Free Mistborn: The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson Page A

from which it was made—felt too light to be real. Any Allomancer who accidentally burned aluminum had their other metal reserves stripped away from them, leaving them powerless. Aluminum had been kept secret by the Steel Ministry; Vin had only found out about it on the night when she'd been captured by the Inquisitors, the same night she'd killed the Lord Ruler.
    They had never been able to figure out the proper Allomantic alloy of aluminum. Allomantic metals always came in pairs—iron and steel, tin and pewter, copper and bronze, zinc and brass. Aluminum and. . .something. Something powerful, hopefully. Her atium was gone. She needed an edge.
    Elend sighed, handing back the bar. "The last time you tried to burn one of those it left you sick for two days, Vin. I was terrified."
    "It can't kill me," Vin said. "Kelsier promised that burning a bad alloy would only make me sick."
    Elend shook his head. "Even Kelsier was wrong on occasion, Vin. Didn't you say that he misunderstood how bronze worked?"
    Vin paused. Elend's concern was so genuine that she felt herself being persuaded. However. . .
    When that army attacks, Elend is going to die . The city's skaa might survive—no ruler would be foolish enough to slaughter the people of such a productive city. The king, however, would be killed. She couldn't fight off an entire army, and she could do little to help with preparations.
    She did know Allomancy, however. The better she got at it, the better she'd be able to protect the man she loved.
    "I have to try it, Elend," she said quietly. "Clubs says that Straff won't attack for a few days—he'll need that long to rest his men from the march and scout the city for attack. That means I can't wait. If this metal does make me sick, I'll be better in time to help fight—but only if I try it now."
    Elend's face grew grim, but he did not forbid her. He had learned better than that. Instead, he stood. "Ham, you think this is a good idea?"
    Ham nodded. He was a warrior; to him, her gamble would make sense. She'd asked him to stay because she'd need someone to carry her back to her bed, should this go wrong.
    "All right," Elend said, turning back to Vin, looking resigned.
    Vin climbed into the chair, sat back, then took a pinch of the duralumin dust and swallowed it. She closed her eyes, and felt at her Allomantic reserves. The common eight were all there, well stocked. She didn't have any atium or gold, nor did she have either of their alloys. Even if she'd had atium, it was too precious to use except in an emergency—and the other three had only marginal usefulness.
    A new reserve appeared. Just as one had the four times before. Each time she'd burned an aluminum alloy, she'd immediately felt a blinding headache. You'd think I'd have learned . . .she thought. Gritting her teeth, she reached inside and burned the new alloy.
    Nothing happened.
    "Have you tried it yet?" Elend asked apprehensively.
    Vin nodded slowly. "No headache. But. . .I'm not sure if the alloy is doing anything or not."
    "But it's burning?" Ham asked.
    Vin nodded. She felt the familiar warmth from within, the tiny fire that told her that a metal was burning. She tried moving about a bit, but couldn't distinguish any change to her physical self. Finally she just looked up and shrugged.
    Ham frowned. "If it didn't make you sick, then you've found the right alloy. Each metal only has one valid alloy."
    "Or," Vin said, "that's what we've always been told."
    Ham nodded. "What alloy was this?"
    "Aluminum and copper," Vin said.
    "Interesting," Ham said. "You don't feel anything at all?"
    Vin shook her head.
    "You'll have to practice some more."
    "Looks like I'm lucky," Vin said, extinguishing the duralumin. "Terion came up with forty different alloys he thought we could try, once we had enough aluminum. This was only the fifth."
    "Forty?" Elend asked incredulously. "I wasn't aware that there were so many metals you could make an alloy from!"
    "You don't have to have two