“Double the guards and triple scout patrols,” Elend said, “particularly during the early morning hours, when the daymist is out to obscure, but the sun is up to provide light.”
Ham nodded.
“Also,” Elend said thoughtfully, “order the men to stay in their tents during the mists—but tell them to be ready for a raid. If Yomen thinks that we’re afraid to come out, perhaps we can bait one of his ‘surprise’ attacks against us.”
“Clever,” Ham said.
“That won’t get us past those natural walls, though,” Elend said, folding his arms. “Cett, what do you say?”
“Hold the canal,” Cett said. “Post sentries up around those upper rock formations to make certain that Yomen doesn’t resupply the city via secret means. Then, move on.”
“What?” Ham asked with surprise.
Elend eyed Cett, trying to decide what the man meant. “Attack surrounding cities? Leave a force here that’s large enough to stymie a siege-break, then capture other parts of his territory?”
Cett nodded. “Most of the cities around here aren’t fortified at all. They’d cave in without a fight.”
“A good suggestion,” Elend said. “But we won’t do it.”
“Why not?” Cett asked.
“This isn’t just about conquering your homeland back, Cett,” Elend said. “Our primary reason for coming here is to secure that storage cache—and I hope to do that without resorting to pillaging the countryside.”
Cett snorted. “What do you expect to find in there? Some magical way to stop the ash? Even atium wouldn’t do that.”
“Something’s in there,” Elend said. “It’s the only hope we have.”
Cett shook his head. “You’ve been chasing a puzzle left by the Lord Ruler for the better part of a year, Elend. Hasn’t it ever occurred to you that the man was a sadist? There’s no secret. No magical way out of this. If we’re going to survive the next few years, we’re going to have to do it on our own—and that means securing the Western Dominance. The plateaus in this area represent some of the most elevated farmland in the empire—and higher altitude means closer to the sun. If you’re going to find plants that survive despite the daymists, you’ll have to grow them here.”
They were good arguments. But I can’t give up, Elend thought. Not yet. Elend had read the reports of supplies back in Luthadel, and had seen the projections. Ash was killing crops as much or more than the mists were. More land wouldn’t save his people—they needed something else. Something that, he hoped, the Lord Ruler left for them.
The Lord Ruler didn’t hate his people, and he wouldn’t want them to die out, even if he were defeated. He left food, water, supplies. And, if he knew secrets, he would have hidden them in the caches. There will be something here.
There has to be.
“The cache remains our primary target,” Elend said. To the side, he could see Vin smiling.
“Fine,” Cett said, sighing. “Then you know what we have to do. This siege could take a while.”
Elend nodded. “Ham, send our engineers in under cover of mist. See if they can find a way for our troops to cross those troughs. Have the scouts search out streams that might run into the city—Cett, presumably you can help us locate some of these. And, once we get spies into the city, have them search out food stores that we can ruin.”
“A good start,” Cett said. “Of course, there’s one easy way to sow chaos in that city, to perhaps make them surrender without a fight …”
“We’re not going to assassinate King Yomen,” Elend said.
“Why not?” Cett demanded. “We’ve got two Mistborn. We’ll have no difficulty killing off the Fadrex leadership.”
“We don’t work that way,” Ham said, face growing dark.
“Oh?” Cett asked. “That didn’t stop Vin from tearing a hole through my army and attacking me back before we teamed up.”
“That was different,” Ham said.
“No,” Elend said, interrupting. “It wasn’t. The reason we’re not going to assassinate Yomen, Cett, is because I want to try diplomacy first.”
“Diplomacy?” Cett asked. “Didn’t we just march an army of forty thousand soldiers on his city? That’s not a diplomatic move.”
“True,” Elend said, nodding. “But we haven’t attacked, not yet. Now that I’m here in person, I might as well try talking before sending out knives in the night. We might be able to persuade Lord Yomen that an alliance will benefit him more than a war.”
“If we make an alliance,” Cett said, leaning forward in his chair, “I don’t get my city back.”
“I know,” Elend said.
Cett frowned.
“You seem to be forgetting yourself, Cett,” Elend said. “You did not ‘team up’ with me. You knelt before me, offering up oaths of service in exchange for not getting executed. Now, I appreciate your allegiance, and I will see you rewarded with a kingdom to rule under me. However, you don’t get to choose where that kingdom is, nor when I will grant it.”
Cett paused, sitting in his chair, one arm resting on his useless, paralyzed legs. Finally, he smiled. “Damn, boy. You’ve changed a lot in the year I’ve known you.”
“So everyone is fond of telling me,” Elend said. “Vin. You think you can get into the city?”
She raised an eyebrow. “I hope that was meant to be rhetorical.”
“It was meant to be polite,” Elend said. “I need you to do some scouting. We know next to nothing about what’s been going on in this dominance lately—we’ve focused all of our efforts on Urteau and the South.”
Vin shrugged. “I can go poke around a bit. I don’t know what you expect me to find.”
“Cett,” Elend said, turning, “I need names. Informants, or perhaps some noblemen that might still be loyal to you.”
“Noblemen?” Cett asked, amused. “Loyal?”
Elend rolled his eyes. “How about some that could be bribed to pass on a little information.”
“Sure,” Cett said. “I’ll write up some names and locations. Assuming they still live in the city. Hell, assuming they’re even still alive. Can’t count on much these days.”
Elend nodded. “We won’t take any further action until we have more information. Ham, make certain the soldiers dig in well—use the field fortifications that Demoux taught them. Cett, see that those guard patrols get set up, and make certain our Tineyes remain alert and on watch. Vin will scout and see if she can sneak into the cache like she did in Urteau. If we know what’s in there, then we can better judge whether to gamble on trying to conquer the city or not.”
The various members of the group nodded, understanding that the meeting was over. As they left, Elend stepped back out into the mists, looking up at the distant bonfires burning on the rocky heights.
Quiet as a sigh, Vin stepped up to his side, following his gaze. She stood for a few moments. Then she glanced to the side, where a pair of soldiers were entering the tent to carry Cett away. Her eyes narrowed in displeasure.