The Hero of Ages

time, for should someone attack the Ministry building, the cavern was where they wanted to be. True, they'd be trapped-but with the supplies they had, they'd be able to survive indefinitely and work out a plan of escape.

Sazed, Breeze, Spook, and Allrianne sat in one of these partitioned-off areas among the shelves of food. 'The reason that the Lord Ruler made this lake is simple, I think.' Sazed turned, glancing over his shoulder at the lake. 'That water comes via an underground river, filtered-in all likelihood-through layers of rock. It is pure water, the likes of which you rarely see in the Final Empire. No ash, no sediment. The purpose of that water is to sustain a population should a disaster occur. If it were still flowing into the canals above, it would quickly get soiled and polluted by the population living in the city.'

'The Lord Ruler was looking to the future,' Spook said, still wearing his strange eye bandage. He'd turned aside all questions and promptings regarding why he wore it, though Sazed was beginning to suspect it had to do with burning tin.

Sazed nodded at the young man's comment. 'The Lord Ruler wasn't worried about causing financial ruin in Urteau-he just wanted to make certain this cavern had access to a constant, flowing source of fresh water.'

'Isn't this all beside the point?' Allrianne asked. 'So we have water. What about that maniac running the city?'

Sazed paused, and the others turned to look to him. I am, unfortunately, in charge. 'Well,' he said, 'we should speak of this. Emperor Venture has asked us to secure the city. As the Citizen has proven unwilling to meet with us again, we shall need to discuss other options.'

'That man needs to go,' Spook said. 'We need assassins.'

'I fear that wouldn't work very well, my dear boy,' Breeze said.

'Why not?' Spook asked. 'We killed the Lord Ruler, and that worked pretty well.'

'Ah,' Breeze said, raising a finger, 'but the Lord Ruler was irreplaceable. He was a god, and so killing him created a psychological impact on his populace.'

Allrianne nodded. 'This Citizen's not a force of nature, but a man-and men can be replaced. If we assassinate Quellion, one of his lackeys will simply take his place.'

'And we will be branded as murderers,' Breeze added.

'What, then?' Spook asked. 'We leave him alone?'

'Of course not,' Breeze said. 'If we want to take this city, we need to undermine him, then remove him. We prove that his entire system is faulty-that his government is, in essence, silly. If we manage that, we won't just stop him, we'll stop everyone who has worked with him and supported him. That is the only way we're going to take Urteau short of marching an army in here and seizing it by force.'

'And, since His Majesty kindly left us without any troops to speak of. .' Allrianne said.

'I am not convinced that such rash action is required,' Sazed said. 'Perhaps, given more time, we'll be able to work with this man.'

'Work with him?' Spook asked. 'You've been here three days-isn't that enough for you to see what Quellion is like?'

'I have seen,' Sazed said. 'And, to be perfectly honest, I do not know that I can fault the Citizen's views.'

The cavern fell silent.

'Perhaps you should explain yourself, my dear man,' Breeze said, sipping at a cup of wine.

'The things that the Citizen says are not false,' Sazed said. 'We cannot blame him for teaching the very same things that Kelsier did. The Survivor spoke of killing the nobility-goodness knows, we all saw him engaging in that activity often enough. He spoke of revolution and of skaa ruling themselves.'

'He spoke of extreme actions during extreme times,' Breeze said. 'That's what you do when you need to motivate people. Even Kelsier wouldn't have taken it this far.'

'Perhaps,' Sazed said. 'But can we really be surprised that people who heard Kelsier speak have created this society? And, what right have we to take it from them? In a way, they've been truer to Kelsier than we have. Can you really say that you think he'd be pleased to find out that we put a nobleman on the throne not one day after he died?'

Breeze and Spook glanced at each other, and neither contradicted him.

'It's just not right,' Spook finally said. 'These people claim to know Kelsier, but they don't. He didn't want people to be grim and bullied-he wanted them to be free and happy.'

'Indeed,' Breeze said. 'Besides, we did choose to follow Elend Venture-and he's given us an order. Our empire needs these supplies, and we can't afford to let an organized rebellion seize and control one of the most important cities in the empire. We need to secure this cache and protect the people of Urteau. It's for the greater good, and all that!'

Allrianne nodded her agreement-and, as always, Sazed felt her touch on his emotions.

For the greater good. . Sazed thought. He knew that Spook was right. Kelsier wouldn't want this warped society being perpetuated in his name. Something needed to be done. 'Very well,' he said. 'What should our course of action be?'

'Nothing, for now,' Breeze said. 'We need time to feel out the city's climate. How close are the people to rebelling against dear Quellion? How active is the local criminal element? How corruptible are the men who serve the new government? Give me some time to discover answers to these questions, and then we can decide what to do.'

'I still say we do it as Kelsier did,' Spook said. 'Why can't we just topple the Citizen like he did the Lord Ruler?'

'I doubt that would work,' Breeze said, sipping his wine.

'Why not?' Spook asked.

'For a very simple reason, my dear boy,' Breeze said. 'We don't have Kelsier anymore.'

Sazed nodded. That much was true-though he did wonder if they would ever be rid of the Survivor's legacy. In a way, the battle in this town had been inevitable. If Kelsier had possessed one flaw, it had been his extreme hatred of the nobility. It was a passion that had driven him, had helped him accomplish the impossible. However, Sazed feared it would destroy those whom it had infected.

'Take the time you need, Breeze,' Sazed said. 'Let me know when you think we are ready to take the next step.'

Breeze nodded, and the meeting broke up. Sazed stood, sighing quietly. As he did, he met Breeze's eyes, and the man winked at him with a smile that seemed to say, 'This won't be half as difficult as you think.' Sazed smiled back, and he felt Breeze's touch on his emotions, trying to encourage him.

Yet, the Soother's hand was too light. Breeze couldn't have known the conflict that still twisted inside of Sazed. A conflict about much more than Kelsier and the problems in Urteau. He was glad for a little bit of time to wait in the city, for he still had much work to do with the religions listed, one per sheet, in his portfolio.

Even that work was difficult for him to get to recently. He did his best to give the others leadership, as Elend had asked. However, the pernicious darkness Sazed felt inside of him refused to be shaken away. It was more dangerous to him, he knew, than anything else he had faced while serving with the crew, because it made him feel as if he didn't care.

I must keep working, he decided, walking away from the meeting place, carefully sliding his portfolio off of a nearby shelf. I have to keep searching. I must not give up.

It was far more difficult than that, however. In the past, logic and thought had always been his refuge. However, his emotions didn't respond to logic. No amount of thinking about what he should be doing could help him.

He ground his teeth, walking, hoping that the motion would help him work out the knots within himself. A part of him wanted to go out and study the new form of the Church of the Survivor that had sprung up here in Urteau. However, that seemed like a waste of time. The world was ending, why study one more religion? He already knew this one was false; he'd dismissed the Church of the Survivor early in his studies. It was filled with more contradictions than almost any in his portfolio.

More filled with passion as well.