Page 50 (1/2)

34

MARSH STRODE INTO THE SMALL TOWN Workers atop the h that a deter--froze in place Ash sweepers noticed him pass with shock, then horror It was odd, how they watched, too terrified to flee Or, at least, too terrified to be the first one to flee

Marsh ignored the--quakes were common, here, in the shadow of Mount Tyrian It was the ashh Elend Venture's own territory But, of course, the emperor had abandoned it That seemed an invitation to Marsh, and to the one who controlled him They were really the same Marsh smiled as he walked

A small piece of him was still free He let it sleep, however Ruin needed to think he had given up That was the point And so, Marsh held back only a tiny bit, and he did not fight He let the ashen sky beco of bespeckled beauty, and treated the death of the world as a blessed event

Biding his tiht The people were starving here, even though they ithin the Central Dominance: Elend Venture's "protected" area They had the wonderful, haunted expressions of those ere close to giving up hope The streets were barely s of noblery skaa--covered in ash, their gardens stripped and their structures cannibalized to feed fires during the winter

The gorgeous sight made Marsh smile with satisfaction Behind hi There were probably so in the town They were not Marsh's concern Not at the le, specific building It looked little different from the others, aplace for travelers, and had grown to be a favored place for nobility to construct second homes A few noble fa the many skaa who had worked the plantations and fields on the plains outside

The building Marsh chose was slightly better arden was, of course, more weeds than cultivation, and the outerin years However, fewer sections of it looked to have been broken apart for firewood, and a guard actually stood watch at the front gate

Marsh killed hiles that had once been used in the Lord Ruler's cereuard's chest even as the e The air was oddly still and quiet as the guard's voice cut off, and he toppled to the side in the road The skaa atched from nearby homes knew better than to react, and didn't stir

Marsh hummed to himself as he strolled up the front walk to thea small flock of ravens who had co stroll through gardens, the way h a weed-filled field The man ned the place obviously couldn't afford uard, and nobody raised an alarht up to the front doors S to himself, he knocked

A maidservant opened the doors She froze when she saw Marsh, taking in his spiked eyes, his unnaturally tall figure, his dark robes Then she began to tremble

Marsh held out a hand, palht into her face It snapped out the back of the skull, and the woman toppled He stepped over her body and entered the house

It was far nicer inside than the exterior had led his, freshly painted walls, intricate cera the rooht worked, it was hard for hih with his powers now that he could pick them out if he wanted The Allos were really quite expressive

To Marsh, the ht blobs of expensive color Marsh searched through it, burning pewter to enhance his physical abilities, allowing hihtly than would otherwise have been possible He killed two more servants in the course of his exploration, and eventually moved up to the second floor

He found the , wearing a rich suit He had a petite mustache set in a round face, and was slumped, eyes closed, a bottle of hard liquor empty at his feet Marsh saw this with displeasure

"I coet you," Marsh said "And when I finally find you, I discover that you have intoxicated yourself into a stupor?"

The man had neverannoyed that he wouldn't be able to see the look of terror and surprise in the man's eyes when he found an Inquisitor in his home Marsh would miss out on the fear, the anticipation of death Briefly, Marsh was te could be performed properly

But, Ruin would have none of that Marsh sighed at the injustice of it, then slaainst the floor and drove a se or thick as an Inquisitor spike, but it killed just as well Marsh ripped it out of theon the floor

Then, Marsh walked out, leaving the building The nobleman--Marsh didn't even know his name--had used Allo who could create copperclouds, and the use of his ability had drawn Ruin's attention Ruin had been wanting an Allomancer to drain

And so, Marsh had come to harvest theof a waste to hiy--particularly Allomantic imbues--was h the victi host That way, very little of the Allo the Allo sorant the new host far less power

But, there was no getting around it in this case Marsh shook his head as he stepped over the ardens No one accosted, or even looked at, hiates There, however, he was surprised to find a couple of skaa round

"Please, Your Grace," one said as Marsh passed "Please, send the obligators back to us We will serve better this time"

"You have lost that opportunity," Marsh said, staring at them with his spike-heads

"We will believe in the Lord Ruler again," another said "He fed us Please Our families have no food"

"Well," Marsh said "You needn't worry about that for long"