Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive 4)

“Answer my questions, Mraize.”

“First, it is time to open the cube,” Mraize said.

Veil frowned. “The communication cube? I thought you said that would ruin the thing.”

“If you break into it, you will ruin it. Pick it up. Heft it. Listen for the side where my voice is weakest as I hum.”

She knelt beside the cube again and picked it up, listening to Mraize’s humming voice. Yes … the sound was weaker from one direction.

“I’ve found it,” she said.

“Good,” Mraize said. “Put your hand on that plane of the cube and twist it to the right.”

She felt it click as she touched it. She suspected Mraize had done something to unlock the device from wherever he was. When she twisted that plane of the cube, it turned easily and came off, revealing a small compartment that contained an intricate metal dagger with a gemstone on the end of the grip.

“So you do want me to kill him,” she said.

“One cannot kill a Herald,” Mraize said. “They are immortal. Do not think of Kelek as a person. He is an ageless, eternal spren formed of Honor’s substance and will. He is as gravity or light. Force, not man.”

“And you want me to stab that force with this knife,” Veil said, undoing the straps and prying it out from the cube. The cavity was only a small part of the hollow portion in the cube, and a layer of steel sectioned off the rest. Mraize’s voice came from the sealed portion. How had he weighted the cube such that she didn’t feel one end was heavier than the other?

“I want you,” he said, “to collect the soul of Kelek, also known as Restares. The knife will trap his essence in that gemstone.”

“That seems overly cruel,” Veil said, looking over the knife.

“Cruel like the spanreeds you so eagerly use, despite the spren trapped inside? It is no different. The being called Kelek is a receptacle of incredible knowledge. Gemstone imprisonment will not hurt him, and we will be able to communicate with him.”

“We have two other Heralds in the tower,” Veil said. “I could ask them anything you want to know.”

“You think they’d answer? How useful have they been, talking to Jasnah? Talenelat is completely insane, and Shalash is deceptively reticent. They talk of their Oathpact, yes, and fighting the Fused—but rarely reveal anything practical.”

“This isn’t very persuasive,” Veil said. “Yes, I know what you want me to do—but I suspected it from the beginning. If you want me to do this, I need to know why. What specifically do you expect to learn from him?”

“Our master, Thaidakar, has an … affliction similar to that of the Heralds. He needs access to a Herald to learn more about his state so he might save himself from the worst of its effects.”

“That’s not good enough,” Veil said. “Radiant and Shallan won’t let me do your dirty work for such a petty reason.” She put the dagger back in the cube. “I came here to report on Restares’s location. Shallan specifically told you we wouldn’t kill him—and yes, I count stabbing him with this device as the same thing.”

“Little knife,” Mraize said, his voice growing softer, “why did Sadeas need to die?”

She hesitated, her hand still on the dagger, which she was trying to reattach to the straps in the cube.

“This being,” Mraize continued, “that they call Kelek is a monster. He, along with the other eight, abandoned their Oathpact and stranded Talenelat—the Bearer of Agonies—alone in Damnation, to withstand torture for thousands of years. The enemy has returned, but have the Heralds come to help? No. At best they hide. At worst, their madness leads them to hasten the world’s destruction.

“Kelek has become indecisive to the point of madness. And like most of them, he is afraid. He wants to escape his duties. He worked with Gavilar knowing full well that doing so would cause the return of the Fused and the end of our peace, because he hoped to find a way to escape this world. A way to abandon us as he had already abandoned his oaths and his friends.

“He possesses knowledge essential to our fight against the invaders. However, he will not share it willingly. He hides himself away in the world’s most remote fortress and tries to pretend there is no war, that he is not culpable. He is. The only way to make him do his duty is to bring him back by force—and the best and easiest way to do that is to trap his soul.”

Storms. That was a longer speech than she usually got out of Mraize. There was passion, conviction to his voice. Veil almost felt persuaded.

“I can’t move against him,” she said. “He is set to judge Adolin in this trial. If Kelek vanished, that would throw all kinds of suspicion on us—and Adolin would most certainly be imprisoned. I can’t risk it.”

“Hmm…” Mraize said. “If only there were a way that someone—having locked away Kelek’s soul—could take his place. Wear his face. Pass judgment, vindicating your husband and commanding the honorspren to join the war again. If only we had sent a person capable of single-handedly turning the tide of this war through the use of a targeted illusion.”

In that moment, Veil lost control to Shallan. Because what Mraize said here … it made too much sense.

Oh storms, Shallan thought, growing cold. Stormfather above and Nightwatcher below … He’s right. That is a solution to this problem. A way to let Adolin win. A way to bring the honorspren back.

So this was how he manipulated her this time. She wanted to buck him for that reason alone. If only what he said weren’t so logical. It would be easy to replace Kelek, assuming she could get some Stormlight.…

No, Veil warned. It’s not that easy. We’d have a difficult time impersonating a Herald.

We’d do the replacement at the last moment, Shallan thought. On the final day of the trial—to reduce the amount of time we need to pretend, and to give us a few days to scout out his personality.

“Killing Sadeas saved thousands of lives,” Mraize continued in his soft, oily voice. “Delivering Kelek to us, sending the honorspren to bond Windrunners, could save millions.”

“Veil isn’t certain we could imitate a Herald,” Shallan said.

“The Herald is erratic,” Mraize said. “All of them are now. With a few pointers, you could escape notice. Honorspren are not good at noticing subterfuge—or at distinguishing what is odd behavior for humans, or those who were once human. You can accomplish this. And after the trial, ‘Kelek’ could insist he has to visit Urithiru himself, leaving the spren completely ignorant of what you’ve done.”

“It would be wrong, Mraize. It feels wrong.”

“Earlier, Veil demanded a deal. Though I normally reject this sort of talk, I find it encouraging that she did not demand money, or power. She wanted information, to know why she was doing what she did. You three are worthy hunters.

“So I will revise the deal as requested. Perform as I ask here, and I will release you from your apprenticeship. You will become a full member of our organization—you will not only have access to the knowledge you seek, but also have a say in what we are doing. Our grand plans.”

Inside, Veil perked up at this. But Shallan was surprised by how much she responded to that offer. A full Ghostblood? That was the way … The way to …