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

The room Elise found herself in wassmall, with only a dirty window on one of the walls to let light from outsidein. She was lying in a small cot with a large, thick quilt over her to keep herwarm and a pounding headache, worse than any she’d ever had before. A man saton a stool next to her, monitoring the patient in the bed on her left. He had dark,neatly trimmed hair; olive skin and was dressed in a dress shirt with thesleeves rolled up past his elbows and light brown dress pants. He lookedextremely wealthy, like the very few nobles that lived in Thaos, but judging bytheir surroundings, he wasn’t.

Elisetried to sit up, but immediately stopped and lay back down: her head hurt toomuch for that.

“Why,look who’s awake?” the man asked as he turned around. He had a soft face andwarm, brown eyes. “How are you feeling?” Elise began to rub her head, hopingthat it might help the headache, but it didn’t work.

“Myhead hurts,” she said as she kept rubbing her head. “Do you have anything forthat?” the man nodded.

“Ofcourse,” he said. He opened the small bureau in between her cot and the otherpatients’ and began digging through it.

Whilehe did, Elise began to look around at her new surroundings. The building shewas in was long, with beds along the white walls and under each small, grittywindow, and small, wooden bureaus in between them. There was enough filteredsunlight coming in that they didn’t need to light the candles in thecandelabras between the windows, but some were still lit from the previousnight, making the room very well lit. Once colorful floor rugs were spread outon the floor in an attempt to brighten the room up, but it didn’t work verywell.

“Wheream I?” Elise asked as she looked back at the man. He was still rifling thoughthe drawer, looking for the right medicine for her.

“You’rein Asfalis,” he said. “Olrick carried you here; nearly ran himself to death,but he’ll be alright.” He pulled out a few small, oval leaves that sherecognized as cocca and handed them to her. “Chew these up; it’ll help with theheadache.”

Elise put them in hermouth and began to chew on them, just as the doctor told her to. Her facetwisted up in disgust; it tasted like vomit, just as many of her patients overthe past few years had told her.

“Iknow, it tastes awful,” the man said. “I’m afraid that that’s all we have forheadaches as of right now, though; we’ll be getting some better-tasting thingsfrom Semata later today if you get another migraine by then.” He shut thedrawer and looked back at her.

“Isuppose I should introduce myself,” the man said, holding out his hand. Sheshook it. “Dr. Peter Carpenter, though nobody’s called me anything other thanDoc in ten years.”

“Elise,”she said. He repeated the name to himself before they let go of each other’shands.

“That’sa beautiful name,” he said. For a few seconds, neither of them spoke, seeminglyrun out of conversation topics.

“Howmuch do you remember from last night?” he asked. Elise looked down at her handsas memories of the previous night returned. The splashing of mud as they ran,the clanging of swords as Olrick fought of Gisken after Gisken in order to giveher some extra seconds to escape, Blair’s eerie voice just before he tried tokill Olrick, the heat of flames as they rushed from her fingers; it all cameback.

“TheGiskens are here,” she said quietly. She could feel tears beginning to well upin her eyes as she thought about all the things she’d seen while living underGisken rule, all the things they’d done in Thaos; how had she managed tosurvive that hell? “Th-they beat up Olrick.” Doc cursed under his breath.

“Iwas really hoping you wouldn’t say that,” he said quietly. “We figured as muchwhen he didn’t come back from his patrol, but most everyone here was prayingthat he’d just gotten beat up by a few of our own soldiers or had taken aliking to a particular prostitute somewhere and had run off to marry her, likemost of our boys who disappear. We knew Olrick would never do that, but westill hoped…” he sighed. “I guess it’s a little hard to think that it’s finallyour turn to be invaded, even though we’ve known that it was coming for a fewyears.” Elise nodded in understanding; she’d lived in Gisken-occupied territoryfor nearly a week, and she was just now coming to terms with it, herself.

“Where’smy son?” the voice was panicked, followed by the voice of a man, telling herthat she shouldn’t be there. “Why are you keeping me from him?” When Eliselooked in the direction of the voice, she saw a woman, standing in a doorway,being blocked by a Watchman. She was older and very thin, with dark brown hairstreaked with gray that was put into a bun, wide, worried brown eyes on theverge of tears, and pale, sick-looking skin.

“Whois that?” Elise asked. Doc looked over his shoulder.

“Olrick’sma.” He stood up and walked over to the guard

“Lether through,” he said. The guard looked at him, confused, but he stepped to theside, allowing the woman through

“Where’smy son?” she repeated. “Is he alright? Oh, gods, please tell me he isn’t dead!”

“He’sroughed up a bit, but he’ll be just fine, ma’am,” Doc said. “He’s sleepingright now, but he’ll be awake soon.” Olrick’s mom nodded as he led her to thebed next to Elise’s, where a Watchman, fast asleep, was laying. It took her afew seconds to realize it was Olrick: he was so beat up and pale, she hardlyrecognized him. Unlike her, his mother knew who it was the second she saw him:she collapsed by his bedside and began sobbing.

“Whydid they do this to him?” she kept asking. “He didn’t do anything wrong.” Elisecould see the wheels turning in Doc’s head as he tried to figure out what totell her. Then, he sighed.

“Heknew the Giskens had begun their invasion,” he said carefully. “They didn’twant him going off and telling anyone.” Olrick’s mother looked up at him, aconfused look on her face.

“Th-they’rehere?” she asked. Doc nodded. Olrick’s mother’s eyes got even wider.

“Ismy son going to war?” Doc began to rub the back of his neck, unsure of how toanswer.

“Idon’t know,” he said. “That all depends on how much General Polain needs him.He’ll probably just end up doing more work at headquarters than out in thefield.” The answer didn’t seem to satisfy her. Then again, Elise didn’t know ofany mother that would be.

Olrick’smother spent the following hour or so in silence as she sat on a stool, waitingfor her son to wake up. She refused any service that was offered to her: food,water, blankets; everything that Doc offered to her to make her bedside vigilmore comfortable, she shook her head to. She insisted that she not eat or drinkuntil Olrick was awake. And, finally, when a few nurses came around with lunch,he did.

Hebegan to stir in his bed right about the time when they began to bring somestew around to everyone who was in the infirmary. They were just ladling someinto a small bowl for Elise when he began to groan, sitting up in his bed andlooked up at his mother. For a few seconds, he didn’t talk; he just stared upat her and tried to figure out if she were really there, or if the cocca was makinghim hallucinate. She gave him the same look.

“Mom?”He asked. Without a word, Olrick’s mother wrapped her arms around him andhugged him tightly. She began to sob again, but this time, they weren’t tearsof sadness: they were tears of joy.

“Ithought you were dead,” she whispered. “Don’t you dare do that to me again!”Olrick slowly hugged her, tears welling up in his eyes. Even though she’d beenthere with him during what she was sure was the worst few days of their lives,that was the first time she’d seen him come close to crying.

“I’malright, mom,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about me, anymore.” Theexchange broke Elise’s heart. For almost a week, she’d seen him as this man whoonly had himself to worry about, just like many of the people who joined theWatch; if that hadn’t been the case, he wouldn’t have been so willing to risk hislife for them as much as he had. That hug between mother and son had remindedher that he, too, had a family. He had parents who wanted him home safe, possiblysiblings, maybe even a sweetheart somewhere, all of whom would be devastated ifhe were to be killed by the Giskens.

It made her wonderabout him, his reasons for putting his life on the line for her and her father.When the Giskens had allowed her to visit him in his makeshift prison, he’dtold her that he’d done all this for her because of a promise he’d made to Milobefore he died. In Elise’s mind, that couldn’t be the only reason; peoplesimply didn’t defend people they hardly knew because of something told to themby a friend in their dying moments.

It didn’t make anysense. Nobody was that good inside; at least, that’s what her experiences thoselast few days told her.

For an hour or so,Olrick and his mother simply talked, discussing all the things that werehappening in Semata, where they lived. From their talk, Elise was able to puttogether a picture of what his life beyond the Watch was like. His familyconsisted of his parents and two younger sisters. His blacksmith father didn’twant anything to do with him, and didn’t want his family to have anything to dowith him, either. In fact, that had been the first time in almost two years thatanyone in his family had seen him. It was a story common for many men whodecided to join the Watch. They didn’t fight in grand battles like the army orthe navy, they weren’t trained in assassinations, as it was rumored the Rooks,their feared sister organization, was; most thought that they were just a bandof orphans and bastards, looking more at filling their stomachs on a soldier’sration rather than doing… whatever it was their job was. Nobody quite knew whatthey did in the army, which made anti-Watchmen sentiment as bad as it was.

Soon after Olrick’smother had left (his father expected her to be back in Semata before nightfall,and the trip would take her most of the day if she rode hard enough,) and thetwo of them had finished up their lunch, two more visitors walked into theroom. Both were wearing the black cloak that signified they were Rooks, butthat was where the similarities ended. The first one was large beast of a manwith muddy blonde hair that was tied in a short tail behind his head, dull blueeyes, and pale skin. A shirt with the sleeves rolled past his elbows covered abroad chest and revealed large, meaty hands and arms, brown trousers coveredhis legs, large, brown boots covered his feet, and a broadsword taller thanElise was strapped to his back, completing the highly intimidating look of thisman.

His companion,however, stood in stark contrast to him. It was a short, thin girl, one withshort hair as black as the cloak she was wearing, calculating brown eyes, andskin the color of milk, other than the thin, rosy scar that ran from the cornerof her right eye and curved down to the middle of her chin, narrowly missingthe corner of her mouth. She was wearing a baggy, long-sleeved shirt, with thesleeves tucked into two leather armguards, baggy pants tucked into large, heavyboots, and she held a long, slender staff that was taller than she was in onehand. The two of them had to have been the most unlikely pairing Elise had everseen; it was hard to believe that both of them were master assassins, as therumors that had run rampant in Caitha about them for years claimed they were.

The two split up andthe girl walked over to her. She plopped down on the stool, sitting on it withher legs crossed and the staff on her lap, and studied her with those browneyes of hers the way one might study a cow before buying it. Meanwhile, the manwas embracing Olrick in a massive bear hug, asking him “where the hell he’sbeen”. Olrick had a pained look on his face, but didn’t say anything to try andget him off of him.

“You look tense,” thegirl said simply. “Try to relax; I’m only here to talk to you, not tointerrogate you.” Elise nodded, but she simply couldn’t seem to shake off herfear of being around a Rook. The girl held her hand out to her, just as Doc hadwhen he’d introduced himself to her.

“Commander EzaMitriovna, at your service,” she said. Elise wasn’t sure what surprised hermore: the fact that the tiny girl that sat next to her was a commander in themost feared branch of the military in Caitha, or that, judging by her surname,she was Kurzhian. She decided not to address either issue; even if the rumorsabout Rooks weren’t true, she wasn’t looking to insult a Kurzhian. She’d heard storiesabout them snapping people’s necks with their bare hands for doing things asminor as spilling their drink.

“I take it by thelook on your face that you’ve never met a Kurzhian, before,” Eza said. “From whatI’ve heard, I don’t exactly live up to the expectation.” Elise nodded, thenfound herself shaking her head. Eza simply sighed, as if that reaction was theone she was used to.

“Shall we begin?” sheasked. Elise nodded.

“A-alright,” shesaid, sitting up. Her headache had gone away for the most part by then, just asDoc said it would. “What do you want to talk about?”

“What happened to youtwo over the past week,” Eza said. “As of right now, you and Olrick are theonly people that we know of to make it out of occupied territory alive. Tell meanything you can think of, whether or not you think it’s relevant.” Elise looked down at her hands, unsureof what to say. What kind of information could she possibly give them that theycould use?

“General Raul’s inThaos,” she said quietly. She, then, proceeded to tell Eza everything that hadhappened to her over the past few days, starting from when Thaos’ blacksmithcarried Olrick through their door when that spring storm hit, skipping the partwhere Bram tried to assault her, going all the way to the last thing sheremembered before waking up in Asfalis: when she’d burned Blair just before hewould’ve killed Olrick. Eza listened to it all quite intently, neverinterrupting her unless it was to ask a quick question. When Elise hadfinished, Eza climbed off the stool and performed a quick bow, her staff inhand.

“Thank you for yourtime,” she said simply. “I know how hard these can be.” Elise frowned as shebegan to put the pieces together in her head. Eza would’ve been six, maybeseven when the Giskens invaded Kurzh; certainly not old enough to have been asoldier in that war, but certainly old enough to have been a scout, or maybe acourier in the army. It would definitely explain the scar on her cheek.

“You were in Kurzhwhen the invasion started, weren’t you?” Elise asked. Eza nodded.

A chill went down herspine. That would make her one of the very few – or only – people who knew exactly what had happened there; even afterten years, very few people outside of Kurzh knew anything about the invasion ofGishk’s snowy neighbor, other than the fact that it was the first country tofall to the Gisken army and that the Kurzhian army and the legendary GeneralMitrius seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet after theinvasion.

“What happened to theKurzhian army?” Elise asked. For the first time since Eza entered the room, shebegan to show some hints of emotion. She looked down at her feet, she bit herlip, her brows furrowed; she almost looked guilty. Then, she looked up with afire in her eyes.

“General Mitrius isstill alive,” she said. “I don’t know about the rest of them.”