Stormlight Rains (Book 1 of The Girl Who Looked Up)

16: Ghostblood

Y/n rubbed her eyes. The past few hours, she and Shallan had been reading through Jasnah's notes. They still sat in the alcove, though a servant had come to bring Shallan a wrap to cover her hospital robe.

She wondered how things were going to work in the future. She, Shallan, and Jasnah...Jasnah already knew about Y/n's condition. What of Shallan? Y/n quite liked Shallan and didn't want to hide anything from her, but...

These secrets weren't ready to be shared.

Still...if Jasnah was right about this...

The legends claimed that each time the Voidbringers returned, the Radiants were there, fighting. And the Soulcasting that Shallan and Jasnah had spoken of...that was another of the things the Radiants could do.

And Y/n's Bindings—no, her Lashings...

Stormfather! Were they all possessing Radiant qualities? But that would mean...no. They couldn't be on the path to becoming Radiants. Could they?

"It's true," Shallan suddenly said. "You're right. The Voidbringers are the parshmen. I can see no other conclusion."

Jasnah smiled, looking oddly pleased with herself, considering that she'd only convinced two people.

"So what next?" Y/n asked.

"That has to do with Shallan's previous studies."

"My studies?" Shallan asked. "You mean your father's death?"

"Indeed. Y/n, you said you received an education. You're familiar with this event?"

"Yes," Y/n said. "The Parshendi attacked him. Killed him suddenly, without warning..." She looked to Jasnah. "That's what made you begin studying all of this, isn't it?"

Jasnah nodded. "Those wild parshmen—the Parshendi of the Shattered Plains—are the key." She leaned forward. "Both of you—the disaster awaiting us is all too real, all too terrible. I don't need mystical warnings or theological sermons to frighten me. I'm downright terrified in my own right."

"But we have the parshmen tamed," Shallan protested.

"Do we? Think of what they do, how they're regarded, how often they're used."

Shallan hesitated. Y/n could see why—the parshmen were pervasive.

"They serve our food," Jasnah continued. "They work our storehouses. They tend our children. There isn't a village in Roshar that doesn't have some parshmen. We ignore them; we just expect them to be there, doing as they do. Working without complaint.

"Yet one group turned suddenly from peaceful friends to slaughtering warriors. Something set them off. Just as it did hundreds of years ago, during the days known as the Heraldic Epochs. There would be a period of peace, followed by an invasion of parshmen who—for reasons nobody understood—had suddenly gone mad with anger and rage. This was what was behind mankind's fight to keep from being 'banished to Damnation.' This was what nearly ended our civilization. This was the terrible, repeated cataclysm that was so frightening men began to speak of them as Desolations.

"We've nurtured the parshmen. We've integrated them into every part of our society. We depend on them, never realizing that we've harnessed a highstorm waiting to explode. The accounts from the Shattered Plains speak of these Parshendi's ability to communicate among themselves, allowing them to sing their songs in unison when far apart. Their minds are connected, like spanreeds. Do you realize what that means?"

Y/n nodded absently, her mind already spinning. What would happen if every parshman on Roshar suddenly turned against his masters? Seeking freedom, or worse— vengeance?

"We'd be devastated," Shallan hushed. "Civilization as we know it could collapse. We have to do something!"

"We are," Jasnah said. "We're gathering facts, making certain we know what we think we know."

Y/n hadn't signed up for this. She'd agreed to studying with Jasnah about the Knights Radiant in order to try and figure out a cure for her condition. She wasn't ready to become part of a possible war effort to stop another storming Desolation!

She should speak up. Say that she can't be a part of this.

"And how many facts do we need?" Y/n found herself saying instead, determination coloring her voice.

"More. Many more." Jasnah glanced at the books. "There are some things about the histories I don't yet understand. Tales of creatures fighting alongside the parshmen, beasts of stone that might be some kind of greatshell, and other oddities that I think may have truth to them. But we've exhausted what Kharbranth can offer. Are you still certain you both want to delve into this? It is a heavy burden we will bear. Shallan, you won't be returning to your estates for some time. And Y/n...well, you'll be occupied for quite awhile as well."

Y/n looked down. Could she really do this? Could she really be a part of something like this?

Yes. Yes she could. This was bigger than her problem—bigger than all of it. If they knew that something as terrible as a Desolation was coming...

There was no other choice but to help.

"I can't just abandon my brothers," Shallan said with a grimace. "But this is bigger than them. Damnation—it's bigger than me or you or any of us. I have to help, Jasnah. I can't walk out on this. I'll find some other way to help my family."

"Good. Then go pack your things. You too, Y/n. We're leaving tomorrow."

"What?" Y/n asked.

"We're going to Jah Keved?" Shallan asked right after.

"No. We need to get to the center of it all." Jasnah looked at them both. "We're going to the Shattered Plains. We need to find out if the Parshendi were ever ordinary parshmen, and if so, what set them off. Perhaps I am wrong about this, but if I am right, then the Parshendi could hold the key to turning ordinary parshmen into soldiers."

Then, grimly, she continued. "And we need to do it before someone else does, then uses it against us."

"Someone else?" Shallan asked, feeling a sharp stab of panic. "There are others looking for this?"

"Of course there are. Who do you think went to so much trouble trying to have me assassinated?" She reached into a stack of papers on her desk. "I don't know much about them. For all I know, there are many groups searching for these secrets. I know of one for certain, however. They call themselves the Ghostbloods."

Y/n felt a jolt.

Jasnah pulled out a sheet. "Your friend Kabsal was one. We found their symbol tattooed on his ankle."

She set the sheet down. On it was a symbol of three diamonds in a pattern, overlapping one another.

Y/n watched Shallan's face as she studied the picture.

"Almighty above," Shallan whispered. She looked up. "Jasnah, I think... I think my father might have been a member of this group."