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THE WAY OF KINGS

PRELUDE TO

THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE

Kalak rounded a rocky stone ridge and stu thunderclast The enormous stone beast lay on its side, riblike protrusions frouely skeletal in shape, with unnaturally long liranite shoulders The eyes were deep red spots on the arrowhead face, as if created by a fire burning deep within the stone They faded

Even after all these centuries, seeing a thunderclast up closeas a man was tall He’d been killed by hands like those before, and it hadn’t been pleasant

Of course, dying rarely was

He rounded the creature, picking his way more carefully across the battlefield The plain was a place ofaround hiround Few plants lived here

The stone ridges and mounds bore numerous scars Soebinders had fought Less frequently, he passed cracked, oddly shaped hollohere thunderclasts had ripped themselves free of the stone to join the fray

Many of the bodies around hie Violet Though none of the bodies around hi in the air Moans of pain, cries of grief They did not seem like the sounds of victory Srowth or heaps of burning corpses Even soers had done their ell

But I survived, Kalak thought, hand to breast as he hastened to theplace I actually survived this time

That was dangerous When he died, he was sent back, no choice When he survived the Desolation, he was supposed to go back as well Back to that place that he dreaded Back to that place of pain and fire What if he just decided…not to go?

Perilous thoughts, perhaps traitorous thoughts He hastened on his way

The place of e rock for into the sky As always, the ten of them had decided upon it before the battle The survivors wouldfor hiht all died? It was possible The battle had been so furious this tily tenacious

But no Kalak frowned as he stepped up to the base of the spire Seven nificent swords stood proudly here, driven point-first into the stone ground Each was a lyphs and patterns He recognized each one If their masters had died, the Blades would have vanished

These Blades eapons of power beyond even Shardblades These were unique Precious Jezrien stood outside the ring of swords, looking eastward

“Jezrien?”

The figure in white and blue glanced toward hi, like a man barely into his thirtieth year His short black beard was neatly tri was scorched and stained with blood He folded his arms behind his back as he turned to Kalak

“What is this, Jezrien?” Kalak asked “Where are the others?”

“Departed” Jezrien’s voice was calh he hadn’t worn a crown in centuries, his royal ht call it a miracle Only one of us died this time”

“Talenel,” Kalak said His was the only Blade unaccounted for

“Yes He died holding that passage by the northern ay”

Kalak nodded Taln had a tendency to choose seehts and win them He also had a tendency to die in the process He would be back now, in the place where they went between Desolations The place of nightmares

Kalak found hi When had he become so weak? “Jezrien, I can’t return this ti the other man’s arm “I can’t”