Mistborn

by Brandon Sanderson

  Dockson raised an eyebrow. The grunt pulled off the hood, revealing Elend Venture.

  Dockson blinked in surprise. “You?”

  Elend looked around. He was apprehensive, obviously, but held himself well, all things considered. “Have we met?”

  “Not exactly,” Dockson said. Blast. I don’t have time for captives right now. Still, the son of the Ventures...Dockson was going to need leverage with the powerful nobility when the fighting was over.

  “I’ve come to offer you a truce,” Elend Venture said.

  “...excuse me?” Dockson asked.

  “House Venture will not resist you,” Elend said. “And I can probably talk the rest of the nobility into listening as well. They’re frightened—there’s no need to slaughter them.”

  Dockson snorted. “I can’t exactly leave hostile armed forces in the city.”

  “If you destroy the nobility, you won’t be able to hold on for very long,” Elend said. “We control the economy—the empire will collapse without us.”

  “That is kind of the point of this all,” Dockson said. “Look, I don’t have time—”

  “You must hear me out,” Elend Venture said desperately. “If you start your rebellion with chaos and bloodshed, you’ll lose it. I’ve studied these things; I know what I’m talking about! When the momentum of your initial conflict runs out, the people will start looking for other things to destroy. They’ll turn on themselves. You must keep control of your armies.”

  Dockson paused. Elend Venture was supposed to be a fool and a fop, but now he just seemed...earnest.

  “I’ll help you,” Elend said. “Leave the noblemen’s keeps alone and focus your efforts on the Ministry and the Lord Ruler—they’re your real enemies.”

  “Look,” Dockson said, “I’ll pull our armies away from Keep Venture. There’s probably no need to fight them now that—”

  “I sent my soldiers to Keep Lekal,” Elend said. “Pull your men away from all the nobility. They’re not going to attack your flanks—they’ll just hole up in their mansions and worry.”

  He’s probably right about that. “We’ll consider . . .” Dock-son trailed off, noticing that Elend wasn’t paying attention to him anymore. Blasted hard man to have a conversation with.

  Elend was staring at Hammond, who had returned with a new sword. Elend frowned, then his eyes opened wide. “I know you! You were the one who rescued Lord Renoux’s servants from the executions!”

  Elend turned back to Dockson, suddenly eager. “Do you know Valette, then? She’ll tell you to listen to me.”

  Dockson shared a look with Ham.

  “What?” Elend asked.

  “Vin...” Dockson said. “Valette... she went into the palace a few hours back. I’m sorry, lad. She’s probably in the Lord Ruler’s dungeons right now—assuming she’s even still alive.”

  Kar tossed Vin back into her cell. She hit the ground hard and rolled, her loose undershirt twisting around her, her head knocking against the cell’s back wall.

  The Inquisitor smiled, slamming the door. “Thank you very much,” he said through the bars. “You just helped us achieve something that has been a long time in coming.”

  Vin glared up at him, the effects of the Lord Ruler’s Soothing weaker now.

  “It is unfortunate that Bendal isn’t here,” Kar said. “He chased your brother for years, swearing that Tevidian had fathered a skaa half-breed. Poor Bendal...If only the Lord Ruler had left the Survivor to us, so that we could have had revenge.”

  He looked over at her, shaking his spike-eyed head. “Ah, well. He was vindicated in the end. The rest of us believed your brother, but Bendal...even then he wasn’t convinced— and he found you in the end.”

  “My brother?” Vin said, scrambling to her feet. “He sold me out?”

  “Sold you out?” Kar said. “He died promising us that you had starved to death years ago! He screamed it night and day beneath the hands of Ministry torturers. It is very hard to hold out against the pains of an Inquisitor’s torture... something you shall soon discover.” He smiled. “But, first, let me show you something.”

  A group of guards dragged a naked, bound figure into the room. Bruised and bleeding, the man stumbled to the stone floor as they pushed him into the cell beside Vin’s.

  “Sazed?” Vin cried, rushing to the bars.

  The Terrisman lay groggily as the soldiers tied his hands and feet to a small metal ring set into the stone floor. He had been beaten so severely that he barely seemed conscious, and he was completely naked. Vin turned away from his nudity, but not before she saw the place between his legs—a simple, empty scar where his manhood should have been.

  All Terrisman stewards are eunuchs, he had told her. That wound wasn’t new—but the bruises, cuts, and scrapes were fresh.

  “We found him sneaking into the palace after you,” Kar said. “Apparently, he feared for your safety.”

  “What have you done to him?” she asked quietly.

  “Oh, very little...so far,” Kar said. “Now, you may wonder why I spoke to you of your brother. Perhaps you think me a fool for admitting that your brother’s mind snapped before we drew out his secret. But, you see, I am not so much a fool that I will not admit a mistake. We should have drawn out your brother’s torture... made him suffer longer. That was an error indeed.”

  He smiled wickedly, nodding to Sazed. “We won’t make that mistake again, child. No—this time, we’re going to try a different tactic. We’re going to let you watch us torture the Terrisman. We’re going to be very careful, making certain his pain is lasting, and quite vibrant. When you tell us what we want to know, we’ll stop.”

  Vin shivered in horror. “No... please...”

  “Oh, yes,” Kar said. “Why don’t you take some time to think about what we’re going to do to him? The Lord Ruler has commanded my presence—I need to go and receive formal leadership of the Ministry. We’ll begin when I return.”

  He turned, black robe sweeping the ground. The guards followed, likely taking positions in the guard chamber just outside the room.

  “Oh, Sazed,” Vin said, sinking to her knees beside the bars of her cage.

  “Now, Mistress,” Sazed said in a surprisingly lucid voice. “What did we tell you about running around in your undergarments? Why, if Master Dockson were here, he would scold you for certain.”

  Vin looked up, shocked. Sazed was smiling at her.

  “Sazed!” she said quietly, glancing in the direction the guards had gone. “You’re awake?”

  “Very awake,” he said. His calm, strong voice was a stark contrast to his bruised body.

  “I’m sorry, Sazed,” she said. “Why did you follow me? You should have stayed back and let me be stupid on my own!”

  He turned a bruised head toward her, one eye swollen, but the other looking into her eyes. “Mistress,” he said solemnly, “I vowed to Master Kelsier that I would see to your safety. The oath of a Terrisman is not something given lightly.”

  “But ...you should have known you’d be captured,” she said, looking down in shame.

  “Of course I knew, Mistress,” he said. “Why, how else was I going to get them to bring me to you?”

  Vin looked up. “Bring you...to me?”

  “Yes, Mistress. There is one thing that the Ministry and my own people have in common, I think. They both underestimate the things that we can accomplish.”

  He closed his eyes. And then, his body changed. It seemed to...deflate, the muscles growing weak and scrawny, the flesh hanging loosely on his bones.

  “Sazed!” Vin cried out, pushing herself against the bars, trying to reach him.

  “It is all right, Mistress,” he said in a faint, frighteningly weak voice. “I just need a moment to...gather my strength.”

  Gather my strength. Vin paused, lowering her hand, watching Sazed for a few minutes. Could it be...

  He looked so weak—as if his strength, his very muscles, were being drawn away. And per
haps...stored somewhere?

  Sazed’s eyes snapped open. His body returned to normal; then his muscles continued to grow, becoming large and powerful, growing bigger, even, than Ham’s.

  Sazed smiled at her from a head sitting atop a beefy, muscular neck; then he easily snapped his bindings. He stood, a massive, inhumanly muscular man—so different from the lanky, quiet scholar she had known.

  The Lord Ruler spoke of their strength in his logbook, she thought with wonder. He said the man Rashek lifted a boulder by himself and threw it out of their way.

  “But, they took all of your jewelry!” Vin said. “Where did you hide the metal?”

  Sazed smiled, grabbing the bars separating their cages. “I took a hint from you, Mistress. I swallowed it.” With that, he ripped the bars free.

  She ran into the cage, embracing him. “Thank you.”

  “Of course,” he said, gently pushing her aside, then slamming a massive palm against the door to his cell, breaking the lock, sending the door crashing open.

  “Quickly now, Mistress,” Sazed said. “We must get you to safety.”

  The two guards who had thrown Sazed into the chamber appeared in the doorway a second later. They froze, staring up at the massive beast who stood in place of the weak man they had beaten.

  Sazed jumped forward, holding one of the bars from Vin’s cage. His Feruchemy, however, had obviously given him strength only, no speed. He stepped with a lumbering gait, and the guards dashed away, crying for help.

  “Come now, Mistress,” Sazed said, tossing aside the bar. “My strength will not last long—the metal I swallowed wasn’t large enough to hold much of a Feruchemical charge.”

  Even as he spoke, he began to shrink. Vin moved past him, scrambling out of the room. The guard chamber beyond was quite small, set with only a pair of chairs. Beneath one, however, she found a cloak rolled around one of the guards’ evening meals. Vin shook the cloak free, tossing it to Sazed.

  “Thank you, Mistress,” he said.

  She nodded, moving to the doorway and peeking out. The larger room outside was empty, and had two hallways leading off of it—one going right, one extending into the distance across from her. The wall to her left was lined with wooden trunks, and the center of the room held a large table. Vin shivered as she saw the dried blood and the set of sharp instruments lying in a row on the table’s side.

  This is where we’ll both end up if we don’t move quickly,

  she thought, waving Sazed forward.

  She froze mid-step as a group of soldiers appeared in the far hallway, led by one of the guards from before. Vin cursed quietly—she would have heard them earlier if she’d had tin.

  Vin glanced backward. Sazed was hobbling through the guard chamber. His Feruchemical strength was gone, and the soldiers had obviously beaten him soundly before tossing him into the cell. He could barely walk.

  “Go, Mistress!” he said, waving her forward. “Run!”

  You still have some things to learn about friendship, Vin, Kelsier’s voice whispered in her mind. I hope someday you realize what they are....

  I can’t leave him. I won’t.

  Vin dashed toward the soldiers. She swiped a pair of torturing knives from the table, their bright, polished steel glistening between her fingers. She jumped atop the table, then leapt off of it toward the oncoming soldiers.

  She had no Allomancy, but she flew true anyway, her months of practice helping despite her lack of metals. She slammed a knife into a surprised soldier’s neck as she fell. She hit the ground harder than she had expected, but managed to scramble away from a second soldier, who cursed and swung at her.

  The sword clanged against the stone behind her. Vin spun, slashing another soldier across the thighs. He stumbled back in pain.

  Too many, she thought. There were at least two dozen of them. She tried to jump for a third soldier, but another man swung his quarterstaff, slamming the weapon into Vin’s side.

  She grunted in pain, dropping her knife as she was thrown to the side. No pewter strengthened her against the fall, and she hit the hard stones with a crack, rolling to a dazed stop beside the wall.

  She struggled, unsuccessfully, to rise. To her side, she could barely make out Sazed collapsing as his body grew suddenly weak. He was trying to store up strength again. He wouldn’t have enough time. The soldiers would be on him soon.

  At least I tried, she thought as she heard another group of soldiers charging down the rightmost hallway. At least I didn’t abandon him. I think... think that’s what Kelsier meant.

  “Valette!” a familiar voice cried.

  Vin looked up with shock as Elend and six soldiers burst into the room. Elend wore a nobleman’s suit, a little ill-fitting, and carried a dueling cane.

  “Elend?” Vin asked, dumbfounded.

  “Are you all right?” he said with concern, stepping toward her. Then he noticed the Ministry soldiers. They seemed a bit confused to be confronted by a nobleman, but they still had superior numbers.

  “I’m taking the girl with me!” Elend said. His words were brave, but he was obviously no soldier. He carried only a nobleman’s dueling cane as a weapon, and he wore no armor. Five of the men with him wore Venture red—men from Elend’s keep. One, however—the one who had been leading them as they charged into the room—wore a palace guard’s uniform. Vin realized that she recognized him just vaguely. His uniform jacket was missing the symbol on its shoulder. The man from before, she thought, stupefied. The one I convinced to change sides . . .

  The lead Ministry soldier apparently made his decision. He waved curtly, ignoring Elend’s command, and the soldiers began to edge around the room, moving to surround Elend’s band.

  “Valette, you have to go!” Elend said urgently, raising his dueling cane.

  “Come, Mistress,” Sazed said, reaching her side, moving to lift her to her feet.

  “We can’t abandon them!” Vin said.

  “We have to.”

  “But you came for me. We have to do the same for Elend!”

  Sazed shook his head. “That was different, child. I knew I had a chance to save you. You cannot help here—there is beauty in compassion, but one must learn wisdom too.”

  She allowed herself to be pulled to her feet, Elend’s soldiers obediently moving to block off the Ministry soldiers. Elend stood at their front, obviously determined to fight.

  There has to be another way! Vin thought with despair. There has to...

  And then she saw it sitting discarded in one of the trunks along the wall. A familiar strip of gray cloth, one single tassel, hanging over the trunk’s side.

  She pulled free of Sazed as the Ministry soldiers attacked. Elend cried out behind her, and weapons rang.

  Vin threw the top pieces of cloth—her trousers and shirt— out of the trunk. And there, at the bottom, lay her mistcloak. She closed her eyes and reached into the side cloak pocket.

  Her fingers found a single glass vial, cork still in place.

  She pulled the vial out, spinning toward the battle. The Ministry soldiers had retreated slightly. Two of their members lay wounded on the floor—but three of Elend’s men were down. The small size of the room had, fortunately, kept Elend’s men from being surrounded at first.

  Elend stood sweating, a cut in his arm, his dueling cane cracked and splintered. He grabbed the sword from the man he had felled, holding the weapon in unpracticed hands, staring down a much larger force.

  “I was wrong about that one, Mistress,” Sazed said softly. “I... apologize.”

  Vin smiled. Then she flipped the cork free from her vial and downed the metals in one gulp.

  Wells of power exploded within her. Fires blazed, metals raging, and strength returned to her weakened, tired body like a dawning sun. Pains became trivial, dizziness disappeared, the room became brighter, the stones more real beneath her toes.

  The soldiers attacked again, and Elend raised his sword in a determined, but unhopeful, posture. He seeme
d utterly shocked when Vin flew through the air over his head.

  She landed amid the soldiers, blasting outward with a Steelpush. The soldiers on either side of her smashed into the walls. One man swung a quarterstaff at her, and she slapped it away with a disdainful hand, then smashed a fist into his face, spinning his head back with a crack.

  She caught the quarterstaff as it fell, spinning, slamming it into the head of the soldier attacking Elend. The staff exploded, and she let it drop with the corpse. The soldiers at the back began to yell, turning and dashing away as she Pushed two more groups of men into the walls. The final soldier left in the room turned, surprised, as Vin Pulled his metal cap to her hands. She Pushed it back at him, smashing it into his chest and anchoring herself from behind. The soldier flew down the hallway toward his fleeing companions, crashing into them.

  Vin breathed out in excitement, standing with tense muscles amidst the groaning men. I can...see how Kelsier would get addicted to this.

  “Valette?” Elend asked, stupefied.

  Vin jumped up, grabbing him in a joyful embrace, hanging onto him tightly and burying her face into his shoulder. “You came back,” she whispered. “You came back, you came back, you came back....”

  “Um, yes. And...I see that you’re a Mistborn. That’s rather interesting. You know, it’s generally common courtesy to tell one’s friends about things like that.”

  “Sorry,” she mumbled, still holding on to him.

  “Well, yes,” he said, sounding very distracted. “Um, Valette? What happened to your clothes?”

  “They’re on the floor over there,” she said, looking up at him. “Elend, how did you find me?”

  “Your friend, one Master Dockson, told me that you’d been captured in the palace. And well, this fine gentleman here— Captain Goradel, I believe his name is—happens to be a palace soldier, and he knew the way here. With his help—and as a nobleman of some rank—I was able to get into the building without much problem, and then we heard screaming down this hallway....And, um, yes. Valette? Do you think you could go put your clothes on? This is...kind of distracting.”