The Final Empire

by Brandon Sanderson

  37

  KELSIER, YOU CURSED LUNATIC, DOCKSON THOUGHT, scribbling notes on the table map, why do you always just saunter away, leaving me to handle your messes? However, he knew his frustration wasn’t real—it was simply a way of keeping himself from focusing on Kell’s death. It worked.

  Kelsier’s part in the plan—the vision, the charismatic leadership—was finished. Now it was Dockson’s turn. He took Kelsier’s original strategy and modified it. He was careful to keep the chaos at a manageable level, rationing the best equipment to the men who seemed the most stable. He sent contingents to capture points of interest—food and water deposits—before general rioting could steal them.

  In short, he did what he always did: He made Kelsier’s dreams become reality.

  A disturbance came from the front of the room, and Dockson looked up as a messenger rushed in. The man immediately sought out Dockson at the center of the warehouse.

  “What news?” Dockson asked as the man approached.

  The messenger shook his head. He was a young man, in an imperial uniform, though he had removed the jacket to make himself look less obtrusive. “I’m sorry, sir,” the man said quietly. “None of the guards have seen her come out, and…well, one claimed he saw her being carried toward the palace dungeons.”

  “Can you get her out?” Dockson asked.

  The soldier—Goradel—paled. Until just a short time before, Goradel had been one of the Lord Ruler’s own men. In truth, Dockson wasn’t even certain how much he trusted the man. Yet, the soldier—as a former palace guardsman—could get into places that other skaa could not. His former allies didn’t know he’d switched sides.

  Assuming he really has switched sides, Dockson thought. But…well, things were moving too quickly now for self-doubt. Dockson had decided to use this man. He’d have to trust his initial instincts.

  “Well?” Dockson repeated.

  Goradel shook his head. “There was an Inquisitor holding her captive, sir. I couldn’t free her—I wouldn’t have the authority. I don’t…I…”

  Dockson sighed. Damn fool girl! he thought. She should have had better sense than this. Kelsier must have rubbed off on her.

  He waved the soldier away, then looked up as Hammond walked in, a large sword with a broken hilt resting on his shoulder.

  “It’s done,” Ham said. “Keep Elariel just fell. Looks like Lekal is still holding, however.”

  Dockson nodded. “We’ll need your men at the palace soon.” The sooner we break in there, the better chance we have of saving Vin. However, his instincts told him that they’d be too late to help her. The main forces would take hours to gather and organize; he wanted to attack the palace with all of their armies in tandem. The truth was he just couldn’t afford to spare men on a rescue operation at the moment. Kelsier would probably have gone after her, but Dockson wouldn’t let himself do something that brash.

  As he always said—someone on the crew needed to be realistic. The palace was not a place to attack without substantial preparation; Vin’s failure proved that much. She’d just have to look after herself for the moment.

  “I’ll get my men ready,” Ham said, nodding as he tossed his sword aside. “I’m going to need a new sword, though.”

  Dockson sighed. “You Thugs. Always breaking things. Go see what you can find, then.”

  Ham moved off.

  “If you see Sazed,” Dockson called, “tell him that…”

  Dockson paused, his attention drawn by a group of skaa rebels who marched into the room, pulling a bound prisoner with a cloth sack on his head.

  “What is this?” Dockson demanded.

  One of the rebels elbowed his captive. “I think he’s someone important, m’lord. Came to us unarmed, asked to be brought to you. Promised us gold if we did it.”

  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…” Dockson 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 an
d 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 perhaps…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 ou
t 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.