"Drehy, come help him," Kaladin said. "Moash, you too. Try to force me off balance."

The other two joined Skar. Kaladin stepped around the attacks, staying squarely in the middle of them, adjusting his stance to rebuff each attempt. He grabbed Drehy's arm and yanked him forward, nearly causing him to fall. He stepped into Skar's shoulder-rush, deflecting the weight of the man's body and throwing him backward. He pulled back as Moash got his arms on him, causing Moash to overbalance himself.

Kaladin remained completely unfazed, weaving between them and adjusting his center of balance by bending his knees and positioning his feet. "Combat begins with the legs," Kaladin said as he evaded the attacks. "I don't care how fast you are with a jab, how accurate you are with a thrust. If your opponent can trip you, or make you stumble, you'll lose. Losing means dying."

Several of the watching bridgemen tried to imitate Kaladin, crouching down. Skar, Drehy, and Moash had finally decided to try a coordinated rush, planning to all tackle Kaladin at once. Kaladin held up his hand. "Well done, you three." He motioned them back to stand with the others. They reluctantly broke off their attacks.

"I'm going to split you into pairs," Kaladin said. "We're going to spend all day today-and probably each day this week-working on stances. Learning to maintain one, learning to not lock your knees the moment you're threatened, learning to hold your center of balance. It will take time, but I promise you if we start here, you'll learn to be deadly far more quickly. Even if it seems that all you're doing at first is standing around."

The men nodded.

"Teft," Kaladin ordered. "Split them into pairs by size and weight, then run them through an elementary forward spear stance."

"Aye, sir!" Teft barked. Then he froze, realizing what he'd given away. The speed at which he'd responded made it obvious that Teft had been a soldier. Teft met Kaladin's eyes and saw that Kaladin knew. The older man scowled, but Kaladin returned a grin. He had a veteran under his command; that was going to make this all a lot easier.

Teft didn't feign ignorance, and easily fell into the role of the training sergeant, splitting the men into pairs, correcting their stances. No wonder he never takes off that shirt, Kaladin thought. It probably hides a mess of scars.

As Teft instructed the men, Kaladin pointed to Rock, gesturing him over.

"Yes?" Rock asked. The man was so broad of chest that his bridgeman's vest could barely fasten.

"You said something before," Kaladin said. "About fighting being beneath you?"

"Is true. I am not a fourth son."

"What does that have to do with it?"

"First son and second son are needed for making food," Rock said, raising a finger. "Is most important. Without food, nobody lives, yes? Third son is craftsman. This is me. I serve proudly. Only fourth son can be warrior. Warriors, they are not needed as much as food or crafts. You see?"

"Your profession is determined by your birth order?"

"Yes," Rock said proudly. "Is best way. On the Peaks, there is always food. Not every family has four sons. So not always is a soldier needed. I cannot fight. What man could do this thing before the Uli'tekanaki?"

Kaladin shot a glance at Syl. She shrugged, not seeming to care what Rock did. "All right," he said. "I've got something else I want you to do, then. Go grab Lopen, Dabbid…" Kaladin hesitated. "And Shen. Get him too."

Rock did so. Lopen was in the line, learning the stances, though Dabbid-as usual-stood off to the side, staring at nothing in particular. Whatever had taken him, it was far worse than regular battle shock. Shen stood beside him, hesitant, as if not certain of his place.

Rock pulled Lopen out of the line, then grabbed Dabbid and Shen and walked back to Kaladin.

"Gancho," Lopen said, with a lazy salute. "Guess I'll make a poor spearman, with one hand."

"That's all right," Kaladin said. "I have something else I need you to do. We'll see trouble from Gaz and our new captain-or at least his wife-if we don't bring back salvage."

"We three cannot do the work of thirty, Kaladin," Rock said, scratching at his beard. "Is not possible."

"Maybe not," Kaladin said. "But most of our time down in these chasms is spent looking for corpses that haven't been picked clean. I think we can work a lot faster. We need to work a lot faster, if we're going to train with the spear. Fortunately, we have an advantage."

He held out his hand, and Syl alighted on it. He'd spoken to her earlier, and she'd agreed to his plan. He didn't notice her doing anything special, but Lopen suddenly gasped. Syl had made herself visible to him.

"Ah…" Rock said, bowing in respect to Syl. "Like gathering reeds."

"Well flick my sparks," Lopen said. "Rock, you never said it was so pretty!"

Syl smiled broadly.

"Be respectful," Rock said. "Is not for you to speak of her in that way, little person."

The men knew about Syl, of course. Kaladin didn't speak of her, but they saw him talking to the air, and Rock had explained.

"Lopen," Kaladin said. "Syl can move far more quickly than a bridgeman. She will search out places for you to gather, and you four can pick through things quickly."

"Dangerous," Rock said. "What if we meet chasmfiend while alone?"

"Unfortunately, we can't come back empty-handed. The last thing we want is Hashal deciding to send Gaz down to supervise."

Lopen snorted. "He'd never do that, gancho. Too much work down here."

"Too dangerous too," Rock added.

"Everyone says that," Kaladin said. "But I've never seen more than these scrapes on the walls."

"They're down here," Rock said. "Is not just legend. Just before you came, half a bridge crew was killed. Eaten. Most beasts come to the middle plateaus, but there are some who come this far."

"Well, I hate to put you in danger, but unless we try this, we'll have chasm duty taken from us and we'll end up cleaning latrines instead."

"All right, gancho," Lopen said. "I'll go."

"As will I," Rock said. "With ali'i'kamura to protect, perhaps it will be safe."

"I intend to teach you to fight eventually," Kaladin said. Then as Rock frowned, Kaladin hastily added, "You, Lopen, I mean. One arm doesn't mean you're useless. You'll be at a disadvantage, but there are things I can teach you to deal with that. Right now a scavenger is more important to us than another spear."

"Sounds swift to me." Lopen gestured to Dabbid, and the two walked over to gather sacks for the collecting. Rock moved to join them, but Kaladin took his arm.

"I haven't given up on finding an easier way out of here than fighting," Kaladin said to him. "If we never returned, Gaz and the others would probably just assume that a chasmfiend got us. If there's some way to reach the other side…"

Rock looked skeptical. "Many have searched for this thing."

"The eastern edge is open."

"Yes," Rock said, laughing, "and when you are able to travel that far without being eaten by chasmfiend or killed in floods, I shall name you my kaluk'i'iki."

Kaladin raised an eyebrow.

"Only a woman can be kaluk'i'iki," Rock said, as if that explained the joke.

"Wife?"

Rock laughed even louder. "No, no. Airsick lowlanders. Ha!"

"Great. Look, see if you can memorize the chasms, perhaps make a map of some kind. I suspect that most who come down here stick to the established routes. That means we're much more likely to find salvage down side passages; that's where I'll be sending Syl."

"Side passages?" Rock said, still amused. "One might begin to think you want me to be eaten. Ha, and by a greatshell. They are supposed to be tasted, not tasting."