Dalinar wanted nothing but to be alone, and he toyed with leaving. He wasn’t sure that Taravangian had noticed him. But that warmth was so welcoming. There were few fires in the tower, and even with the walls to block wind, you always felt chilled.
He settled into the other chair and let out a deep sigh. Taravangian didn’t address him, bless the man. Together they sat by that not-fire, staring into the depths of the gem.
Storms, how he had failed today. There would be no coalition. He couldn’t even keep the Alethi highprinces in line.
“Not quite like sitting by a hearth, is it?” Taravangian finally said, his voice soft.
“No,” Dalinar agreed. “I miss the popping of the logs, the dancing of flamespren.”
“It does have its own charm though. Subtle. You can see the Stormlight moving inside.”
“Our own little storm,” Dalinar said. “Captured, contained, and channeled.”
Taravangian smiled, eyes lit by the ruby’s Stormlight. “Dalinar Kholin … do you mind me asking you something? How do you know what is right?”
“A lofty question, Your Majesty.”
“Please, just Taravangian.”
Dalinar nodded.
“You have denied the Almighty,” Taravangian said.
“I—”
“No, no. I am not decrying you as a heretic. I do not care, Dalinar. I’ve questioned the existence of deity myself.”
“I feel there must be a God,” Dalinar said softly. “My mind and soul rebel at the alternative.”
“Is it not our duty, as kings, to ask questions that make the minds and souls of other men cringe?”
“Perhaps,” Dalinar said. He studied Taravangian. The king seemed so contemplative.
Yes, there still is some of the old Taravangian in there, Dalinar thought. We have misjudged him. He might be slow, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t think.
“I have felt warmth,” Dalinar said, “coming from a place beyond. A light I can almost see. If there is a God, it was not the Almighty, the one who called himself Honor. He was a creature. Powerful, but still merely a creature.”
“Then how do you know what is right? What guides you?”
Dalinar leaned forward. He thought he could see something larger within the ruby’s light. Something that moved like a fish in a bowl.
Warmth continued to bathe him. Light.
“ ‘On my sixtieth day,’ ” Dalinar whispered, “ ‘I passed a town whose name shall remain unspoken. Though still in lands that named me king, I was far enough from my home to go unrecognized. Not even those men who handled my face daily—in the form of my seal imprinted upon their letters of authority—would have known this humble traveler as their king.’ ”
Taravangian looked to him, confused.
“It’s a quote from a book,” Dalinar said. “A king long ago took a journey. His destination was this very city. Urithiru.”
“Ah…” Taravangian said. “The Way of Kings, is it? Adrotagia has mentioned that book.”
“Yes,” Dalinar said. “ ‘In this town, I found men bedeviled. There had been a murder. A hogman, tasked in protecting the landlord’s beasts, had been assaulted. He lived long enough, only, to whisper that three of the other hogmen had gathered together and done the crime.
“ ‘I arrived as questions were being raised, and men interrogated. You see, there were four other hogmen in the landlord’s employ. Three of them had been responsible for the assault, and likely would have escaped suspicion had they finished their grim job. Each of the four loudly proclaimed that he was the one who had not been part of the cabal. No amount of interrogation determined the truth.’ ”
Dalinar fell silent.
“What happened?” Taravangian asked.
“He doesn’t say at first,” Dalinar replied. “Throughout his book, he raises the question again and again. Three of those men were violent threats, guilty of premeditated murder. One was innocent. What do you do?”
“Hang all four,” Taravangian whispered.
Dalinar—surprised to hear such bloodthirst from the other man—turned. Taravangian looked sorrowful, not bloodthirsty at all.
“The landlord’s job,” Taravangian said, “is to prevent further murders. I doubt that what the book records actually happened. It is too neat, too simple a parable. Our lives are far messier. But assuming the story did occur as claimed, and there was absolutely no way of determining who was guilty … you have to hang all four. Don’t you?”
“What of the innocent man?”
“One innocent dead, but three murderers stopped. Is it not the best good that can be done, and the best way to protect your people?” Taravangian rubbed his forehead. “Stormfather. I sound like a madman, don’t I? But is it not a particular madness to be charged with such decisions? It’s difficult to address such questions without revealing our own hypocrisy.”
Hypocrite, Amaram accused Dalinar in his mind.
He and Gavilar hadn’t used pretty justifications when they’d gone to war. They’d done as men did: they’d conquered. Only later had Gavilar started to seek validation for their actions.
“Why not let them all go?” Dalinar said. “If you can’t prove who is guilty—if you can’t be sure—I think you should let them go.”
“Yes … one innocent in four is too many for you. That makes sense too.”
“No, any innocent is too many.”
“You say that,” Taravangian said. “Many people do, but our laws will claim innocent men—for all judges are flawed, as is our knowledge. Eventually, you will execute someone who does not deserve it. This is the burden society must carry in exchange for order.”
“I hate that,” Dalinar said softly.
“Yes … I do too. But it’s not a matter of morality, is it? It’s a matter of thresholds. How many guilty may be punished before you’d accept one innocent casualty? A thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred? When you consider, all calculations are meaningless except one. Has more good been done than evil? If so, then the law has done its job. And so … I must hang all four men.” He paused. “And I would weep, every night, for having done it.”
Damnation. Again, Dalinar reassessed his impression of Taravangian. The king was soft-spoken, but not slow. He was simply a man who liked to consider a great long time before committing.
“Nohadon eventually wrote,” Dalinar said, “that the landlord took a modest approach. He imprisoned all four. Though the punishment should have been death, he mixed together the guilt and innocence, and determined that the average guilt of the four should deserve only prison.”
“He was unwilling to commit,” Taravangian said. “He wasn’t seeking justice, but to assuage his own conscience.”
“What he did was, nevertheless, another option.”
“Does your king ever say what he would have done?” Taravangian asked. “The one who wrote the book?”
“He said the only course was to let the Almighty guide, and let each instance be judged differently, depending on circumstances.”
“So he too was unwilling to commit,” Taravangian said. “I would have expected more.”