The Way of Kings Prime

by Brandon Sanderson

  “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