33. Burdens

Kaladin falls from the palace after fighting the Assassin in White but survives the impact and discovers he can heal from Shardblade wounds using Stormlight. He reveals himself as a Windrunner to the assassin, who flees in shock and terror. Kaladin returns to find the royal family alive but learns that two of his Bridge Four men—Beld and Hobber—have been killed or grievously wounded by the assassin.

Kaladin plummets from the palace while grappling with the Assassin in White, absorbing Stormlight from the assassin's spheres during the fall. He crashes hard onto the rocks below but survives. His right hand and forearm are initially killed by the Shardblade, but through desperate effort and Stormlight, he manages to revive them—a feat that shocks him. The assassin, realizing Kaladin is a Surgebinder, becomes terrified and demands if "they" are all back, revealing his name as Szeth-son-son-Vallano and his status as Truthless. Kaladin bluffs affirmatively, causing the assassin to flee eastward in panic. Kaladin collapses from exhaustion. Upon regaining consciousness, he climbs back to the palace where he finds Dalinar, Adolin, and Elhokar alive. He gives a vague explanation for his survival, though Adolin grows suspicious after noticing Kaladin's missing sleeve. The group discovers a message scratched into Elhokar's bedroom door reading "Thirty-eight days. The end of all nations." Afterward, Kaladin searches the palace corridors and finds Beld dead with burned-out eyes, killed while protecting others. He also finds Hobber alive but with legs darkened and dead from a Shardblade wound, believing himself now useless as a soldier. Kaladin reassures Hobber that he remains Bridge Four and carries him back to the others, drawing on remaining Stormlight to manage the burden.