Curious, Vin extinguished her copper for a moment, burning bronze instead, trying to sense Breeze’s use of Allomancy. No pulses came from him.
Of course, she thought. I forgot about Clubs’s apprentice – he’d keep me from sensing any Allomantic pulses. She turned her copper back on.
Kelsier continued to speak. “My friends, you’re not alone in your tragedy. There are millions, just like you. And they need you. I’ve not come to beg – we’ve had enough of that in our lives. I simply ask you to think. Where would you rather your energy be spent? On forging the Lord Ruler’s weapons? Or, on something more valuable?”
He’s not mentioning our troops, Vin thought. Or even what those who join with him are going to do. He doesn’t want the workers to know details. Probably a good idea – those he recruits can be sent to the army, and the rest won’t be able to give away specific information.
“You know why I am here,” Kelsier said. “You know my friend, Yeden, and what he represents. Every skaa in the city knows about the rebellion. Perhaps you’ve considered joining it. Most of you will not – most of you will go back to your soot-stained mills, to your burning forges, to your dying homes. You’ll go because this terrible life is familiar. But some of you… some of you will come with me. And those are the men who will be remembered in the years to come. Remembered for having done something grand.”
Many of the workers shared glances, though some just stared at their half-empty soup bowls. Finally, someone near the back of the room spoke. “You’re a fool,” the man said. “The Lord Ruler will kill you. You don’t rebel against God in his own city.”
The room fell silent. Tense. Vin sat up as Breeze whispered to himself.
In the room, Kelsier stood quietly for a moment. Finally, he reached up and pulled back the sleeves on his jacket, revealing the crisscrossed scars on his arms. “The Lord Ruler is not our god,” he said quietly. “And he cannot kill me. He tried, but he failed. For I am the thing that he can never kill.”
With that, Kelsier turned, walking from the room the way he had come.
“Hum,” Breeze said, “well, that was a little dramatic. Rudd, bring back the red and send out the brown.”
A serving woman in brown walked into the crowd.
“Amazement,” Breeze said. “And, yes, pride. Soothe the anger, for now…”
The crowd sat quietly for a moment, the dining room eerily motionless. Finally, Yeden stood up to speak and give some further encouragement, as well as an explanation of what the men should do, should they wish to hear more. As he talked, the men returned to their meals.
“Green, Rudd,” Breeze said. “Hum, yes. Let’s make you all thoughtful, and give you a nudge of loyalty. We wouldn’t want anyone to run to the obligators, would we? Kell’s covered his tracks quite well, but the less the authorities hear, the better, eh? Oh, and what about you, Yeden? You’re a bit too nervous. Let’s Soothe that, take away your worries. Leave only that passion of yours – hopefully, it will be enough to cover up that stupid tone in your voice.”
Vin continued to watch. Now that Kelsier had gone, she found it easier to focus on the crowd’s reactions, and on Breeze’s work. As Yeden spoke, the workers outside seemed to react exactly according to Breeze’s mumbled instructions. Yeden, too, showed effects of the Soothing: He grew more comfortable, his voice more confident, as he spoke.
Curious, Vin let her copper drop again. She concentrated, seeing if she could sense Breeze’s touch on her emotions; she would be included in his general Allomantic projections. He didn’t have time to pick and choose individuals, except maybe Yeden. It was very, very difficult to sense. Yet, as Breeze sat mumbling to himself, she began to feel the exact emotions he described.
Vin couldn’t help but be impressed. The few times that Kelsier had used Allomancy on her emotions, his touch has been like a sudden, blunt punch to the face. He had strength, but very little subtlety.
Breeze’s touch was incredibly delicate. He Soothed certain emotions, dampening them while leaving others unaffected. Vin thought she could sense his men Rioting on her emotions, too, but these touches weren’t nearly as subtle as Breeze’s. She left her copper off, watching for touches on her emotions as Yeden continued his speech. He explained that the men who joined with them would have to leave family and friends for a time – as long as a year – but would be fed well during that time.
Vin felt her respect for Breeze continue to rise. Suddenly, she didn’t feel so annoyed with Kelsier for handing her off. Breeze could only do one thing, but he obviously had a great deal of practice at it. Kelsier, as a Mistborn, had to learn all of the Allomantic skills; it made sense that he wouldn’t be as focused in any one power.
I need to make certain he sends me to learn from the others, Vin thought. They’ll be masters at their own powers.
Vin turned her attention back to the dining room as Yeden wrapped up. “You heard Kelsier, the Survivor of Hathsin,” he said. “The rumors about him are true – he’s given up his thieving ways, and turned his considerable attention toward working for the skaa rebellion! Men, we are preparing for something grand. Something that may, indeed, end up being our last struggle against the Final Empire. Join with us. Join with your brothers. Join with the Survivor himself!”
The dining room fell silent.
“Bright red,” Breeze said. “I want those men to leave feeling passionate about what they’ve heard.”
“The emotions will fade, won’t they?” Vin said as a red-clothed serving girl entered the crowd.
“Yes,” Breeze said, sitting back and sliding the panel closed. “But memories stay. If people associate strong emotion with an event, they’ll remember it better.”
A few moments later, Ham entered through the back door. “That went well. The men are leaving invigorated, and a number of them are staying behind. We’ll have a good set of volunteers to send off to the caves.”
Breeze shook his head. “It’s not enough. Dox takes a few days to organize each of these meetings, and we only get about twenty men from each one. At this rate, we’ll never hit ten thousand in time.”
“You think we need more meetings?” Ham asked. “That’s going to be tough – we have to be very careful with these things, so only those who can be reasonably trusted are invited.”
Breeze sat for a moment. Finally, he downed the rest of his wine. “I don’t know – but we’ll have to think of something. For now, let’s return to the shop. I believe Kelsier wishes to hold a progress meeting this evening.”
Kelsier looked to the west. The afternoon sun was a poisonous red, shining angrily through a sky of smoke. Just below it, Kelsier could see the silhouetted tip of a dark peak. Tyrian, closest of the Ashmounts.
He stood atop Clubs’s flat-roofed shop, listening to workers returning home on the streets below. A flat roof meant having to shovel off ash occasionally, which was why most skaa buildings were peaked, but in Kelsier’s opinion the view was often worth a bit of trouble.
Below him, the skaa workers trudged in despondent ranks, their passing kicking up a small cloud of ash. Kelsier turned away from them, looking toward the northern horizon… toward the Pits of Hathsin.
Where does it go? he thought. The atium reaches the city, but then disappears. It isn’t the Ministry – we’ve watched them – and no skaa hands touch the metal. We assume it goes into the treasury. We hope it does, at least.
While burning atium, a Mistborn was virtually unstoppable, which was part of why it was so valuable. But, his plan was about more than just wealth. He knew how much atium was harvested at the pits, and Dockson had researched the amounts that the Lord Ruler doled out – at exorbitant prices – to the nobility. Barely a tenth of what was mined eventually found its way into noble hands.
Ninety percent of the atium produced in the world had been stockpiled, year after year, for a thousand years. With that much of the metal, Kelsier’s team could intimidate even the most powerful of the noble houses. Yeden’s plan to hold th
e palace probably seemed futile to many – indeed, on its own, it was doomed to fail. However, Kelsier’s other plans…
Kelsier glanced down at the small, whitish bar in his hand. The Eleventh Metal. He knew the rumors about it – he’d started them. Now, he just had to make good on them.
He sighed, turning eyes east, toward Kredik Shaw, the Lord Ruler’s palace. The name was Terris; it meant “The Hill of a Thousand Spires.” Appropriate, since the imperial palace resembled a patch of enormous black spears thrust into the ground. Some of the spires twisted, others were straight. Some were thick towers, others were thin and needlelike. They varied in height, but each one was tall. And each one ended in a point.
Kredik Shaw. That’s where it had ended three years before. And he needed to go back.
The trapdoor opened, and a figure climbed onto the roof. Kelsier turned with a raised eyebrow as Sazed brushed off his robe, then approached in his characteristically respectful posture. Even a rebellious Terrisman maintained the form of his training.
“Master Kelsier,” Sazed said with a bow.
Kelsier nodded, and Sazed stepped up beside him, looking toward the imperial palace. “Ah,” he said to himself, as if understanding Kelsier’s thoughts.
Kelsier smiled. Sazed had been a valuable find indeed. Keepers were necessarily secretive, for the Lord Ruler had hunted them practically since the Day of Ascension itself. Some legends claimed that the Ruler’s complete subjugation of the Terris people – including the breeding and stewardship programs – was simply an outgrowth of his hatred for Keepers.
“I wonder what he would think if he knew a Keeper was in Luthadel,” Kelsier said, “barely a short walk from the palace itself.”
“Let us hope we never find out, Master Kelsier,” Sazed said.
“I appreciate your willingness to come here to the city, Saze. I know it’s a risk.”
“This is a good work,” Sazed said. “And this plan is dangerous for all involved. Indeed, simply living is dangerous for me, I think. It is not healthy to belong to a sect that the Lord Ruler himself fears.”
“Fears?” Kelsier asked, turning to look up at Sazed. Despite Kelsier’s above-average height, the Terrisman was still a good head taller. “I’m not sure if he fears anything, Saze.”
“He fears the Keepers,” Sazed said. “Definitely and inexplicably. Perhaps it is because of our powers. We are not Allomancers, but… something else. Something unknown to him.”
Kelsier nodded, turning back toward the city. He had so many plans, so much work to do – and at the core of it all were the skaa. The poor, humble, defeated skaa.
“Tell me about another one, Saze,” Kelsier said. “One with power.”
“Power?” Sazed asked. “That is a relative term when applied to religion, I think. Perhaps you would like to hear of Jaism. Its followers were quite faithful and devout.”
“Tell me about them.”
“Jaism was founded by a single man,” Sazed said. “His true name is lost, though his followers simply called him ‘the Ja.’ He was murdered by a local king for preaching discord – something he was apparently very good at – but that only made his following larger.
“The Jaists thought that they earned happiness proportional to their overt devotion, and were known for frequent and fervent professions of faith. Apparently, speaking with a Jaist could be frustrating, since they tended to end nearly every sentence with ‘Praise the Ja.’ ”
“That’s nice, Saze,” Kelsier said. “But power is more than just words.”
“Oh, quite indeed,” Sazed agreed. “The Jaists were strong in their faith. Legends say that the Ministry had to wipe them out completely, since not one Jaist would accept the Lord Ruler as God. They didn’t last long past the Ascension, but only because they were so blatant that they were easy to hunt down and kill.”
Kelsier nodded, then he smiled, eyeing Sazed. “You didn’t ask me if I wanted to convert.”
“My apologies, Master Kelsier,” Sazed said, “but the religion does not suit you, I think. It has a level of brashness that you might find appealing, but you would find the theology simplistic.”
“You’re getting to know me too well,” Kelsier said, still regarding the city. “In the end, after kingdoms and armies had fallen, the religions were still fighting, weren’t they?”
“Indeed,” Sazed said. “Some of the more resilient religions lasted all the way until the fifth century.”
“What made them so strong?” Kelsier said. “How did they do it, Saze? What gave these theologies such power over people?”
“It wasn’t any one thing, I think,” Sazed said. “Some were strong through honest faith, others because of the hope they promised. Others were coercive.”
“But they all had passion,” Kelsier said.
“Yes, Master Kelsier,” Sazed said with a nod. “That is a quite true statement.”
“That’s what we’ve lost,” Kelsier said, looking over the city with its hundreds of thousands, barely a handful of whom would dare fight. “They don’t have faith in the Lord Ruler, they simply fear him. They don’t have anything left to believe in.”
“What do you believe in, if I may ask, Master Kelsier?”
Kelsier raised an eyebrow. “I’m not exactly sure yet,” he admitted. “But overthrowing the Final Empire seems like a good start. Are there any religions on your list that include the slaughter of noblemen as a holy duty?”
Sazed frowned disapprovingly. “I do not believe so, Master Kelsier.”
“Maybe I should found one,” Kelsier said with an idle smile. “Anyway, have Breeze and Vin returned yet?”
“They arrived just before I came up here.”
“Good,” Kelsier said with a nod. “Tell them I’ll be down in a moment.”
Vin sat in her overstuffed chair in the conference room, legs tucked beneath her, trying to study Marsh out of the corner of her eye.
He looked so much like Kelsier. He was just… stern. He wasn’t angry, nor was he grumpy like Clubs. He just wasn’t happy. He sat in his chair, a neutral expression on his face.
The others had all arrived except for Kelsier, and they were chatting quietly amongst themselves. Vin caught Lestibournes’s eye and waved him over. The teenage boy approached and crouched beside her chair.
“Marsh,” Vin whispered beneath the general hum of the room. “Is that a nickname?”
“Notting without the call of his parents.”
Vin paused, trying to decipher the boy’s eastern dialect. “Not a nickname, then?”
Lestibournes shook his head. “He wasing one though.”
“What was it?”
“Ironeyes. Others stopped using it. Too calling close to an iron in the real eyes, eh? Inquisitor.”
Vin glanced at Marsh again. His expression was hard, his eyes unwavering, almost like they were made of iron. She could see why people would stop using the nickname; even referring to a Steel Inquisitor made her shiver.
“Thanks.”
Lestibournes smiled. He was an earnest boy. Strange, intense, and jumpy – but earnest. He retreated to his stool as Kelsier finally arrived.
“All right, crew,” he said. “What’ve we got?”
“Besides the bad news?” Breeze asked.
“Let’s hear it.”
“It’s been twelve weeks, and we’ve gathered under two thousand men,” Ham said. “Even with the numbers the rebellion already has, we’re going to fall short.”
“Dox?” Kelsier asked. “Can we get more meetings?”
“Probably,” Dockson said from his seat beside a table stacked with ledgers.
“Are you sure you want to take that risk, Kelsier?” Yeden asked. His attitude had improved during the last few weeks – especially once Kelsier’s recruits had begun to file in. As Reen had always said, results made quick friends.
“We’re already in danger,” Yeden continued. “Rumors are all over the underground. If we make any more of a stir, the Ministry is goin
g to realize that something major is happening.”
“He’s probably right, Kell,” Dockson said. “Besides, there are only so many skaa willing to listen. Luthadel is big, true, but our movement here is limited.”
“All right,” Kelsier said. “So, we’ll start working the other towns in the area. Breeze, can you split your crew into two effective groups?”
“I suppose,” Breeze said hesitantly.
“We can have one team work in Luthadel and the other work in surrounding towns. I can probably make it to all of the meetings, assuming we organize them so they don’t happen at the same time.”
“That many meetings will expose us even more,” Yeden said.
“And that, by the way, brings up another problem,” Ham said. “Weren’t we supposed to be working on infiltrating the Ministry’s ranks?”
“Well?” Kelsier asked, turning to Marsh.
Marsh shook his head. “The Ministry is tight – I need more time.”
“It’s not going to happen,” Clubs grumbled. “Rebellion’s already tried it.”
Yeden nodded. “We’ve tried to get spies into the Inner Ministries a dozen times. It’s impossible.”
The room fell silent.
“I have an idea,” Vin said quietly.
Kelsier raised an eyebrow.
“Camon,” she said. “He was working on a job before you recruited me. Actually, it was the job that got us spotted by the obligators. The core of that plan was organized by another thief, a crewleader named Theron. He was setting up a fake canal convoy to carry Ministry funds to Luthadel.”
“And?” Breeze asked.
“Those same canal boats would have brought new Ministry acolytes to Luthadel for the final part of their training. Theron has a contact along the route, a lesser obligator who was open to bribes. Maybe we could get him to add an ‘acolyte’ to the group from his local chapter.”
Kelsier nodded thoughtfully. “It’s worth looking into.”
Dockson scribbled something on a sheet with his fountain pen. “I’ll contact Theron and see if his informant is still viable.”
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