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She sighed, pushing back off the battleainst one of the merlons To the side, OreSeur trotted up the wall steps and approached Once again, he went down onto his haunches, watching patiently

For better or for worse, Vin's siling kingdoer, and she'd burned away the last of his atiu to keep herself alive She'd left him exposed--not just to armies, but to any Mistborn assassin who tried to kill him

An assassin like the Watcher, perhaps? The ainst Cett's Mistborn What did he want? Why did he watch her, rather than Elend?

Vin sighed, reaching into her coin pouch and pulling out her bar of duralumin She still had the reserve of it within her, the bit she'd sed earlier

For centuries, it had been assumed that there were only ten Allomantic metals: the four base old Yet, Allomantic metals always came in pairs--a base metal and an alloy It had always bothered Vin that atiuold were considered a pair, when neither was an alloy of the other In the end, it had turned out that they weren't actually paired; they each had an alloy One of these--iven Vin the clue she'd needed to defeat the Lord Ruler

Somehow Kelsier had found out about ends" that Kelsier had supposedly uncovered teaching of the Eleventh Metal and its power to defeat the Lord Ruler

Vin rubbed her finger on the slick surface of the duralumin bar When Vin had last seen Sazed, he'd seerew--that he couldn't find even hints regarding Kelsier's supposed legends Though Sazed claimed he'd left Luthadel to teach the people of the Final Empire--as was his duty as a Keeper--Vin hadn't one south The direction in which Kelsier claimed to have discovered the Eleventh Metal

Are there ru the duraluht tell me what it does?

Each of the other metals produced an immediate, visible effect; only copper, with its ability to create a cloud that masked an Allomancer's powers from others, didn't have an obvious sensory clue to its purpose Perhaps duralumin was similar Could its effect be noticed only by another Allo to use his or her powers on Vin? It was the opposite of aluminum, which made metals disappear Did that er?

Moveht the hint of shadowed motion At first, a prihost in the darkness she had seen the night before?

You were just seeing things, she told herself forcefully You were too tired And, in truth, the glihostly ie

It was him

He stood atop one of the watchtowers--not crouching, not even bothering to hide Was he arrogant or foolish, this unknown Mistborn? Vin s to excite her reserves Everything was ready

Tonight I catch you,out a spray of coins Either the Mistborn knew he'd been spotted, or he was ready for an attack, for he easily dodged OreSeur hopped to his feet, spinning, and Vin whipped her belt free, dropping her metals

"Follow if you can," she whispered to the kandra, then sprang into the darkness after her prey

The Watcher shot away, bounding through the night Vin had little experience chasing another Mistborn; her only real chance to practice had co sessions She soon found herself struggling to keep up with the Watcher, and she felt a stab of guilt for what she had done to OreSeur earlier She was learning firsthand how difficult it was to follow a deterh the 's sense of sht clearer and enhanced her hearing With it, she ed to follow the Watcher as he moved toward the center of the city Eventually, he let himself drop doard one of the central fountain squares Vin fell as well, hitting the slick cobblestones with a flare of pewter, then dodging to the side as he threw out a handful of coins

Metal rang against stone in the quiet night, coins plinging against statues and cobblestones Vin smiled as she landed on all fours; then she bounded forward, ju one of the coins up into her hand

Her opponent leaped backward, landing on the edge of a nearby fountain Vin landed, then dropped her coin, using it to throw herself upward over the Watcher's head He stooped, watching warily as she passed over hiht of one of the bronze statues at the center of the fountain itself and pulled herself to a stop atop it She crouched on the uneven footing, looking down at her opponent He stood balanced on one foot at the edge of the fountain, quiet and black in the churning e in his posture

Can you catch ers out and jumped free of the statue She Pushed herself directly toward the Watcher, using the cool bronze as an anchor

The Watcher used the statue as well, Pulling hi up a wave of water, his incredible speed letting him skid like a stone across the fountain's still surface As he ju across the square

Vin landed on the fountain lip, chill water spraying across her She growled, ju after the Watcher

As he landed, he spun and whipped out his own daggers She rolled beneath his first attack, then brought her daggers up in a two-handed double jab The Watcher ju and dropping beads of fountain water He had a lithe power about him as he came to rest in a crouch His body looked tense and sure Capable

Vin s quickly She hadn't felt like this sincesince those nights so long ago, when she'd sparred with Kelsier She re the ht, had a wiry build, and he wore no mistcloak

Why no cloak? Mistcloaks were the ubiquitous mark of her kind, a symbol of pride and security