The Final Empire m-1

by Brandon Sanderson

  “How are our resources coming?” Kelsier asked.

  Dockson shrugged. “Ham found us two ex-soldier instructors. The weapons, however… well, Renoux and I are making contacts and initiating deals, but we can’t move very quickly. Fortunately, when the weapons come, they should come in bulk.”

  Kelsier nodded. “That’s everything, right?”

  Breeze cleared his throat. “I’ve… been hearing a lot of rumors on the streets, Kelsier,” he said. “The people are talking about this Eleventh Metal of yours.”

  “Good,” Kelsier said.

  “Aren’t you worried that the Lord Ruler will hear? If he has forewarning of what you’re going to do, it will be much more difficult to… resist him.”

  He didn’t say “kill,” Vin thought. They don’t think that Kelsier can do it.

  Kelsier just smiled. “Don’t worry about the Lord Ruler – I’ve got things under control. In fact, I intend to pay the Lord Ruler a personal visit sometime during the next few days.”

  “Visit?” Yeden asked uncomfortably. “You’re going to visit the Lord Ruler? Are you insa…” Yeden trailed off, then glanced at the rest of the room. “Right. I forgot.”

  “He’s catching on,” Dockson noted.

  Heavy footsteps sounded in the hallway, and one of Ham’s guards entered a moment later. He made his way to Ham’s chair and whispered a brief message.

  Ham frowned.

  “What?” Kelsier asked.

  “An incident,” Ham said.

  “Incident?” Dockson asked. “What kind of incident?”

  “You know that lair we met in a few weeks back?” Ham said. “The one where Kell first introduced his plan?”

  Camon’s lair, Vin thought, growing apprehensive.

  “Well,” Ham said, “apparently the Ministry found it.”

  11

  It seems Rashek represents a growing faction in Terris culture. A large number of the youths think that their unusual powers should be used for more than just fieldwork, husbandry, and stonecarving. They are rowdy, even violent – far different from the quiet, discerning Terris philosophers and holy men that I have known.

  They will have to be watched carefully, these Terrismen. They could be very dangerous, if given the opportunity and the motivation.

  KELSIER PAUSED IN THE DOORWAY, blocking Vin’s view. She stooped down, trying to peek past him into the lair, but too many people were in the way. She could only tell that the door hung at an angle, splintered, the upper hinge torn free.

  Kelsier stood for a long moment. Finally, he turned, looking past Dockson toward her. “Ham is right, Vin. You may not want to see this.”

  Vin stood where she was, looking at him resolutely. Finally, Kelsier sighed, stepping into the room. Dockson followed, and Vin could finally see what they had been blocking.

  The floor was scattered with corpses, their twisted limbs shadowed and haunting in the light of Dockson’s solitary lantern. They weren’t rotting yet – the attack had happened only that morning – but there was still a smell of death about the room. The scent of blood drying slowly, the scent of misery and of terror.

  Vin remained in the doorway. She’d seen death before – seen it often, on the streets. Knifings in alleys. Beatings in lairs. Children dead of starvation. She had once seen an old woman’s neck snapped by the backhand of an annoyed lord.

  The body had lain in the street for three days before a skaa corpse crew had finally come for it.

  Yet, none of those incidents had the same air of intentional butchery that she saw in Camon’s lair. These men hadn’t simply been killed, they had been torn apart. Limbs lay separated from torsos. Broken chairs and tables impaled chests. There were only a few patches of floor that were not covered in sticky, dark blood.

  Kelsier glanced at her, obviously expecting some sort of reaction. She stood, looking over the death, feeling… numb. What should her reaction be? These were the men who had mistreated her, stolen from her, beaten her. And yet, these were the men who had sheltered her, included her, and fed her when others might have simply given her to the whoremasters.

  Reen probably would have berated her for the traitorous sadness she felt at the sight. Of course, he had always been angry when – as a child – she’d cried as they left one town for another, not wanting to leave the people she’d grown to know, no matter how cruel or indifferent they were. Apparently, she hadn’t quite gotten over that weakness. She stepped into the room, not shedding any tears for these men, yet at the same time wishing that they had not come to such an end.

  In addition, the gore itself was disturbing. She tried to force herself to maintain a stiff face in front of the others, but she found herself cringing occasionally, glancing away from mangled corpses. The ones who had performed the attack had been quite… thorough.

  This seems extreme, even for the Ministry, she thought. What kind of person would do something like this?

  “Inquisitor,” Dockson said quietly, kneeling by a corpse.

  Kelsier nodded. Behind Vin, Sazed stepped into the room, careful to keep his robes clear of the blood. Vin turned toward the Terrisman, letting his actions distract her from a particularly grisly corpse. Kelsier was a Mistborn, and Dockson was supposedly a capable warrior. Ham and his men were securing the area. However, others – Breeze, Yeden, and Clubs – had stayed behind. The area was too dangerous. Kelsier had even resisted Vin’s desire to come.

  Yet, he had brought Sazed without apparent hesitation. The move, subtle though it was, made Vin regard the steward with a new curiosity. Why would it be too dangerous for Mistings, yet safe enough for a Terrisman steward? Was Sazed a warrior? How would he have learned to fight? Terrismen were supposedly raised from birth by very careful trainers.

  Sazed’s smooth step and calm face gave her few clues. He didn’t appear shocked by the carnage, however.

  Interesting, Vin thought, picking her way through shattered furniture, stepping clear of blood pools, making her way to Kelsier’s side. He crouched beside a pair of corpses. One, Vin noticed in a moment of shock, had been Ulef. The boy’s face was contorted and pained, the front of his chest a mass of broken bones and ripped flesh – as if someone had forcibly torn the rib cage apart with his hands. Vin shivered, looking away.

  “This isn’t good,” Kelsier said quietly. “Steel Inquisitors don’t generally bother with simple thieving crews. Usually, the obligators would just come down with their troops and take everyone captive, then use them to make a good show on an execution day. An Inquisitor would only get involved if it had a special interest in the crew.”

  “You think…” Vin said. “You think it might be the same one as before?”

  Kelsier nodded. “There are only about twenty Steel Inquisitors in the whole of the Final Empire, and half of them are out of Luthadel at any given time. I find it too much of a coincidence that you would catch one’s interest, escape, and then have your old lair get hit.”

  Vin stood quietly, forcing herself to look down at Ulef’s body and confront her sorrow. He had betrayed her in the end, but for a time he had almost been a friend.

  “So,” she said quietly, “the Inquisitor still has my scent?”

  Kelsier nodded, standing.

  “Then this is my fault,” Vin said. “Ulef and the others…”

  “It was Camon’s fault,” Kelsier said firmly. “He’s the one who tried to scam an obligator.” He paused, then looked over at her. “You going to be all right?”

  Vin looked up from Ulef’s mangled corpse, trying to remain strong. She shrugged. “None of them were my friends.”

  “That’s kind of coldhearted, Vin.”

  “I know,” she said with a quiet nod.

  Kelsier regarded her for a moment, then crossed the room to speak with Dockson.

  Vin looked back at Ulef’s wounds. They looked like the work of some crazed animal, not a single man.

  The Inquisitor must have had help, Vin told herself. There is no way one person, even
an Inquisitor, could have done all this. There was a pileup of bodies near the bolt exit, but a quick count told her that most – if not all – of the crew was accounted for. One man couldn’t have gotten to all of them quickly enough… could he have?

  There are a lot of things we don’t know about the Inquisitors, Kelsier had told her. They don’t quite follow the normal rules.

  Vin shivered again.

  Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Vin grew tense, crouching and preparing to run.

  Ham’s familiar figure appeared in the stairwell. “Area’s secure,” he said, holding up a second lantern. “No sign of obligators or Garrisoners.”

  “That’s their style,” Kelsier said. “They want the massacre to be discovered – they left the dead as a sign.”

  The room fell silent save for a low mumbling from Sazed, who stood at the far left side of the room. Vin picked her way over to him, listening to the rhythmic cadence of his voice. Eventually, he stopped speaking, then bowed his head and closed his eyes.

  “What was that?” Vin asked as he looked up again.

  “A prayer,” Sazed said. “A death chant of the Cazzi. It is meant to awaken the spirits of the dead and entice them free from their flesh so that they may return to the mountain of souls.” He glanced at her. “I can teach you of the religion, if you wish, Mistress. The Cazzi were an interesting people – very familiar with death.”

  Vin shook her head. “Not right now. You said their prayer – is this the religion you believe in, then?”

  “I believe in them all.”

  Vin frowned. “None of them contradict each other?”

  Sazed smiled. “Oh, often and frequently they do. But, I respect the truths behind them all – and I believe in the need for each one to be remembered.”

  “Then, how did you decide which religion’s prayer to use?” Vin asked.

  “It just seemed… appropriate,” Sazed said quietly, regarding the scene of shadowed death.

  “Kell,” Dockson called from the back of the room. “Come look at this.”

  Kelsier moved to join him, as did Vin. Dockson stood by the long corridor-like chamber that had been her crew’s sleeping quarters. Vin poked her head inside, expecting to find a scene similar to the one in the common room. Instead, there was only a single corpse tied to a chair. In the weak light she could barely make out that his eyes had been gouged out.

  Kelsier stood quietly for a moment. “That’s the man I put in charge.”

  “Milev,” Vin said with a nod. “What about him?”

  “He was killed slowly,” Kelsier said. “Look at the amount of blood on the floor, the way his limbs are twisted. He had time to scream and struggle.”

  “Torture,” Dockson said, nodding.

  Vin felt a chill. She glanced up at Kelsier.

  “Shall we move our base?” Ham asked.

  Kelsier slowly shook his head. “When Clubs came to this lair, he would have worn a disguise to and from the meeting, hiding his limp. It’s his job as a Smoker to make certain that you can’t find him just by asking around on the street. None of the people in this crew could have betrayed us – we should still be safe.”

  No one spoke the obvious. The Inquisitor shouldn’t have been able to find this lair either.

  Kelsier stepped back into the main room, pulling Dockson aside and speaking to him in a quiet voice. Vin edged closer, trying to hear what they were saying, but Sazed placed a restraining hand on her shoulder.

  “Mistress Vin,” he said disapprovingly, “if Master Kelsier wanted us to hear what he was saying, would he not speak in a louder voice?”

  Vin shot the Terrisman an angry glance. Then she reached inside and burned tin.

  The sudden stench of blood almost staggered her. She could hear Sazed’s breathing. The room was no longer dark – in fact, the brilliant light of two lanterns made her eyes water. She became aware of the stuffy, unventilated air.

  And she could hear, quite distinctly, Dockson’s voice.

  “…went to check on him a couple times, like you asked. You’ll find him three streets west of the Fourwell Crossroads.”

  Kelsier nodded. “Ham,” he said in a loud voice, causing Vin to jump.

  Sazed looked down at her with disapproving eyes.

  He knows something of Allomancy, Vin thought, reading the man’s expression. He guessed what I was doing.

  “Yes, Kell?” Ham said, peeking out of the back room.

  “Take the others back to the shop,” Kelsier said. “And be careful.”

  “Of course,” Ham promised.

  Vin eyed Kelsier, then resentfully allowed herself to be ushered from the lair with Sazed and Dockson.

  I should have taken the carriage, Kelsier thought, frustrated by his slow pace. The others could have walked back from Camon’s lair.

  He itched to burn steel and begin jumping toward his destination. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to remain inconspicuous when flying through the city during the full light of day.

  Kelsier adjusted his hat and continued walking. A nobleman pedestrian was not an irregular sight, especially in the commercial district, where more fortunate skaa and less fortunate noblemen mixed on the streets – though each group did its best to ignore the other.

  Patience. Speed doesn’t matter. If they know about him, he’s already dead.

  Kelsier entered a large crossroad square. Four wells sat in its corners, and a massive copper fountain – its green skin caked and blackened by soot – dominated the square’s center.

  The statue depicted the Lord Ruler, standing dramatically in cloak and armor, a formless representation of the Deepness dead in the water at his feet.

  Kelsier passed the fountain, its waters flaked from a recent ashfall. Skaa beggars called out from the streetsides, their pitiful voices walking a fine line between audibility and annoyance. The Lord Ruler barely suffered them; only skaa with severe disfigurements were allowed to beg. Their pitiful life, however, was not something even plantation skaa would envy.

  Kelsier tossed them a few clips, not caring that doing so made him stand out, and continued to walk. Three streets over, he found a much smaller crossroads. It was also rimmed by beggars, but no fine fountain splashed the center of this intersection, nor did the corners contain wells to draw traffic.

  The beggars here were even more pathetic – these were the sorry individuals who were too wretched to fight themselves a spot in a major square. Malnourished children and age-withered adults called out with apprehensive voices; men missing two or more limbs huddled in corners, their soot-stained forms almost invisible in the shadows.

  Kelsier reached reflexively for his coin purse. Stay on track, he told himself. You can’t save them all, not with coins. There will be time for these once the Final Empire is gone.

  Ignoring the piteous cries – which became louder once the beggars realized he was watching them – Kelsier studied each face in turn. He had only seen Camon briefly, but he thought that he’d recognize the man. However, none of the faces looked right, and none of the beggars had Camon’s girth, which should have still been noticeable despite weeks of starvation.

  He’s not here, Kelsier thought with dissatisfaction. Kelsier’s order – given to Milev, the new crewleader – that Camon be made a beggar had been carried out. Dockson had checked on Camon to make certain.

  Camon’s absence in the square could simply mean that he’d gained a better spot. It could also mean that the Ministry had found him. Kelsier stood quietly for a moment, listening to the beggars’ haunted moanings. A few flakes of ash began to float down from the sky.

  Something was wrong. There weren’t any beggars near the north corner of the intersection. Kelsier burned tin, and smelled blood on the air.

  He kicked off his shoes, then pulled his belt free. His cloak clasp went next, the fine garment dropping to the cobblestones. That done, the only metal remaining on his body was in his coin pouch. He dumped a few coins into his hand, then carefully made
his way forward, leaving his discarded garments for the beggars.

  The smell of death grew stronger, but he didn’t hear anything except scrambling beggars behind him. He edged onto the northern street, immediately noticing a thin alleyway to his left. Taking a breath, he flared pewter and ducked inside.

  The thin, dark alley was clogged with refuse and ash. No one waited for him – at least, no one living.

  Camon, crewleader turned beggar, hung quietly from a rope tied far above. His corpse spun leisurely in the breeze, ash falling lightly around it. He hadn’t been hanged in the conventional fashion – the rope had been tied to a hook, then rammed down his throat. The bloodied end of the hook jutted from his skin below the chin, and he swung with head tipped back, rope running out of his mouth. His hands were tied, his still plump body showing signs of torture.

  This isn’t good.

  A foot scraped the cobblestones behind, and Kelsier spun, flaring steel and spraying forth a handful of coins.

  With a girlish yelp, a small figure ducked to the ground, coins deflected as she burned steel.

  “Vin?” Kelsier said. He cursed, reaching out and yanking her into the alleyway. He glanced around the corner, watching the beggars perk up as they heard coins hit the cobblestones.

  “What are you doing here?” he demanded, turning back. Vin wore the same brown overalls and gray shirt she had before, though she at least had the sense to wear a nondescript cloak with the hood up.

  “I wanted to see what you were doing,” she said, cringing slightly before his anger.

  “This could have been dangerous!” Kelsier said. “What were you thinking?”

  Vin cowered further.

  Kelsier calmed himself. You can’t blame her for being curious, he thought as a few brave beggars scuttled in the street after the coins. She’s just–

  Kelsier froze. It was so subtle he almost missed it. Vin was Soothing his emotions.

  He glanced down. The girl was obviously trying to make herself invisible against the corner of the wall. She seemed so timid, yet he caught a hidden glimmer of determination in her eyes. This child had made an art of making herself seem harmless.