Mistborn: The Final Empire (Mistborn #1)(143)

Then, blissfully, she hopped up onto the railing and threw herself out into the dark mists.

Tin gave her sight as the wind ?apped at her dress. Pewter gave her strength as she turned her eyes toward the buttresslike wall running between the tower and the main keep.

Steel gave her power as she threw a coin downward, sending it into the darkness.

She lurched in the air. The air resistance ?uttered her dress, and she felt like she was trying to pull a bale of cloth behind her, but her Allomancy was strong enough to deal with that. Elend’s tower was the next one over; she needed to get onto the walltop walkway that ran between it and the central tower. Vin ?ared steel, Pushing herself up a bit higher, then ?ung another coin into the mists behind her. When it hit the wall, she used it to shoot herself forward.

She slammed into her target wall just a bit too low—folds of cloth cushioning the blow—but she managed to grab the lip of the walkway above. An unenhanced Vin would have had trouble pulling herself up onto the wall, but Vin the Allomancer easily scrambled over the side.

She crouched in her black dress, moving quietly across the walltop pathway. There were no guards, but the tower ahead of her had a lit sentrypost at its base.

Can’t go that way, she thought, glancing upward instead. The tower appeared to have several rooms, and a couple of them were lit. Vin dropped a coin and catapulted herself upward, then Pulled against a window mounting and yanked herself over to land lightly on the stone window ledge. The shutters were closed against the night, and she had to lean close, ?aring tin, to hear what was going on inside.

“. . balls always last well into the night. We’ll probably have to pull double duty.”

Guards, Vin thought, jumping and Pushing against the top of the window. It rattled as she shot up the side of the tower. She caught the base of the next window ledge and pulled herself up.

“. . don’t regret my tardiness,” a familiar voice said from inside. Elend. “She happens to be far more attractive than you are, Telden.”

A masculine voice laughed. “The mighty Elend Venture, ?nally captured by a pretty face.”

“She’s more than that, Jastes,” Elend said. “She’s kindhearted—she helped skaa runaways on her plantation. I think we should bring her in to talk with us.”

“Not a chance,” said a deep-voiced man. “Look, Elend, I don’t mind if you want to talk philosophy. Hell, I’ll even share a few drinks with you when you do. But I’m not going to let random people come join us.”

“I agree with Telden,” Jastes said. “Five people is enough.”

“See, now,” Elend’s voice said. “I don’t think you’re being fair.”

“Elend…” another voice said sufferingly.

“All right,” Elend said. “Telden, did you read the book I gave you?”

“I tried,” Telden said. “It’s a bit thick.”

“But it’s good, right?” Elend said.

“Good enough,” Telden said. “I can see why the Lord Ruler hates it so much.”

“Redalevin’s works are better,” Jastes said. “More concise.”

“I don’t mean to be contrary,” said a ?fth voice. “But, is this all we’re going to do? Read?”

“What’s wrong with reading?” Elend asked.

“It’s a bit boring,” the ?fth voice said.

Good man, Vin thought.

“Boring?” Elend asked. “Gentlemen, these ideas—these words—they’re everything. These men knew that they’d be executed for their words. Can you not sense their passion?”

“Passion, yes,” the ?fth voice said. “Usefulness, no.”

“We can change the world,” Jastes said. “Two of us are house heirs, the other three are second heirs.”

“Someday, we’ll be the ones in charge,” Elend said. “If we put these ideas into effect—fairness, diplomacy, moderation— we can exert pressure even on the Lord Ruler!”

The ?fth voice snorted. “You might be heir to a powerful house, Elend, but the rest of us aren’t as important. Telden and Jastes will probably never inherit, and Kevoux—no offense—is hardly that in?uential. We can’t change the world.”

“We can change the way our houses work,” Elend said. “If the houses would stop squabbling, we might be able to gain some real power in the government—rather than just bow to the whims of the Lord Ruler.”

“Every year, the nobility grows weaker,” Jastes said in agreement. “Our skaa belong to the Lord Ruler, as does our land. His obligators determine who we can marry and what we can believe. Our canals, even, are of?cially ‘his’ property. Ministry assassins kill men who speak out too openly, or who are too successful. This is no way to live.”

“I agree with you there,” Telden said. “Elend’s prattling about class imbalance seems like silliness to me, but I can see the importance of presenting a uni?ed front before the Lord Ruler.”

“Exactly,” Elend said. “This is what we have to—”

“Vin!” a voice whispered.

Vin jumped, nearly falling off the window ledge in shock. She glanced around in alarm.

“Above you,” the voice whispered.