Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson [475]
“Dox isn’t an Allomancer,” she said. “How can I find out for certain if he’s the impostor or not?”
“I do not know, Mistress,” OreSeur said. “This is never an easy task.”
Vin stood quietly. Absently, she pulled out her bronze earring—her mother’s earring—and worked it between her fingers, watching it reflect light. It had once been gilded with silver, but that had worn off in most places.
“I hate this,” she finally whispered.
“What, Mistress?”
“This…distrust,” she said. “I hate being suspicious of my friends. I thought I was through mistrusting those around me. I feel like a knife is twisting inside of me, and it cuts deeper every time I confront one of the crew.”
OreSeur sat on his haunches beside her, and he cocked his head. “But, Mistress. You’ve managed to eliminate several of them as impostors.”
“Yes,” Vin said. “But that only narrows the field—brings me one step closer to knowing which one of them is dead.”
“And that knowledge isn’t a good thing?”
Vin shook her head. “I don’t want it to be any of them, OreSeur. I don’t want to distrust them, don’t want to find out that we’re right….”
OreSeur didn’t respond at first, leaving her to stare out the window, mists slowly streaming to the floor around her.
“You are sincere,” OreSeur finally said.
She turned. “Of course I am.”
“I’m sorry, Mistress,” OreSeur said. “I did not wish to be insulting. I just…Well, I have been kandra to many masters. So many of them are suspicious and hateful of everyone around them, I had begun to think that your kind lacked the capacity for trust.”
“That’s silly,” Vin said, turning back to the window.
“I know it is,” OreSeur said. “But people often believe silly things, if given enough proof. Either way, I apologize. I do not know which of your friends is dead, but I am sorry that one of my kind brought you this pain.”
“Whoever he is, he’s just following his Contract.”
“Yes, Mistress,” OreSeur said. “The Contract.”
Vin frowned. “Is there a way that you could find out which kandra has a Contract in Luthadel?”
“I’m sorry, Mistress,” OreSeur said. “That is not possible.”
“I figured as much,” she said. “Are you likely to know him, whoever he is?”
“The kandra are a close-knit group, Mistress,” OreSeur said. “And our numbers are small. There is a good chance that I know him quite well.”
Vin tapped her finger against the windowsill, frowning as she tried to decide if the information was useful.
“I still don’t think it’s Dockson,” she finally said, replacing the earring. “We’ll ignore him for now. If I can’t get any other leads, we’ll come back…” She trailed off as something caught her attention. A figure walking in the courtyard, bearing no light.
Ham, she thought. But the walk wasn’t right.
She Pushed on the shield of the lamp hanging on the wall a short distance away. It snapped closed, the lamp shaking as the hallway fell into darkness.
“Mistress?” OreSeur asked as Vin climbed up into the window, flaring her tin as she squinted into the night.
Definitely not Ham, she thought.
Her first thought was of Elend—a sudden terror that assassins had come while she was talking to Dockson. But, it was early in the night, and Elend would still be speaking with his counselors. It was an unlikely time for an assassination.
And only one man? Not Zane, not judging from the height.
Probably just a guard, Vin thought. Why do I have to be so paranoid all the time?
And yet…she watched the figure walking into the courtyard, and her instincts kicked in. He seemed to be moving suspiciously, as if he were uncomfortable—as if he didn’t want to be seen.
“In my arms,” she said to OreSeur, tossing a padded coin out the window.
He hopped up obligingly, and she leaped out the window, fell twenty-five feet, and landed with the coin. She released OreSeur and nodded into the mists. He followed closely as she moved into the darkness, stooping and hiding, trying to get a good look at the lone figure. The man walked briskly, moving toward the side of the palace,