Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson [599]
The lead koloss turned to find himself facing a creature nearly his own size. Despite its rage, despite its inhumanness, the beast froze, surprise showing in its beady red eyes.
Sazed punched the monster. He hadn’t practiced for war, and knew next to nothing about combat. Yet, at that moment, his lack of skill didn’t matter. The creature’s face folded around his fist, its skull cracking.
Sazed turned on thick legs, looking back at the startled soldiers. Say something brave! he told himself.
“Fight!” Sazed bellowed, surprised at the sudden deepness and strength of his voice.
And, startlingly, they did.
Vin fell to her knees, exhausted on the muddy, ash-soaked highway. Her fingers and knees hit the slushy cold, but she didn’t care. She simply knelt, wheezing. She couldn’t run any farther. Her pewter was gone. Her lungs burned and her legs ached. She wanted to collapse and curl up, coughing.
It’s just the pewter drag, she thought forcibly. She’d pushed her body hard, but hadn’t had to pay for it until now.
She coughed a moment longer, groaning, then reached a dripping hand into her pocket and pulled out her last two vials. They had a mixture of all eight base metals, plus duralumin. Their pewter would keep her going for a little bit longer….
But not long enough. She was still hours away from Luthadel. Even with pewter, she wouldn’t arrive until long after dark. She sighed, replacing her vials, forcing herself to her feet.
What would I do if I arrived? Vin thought. Why work so hard? Am I that eager to fight again? To slaughter?
She knew that she wouldn’t arrive in time for the battle. In fact, the koloss had probably attacked days ago. Still, this worried her. Her attack on Cett’s keep still flashed horrific images in her head. Things she had done. Death she had caused.
And yet, something felt different to her now. She had accepted her place as a knife. But what was a knife, but another tool? It could be used for evil or for good; it could kill, or it could protect.
That point was moot, considering how weak she felt. It was hard to keep her legs from trembling as she flared tin, clearing her head. She stood on the imperial highway, a sodden, pockmarked roadway that looked—in the softly falling snow—to twist onward for eternity. It ran directly beside the imperial canal, which was a snakelike cut in the land, wide but empty, extending beside the highway.
Before, with Elend, this road had seemed bright and new. Now it looked dark and depressing. The Well thumped, its pulsings growing more powerful with each step she took back toward Luthadel. Yet, it wasn’t happening fast enough. Not fast enough for her to stop the koloss from taking the city.
Not fast enough for her friends.
I’m sorry… she thought, teeth chattering as she pulled her cloak tight, pewter no longer aiding her against the cold. I’m so sorry that I failed you.
She saw a line of smoke in the distance. She looked east, then west, but didn’t see much. The flat landscape was clouded in ashen snows.
A village, thought her still-numb mind. One of many in the area. Luthadel was by far the dominant city of the small dominance, but there were others. Elend hadn’t been able to keep the others completely free of banditry, but they had fared far better than towns in other areas of the Final Empire.
Vin stumbled forward, pressing on through the slushy black puddles toward the village. After about fifteen minutes of walking, she turned off the main highway and made her way up a side road to the village. It was small, even by skaa standards. Just a few hovels, along with a couple of nicer structures.
Not a plantation, Vin thought. This was once a way village—a place for traveling noblemen to stop for the evening. The small manor—which would have once been run by a minor noble landlord—was dark. Two of the skaa hovels, however, had light shining through the cracks. The gloomy weather must have convinced the people to retire