Return of the Crimson Guard

How it opens

On the Bael Subcontinent, Kyle, a new recruit of the Crimson Guard, follows Lieutenant Greymane and the mage Smoky through a tunnel into the Spur, the rock of the warlock Shen, which the Guard has besieged for more than a year. In the Imperial capital of Unta, Possum kills the mage Janelle in the crowd at a public execution, and Empress Laseen orders him to find out who is behind the troubles in the provinces. Ereko and the swordsman Traveller come down out of the mountains into a land of evergreen forest, where Traveller looks for good trees to build a boat. When Malazan soldiers raid the Sellath house, the fencing master Quinn hides Ghelel, a ward of the family, and fights his way out with her.

Who you meet early

• GreymaneGreymane, a lieutenant in the Crimson Guard, leads the raid into the Spur and drives a two-handed sword through the warlock Shen. Ogilvy says he is a renegade to both the Korelans and the Malazans, with a price on his head from each.
• StoopStoop, an old saboteur of the Crimson Guard, digs toward the Spur with a pick in his one hand. He is the man who swore Kyle into the company.
• SmokySmoky, a mage and one of the original Avowed of the Crimson Guard, climbs the Spur with Greymane and etches the spiral of Wind into Kyle's sword.
• StalkerStalker, a scout of the Ninth Blade whom the Guard bought out of a Nabrajan slave column, serves as rearguard with Kyle. He tells Kyle that some in the Crimson Guard have wandered the land a very long time and mean to keep their power.
• PossumPossum, a Claw, now walks beside Empress Laseen in Unta, and she sets him to find out who is behind the unrest in the provinces.
• ErekoEreko, one of the Thel Akai, walks south with Traveller after many seasons in chains on the Stormwall. He believes a goddess pointed Traveller out to him there as his deliverance.
• TravellerTraveller, a swordsman, journeys south with Ereko and tells him he means to build a boat and then wait. The Council of the Chosen has named the two of them deserters from the Wall.
• QuinnQuinn, fencing master to the Sellath family, hides Ghelel, a ward of the family, from the Malazan soldiers who raid the house and is badly wounded getting her away.