Chapter 35

Shallan reveals herself as a full Knight Radiant to Mraize and Iyatil, summoning armor and weapons to confront the Ghostbloods. After a brief combat exchange in which Iyatil shoots her with an anti-Light bolt, Windrunners arrive through a hole melted in the ceiling, causing Mraize and Iyatil to vanish using black-violet warping magic. Meanwhile, Kaladin and Szeth approach Shinovar, spotting a monastery shrouded in unnatural darkness that once housed an Honorblade, where Szeth hints he encountered an Unmade.

The chapter opens with Shallan's disguise compromised; she activates her spanreed emergency signal and allows Radiant to take control. Rather than flee, Radiant sheds her wig and mask, summoning full Shardplate armor, Pattern as a blade, and Testament as a shield. She confronts Iyatil and Mraize in the large chamber where Ghostbloods are coordinating their defense with Shardblades and conventional weapons. When Iyatil prepares an anti-Stormlight crossbow bolt, Shallan retreats to the trophy room. She challenges Mraize directly, and as the Ghostbloods retreat toward a hidden exit, Shallan mentions seeing Mishram to distract them. Iyatil fires the anti-Light bolt, striking Shallan in the ribs; Shallan ejects her Stormlight to create illusions and narrowly avoids being fully caught in the blast. The wound is severe, and the anti-Light seeps through her body, but Shallan consciously avoids drawing in Stormlight to prevent the two opposing forces from meeting. As Iyatil moves in for a killing blow, a dozen Windrunners descend through a melted section of ceiling, carrying Erinor, a Stoneward, whose stone-warping powers created the passage. Mraize, Iyatil, and Lieke vanish using black-violet warping light. In the parallel storyline, Kaladin and Szeth emerge from the forest into Shinovar after hours of walking. Szeth has been telling fragmented stories about his family and a discovered rock, but becomes evasive when pressed. They reach a plateau overlooking Shinovar's vast, densely grassed plains dotted with isolated, unfortified homesteads that unsettle Kaladin with their apparent vulnerability. Szeth points out an area of unnatural darkness near a monastery on a mountainside ridge—the monastery of Talmut's Honorblade, where Szeth trained as a youth. Szeth reveals this monastery once housed Taln's Honorblade and hints he encountered an Unmade here, connecting it to the darkness Kaladin noticed at Kholinar. When Kaladin suggests investigating immediately, Szeth recommends camping nearby instead. Kaladin agrees, wanting to avoid a nighttime encounter with potential Unmade, and insists on building a cookfire, hoping to coax more openness from Szeth.