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

Once General Raul was alone in thetent, he finally found that he was able to relax. His cold, strong façade wentdown as he leaned back in his seat and grabbed a wine glass and a bottle ofvintage, Vercourian, red wine from the chest that he kept his personalbelongings in. It had come from the cellars of the king of Vercouria, given tohim after the surrender had been signed the year before. He’d been saving thedrink for the proper time, when he’d really needed it. He’d decided that thetime had come for him to break it out.

Oncehe’d poured a small amount of the drink into the glass and had taken a sip ofthe sweet-tasting drink, he pulled Chaya’s necklace out from under his shirt.It was a simple thing, made mostly of wooden beads with the varnish long peeledoff and a few tarnished, metal beads. There was one metal amulet on thenecklace, one that was shaped as a hand. The paint had long since come off thecenter part, but he knew what it was supposed to be: Chaya had told him thatthe necklace was supposed to represent the hand of the Abunaki god, of whomthey believed watched over them and protected them. Many of them ownednecklaces like the one in his hand as a reminder that their god would always bethere to protect them, but that wasn’t why he wore it; he wasn’t really one forreligion, unlike many of his countrymen. No, he wore it to remind himself ofher, of what allowing himself to be vulnerable had cost him. He’d never lethimself do it again: the costs were much too high.

Ashe held the necklace in his hand, memories of Chaya began to flood his mind. Heremembered her sweet smile, her long, dark hair, her caring eyes and warm,friendly laugh. He often wondered how his life could have turned outdifferently, if she hadn’t died, if he hadn’t known that she was going to havehis second child. Would he have settled down with Chaya somewhere rather thantrying to take over the world? Would Blair have been married with kids by nowif this war hadn’t happened? Would he have a daughter to worry about ratherthan his plan of attack to take the next city?

Hesupposed that it was too late for him to be having second doubts about theinvasions; it wasn’t like he could change his mind, pull his troops out of allthe places they’d conquered. No, the only way any of this could end, now, wasfor Mirinia to step into the fight. They’d never do that, not when it was somuch more profitable for them to remain neutral.

Aftera few moments by himself, drinking more wine in an attempt to calm his nerves,Blair walked into the tent. His brows were furrowed and his eyes were narrowedin anger. He saluted him, and General Raul saluted back.

“Sir,what the hell is going on?” he asked in Abunaki, his native language. GeneralRaul looked up at him.

“Excuseme, Lieutenant?” he asked, surprised. He hadn’t been addressed in such a mannerin a long time. Blair took a deep breath in order to calm himself down.

“S-sorry,sir,” he said. “I was just in the middle of interrogating the Watchman, whenCaptain Finn walked in and told me to stop. He said that you’ve ordered us tostop interrogating him, and I want to know why.” General Raul took a sip ofwine.

“Howwere you interrogating him?” he asked.

“Watertorture,” Blair said. “He was just about to tell me something, I’m sure of it!”General Raul took another sip of wine. Gods, had the king of Vercouria beenright about it; it was the best tasting drink he’d ever had.

“AmI not allowed to interrogate the Watchman anymore, sir?” Blair asked whenGeneral Raul didn’t respond.

“Watertorture’s fine,” he said. “Anything that puts much stress on his shoulderisn’t.” Blair’s look of anger turned into one of confusion, prompting him tocontinue.

“Doyou remember that girl?” General Raul asked. “The one who was hiding theWatchman?” Blair gave him a look.

“Yougave in to her-“

“Letme finish,” he said. For once in his life, Blair managed to hold his tongue.“Nalia ran into her when she came to talk to me about him; she said she’s amage. A pyromancer, to be exact.” Once again, Blair looked confused, then skeptical.

“She’s a mage?” he asked. “Even if she were one, she certainly wouldn’t bestrong enough to cause any trouble.”

“I’mnot going to take that chance, Lieutenant,” General Raul said, rubbing thebandage that covered what was left of his left eye. “I want someone there atall times to keep an eye on her. There will not be another accident,understand?”

“Ifyou worry so much about her, then why don’t you just kill her?” Blair asked. Hemade it sound like it was such a simple solution, as only a boy as cocky andheadstrong as he was would. “You’d be eliminating your problem and keeping thepeople from rebelling against us.” General Raul sighed and took another sip ofwine.

“Youforget the past,” he said. “Remember when we thought that killing General Mitriusand the starving group of bastards he called an army would keep the Kurzhiansfrom rebelling against us?” Blair shook his head, annoyed. Raul knew that hewas probably sick of hearing the same lecture over and over, but Raul didn’tsee much of a choice in repeating it until he finally learned what he needed tolearn to keep his army from making the same mistakes.

“Andyou forget that we aren’t in Kurzh, anymore,” he said. “These people aren’tlike them; we haven’t seen a hint of resistance since we arrived here otherthan that damned Watchman, for the Gods’ sakes. It’s about time that you leftthe past where it belongs.”

“Youstill have much to learn,” he said. “I can’t leave the past behind and pretendthat it never happened; that’s a good way to get men killed.” Blair ran a handthrough his thick mane of black hair.

“Pleasetell me that that isn’t your only reason for this?” he asked.

“Itisn’t,” General Raul said. “Have you noticed how much the Watchman seems tocare a little too much about the girl, considering that he only met her a fewdays ago?” Blair nodded.

“Asyou already know, we need a bargaining chip with him in interrogations,” hecontinued. “It seems that she’s the only person we know of that he might careenough about to, perhaps, give up information about the Caithian army in orderto keep her safe.” Blair’s face began to contort in that stupid grin of his.

“Iunderstand, sir,” he said.

“Good,”General Raul said. “Now, go make sure that girl isn’t stirring up trouble.” Blairsaluted, then walked out of the tent.

Oncehis son was gone, he sighed and took another sip of wine. Sometimes, that boytried his patience.

“Youhave a few minutes,” the Gisken told Elise as they walked into the stables bythe town’s inn. Just as usual, the stalls were void of horses; they were aluxury item in that area of Caitha, and the last time anyone rich enough toafford one passed through Thaos was twelve years ago, when she was rich. “If Ihear you two making plans to break him out or something, I’ll throw you in oneof these stalls; is that clear?” They stopped in front of one of the stalldoors.

“Yes,sir,” she said. The Gisken opened the stall door and shut the door behind her.

She’dknown that they’d probably tortured Olrick since she saw him last, but shewasn’t quite expecting what she saw. His shirt was gone, revealing even morebruises and injuries than he’d had before, his hair was sopping wet, though therest of his body was dry, he had a black eye; if it was possible, he lookedeven worse for wear than he had when he first arrived in Thaos.

Helooked up at them when he heard the cell door opening. Judging by the hard lookthat was on his face for a few seconds, he was expecting to see anotherinterrogator.

“Elise?”he asked in disbelief as his face softened. “What are you doing here?” Elisesat down in front of him.

“GeneralRaul gave me permission to check on your shoulder,” she said. “I guess he caresenough about you to keep you healthy so he can send you to Kurzh.” At first,Olrick seemed confused, then his eyes narrowed. It seemed that he wassuspicious of General Raul’s motives, as well. “So, how’s your shoulder doing?”

Olrick adjustedhimself, wincing as he put pressure on the shoulder Blair dislocated.

“Itdoesn’t hurt as much as it did, before,” he said. For a few seconds, neither ofthem spoke. She found herself staring at him, taking in the scars, the cuts,the burns, the pain and sorrow in his eyes. As she did, the same questions thatran through her head the night the blacksmith brought him in from the rain cameback: who was he, and what had he done to deserve any of this?

And,more importantly, what had her brother done to deserve death?

“Whydidn’t you tell us about Milo?” she asked. To her surprise, she almost felt angry with him. Why hadn’t he saidanything about her brother? Did he not have the common decency to tell themsomething as important as that before it slapped them in the face like this?

Olrick sighed andlooked down at his hands. He didn’t want to talk about it, that much wasobvious to Elise. The only question was whyhe was so reluctant.

“Iwas afraid you were going to ask that,” he finally said. He looked back up ather. “I-I guess I just didn’t know how to tell you. I just felt so guilty…” hesighed and looked back down at his hands again.

“Guiltyabout what?” she asked. For a few seconds, Olrick didn’t respond; he just bithis lip, apparently trying to decide what to say.

“It’smy fault that your brother’s dead,” he said quietly. “If I hadn’t been such adamned coward, he might still be alive.” Elise’s heart sank as Olrick tried toblink back the tears that were starting to well up in his eyes. That couldn’thave been true, could it? She hadn’t known Olrick for very long, but based onthe events of the past few days, she knew that he wasn’t the kind of person tostand by and watch while something bad happened to someone else, not if hecould do something about it. He couldn’t have really let the Giskens kill herbrother, could he have?

“Olrick…”Elise began, but stopped. What was she supposed to say, that it wasn’t hisfault? She wasn’t even sure whatshe thought about it, herself. She didn’t think that Olrick had anything to dowith what happened to her brother, but… what if he really did have something to do with it? She wanted to forgive and forgetall of this, but if what he was saying were true, she just didn’t think she could forgive him, not for a long time.

“Youshouldn’t blame yourself for it,” she finally said. “The Giskens killed mybrother, not you.” Elise could hear the door to the stall open behind her. WhenOlrick saw who was on the other side, he frowned in anger.

“Whatdo you want?” he growled. She turned around to see Blair standing there, a smuglook on his face.

“Trynot to be so uncivil, boy,” he snapped. He looked over at Elise. “C’mon; it’stime to go.” She tried to swallow down her fear.

“G-gowhere?” she asked as she stood up, brushing the dirt off of her skirt.

“Backhome, where you belong,” Blair said. Elise walked out of the stall and lookedback at Olrick. His eyes were narrowed and his fists were clenched in anger.

“Don’tworry, Watchman,” Blair mocked. “I know how much you care about her; I’ll besure to take extra good care of her.” Olrick’s fists nearly became white withanger.

“Ifyou touch her, I’ll kill you!” he yelled. Blair laughed coldly.

“I’dlike to see you try.”