“What?”
“It’s at Luthadel.”
“Vin, that’s ridiculous. We’d have found it.”
“We didn’t,” she said firmly, standing, looking south. Focusing, she could feel the thumpings, washing across her. Pulling her.
South.
“The Well can’t be to the south,” Elend said. “The legends all place it north, in the Terris Mountains.”
Vin shook her head, confused. “It’s there,” she said. “I know it is. I don’t know how, but it is there.”
Elend looked at her, then nodded, trusting her instincts.
Oh, Sazed, she thought. You probably had good intentions, but you may have doomed us all. If the city fell to the koloss …
“How fast can we get back?” Elend asked.
“That depends,” she said.
“Go back?” Spook asked, looking up. “El, they’re all dead. They told me to tell you the truth once you got to Tathingdwen, so you wouldn’t kill yourselves climbing the mountains in the winter for nothing. But, when Clubs talked to me, it was also to say goodbye. I could see it in his eyes. He knew he’d never see me again.”
Elend paused, and Vin could see a moment of uncertainty in his eyes. A flash of pain, of terror. She knew those emotions, because they hit her at the same time.
Sazed, Breeze, Ham. …
Elend grabbed her arm. “You have to go, Vin,” he said. “There might be survivors … refugees. They’ll need your help.”
She nodded, the firmness of his grip—the determination in his voice—giving her strength.
“Spook and I will follow,” he said. “It should only take us a couple of days’ hard riding. But an Allomancer with pewter can go faster than any horse over long distances.”
“I don’t want to leave you,” she whispered.
“I know.”
It was still hard. How could she run off and leave him, when she’d only just rediscovered him? Yet, she could feel the Well of Ascension even more urgently now that she was sure of its location. And if some of her friends did survive the attack …
Vin gritted her teeth, then opened up her pouch and pulled out the last of her pewter dust. She drank it down with a mouthful of water from her flask. It scratched her throat going down. It’s not much, she thought. It won’t let me pewter-drag for long.
“They’re all dead …” Spook mumbled again.
Vin turned. The pulses thumped demandingly. From the south.
I’m coming.
“Elend,” she said. “Please do something for me. Don’t sleep during the night, when the mists are out. Travel during the night, if you can, and keep your wits about you. Watch for the mist spirit—I think it may mean you harm.”
He frowned, but nodded.
Vin flared pewter, then took off at a run toward the highway.
My pleas, my teachings, my objections, and even my treasons were all ineffectual. Alendi has other counselors now, ones who tell him what he wants to hear.
52
BREEZE DID HIS BEST TO pretend he was not in the middle of a war. It didn’t work very well.
He sat on his horse at the edge of Zinc Gate’s courtyard. Soldiers shuffled and clanked, standing in ranks before the gates, waiting and watching their companions atop the wall.
The gates thumped. Breeze cringed, but continued his Soothing. “Be strong,” he whispered. “Fear, uncertainty—I take these away. Death may come through those doors, but you can fight it. You can win. Be strong. …”
Brass flared like a bonfire within his stomach. He had long since used up his vials, and had taken to choking down handfuls of brass dust and mouthfuls of water, which he had in a steady supply thanks to Dockson’s mounted messengers.
How long can this possibly last? he thought, wiping his brow, continuing to Soothe. Allomancy was, fortunately, very easy on the body; Allomantic power came from within the metals themselves, not from the one who burned them. Yet, Soothing was much more complex than other Allomantic skills, and it demanded constant attention.
“Fear, terror, anxiety …” he whispered. “The desire to run or give up. I take these from you. …” The speaking wasn’t necessary, of course, but it had always been his way—it helped keep him focused.
After a few more minutes of Soothing, he checked his pocket watch, then turned his horse and trotted over to the other side of the courtyard. The gates continued to boom, and Breeze wiped his brow again. He noted, with dissatisfaction, that his handkerchief was nearly too damp to do him any good. It was also beginning to snow. The wetness would make the ash stick to his clothing, and his suit would be absolutely ruined.
The suit will be ruined by your blood, Breeze, he told himself. The time for silliness is over. This is serious. Far too serious. How did you even end up here?
He redoubled his efforts, Soothing a new group of soldiers. He was one of the most powerful Allomancers in the Final Empire—especially when it came to emotional Allomancy. He could Soothe hundreds of men at once, assuming they were packed close enough together, and assuming that he was focusing on simple emotions. Even Kelsier hadn’t been able to manage those numbers.
Yet, the entire crowd of soldiers was beyond even his ability, and he had to do them in sections. As he began work on the new group, he saw the ones he had left begin to wilt, their anxiety taking over.
When those doors burst, these men are going to scatter.
The gates boomed. Men clustered on the walls, throwing down rocks, shooting arrows, fighting with a frantic lack of discipline. Occasionally, an officer would push his way past them, yelling orders, trying to coordinate their efforts, but Breeze was too far away to tell what they were saying. He could just see the chaos of men moving, screaming, and shooting.
And, of course, he could see the return fire. Rocks zipped into the air from below, some cracking against the ramparts. Breeze tried not to think about what was on the other side of the wall, the thousands of enraged koloss beasts. Occasionally, a soldier would drop. Blood dripped down into the courtyard from several sections of the ramparts.
“Fear, anxiety, terror …” Breeze whispered.
Allrianne had escaped. Vin, Elend, and Spook were safe. He had to keep focusing on those successes. Thank you, Sazed, for making us send them away, he thought.
Hoofbeats clopped behind him. Breeze continued his Soothing, but turned to see Clubs riding up. The general rode his horse with a hunched-over slouch, eyeing the soldiers with one eye open, the other perpetually squeezed closed in a squint. “They’re doing well,” he said.
“My dear man,” Breeze said. “They’re terrified. Even the ones beneath my Soothing watch those gates like they were some terrible void waiting to suck them in.”
Clubs eyed Breeze. “Feeling poetic today, are we?”
“Impending doom has that effect on me,” Breeze said as the gates shook. “Either way, I doubt the men are doing ‘well.’”
Clubs grunted. “Men are always nervous before a fight. But, these are good lads. They’ll hold.”
The gates shook and quivered, splinters appearing at the edges. Those hinges are straining … Breeze thought.