Tvlakv delivers his slaves to Highprince Sadeas’s warcamp. A lighteyed inspector, later identified as Brightness Hashal, rejects most for menial labor but selects Kaladin and his wagonmates for bridge duty, ordering “special treatment” for Kaladin after Tvlakv brands him a rebellious deserter. Kaladin hopes to fight as a soldier, but that chance evaporates.

Escorted to the bridge subcamp, Kaladin meets Sergeant Gaz, a scarred, one-eyed bully who dismisses Kaladin’s military experience and withholds basic gear. Horns call the army to move, and Kaladin is thrown into Bridge Four, lifting a massive portable bridge without sandals or padded vest. An older, kindly bridgeman advises him to endure by breathing and counting steps as they jog across the Shattered Plains.

The crews repeatedly place bridges over chasms for Sadeas’s army—spearmen, cavalry, and a lighteyed man in red Shardplate—then race ahead to set more. During brief rests, Kaladin bandages his bleeding feet and shoulders and learns that Brightlord Dalinar, unlike Sadeas, does not use bridgemen this way. Gaz drives the crews mercilessly, and Kaladin grows to hate him for endangering men out of spite.

Before a battle, Gaz orders “Switch,” moving newcomers to the exposed front. Across the next chasm, Parshendi archers are already formed. As the bridgemen charge, volleys scythe through the ranks; Kaladin’s leathery-faced ally and many others fall, several bridges collapse, but enough are placed to allow Sadeas’s cavalry to smash the Parshendi line. Kaladin nearly tumbles into the chasm, then collapses from exhaustion.

Hours later, Kaladin awakens amid corpses; his windspren rouses him and, when asked, names herself Sylphrena—Syl. Limping, Kaladin scavenges a vest and sandals from his dead friend. Gaz orders the battered remnants to lift the bridge for the return; Kaladin realizes he had been marked to die. He shoulders the weight anyway, accepting that Bridge Four is an engineered nightmare he must now survive.