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

The next week was tense for Elise asshe, Silas and Olrick waited for Eza to return from the north. They tried toact normal in front of Polain (who simply thought that the Rook commander wason business at a small fort just outside of Semata) but it was hard to pretendlike they weren’t nervous about what was going on with Eza. Without any sort ofletter from her, they couldn’t help but wonder if she was safe, or in Giskenhands, awaiting shipment to Kurzh, or, gods forbid, dead. Silas checked theintelligence core headquarters for news from her every day, but day after day,there still wasn’t a single report with her signature on it. He was on theverge of sending Olrick back into Gisken territory, but he never did; he didn’tsee the use in losing both of his best officers to Jastan.

Elisealso found it hard to go anywhere near Raul’s room without being in a sort ofpanic. Every time he so much as glanced at her as she performed her dutiesaround the castle, she couldn’t help but think that he knew something aboutwhat she was doing; she could see it in the looks he gave her as she made hisbed and swept his floors. There was something smug about them, like he knewsomething that she didn’t. They terrified her, to the point where it took everyounce of strength she had to keep herself from shaking while she was with him.Her fear of him only seemed to make him more intimidating, as if he grewstronger as she grew more frightened of him.

Theonly amount of pleasure she was able to replace in her weekly trips to GeneralRaul’s room were her infrequent encounters with Captain Finn. Every once andawhile, she’d run into him as she carried his linens away from his room, orwhen she delivered dinner to the general at night. Every time, without fail, hewould help her with whatever chore she happened to be doing at the moment andwould often ask her about how she was doing. He asked about what she’d been upto as of late, how she was settling into life at the castle, how her ongoingmedic training was going; though the conversations were sometimes awkwardtowards the beginning, but those soon disappeared as they slowly becamefriends.

And,sadly, her blooming friendship with Finn had come to the attention of Silas.

“Who’syour new boyfriend, Elise?” Silas asked as they sat on the couches in thelord’s alcove, waiting for Eza. After two weeks of silence, Eza had finallysent a messenger bird their way; she’d spent the past few weeks travelling fromsome fishing town Elise had never heard of to other cities, gatheringinformation, and she was coming back to Semata to share what she’d found.

Elise’scheeks began to burn red with embarrassment. “B-boyfriend?”

“Youknow what I mean,” Silas said, folding his arms over his chest. “That blondeGisken soldier that looks at you like a goddess incarnated?”

Shelooked down at her feet and she began to wring out her hands. “What about him?”

“Youseem to be getting pretty attached to him,” Olrick said. “I’m a little worriedthat you might say or do something around him that could tip him off to whatwe’re doing.”

Eliselooked up at them and frowned. “Like what?”

“Haveyou told him anything that might clue him into why you’re really here?” Silasasked. “Something like your relation with me, Olrick, or Eza?”

Eliseshook her head. “I-I don’t think so; he’s never asked me about anything likethat, and I never thought to tell him.” She could see Olrick relax, relieved,but Silas didn’t seem convinced.

Beforehe could question her further, Eza walked into the room. She was pretty dirty:the hem of her cloak was caked in mud and her boots were absolutely covered init, and every inch of her that wasn’tcovered in mud was smeared with dirt and what looked to be soot. It almost madeElise cringe to see her walk across the newly cleaned floors; she really didn’twant to clean the room, again.

“Isee that you’ve had a lot of fun in the mud,” Silas said as Eza plopped down onthe couch. Gods, that would be a pain to clean, later. “What did you replace out?”

Sheran a hand through her hair. “We do, in fact, have a bit of an intelligencegap; there’s been an invasion in the north for nearly a month, now.”

Silascursed. “And what about Jastan? Have the Giskens taken it?”

Ezashook her head. “I warned Jastan’s garrison about the attack. They’re ready forthem, but there’s no way in hell they can stand up to a newly reinforced army;if we want to keep the city in Caithian hands, we need to get a few of ourbattalions over there to reinforce them, and maybe get a few of our warships upriver to keep the Jotiese navy from bombarding the city.”

Elisefrowned, confused. “How do you get a boat up river? Wouldn’t the current begoing against it?”

“That’sexactly why it’s such a pain in the ass to do it,” Silas said. “Knowing Kylar,though, he’ll do it, but he’ll complain about it the entire time. He loveschallenges like this, even if he says he doesn’t.”

“Then,that brings us to Polain,” Olrick said. “He isn’t just going to let us take acouple battalions to reinforce a city he doesn’t think is in trouble.”

“So,we need to come up with some evidence that Jastan’s about to fall,” Eza said,folding her arms over her chest. “And forget about using that letter Elise gotfor us; he’ll skin us alive, then killus if he replaces out we took information from Raul’s room during a peaceconference.”

Olrickand Silas nodded in agreement; it seemed that they knew first hand whathappened when Polain discovered that they’d gone over his head.

Olrickbegan to scratch the back of his head in the seconds of silence that followedwhat Eza said. “How hard would it be to forge a Gisken intelligence report?”

“Itwouldn’t be too hard, if stealing one from Raul’s room and making sure that itfits exactly with Gisken protocol is an option,” Eza said. “I somehow doubtthat Raul would take having one of his intelligence reports stolen well.”

“Whatif the letter we forged was an intelligence report from our side?” Elise asked.Silas, Eza and Olrick looked over at her, surprised. It almost seemed thatthey’d forgotten she was there.

Shelooked down at her feet and rubbed her forearm, suddenly embarrassed. “S-sorryif that’s a stupid idea.”

Silasbegan to scratch at his scruffy beard. “No, that’s not stupid; in fact, thatmight actually work.” Eza and Olrick nodded in agreement.

“HasPolain seen any of your guys’ intelligence reports?” Silas asked. Olricknodded.

“Igive him my reports the second I’m finished reading them, myself,” he said.“He’d almost certainly recognize a forged report from me.”

Silaslooked over at Eza. “What about you?”

“Ijust put everything I get into one report, including my sources,” she said.“Considering all the things I’ve tried to pull on him, though, I doubt thathe’ll trust a report from me on something so important as this without myincluding my source.”

Onceagain, Silas scratched at his beard; it seemed that it was the only way hecould think.

“Howlikely is it that Polain would trust a report in the hands of a messenger?”Silas asked.

“Likely,”Eza said. “I’ve been there when he’s gotten important messages; he acts on themimmediately.”

“So,we need to write a report from some outpost in the north he’s never heard of, thenget one of those boys from Asfalis to deliver it to him,” Silas said. “Hehasn’t seen any of them, has he?”

Olrickshook his head. “He’s been too occupied with making sure everything is toRaul’s liking to visit them.”

Ezastood up, revealing the stain her dirty pants and cloak had left for one of theservants – likely Elise - to clean up. “I’ll get one of the boys atheadquarters to start writing something up. Hopefully, Polain won’t see any ofour hands in this.” She nodded her goodbyes and walked out.

Silaslooked over at Olrick and Elise. “Now, we need to talk about what to do aboutRaul. Do you feel comfortable going back in there?”

“Youdon’t have to if you aren’t ready, yet,” Olrick quickly added. “There reallyisn’t that much of a rush.”

Elisefound herself nodding. She was still a little shaken up about what had happenedthe last time she’d snooped around his room, and she didn’t want to repeat theincident; what was keeping her from taking a break from it all? She guessedthat… well, that after seeing what everyone else was doing to keep the countryalive, what she was doing seemed small, almost insignificant. “I-I’m alright,as long as you two can guarantee that he won’t walk in on me, again.”

“There’sa peace meeting in a few days to discuss a possible treaty to end the war,”Olrick said. “He’ll be stuck in there for a few hours; plenty of time for youto sneak in, get some information, and get out without anyone seeing you.”

“Areyou sure?” Elise asked.

“Assure as we can be,” Silas said. “Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t becareful; we’ll try and make sure the meeting runs long enough for you to do it,but just in case, hurry your little behind along. As far as we know, everyone’sgoing to cave in to unconditional surrender the second we start talking about apossible peace treaty.”