There are a lot of things we don’t know about the Inquisitors, Kelsier had told her. They don’t quite follow the normal rules.
Vin shivered again.
Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Vin grew tense, crouching and preparing to run.
Ham’s familiar figure appeared in the stairwell. “Area’s secure,” he said, holding up a second lantern. “No sign of obligators or Garrisoners.”
“That’s their style,” Kelsier said. “They want the massacre to be discovered—they left the dead as a sign.”
The room fell silent save for a low mumbling from Sazed, who stood at the far left side of the room. Vin picked her way over to him, listening to the rhythmic cadence of his voice. Eventually, he stopped speaking, then bowed his head and closed his eyes.
“What was that?” Vin asked as he looked up again.
“A prayer,” Sazed said. “A death chant of the Cazzi. It is meant to awaken the spirits of the dead and entice them free from their flesh so that they may return to the mountain of souls.” He glanced at her. “I can teach you of the religion, if you wish, Mistress. The Cazzi were an interesting people—very familiar with death.”
Vin shook her head. “Not right now. You said their prayer—is this the religion you believe in, then?”
“I believe in them all.”
Vin frowned. “None of them contradict each other?”
Sazed smiled. “Oh, often and frequently they do. But, I respect the truths behind them all—and I believe in the need for each one to be remembered.”
“Then, how did you decide which religion’s prayer to use?” Vin asked.
“It just seemed . . . appropriate,” Sazed said quietly, regarding the scene of shadowed death.
“Kell,” Dockson called from the back of the room. “Come look at this.”
Kelsier moved to join him, as did Vin. Dockson stood by the long corridor-like chamber that had been her crew’s sleeping quarters. Vin poked her head inside, expecting to find a scene similar to the one in the common room. Instead, there was only a single corpse tied to a chair. In the weak light she could barely make out that his eyes had been gouged out.
Kelsier stood quietly for a moment. “That’s the man I put in charge.”
“Milev,” Vin said with a nod. “What about him?”
“He was killed slowly,” Kelsier said. “Look at the amount of blood on the floor, the way his limbs are twisted. He had time to scream and struggle.”
“Torture,” Dockson said, nodding.
Vin felt a chill. She glanced up at Kelsier.
“Shall we move our base?” Ham asked.
Kelsier slowly shook his head. “When Clubs came to this lair, he would have worn a disguise to and from the meeting, hiding his limp. It’s his job as a Smoker to make certain that you can’t find him just by asking around on the street. None of the people in this crew could have betrayed us—we should still be safe.”
No one spoke the obvious. The Inquisitor shouldn’t have been able to find this lair either.
Kelsier stepped back into the main room, pulling Dockson aside and speaking to him in a quiet voice. Vin edged closer, trying to hear what they were saying, but Sazed placed a restraining hand on her shoulder.
“Mistress Vin,” he said disapprovingly, “if Master Kelsier wanted us to hear what he was saying, would he not speak in a louder voice?”
Vin shot the Terrisman an angry glance. Then she reached inside and burned tin.
The sudden stench of blood almost staggered her. She could hear Sazed’s breathing. The room was no longer dark—in fact, the brilliant light of two lanterns made her eyes water. She became aware of the stuffy, unventilated air.
And she could hear, quite distinctly, Dockson’s voice.
“ . . . went to check on him a couple times, like you asked. You’ll find him three streets west of the Fourwell Crossroads.”
Kelsier nodded. “Ham,” he said in a loud voice, causing Vin to jump.
Sazed looked down at her with disapproving eyes.
He knows something of Allomancy, Vin thought, reading the man’s expression. He guessed what I was doing.
“Yes, Kell?” Ham said, peeking out of the back room.
“Take the others back to the shop,” Kelsier said. “And be careful.”
“Of course,” Ham promised.
Vin eyed Kelsier, then resentfully allowed herself to be ushered from the lair with Sazed and Dockson.
I should have taken the carriage, Kelsier thought, frustrated by his slow pace. The others could have walked back from Camon’s lair.
He itched to burn steel and begin jumping toward his destination. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to remain inconspicuous when flying through the city during the full light of day.
Kelsier adjusted his hat and continued walking. A nobleman pedestrian was not an irregular sight, especially in the commercial district, where more fortunate skaa and less fortunate noblemen mixed on the streets—though each group did its best to ignore the other.
Patience. Speed doesn’t matter. If they know about him, he’s already dead.
Kelsier entered a large crossroad square. Four wells sat in its corners, and a massive copper fountain—its green skin caked and blackened by soot—dominated the square’s center. The statue depicted the Lord Ruler, standing dramatically in cloak and armor, a formless representation of the Deepness dead in the water at his feet.
Kelsier passed the fountain, its waters flaked from a recent ashfall. Skaa beggars called out from the streetsides, their pitiful voices walking a fine line between audibility and annoyance. The Lord Ruler barely suffered them; only skaa with severe disfigurements were allowed to beg. Their pitiful life, however, was not something even plantation skaa would envy.
Kelsier tossed them a few clips, not caring that doing so made him stand out, and continued to walk. Three streets over, he found a much smaller crossroads. It was also rimmed by beggars, but no fine fountain splashed the center of this intersection, nor did the corners contain wells to draw traffic.
The beggars here were even more pathetic—these were the sorry individuals who were too wretched to fight themselves a spot in a major square. Malnourished children and age-withered adults called out with apprehensive voices; men missing two or more limbs huddled in corners, their soot-stained forms almost invisible in the shadows.
Kelsier reached reflexively for his coin purse. Stay on track, he told himself. You can’t save them all, not with coins. There will be time for these once the Final Empire is gone.
Ignoring the piteous cries—which became louder once the beggars realized he was watching them—Kelsier studied each face in turn. He had only seen Camon briefly, but he thought that he’d recognize the man. However, none of the faces looked right, and none of the beggars had Camon’s girth, which should have still been noticeable despite weeks of starvation.
He’s not here, Kelsier thought with dissatisfaction. Kelsier’s order—given to Milev, the new crewleader—that Camon be made a beggar had been carried out. Dockson had checked on Camon to make certain.
Camon’s absence in the square could simply mean that he’d gained a better spot. It could also mean that the Ministry had found him. Kelsier stood quietly for a moment, listening to the beggars’ haunted moanings. A few flakes of ash began to float down from the sky.