Page 52 of The Well of Ascension

Any of these men could be an impostor,Elend thought. The thought still seemed insane to him. What was he to do? Exclude them all from his confidence? No, he needed them too much.

The only option was to act normally and watch them. Vin had told him to try and spot inconsistencies in their personalities. He intended to do his best, but the reality was he wasn’t sure how much he would be able to see. This was more Vin’s area of expertise. He needed to worry about the armies.

Thinking of her, he glanced at the stained-glass window at the back of the study, and was surprised to see it was dark.

That late already?Elend thought.

“My dear man,” Breeze noted. “When you told us you needed to ‘go and gather a few important references,’ you might have warned us that you were planning to be gone for two full hours.”

“Yes, well,” Elend said, “I kind of lost track of time….”

“For two hours?”

Elend nodded sheepishly. “There were books involved.”

Breeze shook his head. “If the fate of the Central Dominance weren’t at stake—and if it weren’t so fantastically enjoyable to watch Hammond lose an entire month’s earnings to the boy there—I’d have left an hour ago.”

“Yes, well, we can get started now,” Elend said.

Ham chuckled, standing up. “Actually, it’s kind of like the old days. Kell always arrived late, too—and he liked to hold his meetings at night. Mistborn hours.”

Spook smiled, his coin pouch bulging.

We still use boxings—Lord Ruler imperials—as our coinage,Elend thought.We’ll have to do something about that.

“I miss the charcoal board, though,” Spook said.

“I certainly don’t,” Breeze replied. “Kell had atrocious handwriting.”

“Absolutely atrocious,” Ham said with a smile, sitting. “You have to admit, though—it was distinctive.”

Breeze raised an eyebrow. “Itwasthat, I suppose.”

Kelsier, the Survivor of Hathsin,Elend thought.Even his handwriting is legendary.“Regardless,” he said, “I think perhaps we should get to work. We’ve still got two armies waiting out there. We’re not leaving tonight until we have a plan to deal with them!”

The crewmembers shared looks.

“Actually, Your Majesty,” Dockson said, “we’ve already worked on that problem for a bit.”

“Oh?” Elend asked, surprised.Well, I guess I did leave them alone for a couple of hours.“Let me hear it, then.”

Dockson stood, pulling his chair a bit closer to join the rest of the group, and Ham began to speak.

“Here’s the thing, El,” Ham said. “With two armies here, we don’t have to worry about an immediate attack. But, we’re still in serious danger. This will probably turn into an extended siege as each army tries to outlast the other.”

“They’ll try to starve us out,” Clubs said. “Weaken us, and their enemies, before attacking.”

“And,” Ham continued, “that puts us in a bind—because we can’t last very long. The city is already on the edge of starvation—and the enemy kings are probably aware of that fact.”

“What are you saying?” Elend asked slowly.

“We have to make an alliance with one of those armies, Your Majesty,” Dockson said. “They both know it. Alone, they can’t reliably defeat one another. With our help, however, the balance will be tipped.”

“They’ll hem us in,” Ham said. “Keep us blockaded until we get desperate enough to side with one of them. Eventually, we’ll have to do so—either that, or let our people starve.”

“The decision comes down to this,” Breeze said. “We can’t outlast the others, so we have to choosewhichof those men we want to take over the city. And, I would suggest making our decision quickly as opposed to waiting while our supplies run out.”

Elend stood quietly. “By making a deal with one of those armies, we’ll essentially be giving away our kingdom.”

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