Page 227 of The Well of Ascension

“Yes,” he said, “of course I’m Soothing you. Honestly, I know Hammond is a bit immature—but you, Dockson?”

Dockson sat back, rubbing his forehead. “You can let go, Breeze,” he said after a moment. “I’ll keep my tongue.”

Ham just grumbled, settling one hand on the table. Sazed watched the exchange with a little bit of shock.

This is what cornered men are like, my dear Terrisman,Breeze thought.This is what happens when they lose hope. They might be able to keep up appearances in front of the soldiers, but put them alone with their friends…

Sazed was a Terrisman; his entire life had been one of oppression and loss. But these men, Breeze himself included, were accustomed to success. Even against overwhelming odds, they were confident. They were the type of men who could go up against a god, and expect to win. They wouldn’t deal well with losing. Of course, when losing meant death, who would?

“Straff’s armies are getting ready to break camp,” Clubs finally said. “He’s doing it subtly, but the signs are there.”

“So, he’s coming for the city,” Dockson said. “My men in Penrod’s palace say the Assembly has been sending missive after missive to Straff, all but begging him to come take up occupation of Luthadel.”

“He’s not going to take the city,” Clubs said. “At least, not if he’s smart.”

“Vin is still a threat,” Breeze said. “And it doesn’t look like Straff has a Mistborn to protect him. If he came into Luthadel, I doubt there is a single thing he could do to keep her from slitting his throat. So, he’ll do something else.”

Dockson frowned, and glanced at Ham, who shrugged.

“It’s really quite simple,” Breeze said, tapping the table with his dueling cane. “Why, even I figured it out.” Clubs snorted at this. “If Straff makes it look like he’s withdrawing, the koloss will probably attack Luthadel for him. They’re too literal to understand the threat of a hidden army.”

“If Straff withdraws,” Clubs said, “Jastes won’t be able to keep them from the city.”

Dockson blinked. “But they’d…”

“Slaughter?” Clubs asked. “Yes. They’d pillage the richest sectors of the town—probably end up killing most of the noblemen in the city.”

“Eliminating the men that Straff has been forced—against his will, knowing that man’s pride—to work with,” Breeze added. “In fact, there’s a good chance the creatures will kill Vin. Can you imagine her not joining the fight if koloss broke in?”

The room fell silent.

“But, that doesn’t really help Straff get the city,” Dockson said. “He’ll still have to fight the koloss.”

“Yes,” Clubs said, scowling. “But, they’ll probably take down some of the city gates, not to mention level a lot of the homes. That will leave Straff with a clear field to attack a weakened foe. Plus, koloss don’t strategize—for them, city walls won’t be much help. Straff couldn’t ask for a better setup.”

“He’d be seen as a liberator,” Breeze said quietly. “If he returns at the right time—after the koloss have broken into the city and fought the soldiers, but before they’ve done serious damage to the skaa quarter—he could free the people and establish himself as their protector, not their conqueror. Knowing how the people feel, I think they’d welcome him. Right now, a strong leader would mean more to them than coins in their pockets and rights in the Assembly.”

As the group thought on this, Breeze eyed Sazed, who still sat quietly. He’d said so little; what was his game? Why gather the crew? Was he subtle enough to know that they’d simply needed to have an honest discussion like this, without Elend’s morals to clutter things up?

“We could just let Straff have it,” Dockson finally said. “The city, I mean. We could promise to call Vin off. If that is where this is heading anyway…”

“Dox,” Ham said quietly, “what would Kell think, to hear you talk like that?”

“We could give the city to Jastes Lekal,” Breeze said. “Perhaps he can be persuaded to treat the skaa with dignity.”

“And let twenty thousand koloss into the city?” Ham asked. “Breeze, have you everseenwhat those things can do?”

Dockson pounded the table. “I’m just giving options, Ham. What else are we going to do?”

“Fight,” Clubs said. “And die.”

The room fell silent again.

“You sure know how to kill a conversation, my friend,” Breeze finally said.

“It needed to be said,” Clubs muttered. “No use fooling yourselves anymore. We can’t win a fight, and a fight is where this was always going. The city is going to get attacked. We’re going to defend it. And we’ll lose.

“You wonder if we should just give up. Well, we’re not going to do that. Kell wouldn’t let us, and so we won’t let ourselves. We’ll fight, and we’ll die with dignity. Then, the city will burn—but we’ll have said something. The Lord Ruler pushed us around for a thousand years, but now we skaa have pride. We fight. We resist. And we die.”

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