Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (23 page)

"Sure," Goradel said. "My family were farmers, Master Terrisman. We lived in Luthadel, but worked the outer fields."

"But, you were a soldier," Sazed said. "Weren't you the one who led Lady Vin into the palace the night she killed the Lord Ruler?"

Goradel nodded. "Actually, I led Lord Elend into the palace to rescue Lady Vin, though she turned out to not need much help from us. Anyway, you're right. I was a soldier in the Lord Ruler's palace my parents disowned me when I joined up. But, I just couldn't face working in the f ields my whole life ."

"It is arduous work."

"No, it wasn't that," Goradel said. "It wasn't the labor, it was the . . . hopelessness. I couldn't stand to work all day to grow something I knew would belong to someone else. That's why I left the fields to become a soldier, and that's why seeing these farms gives me hope."

Goradel nodded toward a passing field. Some of the skaa looked up, then waved as they saw Elend's banner. " These people," Goradel said, "they work because they want to."

"They work because if they don't, they will starve."

"Sure," Goradel said. "I guess you're right. But they're not working because someone will beat them if they don't they're working so that their families and their friends won't die . There's a diff erence in that, to a farmer. You can see it in the way they stand."

Sazed f rowned as they walked, but said nothing further.

"Anyway, Master Terrisman," Goradel said, "I came to suggest that we make a stop at Luthadel for supplies."

Sazed nodded. "I suspected that we would do so. I, however, will need to leave you for a f ew days as you go to Luthadel. Lord B reeze can take command. I shall meet up with you on the northern highway."

Goradel nodded, moving back to make the arrangements. He didn't ask why Sazed wanted to leave the group, or what his destination w as.

Several days later, S azed arrived alone at the Pits of Hathsin. There was little to distinguish the area, now that the ash covered everything. S azed's feet kicked up clumps of it as he moved to the top of a hill. He looked down on the valley that contained the Pits the place where Kelsier's wife had been murdered. The place where the Survivor had been born.

It was now the home of the Terris people.

There were few of them remaining. They had never been a very large population, and the coming of the mists and the diff icult trek down to the Central Dominance had claimed many lives. There were, perhaps, forty thousand of them lef t. And a good many of the men were eunuchs, like Sazed. Sazed moved down the slope toward the valley. It had been a natural place to settle the Terris people. During the days of the Lord Ruler, hundreds of slaves had worked here, watched over by hundreds more soldiers. That had ended when Kelsier had returned to the Pits and destroyed their ability to produce atium. However, the Pits still had the buildings and infrastructure that had supported them during their working days . There was plenty of fresh water, and some shelter. The Terris people had improved on this, building other structures across the valley, making what was once the most terrifying of prison camps into a pastoral group of villages. . 49 201

Even as Sazed walked down the hillside, he could see people brushing away the ash from the ground, letting the natural plant life poke through to provide grazing for the animals. The scrub that forme d the dominant foliage in the Central Dominance was a resilient, hardy group of plants, and they were adapted to ash, and didn't need as much water as farm crops. That meant that the Terris people actually had easier lives than most. They were herdsman, as they had been even during the centuries before the Lord Ruler's Ascension. A hearty, short-legged breed of sheep mulled about on the hills, chewing down the uncovered stalks of scrub.
The Terris people,
Sazed thought,
living lives easier
than most. What a strange world it has become.

His approach soon attracted attention. Children ran for their parents, and heads poked from shacks. Sheep began to gather around S azed as he walked, as if hoping that he had come bearing treats of some sort.

Several aged men rushed up the hillside, moving as quickly as their gnarled limbs would allow. They like Sazed still wore their steward's robes. And, like Sazed, they kept them cleaned of ash, showing the colorful V-shaped patterns that ran down the fronts. Those patterns had once indicated the noble house that the steward served.

"Lord Sazed!" one of the men said eagerly.

"Your Ma jesty!" said another.

Your Majesty. "Please," S azed said, raising his hands. "Do not call me that." The two aged stewards glanced at each other. "Please, Master Keeper. Let us get you something warm to eat."

. 50 201

Yes, the ash was black. No, it should not have been. Most common ash has a dark component , but is
just as much gray or white as it is black.

Ash from the ashmounts . . . it was di fferent. Like the mists themselves, the ash covering our land was
not truly a natural thing. Perhaps it was the in f luence of Ruin 's power as black as Preservation was
white. Or, perhaps it was simply the nat ure of the ashmounts, which were designed and created speci
fically to blast ash and smoke into the sk y.

19

"GET UP!"

Everything was dark.

"
Get up!
"

Spook opened his eyes. Everything seemed so dull, so muted. He could barely see. The world was a dark blur. And . . . he felt numb. Dead. Why couldn't he feel ? "Spook, you need to get up!" The voice, at least, was clear. Yet, everything else felt muddy. He couldn't quite manage to think. He blinked, groaning quietly. What was wrong with him? His spectacles and cloth were gone. That should have left him free to see, but everything was so dark.

He was out of tin.

There was nothing burning in his stomach. The familiar flame, a comforting candle within, was no longer there . It had been his companion for over a year, always there. He'd feared what he was doing, but had never let it die. And now it was gone.

That was why everything seemed so dull. Was this really how other people lived? How he used to live? He could barely see the sharp, rich detail he'd grown accustomed to was gone. The vibrant colors and crisp lines. Instead, everything was bland and vague.

His ears felt clogged. His nose . . . he couldn't smell the boards beneath him, couldn't tell the species of wood by scent. He couldn't smell the bodies that had passed. He couldn't feel the thumpings of people moving about in other rooms.

And . . . he was in a room. He shook his head, sitting up, trying to think. Immediately, a pain in his shoulder made him gasp. The wound had not been cared for. He remembered the sword piercing him near the shoulder. That was not a wound one recovered from easily indeed, his left arm didn't seem to work right, one of the reasons he was having so much trouble rising.

"You've lost a lot of blood," the voice said. "You'll die soon, even if the flames don't take you. Don't bother to look for the pouch of tin at your belt they took that." "Flames?" Spook croaked, blinking. How did people survive in a world that was this dark?

"Can't you f eel them, Spook? They're near."

There
was
a light nearby, down a hallway. Spook shook his head, trying to clear his mind.
I'm in a
house,
he thought.
A nice one. A nobleman's house.
And they're burning it down. This, f inally, gave him motivation to stand, though he immediately dropped again, his body too weak his mind too fuzzy to keep him on his feet. "Don't walk," the voice said. Where had he heard that voice before? He trusted it. "Crawl," it said.

Spook did as commanded, crawling forward.

"No, not
toward
the flames! You have to get out, so you can punish those who did this to you. Think, Spook!"

"Window," Spook croaked, turning to the side, crawling toward one of them.

"Boarded shut," the voice said. " You saw this before, from the outside. There's only one way to survive. You have to listen to me."

Spook nodded dully.

"Go out the room's other door. Crawl toward the stairs leading to the second f loor." Spook did so, forcing himself to keep moving. His arms were so numb they felt like weights tied to his shoulders. He'd been flaring tin so long that normal senses just didn't seem to work for him anymore. He found the stairs, though he was coughing by the time he got there. That would be because of the smoke, a part of his mind told him. It was probably a good thing he was crawling. He could feel the heat as he cl imbed. The flames seemed to be chasing him, claiming the room behind him as he moved up the stairs, still dizzy. He reached the top, then slipped on his own blood, slumping against the side of the wall, groaning.

"Get up!" the voice said.

Where have I heard that voice before?
he thought again.
Why do I want to do what it says?
It was so close. He'd have it, if his mind weren't so muddled. Yet, he obeyed, forcing himself to his hands and knees again.

"Second room on the left," the voice commanded.

Spook crawled without thinking. Flames crept up the stairs, flickering across the walls. His nose was weak, like his other senses, but he suspected that the house had been soaked with oil. It made for a f aster, more dramatic burn that way.

"Stop. This is the room."

Spook turned lef t, crawling into the room. It was a study, well furnished. The thieves in the city complained that ransacking places like this one wasn't worth the effort. The Citizen forbade ostentation, and so expensive furniture couldn't be sold, even on the black market. Nobody wanted to be c aught owning luxuries, lest they end up burning to death in one of the Citizen's executions.

"Spook!"

Spook had heard of those executions. He'd never seen one. He'd paid Durn to keep an eye out for the next one . Spook's coin would get him advance warning, as well as a good position to watch the building burn down. Plus, Durn promised he had another tidbit, something Spook would be interested in. Something worth the coin he'd paid.

Count
the skulls.

"Spook!"

Spook opened his eyes. He'd fallen to the f loor and begun to drif t off. Flames were already burning the ceiling. The building was dying. There was no way Spook would get out, not in his current condition.

"Go to the desk," the voice commanded.

"I'm dead," Spook whispered.

"No you're not. Go to the desk."

Spook turned his head, looking at the flames. A f igure stood in them, a dark silhouette. The walls dripped, bubbled, and hissed, their plaster and paints blackening. Yet, this shadow of a person didn't seem to mind the fire. That figure seemed familiar. Tall. Commanding.

"You . . .?" Spook whispered.

"Go to the desk! "

Spook rolled to his knees. He crawled, dragging his useless arm, moving to the side of the desk.

"Right drawer."

Spook pulled it open, then leaned against the side, slumping. Something was inside. Vials ?

He reached for them eagerly. They were the kinds of vials used by Allomancers to store metal shavings. With trembling fingers, Spook picked one up, then it slipped free of his numb f ingers. It shattered. He stared at the liquid that had been inside an alcohol solution that would keep the metal flakes f rom corroding, as well as help the Allomancer drink them down.

"Spook!" the voice said.

Dully, Spook took another vial . He worked off the stopper with his teeth, f eeling the f ires blaze around him. The far wall was nearly gone. The fires crept toward him. He drank the contents of the vial, then searched inside of himself, seeking tin. But there was none. Spook cried out in despair, dropping the vial. It had contained no tin. How would that have saved him anyway? It would have made him feel the flames, and his wound, more acutely.

"Spook!" the voice commanded. "Burn it !"

"There is no tin!" Spook yelled.

"Not tin! The man who owned this house was no Tineye!"

Not tin. Spook blinked. Then reaching within himself he found something completely unexpected. Something he'd never thought to ever see, something that shouldn't have existed. A new metal reserve. He burned it.

His body flared with strength. His trembling arms became steady. His weakness seemed to flee, cast aside like darkness before the rising sun. He felt tension and power, and his muscles grew taut with anticipation.

"Stand!"

His head snapped up. He leape d to his feet, and this time the dizziness was gone . His mind still f elt numb, but something was clear to him. Only one metal could have changed his body, making it strong enough to work despite his terrible wound and blood loss.

Spook was burning pewter.

The figure stood in the flames, dark, hard to make out. "I've given you the blessing of pewter, Spook," the voice said. "Use it to es cape this place. You can break . 51 201

through the boards on the far side of that hallway, escape out onto the roof of the building nearby. The soldiers won't be watching for you they're too busy controlling the fire so it doesn't spread." Spook nodded. The heat didn't bother him anymore. "Thank you."

The figure stepped forward, be coming more than j ust a silhouette. Flames played against the man's firm face, and Spook's suspicions were confirmed. There was a reason he'd trusted that voice, a re ason why he'd done what it had said.

He'd do whatever this man commanded.

"I didn't give you pewter just so you could live, Spook," Kelsier said, pointing. "I gave it to you so you could get revenge. Now, go!"

. 52 201

More than one person reported f eeling a sentient hatred in the mists. This is not necessarily related
to the mists killing people, however. For most even those it struck down the mists seemed merely a
weather phenomenon, no more sentient or vengef ul than a terrible disease.
For some few, however, there was more. Those it f avored, it swirled around. Those it was hostile to,
it pulled away from. Some felt peace within it, others f elt hatred. It all came down to Ruin 's subtle
touch, and how much one responded to his promptings.