The Sorcery Enfilade at Pale

The Malazan assault on Moon's Spawn, launched after three years of besieging Pale.

"'Your group, myself and three other High Mages will strike Moon's Spawn within the hour. The North Campaign has drawn most of the inhabitants away. We believe that the Moon's lord is alone. For almost three years his mere presence has been enough to hold us in check. This morning, my colleagues, we will test this lord's mettle.'"

- Tayschrenn briefs the Malazan command (GotM, UK mmpb p.66)

"He's added something up all right. What's so particular about Nightchill, Bellurdan and A'Karonys? Why did Tayschrenn pick them and how did Hairlock know he'd pick them?"

- thoughts of Tattersail (GotM, UK mmpb p.73)

[compile from pages of those involved]

"She saw a wave sweep past Hairlock's defences, cutting him in half. His howl was more rage than pain..."

(GotM, UK mmpb p.76)

"Tattersail had fallen to her knees. Calot stood over her, chaining words of power over her, his face turned away from Moon's Spawn, fixed on something or someone down below on the plain. His eyes were wide with terror.

Too late Tattersail understood what was happening. Calot was defending her at his own expense. A final act, even as he watched his own death erupt around him. A blast of bright fire engulfed him. Abruptly the net of protection over Tattersail vanished."

- death of Calot (UK mmpb p.76)

"The worlds became a living nightmare, as sorcery flew done upward to batter Moon's Spawn, and sorcery rained downward, indiscriminate and devastating. Earth rose skyward in thundering columns. Rocks ripped through men like hot stones through snow. A downpour of ash descended to cover the living and dead alike. The sky dimmed to pallid rose, the sun a coppery disc behind the haze."

- thoughts of Tattersail (GotM, UK mmpb p.76)

"Calot had faced the plain not Moon's Spawn - he'd faced right! Hairlock had been struck from the plain!"

- Tattersail realises the Cadre has been betrayed (GotM, UK mmpb p.76)

"She watched as a Kenryll'ah demon arose beneath Nightchill. Laughing shrilly, the towering, gaunt creature tore Nightchill limb from limb. It had begun feeding by the time Bellurdan arrived. The Thelomen bellowed as the demon raked its knife-like talons against his chest. Ignoring the wounds around his head and the blood that sprayed from them, he closed his hands around the demon's head and crushed it.

A'Karonys unleashed gouts of flame from the staff in his hands until Moon's Spawn almost disappeared inside a ball of fire. Then ethereal wings of ice closed around the short, fat wizard, freezing him where he stood. An instant later he was crushed to dust."

- The deaths of Nightchill and A'Karonys. Note that Nightchill dies first. This makes it hard to believe Tayschrenn's claim in MoI that she killed A'Karonys. For more discussion of this (very contentious) event, see this FAQ. (GotM, UK mmpb p.77)

"Magic rained in an endless storm around Tayschrenn, where he still knelt on the withered blackened hilltop. But every wave directed his way he shunted aside, wreaking devastation among the soldiers cowering on the plain. Through  the carnage filling the air, through the ash and shrill-tongued raens, through the raining rocks and the screams of the wounded and dying, through the blood-chilling shrieks of demons flinging themselves into the ranks of soldiery - through it all sounded the steady thunder of the High Mage's onslaught.

- Tayschrenn shows what he is capable of. (GotM, UK mmpb p.77)

"She raised bleary eyes to see Moon's Spawn, billowing smoke and ablaze in a dozen places on its ravaged mien, moving away, pulling back. Then it was past the city, unsteady in its revolutions and leaning to one side. Moon's Spawn headed south, towards the distant Tahlyn Mountains.

- Tattersail observes Moon's Spawn, badly damaged by the Malazans, retreating from Pale (GotM, UK mmpb p.77)

"Pale had fallen. The price was Onearm's Host and four mages."

- thoughts of Tattersail (GotM, UK mmpb p.78)

"His [Hairlock's] face darkened then and the smile faded. Something burned in his eyes. 'Think back, woman! Calot and I. When we went down. What did you see? Did you feel something? Something odd? Come on, think! Look at me! See my wound, see how I'm lying! Which direction was  I facing when that wave hit?'

She saw the fire in his eyes, of anger mingled with triumph. 'I'm not sure,' she said slowly. 'Something, yes.' That detached, reasoning part of her mind that had laboured with her throughout the battle, that had screamed in her mind at Calot's death, screamed in answer to the waves of sorcery - to the fact that they had come from the plain. Her eyes narrowed on Hairlock. 'Anomander Rake never bothered to aim. He was being indiscriminate. Those waves of power were aimed, weren't they? Coming at us from the wrong side.' She was trembling. 'But why? Why would Tayschrenn do that?'"

(GotM, UK mmpb p.80)

"Hairlock had been sent down into the tunnels by Dujek. And Whiskeyjack and his squad had been down there. A deal had been struck."

- thoughts of Tattersail (GotM, UK mmpb p.81)

"'We all need answers, Sorceress. The High Mage killed your comrades. Look at us, we're all that's left of the Bridgeburners. Answers aren't easily ...attained. Will you pay the price?'"

- Kalam Mekhar to Tattersail. He believes Tayschrenn was responsible for the deaths of Calot and Hairlock. (GotM, UK mmpb p.82)

"'I've committed my sorcerers and warriors to Brood's north campaign.' He turned a humourless grin on Baruk. 'Within my city are children, priests and three elderly, exceedingly bookish warlocks.'

...

A dun tone had entered Rake's eyes. 'I cannot defend an entire Moon. I cannot be everywhere at once. And as for Tayschrenn, he didn't give a damn about the people around him. I thought to dissuade him, make the price too high…' He shook his head as if perplexed, then he looked to Baruk. 'To save the home of my people, I retreated.'

...

 'I dispatched the Claw when they were but a dozen steps inside the walls.' He paused again, his face betraying a flash of regret. 'Had the city's wizards remained, the assault would have been repelled. Tayschrenn, it seemed, was preoccupied with… other imperatives. He'd saturated his position-a hilltop-with defensive wards. Then he unleashed demons not against me but against some of his companions. That baffled me but, rather than allow such conjurings to wander at will, I expended vital power destroying them.' He sighed and said, 'I pulled the Moon back mere minutes from its destruction. I left it to drift south and went after those wizards.'"

- Anomander Rake's point of view of the event. (GotM, UK mmpb p.210-214)

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