Eleven years earlier, Dalinar leads an elite, lightly armored running company to strike a reported caravan near the Rift. Fueled by the Thrill and wearing Shardplate, he chases soldiers in Sadeas’s colors into a canyon, then realizes something is wrong. A triggered landslide buries him; half-shattered Plate and a broken helm barely save his life as Rifters pick through the debris to claim his Shards.

Dalinar bursts from the stones and fights in a frenzy. With Oathbringer’s pommel gemstone cracked and his armor failing in several places, he kills the attackers, then binds wounds and begins a grueling trek through the night. Hallucinations and the Thrill drive him forward until he reaches the coalition camp, where Sadeas’s true army has arrived ahead of schedule.

Staggering into the command tent, Dalinar learns from Teleb that scouts reported his death in an ambush. He identifies those same scouts as traitors bribed by Highlord Tanalan and orders their arrest, recognizing the trap was planned well in advance. Surveying siege plans, he rejects delay and demands immediate, decisive punishment.

Evi, horrified by Dalinar’s blood-soaked state, pleads for rest and restraint. Sadeas presses the need to inspire fear. Dalinar chooses retribution: he orders the Soulcaster to create oil rather than grain and declares Rathalas will be burned to ashes so thoroughly that none will rebuild, ignoring Evi’s protests.