Doomed. … The Lord Ruler had said something similar right before Vin had killed him. She shivered, waiting in awkward silence, suffering Ruin’s smiling stare until a scribe scuttled into the room, bearing several rolled maps.
Yomen took one of the maps, waving the man away. He spread it out on a table, waving Vin forward. “Show me,” he said, stepping back to keep out of her reach as she approached.
She picked up a piece of charcoal, then began to mark the locations of the storage caverns. Luthadel. Satren. Vetitan. Urteau. All five that she had found—all near the Central Dominance, one in the center, the other four forming a box around it. She put a final “X” beside Fadrex City.
Then, with charcoal gripped in her fingers, she noticed something. Sure are a lot of mines shown on this map around Fadrex, she thought. A lot of metal in the area.
“Step back,” Yomen said.
Vin moved away. He approached, scanning the map. Vin stood in silence, thinking. Elend’s scribes could never find a pattern to the cache locations. Two were in small cities, two in large ones. Some near canals, others not. The scribes claimed that they just didn’t have a large enough set from which to determine patterns.
“This seems completely random,” Yomen said, echoing her own thoughts.
“I didn’t make up those locations, Yomen,” she said, folding her arms. “Your spies can confirm where Elend has taken his armies and sent his emissaries.”
“Not all of us have the resources for extensive spy networks, Empress,” Yomen said flatly, looking back at the map. “There should be some pattern. …”
Vetitan, Vin thought. The place where we found the cavern just before this one. It was a mining town as well. And Urteau too.
“Yomen?” she said, looking up. “Does one of those maps list mineral deposits?”
“Of course,” he said distractedly. “We are the Canton of Resource, after all.”
“Get it out.”
Yomen raised an eyebrow, indicating what he thought of her giving him orders. However, he waved for his scribe to do as she had requested. A second map overlaid the first, and Vin walked forward. Yomen immediately shied backward, keeping out of reach.
He has good instincts, for a bureaucrat, she thought, slipping the charcoal out from underneath the map. She quickly made her five marks again. With each one, her hand grew more tense. Each cavern was in a rocky area, near metal mines. Even Luthadel bore rich mineral deposits. Lore said that the Lord Ruler had constructed his capital in that location because of the mineral content in the area, particularly the groundwater. That much the better for Allomancers.
“What are you trying to imply?” Yomen asked. He’d edged close enough to see what she’d marked.
“This is the connection,” Vin said. “He built his storages near sources of metal.”
“Or, it was simple chance.”
“No,” Vin said, looking up, glancing at Ruin. “No, metal equals Allomancy, Yomen. There’s a pattern here.”
Yomen waved her away again, approaching the map. He snorted. “You’ve included marks near each of the most productive mines in the inner empire. You expect me to believe that you’re not just playing me, offering some phantom ‘evidence’ that these really are the locations of the storage caverns?”
Vin ignored him. Metal. The words of Kwaan were written in metal, because he said they were safe. Safe. Safe from being changed, we assumed.
Or, did he mean safe from being read?
The Lord Ruler had drawn his maps on metal plates.
So, what if Ruin couldn’t find the storages on his own because of the metal shielding them? He would have needed someone to lead him. Someone to visit each one, read the map it contained, then lead him on. …
Lord Ruler! We’ve made the same mistake again! We did exactly what he wanted. No wonder he’s let us live!
However, instead of feeling ashamed, this time Vin felt herself growing angry. She glanced over at Ruin, who stood there with his air of cosmic wisdom. His knowing eyes, his fatherly tone, and his deific arrogance.
Not again, Vin thought, gritting her teeth. This time, I’m on to him. That means I can trick him. But … I need to know why. Why was he so interested in the storages? What is it he needs before he wins this battle? What is the reason he’s waited so long?
Suddenly, the answer seemed obvious to her. As she examined her feelings, she realized that one of her main reasons for searching out the caches had repeatedly been discredited by Elend. Yet, Vin had continued to pursue the caches, searching for this one thing. She’d felt, for reasons she couldn’t explain, that it was important.
The thing that had driven the imperial economy for a thousand years. The most powerful of Allomantic metals.
Atium.
Why had she been so infatuated with it? Elend and Yomen were both right—atium was of little importance in the current world. But, her feelings denied that. Why? Was it because Ruin wanted it, and Vin had some unexplained connection to him?
The Lord Ruler had said Ruin couldn’t read her mind. But she knew that he could affect her emotions. Change how she regarded things, push her forward. Drive her to search out the thing he wanted.
Looking at the emotions that had affected her, she could see Ruin’s plan, the way he had manipulated her, the way he thought. Ruin wanted the atium! And, with a chill of terror, Vin realized that she had led him right to it. No wonder he was so smug before! Vin thought. No wonder he assumed that he’d won!
Why would a god-like force be so interested in a simple thing like an Allomantic metal? The question made her doubt her conclusions slightly. But at that moment, the doors to the chamber burst open.
And an Inquisitor stood beyond them.
Immediately, Yomen and the soldiers all fell to one knee. Vin took an involuntary step backward. The creature stood tall, like most of its kind, and still wore the gray robes of its pre-Collapse office. The bald head was wrinkled with intricate tattoos, mostly black, one stark red. And, of course, there were the spikes driven point-first through its eyes. One of the spikes had been pounded in farther than the other, crushing the socket around the spikehead. The creature’s face, twisted by an inhuman sneer, had once been familiar to Vin.
“Marsh?” Vin whispered in horror.
“My lord,” Yomen said, spreading his hands out. “You have finally come! I sent messengers, searching for—”
“Silence,” Marsh said in a grating voice, striding forward. “On your feet, obligator.”
Yomen hastily stood. Marsh glanced at Vin, smiled slightly, but then pointedly ignored her. He did, however, look directly at Ruin and bow his head in subservience.
Vin shivered. Marsh’s features, even twisted as they were, reminded her of his brother. Kelsier.
“You are about to be attacked, obligator,” Marsh said, sweeping forward, throwing open the large window at the other side of the room. Through it, Vin could see over the rocky shelves to where Elend’s army camped beside the canal.
Except, there was no canal. There were no rocky shelves. Everything was just a uniform black. Ash filled the sky, as thick as a snowstorm.
Lord Ruler! Vin thought. It’s gotten so bad!
Yomen hurried over to the window. “Attacked, my lord? But, they haven’t even broken camp!”