A pair of rough hands hoisted her into the air. She coughed as the Inquisitor shoved something into her mouth.
“Swallow,” he ordered, twisting her arm.
Vin cried out, trying without success to resist the pain. Eventually, she gave in and swallowed the bit of metal.
“Now burn it,” the Inquisitor ordered, twisting harder.
Vin resisted nonetheless, sensing the unfamiliar metal reserve within her. The Inquisitor could be trying to get her to burn a useless metal, one that would make her sick—or, worse, kill her.
But, there are easier ways to kill a captive, she thought in agony. Her arm hurt so much that it felt like it would twist free. Finally, Vin relented, burning the metal.
Immediately, all of her other metal reserves vanished.
“Good,” the Inquisitor said, dropping her to the ground. The stones were wet, pooled with a bucketful of water. The Inquisitor turned, leaving the cell and slamming its barred door; then he disappeared through a doorway on the other side of the room.
Vin crawled to her knees, massaging her arm, trying to sort out what was going on. My metals! She searched desperately inside, but she found nothing. She couldn’t feel any metals, not even the one she had ingested moments before.
What was it? A twelfth metal? Perhaps Allomancy wasn’t as limited as Kelsier and the others had always assured her.