The Hero of Ages

back. Here, Sazed could see that the dust on the floor had been disturbed.

'You've been here before?' he asked, entering the room after Spook, Breeze, and Allrianne.

Spook nodded. 'As has Vin. Don't you remember the report?' With that, he felt about on the floor, eventually finding a hidden latch and opening a trapdoor. Sazed peered down into the dark cavern below.

'What's he talking about?' Allrianne whispered to Breeze. 'Vin's been here?'

'She did reconnaissance in this city, dear,' Breeze said. 'To find. .'

'The cache,' Sazed said as Spook began to climb down a ladder into the darkness. He left the lantern behind. 'The supply cache left behind by the Lord Ruler. All of them are underneath Ministry buildings.'

'Well, that's what we're here to recover, isn't it?' Allrianne asked. 'So, we've got it. Why bother with that Citizen fellow and his crazy peasants?'

'There's no way we could get these supplies out of the city with the Citizen in control.' Spook's voice drifted up, echoing slightly. 'There's too much down here.'

'Besides, my dear,' Breeze said. 'Elend didn't just send us to get these supplies-he sent us to quell a rebellion. We can't have one of our major cities in revolt, and we particularly can't afford to let the rebellion spread. I must say, though, it does feel odd to be on this side of the problem-stopping a rebellion, rather than starting one.'

'We may have to organize a rebellion against the rebellion, Breeze,' Spook's voice echoed from below. 'If that makes you feel any more comfortable. Anyway, are you three coming down or not?'

Sazed and Breeze shared a look, then Breeze gestured toward the dark pit. 'After you.'

Sazed picked up the lantern and climbed down the ladder. At the bottom, he found a small stone chamber, one wall of which had been pulled back to reveal a cavern. He stepped inside, Breeze reaching the ground behind him, then helping Allrianne down.

Sazed raised the lantern, staring quietly.

'Lord Ruler!' Breeze said, stepping up beside him. 'It's enormous!'

'The Lord Ruler prepared these caches in case of a disaster,' Spook said, standing ahead of them in the cavern. 'They were meant to help the empire through what we're now facing. They wouldn't be much good if they weren't created on a grand scale.'

'Grand' was correct. They stood on a ledge near the ceiling of the cavern, and a vast chamber extended out below. Sazed could see row upon row of shelves lining the cavern floor.

'I think we should set up our base here, Sazed,' Spook said, moving toward stairs that led down to the cavern floor. 'It's the only defensible place in the city. If we move our troops into the building above, we can use this cavern for supplies-and can even fall back in here in an emergency. We could defend this even against a determined assault.'

Sazed turned, regarding the stone doorway into the chamber. It was small enough that only one man could pass through at a time-which meant that it would be very easy to guard. And, there was probably a way to shut it again.

'Suddenly I feel a whole lot safer in this city,' Breeze noted.

Sazed nodded. He turned, regarding the cavern again. In the distance, he could hear something. 'Is that water?'

Spook was moving down steps. Again, his voice echoed hauntingly in the chamber. 'Each cache has a specialty-something it contains more of than all the others.'

Sazed moved down the steps as Goradel's soldiers entered the chamber behind Breeze. Though the soldiers had brought more lanterns, Breeze and Allrianne stuck close to Sazed as they descended.

Soon, Sazed realized he could see something sparkling in the distance. He held the lantern high, pausing on the steps as he saw that some of the darkness in the distance was too flat to be part of the cavern floor.

Breeze whistled quietly as they studied the enormous underground lake. 'Well,' he noted, 'I guess now we know where all the water from those canals went.'

Originally, men assumed that Rashek's persecution of the Terris religion came from hatred. Yet, now that we know that Rashek was himself a Terrisman, his destruction of that religion seems odd. I suspect it had something to do with the prophecies about the Hero of Ages. Rashek knew that Preservation's power would eventually return to the Well of Ascension. If the Terris religion had been allowed to survive, then perhaps- someday-a person would find their way to the Well and take up the power, then use it to defeat Rashek and overthrow his empire. So, he obscured knowledge of the Hero and what he was supposed to do, hoping to keep the secret of the Well to himself.

30

'You're not going to try and talk me out of this?' Elend asked, amused.

Ham and Cett shared a look.

'Why would we do that, El?' Ham asked, standing at the front of the boat. In the distance, the sun was setting, and the mists had already begun to gather. The boat rocked quietly, and soldiers milled about on the shore, preparing for night. One week had passed since Vin's initial scouting of Fadrex, and she still hadn't managed to sneak into the storage cache.

The night of the next ball had arrived, and Elend and Vin were planning to attend.

'Well, I can think of a couple of reasons why you might object,' Elend said, counting them off on his fingers. 'First, it isn't wise to expose me to potential capture. Second, by revealing myself at the party, I'll show that I'm Mistborn, confirming rumors that Yomen may not believe. Third, I'll be putting both of our Mistborn in the same place, where they can be easily attacked-that can't be a good idea. Finally, there's the fact that going to a ball in the middle of a war is just plain crazy.'

Ham shrugged, leaning with one elbow against the deck railing. 'This isn't so different from when you entered your father's camp during the siege of Luthadel. Except you weren't Mistborn then, and you weren't in such a position of political power. Yomen would be crazy to make a move against you-he has to know that if you're in the same room with him, he's in mortal danger himself.'

'He'll run,' Cett said from his seat. 'This party will end the moment you arrive.'

'No,' Elend said, 'I don't think it will.' He glanced back toward their cabin. Vin was still getting ready-she'd had the camp tailors modify one of the cooking girls' dresses. Elend was worried. No matter how good the dress turned out to be, it would look out of place compared to the lavish ball gowns.

He turned back to Cett and Ham. 'I don't think Yomen will run. He has to know that if Vin wanted to kill him, she'd attack his palace in secret. He's trying very hard to pretend that nothing has changed since the Lord Ruler disappeared. When we show up at the ball, it will make him think that we're willing to pretend with him. He'll stay and see if he can gain some advantage by meeting with us on his terms.'

'The man's a fool,' Cett said. 'I can't believe he'd want to go back to the way things were.'

'At least he's trying to give his subjects what they want. That's where you went wrong, Cett. You lost your kingdom the moment you left because you didn't care to try pleasing anyone.'

'A king doesn't have to please anyone,' Cett snapped. 'He's the one with the army-that means other people have to please him.'

'Actually,' Ham said, rubbing his chin, 'that theory can't be true. A king has to please somebody-after all, even if he intended to force everyone to do what he said, he'd still have to at least please his army. But then, I guess if the army is pleased simply by being allowed to push people around, you might have an argument. .'

Ham trailed off, looking thoughtful, and Cett scowled. 'Does everything have to be some damn logic puzzle to you?' he demanded. Ham just continued to rub his chin.

Elend smiled, glancing at his cabin again. It was good to hear Ham acting like himself. Cett protested Ham's comments almost as much as Breeze did. In fact. . Maybe that's why Ham hasn't been quite so prone to his little logic puzzles lately, Elend thought. There hasn't been anyone around to