Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson [703]
“I don’t like relying on the Lord Ruler, Elend,” Breeze said with a shake of his head. “He must have prepared those caches knowing that he’d be dead if anyone ever had to use them.”
Cett nodded. “The idiot Soother has a point. If I were the Lord Ruler, I’d have stuffed those caches with poisoned food and pissed-in water. If I were dead, then everyone else ought to be as well.”
“Fortunately, Cett,” Elend said with a raised eyebrow, “the Lord Ruler has proven more altruistic than we might have expected.”
“Not something I ever thought I’d hear,” Ham noted.
“He was emperor,” Elend said. “We may not have liked his rule, but I can understand him somewhat. He wasn’t spiteful—he wasn’t even evil, exactly. He just . . . got carried away. Besides, he resisted this thing that we’re fighting.”
“This thing?” Cett asked. “The mists?”
“No,” Elend said. “The thing that was trapped in the Well of Ascension.”
It is called Ruin, Vin thought suddenly. It will destroy everything.
“This is why I’ve decided we need to secure that last cache,” Elend said. “The Lord Ruler lived through this once—he knew how to prepare. Perhaps we’ll find plants that can grow without sunlight. Each of the caches so far has had repeats—food stores, water—but each one has held something new as well. In Vetitan, we found large stores of the first eight Allomantic metals. The thing in that last cache might be just what we need in order to survive.”
“That’s it, then!” Cett said, smiling broadly through his beard. “We are marching on Fadrex, aren’t we?”
Elend nodded curtly. “Yes. The main force of the army will march for the Western Dominance once we break camp here.”
“Ha!” Cett said. “Penrod and Janarle can suck on that for a few days.”
Vin smiled faintly. Penrod and Janarle were the two other most important kings under Elend’s imperial rule. Penrod governed Luthadel, which was why he wasn’t with them currently, and Janarle ruled the Northern Dominance—the kingdom that included House Venture’s hereditary lands.
The largest city in the north, however, had been seized in a revolt while Janarle—with Elend’s father, Straff Venture—had been away laying siege to Luthadel. So far, Elend hadn’t been able to spare the troops necessary to take Urteau back from its dissidents, so Janarle ruled in exile, his smaller force of troops used to maintain order in the cities he did control.
Both Janarle and Penrod had made a point of finding reasons to keep the main army from marching on Cett’s homeland.
“Those bastards won’t be at all happy when they hear about this,” Cett said.
Elend shook his head. “Does everything you say have to contain one vulgarity or another?”
Cett shrugged. “What’s the point of speaking if you can’t say something interesting?”
“Swearing isn’t interesting,” Elend said.
“That’s your own damned opinion,” Cett said, smiling. “And, you really shouldn’t be complaining, Emperor. If you think the things I say are vulgar, you’ve been living in Luthadel far too long. Where I come from, people are embarrassed to use pretty words like ‘damn.’ ”
Elend sighed. “Anyway, I—”
He was cut off as the ground began to shake. Vin was on her feet in seconds, looking for danger as the others cursed and reached for stability. She threw back the tent flap, peering through the mists. Yet, the shaking subsided quickly, and it caused very little chaos in the camp, all things considered. Patrols moved about, checking for problems—officers and Allomancers under Elend’s command. Most of the soldiers, however, just remained in their tents.
Vin turned back toward the tent’s room. A few of the chairs had fallen over, travel furniture disturbed by the earthquake. The others slowly returned to their seats. “Sure have been a lot of those lately,” Ham said. Vin met Elend’s eyes, and could see concern in them.
We can fight armies, we can capture cities, but what of ash, mists, and earthquakes? What about the world falling apart around us?
“Anyway,” Elend said, voice firm despite the concerns Vin knew he must feel, “Fadrex has