Contents
Chapter 72
Overview
Vin returns to ruined Luthadel to bait Ruin’s Inquisitors and is overwhelmed by their new Feruchemical powers. As Marsh tortures her, he recognizes Vin’s earring as a hemalurgic spike and rips it free, severing Ruin’s hold. The mists rush to Vin, she takes their power, and turns the fight’s tide.
Summary
Vin arrives at rain-soaked, devastated Luthadel and positions herself at Kredik Shaw, intending to draw Ruin’s forces away from the atium by making them think she knows its location. A dozen-plus Inquisitors, led by an extensively spiked Marsh, converge on her.
The battle erupts across the palace spires. Vin exploits steel and duralumin Pushes and briefly kills one Inquisitor by impaling him on a spire, but she realizes the others now possess Feruchemical strength and speed via added spikes, making each a Lord Ruler–like foe. Outnumbered and wounded, she exhausts her metals and is captured.
With her pewter gone and the mists refusing her, Marsh methodically breaks Vin’s bones under Ruin’s direction. As he revels in violence, Marsh’s buried will resurfaces, shamed by past surrender and stirred by memories of Kelsier and Vin. He notices Vin’s earring—a tiny spike—and recalls warnings that any pierced metal enables Ruin’s touch.
Acting before Ruin can stop him, Marsh rips the earring from Vin’s ear, silencing Ruin’s voice within her. The mists immediately return, responding to her faint tin, and a familiar presence reminds her the mists are the same power as the Well—another form of Preservation’s power.
On the brink of death, Vin inhales the mists. Strength floods her; pain vanishes. As Marsh swings to behead her, Vin catches his arm, newly empowered, signaling a decisive shift in the conflict.
Who Appears
- VinProtagonist; lures Inquisitors to Kredik Shaw, is captured and tortured, then freed from Ruin’s influence and draws power from the mists.
- MarshInquisitor under Ruin; leads the attack, tortures Vin, then rebels and removes her spiked earring, breaking Ruin’s hold on her.
- RuinAntagonistic Shard; manipulates Inquisitors and Marsh, seeks atium, torments Vin until severed from her by the earring’s removal.
- Steel InquisitorsThirteen attackers enhanced with new hemalurgic and Feruchemical powers; battle Vin across Kredik Shaw.
- KelsierRemembered mentor; Marsh’s memories of Kelsier and Vin help spark Marsh’s rebellion against Ruin.