The Hero of Ages m-3

by Brandon Sanderson

  Eventually, all fell still. Ruin opened his eyes, staring her down. "This work I do, it's about passion, Vin. It's about dynamic events; it's about change! That is why you and your Elend are so important to me. People with passion are people who will destroy-for a man's passion is not true until he proves how much he's willing to sacrifice for it. Will he kill? Will he go to war? Will he break and discard that which he has, all in the name of what he needs?"

  It's not just that Ruin feels that he's accomplished something, Vin thought, he feels that he's overcome. Despite what he claims, he feels that he's won-that he's defeated something. . but who or what? Us? We would be no adversary for a force like Ruin.

  A voice from the past seemed to whisper to her from long ago. What's the first rule of Allomancy, Vin?

  Consequence. Action and reaction. If Ruin had power to destroy, then there was something that opposed him. It had to be. Ruin had an opposite, an opponent. Or, he once had.

  "What did you do to him?" Vin asked.

  Ruin hesitated, frowning as he turned toward her.

  "Your opposite," Vin said. "The one who once stopped you from destroying the world."

  Ruin was silent for a long moment. Then he smiled, and Vin saw something chilling in that smile. A knowledge that he was right. Vin was part of him. She understood him.

  "Preservation is dead," Ruin said.

  "You killed him?"

  Ruin shrugged. "Yes, but no. He gave of himself to craft a cage. Though his throes of agony have lasted several thousand years, now, finally, he is gone. And the bargain has come to its fruition."

  Preservation, Vin thought, a piece of a gigantic whole clicking into place. The opposite of Ruin. A force like that couldn't have destroyed his enemy, because he would represent the opposite of destruction. But imprisonment, that would be within his powers.

  Imprisonment that ended when I gave up the power at the Well.

  "And so you see the inevitability," Ruin said softly.

  "You couldn't create it yourself, could you?" Vin asked. "The world, life. You can't create, you can only destroy."

  "He couldn't create either," Ruin said. "He could only preserve. Preservation is not creation."

  "And so you worked together," Vin said.

  "Both with a promise," Ruin said. "My promise was to work with him to create you-life that thinks, life that loves."

  "And his promise?" Vin asked, fearing that she knew the answer.

  "That I could destroy you eventually," Ruin said softly. "And I have come to claim what was promised me. The only point in creating something is to watch it die. Like a story that must come to a climax, what I have done will not be fulfilled until the end has arrived."

  It can't be true, Vin thought. Preservation. If he really represents a power in the universe, then he couldn't really have been destroyed, could he?

  "I know what you are thinking," Ruin said. "You cannot enlist Preservation's power. He is dead. He couldn't kill me, you see. He could only imprison me."

  Yes. I figured that last part out already. You really can't read my mind, can you?

  Ruin continued. "It was a villainous act, I must say. Preservation tried to escape our bargain. Would you not call that an evil deed? It is as I said before-good and evil have little to do with ruin or preservation. An evil man will protect that which he desires as surely as a good man."

  But something is keeping Ruin from destroying the world now, she thought. For all his words about stories and endings, he is not a force that would wait for an "appropriate" moment. There is more to this, more that I'm not understanding.

  What is holding him back?

  "I've come to you," Ruin said, "because I want you, at least, to watch and see. To know. For it has come."

  Vin perked up. "What? The end?"

  Ruin nodded.

  "How long?" Vin asked.

  "Days," Ruin said. "But not weeks."

  Vin felt a chill, realizing something. He had come to her, finally revealing himself, because she was captured. He thought that there was no further chance for mankind. He assumed that he had won.

  Which means that there is a way to beat him, she thought with determination. And it involves me. But I can't do it here, or he wouldn't have come to gloat.

  And that meant she had to get free. Quickly.

  Once you begin to understand these things, you can see how Ruin was trapped even though Preservation's mind was gone, expended to create the prison. Though Preservation's consciousness was mostly destroyed, his spirit and body were still in force. And, as an opposite force of Ruin, these could still prevent Ruin from destroying.

  Or, at least, keep him from destroying things too quickly. Once his mind was "freed" from its prison the destruction accelerated quickly.

  58

  "Throw your weight here," Sazed said, pointing at a wooden lever. "The counterweights will fall, swinging down all four floodgates and stemming the flow into the cavern. I warn you, however-the explosion of water above will be rather spectacular. We should be able to fill the city's canals in a matter of hours, and I suspect that a portion of the northern city will be flooded."

  "To dangerous levels?" Spook asked.

  "I do not think so," Sazed said. "The water will burst out through the conduits in the interchange building beside us. I've inspected the equipment there, and it appears sound. The water should flow directly into the canals, and from there exit the city. Either way, I would not want to be in those streetslots when this water comes. The current will be quite swift."

  "I've taken care of that," Spook said. "Durn is going to make certain the people know to be clear of the waterways."

  Sazed nodded. Spook couldn't help but be impressed. The complicated construct of wood, gears, and wire looked like it should have taken months to build, not weeks. Large nets of rocks weighed down the four gates, which hung, ready to block off the river.

  "This is amazing, Saze," Spook said. "With a sign as spectacular as the reappearance of the canal waters, the people will be certain to listen to us instead of the Citizen." Breeze and Durn's men had been working hard over the last few weeks, whispering to the people to watch for a miracle from the Survivor of the Flames. Something extraordinary, something to prove-once and for all-who was the rightful master of the city.

  "It is the best I could do," Sazed said with a modest bow of the head. "The seals won't be perfectly tight, of course. However, that should matter little."

  "Men?" Spook said, turning to four of Goradel's soldiers. "You understand what you are to do?"

  "Yes, sir," the lead soldier said. "We wait for a messenger, then throw the lever there."

  "If no messenger comes," Spook said, "throw the switch at nightfall."

  "And," Sazed said, raising a finger, "don't forget to twist the sealing mechanism in the other room, plugging the water flow out of this chamber. Otherwise, the lake will eventually empty. Better that we keep this reservoir full, just in case."

  "Yes, sir," the soldier said with a nod.

  Spook turned, looking back over the cavern. Soldiers bustled about, preparing. He was going to need most of them for the night's activities. They looked eager-they'd spent too long holed up in the cavern and the building above. To the side, Beldre regarded Sazed's contraption with interest. Spook broke away from the soldiers, approaching her with a quick step.

  "You're really going to do it?" she said. "Return the water to the canals?"

  Spook nodded.

  "I sometimes imagined what it would be like to have the waters back," she said. "The city wouldn't feel as barren-it would become important, like it was during the early days of the Final Empire. All those beautiful waterways. No more ugly gashes in the ground."

  "It will be a wonderful sight," Spook said, smiling.

  Beldre just shook her head. "It. . amazes me that you can be such different people at the same time. How can the man who would do such a beautiful thing for my city also plan such destruction?"

  "Beldre, I'
m not planning to destroy your city."

  "Just its government."

  "I do what needs to be done."

  "Men say that so easily," Beldre said. "Yet, everybody seems to have a different opinion of what 'needs' to be done."

  "Your brother had his chance," Spook said.

  Beldre looked down. She still carried with her the letter they'd received earlier in the day-a response from Quellion. Beldre's plea had been heartfelt, but the Citizen had responded with insults, implying that she had been forced to write the words because she was being held prisoner.

  I do not fear a usurper, the letter read. I am protected by the Survivor himself. You will not have this city, tyrant.

  Beldre looked up. "Don't do it," she whispered. "Give him more time. Please."

  Spook hesitated.

  "There is no more time," Kelsier whispered. "Do what must be done."

  "I'm sorry," Spook said, turning from her. "Stay with the soldiers-I'm leaving four men to guard you. Not to keep you from fleeing, though they will do that. I want you inside this cavern. I can't promise that the streets will be safe."

  He heard her sniffle quietly behind him. He left her standing there, then walked toward the gathering group of soldiers. One man brought Spook his dueling canes and singed cloak. Goradel stood at the front of his soldiers, looking proud. "We're ready, my lord."

  Breeze walked up beside him, shaking his head, dueling cane tapping the ground. He sighed. "Well, here we go again. . "

  The evening's occasion was a speech Quellion had been publicizing for some time. He had stopped executions recently, as if finally realizing that the deaths were contributing to the instability of his rule. He apparently intended to swing back toward benevolence, holding rallies, emphasizing the wonderful things he was doing for the city.

  Spook walked alone, a little ahead of Breeze, Allrianne, and Sazed, who chatted behind. Some of Goradel's soldiers followed as well, wearing common Urteau garb. Spook had split their force, sending it by different paths. It wasn't dark yet-to Spook the falling sun was bright, forcing him to wear his blindfold and spectacles. Quellion liked to hold his speeches in the evening, so that the mists arrived during them. He liked the implied connection to the Survivor.

  A figure hobbled out of a side streetslot next to Spook. Durn walked with a stooped posture, a cloak obscuring his figure. Spook respected the twisted man's insistence on leaving the security of the Harrows, going out to run jobs himself. Perhaps that was why he'd ended up as leader of the city's underground.

  "People are gathering, as expected," Durn said, coughing quietly. "Some of your soldiers are already there."

  Spook nodded.

  "Things are. . unsettled in the city," Durn said. "It worries me. Segments I can't control have already started looting some of the prohibited noble mansions. My men are all busy trying to get people out of the streetslots."

  "It will be all right," Spook said. "Most of the populace will be at the speech."

  Durn was silent for a moment. "Word is that Quellion is going to use his speech to denounce you, then finally order an attack on the Ministry building where you're staying."

  "It's a good thing we won't be there, then," Spook said. "He shouldn't have withdrawn his soldiers, even if he did need them to keep order in the city."

  Durn nodded.

  "What?" Spook said.

  "I just hope you can handle this, lad. Once this night is through, the city will be yours. Treat it better than Quellion did."

  "I will," Spook said.

  "My men will create a disturbance for you at the meeting. Farewell." Durn took the next left, disappearing down another streetslot alleyway.

  Ahead, the crowds were already gathering. Spook put up the hood of his cloak, keeping his eyes obscured as he wove his way through the crowd. He quickly left Sazed and the others behind, pushing his way up a ramp to the old city square-the place Quellion had chosen for his speech. His men had erected a wooden stage, from which the Citizen could face the crowd. The speech was already in progress. Spook stopped just a short distance away from a guard patrol. Many of Quellion's soldiers surrounded the stage, eyeing the crowd.

  Minutes passed, and Spook spent them listening to Quellion's voice ring, yet paying no attention to the words. Ash fell around him, dusting the crowd. Mists began to twist in the air.

  He listened, listened with ears no other man had. He used Allomancy's strange ability to filter and ignore-hearing through the chatter and whispers and shuffles and coughs, just as he could somehow see through the obscuring mists. He heard the city. Yells in the distance.

  It was beginning.

  "Too fast!" a voice whispered, a beggar moving up to Spook's side. "Durn sends word. Riots in the streets, ones he didn't start! Durn cannot control them. My lord, the city is beginning to burn!"

  "It was a night not unlike this one," another voice whispered. Kelsier's voice. "A glorious night. When I took the city of Luthadel, and made it mine."

  A disturbance began at the back of the crowd; Durn's men were causing their distraction. Some of Quellion's guards pulled away to quell this nearby riot. The Citizen continued to shout his accusations. Spook heard his own name in Quellion's words, but the context was simply noise.

  Spook tilted his head back, looking up at the sky. Ash fell toward him, as if he were sailing through it into the air. Like a Mistborn.

  His hood fell back. Men around him whispered in surprise.

  A clock rang in the distance. Goradel's soldiers rushed the stage. Around him, Spook could feel a glow rising. The fires of rebellion, burning in the city. Just like the night he had overthrown the Lord Ruler. The torches of revolution. Then the people had put Elend on the throne.

  This time, it would be Spook they elevated.

  Weak no more, he thought. Never weak again!

  The last of Quellion's soldiers rushed away from the stage, moving into combat with Goradel's men. The crowd shied away from the battle, but nobody ran. They had been prepared well for the night's events. Many would be waiting, watching for the signs Spook and Durn had promised-signs revealed just a few hours before, to minimize the risk of Quellion's spies learning Spook's plan. A miracle in the canals, and proof that Quellion was an Allomancer.

  If the Citizen-or even any of his guards on the stage-shot coins or used Allomancy to leap into the air, the people would see. They would know that they had been deceived. And that would be the end. The crowd surged away from the cursing soldiers, and their withdrawal left Spook standing alone. Quellion's voice finally trailed off. Some of his soldiers were rushing up to get him off the stage.

  Quellion's eyes found Spook. Only then did they show fear.

  Spook leaped. He couldn't Steelpush himself, but his legs were fueled by the power of flared pewter. He soared up, easily cresting the lip of the stage, landing in a crouch. He pulled free a dueling cane, then rushed the Citizen.

  Behind him, people began to cry out. Spook heard his name, Survivor of the Flames. Survivor. He wouldn't just kill Quellion, but destroy him. Undermining his rule, just as Breeze had suggested. At that moment, the Soother and Allrianne would be manipulating the crowd, keeping them from running away in a panic. Holding them there.

  So they could watch the show Spook was about to give.

  The guards at Quellion's side saw Spook too late. He dropped the first one easily, crushing the man's skull inside his helmet. Quellion screamed for more help.

  Spook swung at another man, but his target moved out of the way, supernaturally quick. Spook pulled to the side just in time to dodge a blow, the weapon grazing the side of his cheek. The man was an Allomancer-a pewter burner. The large brute who carried no sword, but instead an obsidian-edged cudgel.

  Pewter isn't spectacular enough, Spook thought. The people won't know how to tell if a man is swinging too quickly or enduring too much. I have to make Quellion shoot coins.

  The Thug backed away, obviously noting Spook's own increased speed. He kept his weapon rais
ed warily, but did not attack. He just had to stall, letting his companion pull Quellion away. The Thug would be no easy fight-he would be more skilled than Spook, and even stronger.

  "Your family is free," Spook lied quietly. "We saved them earlier. Help us capture Quellion-he no longer has a hold on you."

  The Thug paused, lowering his weapon.

  "Kill him!" Kelsier snapped.

  That hadn't been Spook's plan, but he responded to the prompting. He dodged inside the Thug's reach. The man turned in shock, and as he did, Spook delivered a backhanded blow to the skull. Spook's dueling cane shattered. The Thug stumbled to the ground, and Spook snatched up the man's fallen weapon, the obsidian-lined cudgel.

  Quellion was at the edge of the stage. Spook jumped, sailing across the wooden platform. It was all right for him to use Allomancy; he hadn't preached against it. Only Quellion the hypocrite needed to fear using his powers.

  Spook cut down the remaining guard as he landed-the jagged shards of obsidian ripping through flesh. The soldier fell, and Quellion spun.

  "I don't fear you!" Quellion said, voice shaking. "I'm protected!"

  "Kill him," Kelsier ordered, appearing visibly on the stage a short distance away. Usually, the Survivor only spoke in his mind; he hadn't actually appeared since that day in the burning building. It meant important things were happening.

  Spook grabbed the Citizen by the front of his shirt, yanking him forward. Spook raised the length of wood, blood dripping from the obsidian shards onto the side of his hand.

  "No!"

  Spook froze at that voice, then glanced to the side. She was there, shoving her way through the crowd, approaching the open space before the stage.

  "Beldre?" Spook asked. "How did you get out of the cavern?"

  But, of course, she couldn't hear him. Only Spook's supernatural hearing had allowed him to pick her voice out of the sounds of fear and battle. He met her eyes across the distance, and saw her whispered words more than he heard them.