Difference between revisions of "Summary:The Way of Kings"

Upon arrival, he finds only their leader, [[Jezrien]], waiting for him. At first, Kalak assumes that the other eight must have died, for the battle was "furious". However, he notices seven [[Honorblade]]s driven point-first into the ground at the base of the spire. Jezrien then informs Kalak that the other Heralds have departed, abandoning the [[Oathpact]]. Kalak then admits to Jezrien that he can't return to "the place of nightmares", the waiting place of the Heralds between Desolations. Jezrien then tells Kalak to relinquish his blade as well, for "...it is time for the Oathpact to end." This effectively leaves [[Talenel]] (Taln), the only Herald who died in the battle, alone to uphold the Oathpact and the sole sufferer of the pain and torture in the waiting realm.

Finally, both Jezrien and Kalak summon their Blades and slam them into the ground, along with the other seven. They depart followingin opposite directions along the barren landscape, vowing to go their own ways and to not seek one another, or any other of the other Heralds. As Kalak is leaving the ring of swords, he looks back and notices a single open spot, "The place where the tenth sword should have gone." Kalak feels deep sorrow and shame for Taln's exclusion, thinking to himself, "Forgive us..." as he walks away.

Szeth fights his way past the Shardbearer, but soon realizes that the Shardbearer, not the man he is chasing, is King Gavilar. He returns and fights him, eventually defeating him by causing the balcony he is standing on to collapse, mortally wounding him. Szeth is nearly killed in the fight. When Szeth tells Gavilar the Parshendi sent him, Gavilar is confused and says, "The Parshendi? That makes no sense."

Because asAs a Shin, Szeth considers a dying wish to be sacred, so he leaves a note for Dalinar written in Gavilar's blood. He takes the sphere and flees.

The opposing force arrives and the battle begins. Kaladin's squad does not lose a single man. At one point, Kaladin singlehandedly fights off six enemy spearmen to save Cenn. When an enemy [[Brightlord]] appears, Kaladin and his squad attempt to defeat him. They are hindered, however, by the arrival of an enemy [[Helaran Davar|Shardbearer]]. Cenn blacks out from blood loss, and the scene cuts out.

Kaladin is now a slave in a caravan, waiting to be sold, and struggling to retain his ability to not think like a slave.

Kaladin idly toys with a leaf of [[blackbane]], contemplating using it to poison [[Tvlakv]], his slave trader. A [[windspren]] in the form of a slender young woman, but only a handspan tall, speaks to Kaladin and wants to know what the blackbane is. Kaladin is surprised that she knows his name. As they converse, he observes that she is much more intelligent than a typical [[spren]]. When she asks why he doesn't fight anymore, he says that he has failed.

[[Shallan Davar]] has just arrived in [[Kharbranth]], the City of Bells. She experiences a culture-shock of sorts, amazed at the number and variety of people in the city.

After a short conversation with Captain [[Tozbek]] of the [[Wind's Pleasure]], the boat she received passagearrived on, she gets word that [[Jasnah Kholin]], the woman she has been chasing for several months, is still in the city.

Shallan is very nervous, as her house's finances are in ruins since the death of her father, and that if she doesn't find some source of income or other means of controlling their rival political houses, her house won't last long. She also reveals that her request to be Jasnah's ward is somehow related to resolving her house's crisis, though she does not make clear how.

Kaladin is sitting in the slave wagon, waiting for the caravan to stop for lunch, and noting that it's well after the time the caravan usually stops. After a few minutes, he realizes that it is because Tvlakv is lost. Tvlakv remembers that Kaladin was once an Alethi soldier, and might have knowledge of the lands. When he asks Kaladin to help them find the way out, Kaladin tears his map to pieces and tells Tvlakv that he doesn't know the way out.

In the conversation that follows, Tvlakv says that he is only comfortable with the idea of Kaladin escaping because he knows that he wants revenge on Brightlord [[Amaram]] more than he does on Tvlakv. Kaladin realizes that if Tvlakv knows about Amaram, then he also knows that Kaladin isn't actually a deserter, asin contrast to the official story given when he was sold says. Tvlakv acknowledges this, but says that it's the story they will stick to because men who are guilty of high crimes are difficult to sell at a good price.

Kabsal tells Shallan that he is trying to convert Jasnah, an avowed athiestatheist, to [[Vorinism]]. He leaves, asking her to let Jasnah know that he had come by to speak with her. She agrees, and begins to lacquer her drawings. She realizes that she's been there for quite a while and begins to gather her things, leaving the letter for Jasnah. Before she can leave, however, Jasnah appears in the doorway, looking displeased.

Kaladin gets in a few good hits, and is surprised by how good the quarterstaff feels in his hands, but he is outmatched by Jost. Tien helps him up, and they return home. There, Kaladin is informed that Brightlord [[Wistiow]], the Citylord and Laral's father, is dead. He's left Kaladin a large number of spheres for him to go to Kharbranth, be trained as a surgeon, then return to [[Hearthstone]] to serve the people there with his new knowledge.

'''Dalinar'''

Kaladin goes to the men of Bridge Four and asks them to split their food with the wounded and to contribute their pay for medical supplies. Most laugh at him and leave, but Rock agrees to share some of his food with Hobber, the man who he feels has the best chance of recovering, because he feels he owes for Kaladin for running the deathline in his place the previous day. Rock also says that he can see Syl, though she hasn't specifically revealed herself to him.

'''Kaladin'''

Adolin then questions why Dalinar keeps giving him the lead. Dalinar tells him that he has a decision to make, but before he can elaborate, he notices a messenger in [[Thanadal]]'s colors. The messenger informs Dalinar that Thanadal has to cancel their meeting. Dalinar presses the messenger, and he says he is instructed to say that Thanadal does not wish to do a joint plateau assault with him. All eight highprinces have refused his offer, leaving only Sadeas. He tells Adolin to continue the inspection without him, making ana vague excuse about something that needs to be done.

After the highstorm subsides, Rock leaves the barracks, followed by Teft. Though they had wanted to believe that Kaladin could survive the highstorm, they dondidn't expect it. They find Kaladin, his body in terrible shape. His eyes snap open. The bridgemen gasp and fall to the ground in shock. Rock yells for the others to help get him down. Teft sees Kaladin dropping the sphere. It is dun.

Hashal speaks for her husband and tells Kaladin that the Almighty has simply given Kaladin another chance to prove himself as a bridgeman, nothing more. She claims that her husband is a well respected and honored associate of Sadeas, and Kaladin wonders out loud how he ended up in this position. Hashal directs one of her men to beat him, but Kaladin catches the spear aimed at him. In his mind he sees how to beat not only the soldier attacking him but his three companions as well, but decides against it, letting go of the spear and letting the next hit land. She informs them that they'll only be doing chasm duty from now on.

Kaladin rides the highstorm as he sweeps across Roshar. In the dream Kaladin views many places and people, a large portion of which he had never seen or heard of before. Blowing southwest and then westward, Kaladin sees flashes of lights, almost appearing to be physical things he could touch. Approaching them he sees that they came from a building amidst a city built of a triangular pattern. He bursts in there and sees a man with large Shin eyes, a Shardblade, wearing white (Szeth - the Assassin in White), just after he has committed an assassination. It feels to Kaladin as though the assassin could see him. Nearing the western ocean, Kaladin separates from the storm after hearing a booming voice that shakes the stormwall. This voice calls Kaladin a child of [[Tanavast]] and of [[Honor]] and warns him that [[Odium]] comes. Kaladin asks why there is so much war, and the voice responds, "Odium reigns." Kaladin then awakes inside his barracks, held down by dark figures. He instinctively starts to fight them off before realizing they are his bridge mates. They had to hold him down to stop him from running out into the highstorm while dreaming. They all go out to bathe in the riddens, and Kaladin decides to accept a shave from Rock. Rock reveals that Sigzil is a [[Worldsinger]]. Bridge Four is assigned a new crew member, a Parshman who can't bother to give them his name, so they call him [[Shen]].

Szeth kills two guards and crashes through a door, entering the king's banquet, and starts to kill. King [[Hanavanar]] of Jah Keved yells for help. Szeth slaughters many of the people trying to flee and makes his way over to the king. Two Shardbearers come out from hiding and another squad wearing half-shards enter the room to attack. Szeth drops his sword and uses his [[Order of Windrunners|Windrunner]] abilities to fling the attackers about the room. He infuses a stone multiple times and lashes it toward one of the Shardbearers, crushing him to death. He kills the rest of the honor guard easily and slams himself down on the king, pinning him to the floor. He puts his Shardblade through his face.

Dalinar and Navani continue to see each other in secret. Dalinar tells Navani that he was interested in courting her, but he instead deferred to Gavilar when his brother also showed interest in her. That was the nature of the siblings' relationship. Navani thought that Dalinar hated her because he was cold towards her for the last two decades, out of trying to conceal his true feelings. Navani says that Dalinar and his wife were a perfect match in temperament. Dalinar also reveals that he keeps a tight reignrein on himself to avoid reverting to his past tyrannical self. Their conversation is interrupted as alarms sound indicating a chasmfiend is located at the [[Tower (Roshar)|Tower]] plateau, where Dalinar wants to run a dual assault with Sadeas.

Dalinar and Sadeas watch as the Parshendi army of roughly ten thousand lines up, while they still try to remove the gemheart. Sadeas suggests they attack together, but Dalinar knows that many of the bridgemen will be killed. He holds to the Code and won't order what he himself wouldn't do. Dalinar will follow Sadeas's army once a bridgheadbridgehead is cleared.

As Sadeas's forces withdraw, Bridge Four lags behind. Having wounded and already being low in number, they are unable to move ahead of the army and help with the crossing of the staging plateau. Instead of crossing with the army, Kaladin tells Matal that they will rest, use their bridge to follow and catch up later. Kaladin gives the pretense that he doesn't want to slow the rest of the army. The army continues westward without Bridge Four. Kaladin explains to the men that now they can simply escape without fighting. Everything is perfect except the wounded back at camp. Kaladin insists that he stay with the wounded and escape later. Kaladin feels unsettled, and not just because of the men he would have to leave behind. He sees Syl next to him as a regular-sized woman. She stands looking back at the battle with an expression of horror. Kaladin also looks back at the battle. He sees the thousands of dark eyed soldiers hopelessly surrounded. Syl says that she now remembers what kind of spren she is. She is an honorspren. The spirit of oaths, promises, and nobility. Kaladin thinks that trying to save Kholin's army would be suicide and that he and his men owe Dalinar nothing. He is determined not to be fooled again like the time he saved Amaram. Finally he remembers his father's words: "The lighteyes don't care about life, so I must. So we must." With the Ideals of the Radiants forming in his mind he tells the members of Bridge Four that they must go back. They agree and lift their bridge, heading back to the Tower.

Dalinar rides at the head of his remaining force. Seething with anger, he contemplates his confrontation with Sadeas. He knows he must first protect Alethkar despite his desire for revenge. As his force approachapproaches the warcamp, Dalinar dismisses his wounded to his camp and offers to send Kaladin's bridgemen with them, but they are determined to see his promise to buy their freedom through. Unwilling to force them to go, Dalinar allows them to accompany him into Sadeas's warcamp. He unexpectedly finds Renarin and Navani in Sadeas's warcamp. He embraces his son and later Navani. He tells Navani that he sees the world differently now and is now unwilling to let 'lying men' control his life. Releasing Navani, he confronts Sadeas. Publicly they feign civility. Sadeas apologizes for overestimating the threat against Dalinar's forces and retreating too soon. But, standing close so as not to be overheard, Dalinar privately asks Sadeas why. Sadeas responds referring to his oath to protect Elhokar, saying that Dalinar is going insane and becoming weak. He feels that these ideas are infecting Elhokar. And, in the end, he just wanted Dalinar gone. In this admission of guilt, Dalinar realizes that acting honorably would never win Sadeas's loyalty.

Kaladin returns to Bridge Four's barrack to find his men engaged in their nightly tradition of eating Rock's stew. They talk to him about his extraordinary abilities and they want him to teach them how to do it too. Kaladin is unsure if itsit's teachable but agrees to try. They decide to create experiments to test his abilities, and Kaladin demands an oath of silence about his abilities. He then relaxes knowing that he has finally succeeded in saving someone.