Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (28 page)

"Not bad," Ham said. "I'm just glad they decided not to drain the canal on us." As they'd moved west, the land had risen requiring the convoy to pass through several massive lock mechanisms. The last four had been j ammed intentionally, requiring hours of effort to get them working.

"They rely on it too much," Elend said. "If they survive our siege, they'll need to ship in supplies. Assuming any can be had."

Ham f ell silent. Finally, he turned, looking back up the dark canal behind them. "El," he said. "I don't think that much more will be traveling this canal. The boats barely made it this far there's too much ash clogging it. If we go home, we'll do so on foot."

" 'If' we go home?"

Ham shrugged. Despite the colder western weather, he still wore only a vest. Now that Elend was an Allomancer, he could final ly understand the habit. While burning pewter, Elend barely felt the chill, though several of the soldiers had complained about it in the mornings.

"I don't know, El," Ham finally said. "It just seems portentous to me. Our canal closing behind us as we travel. Kind of like fate is trying to strand us here. " "Ham," Elend said, " ever ything seems portentous to you. We'll be fine."

Ham shrugged.

"Organize our forces," Elend said, pointing. "Dock us in that inlet over there, and set up camp on the mesa."

Ham nodded. He was still looking backward, however. Toward Luthadel, which they had left behind.
They don 't fear the mists
, Elend thought, staring up through the darkness at the rocky formations that marked the entrance into Fadrex City. Bonfires blazed up there, lighting the night. Often, such lights were futile signifying man's fear of the mists. These f ires were different, somehow . They seemed a warning; a bold declaration of conf idence. They burned brightly, high, as if f loating in the sky. Elend turned, walking into his illuminated commander's tent, where a small group of people sat waiting for him. Ham, Cett, and Vin. Demoux was absent, still recovering from mistsickness . We're spread thin, Elend thought.
Spook and Breeze in the North, Penrod back at Luthadel, Felt
watching the storage cache in the East . . .

"All right," Elend said, letting the tent flaps close behind him. "Looks like they're holed up in there pretty well ."

"Initial scout reports are in, El," Ham said. "We're guessing about twenty-five thousand def enders."

"Not as many as I expected," Elend said.

"That bastard Yomen has to keep control of the rest of my kingdom," Cett said. "If he pulled all of his troops into the capital, the other cities would overthrow him." "What?" Vin asked, sounding amused.

"You think they'd rebel and switch back to your side ? "

"No," Cett said, "they'd rebel and try to take over the kingdom themselves ! That's the way this works. Now that the Lord Ruler i s gone, every little lord or petty obligator with half a taste of power thinks he can run a kingdom. Hell, I tried it so did you."

"We were successful," Ham po inted out.

"And so was Lord Yomen," Elend said, folding his arms. "He's held this kingdom since Cett marched on Luthadel."

"He all but forced me out," Cett admitted. "He had half the nobility turned against me before I even struck toward Luthadel. I said I was leaving him in charge, but we both knew the truth. He's a clever one clever enough to know he can hold that city against a larger force, letting him spread his troops out to maintain the kingdom, and to endure a longer siege without running out of supplies."

"Unfortunately, Cett's probably right," Ham said. "Our initial reports placed Yomen's forces at somewhere around eighty thousand men. He'd be a fool to not have a few units within striking distance of our camp. We'll have to be wary of raids."

"Double the guards and triple scout patrols," Elend said, "particularly during the early morning hours, when the daymist is out to obscure, but the sun is up to provide light." Ham nodded.

"Also," Elend said thoughtfully, "order the men to stay in their tents during the mists but tell them to be ready for a raid. If Yomen thinks that we're afraid to come out, perhaps we can bait one of his

'surprise' attacks against us."

"Clever," Ham said.

"That won't get us past those natural walls, though," Elend said, folding his arms. "Cett, what do you say?"

"Hold the canal," Cett said. "P ost sentries up around those upper rock formations to make certain that Yomen doesn't resupply the city via secret means. Then, move on."

"What?" Ham asked with surprise.

Elend eyed Cett, trying to decide what the man meant. "Attack surrounding cities? Leave a force here that's large enough to stymie a siege-break, then capture other parts of his territory?" Cett nodded. "Most of the cities around here aren't fortified at all. They'd cave in without a fight."

"A good suggestion," Elend sai d. "But we won't do it."

"Why not?" Cett asked.

"This isn't just about conquering your homeland back, Cett," Elend said. " Our primary reason for coming here is to secure that storage cache and I hope to do that without resorting to pillaging the countryside."

Cett snorted. "What do you expect to find in there? Some magical way to stop the ash? Even atium wouldn't do that."

"Something's in there," Elend said. "It's the only hope we have." Cett shook his head. "You've been chasing a puzzle left by the Lord Ruler for the better part of a year, Elend. Hasn't it ever occurred to you that the man was a sadist? There's no secret. No magical way out of this. If we're going to survive the next f ew years, we're going to have to do it on our own and that means securing the Western Dominance. The plateaus in this area represent some of the most elevated farmland in the empire and higher altitude means closer to the sun. If you're going to find plants that survive despite the daymists, you'll have to grow them here."

They were good arguments. But I can't give up , Elend thought. Not yet. Elend had read the reports of supplies back in Luthadel, and had seen the proj ections. Ash was killing crops as much or more than the mists were. More land wouldn't save his people they needed something else. Something that, he hoped, the Lord Ruler left for them.

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The Lord Ruler didn't hate his people, and he wouldn't want them to die out , even i f he were def
eated. He left food, water, supplies. And, i f he knew secrets, he would have hidden them in the
caches. There will be something here.

There has to be.

"The cache remains our primary target," Elend said. To the side, he could see Vin smiling.

"Fine," Cett said, sighing. " Then you know what we have to do. This siege could take a while." Elend nodded. "Ham, send our engineers in under cover of mist. See if they can find a way for our troops to cross those troughs . Have the scouts search out streams that might run into the city Cett, presumably you can help us locate some of these. And, once we get spies into the city, have them search out food stores that we can ruin."

"A good start," Cett said. "Of course, there's one easy way to sow chaos in that city, to perhaps make them surrender without a fight . . ."

"We're not going to assassinate King Yomen," Elend said.

"Why not?" Cett demanded. "We've got
two
Mistborn. We'll have no difficulty killing off the Fadrex leadership."

"We don't work that way," Ham said, face growing dark.

"Oh?" Cett asked. " That didn't stop Vin from tearing a hole through my army and attacking
me
back before we teamed up."

"That was different," Ham said.

"No," Elend said, interrupting. "It wasn't. The reason we're not going to assassinate Yomen, Cett, is because I want to try diplomacy first."

"Diplomacy ? " Cett asked. "Didn't we just march an army of forty thousand soldiers on his city?

That's not a diplomatic move."

"True," Elend said, nodding. "But we haven't attacked, not yet. Now that I'm here in person, I might as well try talking before sending out knives in the night. We might be able to persuade Lord Y omen that an alliance will benefit him more than a war."

"If we make an alliance," Cett said, leaning forward in his chair, "I don't get my city back."

"I know," Elend said.

Cett frowned.

"You seem to be forgetting yourself, Cett," Elend said. "You did not 'team up' with me. You knelt before me, offering up oaths of service in exchange for not getting executed. Now, I appreciate your allegiance, and I will see you rewarded with a kingdom to rule under me. However, you don't get to cho ose where that kingdom is, nor when I will grant it."

Cett paused, sitting in his chair, one arm resting on his useless, paralyzed legs. Finally, he smiled.

"Damn, boy. You've changed a lot in the year I've known you." "So everyone is fond of telling me," Elend said. "Vin. You think you can get into the city?"

She raised an eyebrow . "I hope that was meant to be rhetorical ."

"It was meant to be polite," E lend said. "I need you to do some scouting. We know next to nothing about what's been going on in this dominance lately we've focused all of our ef forts on Urteau and the South."

Vin shrugged. "I can go poke around a bit. I don't know what you expect me to find."

"Cett," Elend said, turning, "I need names. Informants, or perhaps some noblemen that might still be loyal to you."

"Noblemen?" Cett asked, amused. "Loyal ? "

Elend rolled his eyes. "How about some that could be bribed to pass on a little information."

"Sure," Cett said. "I'll write up some names and locations. Assuming they still live in the city. Hell, assuming they're even still alive. Can't count on much these days." Elend nodded. "We won't take any further action until we have more information. Ham, make certain the soldiers dig in well use the field fortifications that Demoux taught them. Cett, see that those guard patrols get set up, and make certain our Tineyes remain alert and on watch. Vin will scout and see if she can sneak into the cache like she did in Urteau. If we know what's in there, then we can better judge whether to gamble on trying to conquer the city or not."

The various members of the group nodded, understanding that the meeting was over. As they left, Elend stepped back out into the mists, looking up at the distant bonfires burning on the rocky heights. Quiet as a sigh, Vin stepped up to his side, following his gaze. She stood for a few moments. Then she glanced to the side, where a pair of soldiers were entering the tent to carry Cett away. Her eyes narrowed in displeasure.

"I know," Elend said quietly, knowing that she was thinking of Cett again and his inf luence over Elend.

"You didn't deny that you might turn to assassination," Vin said sof tly.

"Hopefully it won't come to that."

"And if it does?"

"Then I'll make the decision that is best for the empire."

Vin was silent for a moment. Then, she glanced at the fires up above.

"I could come with you," Elend offered.

She smiled, then kissed him. " S orry," she said. "But you're noisy."

"Come now. I'm not that bad."

"Yes you are," Vin said. "Plus, you smell ."

"Oh?" he asked, amused. "What do I smell like ? "

"An emperor. A Tineye would pick you out in seconds."

Elend raised his eyebrows. "I see. And, don't you possess an imperial scent as well ? "

"Of course I do," Vin said, wrinkling her nose. "But I know how to get rid of it. Either way, you're not good enough to go with me, Elend. I'm sorry." Elend smiled.
Dear, blunt Vin.
Behind him, the soldiers left the tent, carrying Cett. An aide walked up, delivering to Elend a short list of informants and noblemen who might be willing to talk. Elend passed it to Vin. "Have fun," he said. She dropped a coin between them, kissed him again, then shot up into the night.

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I am only just beginning to understand the brilliance of the Lord Ruler's cultural s ynthesis. One of
the bene f its afforded him by being both immortal and for all relevant purposes omnipotent was a
direct and e f fective in f luence on the evolution of the Final Empire.
He was able to take elements from a dozen dif f erent cultures and appl y them to his new, " perfect"
society. For instance, the architectural brilliance of the Khlenni builders is mani f est in the keeps that
the high nobilit y construct. Khlenni fashion sense suits for gentlemen, gowns f or ladies is another
thing the Lord Ruler decided to appropriate.

I sus pect that despite his hatred of the Khlenni people of whom A lendi was one Rashek had a deep-
seated envy of them as well. The Terris o f the time were pastoral herdsmen, the Khlenni cultured
cosmopolitans. However ironic, it is logical that Rashek's new empire would mimic the high cultu re
of the people he hated.
26

SPOOK STOOD IN HIS LITTLE ONE-ROOM LAIR,
a room that was of course illegal. The Citizen forbade such places, p laces where a man could live unaccounted, unwatched. Fortunately, forbidding such places didn't eliminate them.

It only made them more expensive.

Spook was lucky . He barely remembered leaping from the burning building, clutching six Allomantic vials, coughing and bleeding. He didn't at all remember making it back to his lair. He should probably be dead. Even surviving the f ires, he should have been sold out if the proprietor of his little illegal inn had realized who Spook was and what he'd escaped, the promise of reward would undoubtedly have been irresistible.

But, Spook had survived. Perhaps the other thieves in the lair thought he had been on the wrong side of a robbery. Or, perhaps they simply didn't care. Either way, he was able to stand in front of the room's small mirror, shirt of f, looking in wonder at his wound.

I'm alive, he thought. And . . . I f eel pretty good.

He stretched, rolling his arm in its socket. The wound hurt far less than it should have. In the very dim light, he was able to see the cut, scabbed over and healing. Pewter burned in his stomach a beautiful complement to the familiar flame of tin.