Tulas Shorn meets ST and Cots and a delicious exchange of words ensue.
Chapter 18, p. 658, TtH.
Quote
"Why?" Cotillion demanded, leaning forward in sudden interest.
But the Tiste Edur simply shook its head.
The two bone-white Hounds looked barely restrained, moments from exploding into a deadly charge. The hate was avid in their eyes.
"Why?" Cotillion asked again.
"The implacability of forces - we think to tame, but the wilderness remains. Control is a delusion in the mind of the self-proclaimed masters."
And that last word dripped with contempt. "The leash, you fools, is frayed - don't you understand anything at all?"
"Perhaps-"
Tulas Shorn lifted both hands again, but this time in a warding gesture. "We thought the same, once. We'd decieved ourselves into thinking we were the masters, that every force bowed to our command. And what happened? They destroyed everything!
"I don't-"
"Understand? I see that! They are conjurations - manifestations - they exist to warn you. They are the proof that all that you think to enslave will turn on you." And it backed away. "The end begins again, it begins again."
Cotillion stepped forward. "Light, Dark and Shadow- these three - are you saying -"
"Three?" Tulas Shorn laughed with savage bitterness "What then of Life? Fire and Stone and Wind? What, you fools, of the Hounds of Death? Manifestations, I said. They will turn - they are telling you that! That is why they exist! The fangs, the fury - all that is implacable in nature- each aspect but a variation, a hue in the maelstrom of destruction!
I also remember some mention of a "master" later in the book, but I can't find it.
So...
What's this all about? I can't seem to get my mind around it. If the hounds of light weren't supposed to be there? Where were they supposed to be?
Are the Hounds manifestations of the elements... or maybe the warrens? The way Shorn puts it, it sounds like the Hounds of Light appearing is caused by something that's happening on Wu. Are the Hounds of light showing up because the Deragoth reappeared?
EDIT: Also, is it just me or has the name "Shorn" shown up before somewhere in the books? Maybe an Edur?
Or could it be that "Shorn" just indicates that Tulas, like Trull, has been shorn from the Edur society?