“I never did see a body,” Nale said thoughtfully. “Did you?”
“No, but—”
“Well, I guess we were wrong then,” Nale said, turning.
“We can’t . . . go, can we?”
“Why not?
“Because,” Prael said, floundering. “It’s him.”
“None of our business,” Nale said. “That’s what we promised a thousand years ago. No interfering, no looking for one another. It’s over. Let’s go.”
Nale walked away, not waiting for his companion to follow. Prael lingered, looking toward the pyre.
There, standing almost unnoticed by the noblemen, was an aged, beardless man. He had a full head of silvery hair, and he wore the robes of the new scholars people were calling ‘stormkeepers.’ He was probably posing as a simple learned man from the south.
However, Prael knew him to be someone different. That man was Ishar’Elin, spiritual leader of the Heralds, founder of the Vorin religion, author of the Arguments, and designer of the Oathgates. Ishar’Elin, arguably the most powerful of the ten, undeniably the most wise.
Ishar’Elin, the man who had betrayed the other Heralds a thousand years before, breaking the Oathpact and shattering the cycle of Returns.
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. In addition to completing Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time, he is the author of such bestsellers as the Mistborn saga, Warbreaker, The Stormlight Archive series beginning with The Way of Kings, The Rithmatist, the Skyward series, The Reckoners series beginning with Steelheart, and the Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series. He won the 2013 Hugo Award for The Emperor’s Soul, a novella set in the world of his acclaimed first novel, Elantris. For behind-the-scenes information on all his books, visit brandonsanderson.com.
ALSO BY BRANDON SANDERSON
Short Stories
I Hate Dragons
Dreamer
Novelettes
Firstborn
Defending Elysium
Novellas
Perfect State
Snapshot
The Rithmatist
The Rithmatist
The Reckoners®
Steelheart
Mitosis: A Reckoners Story
Firefight
Calamity
Skyward
Skyward
Starsight
Legion
Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds
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 Wheel of Time, with Robert Jordan
The Gathering Storm
Towers of Midnight
A Memory of Light
WORLDS OF THE COSMERE®
* items with an asterisk are contained in Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection.
SEL
Elantris
The Emperor’s Soul *
SCADRIAL
The Mistborn® Saga
The Eleventh Metal *
The Original Trilogy
Mistborn: The Final Empire
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages
Mistborn: Secret History *
The Wax and Wayne Series
The Alloy of Law
Shadows of Self
The Bands of Mourning
Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania *
NALTHIS
Warbreaker
TALDAIN
White Sand
THRENODY
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell *
FIRST OF THE SUN
Sixth of the Dusk *
ROSHAR
The Stormlight Archive®
The Way of Kings
Words of Radiance
Edgedancer *
Oathbringer
Rhythm of War
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE WAY OF KINGS PRIME
Copyright © 2020 by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
All rights reserved.
A Dragonsteel Entertainment Book
Published by Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC
American Fork, UT
brandonsanderson.com
Brandon Sanderson®, The Stormlight Archive®, Mistborn®, Cosmere®, Reckoners®, Dragonsteel Entertainment®, and the Dragonsteel logo are registered trademarks of Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC.
First electronic edition: July 2020
The Way of Kings Prime Page 98