Spook stood beside the building’s broad, boarded-up doors. Like most structures in Urteau, it was built of wood, rather than stone. He stared up, as if watching the falling ash, as he waited for Sazed and Breeze. He had always been a quiet one, even more so since his uncle’s death during the assault on Luthadel. As Sazed arrived, Spook began to rip boards free from the front of the building. “I’m glad you’re here, Sazed,” he said.
Sazed moved to help pull off boards. He heaved, trying to get the nails undone—yet, he must have chosen one of the more stubborn boards, for though the ones Spook grabbed came free with ease, Sazed’s refused to even budge. “And why is it you’re glad I am here, Lord Spook?”
Spook snorted. “I’m no lord, Saze. Never did get Elend to give me a title.”
Sazed smiled. “He said that you only wanted one to impress women.”
“Of course I did,” Spook said, smiling as he ripped free another board. “What other reason would there be to have a title? Anyway, please just call me Spook. It’s a good name.”
“Very well.”
Spook reached over, using a single, casual hand to pull off the board Sazed had tried to budge. What? Sazed thought with shock. Sazed was by no means muscular—but, then, he hadn’t thought that Spook was either. The lad must have been practicing with weights.
“Anyway,” Spook said, turning, “I’m glad you’re here, because I have things to discuss with you. Things that others might not understand.”
Sazed frowned. “Things of what nature?”
Spook smiled, then threw his shoulder against the door, opening it into a dark, cavernous chamber. “Things of gods and men, Sazed. Come on.”
The boy disappeared into the darkness. Sazed waited outside, but Spook never lit a lantern. He could hear the young man moving around inside.
“Spook?” he finally called out. “I can’t see in there. Do you have a lantern?”
There was a pause. “Oh,” Spook’s voice said. “Right.” A moment later, a light sparked, and a lantern began to glow.
Breeze sauntered up behind Sazed. “Tell me, Sazed,” he said quietly, “is it me, or has that boy changed since we last saw him?”
“He seems far more self-confident,” Sazed said, nodding to himself. “More capable as well. But, what do you suppose is the purpose of that blindfold?”
Breeze shrugged, taking Allrianne’s arm. “He always was an odd one. Perhaps he thinks it will disguise him and help keep him from being recognized as a member of Kelsier’s crew. Considering the improvement in the boy’s disposition—and diction—I’m willing to deal with a quirk or two.”
Breeze and Allrianne entered the building, and Sazed waved to Captain Goradel, indicating that he should make a perimeter outside. The man nodded, sending a squad of soldiers up to follow Sazed and the others. Finally, Sazed frowned to himself and entered the building.
He wasn’t certain what he had been expecting. The building had been part of the Canton of Inquisition—the most infamous of the Ministry’s arms. It wasn’t a place Sazed relished entering. The last building like this he’d entered had been the Conventical of Seran, and it had been decidedly eerie. This building, however, proved to be nothing like the Conventical—it was just another bureaucratic office. It was furnished a little more austerely than most Ministry buildings, true, but it still had tapestries on the wooden walls and broad red rugs on the floor. The trim was of metal, and there were hearths in every room.
As Sazed followed Breeze and Spook through the building, he was able to imagine what the building had been like during the days of the Lord Ruler. There would have been no dust, then, but instead an air of crisp efficiency. Administrators would have sat at those desks, collecting and filing information about noble houses, skaa rebels, and even other Ministry Cantons. There had been a longstanding feud between the Canton of Orthodoxy, which had administered the Lord Ruler’s empire, and the Canton of Inquisition, which had policed it.
This was not a place of fear at all, but rather a place of ledgers and files. The Inquisitors had probably visited this building only rarely. Spook led them through several cluttered rooms toward a smaller storage chamber at the back. Here, Sazed could see that the dust on the floor had been disturbed.
“You’ve been here before?” he asked, entering the room after Spook, Breeze, and Allrianne.
Spook nodded. “As has Vin. Don’t you remember the report?” With that, he felt about on the floor, eventually finding a hidden latch and opening a trapdoor. Sazed peered down into the dark cavern below.
“What’s he talking about?” Allrianne whispered to Breeze. “Vin’s been here?”
“She did reconnaissance in this city, dear,” Breeze said. “To find …”
“The cache,” Sazed said as Spook began to climb down a ladder into the darkness. He left the lantern behind. “The supply cache left behind by the Lord Ruler. All of them are underneath Ministry buildings.”
“Well, that’s what we’re here to recover, isn’t it?” Allrianne asked. “So, we’ve got it. Why bother with that Citizen fellow and his crazy peasants?”
“There’s no way we could get these supplies out of the city with the Citizen in control.” Spook’s voice drifted up, echoing slightly. “There’s too much down here.”
“Besides, my dear,” Breeze said. “Elend didn’t just send us to get these supplies—he sent us to quell a rebellion. We can’t have one of our major cities in revolt, and we particularly can’t afford to let the rebellion spread. I must say, though, it does feel odd to be on this side of the problem—stopping a rebellion, rather than starting one.”
“We may have to organize a rebellion against the rebellion, Breeze,” Spook’s voice echoed from below. “If that makes you feel any more comfortable. Anyway, are you three coming down or not?”
Sazed and Breeze shared a look, then Breeze gestured toward the dark pit. “After you.”
Sazed picked up the lantern and climbed down the ladder. At the bottom, he found a small stone chamber, one wall of which had been pulled back to reveal a cavern. He stepped inside, Breeze reaching the ground behind him, then helping Allrianne down.
Sazed raised the lantern, staring quietly.
“Lord Ruler!” Breeze said, stepping up beside him. “It’s enormous!”
“The Lord Ruler prepared these caches in case of a disaster,” Spook said, standing ahead of them in the cavern. “They were meant to help the empire through what we’re now facing. They wouldn’t be much good if they weren’t created on a grand scale.”
“Grand” was correct. They stood on a ledge near the ceiling of the cavern, and a vast chamber extended out below. Sazed could see row upon row of shelves lining the cavern floor.
“I think we should set up our base here, Sazed,” Spook said, moving toward stairs that led down to the cavern floor. “It’s the only defensible place in the city. If we move our troops into the building above, we can use this cavern for supplies—and can even fall back in here in an emergency. We could defend this even against a determined assault.”