Mistborn #03 The Hero of Ages

away. Two guards who had been pretending to be Yomen's dinner partners stood up from their seats, pulling staves from beneath the table.
    "You liar," Yomen spat as Elend landed on the dining table. "Thief, butcher, tyrant!"
    Elend shrugged, then shot coins at the two guards, easily dropping them both. He jumped for Yomen, grabbing the man around the neck, yanking him backward. Gasps and screams came from the crowd.
    Elend squeezed, choking Yomen. No strength flooded the man's limbs. No Allomantic Pull or Push tried to shake him from Elend's grasp. The obligator barely even struggled.
    Either he's no Allomancer, Elend thought, or he's one hell of an actor.
    He let Yomen go, pushing the king back toward his dining table. Elend shook his head—that was one mystery that was—
    Yomen jumped forward, pulling out a glass knife, slashing. Elend started, ducking backward, but the knife hit, slicing a gash in his forearm. The cut blazed with pain, enhanced by Elend's tin, and Elend cursed, stumbling away.
    Yomen struck again, and Elend should have been able to dodge. He had pewter, and Yomen was still moving with the clumsiness of an unenhanced man. Yet, the attack moved with Elend, somehow managing to take him in the side. Elend grunted, blood hot on his skin, and he looked into Yomen's eyes. The king pulled the knife free, easily dodging Elend's counterstrike. It was almost like . . .
    Elend burned electrum, giving himself a bubble of false atium images. Yomen hesitated immediately, looking confused.
    He's burning atium, Elend thought with shock. That means he is Mistborn!
    Part of Elend wanted to stay and fight, but the cut in his side was bad—bad enough that he knew he needed to get it taken care of soon. Cursing his own stupidity, he Pushed himself into the air, dropping blood on the terrified nobility clustered below. He should have listened to Vin—he was going to get a serious lecture when he got back to camp.
    He landed, and noted that Yomen had chosen not to follow. The obligator king stood behind his table, holding a knife red with Elend's blood, watching with anger.
    Elend turned, throwing up a handful of coins and Pushing them into the air above the heads of the ballgoers—careful not to hit any of them. They cowered in fear, throwing themselves to the ground. Once the coins landed, Elend Pushed off of them to send himself in a short, low jump through the room and toward the exit Vin had indicated. Soon, he entered an outdoor patio cloaked with mist.
    He glanced back at the building, feeling frustrated, though he didn't know why. He had done his part—he'd kept Yomen and his guests distracted for a good half hour. True, he'd gotten himself wounded, but he had discovered that Yomen was an Allomancer. That was worth knowing.
    He dropped a coin and shot himself into the air.
    Three hours later, Elend sat in the command tent with Ham, waiting quietly.
    He got his side and arm patched. Vin didn't arrive.
    He told the others about what had happened. Vin didn't arrive.
    Ham forced him to get something to eat. Elend paced for an hour after that, and still Vin did not return.
    "I'm going back," Elend said, standing.
    Ham looked up. "El, you lost a lot of blood. I'd guess that only pewter is keeping you on your feet."
    It was true. Elend could feel the edges of fatigue beneath his veil of pewter. "I can handle it."
    "You'll kill yourself that way," Ham said.
    "I don't care. I—" Elend cut off as his tin-enhanced ears heard someone approaching the tent. He pulled back the flaps before the man even arrived, startling him.
    "My lord!" the man said. "Message from the city."
    Elend snatched the letter, ripping it open.
    Pretender Venture, the note said, I have her, as you have probably guessed. There's one thing I've always noted about Mistborn. To a man, they are overconfident. Thank you for the stimulating conversation. I'm glad I was able to keep you distracted for so long.
    King Yomen.

Vin sat quietly in the dark cavern. Her back rested against the stone block that was the door to her prison. Beside her, on the rock floor, sat the dwindling lantern she'd brought into the massive room.
    She'd Pushed and she'd Pulled, trying to force her way out. However, she'd soon realized that the broken stones she'd seen on the outside—the work project she'd assumed had been used to open the door—had actually had a different purpose. Yomen had apparently removed the metal plates inside the door, the ones that an Allomancer