“So…” Ham said, “what of Vin?”
Kelsier glanced at Dockson, and saw pessimism in his eyes. Kelsier had barely escaped, and he had years of training. If Vin was still in Kredik Shaw…
Kelsier felt a sharp, twisting pain in his chest. You let her die too. First Mare, then Vin. How many more will you lead to slaughter before this is through?
“She might be hiding somewhere in the city,” Kelsier said. “Afraid to come to the shop because the Inquisitors are looking for her. Or… perhaps for some reason she went back to Fellise.”
Maybe she’s out there somewhere, dying alone in the rain.
“Ham,” Kelsier said, “you and I are heading back to the palace. Dox, take Lestibournes and visit other thieving crews. Maybe one of their scouts saw something. Clubs, send an apprentice to Renoux’s mansion to see if she went there.”
The solemn group started to move, but Kelsier didn’t need to state the obvious. He and Ham wouldn’t be able to get close to Kredik Shaw without running afoul of guard patrols. Even if Vin was hiding in the city somewhere, the Inquisitors would probably find her first. They would have–
Kelsier froze, his sudden jerk causing the others to pause. He’d heard something.
Hurried footsteps sounded as Lestibournes rushed down the stairs and into the room, his lanky form wet with rain. “Someone’s coming! Out the night with the calling!”
“Vin?” Ham asked hopefully.
Lestibournes shook his head. “Big man. Robe.”
This is it, then. I’ve brought death to the crew – I’ve led the Inquisitors right to them.
Ham stood, picking up a wooden stave. Dockson pulled out a pair of daggers, and Clubs’s six apprentices moved to the back of the room, eyes wide with fright.
Kelsier flared his metals.
The back door to the kitchen slammed open. A tall, dark form in wet robes stood in the rain. And he carried a cloth-wrapped figure in his arms.
“Sazed!” Kelsier said.
“She is badly wounded,” Sazed said, stepping quickly into the room, his fine robes streaming with rainwater. “Master Hammond, I require some pewter. Her supply is exhausted, I think.”
Ham rushed forward as Sazed set Vin on the kitchen table. Her skin was clammy and pale, her thin frame soaked and wet.
She’s so small, Kelsier thought. Barely more than a child. How could I have thought to take her with me?
She bore a massive, bloody wound in her side. Sazed set something aside – a large book he’d been carrying in his arms beneath Vin – and accepted a vial from Hammond, then bent down and poured the liquid down the unconscious girl’s throat. The room fell silent, the sound of pounding rain coming through the still open door.
Vin’s face flushed slightly with color, and her breathing seemed to steady. To Kelsier’s Allomantic bronze senses, she began to pulse softly with a rhythm not unlike a second heartbeat.
“Ah, good,” Sazed said, undoing Vin’s makeshift bandage. “I feared that her body was too unfamiliar with Allomancy to burn metals unconsciously. There is hope for her, I think. Master Cladent, I shall require a pot of boiled water, some bandages, and the medical bag from my rooms. Quickly, now!”
Clubs nodded, waving for his apprentices to do as instructed. Kelsier cringed as he watched Sazed’s work. The wound was bad – worse than any he himself had survived. The cut went deeply into her gut; it was the type of wound that killed slowly, but consistently.
Vin, however, was no ordinary person – pewter would keep an Allomancer alive long after their body should have given out. In addition, Sazed was no ordinary healer. Religious rites were not the only things that Keepers stored in their uncanny memories; their metalminds contained vast wealths of information on culture, philosophy, and science.
Clubs ushered his apprentices from the room as the surgery began. The procedure took an alarming amount of time, Ham applying pressure to the wound as Sazed slowly stitched Vin’s insides back together. Finally, Sazed closed the outer wound and applied a clean bandage, then asked Ham to carefully carry the girl up to her bed.
Kelsier stood, watching Ham carry Vin’s weak, limp form out of the kitchen. Then, he turned to Sazed questioningly. Dockson sat in the corner, the only other one still in the room.
Sazed shook his head gravely. “I do not know, Master Kelsier. She could survive. We will need to keep her supplied with pewter – it will help her body make new blood. Even still, I have seen many strong men die from wounds smaller than this one.”
Kelsier nodded.
“I arrived too late, I think,” Sazed said. “When I found her gone from Renoux’s mansion, I came to Luthadel as quickly as I could. I used up an entire metalmind to make the trip with haste. I was still too late…”
“No, my friend,” Kelsier said. “You’ve done well this night. Far better than I.”
Sazed sighed, then reached over and fingered the large book he’d set aside before beginning the surgery. The tome was wet with rainwater and blood. Kelsier regarded it, frowning. “What is that, anyway?”
“I don’t know,” Sazed said. “I found it at the palace, while I was searching for the child. It is written in Khlenni.”
Khlenni, the language of Khlennium – the ancient, pre-Ascension homeland of the Lord Ruler. Kelsier perked up a bit. “Can you translate it?”
“Perhaps,” Sazed said, suddenly sounding very tired. “But… not for a time, I think. After this evening, I shall need to rest.”
Kelsier nodded, calling for one of the apprentices to prepare Sazed a room. The Terrisman nodded thankfully, then walked wearily up the stairs.
“He saved more than Vin’s life tonight,” Dockson said, approaching quietly from behind. “What you did was stupid, even for you.”
“I had to know, Dox,” he said. “I had to go back. What if the atium really is in there?”
“You said that it isn’t.”
“I said that,” Kelsier said with a nod, “and I’m mostly sure. But what if I’m wrong?”
“That’s no excuse,” Dockson said angrily. “Now Vin is dying and the Lord Ruler is alerted to us. Wasn’t it enough that you got Mare killed trying to get into that room?”
Kelsier paused, but he was too drained to feel any anger. He sighed, sitting down. “There’s more, Dox.”
Dockson frowned.
“I’ve avoided talking about the Lord Ruler to the others,” Kelsier said, “but… I’m worried. The plan is good, but I have this terrible, haunting feeling that we’ll never succeed as long as he’s alive. We can take his money, we can take his armies, we can trick him out of the city… but I still worry that we won’t be able to stop him.”
Dockson frowned. “You’re serious about this Eleventh Metal business, then?”
Kelsier nodded. “I searched for two years to find a way to kill him. Men have tried everything – he ignores normal wounds, and decapitation only annoys him. A group of soldiers burned down his inn during one of the early wars. The Lord Ruler walked out as barely more than a skeleton, then healed in a matter of seconds.
“Only the stories of the Eleventh Metal offered any hope. But I can’t make it work! That’s why I had to go back to the palace. The Lord Ruler’s hiding something in that room – I can feel it. I can’t help thinking that if we knew what it was, we’d be able to stop him.”
“You didn’t have to take Vin with you.”
“She followed me,” Kelsier said. “I worried that she’d try to get in on her own if I left her. The girl has a headstrong streak, Dox – she hides it well, but she’s blasted stubborn when she wants to be.”
Dockson sighed, then nodded quietly. “And we still don’t know what’s in that room.”
Kelsier eyed the book Sazed had set on the table. The rainwater had marked it, but the tome was obviously designed to endure. It was strapped tightly to prevent water from seeping in, and the cover was of well-cured leather.
“No,” Kelsier finally said. “We don’t.” But we do have that, whatever it i
s.
“Was it worth it, Kell?” Dockson asked. “Was this insane stunt really worth nearly getting yourself – and the child – killed?”
“I don’t know,” Kelsier said honestly. He turned to Dockson, meeting his friend’s eyes. “Ask me once we know whether or not Vin will live.”
THE END OF PART TWO
Part three
CHILDREN OF A BLEEDING SUN
16
Many think that my journey started in Khlennium, that great city of wonder. They forget that I was no king when my quest began. Far from it.
I think it would do men well to remember that this task was not begun by emperors, priests, prophets, or generals. It didn’t start in Khlennium or Kordel, nor did it come from the great nations to the east or the fiery empire of the West.
It began in a small, unimportant town whose name would mean nothing to you. It began with a youth, the son of a blacksmith, who was unremarkable in every way – except, perhaps, in his ability to get into trouble.
It began with me.
WHEN VIN AWOKE, THE PAIN told her that Reen had beaten her again. What had she done? Had she been too friendly to one of the other crewmembers? Had she made a foolish comment, drawing the crewleader’s ire? She was to remain quiet, always quiet, staying away from the others, never calling attention to herself. Otherwise he would beat her. She had to learn, he said. She had to learn…
But, her pain seemed too strong for that. It had been a long time since she could remember hurting this much.
She coughed slightly, opening her eyes. She lay in a bed that was far too comfortable, and a lanky teenage boy sat in a chair beside her bed.
Lestibournes, she thought. That’s his name. I’m in Clubs’s shop.
Lestibournes jumped to his feet. “You’re awaking!”
She tried to speak, but just coughed again, and the boy hurriedly gave her a cup of water. Vin sipped it thankfully, grimacing at the pain in her side. In fact, her entire body felt like it had been pummeled soundly.
“Lestibournes,” she finally croaked.
“Notting as the now,” he said. “Kelsier wasing the hit with my name; changed it to Spook.”
“Spook?” Vin asked. “It fits. How long have I been asleep?”
“Two weeks,” the boy said. “Wait here.” He scrambled away, and she could hear him calling out in the distance.
Two weeks? She sipped at the cup, trying to organize her muddled memories. Reddish afternoon sunlight shone through the window, lighting the room. She set the cup aside, checking her side, where she found a large white bandage.
That’s where the Inquisitor hit me, she thought. I should be dead.
Her side was bruised and discolored from where she’d hit the roof after falling, and her body bore a dozen other nicks, bruises, and scrapes. All in all, she felt absolutely terrible.
“Vin!” Dockson said, stepping into the room. “You’re awake!”
“Barely,” Vin said with a groan, lying back against her pillow.
Dockson chuckled, walking over and sitting on Lestibournes’s stool. “How much do you remember?”
“Most everything, I think,” she said. “We fought our way into the palace, but there were Inquisitors. They chased us, and Kelsier fought–” She stopped, looking at Dockson. “Kelsier? Is he–”
“Kell’s fine,” Breeze said. “He came out of the incident in far better shape than you did. He knows the palace fairly well, from the plans we made three years ago, and he…”
Vin frowned as Dockson trailed off. “What?”
“He said the Inquisitors didn’t seem very focused on killing him. They left one to chase him, and sent two after you.”
Why? Vin thought. Did they simply want to concentrate their energy on the weakest enemy first? Or, is there another reason? She sat back thoughtfully, working through the events of that night.
“Sazed,” Vin she finally said. “He saved me. The Inquisitor was about to kill me, but… Dox, what is he?”
“Sazed?” Dockson asked. “That’s probably a question I should let him answer.”
“Is he here?”
Dockson shook his head. “He had to return to Fellise. Breeze and Kell are out recruiting, and Ham left last week to inspect our army. He won’t be back for another month at least.”
Vin nodded, feeling drowsy.
“Drink the rest of your water,” Dockson suggested. “There’s something in it to help with the pain.”
Vin downed the rest of the drink, then rolled over and let sleep take her again.
Kelsier was there when she awoke. He sat on the stool by her bed, hands clasped with his elbows on his knees, watching her by the faint light of a lantern. He smiled when she opened her eyes. “Welcome back.”
She immediately reached for the cup of water on the bed-stand. “How’s the job going?”
He shrugged. “The army is growing, and Renoux has begun to purchase weapons and supplies. Your suggestion regarding the Ministry turned out to be a good one – we found Theron’s contact, and we’ve nearly negotiated a deal that will let us place someone as a Ministry acolyte.”
“Marsh?” Vin asked. “Will he do it himself?”
Kelsier nodded. “He’s always had a… certain fascination with the Ministry. If any skaa can pull off imitating an obligator, it will be Marsh.”
Vin nodded, sipping her drink. There was something different about Kelsier. It was subtle – a slight alteration in his air and attitude. Things had changed during her sickness.
“Vin,” Kelsier said hesitantly. “I owe you an apology. I nearly got you killed.”
Vin snorted quietly. “It’s not your fault. I made you take me.”
“You shouldn’t have been able to make me,” Kelsier said. “My original decision to send you away was the right one. Please accept the apology.”
Vin nodded quietly. “What do you need me to do now? The job has to go forward, right?”
Kelsier smiled. “Indeed it does. As soon as you’re up to it, I’d like you to move back to Fellise. We created a cover story saying that Lady Valette has taken sick, but rumors are starting to appear. The sooner you can be seen in the flesh by visitors, the better.”
“I can go tomorrow,” Vin said.
Kelsier chuckled. “I doubt it, but you can go soon. For now, just rest.” He stood, moving to leave.
“Kelsier?” Vin asked, causing him to pause. He turned, looking at her.
Vin struggled to formulate what she wanted to say. “The palace… the Inquisitors… We’re not invincible, are we?” She flushed; it sounded stupid when she said it that way.
Kelsier, however, just smiled. He seemed to understand what she meant. “No, Vin,” he said quietly. “We’re far from it.”
Vin watched the landscape pass outside her carriage window. The vehicle, sent from Mansion Renoux, had supposedly taken Lady Valette for a ride through Luthadel. In reality, it hadn’t picked up Vin until it had stopped briefly by Clubs’s street. Now, however, her window shades were open, showing her again to the world – assuming anyone cared.
The carriage made its way back toward Fellise. Kelsier had been right: She’d had to rest three more days in Clubs’s shop before feeling strong enough to make the trip. In part, she’d waited simply because she had dreaded struggling into a noblewoman’s dresses with her bruised arms and wounded side.
Still, it felt good to be up again. There had been something… wrong about simply recovering in bed. Such a lengthy period of rest wouldn’t have been given to a regular thief; thieves either got back to work quickly or were abandoned for dead. Those who couldn’t bring in money for food couldn’t be allowed to take up space in the lair.
But, that isn’t the only way people live, Vin thought. She was still uncomfortable with that knowledge. It hadn’t mattered to Kelsier and the others that she drained their resources – they hadn’t exploited her weakened state, but had cared for her, each one spending time at her bedside. Most notable among the vigilists ha
d been the young Lestibournes. Vin didn’t even feel that she knew him very well, yet Kelsier said that the boy had spent hours watching over her during her coma.
What did one make of a world where a crewleader agonized over his people? In the underground, each person bore responsibility for what happened to them – the weaker segment of a crew had to be allowed to die, lest they keep everyone else from earning enough to survive. If a person got captured by the Ministry, you left them to their fate and hoped that they didn’t betray too much. You didn’t worry about your own guilt at putting them in danger.
They’re fools, Reen’s voice whispered. This entire plan will end in disaster – and your death will be your own fault for not leaving when you could.
Reen had left when he could. Perhaps he’d known that the Inquisitors would eventually hunt her down for the powers she unwittingly possessed. He always had known when to leave – it was no accident, she thought, that he hadn’t ended up slaughtered with the rest of Camon’s crew.
And yet, she ignored Reen’s promptings in her head, instead letting the carriage pull her toward Fellise. It wasn’t that she felt completely secure in her place with Kelsier’s crew – indeed, in a way, her place with these people was making her even more apprehensive. What if they stopped needing her? What if she became useless to them?
She had to prove to them that she could do what they needed her to. There were functions to attend, a society to infiltrate. She had so much work to do; she couldn’t afford to spend any more of it sleeping.
In addition, she needed to return to her Allomantic practice sessions. It had only taken a few short months for her to grow dependent upon her powers, and she longed for the freedom of leaping through the mists, of Pulling and Pushing her way through the skies. Kredik Shaw had taught her that she wasn’t invincible – but Kelsier’s survival with barely a scratch proved that it was possible to be much better than she was. Vin needed to practice, to grow in strength, until she too could escape Inquisitors like Kelsier had.
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