Prologue.
The mists were rolling in.
He loved the mists. They were his friends, his ally.
He indulged at the opening of the caves for a few more minutes and then motioned to get back inside.
A lot of new recruits had arrived today, and he made a point to always meet them in person.
It usually motivated them and gratified them. It was very risky for anyone to join the rebellion, and he wanted to make sure they felt welcomed and appreciated.
But he also wanted to assess whether any Misting had showed up. With the increased Steel Ministry raids, Allomancers were becoming more precious by the day, and those who had the Gift tended to be quite tight-lipped about it.
However, being a Mistborn had its advantages, not only in battle. By combining seeking, rioting and soothing, he usually could nudge anyone to burn some metal, if they could, and reveal them as Mistings.
The core of his force was just regular folks, mostly skaa of course, but more mistings were essential if they were to have any chance of success. But they were rare, and –besides- employment by one of the High Houses in Luthadel, the Capital of the Empire, seemed to be a much better career path nowadays, than joining his ragtag army and its apparently impossible goal of overturning the Lord Ruler.
However, malcontent was growing in every Dominance, not only among the vexed Skaa, but also with many free-men and even some nobility. Not all of them approved of the indentured servitude system, nor the absolute power exerted by the Lord Ruler. And everybody hated the Steel Ministry and the Inquisitors. Especially since they had started rounding up the children.
So many. Nobody knew for sure what happened to them, but rumors abounded. None of them good.
And so his ranks were swelling.
“Mscriv?”
A hooded figure had interrupted his thought. StonyC.
“The Mists are thick tonight”
“Ideal time for a spar!” Before he finished the sentence he had reached inside and consumed a bit of iron, used the resulting thin blue lines to identify a brass fire poker laying on a brazier right behind his Mistborn friend and pulled hard on it, at the same time he had dropped three coins on the ground, burned some steel and pushed on them, launching himself up in the air. As he was ascending, he flared tin to enhance his senses and see what StonyC was going to do.
StonyC pushed on the brass poker and easily deflected its path, while also dropping a few coins to launch himself after Mscriv, all while pulling his pair of obsidian knives from his sleeves.
They disappeared into the mists and their ‘friendly’ fight took them some distance from the entrance of the caves.
As StonyC avoided a flurry of coins by a quick Cadmium burst which created a small accelerated time-bubble that allowed him to move out of the way, he noticed a large number of thin blue lines materializing, pointing to the other side of the rock crop that protected they hiding base.
“What the *******?”
Mscriv had seen them too.
They both jumped to the top of the rock formation, where a Tineye lookout was supposed to be stationed.
She was there allright, but the cut across her throat had ensured no alarm was going to be raised.
“What is….” And then they saw them, through the mists, tin flaring.
A large band of Koloss, was marching in their direction. Their blue-gray splitting skin barely containing they bulging bodies. Their massive swords sending tens of thickening blue lines to their allomantic senses. They were not frenzied yet, but it was only a matter of time.
In their midst, a column of empire soldiers was advancing as well and behind them a group of hooded figures
“********* Inquisitors” muttered StonyC.
He took the Tineye’s horn laying on the ground of the lookout post, and blasted it three times.
The mists were rolling in.
He loved the mists. They were his friends, his ally.
He indulged at the opening of the caves for a few more minutes and then motioned to get back inside.
A lot of new recruits had arrived today, and he made a point to always meet them in person.
It usually motivated them and gratified them. It was very risky for anyone to join the rebellion, and he wanted to make sure they felt welcomed and appreciated.
But he also wanted to assess whether any Misting had showed up. With the increased Steel Ministry raids, Allomancers were becoming more precious by the day, and those who had the Gift tended to be quite tight-lipped about it.
However, being a Mistborn had its advantages, not only in battle. By combining seeking, rioting and soothing, he usually could nudge anyone to burn some metal, if they could, and reveal them as Mistings.
The core of his force was just regular folks, mostly skaa of course, but more mistings were essential if they were to have any chance of success. But they were rare, and –besides- employment by one of the High Houses in Luthadel, the Capital of the Empire, seemed to be a much better career path nowadays, than joining his ragtag army and its apparently impossible goal of overturning the Lord Ruler.
However, malcontent was growing in every Dominance, not only among the vexed Skaa, but also with many free-men and even some nobility. Not all of them approved of the indentured servitude system, nor the absolute power exerted by the Lord Ruler. And everybody hated the Steel Ministry and the Inquisitors. Especially since they had started rounding up the children.
So many. Nobody knew for sure what happened to them, but rumors abounded. None of them good.
And so his ranks were swelling.
“Mscriv?”
A hooded figure had interrupted his thought. StonyC.
“The Mists are thick tonight”
“Ideal time for a spar!” Before he finished the sentence he had reached inside and consumed a bit of iron, used the resulting thin blue lines to identify a brass fire poker laying on a brazier right behind his Mistborn friend and pulled hard on it, at the same time he had dropped three coins on the ground, burned some steel and pushed on them, launching himself up in the air. As he was ascending, he flared tin to enhance his senses and see what StonyC was going to do.
StonyC pushed on the brass poker and easily deflected its path, while also dropping a few coins to launch himself after Mscriv, all while pulling his pair of obsidian knives from his sleeves.
They disappeared into the mists and their ‘friendly’ fight took them some distance from the entrance of the caves.
As StonyC avoided a flurry of coins by a quick Cadmium burst which created a small accelerated time-bubble that allowed him to move out of the way, he noticed a large number of thin blue lines materializing, pointing to the other side of the rock crop that protected they hiding base.
“What the *******?”
Mscriv had seen them too.
They both jumped to the top of the rock formation, where a Tineye lookout was supposed to be stationed.
She was there allright, but the cut across her throat had ensured no alarm was going to be raised.
“What is….” And then they saw them, through the mists, tin flaring.
A large band of Koloss, was marching in their direction. Their blue-gray splitting skin barely containing they bulging bodies. Their massive swords sending tens of thickening blue lines to their allomantic senses. They were not frenzied yet, but it was only a matter of time.
In their midst, a column of empire soldiers was advancing as well and behind them a group of hooded figures
“********* Inquisitors” muttered StonyC.
He took the Tineye’s horn laying on the ground of the lookout post, and blasted it three times.
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