Amid collapse on the Tower, Adolin and Dalinar drive a wedge through dense Parshendi ranks, creating a narrow corridor toward the western chasm. Behind them, Bridge Four—against orders—hold the bridgehead, buying time at terrible cost. Teft and the bridgemen support Kaladin as he draws Stormlight and fights with uncanny speed and precision, stemming repeated Parshendi pushes to cut the bridge free.

Dalinar reaches open rock only to be challenged by a Parshendi Shardbearer. Exhausted and with failing Plate, Dalinar duels, shattering terrain to topple his foe but cannot finish him. As the Parshendi surround them, Adolin struggles to hold a front, his Plate failing. Kaladin stabilizes the line, quietly fuels himself from Parshendi gemstones, and forces a gap so Adolin can withdraw to organize the retreat.

With command in disarray, Kaladin field-commissions Nacomb Gaval to run the rear guard and gets the army flowing across the bridge. Spotting Dalinar isolated against the Parshendi Shardbearer, Kaladin sprints through thinning ranks, then exploits a fissure in the enemy’s Plate, spearing the cracked leg twice and forcing the Shardbearer to drop his Blade.

Kaladin hides his glow, seizes Gallant’s reins, and orders Dalinar to mount. Dalinar abandons the kill and calls the retreat, the Cobalt Guard and Alethi pushing back to the bridge. The army crosses; the Parshendi hold, chanting, while the cracked Shardbearer rises and salutes. Dalinar returns the salute as Bridge Four retract the span.

On the escape plateau, triage begins. Dalinar confronts the bridgeman leader—revealed as a branded slave—and learns Bridge Four came without Sadeas’s leave. Kaladin warns that taking them will pit Dalinar against Sadeas’s claims. Dalinar vows Bridge Four’s safety and resolves to deal with Sadeas later, avoiding immediate civil war even as the old balance is shattered.