Firstborn

watched Varion’s forces retreat, and in that moment he knew the truth. He could see it in the organization of the ships.
    He had won. His trick had worked. “In all the things Varion discovered or was taught,” Dennison said, a little stunned himself as he sat back in the chair, “for all his success, for all his genius, there was
one
thing he never learned. . . .”
    Dennison paused, reaching over to his datapad and looking for a specific data feed. He clicked the button, bringing up an image on the main viewscreen: the imaged that showed Varion’s ready room via the bug that Varion had always known about. The bug that he had allowed to remain because it amused him. It showed exactly what Dennison had hoped to see.
    There, presented on the enormous screen, was an image of the High Admiral. Lord Varion Crestmar the Silvermane, greatest military genius of the age, sat behind his desk in the
Voidhawk
. In his limp fingers he held a gun, a smoking hole blown through his own forehead.
    “He never learned how to lose,” Dennison whispered.

    Copyright © 2008 Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC

Books by Brandon Sanderson
    Elantris
(Tor, 2005)
    Warbreaker
(Tor, 2009)
    THE MISTBORN SERIES
    Mistborn
(Tor, 2006)
    The Well of Ascension
(Tor, 2007)
    The Hero of Ages
(Tor, 2008)
    THE ALCATRAZ SMEDRY SERIES
    Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians
(Scholastic, 2007)
    Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones
(Scholastic, 2008)
    Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia
(Scholastic, 2009)
    Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens
(forthcoming from Scholastic)
    THE WHEEL OF TIME
    The Gathering Storm
(with Robert Jordan) (Tor, 2009)
    Towers of Midnight
(with Robert Jordan, forthcoming) (Tor)
    A Memory of Light
(with Robert Jordan, forthcoming) (Tor)
    THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVE
    The Way of Kings
(forthcoming) (Tor)