The Hero of Ages

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 to be our next goal. We can't risk missing the cache, and the things it might contain.'

Like the atium, Reen whispered in Vin's head as she sat back down. 'Atium,' she said out loud.

Cett perked up. 'You think it'll be there?'

'There are theories,' Elend said, eyeing Vin. 'But we have no proof.'

'It will be there,' she said. It has to be. I don't know why, but we have to have it.

'I hope it isn't,' Cett said. 'I marched halfway across the blasted empire to try and steal that atium-if it turns out I left it beneath my own city. .'

'I think we're missing something important, El,' Ham said. 'Are you talking about conquering Fadrex City?'

The room fell still. Up until this point, Elend's armies had been used defensively, attacking koloss garrisons or the camps of small warlords and bandits. They had bullied a few cities into joining with him, but they had never actually assaulted a city and taken it by force.

Elend turned, looking back toward the map. Even from the side, Vin could see his eyes-the eyes of a man hardened by two years of near-perpetual war.

'Our primary goal will be to take the city by diplomacy,' Elend said.

'Diplomacy?' Cett said. 'Fadrex is mine. That damn obligator stole it from me! There's no need to worry your conscience about attacking him, Elend.'

'No need?' Elend asked, turning. 'Cett, those are your people-your soldiers-we'd have to kill to get into that city.'

'People die in war,' Cett said. 'Feeling bad about it doesn't remove the blood from your hands, so why bother? Those soldiers turned against me; they deserve what they'll get.'

'It's not that simple,' Ham said. 'If there was no way for the soldiers to fight this usurper, then why expect them to give up their lives?'

'Especially for a man who was, himself, a usurper,' Elend said.

'Either way,' Ham said, 'reports describe that city as being very well defended. It will be a tough stone to break, El.'

Elend stood quietly for a moment, then eyed Cett, who still looked inordinately pleased with himself. The two seemed to share something-an understanding. Elend was a master of theory, and had probably read as much on war as anyone. Cett seemed to have a sixth sense for warfare and tactics, and had replaced Clubs as the empire's prime military strategist.

'Siege,' Cett said.

Elend nodded. 'If King Yomen won't respond to diplomacy, then the only way we'll get in that city-short of killing half our men breaking in-is by besieging it and making him desperate.'

'Do we have time for that?' Ham asked, frowning.

'Besides Urteau,' Elend said, 'Fadrex City and the surrounding areas are the only major sections of the Inner Dominances that maintain a strong enough force to be threatening. That, plus the cache, means we can't afford to simply leave them alone.'

'Time is on our side, in a way,' Cett said, scratching his beard. 'You don't just attack a city like Fadrex, Ham. It has fortifications, one of the few cities besides Luthadel that could repel an army. But, since it's outside of the Central Dominance, it's probably already hurting for food.'

Elend nodded. 'While we have all of the supplies we found in the storage caches. If we block off the highway, then hold the canal, they'll have to surrender the city eventually. Even if they've found the cache-which I doubt-we will be able to outlast them.'

Ham frowned. 'I guess. . '

'Besides,' Elend added, 'if things get tough, we do have about twenty thousand koloss we can draw upon.'

Ham raised an eyebrow, though said nothing. The implication was clear. You'd turn koloss against other people?

'There is another element to this,' Sazed said softly. 'Something we have, as of yet, not discussed.' Several people turned, as if they'd forgotten he was there.

'The mists,' Sazed said. 'Fadrex City lies well beyond the mist perimeter, Emperor Venture. Will you subject your army to fifteen percent casualties before you even arrive at the city?'

Elend fell quiet. So far, he'd managed to keep most of his soldiers out of the mists. It seemed wrong to Vin that their army had been protected from the sickness, while the villagers had been forced to go out in the mists. And yet, where they camped, there was still a significant amount of mistless daylight, and they also had enough tents to hold all of the soldiers, something they'd lacked when moving the villagers.

Mists rarely went into buildings, even cloth ones. There had been no reason to risk killing some of the soldiers, since they'd been able to avoid it. It seemed hypocritical to Vin, but so far, it still made sense.

Elend met Sazed's eyes. 'You make a good point,' he said. 'We can't protect the soldiers from this forever. I forced the villagers of Vetitan to immunize themselves; I suspect that I will have to make the army do the same, for the same reasons.'

Vin sat back quietly. She often wished for the days when she'd had nothing to do with such decisions-or, better yet, when Elend hadn't been forced to make them.

'We march for Fadrex,' Elend said again, turning from the group. He pointed at the map. 'If we're going to pull through this-and by 'we,' I mean all the people of the New Empire-we're going to need to band together and concentrate our populations near the Central Dominance. It will be the only place that can grow food this summer, and we'll need every bit of manpower we can muster to clear ash and prepare the fields. That means bringing the people of Fadrex under our protection.

'That also means,' he said, pointing toward the northeastern section of the map, 'that we'll need to suppress the rebellion in Urteau. Not only does the city there contain a storage cache-with grain we desperately need for a second planting down in the Central Dominance-but the city's new rulers are gathering strength and an army. Urteau is well within staging distance of Luthadel, as we discovered back when my father marched on us. I will not have a repeat of that event.'

'We don't have enough troops to march on both fronts at once, El,' Ham said.

Elend nodded. 'I know. In fact, I'd rather avoid marching on Urteau. That was my father's seat-the people there had good reason to rebel against him. Demoux, report?'

Demoux stood. 'We had a steel-inscribed message from Spook while Your Majesty was away,' he said. 'The lad says that the faction controlling Urteau is made up of skaa rebels.'

'That sounds promising,' Breeze noted. 'Our kind of people.'

'They're. . quite harsh with noblemen, Lord Breeze,' Demoux said. 'And they include anyone with noble