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A hand swept over her shoulder and clamped onto her wrist. The young woman cried out and twisted around to see the horsewife, her breath coming in gasps, her eyes wide as she stared at the storm cloud. The flask fell to the ground. Figures from the camp were now running towards the two women.

The widow searched the old woman's weathered face, seeing fear and … hope? 'What? What is it?'

The horsewife seemed unable to speak. She continued staring northward.

The storm cloud darkened the rolling hills. The widow turned and gasped. The cloud was not a cloud. It was a swarm, a seething mass of black, striding like a giant towards them, tendrils spinning off, then coming around again to rejoin the main body.

Terror gripped the widow. Pain shot up her arm from where the horsewife still clutched her wrist, a hold that threatened to snap bones.

Flies.' Oh, spirits below — flies. .

The swarm grew closer, a flapping, tumbling nightmare.

The horsewife screamed in wordless anguish, as if giving voice to a thousand grieving souls. Releasing the widow's wrist, she fell to her knees.

The young woman's heart hammered with sudden realization.

No, not flies. Crows. Crows, so many crows-

Deep within her, the child stirred.

This ends the Second Tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen

GLOSSARY

TRIBES OF THE SEVEN SUBCONTINENTS

Arak: Pan'potsun Odhan

Bhilard: east of Nenoth Odhan

Can'eld: northeast of Ubaryd

Debrahl: north regions

Dhis'bahl: Omari and Nahal Hills

Gral: Ehrlitan foothills down to Pan'potsun

Kherahn Dhobri: Geleen Plain

Khundryl: west of Nenoth Odhan

Pardu: north of Geleen Grasslands

Semk: Karas Hills and Steppes

Tithan: south of Sialk

Tregyn: west of Sanimon

SEVEN CITIES (Bisbrna and Debrand Language

(Selected Words)

bhok'arala: a squall of cliff-dwelling winged monkeys (common)

(bhok'aral: singular)

bloodfly: a biting insect

chigger fleas: windborne fleas of the desert

dhenrabi: a large marine carnivore

Dryjhna: the Apocalypse

durhang: an opiate

emrag: an edible cactus favoured by Trell

emulor: a poison derived from flowers

enkar'al: a winged reptile equivalent in size to a horse (very rare)

esanthan'el: a dog-sized winged reptile

guldindha: a broad-leafed tree

jegura: a medicinal cactus

kethra knife: a fighting weapon

Marrok: dry-season siesta

Mezla: vaguely pejorative name for Malazans

odhan: plains, wastelands

rhizan: a squirrel-sized winged lizard (common)

sawr'ak: a thin light beer served cold

sepah: unleavened bread

She'gai: a hot wind of the dry season

simharal: a seller of children

tapu: a food-hawker

tapuharal: a seller of goat meat (cooked)

tapusepah: a seller of bread

taputasr: a seller of pastries

tasr: sepah with honey

telaba: a sea cloak of the Dosii (Dosin Pali)

tralb: a poison derived from mushrooms

White Paralt: a poison derived from spiders

PLACE NAMES

Aren: Holy City and site of Imperial Headquarters

Balahn (Battle of)

Bat'rol: a small village near Hissar

Caron Tepasi: an inland city

Chain of Dogs Coltaine's train of soldiers and refugees journeying from Hissar to Aren

Dojal Spring (Battle of)

Dosin Pali: a city on the south coast of Otataral Island

Ehrlitan: Holy City

G'danisban: a city near Pan'potsun

Geleen: a city on the coast of the Clatar Sea

Gelor Ridge (Battle of Gelor)

Guran: an inland city

Hissar: a city on the east coast

Holy Desert Raraku: a region west of the Pan'potsun Odhan

Karakarang: a Holy City on Otataral Island

Nenoth (Battle of)

Pan'potsun: Holy City

Rutu Jelba: a port city on north Otataral Island

Sanimon (Battle of)

Sekala Plain (Battle of)

Sialk: a city on the east coast

The Path of Hands: a Soletaken and D'ivers path to Ascendancy

Tremorlor (the Azath House in the Wastes, also Odhanhouse)

Ubaryd: a Holy City on the south coast

Vathar Crossing (Coltaine's Crossing, the Vathar Massacre): the Day

of Pure Blood, Mesh'arn tho'ledann

Vin'til Basin: southwest of Hissar

THE WORLD OF SORCERY

THE WARRENS: (the Paths — those Warrens accessible to humans)

Denul: the Path of Healing

D'riss: the Path of Stone

Hood's Path: the Path of Death

Meanas: the Path of Shadow and Illusion

Ruse: the Path of the Sea

Rashan: the Path of Darkness

Sere: the Path of the Sky

Tennes: the Path of the Land

Thyr: the Path of Light