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

Olrick lay on the straw mat of hiscell, doing his best to get some sleep. They didn’t take any chances with theirnewly recaptured prisoner, this time: the second they got him into his cell andshackled his wrists behind his back, chaining him to the wall, they strippedhim of all of his weapons and anything else he could possibly use to escape andshackled his ankles together. They left him lying like that, barely able tomove around the small cell. Already, he was dreading the next time he’d have topee; he either had to figure out how to get his pants off with shackles on, orhe would have to ask one of the Giskens to do it for him.

Afterhe’d been laying there for what felt like hours, he could hear the sound of someonewalking towards his cell, accompanied by what sounded like an argument.

Olricklay still, listening to what was going on outside.

“-Inall honesty, I don’t think you should be telling me what is and isn’trespectable in a time of war.” That voice was that of General Raul. “Your mendeliberately stole information from my room during a peace conference. As youalready know, this is against the rules of engagement.”

“You’vealso broken those rules, General.” Olrick could hardly believe it. Had Polainreally come down here? He was pretty sure that was the first time he’d evercome down there. “We caught one of your men trying to break into my room,tonight.” The footsteps stopped just a few feet from his cell.

Olrickrolled onto his stomach and sat up on his knees, straining to hear what was goingon outside his cell. Never in a million years had he thought that Polain wouldcome to get him from the Giskens.

“Whatdo you want me to do, Polain?” Raul asked. “I’m not going to just let asaboteur free.”

“Iwant a prisoner exchange,” Polain said. “I’ll give you back your spy, you’llgive me back mine.” For a few seconds, there was silence outside the cell.Then, Raul began to laugh.

“Youmust be joking,” he said. “What makes you think I’d give you back a commanderso I could get a corporal back?”

“Becausethat isn’t the only thing I have to hold over your head, believe me,” Polainsaid. The poison in his voice surprised Olrick. “That corporal has told us somevery interesting things to try and save his skin. I’m afraid that thisparticular corporal is a bit of a coward; you may want to take a closer look atthe men you send to do your dirty work the next time you try to do somethinglike this. If I don’t get Commander Olrick back, I’ll tell my friends inMirinia, and you’ll never get so much as a butter knife from them, again.”

Onceagain, there was silence in the prison corridor. Olrick could almost see theshocked look on Raul’s face in his mind’s eye as his mind raced to think ofwhat secrets his captured corporal could’ve mentioned to his Caithianinterrogators.

Apparently,whatever the corporal had mentioned was pretty damning, because Olrick’s cellwas opening a few seconds later.

Olrickhad to squint against the lantern light for a few seconds as a Gisken soldierwalked into his cell. He pulled him to his feet and began taking the shacklesoff.

“Imust say, I’m surprised by his condition,” Polain said. Gods, he was pissed;Olrick actually found himself wondering if he’d be safer in Gisken hands. “Ithought you guys would have roughed him up, by now.”

“No,this isn’t the spy we interrogated,” Raul said. He was holding all the thingsthey took from him when they first arrested him. “I’m afraid this one helpedher escape.”

Olrickfound himself growing tense. Those bastards interrogatedher?! He swore on all that’s holy, he was going to kill them!

Hedecided that that wouldn’t be the best thing to do right then. He was damnedlucky to be getting out of this mess as it was; might as well not ruin it bystrangling one of the Giskens.

TheGisken soldier shoved him out of the cell, right into Polain. Raul handed himhis things back.

“Trynot to get too comfortable,” Raul said. “I swear on all that’s holy, if I replaceyou in the city when I come, I’ll kill you.”

“Sameto you,” Olrick said.

Polaingrabbed his arm and pulled him away. “Let’s go; we have a lot to discuss.” Thetwo of then walked away from Raul and his soldiers as Olrick put his weaponsback on their proper places.

“Whatin the names of the gods were you thinking?” Polain asked once they were out ofearshot of Raul and his men. He was tense; his posture was stiff and hisJotiese accent was thicker than usual. “Do you want to be sent to Kurzh in chains?”

“Ididn’t want Elise to be sent there,” Olrick said. “Sorry for taking responsibilityfor what we did.”

“Admittingwhat you did is taking responsibility,” Polain said. “Smashing a window, killingten soldiers, putting a knife in the knee of another and getting yourselfarrested for sabotage is just reckless.” He pulled a knife out from his robeand handed it to him. “The one you threw this knife at gave this back, by theway. He said you were planning on coming back for it.”

Olrickput the knife back in the sheathe on his leg. “So what did that corporal say?”

“Hedidn’t say anything,” Polain said. “We never got the chance to interrogate him,thanks to your little stunt.”

Olrickhad to admit, that impressed him. Polain had only warmed up to the idea of anintelligence service during the past few years. The fact that he’d done his owndouble cross, even one as simple as that, was a first.

Hedecided to not mention it, though. Polain was close enough to killing him, andhe didn’t think he would appreciate it if he were to talk about it.

“What’sthe plan, then?” Olrick asked. They began to walk up the stairs of the dungeon

“Well,we don’t have much of a choice in that, thanks to your little operation,” Polainsaid. “We have to prepare our men for battle.” They came out of the dungeonsand into one of the many long corridors of Castle Matisse. “General Raul’sarmies are just a few days march from here; odds are, they’ll be here to laysiege by the end of the week.”

Olricksighed running a hand through his hair. They weren’t ready for that; even withthe intelligence lag, he was well aware of that. They’d be outnumbered nearlyfive to one, even if they drafted the Rooks and the Watchmen into the fight andif Kylar’s ships managed to keep the Jotiese navy out of the river. The onlyway they could possibly win this battle was through a miracle.

“Olrick,I hope your gods are in a good mood,” Polain said. “The only way we canpossibly come out on top is with their intervention.”

The entire castle wastense the next morning, enough that Elise felt like she was drowning in it. Sheheard her fellow servants whispering about what had happened the previous nighteverywhere she went: she heard rumors about why Raul was suddenly packing up toleave that were as simple as Raul simply deciding that a negotiated peacewasn’t the kind he wanted to something as scandalous as one of the servinggirls having an affair with him, and Raul wanting to get out dodge now thatsaid serving girl was with his bastard child. Of course, none of them werequite accurate, and nobody seemed to think she had anything to do with theprevious night’s incident, or that Raul was leaving because of a breach of somesort of international military treatise. At least, that’s what Polain keptraving about to Silas and Eza. It all hung over the castle like theexecutioner’s axe, and it made everyone – especially Elise – extremelyuncomfortable.

Thetension in the castle wasn’t even the worst part of her day. That came whileshe was sitting in her room that afternoon, eating a humble lunch thatconsisted of the same thing her meal in the dungeon did: rice with some meat,covered in sauce, with a roll on the side. She was halfway done with her lunchwhen there was a gentle knock at the door.

Eliseput her food down on her bed and walked over to the door, confused. She’d kepta low enough profile that day that most people in the castle didn’t realize shewas still around; who would be knocking on her door?

Whenshe opened her door, her heart stopped. Finn was standing there, his lipscreased in a frown.

Eliseopened the door wider and stood to the side, looking down at her feet. “Comein.” The second he stepped through the door, she shut the door behind him.

Fora few seconds, they didn’t say anything. Finally, Finn cleared his throat. “So,you’re a spy for General Polain?”

“Usedto be,” Elise said quietly. “I’m going back to the medical core to finish mytraining tomorrow.” Finn swallowed hard and nodded. He was upset, that wasobvious, and how could she blame him? She couldn’t even imagine how it mustfeel to know that someone you cared about had gone against everything you stoodfor.

“Iknow that you probably don’t have the best opinion about me, now, and that youprobably don’t want to see me again after this,” Elise said. Already, she couldfeel a lump beginning to form in her throat. In the past few months, everybodyshe’d ever known and cared about had started leaving her: Milo, Papa, Olrick…she just couldn’t stomach the thought of losing Finn in this mess, too. “I justwant you to know that I’m so sorry about all this. I swear, I wasn’t using youto get information.”

“Iknow,” Finn said. “Olrick told me that last night, before he went to get you.”He looked up at her. “And you’re wrong about that first part. I still love you,Elise, and I want nothing more than to see you after all this.”

Elisecould feel tears beginning to brew in her eyes. How could he forgive her soeasily, without question? She couldn’t help but feel like she didn’t deservethat, not so soon after she’d betrayed him so.

Shewrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his coat. “I love you.”

Hewrapped his arms around her. His embrace was warm and comforting, like ablanket. “I love you, too.”

Fora few seconds, the two of them just stood there, taking in the moment. Eliseallowed the hug to comfort her, to silence the fears that had been brewing inher for the past day. In that moment, the world seemed to dissolve around them.There were no General Raul, no war, no pain or sadness; there was just the twoof them in that humble little room, realizing just how much they’d fallen foreach other.

Aftera few minutes, they left the embrace. Now that Elise was away from Finn’schest, she could see that she’d left a big wet spot on his shirt from hertears.

“I’msorry about your shirt,” she said quietly, wiping her eyes. Finn looked down atthe wet spot on his shirt.

“It’salright,” he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked to bea handkerchief. The second it came out, Finn became more nervous; it seemedthat, whatever it was for, it was significant enough to make him antsy.

“So,in Gishk, when you really like a girl, it’s tradition to give her ahandkerchief to show her how you feel,” Finn said as he looked down at thehandkerchief. When he handed it to her, she saw that had been hand embroideredon the hem with what looked to be flowers. While it certainly wasn’t the bestembroidery job she’d ever seen, it was surprisingly good, considering that itwas a man who did it. In fact, she didn’t think she could do much better.

“Iknow that my mother would probably die of horror if she were to see thatembroidery,” Finn said. “But it isn’t too bad, is it?”

“It’sjust fine,” Elise said, wiping her still teary eyes on the handkerchief.

“Areyou sure?” Finn asked. He looked to the side and began to rub the back of hisneck. “I mean, is this sort of thing acceptable in Caitha? I don’t exactly knowthat much about how you guys do this kind of thing-“

“It’sfine, really,” Elise said, smiling. “I don’t know how people do this here,either.” For a few seconds, they stood there in an awkward silence, until Finncleared his throat.

“Well,I guess I should get going,” Finn said. “We’re supposed to be out of here thisafternoon, and I haven’t finished packing.”

Elisenodded. “I’ll see you soon?” Finn nodded.

“Seeyou soon.” The two of them hugged, again.

WhenFinn left and Elise began to eat her lunch, again, she started to get a nervousfeeling in her stomach. With the peace negotiations in the chamber pot, thenext time Finn would be in the city, he would be there as a conquering soldier.What if he got hurt in the upcoming battle, or – gods forbid – killed? Shedidn’t think she would be able to handle that very well.

Sheprayed to the gods that the next time she saw him, he would be alive and well.