4: THE SHATTERED PLAINS

An imprisoned and branded deserter named, he destroys his captor's map out of spite, then grudgingly negotiates with the slavemaster as they travel through unknown territory. After enduring a highstorm in his cage, the caravan descends into the massive encampment of the king's armies at the edge of the fabled—and dreaded—shattered plains.

The chapter opens with the windspren questioning why the branded man, revealed to be named, doesn't cry like the other slaves. The slavemaster's wagon rolls through monotonous terrain toward an unknown destination. The rhythm of slavery continues: wake, relieve, slop, water, sleep. When the lead wagon stops because the slavemaster has lost his way, the branded man grows angry, snatches the map from through the bars, and shreds it defiantly. Rather than punishing him severely, the slavemaster recognizes this show of will as valuable—the branded man clearly possesses knowledge worth leveraging. He offers extra food in exchange for directions. The branded man refuses and threatens to throw him off a cliff, but a strange understanding forms between them as the slavemaster reveals he knows about the branded man's connection to the man who sold him into slavery: a highlord named. The slavemaster also acknowledges the official lie—that he was branded for desertion rather than some greater crime—and insists they maintain this fiction for marketability. After a highstorm batters their cages, leaving the wagons drenched and exposing the slaves to cleansing rain, the caravan presses eastward. The windspren mentions seeing others like the branded man ahead. As they crest a hill, the branded man realizes they haven't been traveling toward the coast as he assumed, but toward war itself. Below lies an enormous military encampment spanning miles of stone formations—the armies of the king and his highprinces, gathered at the edge of the legendary and feared place known as the shattered plains. Despite his resignation to slavery, the branded man feels a strange stirring of hope, remembering that this was once where his younger brother had dreamed of coming to fight in the king's army. The other slaves react with cautious optimism, hoping that service in the king's lands might mean better treatment and the possibility of earning freedom through wages. The branded man remains skeptical of such promises, yet finds himself wondering if redemption or purpose might yet be found in this place where he once wanted to be.