Rhythm of War
by Brandon Sanderson
Contents
39. Invasion
Overview
A tower-wide suppression strikes: Radiants collapse, spanreeds die, and Kaladin’s Gravitation fails while Syl weakens. The Sibling warns Navani through garnet veins, prompting her to mobilize runners and consolidate command at the map room. Fused seize the heart-pillar and Oathgates. Wracked by PTSD, Kaladin stands down at Lirin’s insistence as Urithiru effectively falls.
Summary
Teft suddenly collapses in a winehouse. Kaladin triages him, suspects seizure or stroke, and tries to Lash Teft lighter—but Gravitation fails, and Syl is missing. With Rlain sensing ominous rhythms, they reach the market clinic to find Edgedancers down. Testing shows Adhesion works but Gravitation does not, and other Radiants—including a Stoneward—are unconscious. At the clinic, Syl struggles back, groggy and distant. Spanreeds are dead, and outside, Fused descend on Urithiru: not a raid but an invasion.
Meanwhile, Navani interrogates a captured Windrunner, Dabbid, when a spanreed begins writing on its own. The Sibling warns that the enemy is inside and harming it; then spanreeds go inert and Red the Lightweaver collapses. Navani immediately dispatches runners to mobilize the seven garrisons and gathers staff at the second-floor map room. Dabbid indicates garnet veins in the walls as the means of contact with the Sibling, and Navani frees him to join her.
Kaladin, unable to summon a Shardblade and holding a surgeon’s knife instead, tries to push himself to fight but is overcome by acute anxiety and traumatic recall. Syl reports the enemy has taken the heart-pillar room and is using the Oathgates. Lirin confronts Kaladin, arguing that fighting now would doom their family and others. Kaladin yields the knife and shelters with his family as screams echo through the corridors, recognizing that—even if resistance continues—Urithiru has fallen.
Who Appears
- Kaladin StormblessedWindrunner; triages Teft, loses Gravitation, suffers acute PTSD, and stands down at Lirin’s insistence.
- Navani KholinReceives the Sibling’s warning, finds spanreeds dead, mobilizes runners, and consolidates command at the map room.
- RlainListener ally; senses new ominous rhythms, helps carry Teft, reports more Radiants down and Fused arriving.
- LirinSurgeon father; treats victims, counsels caution, and persuades Kaladin not to fight to protect family.
- Sylphrena (Syl)Honorspren; initially missing and groggy, bond weakened; warns of heart-pillar seizure and Oathgate control.
- TeftWindrunner; collapses suddenly, unresponsive but breathing, likely affected by tower-wide Radiant suppression.
- DabbidSilent Bridge Four man; courier for a ruby, reveals garnet veins to contact the Sibling.
- The SiblingUrithiru’s spren; warns of enemy assault and being harmed; spanreeds fail soon after.
- FusedInvading singers; descend on Urithiru, seize the heart-pillar room, and use the Oathgates.
- KalamiScribe; sets up spanreed, tends Red, and assists Navani’s relocation to the map room.
- RedLightweaver; identifies Dabbid, then collapses when suppression strikes.
- LorainEdgedancer who collapses and suffers a head wound as the clinic evacuates.
- Kaladin’s motherHelps at the clinic, confirms fabrial failures, and shelters with family during the invasion.