“No!” came the reply.
Breeze shook his head. “I didn’t think they had it in them. Too bad it’s such a small—”
“What’s that?” Dox asked.
Vin turned, frowning. There was a pocket of light in the distance. Like … torches, lit in the mists. Another one appeared to the east, near a skaa slum. A third appeared. Then a fourth. In a matter of moments, it seemed like the entire city was glowing.
“You insane genius …” Dockson whispered.
“What?” Clubs asked, frowning.
“We missed it,” Dox said. “The atium, the army, the nobility … that wasn’t the job Kelsier was planning. This was his job! Our crew was never supposed to topple the Final Empire—we were too small. An entire city’s population, however …”
“You’re saying he did this on purpose?” Breeze asked.
“He always asked me the same question,” Sazed said from behind. “He always asked what gave religions so much power. Each time, I answered him the same….” Sazed looked at them, cocking his head. “I told him that it was because their believers had something they felt passionate about. Something … or someone.”
“But, why not tell us?” Breeze asked.
“Because he knew,” Dox said quietly. “He knew something we would never agree to. He knew that he would have to die.”
Breeze shook his head. “I don’t buy it. Why even bother with us, then? He could have done this on his own.”
Why even bother … “Dox,” Vin said, turning. “Where’s that warehouse Kelsier rented, the one where he held his informant meetings?”
Dockson paused. “Not far away, actually. Two streets down. He said he wanted it to be near the bolt-lair….”
“Show me!” Vin said, scrambling over the side of the building. The gathered skaa continued to yell, each cry louder than the one before. The entire street blazed with light, flickering torches turning the mist into a brilliant haze.
Dockson led her down the street, the rest of the crew trailing behind. The warehouse was a large, run-down structure squatting disconsolately in the slum’s industrial section. Vin walked up to it, then flared pewter and smashed off the lock.
The door slowly swung open. Dockson held up a lantern, and its light revealed sparkling piles of metal. Weapons. Swords, axes, staves, and helmets glittered in the light—an incredible silvery hoard.
The crew stared at the room in wonder.
“This is the reason,” Vin said quietly. “He needed the Renoux front to buy weapons in such numbers. He knew his rebellion would need these if they were going to succeed in taking the city.”
“Why gather an army, then?” Ham said. “Was it just a front too?”
“I guess,” Vin said.
“Wrong,” a voice said, echoing through the cavernous warehouse. “There was so much more to it than that.”
The crew jumped, and Vin flared her metals … until she recognized the voice. “Renoux?”
Dockson held his lantern higher. “Show yourself, creature.”
A figure moved in the far back of the warehouse, staying to shadow. However, when it spoke, its voice was unmistakable. “He needed the army to provide a core of trained men for the rebellion. That part of his plan was … hampered by events. That was only one bit of why he needed you, however. The noble houses needed to fall to leave a void in the political structure. The Garrison needed to leave the town so that the skaa wouldn’t be slaughtered.”
“He planned this all from the start,” Ham said with wonder. “Kelsier knew that the skaa wouldn’t rise up. They’d been beaten down for so long, trained to think that the Lord Ruler owned both their bodies and their souls. He understood that they would never rebel … not unless he gave them a new god.”
“Yes,” Renoux said, stepping forward. The light glittered off his face, and Vin gasped in surprise.
“Kelsier!” she screamed.
Ham grabbed her shoulder. “Careful, child. It’s not him.”
The creature looked at her. It wore Kelsier’s face, but the eyes … they were different. The face didn’t bear Kelsier’s characteristic smile. It seemed hollow. Dead.
“I apologize,” it said. “This was to be my part in the plan, and is the reason Kelsier originally contracted with me. I was to take his bones once he was dead, then appear to his followers to give them faith and strength.”
“What are you?” Vin asked with horror.
Renoux-Kelsier looked at her, and then his face shimmered, becoming transparent. She could see his bones through the gelatinous skin. It reminded her of …
“A mistwraith.”
“A kandra,” the creature said, its skin losing its transparency. “A mistwraith that has … grown up, you might say.”
Vin turned away in revulsion, remembering the creatures she had seen in the mist. Scavengers, Kelsier had said … creatures that digested the bodies of the dead, stealing their skeletons and images. The legends are even more true than I thought.
“You were part of this plan too,” the kandra said. “All of you. You ask why he needed a crew? He needed men of virtue, men who could learn to worry more for the people than for coin. He put you before armies and crowds, letting you practice leadership. He was using you … but he was also training you.”
The creature looked to Dockson, Breeze, then Ham. “Bureaucrat, politician, general. For a new nation to be born, it will need men of your individual talents.” The kandra nodded to a large sheet of paper affixed to a table a short distance away. “That is for you to follow. I have other business to be about.”
It turned as if to leave, then paused beside Vin, turning toward her with its disturbingly Kelsier-like face. Yet, the creature itself wasn’t like Renoux or Kelsier. It seemed passionless.
The kandra held up a small pouch. “He asked me to give you this.” It dropped the pouch into her hand, then continued on, the crew giving it a wide berth as it left the warehouse.
Breeze started toward the table first, but Ham and Dockson beat him to it. Vin looked down at the bag. She was … afraid to see what it contained. She hurried forward, joining the crew.
The sheet was a map of the city, apparently copied from the one Marsh had sent. Written at the top were some words.
My friends, you have a lot of work to do, and you must do it quickly. You must organize and distribute the weapons in this warehouse, then you must do the same in two others like it located in the other slums. There are horses in a side room for ease of travel.
Once you distribute the weapons, you must secure the city gates and subdue the remaining members of the Garrison. Breeze, your team will do this—march on the Garrison first, so that you can take the gates in peace.
There are four Great Houses that retain a strong military presence in the city. I have marked them on the map. Ham, your team will deal with these. We don’t want an armed force other than our own inside the city.
Dockson, remain behind while the initial strikes happen. More and more skaa will come to the warehouses once word gets out. Breeze and Ham’s armies will include the troops we have trained, as well as augmentations—I hope—from the skaa gathering in the streets. You will need to make certain that the regular skaa get their weapons, so that Clubs can lead the assault on the palace itself.