Ah, the bitter taste of shame, defeat, and betrayal.

Part Four

Chapter 43

Vin stands over Elend's sleeping form with Oreseur at her side. She has been informed of what he did, and she is not pleased, to say the least. In fact, she seems to on the brink of a full on anxiety attack. Her hands shake uncontrolably, and her mind races at the speed of...thought...

Erm. It has become clear to Vin that she is incapable of protecting Elend from every infinitsimal threat that comes near him. She understands that what he did was somehow the right thing to do (no it wasn't), yet she still feels betrayed. After all she's done to keep him safe... She feels alone and helpless, and nothing frightens Vin like helplessness.

Zane appears with his rutinely impeccable timing. He somehow knows exactly what she's going through right now, and offers her what I assume he believes to be comforting words.

He also bears with him dark tidings, i.e. more lies. There is a traitor in their midst, Demoux by name. He claims that the captain, at Cett's behest, tried to convince Straff to attack the city during the voting.

According to Zane, Cett's master plan was to have Elend and Penrod assassinated, making it appear as if it was Straff's doing; then, in their absence, take command and save the city from the tyranical Lord Venture. A pretty ingenious plan, if I may say so myself. Why didn't Cett actually do that?

The argument is convincing. Too convincing, actually. If Zane weren't a madman, he'd be brilliant. In spite of the evidence, Vin isn't completely convinced that Demoux is a traitor, but it hardly matters. She's pissed off and more than a little frustrated.

Zane, taking note of Vin's helpless frustration, makes a most dastardly suggestion. He suggests that they go out right now and kill Cett. Simply killing him won't be enough, though. Zane says they'll have to hit him, and hit him hard. What Zane suggests is no less that licentious massacre, and it spits in the face of all that is honorable. If Vin does this deed, she'll be no better than a foul, stinking, loathsome, good for nothing, Frey.

The only thing holding Vin back from running out there right now is the fact that Elend would not approve. Shes always asking herself, "What would Elend do?", or "What would Elend think." Zane suggests that she ask herself, "What would Kelsier do?" That pretty much seals Cett's fate.

They arrive at keep Hasting shortly therafter, entering through the front gate, and cutting down nearly forty guards in the process. Only one fortunate guard named Wellen is left alive.

They start from the bottom, leaving nothing but corpses behind as they make their way up. Good God! Are they planning on killing everyone in this keep? Zane I can understand, but I cant believe Vin is doing this. I thought she was reasonable, but she doesn't seem to have even considered the consequences of her actions.

The two Mistborn quickly clear the third and fourth floors, Vin using duralumin, Zane using Atium and madness. Not even the haze killers are able to stand against them. Hundreds are slain, so great is the massacre.

Vin skips to the fifth story and, experiencing battle fever for the first time, kills every living thing in sight. Once the floor has been cleared, Vin sees a door. Upon entering it, she finds Cett and his son waiting. The boy tries to defend his father, but his efforts are in vain. She makes short work of the boy, but leaves him alive. Cett, on the other hand...

She throws him into a wall, demanding that he fight her. She came here certain that Cett had at least one Mistborn, but she soon learns that she was terribly mistaken. Cett brings Zane's lies to light when he tells her that the only mistings he had were the ones he sent to assassinate her shortly before he arrived.

Ah, that's right! How could I not have seen that? Mistborn are incredibly rare. What were the chances that Cett would have two? Especially considerring the fact that the one Mistborn he sent after her was pathetically unskilled, and he had very little atium besides.

Anyway, Cett goes on to explain that he came to Luthadel out of desperation. Straff was going to come for him eventually, and without Atium he would have no way of standing up to the fellow tyrant. So he did what any incompetent overlord would have done. He decided to attack Luthadel, the city with not only the most powerful Mistborn, but also the largest Atium reserves in the entire known world. Looking at it that way, I can see that he kind of earned this fate. His plan was incredibly retarded--even stupider, in fact, than simply waiting for Straff to put an end to him.

Zane chooses this moment to make his dramatic entrance. Vin, seeming to have finally come to her senses, pleads with him to spare Cett and his son. Zane, somehow managing to ignore the incessant urging of his god, consents to her pleas. He's disappointed in her, though, as he had hoped that she would start to see things his way once she realized her true potential.

He then withdraws from the room, and Vin goes with him. I can only hope that she now sees what a manipulative bastard he is, and that she'll keep far away from him from now on.

End of Chapter 43

Kwaan says the even a madmen must rely on own experience. Not a smart madman. A smart madman would know that his experiences cannot be trusted, as they've probably been twisted by his failing mind. Of course, Kwaan most likely isn't mad, so my point is pretty much moot anyway.

Chapter 44

After his close encounter with death the other night, Cett decided it was probably a good idea to haul chull. This chapter begins with Breeze and Clubs nervously watching Cett's army leave the city.

With that, according to Clubs, their fate has been sealed. He explains that if Straff pulls back now, the koloss will be free to fall upon the city. With everyone in Luthadel dead, Straff will be able to dispatch the weakened koloss army, enter the city, and search for his precious atium with no distractions. In other words, they're pretty much dead now, and it's all Vin's fault.

Ham and Elend are discussing current events. Vin hasn't been seen since the previous night, but everyone knows it was she who attacked Cett's keep.

Three hundred men. Those are the fruits of Vin's vengeful work last night. Three hundred in ten minutes. Ham doesn't get why she did it, Lestibournes thinks she's just loony(can't argue with that), and Elend is just worried out of his mind. Indeed, for all he knows she might be out there right now, bleeding to death in some alley. The way I see it, though, that would be no less than she deserves.

Ham isn't sure if Vin is completely stable. Not sure? She most certainly is not, and she never really has been. This most recent outburst should be proof enough, but Elend, true to character, is in denial.

Ham is beginning to question more than just Vin's sanity. Ham knows she's been hiding things from them. Important things. She was somehow able to take a blow head on from a thug during the assassination attempt, and there are also the rumors of her working with another Mistborn during her assault on keep Hasting. What's that I smell? Distrust? I guess what goes around really does come around.

Everything seems to be falling apart, but Elend insists that they cannot give into dispair. That isn't what the survivor woukd have done, and it isn't what they're going to do. either. Yeah, well, were the survivor in charge, they wouldn't even be in this situation. Truth be told, had he chosen to take the throne, Kelsier would have most likely turned into a tyrant. If he didn't simply waste every single fat,ugly noble in the central dominance, he would have enslaved them like the skaa and called it justice. I seriously doubt that Kelsier would have elected to put himself in command, though; He was changing, near the end.

They move on to the koloss. They now know that Jastes has been paying them with fake, wooden coin. SO that's how Jastes got the money to pay such large army. I didn't think their position could grow any more precarious, but I guess I was wrong. When the koloss find out about Lekal's deception, it'll be hell to pay.

The meeting comes to an end, and they all leave the room, feeling a bit down. Except for Elend that is. He hasn't noticKoloss are surprisingly intelligent creatures, so they will ed what Clubs saw, so he actually sees Cett's withdrawl as a hopeful sign. He's in for a nasty surprise.

Oreseur then shows up--I was wondering where he'd been. He claims to know where Vin is, so Elend, taking a few guards with him, rides with Oreseur to the location. He doesn't tell anyone else because he wants to keep Oreseur's true nature a secret for Vin's sake. He knows that Ham is right about Vin and her secrets, but he remains trusting to a fault.

Oreseur followed Vin the previous night, and tracked her to Camons hidout. Ah I'd almost forgotten about that guy. He's the one who met his end with a hook through his throat, right? I didn't even feel sorry for him.

Upon entering the building, Elend finds her in the in a tiny hidden room. The very same room where her very first PoV began, actually. It's pretty amazing how far the characters have come--and this is only the second book.

Anyway Elend somehow manages to fit inside the cubby, and they have a little heart to heart. Vin is more open with him then she ever has been, I think.

Vin feels terribly guilty over what she's done(as she should), but Elend remains supporitive to a fault, using Kelsier-like rationale to excuse her deeds. He as much as says that those three hundred men deserved to die. Funny. The way I see it, all the men who Vin slew were merely following orders. They most likely knew little to nothing about what either side even stands for. Those men most likely had nothing agains her or Luthadel personally, and they had no hope of standing against her. It wasn't a battlefield. It wasn't "kill or be killed." Vin simply engaged in wanton brutality. Like a maniacally deranged murderess in a daycare center.

Plus there's the fact that Cett was actually a potential ally. He most likely could have been convinced to align his army with Luthadel against Straff. No hope of that anymore, though. I mean, he was their freaking guest. Maybe Vin didn't see it that way at the time, but that doesn't make it any less so.

Vin at least knows that what she did was wrong. She tells Elend that she needs to make some decisions, to which he replies that he'll support her regardless of what she decides, because he trusts her, and he knows that she's ten times as capable as he is. Meh. Were he a Mistborn, I'm sure he'd be ten times more responsible with his powers than she is.

Anyway, Vin tells him that she needs to go to Terris. Despite the hurt it causes him, he tells her that he can't go with her. He fears that he's losing her, but the truth is he never had her in the first place. Not truly.

Shortly after, Oreseur shows up, informing them that the guards are growing restless. Vin then offers Zane's atium to Elend. He doesn't take it, though, because it won't do him much good now, so she ends up giving it to Oreseur for safe keeping. They then leave the building together.

End of Chapter 44

Kwaan wrote that he knew what he had memorized, and what was then repeated by the World bringers. What is he saying? The other World bringers somehow strayed from the prophecies? Or, perhaps, their interpretations simply differed from his.

Suddenly his slightly pompous sounding remark about his memory makes sense. With such small excerpts from the larger work, and paragraphs spanning several chapters, it can be bit hard to follow at times. I really should be saving them all to a text file as I read. I'll probably do that with the next book.