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And this hit the legs of the horses like a tripwire Vin burned duralumin, then Pushed The horses in front screaround The canvas ripped, and the stakes pulled free, but the dae was done--those in front tripped those behind, and men tumbled beside their beasts

Vin downed another vial to replenish her steel Then she Pulled, whipping another tent toward her As it grew close, she juroup of mounted men behind The tent's stakes struck one of the soldiers in the chest, throwing hi chaos

Thelifeless into the ash Still tied to him by the stakes in his chest, the canvas tent fluttered down, covering his body like a funeral shroud Vin spun, seekingto withdraw She stepped forward, intending to chase the her--she could see his shadow in the ure thumped with the power of metals Allomancer Mistborn He was far too short to be Elend, but she couldn't tell h the shadow of mist and ash Vin didn't pause to think She dropped a coin and shot herself toward the stranger

He leaped backward, Pushing hi the ca after the Allomancer He quicklyin vast leaps over an ashen landscape Her quarry crested the rock for just a few feet fros and ept rocks into Fadrex proper

The other Allomancer stayed ahead of her There was no playfulness to his motions, as there had been with Zane Thisover rooftops and streets She gritted her teeth, frustrated at her inability to catch up She ti as she chose new anchors and Pushed herself froood He rounded the city, forcing her to push herself to keep up Fine! she finally thought, then prepared her dura1luure that he was no longer shadowed in mist, and she could see that he was real and corporeal, not soly certain that this was theher when she'd first come into Fadrex Yoht the htjuuished her metals and burned duralumin Then she Pushed

A crash sounded behind her as her unnatural Push shattered the door she'd used as an anchor She was thrown forith a terrible burst of speed, like an arrow released from a bow She approached her opponent with aweso her tin back on She couldn't leave it on while burning duralule flash, leaving her blinded But, she'd effectively done the sa it off She Pulled herself down from her duralumin Push to land maladroitly atop a nearby roof She crouched as she scanned thebronze, trusting in her innate--yet still unexplained--ability to pierce copperclouds to reveal her opponent No Allomancer could hide from Vin unless he completely turned off his ain This was the second ti possibility Vin had tried very hard to keep her ability to pierce copperclouds a secret, but it had been nearly four years since her discovery of it Zane had known about it, and she couldn't knoho else had guessed, based on things she could do Her secret could very well be out

Vin remained on that rooftop for a few h to escape her at the exact h to reone In fact, it made her wonder why he had let her see hiht, then downed awith a furious anxiety back toward the cae and bodies at the ca out orders, congratulating the ht of his white-clothed forht Vin a sense of relief

She landed beside hilanced at her "What? Me? No, I'm fine"

Then the Allomancer wasn't sent to distractIt had seemed so obvious It--

Elend pulled her aside, looking worried "I''s happened"

"What?" Vin asked

Elend shook his head "I think this all was just a distraction--the entire attack on the camp"

"But, if they weren't after you," Vin said, "and they weren't after our supplies, then as there to distract us from?"

Elend met her eyes "The koloss"

"How did wefrustrated

Elend stood with a troop of soldiers on a plateau, waiting1 as Vin and Hae equipment Down below, he could see Fadrex City, and his own aro It was disturbing that from this distance he couldn't evenash had darkened its waters and covered the landscape to the point that everything just looked black

At the base of the plateau's cliffs lay the remnants of their koloss army Twenty thousand had become ten thousand in a few brief moments as a well-laid trap had rained down destruction on the beasts while Elend's troops were distracted The day on until it was too late Elend himself had felt the deaths, but hadthe battle

"Caves in the back of those cliffs," Ha at a bit of charred wood "Yomen probably had the trebuchets stored in the caves in anticipation of our arrival, though I'd guess they were originally being built for an assault on Luthadel Either way, this plateau was a perfect staging area for a barrage I'd say Yo to attack our army, but e camped the koloss just beneath the plateau"

Elend could still hear the screa to fight, yet unable to attack their ene rocks had done a lot of dae And then the creatures had slipped away from him Their frustration had been too powerful, and for a ti on each other Most of the deaths had cohly one of every two had died as they had paired off and killed each other

I lost control of theht It had only been for a short while, and it had only happened because they hadn't been able to get at their eneerous precedent