Page 71 (1/2)

That would certainly be preferable

I do know that these words must be written in steel to be preserved I have written them in a steel sheet, then ordered the so, I revealhas whispered tothis and letting others see it

That is prih with the creation of this plate Doing so seeh, I think It is good that some few of ood of the empire, should I soood ruler At first, I was too young, too angry I made mistakes Yet, I have tried so hard I nearly destroyed the world with ain through my rule I can do better I will do better I will create a land of order

The thoughts in my mind, however, make me wonder just how inal intentions At times, my empire seems a place of peace and justice Yet, if that is so, why can I not stop the rebellions? They cannot defeat htered each time they rise up Can they not see the perfection of ardless, this is not the place for justification I need no justification, for I areater than I If I can be destroyed, It will be the cause of that destruction

I have no advice to give It is more powerful than I am It is more powerful than this world It claims to have created this world, in fact It will destroy us all eventually

Perhaps these stores will let er Perhaps not I am dead I doubt that I should care

Still, I do For you are es That is what it es, as I do

Know that the thing's power is not complete Fortunately, I have hidden his body well

And that was the end Vin tapped the plate with frustration Everything about the words on it seemed contrived to frustrate her The Lord Ruler had led therand chase, then at the end, he offe1red no hope? Elend was betting so much on what this plaque would contain, and yet, it was virtually worthless At least the other ones had contained some relevant information about a new metal or the like

I have failed you It was infuriating--ally so--to come all this way, then find that the Lord Ruler had been as stumped as they were And, if he'd known more--as his words implied that he did--why hadn't he shared it on the plate? And yet, she could sense his instability even through these words--his washing back and forth froance Perhaps that was Ruin's influence on him Or, perhaps it was simply the way he had always been Either way, Vin suspected that the Lord Ruler couldn't have told her much more that would have been of use He'd done what he could, holding Ruin at bay for a thousand years It had corrupted him, perhaps even driven hi a sharp sense of disappointiven a thousand years to worry about ould happen to the land if he were killed before the power returned to the Well, and even he hadn't been able to come up with a way out of the probleh in the darkness, she could not see it

There has to be a way! she thought, refusing to accept the Lord Ruler's implication that they were doomed What was it you wrote at the bottom? "I have hidden his body well"

That part seemed i through the darkness

Vin turned i for her last metal vial Proximity to Ruin hadwith anxiety as she listened to the echoing sounds--sounds of stone grinding against stone

The door to the cavern was opening

One ht ask why Ruin couldn't have used Inquisitors to release hih, if one understands the workings of power

Before the Lord Ruler's death, he rip on them to let Ruin control them directly Even after the Lord Ruler's death, however, such a servant of Ruin could never have rescued him The power in the Well was of Preservation, and an Inquisitor could only have taken it by first reic spikes That, of course, would have killed him

Thus, Ruin needed a much more indirect way to achieve his purpose He needed someone he hadn't tainted too much, but so

49

SAZED MADE A SMALL NOTATION ON HIS DIAGRAM, co measurements of the ay From what he could tell, the Lord Ruler hadn't really needed to do round lake Water had already been flowing into the cavern The Lord Ruler's engineers had si in a steadier, surer flow that outpaced the natural drainage