The Emperor's Soul

by Brandon Sanderson

“Five stamps to rewrite a soul,” Frava said. “Each is an abomination, illegal to possess. These Essence Marks were to be destroyed this afternoon. Even if you had escaped, you’d have lost these. How long does it take to create one?”

She never let these Essence Marks out of her sight, except on the rare occasion they were taken from her.

Shai had never met an emperor before, let alone poked one in the face.

Emperor Ashravan of the Eighty Suns—forty-ninth ruler of the Rose Empire—did not respond as Shai prodded him.

“The murderers broke in two nights ago, attacking the emperor and his wife. She was slain. The emperor received a crossbow bolt to the head.”

“You are familiar with resealing?” Gaotona asked. “Vaguely,” Shai said.

Her people called it Flesh Forgery. Using it, a surgeon of great skill could Forge a body to remove its wounds and scars.

Get an ordinary forgery wrong, and you created a work of poor artistic merit. Get a Flesh Forgery wrong, and people died.

“The emperor was attended to quickly following the assassination attempt. The wound to his head was healed, but . . .” “But his mind was not?” Shai asked, waving her hand in front of the man’s face again. “It doesn’t sound like they did a very good job at all.”

That, however, is much like rebinding a book with fresh paper following a fire. Yes, it may look exactly the same, and it may be whole all the way through. The words, though . . . the words are gone.

We have given the emperor a new brain. It is merely empty.” “Huh,” Shai said. “Did you find out who tried to kill him?”

One of the other factions in court, then?” Gaotona sighed. “The Glory Faction.”

Shai whistled softly, but it did make sense. If the emperor died, there was a good chance that the Glory Faction would win a bid to elevate his successor.

At forty, Emperor Ashravan was young still, by Grand standards. He had been expected to...

You are going to replace the emperor’s soul with . . .” She took a deep breath. “With a Forgery.”

Forging one’s own soul was difficult enough, and you didn’t have to rebuild it from the ground up.

The Forgery of the soul, that was what they considered an abomination. Which meant Shai really was their only choice. No one in their own government would be capable of this. She probably wasn’t either.

“Can you do it?” Gaotona asked. I have no idea, Shai thought. “Yes,” she said.

Did he have a journal?” “Yes,” Gaotona said. “Excellent.” “Those documents are sealed,” said one of the other arbiters. “He wanted them destroyed . . .”

Nights! Getting the personality right would be secondary. Getting a stamp that actually took . . . that would be the first step. She wasn’t certain she could manage even that much. “And I’ll need soulstone, of course.” Frava regarded Shai, arms folded. “You can’t possibly expect me to do this without soulstone,” Shai said drily. “I could carve a stamp out of wood, if I had to, but your goal will be difficult enough as it is. Soulstone. Lots of it.” “Fine,” Frava said. “But you will be watched these three months. Closely.” “Three months?” Shai said. “I’m planning for this to take at least two years.” “You have a hundred days,” Frava said. “Actually, ninety-eight, now.” Impossible. “The official explanation for why the emperor hasn’t been seen these last two days,” said one of the other arbiters, “is that he’s been in mourning for the death of his wife. The Glory Faction will assume we are scrambling to buy time following the emperor’s death. Once the hundred days of isolation are finished, they will demand that Ashravan present himself to the court. If he does not, we are finished.”

“I will need gold for this,” Shai said. “Take what you’re thinking I’ll demand and double it. I will walk out of this country rich.” “Done,” Frava said. Too easy, Shai thought. Delightful. They were planning to kill her once this was done.

I’m not going to work for three months in the same clothing I’ve been wearing while in prison. And, as I consider it, have someone draw me a bath immediately.”

“Keep your distance from his grace,” Zu growled. “Or what?” Shai asked, taking the box. “You’ll stab me?” “Someday, I will enjoy—” “Yes, yes,” Shai said,

The only way to get a better stamp was to carve one from crystal itself, which was incredibly difficult.

“Did you . . . steal a vase from the hallway outside?” Gaotona asked, frowning toward an object sitting at the side of her small room.

One of her guards had tried to interfere, but Shai had talked her way past the objection. That guard was now blushing.

“I was curious about the skills of your Forgers,” Shai said, setting down her tools and hauling...

“Our workers are not Forgers,” Gaotona said. “We don’t use that word. They are Rememberers.” “It’s the same thing.”

“They don’t touch souls,” Gaotona said sternly. “Beyond that, what we do is in appreciation of the past, rather than with the aim of fooling or scamming people.

This wasn’t for the emperor—she wasn’t nearly ready for that yet—but carving helped her think.

“You are a Forger. Therefore, you cannot be trusted without supervision. You will try to run the moment you think of a practicable escape.” “So leave guards with me,” Shai said, carving some more.

“Pardon,” Gaotona said, “but I doubt it would take you long to bully, bribe, or blackmail them.” Nearby, Zu stiffened.

but what we have before us is a master trickster, liar, and thief. Your best guards would eventually become clay in her hands.” “Thank you,” Shai said. “It was not a compliment.

From what I know of you, you could nearly charm the gods themselves.” She continued working.

That statement, of course, betrayed a complete lack of understanding in how Forgery worked. A Forgery had to be likely—believable—otherwise it wouldn’t take.

What she could do, however, was discover the chain’s origins and composition, then rewrite one or the other. She could Forge the chain’s past so that one of the links had been cast incorrectly, which would give her a flaw to exploit.

They could make a chain out of ralkalest, the unForgeable metal, but that would only delay her escape.

With enough time, and soulstone, she would find a solution. Forging the wall to have a weak crack in it, so she could pull the chain free.

and I’ve been promised wealth. That is enough to keep me here. Don’t forget, I could have escaped my previous cell at any time.”

Shai continued her carving, uncomfortable. The way he said that . . . Yes, he knew that she could not have done what he described.

Most Grands were ignorant about the ways of Forgery, and this man certainly still was, but he did know enough to realize she couldn’t have escaped as she said. No more than bed linens could become glass.

“You impress me, your grace,” Shai finally said. “You think like a Forger.” Gaotona’s expression soured.

“That,” she noted, “was meant as a compliment.” “I value truth, young woman. Not Forgery.”

“What I do is great art.” “No. You copy other people’s great art. What you do is technically marvelous, yet completely lacking in spirit.”

How dare he? Threatening to execute her was one thing, but insulting her art? He made her sound like . . . like one of those assembly line Forgers, churning out vase after vase!

Her aunt Sol had once told Shai to smile at the worst insults and snap at the minor ones. That way, ...

“So how am I to be kept in line?” she asked. “We have established that I am among the most vile wretches to slither through the halls of this palace. You cannot bind me and ...

“Well,” Gaotona said, “whenever possible, I personally will observe your work.” She would have preferred Frava—that one seemed as if she’d be eas...

“The more people who know of a Forgery, the more likely it is to fail.”

A cloaked figure stood with the guards. The figure stepped into the room; his walk was lithe, but somehow unnatural.