The Hero of Ages m-3

by Brandon Sanderson

  "You shall speak no more of this, Third," KanPaar said, pointing at TenSoon.

  "How can I defend myself if I cannot-"

  "You aren't here to defend yourself," KanPaar said. "This is not a trial-you have already admitted your guilt. This is a judgment. Explain your actions, then let the First Generation pronounce your fate!"

  TenSoon fell silent. It was not time to push. Not yet.

  "Now," KanPaar said, "this thing you did in taking the place of one of your own brothers is bad enough. Need we speak on, or would you accept judgment now?"

  "We both know that OreSeur's death has little to do with why I am here," TenSoon said.

  "Very well," said KanPaar. "Let us move on, then. Why don't you tell the First Generation why-if you are such a Contract-abiding kandra-you broke Contract with your master, disobeying his interests and helping his enemy instead?"

  KanPaar's accusation echoed in the room. TenSoon closed his eyes, thinking back to that day over a year ago. He remembered sitting quietly on the floor of Keep Venture, watching as Zane and Vin fought.

  No. It hadn't been a fight. Zane had been burning atium, which had made him all but invincible. Zane had played with Vin, toying with and mocking her.

  Vin hadn't been TenSoon's master-TenSoon had killed her kandra and taken his place, spying on Vin at Zane's order. Zane. He had been TenSoon's master. He had held TenSoon's Contract.

  But against all of his training, TenSoon had helped Vin. And, in doing so, he had revealed to her the great Secret of the kandra. Their weakness: that an Allomancer could use their powers to take complete control of a kandra's body. The kandra served their Contracts to keep this Secret hidden-they became servants, lest they end up as slaves. TenSoon opened his eyes to the quiet chamber. This was the moment he had been planning for.

  "I didn't break my Contract," he announced.

  KanPaar snorted. "You said otherwise when you came to us a year ago, Third."

  "I told you what happened," TenSoon said, standing tall. "What I said was not a lie. I helped Vin instead of Zane. Partially because of my actions, my master ended up dead at Vin's feet. But I did not break my Contract."

  "You imply that Zane wanted you to help his enemy?" KanPaar said.

  "No," TenSoon said. "I did not break my Contract because I decided to serve a greater Contract. The First Contract!"

  "The Father is dead!" one of the Seconds snapped. "How could you serve our Contract with him?"

  "He is dead," TenSoon said. "That is true. But the First Contract did not die with him! Vin, the Heir of the Survivor, was the one who killed the Lord Ruler. She is our Mother now. Our First Contract is with her!"

  He had expected outcries of blasphemy and condemnation. Instead, he got shocked silence. KanPaar stood, stupefied, behind his stone lectern. The members of the First Generation were silent, as usual, sitting in their shadowed alcoves.

  Well, TenSoon thought, I suppose that means I should continue. "I had to help the woman Vin," he said. "I could not let Zane kill her, for I had a duty to her-a duty that began the moment she took the Father's place."

  KanPaar finally found his voice. "She? Our Mother? She killed the Lord Ruler!"

  "And took his place," TenSoon said. "She is one of us, in a way."

  "Nonsense!" KanPaar said. "I had expected rationalizations, TenSoon-perhaps even lies. But these fantasies? These blasphemies?"

  "Have you been outside recently, KanPaar?" TenSoon asked. "Have you left the Homeland in the last century at all? Do you understand what is happening? The Father is dead. The land is in upheaval. While returning to the Homeland a year ago, I saw the changes in the mists. They no longer behave as they always have. We cannot continue as we have. The Second Generation may not yet realize it, but Ruin has come! Life will end. The time that the Worldbringers spoke of-perhaps the time for the Resolution-is here!"

  "You are delusional, TenSoon. You've been amongst the humans too-"

  "Tell them what this is all really about, KanPaar," TenSoon interrupted, voice rising. "Don't you want my real sin known? Don't you want the others to hear?"

  "Don't force this, TenSoon," KanPaar said, pointing again. "What you've done is bad enough. Don't make it-"

  "I told her," TenSoon said, cutting him off again. "I told her our Secret. At the end, she used me. Like the Allomancers of old. She took control of my body, using the Flaw, and she made me fight against Zane! This is what I've done. I've betrayed us all. She knows-and I'm certain that she has told others. Soon they'll all know how to control us. And, do you know why I did it? Is it not the point of this judgment for me to speak of my purposes?"

  He kept talking, despite the fact that KanPaar tried to speak over him. "I did it because she has the right to know our Secret," TenSoon shouted. "She is the Mother! She inherited everything the Lord Ruler had. Without her, we have nothing. We cannot create new Blessings, or new kandra, on our own! The Trust is hers, now! We should go to her. If this truly is the end of all things, then the Resolution will soon come. She will-"

  "Enough!" KanPaar bellowed.

  The chamber fell silent again.

  TenSoon stood, breathing deeply. For a year, trapped in his pit, he'd planned how to proclaim that information. His people had spent a thousand years, ten generations, following the teachings of the First Contract. They deserved to hear what had happened to him.

  And yet, it felt so. . inadequate to just scream it out like some raving human. Would any of his people really believe? Would he change anything at all?

  "You have, by your own admission, betrayed us," KanPaar said. "You've broken Contract, you've murdered one of your own generation, and you've told a human how to dominate us. You demanded judgment. Let it come."

  TenSoon turned quietly, looking up toward the alcoves where the members of the First Generation watched.

  Perhaps. . perhaps they'll see that what I say is true. Perhaps my words will shock them, and they'll realize that we need to offer service to Vin, rather than just sit in these caves and wait while the world ends around us.

  But, nothing happened. No motion, no sound. At times, TenSoon wondered if anyone still lived up there. He hadn't spoken with a member of the First Generation for centuries-they limited their communications strictly to the Seconds.

  If they did still live, none of them took the opportunity to offer TenSoon clemency. KanPaar smiled. "The First Generation has ignored your plea, Third," he said. "Therefore, as their servants, we of the Second Generation will offer judgment on their behalf. Your sentencing will occur in one month's time."

  TenSoon frowned. A month? Why wait?

  Either way, it was over. He bowed his head, sighing. He'd had his say. The kandra now knew that their Secret was out-the Seconds could no longer hide that fact. Perhaps his words would inspire his people to action.

  TenSoon would probably never know.

  Rashek moved the Well of Ascension, obviously.

  It was very clever of him-perhaps the cleverest thing he did. He knew that the power would one day return to the Well, for power such as this-the fundamental power by which the world itself was formed-does not simply run out. It can be used, and therefore diffused, but it will always be renewed.

  So, knowing that rumors and tales would persist, Rashek changed the very landscape of the world. He put mountains in what became the North, and named that location Terris. Then he flattened his true homeland, and built his capital there.

  He constructed his palace around that room at its heart, the room where he would meditate, the room that was a replica of his old hovel in Terris. A refuge created during the last moments before his power ran out.

  12

  "I'm worried about him, Elend," Vin said, sitting on their bedroll.

  "Who?" Elend asked, looking away from the mirror. "Sazed?"

  Vin nodded. When Elend awoke from their nap, she was already up, bathed, and dressed. He worried about her sometimes, working herself as hard as she did. He worried even more now that he too
was Mistborn, and understood the limitations of pewter. The metal strengthened the body, letting one postpone fatigue-but at a price. When the pewter ran out or was turned off, the fatigue returned, crashing down on you like a collapsing wall.

  Yet Vin kept going. Elend was burning pewter too, pushing himself, but she seemed to sleep half as much as he did. She was harder than he was-strong in ways he would never know.

  "Sazed will deal with his problems," Elend said, turning back to his dressing. "He must have lost people before."

  "This is different," Vin said. He could see her in the reflection, sitting cross-legged behind him in her simple clothing. Elend's stark white uniform was just the opposite. It shone with its gold-painted wooden buttons, intentionally crafted with too little metal in them to be affected by Allomancy. The clothing itself had been made with a special cloth that was easier to scrub clean of ash. Sometimes, he felt guilty at all the work it took to make him look regal. Yet it was necessary. Not for his vanity, but for his image. The image for which his men marched to war. In a land of black, Elend wore white-and became a symbol.

  "Different?" Elend asked, doing up the buttons on his jacket sleeves. "What is different about Tindwyl's death? She fell during the assault on Luthadel. So did Clubs and Dockson. You killed my own father in that battle, and I beheaded my best friend shortly before it. We've all lost people."

  "He said something like that himself," Vin said. "But, it's more than just one death to him. I think he sees a kind of betrayal in Tindwyl's death-he always was the only one of us who had faith. He lost that when she died, somehow."

  "The only one of us who had faith?" Elend asked, plucking a wooden, silver-painted pin off his desk and affixing it to his jacket. "What about this?"

  "You belong to the Church of the Survivor, Elend," Vin said. "But you don't have faith. Not like Sazed did. It was like. . he knew everything would turn out all right. He trusted that something was watching over the world."

  "He'll deal with it."

  "It's not just him, Elend," Vin said. "Breeze tries too hard."

  "What does that mean?" Elend asked with amusement.

  "He Pushes on everyone's emotions," Vin said. "He Pushes too hard, trying to make others happy, and he laughs too hard. He's afraid, worried. He shows it by overcompensating."

  Elend smiled. "You're getting as bad as he is, reading everybody's emotions and telling them how they're feeling."

  "They're my friends, Elend," Vin said. "I know them. And, I'm telling you-they're giving up. One by one, they're beginning to think we can't win this one."

  Elend fastened the final button, then looked at himself in the mirror. Sometimes, he still wondered if he fit the ornate suit, with its crisp whiteness and implied regality. He looked into his own eyes, looking past the short beard, warrior's body, and scarred skin. He looked into those eyes, searching for the king behind them. As always, he wasn't completely impressed with what he saw.

  He carried on anyway, for he was the best they had. Tindwyl had taught him that. "Very well," he said. "I trust that you're right about the others-I'll do something to fix it."

  That, after all, was his job. The title of emperor carried with it only a single duty.

  To make everything better.

  "All right," Elend said, pointing to a map of the empire hanging on the wall of the conference tent. "We timed the arrival and disappearance of the mists each day, then Noorden and his scribes analyzed them. They've given us these perimeters as a guide."

  The group leaned in, studying the map. Vin sat at the back of the tent, as was still her preference. Closer to the shadows. Closer to the exit. She'd grown more confident, true-but that didn't make her careless. She liked to be able to keep an eye on everyone in the room, even if she did trust them.

  And she did. Except maybe Cett. The obstinate man sat at the front of the group, his quiet teenage son at his side, as always. Cett-or, King Cett, one of the monarchs who had sworn allegiance to Elend-had an unfashionable beard, an even more unfashionable mouth, and two legs that didn't work. That hadn't kept him from nearly conquering Luthadel over a year before.

  "Hell," Cett said. "You expect us to be able to read that thing?"

  Elend tapped the map with his finger. It was a rough sketch of the empire, similar to the one they'd found in the cavern, only more up to date. It had several large concentric circles inscribed on it.

  "The outermost circle is the place where the mists have completely taken the land, and no longer leave at all during the daylight." Elend moved his finger inward to another circle. "This circle passes through the village we just visited, where we found the cache. This marks four hours of daylight. Everything inside the circle gets more than four hours. Everything outside of it gets less."

  "And the final circle?" Breeze asked. He sat with Allrianne as far away from Cett as the tent would allow. Cett still had a habit of throwing things at Breeze: insults, for the most part, and occasionally knives.

  Elend eyed the map. "Assuming the mists keep creeping toward Luthadel at the same rate, that circle represents the area that the scribes feel will get enough sunlight this summer to support crops."

  The room fell silent.

  Hope is for the foolish, Reen's voice seemed to whisper in the back of Vin's mind. She shook her head. Her brother, Reen, had trained her in the ways of the street and the underground, teaching her to be mistrustful and paranoid. In doing so, he'd also taught her to survive. It had taken Kelsier to show her that it was possible to both trust and survive-and it had been a hard lesson. Even so, she still often heard Reen's phantom voice in the back of her mind-more a memory than anything else-whispering her insecurities, bringing back the brutal things he had taught her.

  "That's a fairly small circle, El," Ham said, still studying the map. The large-muscled man sat with General Demoux between Cett and Breeze. Sazed sat quietly to the side. Vin glanced at him, trying to judge if their previous conversation had lifted his depression any, but she couldn't tell.

  They were a small group: only nine, if one counted Cett's son, Gneorndin. But, it included pretty much all that was left of Kelsier's crew. Only Spook, doing reconnaissance in the North, was missing. Everyone was focused on the map. The final circle was, indeed, very small-not even as big as the Central Dominance, which held the imperial capital of Luthadel. What the map said, and Elend implied, was that over ninety percent of the empire wouldn't be able to support crops this summer.

  "Even this small bubble will be gone by next winter," Elend said.

  Vin watched the others contemplate, and realize-if they hadn't already-the horror of what was upon them. It's like Alendi's logbook said, she thought. They couldn't fight the Deepness with armies. It destroyed cities, bringing a slow, terrible death. They were helpless.

  The Deepness. That was what they'd called the mists-or, at least, that was what the surviving records called them. Perhaps the thing they fought, the primal force Vin had released, was behind the obfuscation. There was really no way of knowing for sure what had once been, for the entity had the power to change records.

  "All right, people," Elend said, folding his arms. "We need options. Kelsier recruited you because you could do the impossible. Well, our predicament is pretty impossible."

  "He didn't recruit me," Cett pointed out. "I got pulled by my balls into this little fiasco."

  "I wish I cared enough to apologize," Elend said, staring at them. "Come on. I know you have thoughts."

  "Well, my dear man," Breeze said, "the most obvious option appears to be the Well of Ascension. It seems the power there was built to fight the mists."

  "Or to free the thing hiding in them," Cett said.

  "That doesn't matter," Vin said, causing heads to turn. "There's no power at the Well. It's gone. Used up. If it ever returns, it will be in another thousand years, I suspect."

  "That's a little bit long to stretch the supplies in those storage caches," Elend said.

  "What if we grew plants that need ver
y little light?" Ham asked. As always, he wore simple trousers and a vest. He was a Thug, and could burn pewter-which made him resistant to heat and cold. He'd cheerfully walk around sleeveless on a day that would send most men running for shelter.

  Well, maybe not cheerfully. Ham hadn't changed overnight, as Sazed had. Ham, however, had lost some of his joviality. He tended to sit around a lot, looks of consternation on his face, as if he were considering things very, very carefully-and not much liking the answers he came up with.

  "There are plants that don't need light?" Allrianne asked, cocking her head.

  "Mushrooms and the like," Ham said.

  "I doubt we could feed an entire empire on mushrooms," Elend said. "Though it's a good thought."

  "There have to be other plants, too," Ham said. "Even if the mists come all day, there will be some light that gets through. Some plants have to be able to live on that."

  "Plants we can't eat, my dear man," Breeze pointed out.

  "Yes, but maybe animals can," Ham said.

  Elend nodded thoughtfully.

  "Blasted little time left for horticulture," Cett noted. "We should have been working on this sort of thing years ago."

  "We didn't know most of this until a few months ago," Ham said.

  "True," Elend said. "But the Lord Ruler had a thousand years to prepare. That's why he made the storage caverns-and we still don't know what the last one contains."

  "I don't like relying on the Lord Ruler, Elend," Breeze said with a shake of his head. "He must have prepared those caches knowing that he'd be dead if anyone ever had to use them."

  Cett nodded. "The idiot Soother has a point. If I were the Lord Ruler, I'd have stuffed those caches with poisoned food and pissed-in water. If I were dead, then everyone else ought to be as well."

  "Fortunately, Cett," Elend said with a raised eyebrow, "the Lord Ruler has proven more altruistic than we might have expected."

  "Not something I ever thought I'd hear," Ham noted.

  "He was emperor," Elend said. "We may not have liked his rule, but I can understand him somewhat. He wasn't spiteful-he wasn't even evil, exactly. He just. . got carried away. Besides, he resisted this thing that we're fighting."