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One dedicated to Straff, not the Lord Ruler

"Father!" Allrianne said urgently

Cett shook his head He sat on his horse, beside his daughter's horse, on a hill to the west of Luthadel He could see Straff's ar--as he watched--the death throes of a doomed city

"We have to help!" Allrianne insisted

"No," Cett said quietly, shrugging off the effects of her Raging his eo "Our help wouldn't !" Allrianne said, pulling his arm

"No," Cett said more forcefully

"But you came back!" she said "Why did we return, if not to help?"

"We will help," Cett said quietly "We'll help Straff take the city when he wishes, then we'll submit to him and hope he doesn't kill us"

Allrianne paled "That's it?" she hissed "That's e returned, so that you can give our kingdom to that monster?"

"What else did you expect?" Cett demanded "You know me, Allrianne You know that this is the choice I have to ht I knew you," she snapped "I thought you were a good ood men are all dead, Allrianne They died inside that city"

Sazed fought on He was no warrior; he didn't have honed instincts or training He calculated that he should have died hours before And yet, soed to stay alive

Perhaps it was because the koloss didn't fight with skill, either They were blunt--like their giant, wedgelike swords--and they siht of tactics

That should have been enough Yet, Sazed held--and where he held, his few e on their side, but Sazed's , just at the edge of the square The soldiers knehy they fought This rean to be surrounded, the koloss working their way into the edges of the square

Sazed knew, by now, that no relief was going to come He'd hoped, perhaps, that Straff would decide to take the city, as Clubs had suggested But it was too late for that; night was approaching, the sun inching toward the horizon

The end is finally here, Sazed thought as the man next to him was struck down Sazed slipped on blood, and theover his head

Perhaps Tindwyl had found a way to safety Hopefully, Elend would deliver the things he and she had studied They were iht, even if he didn't knohy

Sazed attacked, swinging the sword he'd taken from a koloss He enhanced his ht as the sword met koloss flesh

He hit The resistance, the wet sound of impact, the shock up his arht koloss blood sprayed across him, and another of the one

Pewter tapped clean, the koloss sas now heavy in his hands He tried to swing it at the next koloss in line, but the weapon slipped froers

This koloss was a big one Nearing twelve feet tall, it was the largest of the monsters Sazed had seen Sazed tried to step away, but he stumbled over the body of a recently killed soldier As he fell, hisThey'd held well Too well Perhaps if he'd let the up at his death I did well, I think Better than any ht about the rings on his fingers They could, perhaps, give hie, let him run Flee Yet, he couldn't summon the motivation Why resist? Why had he resisted in the first place? He'd known that they were dooht I do give up, soo

The koloss loomed over Sazed, who still lay half sprawled in the bloody slush, and raised its sword Over the creature's shoulder, Sazed could see the red sun hanging just above the top of the wall He focused on that, rather than on the falling sword He could see rays of sunlight, likeshards of glass in the sky

The sunlight see for hi down to accept his spirit

And so, I die

A twinkling droplet of light sparkled in the beaht, then hit the koloss directly in the back of the skull The creature grunted, stiffening, dropping its sword It collapsed to the side, and Sazed lay, stupefied, on the ground for a moment Then he looked up at the top of the wall

A sure stood silhouetted by the sun Black before the red light, a cloak flapped gently on her back Sazed blinked The bit of sparkling light he'd seenit had been a coin The koloss before him was dead

Vin had returned

She juraceful arc above the square She landed directly in the ry insects, cutting through blue flesh The creatures didn't drop as easily as huot their attention The koloss turned away fro soldiers and defenseless townspeople