Well of Ascension

by Brandon Sanderson

  two thousand soldiers killing a small garrison of five hundred koloss."

  The group grew quiet again, the clacking and talking of the cooking staff sounding a short distance away. Five hundred koloss killed two thousand men, Elend thought. And the Jastes force contains twenty thousand of the beasts. Lord Ruler. ..

  "How long?" said Clubs. "How far away?"

  "It took me a little over a week to get here," Sazed said. "Though it looked as if King Lekal had been camped there for a time. He is obviously coming this direction, but I don't know how quickly he intends to march."

  "Probably wasn't expecting to find that two other armies beat him to the city," Ham noted.

  Elend nodded. "What do we do, then?"

  "I don't see that we can do anything, Your Majesty," Dockson said, shaking his head. "Sazed's report doesn't give me much hope that we'll be able to reason with Jastes. And, with the siege we're already under, there is little we can do."

  "He might just turn around and go," Ham said. "With two armies already here ..."

  Sazed looked hesitant. "He knew about the armies. Lord Hammond. He seemed to trust in his koloss over the human armies."

  "With twenty thousand," Clubs said, "he could probably take either of those other armies."

  "But he'd have trouble with both of them," Ham said. "That would give me pause, if I were him. By showing up with a pile of volatile koloss, he could easily worry Cett and Straff enough that they would join forces against him."

  "Which would suit us just fine," Clubs said. 'The more that other people fight, the better off we are."

  Elend sat back. He felt a looming anxiety, and it was good to have Vin next to him, arm around him, even if she didn't say much. Sometimes, he felt stronger simply because of her presence. Twenty thousand koloss. This single threat scared him more than either of the other armies.

  'This could be a good thing," Ham said. "If Jastes were to lose control of those beasts near Luthadel, there's a good chance they'd attack one of those other armies."

  "Agreed," Breeze said tiredly. "I think we need to keep stalling, draw out this siege until the koloss army arrives. One more army in the mix means only more advantage for us."

  "I don't like the idea of koloss in the area," Elend said, shivering slightly. "No matter what advantage they offer us. If they attack the city ..."

  "I say we worry about that when, and if, they arrive," Dockson said. "For now, we have to continue our plan as we intended. His Majesty meets with Straff, trying to manipulate him into a covert alliance with us. With luck, the imminent koloss presence will make him more willing to deal."

  Elend nodded. Straff had agreed to meet, and they'd set a date for a few days away. The Assembly was angry that he hadn't consulted with them about the time and place, but there was little they could do about the matter.

  "Anyway," Elend finally said, sighing. "You said you had other news, Saze? Better, hopefully?"

  Sazed paused. A cook finally walked over, setting a plate of food before him: steamed barley with strips of steak and some spiced lagets. The scents were enough to make Elend a little hungry. He nodded thankfully to the palace chef, who had insisted on preparing the meal himself despite the late hour, and who waved to his staff and began to withdraw.

  Sazed sat quietly, waiting to speak until the staff were again out of earshot. "I hesitate to mention this. Your Majesty, for your burdens already seem great."

  "You might as well just tell me," Elend said.

  Sazed nodded. "I fear that we may have exposed the world to something when we killed the Lord Ruler, Your Majesty. Something unanticipated."

  Breeze raised a tired eyebrow. "Unanticipated? You mean other than ravaging koloss, power-hungry despots, and bandits?"

  Sazed paused. "Um, yes. I speak of items a little more nebulous, I fear. There is something wrong with the mists."

  Vin perked up slightly beside Elend. "What do you mean?"

  "I have been following a trail of events," Sazed explained. He looked down as he spoke, as if embarrassed. "I have been performing an investigation, you might say. You see, I have heard numerous reports of the mists coming during the daytime."

  Ham shrugged. "That happens sometimes. There are foggy days, especially in the fall."

  'That is not what I mean, Lord Hammond," Sazed said. "There is a difference between the mist and ordinary fog. It is difficult to spot, perhaps, but it is noticeable to a careful eye. The mist is thicker, and ... well..."

  "It moves in larger patterns," Vin said quietly. "Like rivers in the sky. It never just hangs in one place: it floats in the breeze, almost like it makes the breeze."

  "And it can't enter buildings," Clubs said. "Or tents. It evaporates soon after it does."

  "Yes," Sazed said. "When I first heard these reports of day mist, I assumed that the people were just letting their superstitions get out of control. I have known many skaa who refused to go out on a foggy morning. However, I was curious about the reports, so I traced them to a village in the South. I taught there for some time, and never received confirmation of the stories. So, I made my way from that place."

  He paused, frowning slightly. "Your Majesty, please do not think me mad. During those travels I passed a secluded valley, and saw what I swear was mist, not fog. It was moving across the landscape, creeping toward me. During the full light of day."

  Elend glanced at Ham. He shrugged. "Don't look at me."

  Breeze snorted. "He was asking your opinion, my dear man."

  "Well, I don't have one." "Some philosopher you are."

  "I'm not a philosopher," Ham said. "I just like to think about things."

  "Well, think about this, then," Breeze said.

  Elend glanced at Sazed. "Have those two always been this way?"

  "Honestly, I am not certain, Your Majesty," Sazed said, smiling slightly. "I have known them for only slightly longer than yourself."

  "Yes, they've always been like this," Dockson said, sighing quietly. "If anything, they've gotten worse over the years."

  "Aren't you hungry?" Elend asked, nodding to Sazed's plate.

  "I can eat once our discussion is finished," Sazed said.

  "Sazed, you're not a servant anymore," Vin said. "You don't have to worry about things like that."

  "It is not a matter of serving or not. Lady Vin," Sazed said. "It is a matter of being polite."

  "Sazed," Elend said.

  "Yes, Your Majesty?"

  He pointed at the plate. "Eat. You can be polite another time. Right now, you look famished-and you're among friends."

  Sazed paused, giving Elend an odd look. "Yes, Your Majesty," he said, picking up a knife and spoon.

  "Now," Elend began, "why does it matter if you saw mist during the day? We know that the things the skaa say aren't true-there's no reason to fear the mist."

  "The skaa may be more wise than we credit them. Your Majesty," Sazed said, taking small, careful bites of food. "It appears that the mist has been killing people."

  "What?" Vin asked, leaning forward.

  "I have never seen it myself, Lady Vin," Sazed said. "But I have seen its effects, and have collected several separate reports. They all agree that the mist has been killing people."

  "That's preposterous," Breeze said. "Mist is harmless." "That is what I thought, Lord Ladrian," Sazed said. "However, several of the reports are quite detailed. The incidents always occurred during the day, and each one tells of the mist curling around some unfortunate individual, who then died-usually in a seizure. I gathered interviews with witnesses myself."

  Elend frowned. From another man, he*d dismiss the news. But Sazed ... he was not a man that one dismissed. Vin, sitting beside Elend, watched the conversation with interest, chewing slightly on her bottom lip. Oddly, she didn't object to Sazed's words-though the others seemed to be reacting as Breeze had.

  "It doesn't make sense, Saze," Ham said. 'Thieves, nobles, and Allomancers have gone out in the mists for centuries."

  "In
deed they have. Lord Hammond" Sazed said with a nod. "The only explanation I can think of involves the. Lord Ruler. I heard no substantive reports of mist deaths before the Collapse, but I have had little trouble finding them since. The reports are concentrated in the Outer Dominances, but the incidents appear to be moving inward. I found one ... very disturbing incident several weeks to the south, where an entire village seems to have been trapped in their hovels by the mists."

  "But, why would the Lord Ruler's death have anything to do with the mists?" Breeze asked.

  "I am not certain. Lord Ladrian," Sazed said. "But it is the only connection I have been able to hypothesize."

  Breeze frowned. "I wish you wouldn't call me that."

  "I apologize, Lord Breeze," Sazed said. "I am still accustomed to calling people by their full names."

  "Your name is Ladrian?" Vin asked.

  "Unfortunately," Breeze said. "I've never been fond of it, and with dear Sazed putting 'Lord' before it... well, the alliteration makes it even more atrocious."

  "Is it me," Elend said, "or are we going off on even more tangents than usual tonight?"

  "We get that way when we're tired," Breeze said with a yawn. "Either way, our good Terrisman must have his facts wrong. Mist doesn't kill."

  "I can only report what I have discovered," Sazed said. "I will need to do some more research."

  "So, you'll be staying?" Vin asked, obviously hopeful. Sazed nodded.

  "What about teaching?" Breeze asked, waving his hand. "When you left, I recall that you said something about spending the rest of your life traveling, or some nonsense like that."

  Sazed blushed slightly, glancing down again. "That duty will have to wait, I fear."

  "You're welcome to stay as long as you want, Sazed," Elend said, shooting a glare at Breeze. "If what you say is true, then you'll be doing a greater service through your studies than you would by traveling."

  "Perhaps," Sazed said.

  "Though," Ham noted with a chuckle, "you probably could have picked a safer place to set up shop-one that isn't being pushed around by two armies and twenty thousand koloss."

  Sazed smiled, and Elend gave an obligatory chuckle. He said that the incidents involving the mist were moving inward, toward the center of the empire. Toward us.

  Something else to worry about.

  "What's going on?" a voice suddenly asked. Elend turned toward the kitchen doorway, where a disheveled-looking Allrianne stood. "I heard voices. Is there a party?"

  "We were just discussing matters of state interest, my dear," Breeze said quickly.

  'The other girl is here," Allrianne said, pointing at Vin. "Why didn't you invite me?"

  Elend frowned. She heard voices? The guest quarters aren't anywhere near the kitchens. And Allrianne was dressed, wearing a simple noblewoman's gown. She'd taken the time to get out of her sleeping clothing, but she'd left her hair disheveled. Perhaps to make herself look more innocent?

  I'm starting to think like Vm, Elend told himself with a sigh. As if to corroborate his thoughts, he noticed Vin narrowing her eyes at the new girl.

  "Go back to your rooms, dear," Breeze said soothingly. "Don't trouble His Majesty."

  Allrianne sighed dramatically, but turned and did as he asked, trailing off into the hallway. Elend turned back to Sazed, who was watching the girl with a curious expression. Elend gave him an "ask later" look, and the Terrisman turned back to his meal. A few moments later, the group began to break up. Vin hung back with Elend as the others left.

  "I don't trust that girl," Vin said as a couple of servants took Sazed's pack and guided him away.

  Elend smiled, turning to look down at Vin. "Do I have to say it?"

  She rolled her eyes. "I know. 'You don't trust anyone, Vin.' This time I'm right. She was dressed, but her hair was disheveled. She must have done that intentionally."

  "I noticed."

  "You did?" She sounded impressed.

  Elend nodded. "She must have heard the servants waking up Breeze and Clubs, so she got up. That means she spent a good half an hour eavesdropping. She kept her hair mussed so that we'd assume that she'd just come down."

  Vin opened her mouth slightly, then frowned, studying him. "You're getting better," she eventually said.

  "Either that, or Miss Allrianne just isn't very good."

  Vin smiled.

  •'I'm still trying to figure out why you didn't hear her," Elend noted.

  'The cooks," Vin said. "Too much noise. Besides, I was a little distracted by what Sazed was saying." "And what do you think of it?" Vin paused. "I'll tell you later."

  "All right," Elend said. To Vin's side, the kandra rose and stretched its wolfhound body. Why did she insist on bringing OreSeur to the meeting? he wondered. Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that she couldn't stand the thing?

  The wolfhound turned, glancing at the kitchen windows. Vin followed its gaze.

  "Going back out?" Elend asked.

  Vin nodded. "I don't trust this night. I'll stay near your balcony, in case there's trouble."

  She kissed him; then she moved away. He watched her go, wondering why she had been so interested in Sazed's stories, wondering what it was she wasn't telling him.

  Stop it, he told himself. Perhaps he was learning her lessons a little too well-of all the people in the palace, Vin was the last one he needed to be paranoid about. However, every time he felt like he was beginning to figure Vin out, he realized just how little he understood her.

  And that made everything else seem a little more depressing. With a sigh, he turned to seek out his rooms, where his half-finished letter to the Assembly waited to be completed.

  Perhaps I should not have spoken of the mists, Sazed thought, following a servant up the stairs. Now I've troubled the king about something that might just be my delusion.

  They reached the top of the stairs, and the servant asked if he wished a bath drawn. Sazed shook his head. In most other circumstances he would have welcomed the opportunity to get clean. However, running all the way to the Central Dominance, being captured by the koloss, then marching the rest of the way up to Luthadel had left him wearied to the farthest fringe of exhaustion. He'd barely had the strength to eat. Now he just wanted to sleep.

  The servant nodded and led Sazed down a side corridor.

  What if he was imagining connections that didn't exist? Every scholar knew that one of the greatest dangers in research was the desire to find a specific answer. He had not imagined the testimonies he had taken, but had he exaggerated their importance? What did he really have? The words of a frightened man who had seen his friend die of a seizure? The testimony of a lunatic, crazed to the point of cannibalism? The fact remained that Sazed himself had never seen the mists kill.

  The servant led him to a guest chamber, and Sazed thankfully bid the man good night. He watched the man walk away, holding only a candle, his lamp left for Sazed to use. During most of Sazed's life, he had belonged to a class of servants prized for their refined sense of duty and decorum. He'd been in charge of households and manors, supervising servants just like the one who had led him to his rooms.

  Another life, he thought. He had always been a little frustrated that his duties as a steward had left him little time for study. How ironic it was that he should help overthrow the Final Empire, then find himself with even less time.

  He reached to push open the door, and froze almost immediately. There was already a light inside the room.

  Did they leave a lamp on forme? he wondered. He slowly pushed the door open. Someone was waiting for him.

  'Tindwyl," Sazed said quietly. She sat beside the room's writing desk, collected and neatly dressed, as always.

  "Sazed," she replied as he stepped in, shutting the door. Suddenly, he was even more acutely aware of his dirty robes.

  "You, responded to my request," he said. "And you ignored mine."

  Sazed didn't meet her eyes. He walked over, setting his lamp on top of the room's bureau. "I noticed the kin
g's " she said dismissively. "You were right about him."

  "King Venture is a very good man," Sazed said, walking to the washbasin to wipe down his face. He welcomed the cold water; dealing with Tindwyl was bound to tire him even further.

  "Good men can make new clothing, and he appears to have gained a bearing to match them. You have done well, I think."

  "We are only just started,terrible kings," Tindwyl noted.

  "But bad men cannot make good kings," Sazed said. "It is better to start with a good man and work on the rest, I think."

  "Perhaps," Tindwyl said. She watched him with her normal hard expression. Others thought her cold-harsh, even. But Sazed had never seen that in her. Considering what she had been through, he found it remarkable- amazing, even-that she was so confident. Where did she get it?

  "Sazed, Sazed ..." she said. "Why did you return to the Central Dominance? You know the directions the Synod gave you. You are supposed to be in the Eastern Dominance, teaching the people on the borders of the burnlands."

  "That is where I was," Sazed said. "And now I am here. The South will get along for a time without me, I think."

  "Oh?" Tindwyl asked. "And who will teach them irrigation techniques, so they can produce enough food to survive the cold months? Who will explain to them basic lawmaking principles so that they may govern themselves? Who will show them how to reclaim their lost faiths and beliefs? You were always so passionate about that."

  Sazed set down the washcloth. "I will return, to teach them when I am certain there is not a greater work I need to do."

  "What greater work could there be?" Tindwyl demanded. "This is our life's duty, Sazed. This is the work of our entire people. I know that Luthadel is important to you, but there is nothing for you here. I will care for your king. You must go."

  "I appreciate your work with King Venture." Sazed said. "My course has little to do with him, however. I have other research to do."

  Tindwyl frowned, eyeing him with a cool stare. "You're still looking for this phantom connection of yours. This foolishness with the mists."

  "There is something wrong, Tindwyl," he said.

  "No," Tindwyl said, sighing. "Can't you see, Sazed? You spent ten years working to overthrow the Final Empire. Now, you can't content yourself with regular work, so you have invented some grand threat to the land. You're afraid of being irrelevant."