No Life Forsaken

Among the ashes of a failed rebellion in Seven Cities, new embers are flaring to life... There are furrowed brows at the beleaguered Malazan Legion headquarters in G'danisban for it would appear that yet another bloody clash with the newly resurgent cult of the Apocalyptic is coming to a head. Fist Arenfall is eager to crush the uprising before it … Among the ashes of a failed rebellion in Seven Cities, new embers are flaring to life... There are furrowed brows at the beleaguered Malazan Legion headquarters in G'danisban for it would appear that yet another bloody clash with the newly resurgent cult of the Apocalyptic is coming to a head. Fist Arenfall is eager to crush the uprising before it can ignite the entire subcontinent, but he has only a few dozen squads of marines at his disposal, and many of those have already been dispersed in a desperate bid to stamp out multiple brush-fires of dissent. Plus his soldiers are exhausted, worn down by the relentless grind of containing a simmering insurrection. So the last thing the Fist needs is the arrival - fresh from the capital and the Emperor's side - of a new Adjunct. Now the man's mission could well be to lend support to Arenfall's efforts... or it may be to stick a knife in his back. 'Twas ever thus, of course. That a good and popular commander should inevitably be perceived as a threat to the Emperor - such is the generally fatal nature of imperial Malazan politics. And what of the gods? Well, as recent history has proved, their solution to any mortal mess is to make it even messier. In other words, it's just another tumultuous day in the chequered history of the Malazan Empire.