Well of Ascension

by Brandon Sanderson

  "Everything will be all right," Vin heard herself say, increasing her Soothing, trying to take away some of their fear.

  "But the armies. Lady Heir!" one of the women said.

  "They're trying to intimidate us," Vin said. "But the king won't let them. Our walls are strong, as are our soldiers. We can outlast this siege."

  The crowd was silent.

  "One of those armies is led by Elend's father. Straff Venture," Vin said. "Elend and I are going to go meet with Straff tomorrow. We will persuade him to be our ally."

  "The king is going to surrender!" a voice said. "I heard it. He's going to trade the city for his life."

  "No," Vin said. "He would never do that!!"

  "He won't fight for us!" a voice called. "He's not a soldier. He's a politician!"

  Other voices called out in agreement. Reverence disappeared as people began to yell out concerns, while others began to demand help. The dissidents continued to rail against Elend, yelling that there was no way he could protect them.

  Vin raised her hands to her ears. Trying to ward off the crowd, the chaos. "Stop!" she yelled. Pushing out with steel and brass. Several people stumbled back away from her, and she could see a wave in the crowd as buttons, coins, and buckles suddenly pressed backward.

  The people grew suddenly quiet.

  "I will suffer no ill words spoken of our king!" Vin said, flaring her brass and increasing her Soothing. "He is a good man, and a good leader. He has sacrificed much for you-your freedom comes because of his long hours spent drafting laws, and your livelihoods come because of his work securing trade routes and agreements with merchants."

  Many members of the crowd looked down. The bearded man at the front continued to twist his cap, however, looking at Vin. 'They're just right frightened. Lady Heir. Right frightened."

  "We'll protect you," Vin said. What am I saying? "Elend and I, we'll find a way. We stopped the Lord Ruler. We can stop these armies ..." She trailed off, feeling foolish.

  Yet, the crowd responded. Some were obviously still unsatisfied, but many seemed calmed. The crowd began'to break up, though some of its members came forward, leading or carrying small children. Vin paused nervously. Kelsier had often met with and held the children of the skaa, as if giving them his blessing. She bid the group a hasty farewell and ducked back into the shop, pulling Allrianne after her.

  Tindwyl waited inside, nodding with satisfaction.

  "I lied," Vin said, pushing the door closed.

  "No you didn't," Tindwyl said. "You were optimistic. The truth or fiction of what you said has yet to be proven."

  "It won't happen," Vin said. "Elend can't defeat three armies, not even with my help."

  Tindwyl raised an eyebrow. "Then you should leave. Run away, leave the people to deal with the armies themselves."

  "I didn't mean that," Vin said.

  "Well, make a decision then," Tindwyl said. "Either give up on the city or believe in it. Honestly, the pair of you...." She shook her head.

  "I thought you weren't going to be harsh with me," Vin noted.

  "I have trouble with that sometimes," Tindwyl said. "Come, Allrianne. Let's finish your fitting."

  They moved to do so. However, at that moment-as if to belie Vin's assurances of safety-several warning drums began to beat atop the city wall. •

  Vin froze, glancing through the window, out over the anxious crowd.

  One of the armies was attacking. Cursing the delay, she rushed into the back of the shop to change out of the bulky dress.

  Elend scrambled up the steps to the city wall, nearly tripping on his dueling cane in his haste. He stumbled out of the stairwell, moving onto the wall top, rearranging the cane at his side with a curse.

  The wall top was in chaos. Men scrambled about, calling to each other. Some had forgotten their armor, others their bows. So many tried to get up after Elend that die stairwell got clogged, and he watched hopelessly as men crowded around the openings below, creating an even larger jam of bodies in the courtyard.

  Elend spun, watching a large group of Straffs men- thousands of them-rush toward thhing toward Pewter Gate, a little to the east.

  "Archers!" Elend yelled. "Men, where are your bows?"

  His voice, however, was lost in the shouting. Captains moved about, trying to organize the men. but apparently too many footmen had come to the wall. lee wall. Elend stood near Tin Gate, at the north of the city, nearest Straffs army. He could see a separate group of soldiers rusaving a lot of the archers trapped in the courtyard below.

  Why? Elend thought desperately, turning back toward the charging army. Why is he attacking? We had an a agreement to meet!

  Had he, perhaps, gotten wind of Elend's plan to play both sides of the conflict? Perhaps there really was a spy in the inner crew.

  Either way, Elend could only watch hopelessly as the army approached his wall. One captain managed to get off a pathetic volley of arrows, but it didn't do much good. As the army approached, arrows began to zip up toward the wall, mixed with flying coins. Straff had Allomancers in the group.

  Elend cursed, ducking down below a merlon as coins bounced against the stonework. A few soldiers fell. Elend's soldiers. Killed because he'd been too proud to surrender the city.

  He peeked carefully over the wall. A group of men carrying a battering ram were approaching, their bodies carefully protected by men with shields. The care probabiy meant that the rammers were Thugs, a suspicion confirmed by the sound the ram made when it smashed into the gate. That was not the blow of ordinary men.

  Hooks followed next. Shot up toward the wall by Coin-shots below, falling far more accurately than if they'd been thrown. Soldiers moved to pull them off, but coins shot up, taking the men almost as quickly as they made the attempt. The gate continued to thump beneath him. and he doubted it would last for long.

  And so we fall, Elend thought. With barely a hint of resistance.

  And there was nothing he could do. He felt impotent, forced to keep ducking down lest his white uniform make him a target. All of his politicking, all of his preparations, all of his dreams and his plans. Gone.

  And then Vin was there. She landed atop the wall, breathing hard, amid a group of wounded men. Coins and arrows that came near to her deflected back out into the air. Men rallied around her. moving to remove hooks and pull the wounded to safety. Her knives cut ropes, dropping them back down below. She met Elend's eyes, looking determined, then moved as if to leap over the side of the wall and confront the Thngs with their battering ram.

  Elend raised a hand, but someone else spoke.

  "Vin, wait!" Clubs bellowed, bursting out of the stairwell.

  She paused. Elend had never heard such a forceful command from the gnarled general.

  Arrows stopped flying. The booming calmed. Elend stood hesitantly, watching with a frown as the army retreated back across the ash-strewn fields toward their camp. They left a couple of corpses behind: Elend's men had actually managed to hit a few with their arrows. His own army had taken far heavier casualties: some two dozen men appeared to be wounded.

  "What... ?" Elend asked, turning to Clubs.

  "They weren't putting up scaling ladders," Clubs said, eyeing the retreating force. "This wasn't an actual attack."

  "What was it then?" Vin asked, frowning.

  "A test," Clubs said. "It's common in warfare-a quick skirmish to see how your enemy responds, to feel out their tactics and preparations."

  Elend turned, watching the disorganized soldiers make way for healers to care for the wounded. "A test," he said, glancing at Clubs. "My guess is that we didn't do very well."

  Clubs shrugged. "Far worse than we should have. Maybe this will scare the lads into paying better attention during drills." He paused, and Elend could see something he wasn't expressing. Worry.

  Elend glanced out over the wall, watching the retreating army. Suddenly, it made sense. It was exactly the kind of move that his father liked to make.

  The meeting wi
th Straff would take place as planned. However, before it happened, Straff wanted Elend to know something.

  I can take this city any time, the attack seemed to say. It's mine, no matter what you do. Remember that.

  He was forced into war by a misunderstanding-and always claimed he was no warrior-yet he came to fight as well as any man.

  26

  'THIS IS NOT A GOOD idea, Mistress." OreSeur sat on his haunches, watching Vin unpack a large, flat box.

  "Elend thinks it's the only way," she said, pulling off the top of the box. The luxurious blue dress lay wrapped within. She pulled it out, noting its comparatively light weight. She walked over to the changing screen and began to disrobe.

  "And the assault on the walls yesterday?" OreSeur asked.

  "That was a warning," she said, continuing to unbutton her shirt. "Not a serious attack." Though, apparently, it had really unsettled the Assembly. Perhaps that had been the point. Clubs could say all he wished about strategy and testing the walls, but from Vin's standpoint, the thing Straff had gained most was even more fear and chaos inside Luthadel.

  Only a few weeks of being besieged, and the city was already strained near to breaking. Food was terribly expensive, and Elend had been forced to open the city stockpiles. The people were on edge. Some few thought the attack had been a victory for Luthadel, taking it as a good sign that the army had been "repelled." Most, however, were simply even more scared than they had been before.

  But, again, Vin was left with a conundrum. How to react, facing such an overpowering force? Cower, or try to continue with life? Straff had tested the walls, true-but he had maintained the larger part of his army back and in position, should Cett have tried to make an opportunistic attack at that time. He'd wanted information, and he'd wanted to intimidate the city.

  "I still don't know if this meeting is a good idea," OreSeur said. "The attack aside. Straff is not a man to be trusted. Kelsier had me study all of the major noblemen in the city when I was preparing to become Lord Renoux. Straff is deceitful and harsh, even for a human."

  Vin sighed, removing her trousers, then pulled on the dress's slip. It wasn't as tight as some, and gave her a lot of room to move through the thigh and legs. Good so far.

  OreSeur's objection was logical. One of the first things she had learned on the street was to avoid situations where it was difficult to flee. Her every instinct rebelled at the idea of walking into Straff's camp.

  Elend had made his decision, however. And, Vin understood that she needed to support him. In fact, she was even coming to agree with the move. Straff wanted to intimidate the entire city-but he really wasn't as threatening as he thought. Not as long as he had to worry about Cett.

  Vin had had enough of intimidation in her life. In a way, Straff's attack on the walls left her feeling even more determined to manipulate him to their own ends. Going into his camp seemed a bit crazy on first impression, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that it was the only way they were going to get to Straff. He had to see them as weak, had to feel that his bullying tactics had worked. That was the only way they would win.

  That meant doing something she didn't like. It meant being surrounded, entering the enemy's den. However, if Elend did manage to get out of the camp safely, it would provide a large morale boost for the city. Beyond that, it would make Ham and the rest of the crew more confident in Elend. Nobody would even have questioned the idea of Kelsier entering an enemy camp to negotiate; in fact, they probably would have expected him to come back from the negotiations somehow having convinced Straff to surrender.

  I just need to make sure he comes back out safely, Vin thought, pulling on the dress. Straff can display all the muscle he wants-none of it will matter if we're the ones directing his attacks.

  She nodded to herself, smoothing her dress. Then she walked out from behind the changing screen, studying herself in her mirror. Though the dressmaker had obviously sewn it to retain a traditional form, it didn't have a completely triangular bell shape, but instead fell a bit straighter down along her thighs. It was cut open near the shoulders- though it had tight sleeves and open cuffs-and the waist bent with her and gave her a good range of motion.

  Vin stretched a bit, jumping, twisting. She was surprised at how light the dress felt, and how well she moved in it. Of course, any skirt would hardly be ideal for fighting-but this one would be an enormous improvement over the bulky creations she had worn to the parties a year before.

  "Well?" she asked, spinning.

  OreSeur raised a canine eyebrow. "What?"

  "What do you think?"

  OreSeur cocked his head. "Why ask me?"

  "Because I care what you think," Vin said.

  "The dress is very nice. Mistress. Though, to be honest, I have always found the garments to be a little ridiculous. All of that cloth and color, it doesn't seem very practical."

  "Yes, I know," Vin said, using a pair of sapphire bar-rettes to pin the sides of her hair back a bit from her face. "But... well, I'd forgotten how much fun these things could be to wear."

  "I fail to see why that would be, Mistress."

  "That's because you're a man."

  "Actually, I'm a kandra."

  "But you're a boy kandra."

  "How do you know that?" OreSeur asked. "Gender is not easy to tell in my people, since our forms are fluid."

  Vin looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "I can tell." Then she turned back to her jewelry cabinet. She didn't have much: though the crew had outfitted her with a good sampling of jewelry during her days as Valette, she had given most of it to Elend to help fund various projects. She had, however, kept a few of her favorites-as if she'd known that she'd someday find her way back into a dress.

  I'm just wearing it this once, she thought. This still isn 't me.

  She snapped on a sapphire bracelet. Like her barrettes, it contained no metal; the gemstones were set into a thick hardwood that closed with a wooden twist-clasp. The only metal on her body, then, would be her coins, her metal vial, and the single earring. Kept, by Kelsier's suggestion, as a bit of metal she could Push on in an emergency.

  "Mistress," OreSeur said, pulling something out from under her bed with his paw. A sheet of paper. "This fell from the box as you were opening it." He grabbed it between two of his surprisingly dexterous paw fingers and held it up for her.

  Vin accepted the paper. Lady Heir, it read.

  I made the chest and bodice extra tight to give support- and cut the skirts so they would resist flaring-in case you need to jump. There are slits for metal vials in each of the cuffs, as well as a ripple in the cloth cut to obscure a dagger strapped around each forearm. I hope you find the alterations suitable. Feldeu, Dressmaker.

  She glanced down, noting the cuffs. They were thick and wide, and the way they pointed at the sides made perfect hiding places. Though the sleeves were tight around the upper arms, the forearms were looser, and she could see where the daggers could be strapped.

  "It seems that he has made dresses for Mistbom before," OreSeur noted.

  "Probably," Vin said. She moved over to her dressing mirror to apply a little makeup, and found that several of her makeup pads had dried out. Guess I haven't done this for a while either....

  "What time are we leaving. Mistress?" OreSeur asked.

  Vin paused. "Actually, OreSeur, I wasn't planning to bring you. I still intend to keep your cover with the other people in the palace, and I think it would look very suspicious of me to bring my pet dog on this particular trip."

  OreSeur was silent for a moment. "Oh," he said. "Of course. Good luck, then, Mistress."

  Vin felt only a tiny stab of disappointment; she'd expected him to object more. She pushed the emotion aside. Why should she fault him? He'd been the one to rightly point out the dangers of going into the camp.

  OreSeur simply lay down, resting head on paws as he watched her continue applying her makeup.

  "But, El," Ham said, "you should at least let us send
you in our own carriage."

  Elend shook his head, straightening his jacket as. he looked in the mirror. "That would require sending in a coachman. Ham."

  "Right," Ham said. "Who would be me."

  "One man won't make a difference in getting us out of that camp. And, the fewer people I take with me, the fewer people Vin and I have to worry about."

  Ham shook his head. "El, I..."

  Elend laid a hand on Ham's shoulder. "I appreciate the concern. Ham. But, I can do this. If there's one man in this world I can manipulate, it's my father. I'll come out of this with him feeling assured that he has the city in his pocket."

  Ham sighed. "All right."

  "Oh, one other thing," Elend said hesitantly.

  "Yes?"

  "Would you mind calling me 'Elend' instead of just 'EI'?"

  Ham chuckled. "I suppose that one's easy enough to do."

  Elend smiled thankfully..It's not what Tindwyl wanted, but it's a start. We'II worry about the "Your Majesty "s later.

  The door opened, and Dockson walked in. "Elend," he said. 'This just arrived for you." He held up a sheet of paper.

  "From the Assembly?" Elend asked.

  Dockson nodded. "They're not happy about you missing the meeting this evening."

  "Well, I can't change the appointment with Straff just because they want to meet a day early," Elend said. 'Tell them I'll try and visit when I get back."

  Dockson nodded, then turned as a rustling sounded from behind him. He stepped to the side, a strange look on his face, as Vin walked up to the doorway.

  And she was wearing a dress-a beautiful blue gown that was sleeker than the common courtly fare. Her black hair sparkled with a pair of sapphire barrettes, and she seemed ... different. More feminine-or, rather, more confident in her femininity.

  How much she's changed since I first met her, Elend thought, smiling. Almost two years had passed. Then she had been a youth, albeit one with the life experiences of someone far older. Now she was a woman-a very dangerous woman, but one who still looked up at him with eyes that were just a bit uncertain, just a bit insecure.