Mistborn

by Brandon Sanderson

  “What?” Straff asked. “Where did you hear that?”

  “At the ball,” Elend said lightly.

  “I thought you said you didn’t learn anything important.”

  “Now, see, I never said anything of the sort. I just didn’t feel like sharing with you.”

  Lord Venture frowned. “I don’t know why I even care— anything you learn is bound to be worthless. I tried to train you in politics, boy. I really did. But now ...well, I hope I live to see you dead, because this house is in for dire times if you ever take control.”

  “I know more than you think, Father.”

  Straff laughed, walking back to sit in his chair. “I doubt that, boy. Why, you can’t even bed a woman properly—the last, and only, time I know about you trying it, I had to take you to the brothel myself.”

  Elend flushed. Careful, he told himself. He’s bringing that up on purpose. He knows how much it bothers you.

  “Get to bed, boy,” Straff said with a wave of his hand. “You look terrible.”

  Elend stood for a moment, then finally ducked out into the hallway, sighing quietly to himself.

  That’s the difference between you and them, Elend, he thought. Those philosophers you read—they were revolutionaries. They were willing to risk execution. You can’t even stand up to your father.

  He walked tiredly up to his rooms—where, oddly, he found a servant waiting for him.

  Elend frowned. “Yes?”

  “Lord Elend, you have a guest,” the man said.

  “At this hour?”

  “It’s Lord Jastes Lekal, my lord.”

  Elend cocked his head slightly. What in the Lord Ruler’s name...? “He’s waiting in the sitting room, I assume?”

  “Yes, my lord,” the servant said.

  Elend turned regretfully away from his chambers, walking back down the hallway. He found Jastes waiting impatiently.

  “Jastes?” Elend said tiredly, walking into the sitting room. “I hope you have something very important to tell me.”

  Jastes shuffled uncomfortably for a moment, looking even more nervous than normal.

  “What?” Elend demanded, his patience waning.

  “It’s about the girl.”

  “Valette?” Elend asked. “You came here to discuss Valette? Now?”

  “You should trust your friends more,” Jastes said.

  Elend snorted. “Trust your knowledge of women? No offense, Jastes, but I think not.”

  “I had her followed, Elend,” Jastes blurted out.

  Elend paused. “What?”

  “I had her carriage followed. Or, at least, I had someone watch for it at the city gates. She wasn’t in it when it left the city.”

  “What do you mean?” Elend asked, his frown deepening.

  “She wasn’t in the carriage, Elend,” Jastes repeated. “While her Terrisman was producing papers for the guards, my man snuck up and peeked through the carriage window, and there was nobody inside.

  “The carriage must have dropped her off somewhere in town. She’s a spy from one of the other houses—they’re trying to get at your father through you. They created the perfect woman to attract you—dark-haired, a bit mysterious, and outside of the regular political structure. They made her lowborn enough that it would be a scandal for you to be interested in her, then set her on you.”

  “Jastes, this is ridicu—”

  “Elend,” Jastes interrupted. “Tell me one more time: How did you meet her the first time?”

  Elend paused. “She was standing on the balcony.”

  “In your reading spot,” Jastes said. “Everyone knows that’s where you usually go. Coincidence?”

  Elend closed his eyes. Not Valette. She can’t be part of all this. But, immediately, another thought occurred to him. I told her about the atium! How could I be so stupid?

  It couldn’t be true. He wouldn’t believe that he had been duped so easily. But ...could he risk it? He was a bad son, true, but he was no traitor to the house. He didn’t want to see Venture fall; he wanted to lead it someday, so that perhaps he’d be able to change things.

  He bid Jastes farewell, then walked back to his rooms with a distracted step. He felt too tired to think about house politics. However, when he finally got into bed, he found that he

  couldn’t sleep.

  Eventually, he rose, sending for a servant.

  “Tell my father I want to make a trade,” Elend explained to the man. “I’ll go to his luncheon tomorrow, just as he wants.” Elend paused, standing in his evening robe by his bedroom door.

  “In exchange,” he finally said, “tell him I want to borrow a couple of spies so that they can follow someone for me.”

  The others all think I should have had Kwaan executed for betraying me. To tell the truth, I’d probably kill him this moment if I knew where he’d gone. At the time, however, I just couldn’t do it.

  The man had become like a father to me. To this day, I don’t know why he suddenly decided that I wasn’t the Hero. Why did he turn against me, denouncing me to the entire Conclave of Worldbringers?

  Would he rather that the Deepness win? Surely, even if I’m not the right one—as Kwaan now claims—my presence at the Well of Ascension couldn’t possibly be worse than what will happen if the Deepness continues to destroy the land.

  29

  IT’S ALMOST OVER, VIN READ.

  We can see the cavern from our camp. It will take a few more hours of hiking to reach it, but I know that it is the right place. I can feel it somehow, feel it up there...pulsing, in my mind.

  It’s so cold. I swear that the rocks themselves are made of ice, and the snow is deep enough in places that we have to dig our way through. The wind blows all the time. I fear for Fedik—he hasn’t been quite the same since the creature made of mist attacked him, and I worry that he will wander off a cliffside or slip through one of the many icy rifts in the ground.

  The Terrismen, however, are a wonder. It is fortunate that we brought them, for no regular packmen would have survived the trip. The Terrismen don’t seem to mind the cold— something about their strange metabolisms gives them a supernatural ability to resist the elements. Perhaps they have “saved up” heat from their bodies for later use?

  They won’t talk about their powers, however—and I am sure that Rashek is to blame. The other packmen look to him for leadership, though I don’t think he has complete control over them. Before he was stabbed, Fedik feared that the Terrismen would abandon us up here in the ice. I don’t think that will happen, however. I am here by providence of Terris prophecies—these men will not disobey their own religion simply because one of their number has taken a dislike to me.

  I did finally confront Rashek. He did not want to speak to me, of course, but I forced him. Unleashed, he spoke at great length regarding his hatred of Khlennium and my people. He thinks that we have turned his people into little more than slaves. He thinks that Terrismen deserve far more—he keeps saying that his people should be “dominant” because of their supernatural powers.

  I fear his words, for I see some truth in them. Yesterday, one of the packmen lifted a boulder of enormous size, then tossed it out of our way with an almost casual throw. I have not seen such a feat of strength in all my days.

  These Terrismen could be very dangerous, I think. Perhaps we have treated them unfairly. However, men like Rashek must be contained—he irrationally believes that all people outside of Terris have oppressed him. He is such a young man to be so angry.

  It is so cold. When this is finished, I think I should like to live where it is warm all year. Braches has told of such places, islands to the south where great mountains create fire.

  What will it be like, when this is all over? I will be just a regular man again. An unimportant man. It sounds nice— more desirable, even, than a warm sun and a windless sky. I am so tired of being the Hero of Ages, tired of entering cities to find either armed hostility or fanatic adoration. I am tired of being lov
ed and hated for what a bunch of old men say I will eventually do.

  I want to be forgotten. Obscurity. Yes, that would be nice.

  If men read these words, let them know that power is a heavy burden. Seek not to be bound by its chains. The Terris prophecies say that I will have the power to save the world. They hint, however, that I will have the power to destroy it as well.

  I will have the ability to fulfill any wish of my heart. “He will take upon himself authority that no mortal should hold.” Yet, the philosophers warned me that if I am self-serving with the power, my selfishness will taint it.

  Is this a burden that any man should bear? Is this a temptation any man could resist? I feel strong now, but what will happen when I touch that power? I will save the world, certainly—but will I try to take it as well?

  Such are my fears as I scribble with an ice-crusted pen on the eve before the world is reborn. Rashek watches. Hating me. The cavern lies above. Pulsing. My fingers quiver. Not from the cold.

  Tomorrow, it will end.

  Vin eagerly turned the page. The back page of the booklet, however, was empty. She turned it over, rereading the last few lines. Where was the next entry?

  Sazed must not have finished the last part yet. She stood, sighing as she stretched. She’d finished the entire newest portion of the logbook in one sitting, a feat that surprised even her. The gardens of Mansion Renoux extended before her, the cultured pathways, broad-limbed trees, and quiet stream creating her favorite reading spot. The sun was low in the sky, and it was beginning to get chilly.

  She wound her way up the path toward the mansion. Despite the chill evening, she could barely imagine a place like the one the Lord Ruler described. She had seen snow on some distant peaks, but she had rarely seen it fall—and even then it was usually just an icy slush. To experience that much snow day after day, to be in danger of having it fall upon you in great crushing avalanches...

  A part of her wished that she could visit such places, no matter how dangerous. Though the logbook didn’t describe the Lord Ruler’s entire journey, some of the marvels it did include—the ice fields to the north, the great black lake, and the Terris waterfalls—sounded amazing.

  If only he’d put in more detail about what things look like! she thought with annoyance. The Lord Ruler spent far too much time worrying. Though, admittedly, she was beginning to feel an odd sort of...familiarity with him through his words. She found it hard to associate the person in her mind with the dark creature that had caused so much death. What had occurred at the Well of Ascension? What could have changed him so drastically? She had to know.

  She reached the mansion and went searching for Sazed. She was back to wearing dresses—it felt odd to be seen in trousers by anyone but the crewmembers. She smiled at Lord Renoux’s interior steward as she passed, eagerly climbing the main entryway stairs and seeking out the library.

  Sazed wasn’t inside. His small desk sat empty, the lamp extinguished, the inkwell empty. Vin frowned in annoyance.

  Wherever he is, he’d better be working on the translation!

  She went back down the stairs, asking after Sazed, and a maid directed her to the main kitchen. Vin frowned, making her way down the back hallway. Getting himself a snack, perhaps?

  She found Sazed standing amongst a small group of servants, pointing toward a list on the table and speaking in a low voice. He didn’t notice Vin as she entered.

  “Sazed?” Vin asked, interrupting him.

  He turned. “Yes, Mistress Valette?” he asked, bowing slightly.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I am seeing to Lord Renoux’s food stores, Mistress. Though I have been assigned to assist you, I am still his steward, and have duties to attend to when I am not otherwise occupied.”

  “Are you going to get back to the translation soon?”

  Sazed cocked his head. “Translation, Mistress? It is finished.”

  “Where’s the last part, then?”

  “I gave it to you,” Sazed said.

  “No, you didn’t,” she said. “This part ends the night before they go into the cavern.”

  “That is the end, Mistress. That is as far as the logbook went.”

  “What?” she said. “But . . .”

  Sazed glanced at the other servants. “We should speak of these things in private, I think.” He gave them a few more instructions, pointing at the list, then nodded for Vin to join him as he made his way out the back kitchen exit and into the side gardens.

  Vin stood dumbfounded for a moment, then hurried out to join him. “It can’t end like that, Saze. We don’t know what happened!”

  “We can surmise, I think,” Sazed said, walking down the garden path. The eastern gardens weren’t as lavish as the ones Vin frequented, and were instead made up of smooth brown grass and the occasional shrub.

  “Surmise what?” Vin asked.

  “Well, the Lord Ruler must have done what was necessary to save the world, for we are still here.”

  “I suppose,” Vin said. “But then he took the power for himself. That must have been what happened—he couldn’t resist the temptation to use the power selfishly. But, why isn’t there another entry? Why wouldn’t he speak further of his accomplishments?”

  “Perhaps the power changed him too much,” Sazed said. “Or, maybe he simply didn’t feel a need to record any more. He had accomplished his goal, and had become immortal as a side benefit. Keeping a journal for one’s posterity becomes somewhat redundant when one is going to live forever, I think.”

  “That’s just . . .” Vin ground her teeth in frustration. “It’s a very unsatisfying end to a story, Sazed.”

  He smiled in amusement. “Be careful, Mistress—become too fond of reading, and you may just turn into a scholar.”

  Vin shook her head. “Not if all the books I read are going to end like this one!”

  “If it is of any comfort,” Sazed said, “you are not the only one who is disappointed by the logbook’s contents. It didn’t contain much that Master Kelsier could use—certainly, there was nothing about the Eleventh Metal. I feel somewhat guilty, since I am the one who benefited most from the book.”

  “But, there wasn’t very much about the Terris religion either.”

  “Not much,” Sazed agreed. “But, truly and regretfully, ‘not much’ is far more than we knew previously. I am only worried that I will not have an opportunity to pass this information on. I have sent a translated copy of the logbook to a location where my brethren and sister Keepers will know to check—it would be a pity if this new knowledge were to die with me.”

  “It won’t,” Vin said.

  “Oh? Has my lady suddenly become an optimist?”

  “Has my Terrisman suddenly become a smart-mouth?” Vin retorted.

  “He always has been, I think,” Sazed said with a slight smile. “It is one of the things that made him a poor steward— at least, in the eyes of most of his masters.”

  “Then they must have been fools,” Vin said honestly.

  “So I was inclined to think, Mistress,” Sazed replied. “We should return to the mansion—we should not be seen out in the gardens when the mists arrive, I think.”

  “I’m just going to go back out into them.”

  “There are many of the grounds staff that do not know you are Mistborn, Mistress,” Sazed said. “It would be a good secret to keep, I think.”

  “I know,” Vin said, turning. “Let’s go back then.”

  “A wise plan.”

  They walked for a few moments, enjoying the eastern garden’s subtle beauty. The grasses were kept carefully trimmed, and they had been arranged in pleasant tiers, the occasional shrubbery giving accent. The southern garden was far more spectacular, with its brook, trees, and exotic plants. But the eastern garden had its own peace—the serenity of simplicity.

  “Sazed?” Vin said in a quiet voice.

  “Yes, Mistress?”

  “It’s all going to change, isn’t i
t?”

  “What specifically do you mean?”

  “Everything,” Vin said. “Even if we aren’t all dead in a year, the crewmembers will be off working on other projects. Ham will probably be back with his family, Dox and Kelsier will be planning some new escapade, Clubs will be renting his shop to another crew....Even these gardens that we’ve spent so much money on—they’ll belong to someone else.”

  Sazed nodded. “What you say is likely. Though, if things go well, perhaps the skaa rebellion will be ruling Luthadel by this time next year.”

  “Maybe,” Vin said. “But even still... things will change.”

  “That is the nature of all life, Mistress,” Sazed said. “The world must change.”

  “I know,” Vin said with a sigh. “I just wish...Well, I actually like my life now, Sazed. I like spending time with the crew, and I like training with Kelsier. I love going to balls with Elend on the weekends, love walking in these gardens with you. I don’t want these things to change. I don’t want my life to go back to the way it was a year ago.”

  “It doesn’t have to, Mistress,” Sazed said. “It could change for the better.”

  “It won’t,” Vin said quietly. “It’s starting already—Kelsier has hinted that my training is almost finished. When I practice in the future, I’ll have to do it alone.

  “As for Elend, he doesn’t even know that I’m skaa—and it’s my job to try and destroy his family. Even if House Venture doesn’t fall by my hand, others will bring it down—I know Shan Elariel is planning something, and I haven’t been able to discover anything about her schemes.

  “That’s only the beginning, though. We face the Final Empire. We’ll probably fail—to be honest, I don’t see how things could possibly turn out otherwise. We’ll fight, we’ll do some good, but we won’t change much—and those of us who survive will spend the rest of our lives running from the Inquisitors. Everything’s going to change, Sazed, and I can’t stop it.”

  Sazed smiled fondly. “Then, Mistress,” he said quietly, “simply enjoy what you have. The future will surprise you, I think.”

  “Maybe,” Vin said, unconvinced.