“You, sir, are a tyrant,” Penrod said flatly.
“So?” Cett asked. “I’m a tyrant with forty thousand soldiers. That’s twice what you’ve got guarding these walls.”
“What’s to stop us from simply taking you hostage?” asked one of the other noblemen. “You seem to have delivered yourself to us quite neatly.”
Cett bellowed a laugh. “If I don’t return to my camp this evening, my army has orders to attack and raze the city immediately—no matter what! They’ll probably get destroyed by Venture afterward—but it won’t matter to me, or to you, at that point! We’ll all be dead.”
The room fell silent.
“See, Venture?” Cett asked. “Threats work wonderfully.”
“You honestly expect us to make you our king?” Elend asked.
“Actually, I do,” Cett said. “Look, with your twenty thousand added to my forty, we could easily hold these walls against Straff—we could even stop that army of koloss.”
Whispers began immediately, and Cett raised a bushy eyebrow, turning to Elend. “You didn’t tell them about the koloss, did you?”
Elend didn’t respond.
“Well, they’ll know soon enough,” Cett said. “Regardless, I don’t see that you have any other option but to elect me.”
“You’re not an honorable man,” Elend said simply. “The people expect more from their leaders.”
“I’m not an honorable man?” Cett asked with amusement. “And you are? Let me ask you a direct question, Venture. During the proceedings of this meeting, have any of your Allomancers over there been Soothing members of the Assembly?”
Elend paused. His eyes glanced to the side, finding Breeze. Vin closed her eyes. No, Elend, don’t—
“Yes, they have,” Elend admitted.
Vin heard Tindwyl groan quietly.
“And,” Cett continued, “can you honestly say that you’ve never doubted yourself? Never wondered if you were a good king?”
“I think every leader wonders these things,” Elend said.
“Well, I haven’t,” Cett said. “I’ve always known I was meant to be in charge—and I’ve always done the best job of making certain that I stayed in power. I know how to make myself strong, and that means I know how to make those who associate with me strong as well.
“Here’s the deal. You give me the crown, and I’ll take charge here. You all get to keep your titles—and those of the Assembly who don’t have titles will get them. In addition, you’ll get to keep your heads—which is a far better deal than Straff would offer, I assure you.
“The people get to keep working, and I’ll make certain that they’re fed this winter. Everything goes back to normal, the way it was before this insanity began a year back. The skaa work, the nobility administrates.”
“You think they’d go back to that?” Elend asked. “After all we fought for, you think I will simply let you force the people back into slavery?”
Cett smiled beneath his large beard. “I wasn’t under the impression that the decision was yours, Elend Venture.”
Elend fell silent.
“I want to meet with each of you,” Cett said to the Assemblymen. “If you’ll allow, I wish to move into Luthadel with some of my men. Say, a force of five thousand—enough to make me feel safe, but not to be of any real danger to you. I’ll take up residence in one of the abandoned keeps, and wait until your decision next week. During that time, I’ll meet with each of you in turn and explain the … benefits that would come from choosing me as your king.”
“Bribes,” Elend spat.
“Of course,” Cett said. “Bribes for all of the people of this city—the foremost bribe being that of peace! You’re so fond of name-calling, Venture. ‘Slaves,’ ‘threats,’ ‘honorable.’ ‘Bribe’ is just a word. Looked at another way, a bribe is just a promise, turned on its head.” Cett smiled.
The group of Assemblymen was silent. “Shall we vote, then, on whether to let him enter the city?” Penrod asked.
“Five thousand is way too many,” one of the skaa Assemblymen said.
“Agreed,” Elend said. “There’s no way we can let that many foreign troops into Luthadel.”
“I don’t like it at all,” another said.
“What?” said Philen. “A monarch inside our city will be less dangerous than one outside, wouldn’t you say? And besides, Cett has promised us all titles.”
This gave the group something to think about.
“Why not just give me the crown now?” Cett said. “Open your gates to my army.”
“You can’t,” Elend said immediately. “Not until there is a king—or unless you can get a unanimous vote right now.”
Vin smiled. Unanimous wouldn’t happen in that case as long as Elend was on the Assembly.
“Bah,” Cett said, but he obviously was smooth enough not to insult the legislative body further. “Let me take up residence in the city, then.”
Penrod nodded. “All in favor of allowing Lord Cett to take up residence inside with … say … a thousand troops?”
A full nineteen of the Assemblymen raised their hands. Elend was not one of them.
“It is done, then,” Penrod said. “We adjourn for two weeks.”
This can’t be happening, Elend thought. I thought maybe Penrod would provide a challenge, Philen a lesser one. But … one of the very tyrants who is threatening the city? How could they? How could they even consider his suggestion?
Elend stood, catching Penrod’s arm as he turned to walk off the dais. “Ferson,” Elend said quietly, “this is insanity.”
“We have to consider the option, Elend.”
“Consider selling out the people of this city to a tyrant?”
Penrod’s face grew cold, and he shook Elend’s arm free. “Listen, lad,” he said quietly. “You are a good man, but you’ve always been an idealist. You’ve spent time in books and philosophy—I’ve spent my life fighting politics with the members of the court. You know theories; I know people.”
He turned, nodding to the audience. “Look at them, lad. They’re terrified. What good do your dreams do them when they’re starving? You talk of freedom and justice when two armies are preparing to slaughter their families.”
Penrod turned back to Elend, staring him in the eyes. “The Lord Ruler’s system wasn’t perfect, but it kept these people safe. We don’t even have that anymore. Your ideals can’t face down armies. Cett might be a tyrant, but given the choice between him and Straff, I’d have to choose Cett. We’d probably have given him the city weeks ago, if you hadn’t stopped us.”
Penrod nodded to Elend, then turned and joined a few of the noblemen who were leaving. Elend stood quietly for a moment.
We have seen a curious phenomenon associated with rebel groups that break off of the Final Empire and attempt to seek autonomy, he thought, recalling a passage from Ytves’s book Studies in Revolution. In almost all cases, the Lord Ruler didn’t need to send his armies to re-conquer the rebels. By the time his agents arrived, the groups had overthrown themselves.