Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (40 page)

Behind, Elend addressed the crowd. "Thank you so much for letting us j oin you. Anyone who wants to escape the city will be allowed passage through my army." Vin landed and saw the crowd turn as Elend jumped over their heads, fortunately managing to guide himself through the relatively low room without crashing into any windows or hitting the ceiling. He joined her at the doors, and they escaped through the antechamber and into the night.

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Hemalurgy is of Ruin. It destro ys. B y taking abilities f rom one person and giving them to another in
reduced amounts power is actuall y lost. In line with Ruin's own appointed purpose breaking down
the universe into smaller and smaller pieces Hemalurgy gives great gi f ts, but at a high cost.
33

HUMANS MIGHT HAVE SCORNED TENSOON,
perhaps throwing things at him or yelling curses as he passed. Kandra were too orderly for that kind of display, but TenSoon could f eel their disdain. They watched as he was taken from his cage, then led back to the Trustwarren for judgment. Hundreds of eyes regarded him, set in bodies with bones of steel, glass, rock, and wood. The younger kandra were more extreme in f orm, the older were more orthodox.

All were accusatory.

Before, at the trial, the crowd had been curious perhaps horrified. That had changed; TenSoon's time spent in the display cage had worked as intended. The Second Generation had been able to promote his infamy, and kandra who had once, perhaps, been sympathetic to him now watched with disgust. In a thousand years of history, the kandra had never had a criminal such as TenSoon. He bore the stares and the scorn with a raised head, padding through the corridor in a dog's body. It was strange to him, how natural the bones felt. He'd only spent a year's time wearing them, but putting them on again discarding the scrawny, naked human body felt more like returning home than coming back to the Homeland had a year before .

And so, what was supposed to be a humiliation for him became, instead, something of a triumph. It had been a wild hope, but he'd manipulated the S econd Generation into giving him back the dog's body. The sack had even contained the body's hair and nails likely, they had simply collected the entire mess after forcing TenSoon to abandon it and enter his prison a year ago. The comfortable bones gave him strength. This was the body that Vin had given him. She was the Hero of Ages . He had to believe that.

Otherwise he was about to make a very big mistake.

His guards led him into the Trustwarren. This time, there were too many observers to fit into the room, so the Seconds declared that those younger than the Seventh Generation had to wait outside. Even so, kandra filled the rows of stone seats. They sat silently as TenSoon was led to the slightly raised metallic disk set into the center of the stone floor. The broad doors were left open, and younger kandra crowded outside, listening.

TenSoon looked up as he stepped onto his platform. The lump-like shadows of the First Generation waited above, each one in his separate alcove, backlit faintly in blue .

KanPaar approached his lectern. TenSoon could see the satisfaction in the way KanPaar slid across the f loor. The Second felt that his triumph was complete what happened to those who ignored the directives of the Second Generation would not soon be forgotten. TenS oon settled back on his haunches, guarded by two kandra with the Blessing of Potency twinkling in each shoulder. They carried large mallets.

"TenS oon of the Third Generation," KanPaar said loudly. "Are you ready to bear the sentence of your judgment?"

"There will be no judgment," TenSoon said. His words slurred, coming from the dog's mouth, but they were clear enough to understand.

"No judgment?" KanPaar asked, amused. " You now seek to back out of what you yourself demanded?"

"I came to give information, not to be judged."

"I "

"I'm not speaking to you, KanP aar," TenSoon said, turning from the Second to look up. "I'm talking to them."

"They heard your words, Third," KanPaar snapped. "Control yourself! I will not let you turn this judgment into a circus, as you did before."

TenSoon smiled. Only a kandra would consider a mild argument to be a 'circus.' TenSoon didn't turn away from the First Generation's alcoves, however. "Now," KanPaar said. "We "

"You!" TenSoon bellowed, causing KanPaar to sputter again. "First Generation! How long will you sit in your comfortable home, pretending that the world above doesn't exist? You think that if you ignore the problems, they won't affect you? Or, is it that you've stopped believing in your own teachings?

"The days of mist have come ! The endless ash now falls! The earth shakes and trembles. You can condemn me, but you must not ignore me! The world will soon die! If you want people in all of their forms to survive, you must act! You must be ready! For you may soon need to command our people to accept the Resolution ! " The room fell silent. Several of the shadows above shuff led, as if discomfited though kandra generally didn't react in such a way. It was too disorderly. Then a voice soft, scratchy, and very tired spoke from above. "Proceed, KanPaar." The comment was so unexpected that several members of the audience actually gasped. The First Generation never spoke in the presence of lessers. TenSoon wasn't awed he'd seen them, and talked with them, before they'd grown too superior to deal with anyone but the Seconds. No, he wasn't awed. He was just disappointed. "My faith in you was misplaced," he said, mostly to himself. "I should not have returned. "

"TenS oon of the Third Generation!" KanPaar said, standing up straight, crystalline True Body sparkling as he pointed. "You have been sentenced to the ritual imprisonment of ChanGaar! You will be beaten to the point of fracture, then bricked into a pit, with only one hole for your daily slop. You will remain there for ten generations ! Only after that will you be executed by starvation! Know that your greatest sin was that of rebellion. If you had not strayed from the advice and wisdom of this council, you would never have thought it right to break the First Contract. Because of you, the Trust has been endangered, as has every kandra of every generation!" KanPaar let the pronouncement ring in the chamber. TenSoon sat quietly on his haunches. KanPaar had obviously expected some kind of response from him, but TenSoon gave none. Finally, KanPaar gestured to the guards beside TenSoon, who hefted their fearsome hammers.

"You know, KanPaar, " TenSoon said, "I learned a few important things while wearing these bones a year ago."

KanPaar gestured again. The guards raised their weapons.

"It's something I had never paused to consider," TenSoon said. "Humans, if you think about it, just aren't built for speed. Dogs, however,
are."
The hammers fell. TenSoon leaped forward.

The powerful dog's haunches l aunched him into motion. TenSoon was a member of the Third Generation. Nobody had been eating and emulating bodies as long as he had, and he knew how to pack muscles into a body. In addition, he had spent a year wearing the bones of a wolfhound, being forced to try to keep up with his Mistborn master. He had undergone what had effectively been a year of training by one of the most talented Allomancers the world had ever known. On top of that, a body mass that had translated from a scrawny human made quite a substantial wolfhound. This, combined with his skill in craf ting bodies, meant that when TenS oon jumped, he jumped. His guards cried out in shock as TenS oon sprang away, his leap taking him at least ten feet across the room. He hit the ground running, but didn't head for the door. They'd be expecting that. Instead he sprang directly toward KanPaar. The foremost of Seconds cried out, throwing up ineffectual hands as a hundred pounds of wolfhound crashed into him, throwing him to the stone floor. TenS oon heard sharp cracks as KanPaar's delicate bones shattered, and KanPaar screamed in a very un-kandra-like way.
That seems appropriate,
TenSoon thought, shoving his way through the ranks of the Seconds, shattering bones.
Honestl y, what kind of vain fool wears a True Body made of
cr ystal?

Many of the kandra didn't know how to react. Others especially the younger ones had spent a lot of time around humans on Contracts, and they were more accustomed to chaos. These scattered, leaving their elder companions sitting on the benches in shock. TenSoon darted between bodies, heading toward the doors. The guards beside the podium the ones who would have shattered his bones rushed to KanPaar's side, their filial sense of duty overriding their desire to prevent his escape. Besides, they must have seen the crowd clogging the doorway, and assumed that TenSoon would be slowed. As soon as he reached the crowd, TenSoon jumped again. Vin had required him to be able to leap incredible heights, and he'd practiced with many different muscle structures. This jump wouldn't have impressed Vin TenS oon no longer had the Blessing of Potency he'd stolen from OreSeur but it was more than enough to let him clear the watching kandra. Some cried out, and he landed in a pocket of open space, then leaped again toward the open cavern beyond.

"No!" he heard echoing f rom the Trustwarren. "Go after him!" TenSoon took off in a loping dash down one of the corridors. He ran quickly far more quickly than anything bipedal could have managed. With his canine body, he hoped he'd be able to outrun even kandra bearing the Blessing of Potency.

Farewell, my home, TenSoon thought, leaving the main cavern behind.
And f arewell to what little
honor I had le f t.

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PART THREE THE BROKEN SKIES
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Feruchemy, it should be noted, is the power of balance. Of the three powers, only it was known to men
before the con f lict between Preservation and Ruin came to a head. In Feruchemy, power is stored
up, then later drawn upon. There is no loss of energy just a changing of the time and rate o f its use.
34

MARSH STRODE INTO THE SMALL TOWN.
Workers atop the makeshift gate which looked f limsy enough that a determined knock would send it toppling froze in place. Ash sweepers noti ced him pass with shock, then horror. It was odd, how they watched, too terrified to flee. Or, at least, too terrified to be the first one to flee .

Marsh ignored them. The earth trembled beneath him in a beautiful song quakes were common, here, in the shadow of Mount Tyrian. It was the ashmount closest to Luthadel. Marsh walked through Elend Venture's own territory. But, of course, the emperor had abandoned it. That seemed an invitation to Marsh, and to the one who controlled him. They were really the same. Marsh smiled as he walked. A small piece of him was still free. He let it sleep, however. Ruin needed to think he had given up. That was the point. And so, Marsh held back only a tiny bit, and he did not fight. He let the ashen sky become a thing of bespeckled beauty, and treated the death of the world as a blessed event. Biding his time. Waiting.

The village was an inspiring sight. The people were starving here, even though they were within the Central Dominance: Elend Venture's "protected" area. They had the wonderful, haunted expressions of those who were close to giving up hope. The streets were barely maintained, the homes which had once been the dwellings of noblemen, but were now filled with hungry skaa covered in ash, their gardens stripped and their structures cannibalized to feed fires during the winter. The gorgeous sight made Marsh smile with satisfaction. Behind him, people finally started to move, fleeing, doors slamming. There were probably some six or seven thousand people living in the town. They were not Marsh's concern. Not at the moment.

He was interested only in a single, specif ic building. It looked little different from the others, a mansion in a f ine row. The town had once been a stopping place for travelers, and had grown to be a favored place for nobility to construct second homes. A few noble families had lived here permanently, overseeing the many skaa who had worked the plantations and fields on the plains outside.

The building Marsh chose was slightly better maintained than those around it. The garden was, of course, more weeds than cultivation, and the outer mansion walls hadn't seen a good scrubbing in years. However, fewer sections of it looked to have been broken apart for firewood, and a guard actually stood watch at the front gate. Marsh killed him with one of the razor-sharp metal triangles that had once been used in the Lord Ruler's ceremonies. Marsh Pushed it through the guard's chest even as the man opened his mouth in challenge. The air was oddly still and quiet as the guard's voice cut off, and he toppled to the side in the road. The skaa who watched from nearby homes knew better than to react, and didn't stir.

Marsh hummed to himself as he strolled up the front walk to the mansion, startling a small f lock of ravens who had come to roost. Once this path would have been a calming stroll through gardens, the way marked by f lagstones. Now it was simply a hike through a weed-filled field. The man who owned the place obviously couldn't afford more than the lone gate guard, and nobody raised an alarm at Marsh's approach. He was actually able to walk right up to the front doors. Smiling to himself , he knocked.

A maidservant opened the doors. She froze when she saw Marsh, taking in his spiked eyes, his unnaturally tall figure, his dark robes. Then she began to tremble. Marsh held out a hand, palm up, with another of the triangles. Then he Pushed it straight into her face . It snapped out the back of the skull, and the woman toppled. He stepped over her body and entered the house. It was far nicer inside than the exterior had led him to expect. Rich furnishings, freshly painted walls, intricate ceramics. Marsh raised an eyebrow, scanning the room with his spiked eyes. The way his sight worked, it was hard for him to distinguish colors, but he was familiar enough with his powers now that he could pick them out if he wanted. The Allomantic lines from the metals inside of most things were really quite expressive.

To Marsh, the mansion was a place of pristine whiteness and bright blobs of expensive color. Marsh searched through it, burning pewter to enhance his physical abilities, allowing him to walk much more lightly than would otherwise have been possible . He killed two more servants in the course of his exploration, and eventually moved up to the second floor.