Mistborn #03 The Hero of Ages

to move a river?"
    Three days in Urteau had allowed them to do as Spook had suggested, moving their troops into the Ministry building, ostensibly taking up residence inside of it. The Citizen couldn't know about the cache, otherwise he would have ransacked it. That meant Sazed and his team held a distinct advantage should events in the city turn ugly.
    They had pulled some of the furniture from the building above and arranged it—with sheets and tapestries to create "rooms"—amid the shelves in the cavern. Logic dictated that the cavern was the best place to spend their time, for should someone attack the Ministry building, the cavern was where they wanted to be. True, they'd be trapped—but with the supplies they had, they'd be able to survive indefinitely and work out a plan of escape.
    Sazed, Breeze, Spook, and Allrianne sat in one of these partitioned-off areas among the shelves of food. "The reason that the Lord Ruler made this lake is simple, I think." Sazed turned, glancing over his shoulder at the lake. "That water comes via an underground river, filtered—in all likelihood—through layers of rock. It is pure water, the likes of which you rarely see in the Final Empire. No ash, no sediment. The purpose of that water is to sustain a population should a disaster occur. If it were still flowing into the canals above, it would quickly get soiled and polluted by the population living in the city."
    "The Lord Ruler was looking to the future," Spook said, still wearing his strange eye bandage. He'd turned aside all questions and promptings regarding why he wore it, though Sazed was beginning to suspect it had to do with burning tin.
    Sazed nodded at the young man's comment. "The Lord Ruler wasn't worried about causing financial ruin in Urteau—he just wanted to make certain this cavern had access to a constant, flowing source of fresh water."
    "Isn't this all beside the point?" Allrianne asked. "So we have water. What about that maniac running the city?"
    Sazed paused, and the others turned to look to him. I am, unfortunately, in charge. "Well," he said, "we should speak of this. Emperor Venture has asked us to secure the city. As the Citizen has proven unwilling to meet with us again, we shall need to discuss other options."
    "That man needs to go," Spook said. "We need assassins."
    "I fear that wouldn't work very well, my dear boy," Breeze said.
    "Why not?" Spook asked. "We killed the Lord Ruler, and that worked pretty well."
    "Ah," Breeze said, raising a finger, "but the Lord Ruler was irreplaceable. He was a god, and so killing him created a psychological impact on his populace."
    Allrianne nodded. "This Citizen's not a force of nature, but a man—and men can be replaced. If we assassinate Quellion, one of his lackeys will simply take his place."
    "And we will be branded as murderers," Breeze added.
    "What, then?" Spook asked. "We leave him alone?"
    "Of course not," Breeze said. "If we want to take this city, we need to undermine him, then remove him. We prove that his entire system is faulty—that his government is, in essence, silly. If we manage that, we won't just stop him, we'll stop everyone who has worked with him and supported him. That is the only way we're going to take Urteau short of marching an army in here and seizing it by force."
    "And, since His Majesty kindly left us without any troops to speak of . . ." Allrianne said.
    "I am not convinced that such rash action is required," Sazed said. "Perhaps, given more time, we'll be able to work with this man."
    "Work with him?" Spook asked. "You've been here three days—isn't that enough for you to see what Quellion is like?"
    "I have seen," Sazed said. "And, to be perfectly honest, I do not know that I can fault the Citizen's views."
    The cavern fell silent.
    "Perhaps you should explain yourself, my dear man," Breeze said, sipping at a cup of wine.
    "The things that the Citizen says are not false," Sazed said. "We cannot blame him for teaching the very same things that Kelsier did. The Survivor spoke of killing the nobility—goodness knows, we all saw him engaging in that activity often enough. He spoke of revolution and of skaa ruling themselves."
    "He spoke of extreme actions during extreme times," Breeze said. "That's what you do when you need to motivate people. Even Kelsier wouldn't have taken it this far."
    "Perhaps," Sazed said. "But can we really be surprised that people who heard Kelsier speak have created this society? And, what