Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (16 page)

Elend sighed. "Anyway, I "

He was cut off as the ground began to shake. Vin was on her feet in seconds, looking for danger as the others cursed and reached f or stability. She threw back the tent flap, peering through the mists. Yet, the shaking subsided quickly, and it caused very little chaos in the camp, all things considered. Patrols moved about, checking f or problems officers and Allomancers under Elend's command. Most of the soldiers, however, j ust remained in their tents.

Vin turned back toward the tent's room. A few of the chairs had fallen over, travel furniture disturbed by the earthquake. The others slowly returned to their seats. "Sure have been a lot of those lately," Ham said. Vin met Elend's eyes, and could see concern in them.

We can fight armies, we can capture cities, but what of ash, mists, and earthquakes? What about the
world falling apart around us?

"Anyway," Elend said, voice firm despite the concerns Vin knew he must feel, "Fadrex has to be our next goal. We can't risk mis sing the cache, and the things it might contain."
Like the atium,
Reen whispered in Vin's head as she sat back down. "Atium," she said out loud. Cett perked up. " You think it'll be there ? "

"There are theories," Elend said, eyeing Vin. "But we have no proof."

"It will be there," she said. It has to be. I don't know wh y, but we have
to have it
.

"I hope it isn't," Cett said. "I marched halfway across the blasted empire to try and steal that atium if it turns out I left it beneath my own city . . ." "I think we're missing something important, El," Ham said.

"Are you talking about
conquering
Fadrex City?"

The room fell still. Up until this point, Elend's armies had been used defensively, attacking koloss garrisons or the camps of small warlords and bandits. They had bullied a few cities into joining with him, but they had never actually assaulted a city and taken it by force.

Elend turned, looking back tow ard the map. Even from the side, Vin could see his eyes the eyes of a man hardened by two years of ne ar-perpetual war. "Our primary goal will be to take the city by diplomacy," Elend said.

"Diplomacy ? " Cett said. "Fadrex is mine . That damn obligator stole it f rom me! There's no need to worry your conscience about attacking him, Elend." "No need? " Elend asked, turning. "Cett, those are your people your soldiers we'd have to kill to get into that city."

"People die in war," Cett said. "Feeling bad about it doesn't remove the blood from your hands, so why bother? Those soldiers turned against me; they deserve what they'll get."

"It's not that simple," Ham said. "If there was no way for the soldiers to fight this usurper, then why expect them to give up their lives ? "

"Especially for a man who was, himself, a usurper," Elend said.

"Either way," Ham said, "reports describe that city as being very well defended. It will be a tough stone to break, El ."

Elend stood quietly for a moment, then eyed Cett, who still looked inordinately pleased with himself. The two seemed to share something an understanding. Elend was a master of theory, and had probably read as much on war as anyone. Cett seemed to have a sixth sense for warfare and tactics, and had replaced Clubs as the empire's prime military strategist.

"Siege," Cett said.

Elend nodded. "If King Yomen won't respond to diplomacy, then the only way we'll get in that city short of killing half our men breaking in is by besieging it and making him desperate."

"Do we have time for that? " Ham asked, frowning.

"Besides Urteau," Elend said, "Fadrex City and the surrounding areas are the only ma jor sections of the Inner Dominances that maintain a strong enough force to be threatening. That, plus the cache, means we can't afford to simply leave them alone."

"Time is on our side, in a way," Cett said, scratching his beard. "You don't just attack a city like Fadrex, Ham. It has fortif ications , one of the f ew cities besides Luthadel that could repel an army. But, since it's outside of the Central Dominance, it's probably already hurting for food." Elend nodded. "While we have all of the supplies we found in the storage caches. If we block off the highway, then hold the canal, they'll
have
to surrender the city eventually. Even if they've found the cache which I doubt we will be able to outlast them."

Ham frowned. "I guess. . . ."

"Besides," Elend added, "if things get tough, we do have about twenty thousand koloss we can draw upon."

Ham raised an eyebrow, though said nothing. The implication was clear. You 'd turn koloss against other people
?

"There is another element to this," S azed said sof tly. "Something we have, as of yet, not discussed." Several people turned, as if they'd forgotten he was there. "The mists," Sazed said. "Fadrex City lies well beyond the mist perimeter, Emperor Venture. Will you subject your army to f ifteen percent casualties before you even arrive at the city?"

Elend fell quiet. S o far, he'd managed to keep most of his soldiers out of the mists. It seemed wrong to Vin that their army had been protected from the sickness, while the villagers had been forced to go out in the mists. And yet, where they camped, there was still a signif icant amount of mistless daylight, and they also had enough tents to hold all of the sol diers, something they'd lacked when moving the villagers.

Mists rarely went into buildings, even cloth ones. There had been no reason to risk killing some of the soldiers, since they'd been able to avoid it. It seemed hypocritical to Vin, but so far, it sti ll made sense.

. 36 201

Elend met S azed's eyes. "You make a good point," he said. "We can't protect the soldiers from this forever. I forced the villagers of Vetitan to immunize themselves; I suspect that I will have to make the army do the same, for the same reasons."

Vin sat back quietly. She of ten wished for the days when she'd had nothing to do with such decisions or, better yet, when Elend hadn't been forced to make them. "We march for Fadrex," Elend said again, turning f rom the group. He pointed at the map. "If we're going to pull through this and by 'we,' I mean all the people of the New Empire we're going to need to band together and concentrate our populations near the Central Dominance. It will be the only place that can grow food this summer, and we'll need every bit of manpower we can muster to clear ash and prepare the fields. That means bringing the people of Fadrex under our protection. "That also means," he said, po inting toward the northeastern section of the map, "that we'll need to suppress the rebellion in Urteau. Not only does the city there contain a storage cache with grain we desperately need for a second planting down in the Central Dominance but the city's new rulers are gathering strength and an army. Urteau is well within staging distance of Luthadel, as we discovered back when my father marched on us. I will not have a repeat of that event." "We don't have enough troops to march on both f ronts at once, El, " Ham said. Elend nodded. "I know. In fact, I'd rather avoid marching on Urteau. That was my father's seat the people there had good reason to rebel against him. Demoux, report? "

Demoux stood. "We had a steel -inscribed message from Spook while Your Ma j esty was away," he said. "The lad says that the faction controlling Urteau is made up of skaa rebels."

"That sounds promising," Breeze noted. "Our kind of people."

"They're . . . quite harsh with noblemen, Lord Breeze," Demoux said. "And they include anyone with noble parents in that group . "

"A little extreme, I'd think," Ham said.

"A lot of people thought Kelsier was extreme too," Breeze said. "I'm certain we can talk reason into these rebels."

"Good," Elend said, "because I'm counting on you and S azed to bring Urteau under our control without the use of force. There are only five of these caches, and we can't afford to lose one. Who knows what we'll eventually discover in Fadrex it might require us to return to the other caches to find something we missed." He turned, looking at Breeze, then Sazed.

"We can't j ust sneak the food out of Urteau," he said. "If the rebellion in that city spreads, it could cause the entire empire to f racture back into splinters. We
have
to bring the men there to our side." The members of the room nodded, as did Vin. They knew from personal experience how much power a small rebellion could exert on an empire. "The Fadrex siege could take s ome time," Elend said.

"Long before summer arrives, I want you to have secured that northern cache and subdued the rebellion. Send the seed stock down to the Central Dominance for planting."

"Don't worry," Breeze said. "I've seen the kinds of governments skaa set up by the time we get there, the city will probably be on the edge of collapse anyway. Why, they'll likely be relieved to get an offer to join the New Empire!"

"Be wary," Elend said. "Spook's reports have been sparse, but it sounds as if tensions in the city are extreme. We'll send a few hundred soldiers with you as protection." He looked back at the map, eyes narrowing slightly. "Five caches, five cities. Urteau is part of this all, somehow. We can't afford to let it slip away." "Your Ma jesty," Sazed said. "Is my presence required on that trip?" Elend frowned, glancing back at Sazed. "You have something else you need to be doing, Sazed?"

"I have research I would do," the Keeper said.

"I respect your wishes, as always," Elend said. "If you think this research is important . . ."

"It's of a personal nature, Your Majesty," Sazed said.

"Could you do it while helping in Urteau?" Elend asked. " You're a Terrisman, which lends you a credibility none of us can claim. Beyond that, people respect and trust you, S azed with good reason. Breeze, on the other hand, has something of a . . . reputation."

"I worked hard for it, you know," Breeze said.

"I'd really like to have you lead that team, Sazed," Elend said. "I can't think of a better ambassador than the Holy Witness himself."

Sazed's expression was unreadable. "Very well," he f inally said. "I shall do my best."

"Good," Elend said, turning to regard the rest of the group. "Then there's one last thing I need to ask of you all."

"And what is that?" Cett asked.

Elend stood for a f ew moments, looking over their heads, appearing thoughtful. "I want you to tell me about the Survivor," he finally s aid.

"He was lord of the mists," Demoux said immediately.

"Not the rhetoric," Elend said. "Someone tell me about the man, Kelsier. I never met him, you know. I saw him once, right before he died, but I never knew him." "What's the point?" Cett asked. "We've all heard the stories. He's practically a god, if you listen to the skaa."

"Just do as I ask," Elend said.

The tent was still for a few moments. Finally, Ham spoke. "Kell was . . . grand. He wasn't just a man, he was bigger than that. Everything he did was large his dreams, the way he spoke, the way he thought. . . ."

"And it wasn't false," Breeze added. "I can tell when a man is being a fake. That's why I started my first job with Kelsier, actually. Amidst all the pretenders and posturers, he was genuine. Everyone wanted to be the best. Kelsier really was. "

"He was a man, " Vin said quietly. "Just a man. Yet, you always knew he'd succeed. He made you be what he wanted you to be."

"So he could use you," Breeze said.

"But you were better when he was done with you," Ham added.

Elend nodded slowly. "I wish I could have known him. Early in my career, I always compared myself to him. By the time I heard of Kelsier, he was already becoming a legend. It was unfair to force myself to try and be him, but I worried regardless. Anyway, those of you who knew him, maybe you can answer another question for me. What do you think he'd say, if he saw us now?"

"He'd be proud," Ham said immediately. "I mean, we defeated the Lord Ruler, and we built a skaa government."

"What if he saw us at this conf erence? " Elend said.

The tent f ell still again. When someone spoke what they were all thinking, it came from a source Vin hadn't expected.

"He'd tell us to laugh more," Sazed whispered.

Breeze chuckled. "He was completely insane, you know. The worse things got, the more he'd j oke. I remember how chipper he w as the very day af ter one of our worst defeats, when we lost most of our skaa army to that fool Yeden. Kell walked in, a spring in his step, making one of his inane jokes."

"Sounds insensitive," Allrianne said.

Ham shook his head. "No. He was j ust determined. He always said that laughter was something the Lord Ruler couldn't take from him. He planned and executed the overthrow of a thousand-year empire and he did it as a kind of . . . penance for letting his wife die thinking that he hated her. But, he did it all with a smirk on his lips. Like every joke was his way of slapping fate in the face."

"We need what he had," Elend said.

The room's eyes turned back toward him.

"We can't keep doing this," Elend said. "We bicker amongst ourselves, we mope about, watching the ash fall, convinced that we're doomed." Breeze chuckled. "I don't know if you noticed the earthquake a few minutes ago, my dear man, but the world appears to be ending. That is an indisputably depressing event."

Elend shook his head. "We can survive this. But, the only way that will happen is if our people don't give up. They need leaders who laugh, leaders who feel that this fight
can
be won. So, this is what I ask of you. I don't care if you're an optimist or a pessimist I don't care if secretly, you think we'll all be dead before the month ends. On the outside, I want to see you smiling. Do it in defiance, if you have to. If the end does come, I want this group to meet that end smiling. As the Survivor taught us." Slowly, the members of the former crew nodded even S azed, though his face seemed troubled. Cett just shook his head. "You people are all insane. How I ended up with you, I'll never know." Breeze laughed. "Now, that's a lie, Cett. You know exactl y how you ended up joining with us. We threatened to kill you if you didn't !"

Elend was looking at Vin. She met his eyes, and nodded. It had been a good speech. She wasn't certain if his words would change anything the crew could never again be the way it had been at the beginning, laughing freely around Clubs's table in the evening hours. However, maybe if they kept Kelsier's smile in mind, they'd be less likely to forget just why it was they kept struggling on.