The Emperor is dead!
So too his right hand – now cold, now severed!
But mark these dying shadows,
twinned and flowing bloody and beaten,
down and away from mortal sight…
From sceptre’s rule dismissed,
from gild candelabra the light now fled,
from a hearth ringed in hard jewels,
seven years this warmth has bled…

– Call to Shadow, Felisin, Epigraph Pt I, Prologue GotM

Not all posts about Malazan are going to be like this! Honest!! But poetry is one of the greatest things about literature and I absolutely adore it! Well, most of it! So, the fact that this book is rife with it is just amazeballs! I’m writing this as I read the chapters, so I’ll miss some references (but will more than likely come back to anything I do miss later.) This epigraph, in its entirety is full of foreshadowing. It also gives us a little bit of insight into what’s happened so far. I thought, on first read (because I read it and continued to the prologue) that perhaps it should have been placed at the end rather than the beginning, but I’ve since changed my mind.

Anyway, I digress. The first part of this epigraph tells us that the Emperor is dead! Well, that’s a bit of a bugger for any Empire I would say, and it doesn’t help that his right-hand man has kicked the bucket along with him. It’s an exclamation, which denotes surprise – shock at the announcement. The reference to cold implies a passage of time, and this is confirmed in the next part. Seven years, in fact have passed. And someone, or maybe a couple of someone’s, are not at all happy with that fact. That the dying shadows are twinned, bloody and beaten, shows that there must have been some sort of fight, and they (the shadows) were hurt badly and retreated, but did not forget once the Emperor was gone (sceptre’s rule dismissed.) Whoever the shadows are, the past seven years have been soaked in the blood that was shed (this warmth has bled.) I love the imagery here – you get the majesty with the mention of the hearth ringed in jewels, the light from the candelabra fleeing with the death – it gives the impression that this Emperor was rich beyond measure but was also seen as a ‘light’ in the Empire.

The Emperor is dead.
So too his master’d companion, the rope cut clean.
But mark this burgeoning return –
faltering dark, the tattered shroud –
embracing children in the Empire’s dying light.
Hear now the dirge faint reprised,
before the sun’s fall, this day spills red
on buckled earth, and in obsidian eyes
vengeance chimes seven times…

– Call to Shadow, Felisin, Epigraph Pt II, Prologue GotM

Urgh! Be still my beating heart!!! Honestly, how intense is this!!! And how beautiful is the imagery? The tattered shroud, the burgeoning return – burgeoning, by the way, means intensifying, growing or increasing rapidly – it’s a return that is speeding up, getting closer, day by day. The dark, the shroud (covering, enveloping) embracing the children in the dying light (which implies that the current Empire is in disarray.) It’s so disconcerting, this language, it makes you think “huh, where did this come from” and then, we get the kicker… Those mourning the death of the Emperor are returning, subtle and quiet, but still, returning, and with them comes the promise. Before sunset on the day they’re talking about, blood will be shed, and it will cover the earth at the location of whatever battle they are referring to – in vengeance – the vengeance of obsidian eyes. Obsidian is a volcanic rock that forms from cooled down lava, usually with sharp points because it’s brittle and fractures. Additionally, obsidian is very old, and is a deep, dark black colour more often than not. This is used as a metaphor for the intensity of those who hold to vengeance, but I also think that it has another link in the novel. What that is, I don’t know yet, but I’m fairly sure it’s important – perhaps regarding those who are taking the vengeance. The idea of vengeance chiming seven times is intriguing and leads to lots of possibilities. Perhaps there are seven sets of plots that are particularly tuned to vengeance against the current Empire, or there are seven instances of importance that will ultimately affect the current Empire, or maybe seven people? I am yet to find out, but I’m excited to see how it plays out.

One thing is for certain. I am only two poems/epigraphs and one prologue (which was 6 pages) into this book, and I’m already hooked. Mr. Erikson has most definitely done his job and done it well.