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He had pondered the mist spirit the rest of his trip Had it really told hi its gestures? What had it wanted hi at his vial ofthe mass of new koloss To the side of the arh he had grown increasingly adept at keeping a hold on the creatures, it was still nice to be back close to them It made him feel more coht thousand?" he asked "Or, at least, that's what the scouts say"

Elend nodded

"I hadn't realized how large the group was," Ham said "With that many"

Thirty-seven thousand total, Elend thought More than enough to storan to walk down the incline, toward the cah the hike, he was still tired "Any news of Vin?" he said hopefully, though he knew that if she'd ed to escape, she would have already found hier into the city while you were gone," Haan to walk "Yomen said a soldier could come and confirm that Vin was still alive, and so we coht you were here"

"You did well," Elend said

"It's been a while since then," Ha of her since"

"She's still alive," Elend said

Ham nodded "I believe so too"

Elend s toward the koloss that had reave soone out of control As long as she lives--whether or not she has metals--she will remain bonded to them"

Haood to tell us earlier, El"

"I know," Elend said "It's too easy to forget how --I didn't even think that not all of those are mine Post scouts, keep an eye on theo wild"

Hah them?"

Elend shook his head How did he explain? Controlling the koloss wasn't a subtle thing--their minds were too dull for much beyond simple commands He could order thes But he couldn't direct thee or even how to accoo

"We'1ve had scout reports from the Central Dominance, El," Ham said, voice troubled

Elend looked at him

"Most of our scouts didn't return Nobody knohat happened to Demoux and the men you sent--we hope they reached Luthadel, but the capital is in bad shape The scouts who have returned bear so news We've lostthis last year The people are starving, and a lot of villages are empty save for the dead Those who can flee to Luthadel, leaving trails of corpses on the road, buried in ash"

Elend closed his eyes But Ham wasn't done

"There are tales of cities sed by the ru Lekal and his city fell to lava from one of the ashmounts We haven't heard from Janarle in weeks; his entire retinue seems to have vanished, and the Northern Dominance is in chaos The entire Southern DoElend, what do we do?"

Elend continued to stride forward, walking onto an ash-free pathway and then into the ca at him He didn't kno to answer Ham's question What did he do? What could he do?

"We'll help theive up"

Hah, before you do anything else, what you should probably do is go change your clothing"

Elend glanced down, re the black unifor koloss, then stained by ash His appearance caused quite a stir in the men They've only seen me in the white, pristine outfit Many of theht--never seen me bloodied, never seen me dirtied by ash

He wasn't certain what bothered hiure sitting in a chair beside the pathway, as if he were simply out there for an afternoon repast Cett eyed him as he passed "More koloss?"

Elend nodded

"We're going to attack, then?" Cett asked

Elend stopped

The mist spirit apparently didn't want him to attack But, he couldn't be certain what it had wanted him to know or think--he didn't even know if he should trust it Could he base the future of his ehost in the e, and he couldn't afford to wait in siege--not any longer Plus, attacking seeet Vin back safely Yomen would never return her--Elend either had to sit around and wait, or he had to attack, hoping that in the chaos of battle, Yo risked an execution, but letting Yoerous for her

I have to be the man who makes the hard decisions, he told hi to teach me at the ball--that I can be both Elend theI took these koloss for a purpose Now I need to use them