[Toc_theyounger]

Found this nugget at the end of DL chapter 3

Quote

She was searching. Searching for a flavour. The faintest of brushstrokes. Something . . . inexplicable. And through the darkness there came rumbling about her the creaking and grating of titanic wheels, such as Errant had mentioned. Only now, reverberating among the Warrens and Holds, these vibrations were not the cogs of fate's machinations but the wheels of a gigantic wagon accompanied by the rattling of chains. And stricken by a chilling dread, she shuddered.
Wheels. Wheels groaning in the dark.

Sister of Cold Nights looks towards Li Heng, does her magical search thing, and comes up with...Anomander? Or just Dragnipur? Or the warren of Dragnipur? Anyone has any theories about what's going on?

This post has been edited by Toc_theyounger: 12 January 2017 - 08:14 AM

[Coltaine -]

As Anomander carries Dragnipur, and the Warren is in Dragnipur, I guess she found all three of them. We know that there will be at least one other confrontation between Moon's Spawn and the Malazan Empire before Pale. Maybe Rake is chilling near Li Heng somewhere? He could be in DL 3 (The third book).

This post has been edited by - Coltaine -: 12 January 2017 - 08:58 AM

[Aptorian]

I'm not near my kindle so I can't look up the passage, but I assume the rest of the passage or chapter puts the paragraph in context?

Rake and his Andii don't appear in the book but maybe Moon's Spawn was near Li Heng at that point. Maybe Nightchills powers just drifted very far. Maybe it's just a case of the warrens overlapping and wandering and Nightchill penetrated some layer and got a taste of Darkness. After all she is related to Darkness.

[Andorion]

I don't think its Rake. Its Draconus. K'rul, the Sister of Cold Nights and Draconus are linked by Kallor's curse. Nightchill is trying to pierce the secrecy of the Azath. K'rul warns her that she is the only one of the trio who remains free. And when she sets her mind to searching she hears Dragnipur. I think it is both warning and foreboding. What happened to Draconus, and what could happen to her.

Of course like all Malazan books, the passage could take on a totally different meaning once the trilogy is complete

[Gorefest]

I think the rest of the section has even more gems. Assuming that the 'cousins' that Nightchill and K'rul refer to are the Azath:

"And what about our cousins?" she asked.
[...]"None have ever succeeded in penetrating their secrets."
"Some may have", she murmured, her gaze deep in the flickering glow of the fading embers.
"Possibly. But they have not returned to us, have they? They have disappeared within. The Azath are like black pits that swallow all."

(Gothos? And/or Osserc? Other 'guardians'?)

And, from K'rul:

"That aside, is it not the case that only you, who yet remain free among us, could do so? Our brother [Draconus] lies imprisoned within the consequences of his own designs, while I remain enmeshed within mine [the blood sacrifice]."

Regarding the earlier quote, it is preceded by:

[...,] set her hands palm up on her knees, closed her eyes, and cast her awareness towards the city to the south [Li Heng]. She was searching. Searching for a flavour. The faintest of brush strokes. Something...inexplicable.


So that section can be read both ways. It can either mean that the Errant and K'rul's words reminded her of the fate of Draconus and the curse of Kallor that she is entangled in, making her 'stricken by a chilling dread'. Or she is indeed sensing something from the direction of Li Heng that reeks of Dragnipur.


There is also this other snippet in the conversation between Nightchill and Shalmanat:


"Will he come?" she asked.
Sister Night blinked. "Who?"
"The Son of Darkness." She gestured to the night sky. "I do not think I could bear to face him. Will his Keep blot out the sun above and blast us into rubble?"
[...]
She shook her head. "He does not guard the borders of Emurlahn." There is another who sees to that.
"Yet he will be angered by this breach."
"Will he? Who is to say? Times change. People...change."
[...]
Eventually, Sister Night cleared her throat, saying: "If it comes to it, I will - do what I can."

[Aptorian]

Man, reading those quotes I am reminded how much I enjoyed the writing in this book. Need more Pre-ascension stories!

[Andorion]

Gorefest, on 12 January 2017 - 11:32 AM, said:

I think the rest of the section has even more gems. Assuming that the 'cousins' that Nightchill and K'rul refer to are the Azath:

"And what about our cousins?" she asked.
[...]"None have ever succeeded in penetrating their secrets."
"Some may have", she murmured, her gaze deep in the flickering glow of the fading embers.
"Possibly. But they have not returned to us, have they? They have disappeared within. The Azath are like black pits that swallow all."

(Gothos? And/or Osserc? Other 'guardians'?)

And, from K'rul:

"That aside, is it not the case that only you, who yet remain free among us, could do so? Our brother [Draconus] lies imprisoned within the consequences of his own designs, while I remain enmeshed within mine [the blood sacrifice]."

Regarding the earlier quote, it is preceded by:

[...,] set her hands palm up on her knees, closed her eyes, and cast her awareness towards the city to the south [Li Heng]. She was searching. Searching for a flavour. The faintest of brush strokes. Something...inexplicable.


So that section can be read both ways. It can either mean that the Errant and K'rul's words reminded her of the fate of Draconus and the curse of Kallor that she is entangled in, making her 'stricken by a chilling dread'. Or she is indeed sensing something from the direction of Li Heng that reeks of Dragnipur.

There is also this other snippet in the conversation between Nightchill and Shalmanat:

"Will he come?" she asked.
Sister Night blinked. "Who?"
"The Son of Darkness." She gestured to the night sky. "I do not think I could bear to face him. Will his Keep blot out the sun above and blast us into rubble?"
[...]
She shook her head. "He does not guard the borders of Emurlahn." There is another who sees to that.
"Yet he will be angered by this breach."
"Will he? Who is to say? Times change. People...change."
[...]
Eventually, Sister Night cleared her throat, saying: "If it comes to it, I will - do what I can."

Definite foreshadowing of Rake getting involved later, but I don't think he was in Li Heng at anytime.

The guardian of Emurlahn is of course Edgewalker

As for the cousins, I think that this will make more sense post Walk in Shadow. I think there was a schism within the Azathenai with some becoming Elder Gods - Draconus, Nightchill, Errant, K'rul, Mael and some deciding to devote attention to the Azath and solve their mystery. Note that in FoL there are multiple references to the Builders of the Azath houses and their mystery.

I think this is where Grizzin Farl might have gone

Also, I don't think its Osserc. At no point did Osserc have the power or knowledge of the Azathenai. He was basically an eternal second fiddle to Rake. That is when he was not head butting things and getting trapped in swords

[Gorefest]

I think grizzin farl is buzzing around in the Glass Desert.

[Abyss]

SisCold does have a kin link of sorts to Draconus. She could have been feeling an echo of his imprisonment.

[Gorefest]

Absolutely, it is very possible that she just was in tune to it because of the discussions that she just had. It's just the way that it is described by ICE, with her specifically questing in the direction of Li Heng when she feels it, that introduces the ambiguity. Then again, ICE does have a habit of (intentionally or not) infuse a large dose of ambiguity into his writing when there really is no need or call for it (Spinnock/Rake springs to mind, or people with 3-4 different names/aliases).

This post has been edited by Gorefest: 13 January 2017 - 12:46 PM