Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive 4)

“Glorious?” Axindweth said. “Living in crem huts? Making stone tools because you’ve forgotten how to forge metal? Living all your lives in two forms, when you used to have dozens?”

“What do you know about any of this?” Venli said, turning to leave. Her mother would be very interested to hear one of the humans had been hiding the ability to speak their language.

“I know much about too many things,” the woman said. “Would you like to learn how to obtain a form of power, Venli?”

Venli looked back. “We abandoned those. They are dangerous. They let the old gods control our ancestors.”

“Isn’t it odd,” Axindweth said, “how much stock you put in what your ancestors said? A dusty old group of people that you’ve never met? If you gathered a collection of listeners from the other families, would you let them decide your future? That’s all they were, your ancient ancestors. A random group of people.”

“Not random,” Venli said to Praise. “They had strength. They left their gods to find freedom.”

“Yes,” Axindweth said. “I suppose they did.”

Venli continued on her way. Stupid human.

“There were forms of power that could heal someone, you know,” the human said idly.

Venli froze in place. Then she spun, attuning Betrayal again. How did she know about Venli’s mother?

“Yes,” Axindweth said, toying with one of her rings, staring out away from Venli. “Great things were once possible for your people. Your ancestors, the ones you revere, might have been brave. But have you ever asked yourself about the things they didn’t leave you in songs? Have you seen the holes in their stories? You bear the pain of their actions, living without forms for generations. Exiled. Shouldn’t you have the choices they did, weighing forms of power against your current life?”

“How do you know all these things?” Venli demanded, walking back. “How do you know about forms of power? Who are you?”

The woman removed something from within her covered sleeve. A single glowing gemstone. Blood red.

“Take that into a storm,” the woman said. “And break it. Inside, you will find a path toward saving those you love.”

The woman stood and left the gem sitting on the rock.

I am led to wonder, from experiences such as this, if we have been wrong. We call humans alien to Roshar, yet they have lived here for thousands of years now. Perhaps it is time to acknowledge there are no aliens or interlopers. Only cousins.

—From Rhythm of War, page 5 undertext

Timbre was uncharacteristically silent as Venli finished her account. Venli had taken the long way up to the sixth floor to gather reports for Raboniel, and had spent the time explaining about that day—the day she’d made her first choice down this path. The day she’d taken that gemstone, and hidden it from her mother and her sister.

Venli could tell herself all she wanted that her motives had been noble. She knew the truth. She’d kept that secret because she’d been afraid of losing the glory of discovering a new form to her sister.

Instead, the reverse had happened; Venli lived her sister’s destiny. Venli had ended up with Timbre. Venli had become Radiant. Venli had lived. These were proof that the cosmere made mistakes.

Venli entered the refreshingly cool sixth-floor balcony room where scouting operations had been set up. Raboniel thought the humans had deliberately destroyed maps of the tower, so this group was making their own. Ruling this place was going to be a huge chore, one Venli was glad she didn’t have to organize.

The singers here hummed to Praise as Venli entered, showing her respect. Even the two relayform Regals gave deference to a Voice such as Venli. She asked for, and was given, a wide range of reports on the activities up here.

Everything from the seventh floor up was unoccupied. Consequently, they were setting up checkpoints at each stairwell on the sixth floor, worried that panicked humans might try to hide on the many upper floors once confinement to quarters was relaxed. And confinement to quarters would need to be relaxed soon. The humans were running out of food and water. Venli suspected Raboniel would give the word for normal operations to recommence by the end of the day.

They’d found a large number of unconscious Radiants, many of whom had been in the homes of people trying to protect or hide them. Venli hummed to Derision as she scanned the list. The foolish people were lucky; Raboniel was more lenient than some Fused. She had ordered that anyone found keeping Radiants would be punished, and the Radiants executed—but that any Radiants revealed willingly would be spared.

It had been a wise move: many Radiants had been offered up after her announcement. The few found later had been executed, along with one member of each family hiding them. A stern but just application of the law. Timbre found it horrifying. Venli found it amazing Raboniel hadn’t executed them all.

She wants these Radiants for something, she thought. Something to do with her plans, her experiments. Venli had not forgotten what had earned the Lady of Wishes her terrible reputation: an attempt long ago to create a disease that would end the war by exterminating all of humankind.

Well, Venli might have her own use for these Radiants. She listened with half an ear to the reports, until the relayform said something that drew her full attention.

“Wait,” Venli said. “Repeat that?”

“A human surgeon killed one of our number during the investigations the other night,” the malen said.

“I haven’t heard of this,” Venli said.

“We reported it at the time, and a Fused took charge immediately, so we assumed it had gotten back to Raboniel. This human took an unconscious Windrunner with him when he fled.”

“Which Fused did you report this to?”

“The Pursuer.”

Timbre pulsed worryingly.

“Do we have a description of this human surgeon?” Venli asked.

“Tall male,” the Regal said. “Shoulder-length wavy hair. Slave brands. The soldier who witnessed the event claimed the human was glowing with Stormlight, but we suspect our soldier was merely rattled. He proved to be a coward, and has been assigned to waste detail.”

Venli hummed to Thoughtfulness, though she felt a mounting dread. Kaladin Stormblessed was in the tower; he hadn’t gone with the main bulk of his kind to the war in Emul. And he was … somehow still conscious? Leshwi would want to know that. She had asked Venli to watch over Raboniel specifically, but surely this was a matter deserving of her true master’s attention.

“I see,” Venli said to Thoughtfulness. “Has this human been found?”

“He fled to the upper floors,” the Regal explained to Spite. “We searched and found nothing—even the Pursuer, who was certain the human was close, was unable to locate him.”

“The Lady of Wishes will find this interesting,” Venli said. “Send me word if anything more is discovered.”

The Regal hummed to Command in acknowledgment, then gave Venli a list with descriptions of all the other Radiants surrendered to this group. Raboniel wanted them kept all in one room, being watched. Venli would have to put her people to work looking for a suitable location.

One conscious Windrunner, when all the others remained unconscious. Yes, she’d find a way to send a note about this to Leshwi. “The singer who saw the human kill our soldier,” Venli said, moving to leave. “Give me his name and station. The Lady of Wishes may want me to interrogate him.”