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 …
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.'
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.
Deep within her, the child stirred.
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 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
