Ghosts Chapter

Ghosts
Book	Last Argument of Kings
POV	Logen Ninefingers
Location	Uffrith The North
Chronology
Preceded by	Honesty
Followed by	Bad Debts

“	Shivers: I spent a lot of years dreaming of killing you, Bloody-Nine. Logen: Well. You’ll never be alone with that dream.	”
	— Caul Shivers and Logen Ninefingers

Ghosts is the eighth chapter in Last Argument of Kings.

Chapter Summary

Logen trudges through the muddy streets of Uffrith. The town has not changed much since he was last here; where Bethod’s Carls once wandered the streets, now the Union do. Presenting his papers from the Closed Council to a Union officer, he is directed to a group of raw reinforcements heading to the front.

Travelling north, the reinforcements treat him with suspicion and fear. At night around a fire, arrows come from the trees, hitting one of them in the chest and another in the leg. Logen reacts immediately, snatching his sword and pelting in the direction of the arrow fire, where he cuts down the archer in the darkness.

Concentrating on the forest, he hears the rest of the ambush crew and tracks them through the darkness to their camp. He recognises the voice of the leader, Crow, having fought beside him at Carleon. He patiently waits for them to fall asleep, before creeping into their midst and killing them one by one in their sleep. Before his work is finished, Crow wakes and the pair face off against one another. Crow nearly pisses himself when he realizes who he’s facing. Returning to the Union encampment, the boys have dug in to protect against another ambush. Logen calls out so they won’t shoot and then strides into camp with a sack of thumbs as evidence that the enemies are dead.

Finally arriving at the front, Logen finds Colonel West directing traffic. Logen hands him his papers from Hoff, and West sends him on to join the three-hundred rebel Northmen already fighting for the Union. When Logen asks who their chief is, he smiles when West says the Dogman.

As he approaches the Northmen camp, the guards react in horror when they recognise him.¹ Striding towards his old friends, a huge man embraces him; Tul Duru. Tul shoves him into the ring of men at the top of the fire. Dogman rises slowly in shock and simply extends a hand, no words needed. Grim just grunts as though no time has passed between them, and Black Dow seems to welcome him with half-buried hostility. They take a moment to mourn the death of Threetrees and then Dogman offers Logen the chief’s position. However, Ninefingers declines; it’s Dogman’s turn. Further down the fire, Logen notices a lad staring at him. He asks Dogman who it is, and Dogman tells him it’s Shivers, Rattleneck’s son, and brother to the man Logen mutilated and murdered. Logen makes an effort to make it right with him but it's clear Shivers possesses a level of animosity for Logen that will not go away. Logen can’t blame him one bit.

Characters

Introduced	Appeared	Mentioned
Crow	Logen Ninefingers	Bethod
	Collem West	Lord Chamberlain Hoff
	The Dogman	Rudd Threetrees
	Tul Duru Thunderhead	Rattleneck
	Harding Grim
	Black Dow
	Caul Shivers

Locations and Terms

The North

Uffrith

The Union

Closed Council

Carleon

Northmen

References

1. This is the first time we see Logen in his element as the Bloody-Nine, and we see the fear and respect he engenders.

Chapters in The First Law
The Blade Itself Part 1	▪ Prologue: The End ▪ 1. The Survivors ▪ 2. Questions ▪ 3. No Choice at All ▪ 4. Playing With Knives ▪ 5. Teeth and Fingers ▪ 6. The Wide and Barren North ▪ 7. Fencing Practice ▪ 8. The Morning Ritual ▪ 9. First of the Magi ▪ 10. The Good Man ▪ 11. On the List ▪ 12. An Offer and a Gift ▪ 13. The King of the Northmen ▪ 14. A Road Between Two Dentists ▪ 15. Flatheads ▪ 16. The Course of True Love ▪ 15. How Dogs are Trained ▪ 16. Tea and Vengeance
The Blade Itself Part 2	▪ 17. What Freedom Looks Like ▪ 18. The King’s Justice ▪ 19. Means of Escape ▪ 20. Three Signs ▪ 21. The Theatrical Outfitter’s ▪ 22. Barbarians at the Gate ▪ 23. Next ▪ 24. Better than Death ▪ 25. Sore Thumb ▪ 26. Questions ▪ 27. Nobility ▪ 28. Dark Work ▪ 29. Words and Dust ▪ 30. The Remarkable Talents of Brother Longfoot ▪ 31. Her Kind Fight Everything ▪ 32. She Loves Me ... Not ▪ 33. The Seed ▪ 34. Never Bet Against a Magus ▪ 35. The Ideal Audience ▪ 36. The House of the Maker ▪ 37. Nobody’s Dog ▪ 38. Each Man Worships Himself ▪ 39. Old Friends ▪ 40. Back to the Mud ▪ 41. Misery ▪ 42. The Bloody-Nine ▪ 43. The Tools we Have
Before They Are Hanged Part 1	▪ 1. The Great Leveler ▪ 2. Best Laid Plans ▪ 3. Questions ▪ 4. The Wounds of the Past ▪ 5. The Condition of the Defences ▪ 6. The Thing About Trust ▪ 7. Allies ▪ 8. Campfire Politics ▪ 9. Small Crimes ▪ 10. Rain ▪ 11. Bloody Company ▪ 12. Long Shadows ▪ 13. And next… My Gold ▪ 14. Fear ▪ 15. One Hundred Words ▪ 16. The Blind Lead the Blind ▪ 17. Prince Ladisla’s Stratagem ▪ 18. Until Sunset ▪ 19. Long Odds ▪ 20. The Road to Victory ▪ 21. Necessary Evils ▪ 22. Among the Stones ▪ 23. The Fruits of Boldness ▪ 24. One for Dinner ▪ 25. One of Them
Before They Are Hanged Part 2	▪ 26. Heading North ▪ 27. Scant Mercy ▪ 28. So This is Pain ▪ 29. One Step at a Time ▪ 30. The Rest is Wasted Breath ▪ 31. A Matter of Time ▪ 32. Scars ▪ 33. Furious ▪ 34. To the Last Man ▪ 35. Jewel of Cities ▪ 36. Luck ▪ 37. Beneath the Ruins ▪ 38. No Good for Each Other ▪ 39. The Hero’s Welcome ▪ 40. Cold Comfort ▪ 41. The High Places ▪ 42. Coming Over ▪ 43. Cheap at the Price ▪ 44. To the Edge of the World ▪ 45. Before the Storm ▪ 46. Questions ▪ 47. Holding the Line ▪ 48. A Fitting Punishment ▪ 49. The Abode of Stones ▪ 50. Back to the Mud
Last Argument of Kings Part 1	▪ 1. The Poison Trade ▪ 2. Being Chief ▪ 3. This Noble Business ▪ 4. The New Man ▪ 5. Feeding Time ▪ 6. So Much In Common ▪ 7. Honesty ▪ 8. Ghosts ▪ 9. Bad Debts ▪ 10. A Ragged Multitude ▪ 11. Beloved Of The Moon ▪ 12. Flowers And Plaudits ▪ 13. Too Many Knives ▪ 14. Best Of Enemies ▪ 15. Fortunes Of War ▪ 16. The Kingmaker ▪ 17. The Trap ▪ 18. Horrible Old Men ▪ 19. Prepared For The Worst ▪ 20. The Habit Of Command ▪ 21. The First Day ▪ 22. Such Sweet Sorrow ▪ 23. Picked Up A Shadow ▪ 24. Questions ▪ 25. The Fourth Day ▪ 26. The Perfect Couple ▪ 27. The Seventh Day ▪ 28. Too Many Masters ▪ 29. Sweet Victory ▪ 30. Rude Awakenings
Last Argument of Kings Part 2	▪ 31. The Number Of The Dead ▪ 32. Leaves On The Water ▪ 33. Authority ▪ 34. The Circle ▪ 35. Greater Good ▪ 36. Skarling’s Chair ▪ 37. Leadership ▪ 38. A Rock And A Hard Place ▪ 39. Charity ▪ 40. Better Left Buried ▪ 41. Tomorrow’s Hero ▪ 42. Nightfall ▪ 43. Questions ▪ 44. The Day Of Judgement ▪ 45. Sacrifices ▪ 46. Open The Box ▪ 47. Dark Paths ▪ 48. Reckoning ▪ 49. After The Rains ▪ 50. Answers ▪ 51. The Wounded ▪ 52. Patriotic Duties ▪ 53. The First Law ▪ 54. Tea And Threats ▪ 55. Behind The Throne ▪ 56. Good Men, Evil Men ▪ 57. Not What You Wanted ▪ 58. Loose Ends ▪ 59. The Beginning
Best Served Cold	▪ 1. Benna Murcatto Saves a Life ▪ 2. PART I: TALINS ▪ 3. Talins Chapters 1 ▪ 4. Talins Chapters 2 ▪ 5. Talins Chapters 3 ▪ 6. PART II: WESTPORT ▪ 7. Westport Chapters 1 ▪ 8. Westport Chapters 2 ▪ 9. Westport Chapters 3 ▪ 10. Westport Chapters 4 ▪ 11. PART III: SIPANI ▪ 12. Sipani Chapters 1 ▪ 13. Sipani Chapters 2 ▪ 14. Sipani Chapters 3 ▪ 15. Sipani Chapters 4 ▪ 16. PART IV: VISSERINE ▪ 17. Visserine Chapters 1 ▪ 18. Visserine Chapters 2 ▪ 19. Visserine Chapters 3 ▪ 20. Visserine Chapters 4 ▪ 21. Visserine Chapters 5 ▪ 22. Visserine Chapters 6 ▪ 23. PART V: PURANTI ▪ 24. Puranti Chapters 1 ▪ 25. Puranti Chapters 2 ▪ 26. Puranti Chapters 3 ▪ 27. Puranti Chapters 4 ▪ 28. Puranti Chapters 5 ▪ 29. PART VI: OSPRIA ▪ 30. Ospria Chapters 1 ▪ 31. Ospria Chapters 2 ▪ 32. Ospria Chapters 3 ▪ 33. Ospria Chapters 4 ▪ 34. PART VII: TALINS ▪ 35. Talins Again Chapters 1 ▪ 36. Talins Again Chapters 2 ▪ 37. Talins Again Chapters 3 ▪ 38. Talins Again Chapters 4 ▪ 39. Talins Again Chapters 5