Kaladin reached out and put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “If we lose the tower, we lose the war. I’m not in any shape to fight. I’m going to do it anyway. I don’t need you to lift a spear, but if you could get me some broth and refill my water jugs every couple of days…”

The man nodded. “All right. I can … I can do that.”

“Good man,” Kaladin said. “As I said, keep this quiet. I don’t want the general public getting it into their heads that they should pick up a spear and start fighting against Fused. If there’s a way out of this mess, it will involve me either getting word to Dalinar or somehow waking the other Radiants.”

He drew in a little Stormlight. He would need it to help him carry all this, and seeing the glow gave the ardent an obvious boost of confidence.

“Life before death,” Kaladin said to him.

“Life before death, Radiant,” Kuno said.

Kaladin picked up his sacks and started out into the darkness. It was slow going, but he eventually arrived on the eleventh floor. Here he oriented himself while Syl poked around to see if she could remember the way. They needn’t have worried—a small spark of light appeared in a vein of garnet on the floor.

They followed the light to the room where they had left Teft. The door opened easily, without needing more Stormlight. Inside, Kaladin set down his supplies, checked on his friend, then started a better inventory of what he’d grabbed. The garnet light sparkled on the floor beside him, and he brushed the crystal vein with his fingers.

A voice immediately popped into his head.

Highmarshal? Is it true? Are you awake and functioning?

Kaladin started. It was the queen’s voice.

* * *

Brightness Navani? Kaladin’s voice said in Navani’s head. I am awake. Basically functioning. My powers are … acting strange. I don’t know why I’m not comatose like the others.

Navani drew in a long, deep breath. The Sibling had watched him sneak to the fourth floor, then raid a monastery for supplies. While he’d been returning, Navani had done several circuits of her room—talking to her scholars and giving them encouragement—to not draw suspicion. Now she was back in position, resting against the wall, trying to look bored.

She was anything but. She had access to a Knight Radiant, perhaps two if the Sibling could locate Lift. “That is well,” she whispered, the Sibling transferring her words to Kaladin. “For now, I am reluctantly working with our captors. They have me and my scholars locked away in the eastern basement study room, near the gemstone pillar.”

Do you know what’s wrong with the Radiants? he asked.

“To an extent, yes,” she whispered. “The details are somewhat technical, but the tower had ancient protections to defend it from enemies who were using Voidlight. A Fused scholar inverted this; it now suppresses those who would use Stormlight. She did not complete the tower’s corruption, however. I narrowly prevented her from doing so by erecting a barrier around the pillar. Unfortunately, that same barrier prevents me from undoing the work she did there.”

So … what do we do?

“I don’t know,” Navani admitted. Dalinar would have probably told her to act strong, to pretend she had a plan when she didn’t—but she wasn’t a general. Pretending never worked with her scholars; they appreciated honesty. “I’ve barely had time to plan, and I’m still dragging from yesterday.”

I know that feeling, Kaladin said.

“The enemy has made the Oathgates work somehow,” Navani said, a plan forming in her mind. “My first goal is to continue protecting the Sibling, the spren of the tower. My second goal is to get word to my husband and the other monarchs. If we could figure out how the enemy is making the Oathgates work, I might be able to get my spanreeds functioning and send warning.”

That sounds like a pretty good start, Brightness, Kaladin said. I’m glad to have a direction to work toward. So you want me to find out how they’re operating the Oathgates?

“Exactly. My only guess is that they are powering them with Voidlight somehow—but I tried to make fabrials use Voidlight in the past, and failed. I know for a fact, however, that the enemy has functional spanreeds. I haven’t been able to get a good look at one of those—but if you could find out how they’re using the Oathgates, or other fabrials, that would give me something to work with.”

I’d need to get close to the Oathgates to do that, Kaladin said. And not be seen doing so.

“Yes. Can you manage that? I know you said your powers aren’t functioning completely.”

I … I’ll find a way, Brightness. I suspect the enemy won’t be using the Oathgates until nighttime. I think they’re trying to keep up a front of nothing being wrong with the tower, in case Dalinar sends scouts. They have some humans wearing Alethi uniforms patrolling outside. At night, even distant Windrunners trying to watch would be visible in the darkness. I suspect they’d find this a safer time to use the Oathgates.

Curious indeed. How long did Raboniel realistically think she could keep up such a subterfuge? Surely Dalinar would withdraw from the battlefield in Azir and focus everything on discovering what was wrong with Urithiru. Unless there were aspects to this that Navani wasn’t considering.

The implications of that frightened her. She was blind, locked away in this basement.

“Highmarshal,” she said to Kaladin, “I’ll try to contact you again tomorrow around the same time. Until then, be warned. The enemy will be seeking a way to disrupt the shield I erected. There are three nodes hidden in the tower, large gemstones infused with Stormlight that are maintaining the barrier, but the Sibling won’t say where they are.

“These nodes are direct channels to the heart of the tower, and as such are great points of vulnerability. If you find one, tell me. And be aware, if the enemy gains access to it, they can complete the tower’s corruption.”

Yes, sir. Er. Brightness.

“I need to go. Lift is awake somewhere too, so it would be worth keeping an eye out for her. At any rate, take care, Highmarshal. If the task proves too dangerous, retreat. We are too few right now to take unwise risks.”

Understood. After a moment’s pause, the Sibling’s voice continued, He has gone back to unpacking his supplies. You should be careful though, how you ask after fabrials. Do not forget that I consider what you have done to be a high crime.

“I’ve not forgotten,” Navani said. “But surely you don’t oppose the Oathgates.”

I do not, the Sibling said, sounding reluctant. Those spren have gone willingly to their transformations.

“Do you know why it works? Powering the Oathgates with Voidlight?”

No. The Oathgates are not part of me. I will leave you now. Our talking is suspicious.

Navani didn’t press the matter, instead making another circuit around her scholars. She wasn’t certain whether she trusted what the Sibling said. Could spren lie? She didn’t think she’d ever asked the Radiants’ spren. A foolish oversight.

At any rate, in Kaladin she at least had a connection to the rest of the tower. A lifeline. That was one step forward in finding a way out of this mess.

When in such a state, detachment is enviable. I have learned that my greatest discoveries come when I abandon lesser connections.