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Clubs held up a hand, and the squad of two hundred men stopped Breeze looked around The street was quiet in the falling ash and snow Everything seemeddull The sky was dim, the city's features softened by the blanket of black-speckled snow It seee to have fled the horrific scene of scarlet and blue to find the city looking so lazy

"Da group of koloss burst from a side street Clubs's soldiers fell into a line, but another group of koloss--the creatures that had just burst through the gate--ca in the snow That other groupit came from the north! The creatures have infiltrated the city this far already?

"Clubs!" Breeze said, turning "We--"

Breeze looked just in tih Clubs's upraised arrunted, thrown to the side, his sword ar, and the koloss brought his sword down in a two-handed blow

The dirty snow finally got some color A splash of red

Breeze stared, dumbfounded, at the remains of his friend's corpse Then the koloss turned toward Breeze, snarling

The likelihood of his own i him as even the cold snow couldn't Breeze scra out to try and Soothe the creature Of course, nothing happened Breeze tried to get to his feet, and the koloss--along with several others--began to bear down on hi the gate appeared fro the koloss

Breeze did the only thing that see and hid

"This is all Kelsier's fault," Docksonto

The Venture grand hall was a flurry of motion and chaos as panicked scribes ran this way and that, finally realizing that koloss didn't care if a man were skaa, scholar, nobleman, or merchant The creatures just liked to kill

"He should have seen this co," Dockson continued "He left us with this mess, and then he just assumed that we'd find a way to fix it Well, I can't hide a city from its enemies--not like I hid a crew Just because ere excellent thieves doesn't doers had all fled, and his guards fought at the keep gates Each of the keeps had its own defenses, but Clubs--rightly--had decided to use thened to repel a large-scale attack, and they were too secluded fro to them only fractured and isolated the huh," Dockson said,what had happened there He looked over the ate to be the last one to hold

"Follow-through," he continued "We assumed we could do a better job than the noblee If we'd killed the whole lot, perhaps then we could have started fresh Of course, that would havethe other do Vin to take care of the most important, hter like the Final Empire had never seen And, if we'd done that"

He trailed off, looking up as one of the lass s shattered The others began to explode as well, broken by thrown rocks A few large koloss ju on the shard-strewn marble floor Even broken, the ere beautiful, the spiked glass edges twinkling in the evening light Through one of the sunlight through

"If we'd done that," Dockson said quietly, "we'd have been no better than beasts"

Scribes screahter Dockson stood quietly, hearing noise behind--grunts, harsh breathing--as koloss approached through the back hallways He reached for the sword on his table as an to die

He closed his eyes You know, Kell, he thought I alht, that you atching over us That you were sood

He opened his eyes and turned, pulling the sword fro at the !

Dockson gritted his teeth, sending a final curse Kelsier's way, then charged, swinging

The creature caught his weapon in an indifferent hand, ignoring the cut it caused Then, it brought its oeapon down, and blackness followed

"My lord," Janarle said "The city has fallen Look, you can see it burning The koloss have penetrated all but one of the four gates under attack, and they run wild in the city They aren't stopping to pillage--they're just killing Slaughtering There aren't many soldiers left to oppose the Luthadel burn It seemeda symbol to hi it to the skaa vermin inside, and when he'd come back to demand it be returned to him, the people had resisted

They had been defiant They had earned this

"My lord," Janarle said "The koloss arh already Their numbers are hard to count, but the corpses they left behind indicate that as much as a third of their force has fallen We can take the his head "Not yet"

"My lord?" Janarle said

"Let the koloss have the damn city," Straff said quietly "Let theround Fires can't hurt our atium--in fact, they'll probably make the metal easier to find"

"I" Janarle seemed shocked He didn't object further, but his eyes were rebellious

I'll have to take care of hiainst one

That didn't matter at the moment The city had rejected him, and so it would die He'd build a better one in its place