Kaladin returns to the Shattered Plains with Dalinar’s force, haunted by bridge-run memories. His Stormlight fails him until Syl appears, laughing and unfocused. She rebukes his “bad choices,” and Kaladin realizes his agreement to aid Moash in killing King Elhokar is straining their bond. Syl insists he must find and speak new Words, not merely back out, or risk losing her.

En route, a vaulter scout reports seeing a glowing man—the Assassin in White—over the Plains. Dalinar accepts the report and presses on. Kaladin notes Renarin integrating with Bridge Four while refusing to summon his Blade, and he urges Dalinar to consider armored, supported bridge crews for any assault toward the center. Dalinar agrees to prepare crews and dispatches scouts to survey routes.

Adolin rides beside Kaladin, probing—poorly—for the source of Kaladin’s prowess. Together they outline a plan for facing the Assassin in White: Kaladin distracts while Adolin aims for a killing blow. Meanwhile Shallan halts the bridge to sketch the unfolding mechanism and later has Adolin slice a rock, revealing a white stone core that suggests an ancient structure beneath accumulated crem.

Moash arrives in newly painted Shardplate, his eyes already lightening. He quietly advances the assassination plan: Kaladin need only guide Elhokar into position while Graves kills the king with an arrow, and they will avoid acting while Dalinar is present. Kaladin, torn between conflicting oaths, assents while feeling increasingly ill and cut off from Stormlight when Syl is absent.

Near the target chrysalis plateau, Dalinar’s mechanical bridges deploy as the army prepares to survey and then return. Kaladin notices a familiar carpenter—formerly from Sadeas’s lumberyards—working the mechanism. Horns sound. Recognizing the danger, Kaladin sprints and shouts to Adolin. The carpenter yanks a lever; the massive bridge lurches and collapses, with Dalinar still on it.