Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection
Page 60
But I will listen to those who are ignored, she thought. Even people like Darkness, whom I’d rather never have heard. Maybe that will help.
They wound through the city, then up the ramp, passing the guard captain, who was on duty there dealing with the even larger numbers of refugees coming to the city because they’d lost homes to the storm. She saw Lift, and nearly jumped out of her own boots in surprise.
Lift smiled and dug a pancake out of her pocket. This woman had been visited by Darkness because of her. That sort of thing earned you a debt. So she tossed the woman the pancake—which was really more of a panball at this point—then used the Stormlight she’d gotten from the ones she’d eaten to start healing the wounds of the refugees.
The guard captain watched in silence, holding her pancake, as Lift moved along the line breathing out Stormlight on everyone like she was tryin’ to prove her breath didn’t stink none.
It was starvin’ hard work. But that was what pancakes was for, makin’ kids feel better. Once she was done, and out of Stormlight, she tiredly waved and strode onto the plain outside the city.
“That was very benevolent of you,” Wyndle said.
Lift shrugged. It didn’t seem like it had made much of a difference—just a few people, and all. But they were the type that were forgotten and ignored by most.
“A better knight than me might stay,” Lift said. “Heal everyone.”
“A big project. Perhaps too big.”
“And too small, all the same,” Lift said, shoving her hands in her pockets, and walked for a time. She couldn’t rightly explain it, but she knew that something larger was coming. And she needed to get to Azir.
Wyndle cleared his throat. Lift braced herself to hear him complain about something, like the silliness of walking all the way here from Azimir, only to walk right back two days later.
“… I was a very regal fork, wouldn’t you say?” he asked instead.
Lift glanced at him, then grinned and cocked her head. “Y’know, Wyndle. It’s strange, but … I’m starting to think you might not be a Voidbringer after all.”
POSTSCRIPT
Lift is one of my favorite characters from the Stormlight Archive, despite the fact that she has had very little screen time so far. I’m grooming her for a larger role in the future of the series, but this leaves me with some challenges. By the time Lift becomes a main Stormlight character, she’ll have already sworn several of the oaths—and it feels wrong not to show readers the context of her swearing those oaths.
In working on Stormlight Three, I also noticed a small continuity issue. By the time we see him again in that book, the Herald Nale will have accepted that his work of many centuries (watching and making sure the Radiants don’t return) is no longer relevant. This is a major shift in who he is and in his goals as an individual—and it felt wrong to have him undergo this realization offscreen.
Edgedancer, then, was an opportunity to fix both of these problems—and to give Lift her own showcase.
Part of my love of writing Lift has to do with the way I get to slip character growth and meaningful moments into otherwise odd or silly-sounding phrases. Such as the fact that in the novelette from Words of Radiance she says she’s been ten for three years (as a joke) can be foreshadowing with a laugh, which then develops into the fact that she actually thinks her aging stopped at ten. (And has good reason to think that.)
This isn’t the sort of thing you can do as a writer with most characters.
I also used this story as an opportunity to show off the Tashikki people, who (not having any major viewpoint characters) were likely not going to get any major development in the main series.
The original plan for this novella was for it to be 18,000 words. It ended up at around 40,000. Ah well. That just happens sometimes. (Particularly when you are me.)
BY BRANDON SANDERSON
THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE
The Way of Kings
Words of Radiance
THE MISTBORN SAGA
THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY
Mistborn
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages
THE WAX AND WAYNE SERIES
The Alloy of Law
Shadows of Self
The Bands of Mourning
Elantris
Warbreaker
The Rithmatist
Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection
ALCATRAZ VS. THE EVIL LIBRARIANS
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
The Scrivener’s Bones
The Knights of Crystallia
The Shattered Lens
The Dark Talent
THE RECKONERS
Steelheart
Firefight
Calamity
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
BRANDON SANDERSON grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. He lives in Utah with his wife and children and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University. He is the author of such bestsellers as the Mistborn® trilogy and its sequels, The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, and The Bands of Mourning; The Stormlight Archive novels The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance; and other novels, including The Rithmatist and Steelheart. In 2013, he won a Hugo Award for Best Novella for The Emperor’s Soul, set in the world of his acclaimed first novel, Elantris. Additionally, he was chosen to complete Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time® sequence. For behind-the-scenes information on all of Brandon Sanderson’s books, visit brandonsanderson.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Preface
THE SELISH SYSTEM
The Emperor’s Soul
The Hope of Elantris
THE SCADRIAN SYSTEM
The Eleventh Metal
Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania, Episodes Twenty-Eight Through Thirty
Mistborn: Secret History
THE TALDAIN SYSTEM
White Sand
THE THRENODITE SYSTEM
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
THE DROMINAD SYSTEM
Sixth of the Dusk
THE ROSHARAN SYSTEM
Edgedancer
By Brandon Sanderson
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these novellas and short stories are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ARCANUM UNBOUNDED: THE COSMERE COLLECTION
Copyright © 2016 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
Brandon Sanderson® and Mistborn® are registered trademarks of Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
All rights reserved.
Excerpt from White Sand volume 1 used by permission of Dynamite Entertainment. © 2016 Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
Illustrations by Ben McSweeney and Isaac Stewart
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-9116-2 (hardcover)
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e-ISBN 9780765391179
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First Edition: November 2016
* Indeed, this was the outcome of Jak’s brave—perhaps foolhardy—plan. See episode twenty-six. At this point, Jak had been “king” of the koloss for three episodes, and had survived the latest of challenges to his authority, getting closer to the secrets they held regarding the Survivor’s Treasure.
† See “Allomancer Jak and the Mask of Ages,” episode fourteen. There, however, Jak writes that it was a bust of the Lord Mistborn. One wonders if Jak ever stops to read his accounts after their publication. Fortunately for me, he does not seem to.
* One might wonder why Jak felt he needed to escape, as he had not discovered if he was imprisoned, and had not yet tried walking out through the front of the cavern. If you have this concern, might I remind you of the last eighteen times Jak awoke with a headache at the beginning of an episode? Each time, he had been captured in some fashion.
† Jak is completely, blissfully unaware of modern scholarship regarding the koloss, which indicates that they rarely (if ever) use actual human skin for their trophies. Indeed, accounts of them eating humans are greatly exaggerated.
* I was actually asleep. It had been a very long day. I’m sure I’d have worried about him if it had crossed my mind to do so. The bed the koloss provided, however, was surprisingly comfortable.
† See episode twenty-five for our discovery of their vow not to harm the Terris, and their explanation for the respect they have paid me during our adventures. It is a matter which I have regarded with some interest.
‡ Didn’t he just mention the whiskey he often drinks at the waystop? Perhaps the dens of thieves do not count as a place where a clear mind is required.
* Yes, according to the way he wrote that sentence, he turned invisible for one line. No, he won’t let me change it.
† Uh …
‡ Technically, this is probably true.
§ Well, it was too late for that after volume one.…
¶ I will admit to a healthy skepticism about Jak’s wall-licking episode. My research indicates that one is highly unlikely to find pure tin exposed in this way inside of a natural cave formation. Even cassiterite, a tin ore of some relevance, would be unlikely in this area—and that might be too Allomantically impure to produce an effect. But Jak is being truthful about having lost his pouch of tin. I found it on the ground of the camp following his second capture, full and unopened.
* See episode seven of this narrative for Lyndip’s most recent appearance. I will repeat what I said there: I did not see, nor have I ever seen, this supposed talking bird and cannot confirm her existence.
† Never mind that the Faceless Immortals are a mythological feature of the Path, not Survivorism. This theological mixup has never bothered Jak.
‡ I suspect Jak was hallucinating through this entire section, a result of the trauma to his head. Upon doing this edit, I wished several times to be similarly afflicted.
* I once mentioned to Jak that my people, the Terris, were at one time considered savages—at least according to the records given us by Harmony. He put a hand on my shoulder and said, “It is all right. I am proud to count a savage as my friend.” He was so sincere, I dared not explain just how insulting he was being.
† I find this strains plausibility, even for a Jak story. More likely, the koloss lowered him from above.
‡ This marks the conclusion of this episode and the beginning of the next—and no, I don’t know how he wrote the last paragraph after sealing the letter in his trousers. Regardless, I doubt you think this is Jak’s demise, considering this collected volume contains three episodes of which this is only the first. However, many of the weekly broadsheet readers of his letters did indeed worry that this was the end of Jak. Just as they worried at the end of the other three hundred episodes. It often strikes me that I wish I could find these people and discover to whom they sold the contents of their skulls, and for how much. I personally much prefer the audience of the bound volumes, such as this one. Their keen regard for my personal annotations proves them to be of a superior taste and intellect.
* See “Allomancer Jak and the Waters of Dread” for several equally implausible instances of Jak swimming strong currents and whitewater rapids. I am left to wonder why these extreme events never happen in my presence.
* I am not sure what happened to the rain that was so instrumental in his escape last episode. He doesn’t mention it again.
† An unnecessary “from” is the least of Jak’s problems, so I left it. I did manage to snip sixteen superfluous commas from this page. Jak is also under the impression that koloss looks better with an exclamation point in the center, and I have yet to ascertain the reason. For my own sanity, I have removed these, though I worry it has come too late.
‡ Yup.
* As fanciful as Jak’s description of this place sounds, I have seen it myself, and must second his description. The patterns do look like footprints, and the pool appears to have the shape of a spearhead. The koloss do not speak of it to anyone. Incredible as it seems, he actually found the location of the Survivor’s Treasure. I take this as proof that Harmony watches over all of us, for only deity could have such a cruel sense of humor as to repeatedly allow a man like Jak to bumble into such remarkable success.
† For this revelation, see episode twenty-five of this narrative.
* Or, in other words, “I couldn’t escape immediately, but I wanted to be ready to run screaming like a child as soon as I had the opportunity. So I stood up.”
† Well, no. But I’ll accept it. Please note that what Jak is saying here is, unfortunately, true. I have seen the process with my own eyes, as have other scholars, and it is widely accepted that this description of the practice is true. I did try to explain this to Jak on several occasions.
‡ Not sure if this is possible. It would be much like dividing by a null set.
* This, of course, did not stop the newspaper editors from including a detailed sketch of this scene in their original printing of the episode.
† The original printing of this story ended the penultimate episode right here, which—I am told—nearly caused riots and prompted a special broadsheet the next day, containing the conclusion of the story. Fortunately, we had sent in all three of these episodes together, in a single pouch. It is a constant source of amazement to me that people are so interested in Jak’s raw accounts, rather than waiting for my more sensible, annotated edition. This lack of taste upon the part of the general public is one of the very reasons I left Elendel to travel the Roughs in the first place. It was either that or shoot myself, and my oaths of a steward’s pacifism forbid me from shedding blood.
‡ Studies have proven that koloss-blooded individuals are, on average, no less intelligent than ordinary humans—though obviously this is not true for full koloss who have accepted the transformation. Or for most adventurers.
§ I showed this scene to Elizandra, and her response was laughter. Take that as you wish. I would make note, however, that when I have spoken to her of this, she has not seemed nearly so ashamed of her heritage, though she did hide it from us all at first.
* More laughter here. If you know Zandra, you’d probably realize that any statement that lacks three curses—and a comment about Jak’s questionable parentage—cannot truly be attributed to her. But she does seem to be fond of him. For some reason.
† For those confused—which includes Jak—this really is the way that one becomes a full koloss. Their children are born with skin that ranges from blue to mottled grey, but not the deep blue of true koloss. These children are generally human, though they have some generous endowments of physical capability. Each child is offered the choice to make the final transformation when they reach their twelfth year. Those who do not accept the transformation must leave and join human society. By my estimation, many do leave—but just as many ordinary humans,
dissatisfied with their lives in the cities, make their way to the koloss tribes and join them, accepting the transformation. From there, no distinguishing is made between those who were originally humans or koloss-blooded.
* Not enough respect to refrain from calling them savages, of course.
* I believe that this is the only accurate quote from Elizandra in the entire story. She confided in me she threatened to shoot him in the … ahem … masculine identity if he didn’t include it in the official narrative.
* And by that he means precisely 18.3 fathoms. I went back and measured.
* Yes, I am aware that he has quoted this poem six different times through the course of this narrative, and has said it a little differently each time. No, he will not allow me to change them and make them consistent.
† Those readers with a knowledge of buoyancy and pressure should probably stop here, as opposed to working out the mathematics of what a single lungful of air could manage under these circumstances.
* If a bag of air was all that was needed to raise the treasure, one wonders why the grandest of all windbags himself needed the aforementioned sheep’s bladder.
† Sigh.
‡ Yes, they forgot about me.
* And so, we come to the end of another annotated volume. I’m certain that discerning readers of elegance and respectability will appreciate my long-suffering efforts in keeping Jak alive, if only because I suspect these edited accounts provide them with an individual blend of amusement on long winter evenings. I bid you farewell, then. Jak promises further adventure and mystery, but I make a more humble promise. I’m going to try to get him to use proper punctuation in his letters for once in his life. I believe my task to be the more difficult of the two, by far.
Handerwym of Inner Terris
The 17th of Hammondar, 341