Page 117
Story: The Lost Metal
At the same time… Rusts. They were all going to run, weren’t they? She met Constable Reddi’s eyes. He’dslumped in his chair, looking numb. Sworn to protect the people of the city, and there was nothing he could do. Nothing but sit here and dread what was coming.
Shedidn’t have to do that. She’ddreaded it already. That was the purpose of her lists. She realized, with shock, that her method was actually working. She didn’t feel afraid. She didn’t feel anxious.
She could function.
Shehad to evacuate the city.
Steris pulled out one of her thickest notebooks, thumping it down on the table. As everyone else started calling for aides to prepare their escapes, she gathered her thoughts and flipped through her notes. She had seven detailed evacuation plans for the city. Which was best in this situation?
After a few minutes though, the governor ordered the door shut again and all aides temporarily expelled. The room’s anxious occupants turned toward him.
“Um,” he said, “Adawathwyn has a suggestion.”
She had composed herself quickly and now stood up in her immaculate Terris robes, hands out invitingly. “The situation is indeed dire. But I have realized we have a solution… upon our arms, so to speak. Lord Waxillium says that there is likely some kind of device that will launch the bomb all the way to our city. But we have Metalborn at our disposal. The greatest wealth of them in all the Basin.
“We should gather Coinshots and station them to Push this weapon away. We can position them atop our highest structures, to watch for the weapon’s arrival—or, better, keep people on call in Bilming, watching. They’ll be able to tell us when it has launched.”
“Pardon me, Adawathwyn,” Steris said. “Have you ever been in a situation where modern weapons fire is discharged? Have youseenthe speed at which it moves? Trust me. If this weapon is launched, when it reaches Elendel, it will impact too quickly for an Allomancer to stop.”
The vice governor wilted for a second, then her eyes widened. “What if,” she said, “we had an Allomancer with access to all the abilities and powers of the Lord Ruler?”
Several in the room gasped. Daal stood up straight, his masked eyes fixated on Adawathwyn.
“It’s an emergency,” she said. “Atrueemergency. The entire city is in danger! We need someone who can think the thoughts of a thousand people, someone who can move planets and raise mountains. We need… the Bands of Mourning.”
Bother.
First off, the Bands didn’t workthatway. They gave a person supercharged metallic abilities—yes—but they didn’t contain “all the powers of the Lord Ruler.” Unfortunately, the mythology surrounding them and Wax’s use of them had only grown over the years.
That said, Sterishadconsidered using the Bands—they often factored into her calculations. A powerful relic created by the Survivor—ormaybe the Lord Ruler—which granted vast Metalborn powers to the holder wasn’t the sort of thing one ignored.
“We can’t use the Bands,” Steris said. “The people of Elendel made a promise. The foundation of a treaty.”
Behind them, Admiral Daal—so quiet through most of the meeting—approached the table. “The Bands of Mourning,” he said, “were entrusted to the Faceless Immortals, under thestrict understandingthat the Bands wouldneverbe employed by your people.”
Technically, the Bands weren’t to be employed unless the Malwish attacked Elendel. That had been the actual deal, a way of making certain that Malwish aggression didn’t go too far.
“Surely, Ambassador,” Adawathwyn said, “you can see our need for self-preservation. You wouldn’t deny us the means, in this dire emergency, to protect ourselves from this calamity?”
“Surely,” Ambassador Daal said, “youunderstand that any action by those in the Basin using thissacredrelic—however dire the situation—must be seen as an act of aggression against my people. You don’t think we’ve suffered catastrophes thatwewish we could have used the Bands to stop? We could have been using them to save lives these past six years! But our agreement was that they were too powerful foranyoneto use.”
The room fell silent.He’s playing some kind of game here,Steris thought. She couldn’t fathom what.
“We…” the governor said, licking his lips. “We should fetch them. If an Allomancer with enhanced speed of thought could Push away this bomb before it lands, that gives us a chance.”
“They don’t have as much power as you think,” Steris said. “They can’t accomplish that.”
“Actually,” TenSoon said, “there’s a possibility.”
“What?” Steris asked.
“There are… things about the interactions of the powers you don’t know,” he said. “I have only hints. I think it might be possible… to send the bomb away using the Bands. But the deal we made…”
“Holy One,” the governor said, “what would Harmony say, should it come down to our survival as a city or betraying the Malwish trust. What are his wishes?”
TenSoon stood quietly for a moment, then spoke with a growling voice. “I will fetch the Bands.”
and leeched her steel reserves.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117 (Reading here)
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196