Well of Ascension

by Brandon Sanderson

  "OreSeur," she said, "what was your life like before you were recruited by Kelsier?"

  "I don't see what that has to do with finding the impostor. Mistress," OreSeur said.

  "It doesn't have anything to do with that." Vin said. "I just thought maybe I should get to know you better."

  "My apologies. Mistress, but I don't want you to know me."

  Vin sighed. So much for that.

  But... well, Kelsier and the others hadn't turned away when she'd been blunt with them. There was a familiar tone to OreSeur's words. Something in them that she recognized.

  "Anonymity," Vin said quietly.

  "Mistress?"

  "Anonymity. Hiding, even when you're with others. Being quiet, unobtrusive. Forcing yourself to slay apart- emotionally, at least. It's a way of life. A protection."

  OreSeur didn't answer.

  "You serve beneath masters," Vin said. "Harsh men who fear your competence. The only way to keep them from hating you is to make certain they don't pay attention to you. So, you make yourself look small and weak. Not a threat. But sometimes you say the wrong thing, or you let your rebelliousness show."

  She turned toward him. He was watching her. "Yes." he finally said, turning to look back over the city.

  "They hate you," Vin said quietly. 'They hate you because of your powers, because they can't make you break your word, or because they worry that you are too strong to control."

  'They become afraid of you." OreSeur said. 'They grow paranoid-terrified, even as they use you. that you will take their place. Despite the Contract, despite knowing that no kandra would break his sacred vow, they fear you. And men hate what they fear."

  "And so," Vin said, "they find excuses to beat you. Sometimes, even your efforts to remain harmless seem to provoke them. They hate your skill. Ihey hate the fact that they don't have more reasons to beat you, so they beat you."

  OreSeur turned back to her. "How do you know these things?" he demanded.

  Vin shrugged. "That's not only how they treat kandra, OreSeur. That's the same way crewleaders treat a young girl-an anomaly in a thieving underground filled with men. A child who had a strange ability to make things happen-to influence people, to hear what she shouldn't, to move more quietly and quickly than others. A tool, yet a threat at the same time." "I... didn't realize. Mistress...." Vin frowned. How could he not have known about my past? He knew I was a street urchin. Except... had he? For the first time, Vin realized how OreSeur must have seen her two years before, when she'd first met him. He had arrived in the area after her recruitment: he probably assumed that she'd been part of Kelsier's team for years, like the others.

  "Kelsier recruited me for the first time just a few days before I met you," Vin said. "Well, actually, he didn't so much recnul me as rescue me. I spent my childhood serving in one thieving crew after another, always working for the least reputable and most dangerous men, for those were the only ones who would take in a couple of transients like my brother and me. The smart crewleaders learned that I was a good tool. I"m not sure if they figured out that I was an Allomancer-some probably did, others just thought I was lucky.' Either way, they needed me. And that made them hate me." "So they beat you?"

  Vin nodded. 'The last one especially. That was when I was really beginning to figure out how to use Allomancy, even though I didn't know what it was. Camon knew, though. And he hated me even as he used me. I think he was afraid that I would figure out how to use my powers fully. And on that day, he worried that I would kill him . . Vin turned her head, looking at OreSeur. "Kill him and take his place as crewleader."

  OreSeur sat quietly, up on his haunches now, regarding her.

  "Kandra aren't the only ones that humans treat poorly." Vin said quietly. "We're pretty good at abusing each other, too."

  OreSeur snorted. "With you. at least, they had to hold back for fear they'd kill you. Have you ever been beaten by a master who knows that no matter how hard he hits, you won't die? All he has to do is get you a new set of bones, and you'll be ready to serve again the next day. We are the ultimate servant-you can beat us to death in the morning, then have us serve you dinner that night. All the sadism, none of the cost."

  Vin closed her eyes. "I understand. I wasn't a kandra. but I did have pewter. I think Camon knew he could beat me far harder than he should have been able to."

  "Why didn't you run?" OrcSeur asked. "You didn't have a Contract bonding you to him."

  "I... don't know," Vin said. "People are strange. OreSeur. and loyalty is so often twisted. I stayed with Camon because he was familiar, and I feared leaving more than I did staying. That crew was all I had. My brother was gone, and I was terrified of being alone. It seems kind of strange now, thinking back."

  "Sometimes a bad situation is still better than the alternative. You did what you needed to do to survive."

  "Perhaps," Vin said. "But there's a better way, OreSeur. I didn't know it until Kelsier found me. but life doesn't have to be like that. You don't have to spend your years mistrusting, staying in the shadows and keeping yourself apart."

  "Perhaps if you are human. I am kandra."

  "You can still (rust." Vin said. "You don't have to hate your masters."

  "I don't hate them all. Mistress."

  "But you don't bust them."

  "It is nothing personal. Mistress."

  "Yes it is," Vin said. "You don't trust us because you're afraid we'll hurt you. I understand that-I spent months with Kelsier wondering when I was going to get hurt again."

  She paused. "But OreSeur, nobody betrayed us. Kelsier was right. It seems incredible to me even now, but the men in this crew^Ham, Dockson, Breeze-they're good people. And, even if one of them were to betray me, I'd still rather have trusted them. I can sleep at night, OreScur. I can feel peace, I can laugh. Life is different. Better."

  "You are human." OreScur said stubbornly. "You can have friends because they don't worry that you'll eat them, or some other foolishness."

  "I don't think that about you."

  "Don't you? Mistress, you just admitted that you resent me because I ate Kelsier. Beyond that, you hate the fact that I followed my Contract. You. at least, have been honest.

  "Human beings find us disturbing. They hate that we eat their kind, even though we only take bodies that are already dead. Your people find it unsettling that we can take their forms. Don't tell me that you haven't heard the legends of my people. Mistwraiths. they call us-creatures that steal the shapes of men who go into the mists. You think a monster like that, a legend used to frighten children, will ever find acceptance in your society?"

  Vin frowned.

  "This is the reason for the Contract. Mistress," OreSeur said, his muffled voice harsh as he spoke through dog's lips.

  "You wonder why we don't just run away from you? Meld into your society, and become unseen? We tried that. Long ago, when the Final Empire was new. Your people found us, and they started to destroy us. They used Mistborn to hunt us down, for there were many more Allomancers in those days. Your people hated us because they feared we would replace them. We were almost completely destroyed-and then we came up with the Contract."

  "But, what difference does that make?" Vin asked. "You're still doing the same things, aren't you?"

  "Yes, but now we do them at your command," OreSeur said. "Men like power, and they love controlling something powerful. Our people offered to serve, and we devised a binding contract-one that every kandra vowed to uphold. We will not kill men. We will take bones only when we are commanded. We will serve our masters with absolute obedience. We began to do these things, and men stopped killing us. They still hated and feared us-but they also knew they could command us.

  "We became your tools. As long as we remain subservient. Mistress, we survive. And that is why I obey. To break the Contract would be to betray my people. We cannot fight you, not while you have Mistborn, and so we must serve you."

  Mistborn. Why are Mistborn so important? He implied that they co
uld find kandra....

  She kept this tidbit to herself; she sensed that if she pointed it out, he'd close up again. So, instead, she sat up and met his eyes in the darkness. "If you wish, I will free you from your Contract."

  "And what would that change?" OreSeur asked. "I'd just get another Contract. By our laws I must wait another decade before I have time for freedom-and then only two years, during which time I won't be able to leave the kandra Homeland. To do otherwise would risk exposure."

  "Then, at least accept my apology," she asked. "I was foolish to resent you for following your Contract."'

  OreSeur paused. "That still doesn't fix things. Mistress. I still have to wear this cursed dog's body-I have no personality or bones to imitate!"

  "I'd think that you would appreciate the opportunity simply to be yourself."

  "I feel naked," OreSeur said. He sat quietly for a moment; then he bowed his head. "But... I have to admit that there are advantages to these bones. I didn't realize how unobtrusive they would make me."

  Vin nodded. "There were times in my life when I would have given anything to be able to take the form of a dog and just live my life being ignored."

  "But not anymore?"

  Vin shook her head. "No. Not most of the time, anyway. I used to think that everyone was like you say-hateful, hurtful. But there are good people in the world, OreSeur. I wish I could prove that to you."

  "You speak of this king of yours," OreSeur said, glancing toward the keep.

  "Yes," Vin said. "And others."

  "You?"

  Vin shook her head. "No, not me. I'm not a good person or a bad person. I'm just here to kill things."

  OreSeur watched her for a moment, then settled back down. "Regardless," he said, "you are not my worst master. That is, perhaps, a compliment among our people."

  Vin smiled, but her own words left her a bit haunted. Just here to kill things....

  She glanced toward the light of the armies outside the city. A part-the part that had been trained by Reen, the part that still occasionally used his voice in the back of her mind-whispered that there was another way to fight these armies. Rather than rely on politics and parlays, the crew could use Vin. Send her on a quiet visit into the night that left the kings and generals of the armies dead.

  But, she knew that Elend wouldn't approve of something like that. He'd argue against using fear to motivate, even on one's enemies. He'd point out that if she killed Straff or Cett, they'd just be replaced by other men, men even more hostile toward the city.

  Even so, it seemed like such a brutal, logical answer. A piece of Vin itched to do it, if only to be doing something other than waiting and talking. She was not a person meant to be besieged.

  No, she thought. That's not my way. I don't have to be like Kelsier was. Hard. Unyielding. I can be something better. Something that trusts in Elend's way.

  She shoved aside that part of her that wanted to just go assassinate both Straff and Cett, then turned her attention to other things. She focused on her bronze, watching for signs of Allomancy. Though she liked to jump around and "patrol" the area, the truth was that she was just as effective staying in one place. Assassins would be likely to scout the front gates, for that was where patrols began and the largest concentration of soldiers waited.

  Still, she felt her mind wandering. There were forces moving in the world, and Vin wasn't certain if she wanted to be part of them.

  What is my place? she thought. She never felt that she'd discovered it-not back when she'd been playing as Valette Renoux, and not now, when she acted as the bodyguard to the man she loved. Nothing quite fit.

  She closed her eyes, burning tin and bronze, feeling the touch of wind-borne mist on her skin. And, oddly, she felt something else, something very faint. In the distance she could sense Allomantic pulsings. They were so dull she almost missed them.

  They were kind of like the pulses given off by the mist spirit. She could hear it, too, much closer. Atop a building out in the city. She was getting used to its presence, not that she had much choice. Still, as long as it only watched

  It tried to kill one of the Hero's companions, she thought. It knifed him, somehow. Or so the logbook claimed.

  But... what was that pulsing in the far distance? It was soft... yet powerful. Like a faraway drum. She squeezed her eyes shut, focusing.

  "Mistress?" OreSeur said, suddenly perking up.

  Vin snapped her eyes open. "What?"

  "Didn't you hear that?"

  Vin sat up. "Wha-" Then she picked it out. Footsteps outside the wall a short distance away. She leaned closer, noticing a dark figure walking down the street toward the keep. She'd been so focused on her bronze that she'd completely tuned out real sounds.

  "Good job," she said, approaching the edge of the guard station's roof. Only then did she realize something important. OreSeur had taken the initiative: he'd alerted her of the danger without specifically being ordered to listen.

  It was a small thing, but it seemed important.

  "What do you think?" she asked quietly, watching the figure approach. He carried no torch, and he seemed very comfortable in the mists.

  "Allomancer?" OreSeur asked, crouching beside her.

  Vin shook her head. "There's no Allomantic pulse."

  "So if he is one, he's Mistbom," OreSeur said. He still didn't know she could pierce copperclouds. "He's too tall to be your friend Zane. Be careful. Mistress."

  Vin nodded, dropped a coin, then threw herself into the mists. Behind her, OreSeur jumped down from the guardhouse, then leapt off the wall and dropped some twenty feet to the ground.

  He certainly does like to push the limits of those bones, she thought. Of course, if a fall couldn't kill him, then she could perhaps understand his courage.

  She guided herself by Pulling on the nails in a wooden roof, landing just a short distance from the dark figure. She pulled out her knives and prepared her metals, making certain she had duralumin. Then she moved quietly across the street.

  Surprise, she thought. Ham's suggestion still left her nervous. She couldn't always depend on surprise. She followed the man, studying him. He was tall-very tall. And in robes. In fact, those robes ...

  Vin stopped short. "Sazed?" she asked with shock.

  The Terrisman turned, face now visible to her tin-enhanced eyes. He smiled. "Ah, Lady Vin," he said with his familiar, wise voice. "I was beginning to wonder how long it would take you to find me. You are-"

  He was cut off as Vin grabbed him in an excited embrace. "I didn't think you were going to come back so soon!"

  "I was not planning to return, Lady Vin," Sazed said. "But events are such that I could not avoid this place, I think. Come, we must speak with His Majesty. I have news of a rather disconcerting nature."

  Vin let go, looking up at his kindly face, noting the tiredness in his eyes. Exhaustion. His robes were dirty and smelled of ash and sweat. Sazed was usually very meticulous, even when he traveled. "What is it?" she asked.

  "Problems, Lady Vin," he said quietly. "Problems and troubles."

  The Terris rejected him, but he came to lead them.

  23

  "KING LEKAL CLAIMED THAT HE had twenty thousand of the creatures in his army," Sazed said quietly.

  Twenty thousand! Elend thought in shock. That was easily as dangerous as Straffs fifty thousand men. Probably more so.

  The table fell silent, and Elend glanced at the others. They sat in the palace kitchen, where a couple of cooks hurriedly prepared a late-night dinner for Sazed. The white room had an alcove at the side with a modest table for servant meals. Not surprisingly, Elend had never dined in the room, but Sazed had insisted that they not wake the servants it would require to prepare the main dining hall, though he apparently hadn't eaten all day.

  So, they sat on the low wooden benches, waiting while the cooks worked-far enough away that they couldn't hear the hushed conversation in the alcove. Vin sat beside Elend, arm around his waist, her wolfhound kandra on the
floor beside her. Breeze sat on the other side of him.

  looking disheveled; he'd been rather annoyed when they'd woken him. Ham had already been up, as had Elend himself. Another proposal had needed work-a letter he would send to the Assembly explaining that he was meeting with Straff informally, rather than in official parlay.

  Dockson pulled over a stool, choosing a place away from Elend, as usual. Cliibs sat slumped on his side of the bench, though Elend couldn't tell if the posture was from weariness or from general Clubs grumpiness. That left only Spook, who sat on one of the serving tables a distance away, legs swinging over the side as he occasionally pilfered a tidbit of food from the annoyed cooks. He was, Elend noticed with amusement, flirting quite unsuccessfully with a drowsy kitchen girl.

  And then there was Sazed. The Terrisman sat directly across from Elend with the calm sense of collectedness that only Sazed could manage. His robes were dusty, and he looked odd without his earrings-removed to not tempt thieves, Elend would guess-but his face and hands were clean. Even dirtied from travel, Sazed still gave off a sense of tidiness.

  "I do apologize. Your Majesty," Sazed said. "But I do not think that Lord Lekal is trustworthy. I realize that you were friends with him before the Collapse, but his current state seems somewhat... unstable."

  Elend nodded. "How is he controlling them, you think?"

  Sazed shook his head. "I cannot guess, Your Majesty."

  Ham shook his head. "I have men in the guard who came up from the South after the Collapse. They were soldiers, serving in a garrison near a koloss camp. The Lord Ruler hadn't been dead a day before the creatures went crazy. They attacked everything in the area-villages, garrisons, cities."

  "The same happened in the Northwest," Breeze said. "Lord Cett's lands were being flooded with refugees running from rogue koloss. Cett tried to recruit the koloss garrison near his own lands, and they followed him for a time. But then, something set them off, and they just attacked his army. He had to slaughter the whole lot-and lost nearly