Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive #4) - Brandon Sanderson Page 0,583

have indicates this contest is our most reasonable hope of success,” Navani said. “And I doubt anyone the enemy presents can best Stormblessed.”

“I’m … not going to pick Kaladin, gemheart.”

“Why?” Navani asked. “He’s our best warrior.”

“No,” Dalinar said. “He’s our best soldier. But even if he were in peak fighting shape, I don’t think he’d be our best warrior. Or our best killer.

“Wit says the enemy can’t violate our agreement, and isn’t likely to try to misinterpret it—not intentionally. In fact, Wit seems to think the victory is already ours, but he got what he wanted. Odium will remain trapped either way. I’m worried though. There’s more I’m missing; I’m sure of it. At the very least, I think I left Odium too much room to continue fighting in the coming ten days.”

“We’ll find the answers, Dalinar,” Navani said. “We have a goal now. If you can win this contest, that will be enough. We will find a way to live in this new world, with the singers in their lands, and humans in ours.”

Navani squeezed his arm again, and he took a deep breath, intent on enjoying this moment. Storms, it felt good to be holding her. Beneath them, the tower’s lights shone brightly in the night—and down in the corridors, it was positively warm. He’d had to come all the way up here to smell mountain air.

“I should have known,” Dalinar repeated. “About you.”

“I don’t think so,” Navani said. “It was a remarkable stroke of luck that I figured it all out.”

“Not luck,” Dalinar said. “Conviction. Brilliance. I was scared for you, but should have remembered when I was scared of you—and realized how much danger the Fused were in by trying to take your fabrials from you. You are incredible. You’ve always been incredible.”

She breathed out a long, contented sigh.

“What?” he said.

“It’s good to hear someone say that.”

He held her for an extended moment of peace. But eventually, their crowns came calling. People came looking for Navani to settle something regarding the tower, and she was forced to leave.

Dalinar lingered on the top of the tower. He settled down on the edge, putting his legs over the side—the place where Kaladin had reportedly leapt into the darkness of the storm.

You were wise to give the Windrunner more time during his fall, the Stormfather said, approaching Dalinar. You were wise to show … mercy.

“It’s an important concept to learn,” Dalinar said to him. “The more you study it, the more human you will become.”

I do not wish to become human, the Stormfather said. But perhaps I can learn. Perhaps I can change.

“That’s all it takes,” Dalinar said. “A willingness.”

You are wrong though. I do understand mercy. I have expressed it, on occasion.

“Really?” Dalinar said, curious. “When?”

FOURTEEN MONTHS AGO

Eshonai hit the ground of the chasm in a furious splash. Above, the battle for Narak continued, and the rest of the listeners summoned the Everstorm.

She should be leading them! She was foremost among them! She leaped to her feet and shouted to a dozen horrible rhythms in a row, her voice echoing in the chasm. It did no good. She had been defeated by the human Shardbearer, sent tumbling into the chasms.

She needed to get out of here and find the fight again. She started trudging forward. Though the water came up to her waist, the flow was not swift. It was merely a constant, steady stream from the Weeping—and in Shardplate she was able to walk against the current. Her greaves flooded with chill water.

Which way was which? The lack of light confused her, but after a moment of thinking, she realized she was being silly. She didn’t need to go either direction. She needed to go up. The fall must have dazed her more than she’d realized.

She picked a rough-feeling section of wall and began clawing her way up. She managed to get halfway to the top—using the awesome gripping strength of Shardplate, the Rhythm of Conceit pounding in her ears. But then the way the chasm wall bulged presented a problem. In the darkness, she couldn’t find a proper handhold, and the flashes of lightning above were too brief to help.

Lightning. Was that lightning too frequent, too bright, to be coming from other stormforms? Her own powers had been ruined by the water, naturally. She could barely feel any energy in her; it flooded out the moment it started to build.

What was happening? That was the Everstorm coming, wasn’t it? Yes, she could feel its power, its