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We need to tell him that you should draw me more often. “Your first training has already been completed,” Ki said. “You traveled with the Skybreakers and joined them in one of their missions. You have been evaluated and deemed worthy of the First Ideal. Speak it. You know the Words.” Vasher always drew me, the sword sa... |
another of the Skybreaker masters said. “This is not an oath you will swear, so don’t fixate upon it. The first three will do for most Skybreakers. I was of the Third Ideal for two decades before achieving the Fourth.” When nobody else asked further questions, experienced Skybreakers began Lashing the hopefuls into the... |
Shouldn’t he be sharpening his spear, or … or oiling something? Well, in his experience, soldiers spent little time doing soldier things. They instead spent ages walking places, waiting around, or—in his case—getting yelled at for walking around or waiting in the wrong places. He sighed as he worked, using smooth even ... |
they want to kill you even though they’ve never met you. And you hesitate, thinking it can’t possibly be true. You can’t possibly be here, preparing to fight, to bleed. Everyone feels that fear.” “I wasn’t afraid of getting hurt,” Kal said softly. “You won’t get far if you can’t admit to a little fear. Emotion is good.... |
shifted, flowing in his direction. When it didn’t sense anything in him that it wanted, it continued along the bank. Syl didn’t make any noise as she approached, but he caught sight of her shadow coming up from behind—like other shadows here, it pointed toward the sun. She sat down on the lump of glass next to him, the... |
food somehow.” “Kaladin…” “Are there trees on this side? This obsidian might make a good spearhead.” She lifted her head from his arm and looked at him with wide, worried eyes. “I’m fine, Syl,” he said. “I just lost my focus.” “You were basically catatonic.” “I won’t let it happen again.” “I’m not complaining.” She wra... |
this man know to send for us?” Szeth asked. “We have been expanding our influence, following the advent of the new storm,” she replied. “The local monarchs have accepted us as a unifying martial force, and have given us legal authority. The city’s high minister wrote to us via spanreed, pleading for help.” “And these c... |
been cautioned about drawing. The Purelake seemed to extend forever, wide as an ocean. Szeth’s steps startled schools of fish, which would follow behind him for a bit, occasionally nipping at his boots. Gnarled trees poked from the shallows, gorging themselves on the water while their roots grasped the many holes and f... |
passed his knife from one hand to the other, wary. Then he rushed Szeth again. Szeth caught the man by the wrist once more and spun him around, the water splashing. Predictably, the man dropped his knife, which Szeth plucked from the water. He dodged the man’s grapple, and in a moment had one arm around the convict’s n... |
“Wait. Yes. Who do you want me to name? I’ll do whatever you say. Please.” Szeth considered. Not working with the guards then, or the minister of the town. “How did you get out?” “Oh, Nu Ralik…” the man said, crying. “We shouldn’t have killed the guard. I just wanted … wanted to see the sun again.…” Szeth dropped the m... |
went to those in power while others were starved. “You,” Szeth said to the nobleman. “I found only one body above. Did you really have a single guard posted to watch all these prisoners?” The nobleman sneered at him. “A Shin stonewalker? Who are you to question me? Go back to your stupid grass and dead trees, little ma... |
captured.” “Wise,” Szeth said. “Could I … beg something to drink? I suddenly find myself very thirsty.” * * * By the time all the escapees had been accounted for, the sword was stirring again. It had never fallen asleep, if a sword could do such a thing. Rather, it had mumbled in his mind until it slowly became lucid. ... |
him thought. Dalinar is a true soldier. Adolin thought again of the jolt he’d felt when ramming his dagger through Sadeas’s eye and into his brain. Satisfaction and shame. Strip away Adolin’s nobility, and what was left? A duelist when a world needed generals? A hothead who couldn’t even take an insult? A murderer? He ... |
He wasn’t as practiced, and cursed under his breath as he got a sequence wrong—but he’d obviously done it before too. He must have learned it from Zahel, Adolin realized. The three moved together, their breathing controlled, scraping boots on the glass. The sea of beads rolling against itself began to sound soothing. E... |
as she walked, her hair swaying. “Bad,” Pattern said. “The spren of the Oathgate are bad now.” “Do we have any other options?” Kaladin said. “I remember … some,” Syl said. “Much more than I used to. Our land, every land, is three realms. The highest is the Spiritual, where gods live—there, all things, times, and spaces... |
last crossed this place, I hired a ship to convey me.” “A ship?” Kaladin said. “Sailed by whom?” “Spren. I hired it at one of their cities.” “Cities?” Kaladin looked toward Syl. “You have cities?” “Where did you think we lived?” Syl said, amused. “Lightspren are usually guides,” Azure continued. “They like to travel, t... |
trip home. It had given Dalinar access, again, to the necessities of life. Like wine. He barely heard the rap on his door as he flung coats out of the wardrobe. When he looked over, he saw two youths standing there. His sons. Angerspren boiled around him. Her hair. Her judgmental eyes. How many lies about him had she s... |
another screech sounded behind them. “Humans, you must stop your emotions. They are very inconvenient here.” The group hiked southward, along the narrow line of land that overlaid the river in the real world. Shallan was the slowest of them, and had difficulty keeping up, so they’d agreed she should hold a little Storm... |
peninsula of obsidian running through the bead ocean. “When I traveled here last time,” Azure said, “we passed numbers of peninsulas like this one. They always had lighthouses at the ends. We stopped at them sometimes for supplies.” “Yes…” Syl said, nodding. “I remember those. It’s useful for ships to note where land j... |
stomach. It reminded him that he was alive. Gave him something to think about, other than the men he’d lost … “Where did you live?” he asked Syl, still carrying his pack, hiking along the seemingly infinite peninsula. “When you were young, on this side?” “It was far to the west,” she said. “A grand city, ruled by honor... |
Dalinar had tried to bring a stool, but she’d insisted that he do better. This wasn’t a battlefield strategy tent, and forced austerity wouldn’t impress the monarchs. He’d eventually selected a sturdy wooden chair of thick stumpweight, with wide armrests but no padding. He’d quietly spent the trip up watching floors pa... |
done a wonderful job making his regal costume fit; it would have been easy for the youth to look like a child swimming in those stately robes and that headdress. He carried a very ornate throne, covered in loud Azish patterns, and each of his closest advisors helped by holding it with one hand. The large contingent set... |
curiously, Navani realized she still thought of the woman as his Surgebinder. The only other person of note was Au-nak, the Natan ambassador. He represented a dead kingdom that had been reduced to a single city-state on the eastern coast of Roshar with a few other cities as protectorates. For a moment, it all seemed to... |
to moderate fairly, Your Majesties, but do realize that I am only one person. I depend upon you all to facilitate the discussion, rather than trying to talk over one another.” She nodded at the Azish Prime, hoping he’d take the floor. A translator whispered her words into the Prime’s left ear; then Noura the vizier lea... |
we’ve discovered here in Urithiru, the more I’ve come to realize that our image of the ancients having fantastic technology was deeply flawed. An exaggeration at best, perhaps a fancy.” “But Shards…” Fen said. “Manifestations of spren,” Jasnah explained. “Not fabrial technology. Even the gemstones we discovered, contai... |
a coalition to conquer the world, not just protect it. “The Shin mountains present a historical problem,” said the Tashikki ambassador. “Attacking across or through them is basically impossible.” “We have the Oathgates now,” Fen said. “Not to bring up that particular problem again, but has anyone investigated whether t... |
that yes indeed, they’d be willing. “Now, wait,” Fen interjected. “Are you talking of laws? That we all have to follow?” Au-nak nodded eagerly in agreement. “More and less than laws,” Navani said. “We need codes to guide our interactions—as proven by today. We must have procedures on how we hold meetings, how to give e... |
Kholinar has fallen completely; the Oathgate is lost to us. We’ve locked it on our side, so that it cannot be used to reach Urithiru.” “I’m sorry,” Fen said. “My daughter is correct,” Navani said, trying to project strength while admitting that they had become a nation of refugees. “We should apply our efforts first to... |
stood up. He did that whenever he felt he was growing too relaxed. It was as if he was looking for danger to face. She stood up beside him. “We need to get you out of the tower,” she decided. “To get a new perspective. Visit someplace new.” “That,” Dalinar said, voice hoarse, “would be good.” “Taravangian was speaking ... |
they wouldn’t even use on a beast, for fear of ruining the sport. Her tibia jutted through her skin. “Oh, Stormfather,” Kaladin whispered as painspren writhed around them. “Stormfather!” He tried to stanch the blood, but it spurted between his fingers. “Stormfather, no. Stormfather!” “Kaladin,” she said through clenche... |
them. “Shoo.” Deceptively solid, they refused to budge, so he tried calming himself, hoping it would banish them. Finally, he just continued forward, his three bothersome attendants hopping behind. That sorely undermined the stealth of his approach, making him more nervous—which in turn made the anticipationspren even ... |
far these last few days. He glanced at her sketchpad. “More … what did you call it? Abstractionalism?” She snapped the sketchpad closed. “What is taking that bridgeman so long?” She glanced over her shoulder, which interrupted Adolin. “Don’t stop,” she added, “or I will murder you.” He chuckled and continued working at... |
said they didn’t need to worry about those in Shadesmar. “Wait,” Kaladin said, stepping after the little man—who had entered a room built up against the base of the lighthouse. It had large windows, but its main feature was a small table at the center. That held something lumpish covered by a black cloth. Kaladin found... |
“don’t touch that. It’s only for properly trained fo—” Kaladin rested his hand on the sphere. And felt himself get carried away by the storm. * * * Shallan and the others dodged for cover, but too slowly. The strange spren flitted right under their small canopy. Overhead, the clouds started to ripple with a vibrant set... |
in the main room of the lighthouse, in the chair Riino—the Shin lighthouse keeper—had occupied earlier. Shallan and Adolin negotiated with him on the other side of the room, Pattern looming over Shallan’s shoulder and making the fortuneteller nervous. Riino had food and supplies for trade, though it would cost them inf... |
lost him to the despair.” He shook his head, and Shallan rested her hand on his arm. “It’s … not a pleasant event to think about. Sadeas burned the city to the ground in retribution. My father gets a strange, distant expression whenever someone mentions Rathalas. I think he blames himself for not stopping Sadeas, even ... |
from the front by an elaborate rigging attached to a group of incredible spren. Long and sinuous, they had triangular heads and floated on multiple sets of rippling wings. Storms … they pulled the ship like chulls. Flying, majestic chulls with undulating bodies. He’d never seen anything like it. Adolin grunted from whe... |
at one of the other squires, hitting her square in the shoulder, and the resulting dust colored her shirt in that spot. Notably, the master had said that only color on the uniform would be counted, so holding the pouches and dusting one’s own fingers was fine. Similarly, hitting each other in the face gained no advanta... |
not be a life that anyone would ever envy. You think like Vasher, the sword said in his head. Do you know Vasher? He teaches swords to people now, which is funny because VaraTreledees always says Vasher isn’t any good with the sword. Szeth rededicated himself to the fight, not for joy but for practicality. Unfortunatel... |
Ty. It wouldn’t count as a mark, but the dust got in Ty’s eyes, causing him to blink and slow. The group expended most of their pouches, which let Szeth—Lashed now directly toward them—get close. And nobody should ever let him get too close. He dropped his staff and grabbed a squire by her shirt, using her as a shield ... |
floating nearby, shaped as small slits in the air? They separated the sky, like wounds in skin, exposing a black field full of stars. When they moved, the substance of reality bent around them. Szeth bowed his head. He no longer ascribed to spren any particular religious significance, but he could still be in awe of th... |
man had a hundred different names and was revered across all Roshar. The Illuminator. The Judge. A founder of humankind, defender against the Desolations, a man ascended to divinity. The Herald of Justice had returned. “Before you swear, Szeth-son-Neturo,” Nin said, “there are things you need to understand.” He looked ... |
shorter than the Alethi, but sturdy. He wore the same tan clothing as the others, sporting a multitude of buttoned pockets. “Come with me,” Ico told Kaladin, then crossed the deck without waiting for a response. They didn’t speak much, these Reachers. Kaladin sighed, then followed the captain back to the stairwell. A l... |
They maneuvered it out of the hold and up onto the top deck. Here, the captain knelt and opened the box, which revealed a strange device that looked a little like a coatrack—although only about three feet tall. Made entirely of steel, it had dozens of small metal prongs extending from it, like the branches of a tree—on... |
one of the flying spren.” “Smart.” “Insufferable.” “Why on Roshar would you look at one of those things and think, ‘You know what, I need to get on its back’?” Syl looked at him as if he were crazy. “Because they can fly.” “So can you. Actually, so can I.” “You don’t fly, you fall the wrong way.” She unfolded her arms ... |
it toward Shallan. The pitching of the ship almost made him dump the cup overboard. Shallan glanced up as he eased down beside her, his back resting against the deck’s railing. He handed her the cup. “It makes water,” he said, thumbing at the device. “By getting cold.” “Condensation? How fast does it go? Navani would b... |
Thanks for the water.” “Yes, I had to walk all the way from over there. At least seven steps.” “Easily ten,” Shallan said. “And on this precarious deck. Very dangerous.” “Practically as bad as fighting the Fused.” “Could have stubbed your toe. Or gotten a splinter. Or pitched over the side and been lost to the depths, ... |
in Kholinar. But how to activate it…” “I want to try. Dalinar is in danger. We need to get to him, Shallan. In Thaylen City.” She glanced at Azure, who maintained that was the wrong direction to go. “Kaladin … I don’t know if we can trust what you saw. It’s dangerous to presume you know the future—” “I didn’t see the f... |
being unable to function.” “That’s what I tell myself.” She shook her head. “Jasnah said that power is an illusion of perception. Act like you have authority, and you often will. But pretending fragments me. I’m too good at pretending.” “Well, whatever you’re doing, it’s obviously working. If I could smother these emot... |
First Step 108. Honor’s Path 109. Neshua Kadal 110. A Million Stars 111. Eila Stele 112. For the Living 113. The Thing Men Do Best Interludes I-12. Rhythm of Withdrawal I-13. Rysn I-14. Teft Part Five: New Unity 114. The Cost 115. The Wrong Passion 116. Alone 117. Champion with Nine Shadows 118. The Weight of It All 11... |
publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy. For Alan Layton Who was cheering for Dalinar (And me) Before Stormlight even existed. “All great art is hated,” Wit said. He shuffled in line—along with a couple hundred other people—one dreary step. “It is obscenely difficult—if not impossible—to make something that nobody hat... |
you appreciate my performance art, accomplished by cutting in front of you.” Wit flicked the tooth aside and stood up, starting to dust off his clothing. He then stopped himself. After all, he’d worked hard to place that dust. He shoved hands in the pockets of his ragged brown coat, then slouched his way through an all... |
“I understand,” Wit said. He took the rags and cord he’d worked with earlier, forming them into the shape of a little doll. “The answer to the question has been bothering me for some time.” The little face poked out again, looking at the doll. “The question?” “I asked it earlier,” Wit said. “You couldn’t hear. Do you k... |
decided not to take that as an insult, as it was what he wanted. He needed to be soup so bland, it was water. What a conundrum. In this case, his art was best when ignored. Perhaps he would need to revise his philosophy. He passed the sentry post, and wondered if anyone else thought it irregular that the Fused spent so... |
wood blown eastward by the strange storm, and piled them in his little cart. He pulled it with two hands, leaving Sakin to weep for her husband. Up to three now, she was, all lost at sea. Truly tragic. Still, he was excited for the storm. He pulled his cart past other broken homes here, where they should have been shel... |
tall lighthouse. He’d seen paintings of the sleek, fashionable ones down along Longbrow’s Straits. Lighthouses for rich folks who sailed ships that didn’t catch fish. Defiance was only two stories tall, and built squat like a bunker. But she had good stonework, and a buffer of crem on the outside kept her from leaking.... |
several of his officers grinned, while others groaned. A scribe had tapped off the time, and gave an accounting of the seconds the escape had taken. The general accepted the applause of several men, then thumped another—a loser in the betting—on his back. Sheler almost seemed forgotten for a moment. Finally, the genera... |
you not lasting a full minute. Still, who knows. When the general was chained down here, he got out in less.” The ocean started to churn. “Of course,” the soldier said, “the general likes this kind of thing. He’s a little weird.” The soldier dashed back up the bank, leaving Sheler locked in place, doused in pungent oil... |
Pleading. More insistent. The Rhythm of the Lost, of Remembrance, and then Pleading. “I’m the wrong one,” Venli said to Annoyance. “I can’t do this, Timbre. I can’t resist him.” Pleading. “I made this happen,” she said to Fury. “Don’t you realize that? I’m the one who caused all this. Don’t plead to me!” The spren shra... |
Fused inform me of it. This will change or you will be destroyed. “Y-yes … Lord.” Speaking burned away her tongue. She could no longer see; the fire had claimed her eyes. Pain. Agony. But she couldn’t bend to it, for the god before her demanded all of her attention. The pain of her body being consumed was nothing compa... |
away. Venli moved toward her cave, but then hesitated. A Fused sat on the rocks just above the opening. “Ancient One?” she asked. He grinned at her and giggled. Another one of those. She started into the cave, but he dropped and seized her under the arms, then carried her into the sky. Venli prevented herself—with diff... |
Her apprenticeship finished, she was a free woman. No longer a student. Now a master. Of boredom. She sat in her chair, doodling at the edges of a Liaforan word puzzle. Rysn could balance while sitting, though she couldn’t feel her legs and embarrassingly couldn’t control certain bodily functions. She had to rely upon ... |
and red robes, his Thaylen eyebrows tucked behind his ears. Spry for a man past his seventieth year, Vstim had a wise but unyielding way about him. Inoffensively calculating. He carried a small box under his arm. Rysn gasped in delight; once, she would have leaped to her feet to embrace him. Now she could only sit ther... |
to lock yourself away, Rysn.” “This is a good job. You yourself got it for me.” “Because you refused to go on further trading expeditions!” “What good would I be? One must trade from a position of power, something I can never do again. Besides, an exotic goods merchant who can’t walk? You know how much hiking is requir... |
this. I’ve always wanted to see the queen’s vault in person.” Rysn wiped her tears, trying to recover some of her decorum. “Well, let’s be to it then. I assure you, everything is in order.” * * * The Sphere Vault’s thick steel door required three numbers to open, each rolled into a different dial, in three separate roo... |
allowed in the vault for practical reasons—flitted by in a buzz of wings. How had she gotten in? Tlik chuckled, but Rysn only sighed. The main vault chamber was filled with metal racks, like bookcases, containing display boxes of gemstones. It smelled stale. Of a place that never changed, and was never intended to chan... |
touched it with one finger. The light shone with such brilliance that the room seemed almost to be in daylight, though shaded bloodred by the gemstone’s color. “Amazing,” Vstim whispered. “As far as scholars can tell,” Rysn said, “the King’s Drop never loses its Stormlight. A stone this large should have run out after ... |
containing the enormous ruby. Nearby, the thief stabbed one of the guards. Rysn winced at the awful sight of their struggle, lit by the ruby, then crawled forward—dragging her legs—and snatched the gemstone. Chiri-Chiri clicked at her in annoyance as Rysn dragged the ruby with her around the corner. Another guard screa... |
guard, his clothing ripped, a sword dripping blood in his shadowed hand. Rysn lowered the crossbow. What did it matter? Did she think she could fight? That man could just heal anyway. She was alone. Helpless. Live or die. Did she care? I … Yes. Yes, I care! I want to sail my own ship! A sudden blur darted out of the da... |
Urithiru. They were a subdued group. Few grasped the meaning of what they’d learned, but they all sensed that something had changed. Made perfect sense to Teft. It couldn’t be easy, now, could it. Not in his storming life. A winding path through corridors and a stairwell led them back toward their barracks. As they wal... |
into the hallway outside. The Jokasha Monastery was ordinarily a very quiet place. Nestled in the forests on the western slopes of the Horneater Peaks, the monastery felt only rain at the passing of a highstorm. Furious rain, yes, but none of the terrible violence known in most parts of the world. Ellista reminded hers... |
No bickering. No politicking. She hadn’t found that to be true—but generally people left her alone. And so she was lucky to be here. She told herself that again as she entered the lower building. It was basically a zoo. Dozens of people gathering information from spanreeds, talking to one another, buzzing with talk of ... |
in a loom to construct a grand tapestry of desire. “Wait!” Wema cried. “Dear Sterling, wait upon my words.” “Storms right you’d better wait, Sterling.” Ellista leaned closer to the book, flipping the page. Decorum seemed a vain thing to her now, lost upon the sea that was her need to feel Sterling’s touch. She rushed t... |
across hundreds of years and dozens of nations. It makes more sense that there was a codified written language, the language of scholarship, just like you’ll find many undertexts written in Alethi now.” “Ah…” he said. “And then a Desolation hit.…” Ellista nodded, showing him a later page in her sheaf of notes. “This in... |
to climb down the wall of stone, followed by Demid, her once-mate, and a group of her loyal friends. In her mind she attuned the Rhythm of Command—a similar, yet more powerful version of the Rhythm of Appreciation. Every one of her people could hear the rhythms—beats with some tones attached—yet she no longer heard the... |
to Venli; now was a late time to be having a bout of conscience. She resumed humming to Craving. Demid smiled and gripped her shoulder again. They’d shared something once, during their days in mateform. Those silly, distracting passions were not ones they currently felt, nor were they something that any sane listener w... |
instead; it was their way. Venli stared into Eshonai’s dead eyes. You were the voice of reason, Venli thought. You were the one who argued with me. You … you were supposed to keep me grounded. What do I do without you? “Well, let’s get that Plate off, kids,” Ulim said. “Show respect!” Venli snapped. “Respect for what? ... |
the Rhythm of the Lost. Mournful, slow, with separated beats. “I…” Venli said. “Finally, I don’t have to listen to you call me a fool. I don’t have to worry about you getting in the way. I can do what I want.” That terrified her. She turned to go, but paused as she saw something. What was that small spren that had crep... |
my secret weapon. You drown yourself when you’re not in my pay, understand?” She nodded limply. And then realized, with a shock, she’d been able to hear him easily. The storm … Was gone? Vazrmeb stood up straight, grinning broadly, his white eyebrows combed back into his long mane of dripping hair. All across the deck,... |
then, it dribbled out. The process was slow. She had a few years left until the Soulcasting killed her. Droz seemed intent on pretending nothing was wrong. “I can’t believe we got through that storm. You think it hunts ships, like the stories say?” He was Liaforan like herself, with deep brown skin and dark brown eyes.... |
out here.” “I’m not a thing,” she said absently, “to be used. I am a person. Those spikes of stone … they were Soulcast there.” The enormous stone spearheads were too even in a ring about the island. Judging by the currents ahead, some lurked beneath the waters as well, to rip up the hulls of approaching vessels. “Can ... |
attracted by her request for aid. The stone did not wish to change. It was content with its long slumber in the ocean. But … yes, yes, it remembered. It had once been air, until someone had locked it into this shape. She could not make it air again; her Soulcaster had only one mode, not the full three. She did not know... |
death by the device she loved, she would find it here. Her stomach began acting up again as they rowed. Kaza endured it, though she felt as if she were slipping into the other world. That wasn’t an ocean beneath her, but deep black glass. And two suns in the sky, one that drew her soul toward it. Her shadow, to stretch... |
“you poisoned us.” “After many warnings not to come to this place,” the cook said. “It is rare I must guard it so … aggressively. Men must not again discover this place.” “The gemstones?” Kaza asked, growing more drowsy. “Or … is it something else … something … more…” “I cannot speak,” the cook said, “even to sate a dy... |
would be the Radiants most likely to accept their cause, and at that Taravangian felt proud, for actually locating one of their number who could bond a spren had not, by any means, been an assured accomplishment. “He’s smart,” Dukar said to Mrall. The bodyguard was the final adjudicator of Taravangian’s daily capacity—... |
the sight of that writing enforced humility; he leafed through pages packed with tiny scrawls, copied—spots, scratches, and all—from the original Diagram room, created during what felt like a different lifetime, as alien to him now as was the drooling idiot he sometimes became. More alien. Everyone understood stupidity... |
the fact that she drowned herself in the sea.” “So it was an insult?” Mrall asked. “Using an obscure literary reference. Yes.” He could almost hear Adrotagia’s sigh. Best to interrupt her before she thought on this further. Taravangian flung open the door. “Gum paste for sticking paper to this wall. Fetch it for me, Ad... |
Diagram. Her eyes widened as she turned about. “Are you…” “No,” he said. “I haven’t become him again. But I am me, for the first time in weeks.” “This isn’t you. This is the monster you sometimes become.” “I am not smart enough to be in the dangerous zone.” The zone where, annoyingly, they claimed he was too smart to b... |
What should I do? Please. Show me the way. He scribbled words on a page. Light. Intelligence. Meaning. He hung them on the wall to inspire him, but he couldn’t help reading the surgeon’s words—the words of a master healer who had delivered Taravangian through a cut in his mother’s belly. He had the cord wrapped around ... |
Blackthorn so hard that he collapses. But we’ll need secrets to use against him.” “Easy,” Taravangian said, pushing her toward another set of notations on the wall. “We send that Dustbringer’s spren to spy. Dalinar Kholin reeks of secrets. We can break him, and I can take his place—as the coalition will see me as nonth... |
back. The Everstorm appeared from the west, returning as it had before. A tiny village in the near distance fell into the storm’s shadow, then was illuminated by the striking of bright red lightning. Venli stepped forward and hummed to Craving, holding her arms out to the sides. The storm wasn’t like the highstorms—no ... |
a dark violet power—a glow that somehow evoked both light and darkness at once. It retreated, but Demid seemed pleased by his ability to invoke it. What form was that? So majestic, with ridges of carapace poking through his skin along the arms and at the corners of the face. “Demid?” she asked. He turned toward Melu, w... |
softly to Demid. They stood so tall, so haughty, and their mannerisms—all wrong. Each new form changed a listener, down to their ways of thinking, even their temperament. Despite that, you were always you. Even stormform hadn’t changed her into someone else. Perhaps … she had become less empathetic, more aggressive. Bu... |
to those we fight.” He let go of her, and she had to struggle to keep herself from collapsing. No. No, she would not show weakness. But … Demid … She put him out of her mind, like Eshonai before him. This was the path she had placed herself on from the moment she’d first listened to Ulim years ago, deciding that she wo... |
who had fought bravely against the Alethi, then sacrificed themselves to free their enslaved brothers and sisters. Hauntingly, the narrative said that Venli’s people were now extinct, save herself. The former slaves listened, rapt by her narrative. She told it well; she should, given how often she’d related it these la... |
as if embarrassed. “Speak to the rhythms to express apology,” Venli said. “Use Appreciation to thank someone for correction, or Anxiety to highlight your frustration. Consolation if you are truly contrite.” “Yes, Brightness.” Oh, Eshonai. They have so far to go. The woman scampered away. That lopsided dress looked ridi... |
spren? It was unnatural. Yet somehow, their bond was more powerful than ours. I always said the same thing, and believe it even more strongly now: We must exterminate them. Our people will never be safe on this world as long as the humans exist.” Venli felt her mouth grow dry. Distantly, she heard a rhythm. The Rhythm ... |
the last one you looked at,” she said to Amusement. The spren zipped to the wall sconce, where it let off a pulse in awe, then moved to the identical one on the opposite side of the door. Venli moved to gather her clothing and writings from the drawers in the dresser. “I don’t know why you stay with me. It can’t be com... |
to check on her new assistant, Pom, who was washing underclothes. The dark-skinned woman was obviously of mixed blood, both Easterner and Westerner. She was finishing an undershirt, and didn’t say anything as Mem stepped up beside her. Storms, why hasn’t anyone snatched her up? Mem thought as the gorgeous woman rubbed ... |
of Mem’s brain stopped working. A whine escaped from the back of her throat and her vision grew dark. Pom was … she was destroying one of Mraize’s paintings. “I’ve been looking for that,” Pom said, stepping back and putting hands on hips, still standing on the chair. Two guards burst into the room, perhaps drawn by the... |
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