Kaladin
One year ago
(bold portion is an excerpt from Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I do not intend to do this again, but I felt it necessary to show the exact moment of canon divergence.)
Everything felt wrong.
If he took that Blade, he'd become one of them. HIs eyes would even change, if the stories were right. Though the Blade glistened in the light, clean of the murders it had performed, for a moment it seemed red to him. Stained with Dallet's blood. Toorim's blood. The blood of the men who had been alive just moments before.
It was a treasure. Men traded kingdoms for Shardblades. The handful of darkeyed men who had won them lived forever in song and story. But the thought of touching that Blade sickened him. It represented everything he'd come to hate about the lighteyes, and it had just slaughtered men he loved dearly. He could not become a legend because of something like that. He looked at his reflection in the Blade's pitiless metal, then lowered his hand and turned away.
"It's yours, Coreb," Kaladin said. "I give it to you."
"What?" Coreb said from behind.
Ahead, Amaram's honor guard had finally returned, apprehensively appearing at the top of the small hollow, looking ashamed.
Coreb spoke up, "I believe my squad leader meant to say that he wishes to present this fine set of Plate and Blade to his superior, Highmarshal Amaram. Everything we have done today has been in your service, and it would be the highest honor to present you with the spoils of victory."
Amaram eyed them suspiciously but said, "Your honor and bravery does you credit, soldier. Squadleader - um -"
"Kaladin, sir," Kaladin answered out of habit.
"Squadleader Kaladin, your men have fought well today. The dead will surely join the fight to reclaim the Tranquiline Halls. As for the Plate and Blade, I couldn't possibly accept them."
Coreb, who had come to stand next to Kaladin, whispered, "Insist that he take it."
Kaladin didn't understand the fear in Coreb's eyes, but considering he had been about to entrust a full set of Shards to Coreb, it wasn't a difficult decision to trust him in this. Kaladin told Amaram, "No, no Brightlord, I insist. I just got a lucky hit. I wouldn't know what to do with a sword anyway. I'm only trained in the spear, after all."
Amaram appeared stunned. Nobody said anything for the moment, and then Amaram broke the silence, "I believe a promotion is in order for you, young man. We'll discuss the details later, but for now, you and your men get cleaned up. In fact, have a hot bath in my chambers and instruct my chef to bring you anything you desire to eat." Amaram signaled for one of his honor guard to escort the men, Kaladin and the remaining four members of his squad made their way back to camp.
Kaladin and Coreb hung back a bit from the honor guard and the other three, and Kaladin whispered, "What am I missing?"
Coreb explained, "That look in Amaram's eyes. I've seen it before, when he wants - no, no, feels entitled to - something that isn't his. It's not true desperation, just the 'need' of someone who isn't often told 'no.' And it's a dangerous thing. Once when he visited Brightlord Ashar," Coreb had once been the apprentice steward of a citylord several days' travel south of Hearthstone, "Amaram demanded to examine some family heirloom of Ashar's. Ashar refused. Later, a couple of housemaids caught him snooping around Ashar's private effects, but somehow Amaram managed to turn the blame on them. He accused them of stealing, and, though I'm fairly certain Ashar could guess the truth, you don't contradict a man in Amaram's position. The women were beaten severely and dismissed without references. I-I can't imagine what he would do for Shards."
So much for Amaram's honor. If what Coreb said was true, deep down Amaram was just like any other lighteyes. Worse, even, since he appeared trustworthy. But if you can't count on someone all the time, you can't count on them at all.
Amaram's reward for Hab, Reesh, Alabet and Coreb was a substantial sum of money and their choice of duty assignments. Kaladin got the same, along with the recommendation that he be promoted to Lieutenant, the highest rank a dark eyes could reasonably hope to attain. Anything was a pittance in comparison to Shardblade, but Coreb had instructed the men to bow and scrape and act grateful for the boons they received.
Hab had a wife and child, Alabet's father's health was beginning to fail, and Reesh wanted to be a merchant when he left the army. The reward was enough let them chase their dreams and take good care of their families, provided they survived their remaining time in the army. And their survival seemed fairly likely. Kaladin's choice of posting was still the Shattered Plains, but each of the remaining members of his squad selected relatively safe and boring positions, miles away from the borderlands.
The reinforcements to the Shattered Plains traveled to Kholinar and joined armies from all across the kingdom in a long caravan of soldiers, provisions, and, to Kaladin's dismay, luxury goods. Having been promoted to second lieutenant, Kaladin was the highest ranking darkeyes in the Sadeas contingent. He was placed in charge of all seventy-eight spearmen for the duration of the journey, reporting to the light-eyed Captain Jeral Mavarien.
His duties consisted mostly of keeping the peace. He had to know which men couldn't serve guard duty together and break up the occasional fistfight. Kaladin wished he could do more to enforce basic rules, like a curfew or even uniform requirements. When a camp had structure and discipline, it ultimately made the leaders' jobs easier. But Kaladin didn't have much power, and Captain Mavarien didn't see Kaladin's ideas as necessary. The infighting and disorder was, in a way, a microcosm of the entire caravan.
Ostensibly they were to travel as one unit, but most of the soldiers had just spent years fighting border skirmishes against the armies of the other highprinces. Kaladin felt for the caravan commander; deciding on travel order and campsite allocation was a logistical nightmare. Sadeas' soldiers couldn't be trusted near men from either princedom that directly bordered Sadeas' land holdings: Aladar and Vamah. Thanadal and Hatham had just ended a particularly bloody and underhanded dispute, and it seemed like no princedom was above its own petty rivalries.
Men were injured frequently. Kaladin lost four spearmen on the journey: one to desertion, one to a venomous lizard bite, one to a highstorm, and one who, in direct defiance of Kaladin's orders, drunkenly wandered into Aladar's camp, insulted someone bigger than him, got beaten to a pulp, and died of his injuries.
When the caravan arrived at the Shattered Plains and Kaladin saw that the ten warcamps were kept separate from one another, he burned a prayer of thanks to the Almighty.