The Last Stand (The Eleven Years War: Book One)
Chapter Fifteen

To say the least, Kael’s attempt tojoin the Caithians wasn’t quite going as he’d planned it.

He’dknown that they probably wouldn’t accept him at first (he was, after all, aGisken,) but he hadn’t expected to get his ass handed to him by a young girl,even after years of him training, then to get dragged to Asfalis and throwninto a dungeon, chained to a wall. It wasn’t the most dignified existence onthe planet, but in all honesty, it certainly wasn’t the worst one he’d experienced:he wasn’t sleeping in the filthy streets of the Gisken capital of Lügenburg,praying that Raul’s men wouldn’t replace him, he wasn’t in the cold basement of aloyalist, hardly daring to breathe in case Raul’s men were nearby, he wasn’tstarving to death in some Gisken prison, he wasn’t decomposing in some ditch;he was in the Caithians' hands, an arrangement that wasn’t all that bad.

Yes, the brig wasn’tthe most comfortable place he’d been in, but it had to be the most comfortableprison he’d ever been in. There was a straw bed with a somewhat thick blanket,and light that drifted in through a small peephole in the wooden door, meaningthat he wasn’t left in total darkness, they’d let him keep his clothes, andthere either weren’t any guards by his cell or they were much more pleasant inCaitha, because nobody spat at him or beat him up for the hell of it. It mayhave passed as a sort of hell there, but to him, it was like the paradise ofprisons.

After a few minutesof him sitting in his cell, unsure of how to pass the time to keep himself fromgoing insane, he had his first visitor. It was the huge tree of a man that hadgotten angry with the girl that brought him to the fort. He sat down on thefloor in front of him, giving him the same look a farmer would to a cow he wasconsidering buying.

“Now, my commanderclaims that you’re a Gisken assassin, here to kill anyone of much importance,”the man said. “Before I end up having to execute you for espionage, I thought Imay as well hear it from you. If I were you, I’d tell me exactly why you’rehere, before I get out the ax.” Kael took a deep breath; looks like the stakeshad just been raised.

“I need to talk tothe general,” he said, trying to keep his voice from quivering. Please, gods,don’t let this sound too suspicious!

“Sorry, pal, but I’mnot letting you loose so you can tell that bastard you Giskens call a generaleverything about our defenses,” the man said. “I certainly hope that wasn’t theonly card you have to play, because that was kind of pathetic.”

“I’m not talkingabout General Raul,” he said. To his surprise, the man began to laugh.

“And why the hellshould I bring him into this?” he asked.

“Because he knows whoI am,” Kael said.

“And who is that,Mitrius of Kurzh?” the man asked. “I hate to break it to you, boy, but GeneralPolain doesn’t know any Gisken gutter shits like you.”

Kael could feel angerrising in him. He’d been called all sorts of things in the ten years since Raulusurped the throne; however, gutter shit was the only insult that still managedto piss him off. It reminded him that, no matter how much he may want to, hecouldn’t just tell people who he was. A gutter shit was the one thing he knewhe wasn’t, but it was the thing he’d had to be in order to stay alive.

Well, not anymore.

“You don’t have theright to speak to me like that,” he snapped, his fists clenched in anger. Theman raised an eyebrow, though whether or not it was amusement or surprise, Kaelwasn’t sure.

“And who are you,exactly?” the man asked, leaning against the cell wall. “Let me guess: you’rethe god of justice incarnate, coming here to kill me for my crimes againsthuman kind or something equally stupid.”

“I’m Prince KaelAlthaus, heir to the Gisken throne.” For a few seconds, the cell was silent, asif the man were trying to digest the information. Then, he burst out in a fitof laughter.

“What?” Kael askedquickly. “What’s so funny?” The man held up one finger as tears welled up inhis eyes. He couldn’t breathe, he was laughing so hard.

“Nothing,” he said, wipingthe tears from his eyes with one finger. “It’s just that I could’ve sworn youjust said that you’re the prince of Gishk.”

“But I am!” The mansimply kept laughing as he stood back up.

“Yeah, sure you are,”he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I’ll be back in a minute; hell,maybe I’ll even get Polain down here. The man could use a laugh.” With that, heleft Kael’s cell.

Kael looked up at theceiling and sighed. He supposed that that could have gone a lot better.

Then again, itcould’ve been a lot worse, too.

Thepractice field was void of any people, other than a few officers who weredrinking and laughing near the mess hall. Thank the gods, they were nowherenear the part of the training field that Watch recruits were using for archerypractice. It meant that Elise didn’t have to be too sneaky when she went to thefield to try and learn how to use a bow.

Theday was a tad on the chilly side, but after being cooped up in the infirmary,reading from the medical book and practicing new healing techniques with Doc,it felt good to be outside. In the past few hours, she’d developed so much as ahealer, more than she had in years, but, after talking with Eza about what hadhappened to her and Olrick in Thaos, a guilty feeling had started to eat ather. Olrick had done everything in his power to keep her safe; even after she’dtried to save him, he’d had to carry her to Asfalis. When she thought about it,it made her feel sick at how many times she could’ve gotten him killed becauseshe couldn’t defend herself. She didn’t want to put anyone else through thatagain.

Sadly,her plan hit a snag almost the second she stepped onto the archery range: shephysically wasn’t strong enough to use a bow.

Elisehad known that she would struggle with the bow, but she wasn’t prepared for howmuch she would struggle. She couldn’t even pull the bow all the way back, letalone shoot. She was preoccupied enough with attempting to pull the bow to fulldraw that she didn’t even notice when Eza walked out and began to watch.

“Fancyyourself an archer, do you?” Elise turned around to see Eza, sitting with herlegs crossed on the table where she’d gotten her bow, her staff resting acrossher lap. Her face was its usual stony self, something that made Elise even morenervous than she would have been if Eza had looked angry; only the Gods knewexactly how she felt about this.

“Howlong have you been sitting there?” Elise asked.

“Longenough to know that you don’t know what you’re doing,” Eza said. Her voice wascalm and steady, without a hint of anger, bitterness, or, well, anything. “What made you want to comeout here and attempt to shoot?” Elise looked down at her feet.

“I-Ijust…” she began, but stopped. Why couldn’t she replace the right words? It madeher even more embarrassed than her attempts to shoot did.

“Youjust what?” Eza asked. To Elise’s surprise, she sounded curious. Was she not angry with her?

Elisesighed. “I just want don’t want anyone else to get themselves hurt, trying tokeep me safe.” Eza considered the statement for a few seconds, then stood up,set her staff down on the table, then walked toward her.

“Giveme the bow,” she said. Elise handed her the bow. It looked like she wouldn’t bedoing any more archery.

Ratherthan putting it back on the table and ushering her inside like Elise expectedher to do, Eza began inspecting the bow, running her hand along the wood,pulling the string back with much more ease than Elise had. Even so, shenoticed how her arms shook slightly with the strain.

“That’swhy you couldn’t pull it back,” Eza said. “You’ve managed to pick the bow withone of the highest draw weights we have; I don’t think many people beyond Silashave been able to use it for an extended amount of time.” She set the bow downon the table and picked up an odd-looking one, with the tips curved away fromEza. She handed it to Elise. “Try this one. I think this one will be aboutright for you.”

Elisetook the bow in her hands. It was a little shorter than the bow she’d beenattempting to use, though not by much, and felt like it weighed about the same.However, when she pulled back the string, she found that it gave much easierthan the other bow had; she even managed to pull it all the way back.

“Howis that?” Eza asked. Elise looked over at her.

“Muchbetter, thank you,” she said. “I-I should probably get back inside; Doc told methat he might need my help with all the people who were injured duringtraining, today.” She went to set the bow back on the table, but Eza stoppedher.

“Keepit,” she said. “We hardly have anyone who needs something as light as that,anymore.” Elise dropped her arm to her side.

“Thankyou,” she said. Eza picked up her staff and began to walk toward the mess hall,where those assigned to Fort Asfalis were having supper.

“Whyare you helping me with this?” Elise blurted out. Eza stopped walking andlooked over her shoulder at her. Elise found her cheeks beginning to burn red,embarrassed about her outburst; however, Eza didn’t seem to mind, though shewouldn’t have showed it if she did. In fact, Elise could’ve sworn that herstone hard face softened just a little.

“Youknow what you said about not wanting others to get hurt on your behalf?” sheasked. Elise nodded.

“Iknow how you feel,” Eza said. “I felt that way every day when I first came here.”