Mistborn #03 The Hero of Ages

brother always banished her from his conferences , Spook thought. Never told her anything important. Left her feeling like she was useless . . . .
    "I need to get your brother to use his Allomancy in front of the people," Spook found himself saying. "To let them see that he's a hypocrite."
    Beldre looked back.
    "The board is filled with my ideas," Spook said. "Most of them aren't very good. I'm kind of leaning toward just attacking him, making him defend himself."
    "That won't work," Beldre said.
    "Why not?"
    "He won't use Allomancy against you. He wouldn't expose himself like that."
    "If I threaten him strongly enough he will."
    Beldre shook her head. "You promised not to hurt him. Remember?"
    "No," Spook said, raising a finger. "I promised to try to find another way. And, I don't intend to kill him. I just need to make him think that I'd kill him."
    Beldre fell silent again. His heart lurched.
    "I won't do it, Beldre," Spook said. "I won't kill him."
    "You promise that?"
    Spook nodded.
    She looked up at him, then smiled. "I want to write him a letter. Perhaps I can talk him into listening to you; we could avoid the need for this in the first place."
    "All right . . ." Spook said. "But, you realize I'll have to read the letter to make certain you're not revealing anything that could hurt my position."
    Beldre nodded.
    Of course, he'd do more than read it. He'd rewrite it on another sheet of paper, changing the line order, and then add a few unimportant words. He'd worked on too many thieving crews to be unaware of ciphers. But, assuming that Beldre was being honest with him, a letter from her to Quellion was a good idea. It couldn't help but strengthen Spook's position.
    He opened his mouth to ask whether or not her sleeping accommodations were acceptable, but cut himself off as he heard someone approaching. Harder footsteps this time. Captain Goradel, he guessed.
    Sure enough, the soldier appeared around the corner to Spook's "room" a short time later.
    "My lord," the soldier said. "You should see this."
    The soldiers were gone.
    Sazed looked through the window with the others, inspecting the empty plot of ground where Quellion's troops had been camped for the last few weeks, watching the Ministry building.
    "When did they leave?" Breeze asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
    "Just now," Goradel explained.
    The move felt ominous to Sazed for some reason. He stood beside Spook, Breeze, and Goradel—though the others seemed to take the soldiers' retreat as a good sign.
    "Well, it will make sneaking out easier," Goradel noted.
    "More than that," Spook said. "It means I can incorporate our own soldiers in the plan against Quellion. We'd never have gotten them out of the building secretly with half an army on our doorstep, but now . . ."
    "Yes," Goradel said. "But where did they go? Do you think Quellion is suspicious of us?"
    Breeze snorted. "That, my dear man, sounds like a question for your scouts. Why not have them search out where that army went?"
    Goradel nodded. But then, to Sazed's slight surprise, the soldier looked toward Spook for a confirmation. Spook nodded, and the captain moved off to give the orders.
    He looks to the boy over Breeze and I , Sazed thought. He shouldn't have been surprised. Sazed himself had agreed to let Spook take the lead, and to Goradel, all three of them—Sazed, Breeze, Spook—were probably equal. All were in Elend's inner circle, and of the three, Spook was the best warrior. It made sense for Goradel to look to him as a source of authority.
    It just felt strange to see Spook giving orders to the soldiers. Spook had always been so quiet during the days of the original crew. And yet, Sazed was beginning to respect the boy too. Spook knew how to give orders in a way that Sazed could not, and he had shown remarkable foresight in his preparations in Urteau, as well as his plans to overthrow Quellion. He had a flair for the dramatic that Breeze kept saying was remarkable.
    And yet, there was that bandage on the boy's eyes, and the other things he hadn't explained. Sazed knew that he should have pushed harder for answers, but the truth was that he trusted Spook. Sazed had known Spook from the lad's young teenage years, when he'd barely been capable of communicating with others.
    As Goradel moved off, Spook looked to Sazed and Breeze. "Well?"
    "Quellion is planning something," Breeze said. "Seems too early to jump to conclusions, though."
    "I agree," Spook said. "For now, we go forward