivi Plain and faces Bellurdan, the Thelomen giant, sent by Tayschrenn.

Their confrontation reveals the horrifying truth: the Adjunct seeks a Jaghut Tyrant buried in the Gadrobi Hills. The Tyrant enslaved the land for three thousand years; even the Imass couldn’t destroy it. Lorn’s mission isn’t to contain it. It’s to free it; bait to force Anomander Rake into a costly battle.

Bellurdan refuses to believe. Cornered, Tattersail opens her Warren fully. The conflagration consumes them both in a pillar of fire that rages for an hour. Tool identifies multiple Warrens at work, including Starvald Demelain; the Elder Warren from which all others were born.

“The source is destroyed. But something has also been born. It flees.”

Paran and Toc find the charred remains; two figures embracing. Small tracks lead away: bone-footed prints, as if an infant walked from the ashes. Paran’s fury fixes on Lorn: “That heartless bitch has a lot coming to her.”

At Caladan Brood’s camp, Crone delivers intelligence. Brood’s second-in-command Kallor; an ancient warrior who claims to predate the T’lan Imass; watches with calculating eyes. “You’d do better to destroy Rake. Consider that my last warning.”

Crone encounters Hairlock killing her fellow ravens with Elder magic. The puppet’s power has grown monstrous. She flees to warn Rake.

What to track: Lorn’s mission is to unleash the Jaghut Tyrant as bait. Tattersail is dead but something was born from the conflagration. Kallor wants Rake destroyed; ancient rivalries simmer. Hairlock commands Chaos itself; even Elder beings fear him.

Kruppe dreams of a tundra wasteland at the world’s beginning. The fire K’rul gave him burns beside him; massive herds thunder across the land. Pran Chole appears; a Kron T’lan Bone Caster known as the White Fox. He speaks of the coming Gathering, when the Rite of Imass will sunder flesh and time itself, birthing the T’lan Imass and the First Empire.

A Rhivi woman arrives, heavy with child, bearing a white fox tattoo on her swollen belly. Kruppe travels south and finds Tattersail; or what remains of her. Her flesh is withered and dark as wood, her limbs roughly sewn back onto her body after the explosion. A spell of preservation keeps her animate.

The Rhivi woman takes Tattersail in her arms and begins labor. After hours, a child is born, furred in silver. The fur sloughs away; the white fox tattoo vanishes from the Rhivi’s belly. K’rul appears beside Kruppe and speaks of the child’s mysterious parentage. When Pran Chole expresses sorrow that he won’t see the woman this child becomes, K’rul tells him: “You shall, but not as a T’lan. As a T’lan Imass Bone Caster… Three hundred thousand years, Pran Chole.”

In Darujhistan, Whiskeyjack’s squad “repairs” streets outside Baruk’s estate; actually planting Moranth munitions beneath the cobblestones. Sorry identifies Kruppe as dangerous: “His skills involve thievery, and he possesses… talent.” When Whiskeyjack says the word “Seer,” Sorry flinches and pales, trembling. Something inside her has burst open; she hears a child weeping but suppresses it. “I am Cotillion,” she murmurs. “Patron of Assassins… I am here as the hand of death.”

Sorry follows Kruppe to the Phoenix Inn, where the thug Chert bars her way with crude suggestions. She kills him instantly; a dagger through the eye into the brain. Inside, two tough women named Meese and Irilta offer her protection, having witnessed nothing.

Crokus arrives and finds Chert’s body. At the bar, he stands next to Sorry; notices blood on her dagger. Then the Coin spins. One of Crokus’s coins falls and keeps spinning on the counter, its momentum unchanged. Power slams into Sorry’s skull; an answering surge rises from within her. The coin skids across the bar and lands in front of Crokus. Sorry now knows: she’s found Oponn’s man. And she realizes she should kill him but knows she won’t.

At Kruppe’s table, the drunken Coll bellows: “Five black dragons!”; an outburst that proves oddly prophetic about Moon’s Spawn’s inhabitants.

In a parallel storyline, Crokus visits his uncle Mammot for a history lesson. Mammot explains Darujhistan’s founding legend: treasure-seekers came looking for a Jaghut Tyrant’s barrow and built a city instead. “The barrow was never found, and the rumour has long since dwindled.”

What to track: Tattersail is reborn as a Rhivi child through Elder magic spanning 300,000 years. Sorry’s inner conflict; something resists Cotillion’s control. The Coin has revealed Crokus to Sorry, but she inexplicably can’t kill him. Coll’s drunken prophecy about five black dragons.

Kruppe reads from an ancient tome about the Crippled God; a being “called down to earth,” chained and crippled. Many gathered for its destruction, including Hood, the Tiste Andii, and five Black Dragons plus one red-winged dragon named Silanah. Kruppe connects this to Coll’s drunken outburst: Moon’s Spawn houses five Black Dragons and Silanah. “How had Coll come upon this?”

Crone delivers urgent news to Baruk: a powerful, insane puppet (Hairlock) is traveling through Chaos, killing Great Ravens, pursuing another power heading for the Gadrobi Hills. Baruk realizes with horror that the Malazans are searching for the imprisoned Jaghut Tyrant. He gives Crone the location of a standing stone marking the trail but refuses to reveal the actual barrow entrance. “What lies within that barrow can destroy a city.”

Quick Ben creates a ritual circle and sends his soul into the Warren of Chaos, navigating shifting pathways until he reaches a barrier where Warrens touch. He passes through into the Shadow Realm. The Hounds escort him to Shadowkeep; a massive structure of black glass like a giant lump of obsidian. On the throne sits Shadowthrone; a figure of translucent shadows, hooded, vaguely human.

Quick Ben proposes his deal: deliver Hairlock into the Hounds’ jaws in exchange for lifting his death mark and having the Hounds ready to strike at a time of his choosing. Shadowthrone agrees but threatens to shred Quick Ben’s brain if he discovers weaknesses in the plan. Quick Ben smiles and reveals his trump card; he opens a Warren born of Chaos itself. Power bursts around him, and he escapes.

Shadowthrone’s scream of recognition follows him: “It is you! Delat! You shape-shifting bastard!”

Baruk assigns Kruppe a new mission: take Murillio, Rallick, Coll, and Crokus to the Gadrobi Hills to observe and protect the Coinbearer. But Baruk adds a chilling instruction: if Oponn’s influence turns against them, Rallick is charged with killing the boy.

At the Phoenix Inn, Sorry appears at the doorway, having tracked Kalam and Quick Ben by sensing the lingering magic from the Shadow Realm. She confirms what they suspected: she’s a servant of Shadow. The Assassin’s Guild mobilizes; Rallick spots a black-skinned southerner with silver-pommelled long-knives and cross-hatched patterns marking an assassin. His Clan Leader Ocelot orders Rallick to draw the foreigner into a trap.

What to track: Quick Ben is revealed as “Delat”; Shadowthrone recognizes him and screams the name. Baruk has ordered Rallick to kill Crokus if necessary. Sorry can sense Shadow magic, confirming her nature. The assassin war is about to explode.

The assassin war explodes into violence. Kalam and Quick Ben follow Rallick Nom, expecting him to lead them to the Guild Master for negotiations. Instead, they’ve walked into a trap; the Guild has surrounded them. But before the ambush can spring, something worse arrives: twelve Tiste Andii assassin-mages descend from Moon’s Spawn and begin systematically slaughtering Guild members.

A brutal three-way battle erupts. Kalam drops over a roof’s edge, surges back up, grabs an attacker’s neck, and breaks it against his knee. A second assassin wounds him with a dagger before he beats her to death with his fists. Quick Ben duels their sorcerers, taking a stunning blow of fire before vanishing and reappearing behind his attacker.

Overwhelmed, Quick Ben produces a small vial and hurls it. White smoke rises, forming into Pearl, a Korvalah demon; one of Tayschrenn’s conjurings. “You are not Master Tayschrenn,” Pearl says in a child’s voice. More Tiste Andii descend, and one radiates such power that Quick Ben’s blood chills. The last figure has something long and narrow strapped to its back; a sword.

“Ben Adaephon Delat,” Pearl says plaintively, “see the last who comes. You send me to my death.”
“I know.”
“Do you pity me?”
“Yes.”

Quick Ben drops into darkness, leaving Pearl to face Anomander Rake. On the rooftop afterward lies a large patch of ash and bone; all that remains of Pearl. Rake sheathes his sword and receives his lieutenant Serrat’s report: casualties include warriors felled by “a single man” (Kalam) and one killed by a poisoned quarrel containing paralt. The Guild is crippled; its master Vorcan escaped.

Crokus climbs to Challice D’Arle’s balcony to return the stolen jewels. She wakes and sees him in the mirror but doesn’t scream. They fence verbally until Crokus blurts out: “One day you’ll see me in that line of suitors, Challice, and only you will know where you last saw me.” She bursts out laughing; the final punctuation to all his dreams, he thinks. But she urges him to escape as someone knocks at her door.

Rallick intercepts Crokus afterward and drags him into an alley. “The Guild’s best were slaughtered tonight. This isn’t a game. You stay off the rooftops.” There’s a Claw in the city; and someone else, coming down from the sky, killing everything in sight.

Later, Rake meets with Baruk, revealing his true motive: he preemptively attacked the Guild to prevent the Malazan Claw from contracting them to assassinate Baruk’s cabal. Baruk is outraged that Rake didn’t consult the T’orrud Cabal. Rake asks the crucial question: “Would Vorcan take the contract? Could she manage it? Is she that good?” Baruk turns away. “I don’t know. That’s my answer, to all three questions.”

In Kruppe’s dream, distant sounds echo: the creak of wooden wheels, the clank of chains, the groaning of slaves. K’rul appears and names the sound: “Dragnipur. And it is a sword.” Forged in darkness, it chains souls to the world that existed before the coming of light. Its wielder is among them; the Knight of High House Darkness.

What to track: Quick Ben’s true name (Ben Adaephon Delat) is used twice now. Pearl’s death reveals Dragnipur’s soul-consuming power. Vorcan is an unknown threat; even Baruk doesn’t know if she could kill him. K’rul warns that Dragnipur’s wielder walks among them.

Adjunct Lorn and Tool reach the Gadrobi Hills, closing in on the Jaghut barrow. Tool explains the terrifying stakes: the barrow exists within Omtose Phellack, the Jaghut Elder Warren. If the awakened Tyrant enslaves him, a T’lan Imass, it would become unstoppable; they could challenge and kill most gods. Tool was specifically chosen because he is clanless; if enslaved, no blood kin would be affected.

Tool reveals the Empress’s true strategy: they don’t control the Tyrant. Releasing it is bait to force Anomander Rake to intervene, as the Tyrant’s greatest fear is enslavement via Dragnipur. When Lorn doesn’t recognize the sword, Tool explains: “Dragnipur is a sword, born of the Age before Light. And Darkness, Adjunct, is the Goddess of the Tiste Andii.” The Tiste Andii originated in Kurald Galain, the Warren of Darkness. Their mother, Darkness herself, grew lonely and created Light. Her children saw this as betrayal and left or were cast out. Lorn realizes: “The Empress knows how to pick her enemies.”

Kruppe’s group travels toward the hills on Baruk’s orders. Crokus finally learns they work as information gatherers for High Alchemist Baruk. Coll wears full armor because “when Kruppe’s in charge I don’t feel safe.” Sorry follows them, sensing a T’lan Imass nearby that makes her Warren of Shadow increasingly difficult to use. She plans to kill the Coin Bearer outside the city.

On the Rhivi Plain, Paran and Toc pursue Lorn’s trail. They find eleven incinerated ravens in three hours; blasted from the inside out. Toc’s scar begins showing him visions; a tear in the air, horses screaming, swirling darkness. “Captain, we’re heading into an ambush.” Paran draws his sword Chance, eager for confrontation.

In a moment of vulnerability, Lorn climbs a hill and contemplates humanity’s legacy of endless war. She realizes the Jaghut had abandoned empire and war, walking alone. “They would not have started a war.” Weeping, she understands why they fear the Tyrant: “Because he became human, he became like us, he enslaved, he destroyed, and he did it better than we could.”

What to track: Tool reveals the full scope of the Tiste Andii’s origin and Dragnipur’s nature. Lorn’s humanity resurfaces despite her efforts to suppress it. Toc’s visions warn of the coming ambush.

Hairlock springs his ambush, killing Paran’s horse and flinging Toc the Younger through a jagged tear in reality. Toc plunges into swirling mists and vanishes; the rent snaps closed. Hairlock advances on the downed Paran: “I thought it might be you. Your death will be long, protracted and very, very painful.”

Quick Ben, watching through his puppet-connection, grabs Sorry’s cloth and speaks directly to Cotillion: “I know who you are. Cotillion, Patron of Assassins, the Rope, I call upon you!” The Rope responds. Quick Ben delivers his message: “A deal’s been struck. Your lord’s Hounds hunger for vengeance.” He transmits Hairlock’s location, then slices the taut strings connecting his control sticks. “Goodbye, Hairlock.”

The puppet collapses, flopping onto his stomach, shrieking. The Hounds of Shadow arrive and tear him to splinters. Then they turn on Paran. He raises Chance, ready to die: “Come on, then. Through me to the god using me.”

Something heavy presses down; the Hounds flinch. A tall, black-skinned, white-haired man pushes past Paran: “Step aside.” Anomander Rake confronts seven Hounds without drawing his weapon. He tells them to leave; when they attack instead, the snap of massive chains and the groan of huge wooden wheels explode in Paran’s mind. Two Hounds lie dead, nearly decapitated. Rake holds his black blade, slick with blood that boils and becomes ash.

Shadowthrone appears, mourning his fallen Hounds Doan and Ganrod. “There is no release for them?” Rake: “None. Nor for any who would pursue vengeance.” He commands Shadowthrone to recall Cotillion. The god complies: “He has been recalled. Forcibly extracted, as it were.” Rake examines Paran and declares him free of Oponn’s direct control; the Twins have “hastily withdrawn.”

After Rake departs, Paran touches a dead Hound’s blood and is flung inside Dragnipur. He walks among countless shackled figures, all pulling chains toward an immense wagon with wooden wheels taller than a man. A stranger in rags explains: if the wagon overturns, “the pulling will get harder.” The slain Hounds are newly chained and fighting desperately.

Paran draws Chance and summons Oponn’s male Twin, who appears terrified: “Madness, mortal! So close to the Queen of Darkness; within a god-slaying sword!” The chains lead to a suspended pool of absolute darkness; Kurald Galain. Paran forces the Twin to serve as bait, luring the Hounds through the portal into Kurald Galain where their chains may disappear. The Hounds flash past and vanish. Paran awakens on the plain; the Hound bodies are gone. He has freed Doan and Ganrod from Dragnipur.

Meanwhile, Lorn stumbles upon Baruk’s group. She attacks instantly: her Otataral blade steams as Kruppe’s Warren collapses, knocking him unconscious. Coll charges on horseback; she dodges and slices his thigh severely. Murillio scores a hit on her shoulder but she knocks him out. Only Crokus remains standing, daggers raised. Inexplicably, she spares him: “Agreed. Patch up your friends and steer clear.”

As Lorn departs, Sorry prepares to kill the Coin Bearer; but Shadowthrone’s recall strikes her. Cotillion is forcibly expelled. The original fisher girl consciousness returns; confused, terrified, with no memory of the past two years. “I don’t remember anything more,” she says, and begins to cry. Coll sends Crokus to take her to his uncle Mammot: “This girl’s been possessed. The truth is somewhere in her head.”

What to track: Toc is gone, thrown into an unknown Warren. Hairlock is destroyed. Paran entered Dragnipur and freed the Hounds into Kurald Galain; consequences unknown. Cotillion has been forcibly extracted from Sorry. Lorn’s conflicted humanity spared Crokus.

Lorn and Tool descend into the Jaghut barrow through a magical passage; the entrance exists outside of normal time. Tool shares his own doubts: “I believe I know the name of this Jaghut Tyrant. I am now beset by doubts. It should not be freed. Yet, like you, I am compelled.” He reveals that when this is done, his vows will end; the residual power of the sleeping Jaghut will break his ancient bindings. He invites Lorn to accompany him in his search for “an answer.” She refuses, too afraid to ask: an answer to what?

Crokus rides awkwardly with the traumatized young woman, who has no memory of her past or even her name. She’s from Itko Kan; she remembers buying twine for her father, remembers the wax-witch Riggalai the Seer dying. Then nothing. When Crokus accidentally says “Sorry,” she recognizes it but knows it’s not her original name. He suggests alternatives, and she decisively chooses “Apsalar”; the Lady of Thieves, Darujhistan’s patron goddess. “So you’re a thief,” she says, grinning. Their dynamic shifts from fear to careful friendship.

On the Rhivi Plain, Paran is engulfed by a massive bhederin herd; huge shaggy beasts moving in hundreds of thousands. Warriors attack; five lances fly at him, but Chance deflects every blow miraculously. Three lanceheads sprout from the blade like leaves, split and jammed. A small figure approaches; a girl of perhaps five years old. Something about her walk, her heavy-lidded eyes is hauntingly familiar.

Through a translator, the child speaks: “The woman you know has not passed through the Arching Trees of Death. Her journey was beyond the lands you can see, beyond those of the spirit. And now she has returned. You will meet again, so this child promises.” Paran recognizes her at last: Tattersail, reborn. He realizes the Rhivi are driving the herd north; enough to feed an army on the march. Caladan Brood is heading to Pale.

Paran rides south and finds the wounded Coll by a campfire. They share a meal, and Coll reveals his story: he was once a noble of Darujhistan, last son of a powerful family. He fell in love with a whore named Aystal; “a hungry, ambitious woman, twisted a soul as you could imagine.” Through manipulations he still doesn’t understand, she stripped him of title, family name, estate, and money. His lifelong acquaintances looked right through him. Even city records declared him dead.

Paran confesses: “I’m a deserter from the Malazan Army, ranked as captain. I also did a lot of work with the Claw.” They bond over shared exile. Paran observes that since walking away from the Empire and his noble blood, “damn, I’ve never felt so alive.” Coll admits: “The thing is, I want it back. I want it all back.” Paran laughs until it hurts. They agree to travel to Darujhistan together.

What to track: Tool has doubts about freeing the Tyrant and seeks an unknown “answer.” Apsalar has chosen her new identity. Tattersail is reborn among the Rhivi; Caladan Brood’s army marches. Paran and Coll form an unlikely alliance of fallen nobles.

Rallick receives an urgent warning from the Eel’s messenger: Councilman Turban Orr has hired the Assassin’s Guild to kill Coll upon his return to Darujhistan. The assassin who accepted the contract: Ocelot, Rallick’s own Clan Leader. Rallick retrieves Baruk’s pouch of reddish, magic-deadening powder. The alchemist had warned: “Don’t let it touch skin. The powder changes some people.” Rallick ignores the warning. He massages the powder into his face, then under his clothing, using all of it. “What changes? I don’t feel any changes.”

Baruk and Anomander Rake debate strategy. Rake reveals he wants the Tyrant freed now, while he’s present to fight it. He admits this plays into the Empress’s hands but believes a weakened Tyrant can be finished by Baruk’s cabal of mages.

Rake reveals the tragedy of his people: “Within Moon’s Spawn are the last of the Tiste Andii on this world. We are dying, Alchemist.” No cause seems great enough to restore their zest for life. “Imagine your spirit dying while your body lives on. Not for ten years, not for fifty. But a body that lives on for fifteen, twenty thousand years.” His people exist in “disinterest, stoicism and quiet, empty despair.” When Baruk asks why Rake does all this, he answers: “Is an honourable cause worth anything these days? Does it matter that we’ve borrowed it? Mercenaries of the spirit.”

Baruk shows Rake the comatose body of Mammot; the historian and High Priest of D’rek, trapped magically within the barrow. Rake understands immediately: if the Tyrant is quick enough when Mammot emerges, it could possess him. “A High Priest, is he? The Jaghut would find him very useful. Not to mention the access Mammot provides to D’rek.” Baruk doesn’t know if the Tyrant could enslave a goddess.

Crokus and Apsalar hide at Mammot’s empty rooms. Meese bursts in with dire news: the D’Arle family has Crokus’s description for killing a guard. They’re talking “high gallows.” The description came from Challice D’Arle; she betrayed him.

On a rooftop overlooking the tenement, Serrat; a Tiste Andii assassin and lieutenant to Rake; locates Crokus. She identifies him as Oponn’s Coinbearer and plans to ambush him when he takes to the rooftops at night.

What to track: Rallick has covered himself in magic-deadening powder despite Baruk’s warning. Mammot could be possessed by the Tyrant. The Tiste Andii are spiritually dying; Rake’s duty feels hollow. Crokus is hunted by nobles and a Tiste Andii assassin.

Fiddler speaks up to the closed-off Whiskeyjack: “We’ve seen a hell of a lot of our friends die, right? And maybe we didn’t have to give the orders, so maybe you think it’s easier for us. But I don’t think so… They were friends. When they die, it hurts. But you go around telling yourself that the only way to keep from going mad is to take all that away from them.” He adds: “It’s that hurt we feel that makes us keep going, Sergeant. And maybe we’re not getting anywhere, but at least we’re not running away from anything.” Whiskeyjack sees the caring in their eyes; the open offer to friendship he’d spent years suppressing. Finally: “He was, finally, and after all these years, among friends.”

Rallick hunts Ocelot in K’rul’s Belfry. A flash of red blinds him as Ocelot fires a magical quarrel; the powder negates the magic. In a brutal knife fight, Rallick kills his own Clan Leader; but Ocelot’s hidden wrist-blade stabs through his chain mail into his chest. Rallick believes he’s dying.

Paran arrives at Darujhistan’s gates with the dying Coll. A guard recognizes Coll: “He’s Coll Jhamin, of House Jhamin. I served under him.” Despite official writs declaring Coll dead, they arrange transport to the Phoenix Inn. There, Paran encounters Kalam and orders him to bring their healer. Mallet saves Coll’s life, discovering the wound had been packed with herbs; “A minute later, Captain, and this man would’ve been striding through Hood’s Gate.”

Whiskeyjack produces a strange artifact; twin yellowed human forearm bones bound with copper wire, one end fashioned into a serrated blade. “Back in the days of the Emperor, the inner ring of military commanders each possessed one of these, the booty of a looted K’Chain Che’Malle tomb.” He drives it into the table. White light erupts.

High Fist Dujek confirms the betrayal: the Empress plans to disband his army and send him to Seven Cities. He reveals the deeper purpose: “We don’t give a damn if the Empress wants to come after us… Look to the south. Something’s growing there, so ugly it makes the Imass look like kittens. When I say we’re in trouble, I don’t mean just Genabackis, I mean the world.” Kalam names it with fear: “The Pannion Seer. So the rumours are true. The Seer’s proclaimed a holy war. The genocide’s begun.” Paran formally joins them.

In the Gadrobi Hills, Lorn searches frost-crusted objects in the burial chamber; a small beehive tomb with a circular stone cap. She’s drawn to a small, round object on a flap of hide. As the ice melts, she sees it’s an acorn. Tool explains the Finnest: “Within it is stored the Jaghut Tyrant’s powers. It is perhaps best described as a self-contained Omtose Phellack Warren.” When the Tyrant awakens, it will unerringly hunt this acorn down.

What to track: The Bridgeburners are unified as friends, not just soldiers. The rebellion’s true purpose: stopping the genocidal Pannion Seer. The Finnest is an acorn; the Tyrant will hunt it down. Rallick lies bleeding, believing he’s dying.

Crokus convinces Apsalar to escape to K’rul’s Belfry. As they climb the spiral stairs, Apsalar notices the darkness isn’t impenetrable; she can see “soot-stained paintings on the wall” and something “wet… thick and sticky” on the steps. Crokus can’t see anything in this darkness. Her ability to see is a residual gift from Cotillion’s possession.

They emerge onto the moonlit platform and find a heap of cloth; an assassin stabbed in the head (Ocelot’s body). Apsalar gazes at the moon and describes Grallin’s Sea: “The Lord of the Deep Waters living there is named Grallin. He tends vast, beautiful underwater gardens.” She speaks of children swimming like dolphins, a world with no wars, no empires. Crokus watches Moon’s Spawn and sees a faint reddish glow suffusing it. Then five massive winged shapes sweep down its face, angling northeast. He blinks, and they’re gone.

Serrat prepares to strike, but an invisible hand drives into her chest with bone-jarring force, sending her cartwheeling off the roof. When she recovers, she realizes someone snuck up on a Tiste Andii assassin-mage and instead of killing her, left her weapons neatly placed beside her. The arrangement hints at “a subtle and cunning sense of humour.”

Rallick, presumed dead, crawls to Murillio’s door. “Sorry I’m late. My legs keep giving out.” The chest wound that should have killed him is completely healed, leaving only a week-old scar. When Murillio examines his face for remnants of the powder, it’s clean. The powder has been absorbed entirely; no trace remains.

Baruk confronts Kruppe: “For the past year, an agent of the Eel’s, known to me as Circle Breaker, has been providing me with vital information regarding the City Council.” He reveals he can identify Circle Breaker through handwriting. Kruppe, uncharacteristically quiet, offers to convey a message to the Eel. Reply by evening. Baruk is satisfied.

Lorn departs the barrow with the Finnest. Tool announces his task is finished; his vows are ended. If Lorn wishes to accompany him after her mission, he’ll be here for ten days. “Fare well in your search, Onos T’oolan.” Tool replies: “That name is past. I am now Tool.” Lorn rides for Darujhistan, planning to hunt Sorry; she doesn’t know the possession has ended.

What to track: Apsalar retains Cotillion’s ability to see in darkness. Five winged shapes swept from Moon’s Spawn. The powder has been absorbed into Rallick entirely. Kruppe is the Eel (or close enough). Tool’s ancient vows have ended; he is now simply “Tool.”

Murillio confronts Kruppe about being the Eel: “You’re the Eel, Kruppe. All this blubbering, sweaty meek-mouse stuff is just an act, isn’t it? You’ve got half this city in your pocket, Eel.” Kruppe waves his fingers and casts a subtle spell. Murillio blinks, suddenly dizzy. The accusation vanishes from his mind.

Baruk and Anomander Rake discuss the Fête. Rake senses what’s coming: “With so much power gathered in one place, it’s likely. I’d rather be on hand in such circumstances.” He mentions Icarium’s gifts; the Wheel of Ages in Majesty Hall. “I’d suggest you heed Icarium’s gifts… A thousand years is not so long a time. Icarium last visited me eight hundred years ago, in the company of the Trell Mappo.”

Mammot awakens and reports: “Two, perhaps three days” until the Tyrant returns. When Mammot mentions his nephew Crokus, Baruk reels: the Coin Bearer is Mammot’s own nephew.

Circle Breaker stands guard at Worry Gate and spots Lorn entering the city; a mercenary woman with blood-stains on her shoulder. He signals the Eel’s network. At Quip’s Bar, Fiddler deals cards from a Deck of Dragons. He places the Throne inverted before Lorn: “You owe us all ten gold each; a year’s pay for all of us.” Whiskeyjack reveals their plan: Trotts has been hired as a guard at Lady Simtal’s Fête. Lorn takes command.

In K’rul’s Belfry, Crokus and Apsalar wait for nightfall. Apsalar describes a smooth black stone inside her: “Solid and warm, and whenever I start getting scared it takes me inside. And then everything’s fine again.” As they prepare to leave, Serrat readies her ambush; but two daggers touch her flesh from behind. A voice warns: “The Coin Bearer shall not be harmed. The games are done.” She demands to know who sends this message. The answer: “Compliments of the Prince, Serrat. Take it up with our mutual friend.”

Far outside the city, Raest awakens. “Shall I wake you?” he whispers to the sleeping goddess beneath the earth. He spears her with pain, driving a fissure through bedrock. A volcano erupts in the hills. Crone watches five dragons sweep down from Moon’s Spawn; Silanah red-wings and four black Soletaken. A devastating battle erupts. The dragons tear Raest’s body apart, but his power holds. “This is my power! Come to me!” His withered face twists into a grin: “Now I deliver death.”

What to track: Kruppe’s spell protects his identity as the Eel. Icarium’s ancient connection to Rake is revealed. Circle Breaker has spotted Lorn. Something inside Apsalar protects her; “the Prince” protects the Coin Bearer. Raest battles dragons and wins.

Lorn plants the Finnest in Lady Simtal’s garden. “Find an acorn. Plant it.” She knows the Tyrant will be drawn unerringly to his power source. She passes a hand over her eyes, staggering. “The Adjunct was cracking, its armour crumbling and the lustre gone from its marbled grandeur.” One task remains: find and kill the Coin Bearer.

At the Fête, Baruk arrives with Anomander Rake; seven feet tall, dragon mask, two-handed sword strapped to his back. Lady Simtal and Turban Orr stare. “Baruk’s guest,” Orr says drily. Rake is introduced by his true name; Orr doesn’t recognize it. “Anomander Rake, a name known by poets and scholars, but not, it appeared, by councilmen.”

Kruppe waddles over, cherub mask smeared with icing. He bows to Rake: “Kruppe can only guess at the thrill of flight, the wail of high winds, the rabbits scurrying below as one’s shadow brushes their limited awareness.” When Baruk says it’s only a mask, Kruppe replies: “Such is the irony of life, that one learns to distrust the obvious.”

Turban Orr spots Circle Breaker and moves to kill his spy. Rallick Nom intercepts, provokes, insults: “I wait on no man. And certainly not for some thin-lipped prancer pretending to manhood.” Orr demands a duel. When he asks for Rallick’s second, Anomander Rake steps forward: “I offer my services as second. We’ve never met. However, I find myself instinctively sharing his distaste for your endless talk.”

Estraysian D’Arle acts as Orr’s second but delivers a stunning rebuke: “I find the councilman’s life irrelevant in the best of times. Should he die, there will be no vengeance pact from the House of D’Arle.” The duel is swift and brutal. Rallick’s knives flash; Orr falls with wounds to neck and heart. Rallick whispers: “A thousand other deaths would not have satisfied me. But I’ll settle for this one.”

Upstairs, Murillio seduces Lady Simtal while the duel unfolds. Afterward, Rallick enters her bedchamber: “Turban Orr’s offer of contract to the Assassins’ Guild is now officially cancelled. Coll lives, and now his return to this house is assured. You’re done with, Lady Simtal.” She collapses inward, her power stripped away. Murillio leaves, knowing he was the last man to see her alive.

In the garden, Crokus approaches Challice. She mistakes him for someone else: “Gorlas? Is that you? I’ve been waiting all night!” His heart breaks. Circle Breaker receives a scroll from Kruppe: “The time has come for Circle Breaker to retire from active duty. The circle is mended, loyal friend.” He walks through the gates toward freedom.

What to track: The Finnest is planted. Turban Orr is dead; Estraysian D’Arle publicly abandoned him. Simtal’s power is destroyed. Circle Breaker is retired and free. Challice has chosen another; Crokus is devastated.

In Kruppe’s dream, Raest crosses into the mortal realm but finds himself trapped. Kruppe stands before the Tyrant, unafraid: “Kruppe – this humble, weak mortal who stands before you – bows to no man, be he Jaghut or god.” When Raest tries to destroy him, Onos T’oolan arrives and cleaves the Tyrant with his flint sword. Then K’rul emerges from the streambed; a tall, black-shrouded figure. He reveals himself: “I was once a god. Worshipped as K’rul, and my aspect was the Obilisk. I am the Maker of Paths.” K’rul offers Raest a choice between destruction and departure through the Gates of Chaos. Raest refuses both; his withered body collapses as his spirit flees to possess another.

At the Fête, Paran and Kalam find Sorry in the garden. She’s changed; the possession has ended. Mallet discovers someone else has been protecting her mind all along, filtering two years of murderous memories. “It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever known,” he says of the presence. Paran orders him to help it do what it needs to do.

Vorcan arrives and negotiates with Kalam: the Empire offers “one hundred thousand gold jakatas” per mage to assassinate the T’orrud Cabal, plus control of Darujhistan itself. Vorcan accepts. She is a High Mage herself; only she could hope to succeed.

Catastrophe strikes. The possessed Mammot unleashes Raest’s power across the terrace; grey sorcery incinerates guests, shatters pillars, tears through everything in sight. Quick Ben steps forward and reveals his secret: “Awaken the Seven within me!” Seven Warrens open simultaneously, cascading waves of power that drive the Jaghut to his knees. But Quick Ben collapses: “I’m done.”

Hedge acts. The saboteur fires his arbalest; a Moranth cusser detonates where Mammot stood. The explosion leaves a steaming crater. Whiskeyjack is caught in the blast; he feels the snap of bone, the meaty tearing of flesh as his leg gives way. Roots from the garden snake toward the crater. The Azath has come for Raest. His spirit screams: “Azath! No! You’ve taken my Finnest – but leave me!” The tendrils drag him into the earth.

Kalam discovers the greater danger. The sappers’ tunnels have ruptured gas lines throughout the city. “The whole damn city!” Quick Ben realizes; if the intersection charges detonate, Darujhistan explodes.

What to track: K’rul is the Maker of Paths; an Elder God. Quick Ben carries seven mages’ souls but is now exhausted. The Tyrant is imprisoned by the Azath alongside his Finnest. Whiskeyjack’s leg is shattered. The gas crisis makes detonating the mines catastrophic.

Paran is brutally attacked by the Hound Rood. Jaws close on his shoulder; teeth grind through chain. Cotillion appears: “I am Cotillion. Shadowthrone regrets leaving you outside Hood’s Gates; at the cost of two Hounds. Do you realize that no man; mortal or Ascendant; has ever before killed a Hound?” Cotillion takes the sword Chance: “Do you pity the ones who used you?” Paran answers: “No.” Cotillion: “Wisdom returns quickly, once the bond is severed. Try not to be noticed. And when next you see a Hound, run.”

Crokus races through empty streets, haunted by Mammot’s death. Moon’s Spawn hangs directly overhead, so low it brushes rooftops. The city is silent; charnel smell fills the air. Ravens nest in the floating fortress’s crags. Lorn follows, knowing she must take the Coin. She releases a flask: red smoke curls upward, taking shape. “You know your task, Lord of the Galayn. Succeed, and freedom will be yours.”

On the belfry of K’rul’s temple, Anomander Rake watches Silanah hover. “I know you sense the Demon Lord’s presence. This battle is mine. Yours is done. But know this: if I fail, you may seek to avenge my death.” He whispers: “Go home.” K’rul appears beside him: “I am lost. In this world. In this time.” Rake: “You are not alone with those sentiments.” K’rul asks why Rake continues. Rake answers simply: “I know no other way of living.”

Lorn attacks Crokus; but Corporal Blues of the Crimson Guard intercepts. A whirlwind exchange; Blues drives her back, wounds blossoming across her arms, legs, chest. Her expression holds “complete disbelief.” Fingers takes Crokus aside, flashing a brooch: “The name’s Fingers, Sixth Blade, Crimson Guard. You’re being protected, boy, compliments of Prince K’azz and Caladan Brood.” He explains about the Coin: “It’s Oponn’s own. You’ve been serving a god and you didn’t even know it!”

Badly wounded, Lorn staggers into an alley. Meese blocks her path: “We been on you since Circle Breaker picked you up at the gate. The Eel says you’ve got some things t’ pay for, lady. And we’re here to collect.” Lorn is killed; her dying words: “Who is this Eel?”

Paran finds Lorn’s body. Oponn’s Twins appear, terrified that Cotillion now has Chance. Paran threatens them with Lorn’s Otataral sword and they flee.

Below the belfry, the Galayn assumes dragon form. Rake watches, then spreads his arms wide. Kurald Galain sorcery swirls around him. “So am I.” He veers into a massive black dragon, silver-maned, dwarfing even Silanah. He climbs higher, then tucks his wings and plummets toward the Galayn.

What to track: Cotillion now has Chance; consequences unknown. Lorn is dead; killed by the Eel’s agents. The Crimson Guard protects Crokus on Caladan Brood’s behalf. K’rul is reborn but lost. Rake battles the Galayn as a dragon.

Crokus reaches Baruk’s estate but a ward flings him back. He runs to the garden wall instead. An earth-shaking scream; a dragon crashes into the street twenty yards away, scales torn, wounds glistening. It’s the Galayn, wounded from its aerial duel. It shifts to giant humanoid form, twelve feet tall, wielding a two-bladed axe. It speaks to someone behind Crokus: “The Empress permits your escape, Lord. Once again she grants you mercy. Accept it, and leave.”

Anomander Rake stands behind Crokus, drawing his black sword. “We run no further, Galayn.” He glances at Crokus: “Coin Bearer, fear not. Brood has convinced me to spare you, at least for the moment. Begone, child. This will be a close thing.”

The Galayn recognizes the sword: “Dragnipurake. And I smell the reek of Tiama in you, Lord. There is more of her in you than Tiste Andii blood.” Battle erupts. Axe streaming blue flames meets sword swallowed in darkness. Rake presses the attack relentlessly: “To the Mother’s regret was Light granted birth. To her dismay she saw too late its corruption. Galayn you are the unintended victim to punishment long overdue.” The demon collapses as black smoke erupts from Dragnipur, forming chains that drag the creature’s essence into the blade.

Inside, Vorcan has attacked the Cabal. A Tiste Andii woman intercepts her but is mortally wounded. Derudan is struck down by a poisoned dagger. Just as Vorcan prepares to kill Baruk, Crokus bursts in and hits her with two thrown bricks; the second enchanted, knocking her unconscious. Baruk gives Derudan the antidote. When they look back, Vorcan has vanished.

The Bridgeburners regroup and contact Dujek through the K’Chain Che’Malle communication bones. The High Fist delivers news: the Empress has outlawed his entire army. Dujek promotes Whiskeyjack to second-in-command and places the squad under Captain Paran’s authority. Kalam and Fiddler volunteer to escort Apsalar home to Itko Kan.

In Coll’s garden, the wounded Vorcan is pursued by Tiste Andii seeking vengeance for their dead. Rallick picks her up and runs toward the Azath house, knowing instinctively it will shelter them. The door opens; they enter. Korlat recognizes it: “Azath. A Pillar of Innocence.” She calls off the hunt.

What to track: The Azath has claimed both Rallick and Vorcan. Dujek’s army is officially outlawed; the rebellion begins. Kalam and Fiddler escort Apsalar home – their journey continues in Deadhouse Gates.

Dawn over the lake; Moon’s Spawn hangs on the southern horizon, heading away. Its basalt is ravaged from the night’s battle. Mallet helps the wounded Whiskeyjack to sit on a rock, worried his leg may never fully heal. Quick Ben watches the fortress depart, already planning: “The scheme was hatched. Whiskeyjack’s going to howl when he hears this one.”

Paran senses the reborn Tattersail in her Rhivi child form; already in her adolescence, smiling with her heavy-lidded eyes. He promises silently: “When this Pannion Seer and his cursed holy war is crushed, I will come to you then, Tattersail.” A voice answers in his mind: “I know… I shall await the coming of a soldier.” Paran smiles: “Now that was not my imagination.” He walks down to his squad; finally a soldier.

On a ship bound south, Kalam watches Apsalar and Crokus orbit each other; a subtle dance. Crokus plays with a coin and asks: “Do you believe in luck, Kalam?” The assassin growls: “No.” Crokus grins: “Me neither.” He flips Oponn’s Coin into the sea; it flashes once and vanishes. Circle Breaker nods, satisfied; the Eel will be pleased.

“This ends the first tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.”

• Tattersail’s fate: She died in the explosion with Bellurdan, but her soul was transferred into a Rhivi baby named Silverfox through an Elder God’s ritual in Kruppe’s dream. She’ll return later in the series.
• What was Lorn’s actual mission? Free the Jaghut Tyrant to bait Anomander Rake into a costly battle, weakening him for the Empire. Then kill Sorry and the Bridgeburners as loose ends.
• Why did the Azath appear? Azath houses spontaneously manifest to imprison unchained power. Raest (the Tyrant) was too dangerous to remain free, so reality itself created a prison.
• Is Oponn still influencing things? Crokus threw the coin into the sea, severing that connection. But gods don’t give up easily; their influence continues in subtler ways.

• Character relationships (Paran and Tattersail, the Bridgeburners’ bond, Crokus and Apsalar)
• Major power players (Rake, Shadowthrone/Cotillion, the Empress, Dujek Onearm)
• The Bridgeburners are now rebels working for Dujek, not the Empire
• The Tyrant is imprisoned in an Azath house in Darujhistan

Yes. Quite often, Erikson’s climaxes are chaotic convergences where multiple storylines collide simultaneously. The Fête sequence throws Raest, the Azath, Vorcan’s assassination attempt, Lorn’s hunt, and Rake’s dragon battle at you all at once. It’s intentionally overwhelming; that’s the “convergence” the characters kept sensing. You get better at processing this style as the series continues.