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

Olrick scanned the crowd of Watchmenand Rooks, trying to keep his anger from clouding his judgment. They were theyoungest members of Caithian intelligence, the eldest having just turnedthirteen the day before and the youngest being nearly seven. Most of them were injured;all of them were scared, jumping at every loud, sudden sound, and all of themagreed that they were the last of Fort Asfalis’ men. With Fort Asfalis, - thelargest Watchmen/Rook fort in Caitha – gone, almost an eighth of their men werePOWs, now. That was hard to swallow.

“Damnthose Giskens.” He looked over at Eza, who was standing next to him, with herstaff in hand and a familiar fire in her eyes. “Damn them to the darkest pitsof hell.”

“Didyou have some depressing interviews, too?” Olrick asked. After the kids had allarrived, Silas had the two of them and a few other high-ranking Watchmen andRooks talk to them to see if they could piece together what happened. Theresult was one of the most depressing afternoons of his life.

Ezanodded. “One of the kids I talked to was an eight year old from Asfalis. Hetold me that he heard his mother begging for mercy before the Giskens killedher from inside the fort. He saw her body a few days later, when they weregetting out of Asfalis.”

Olrickran a hand through his hair. “I had a similar experience.”

“What’dthey tell you?”

Olricksighed. “One of the boys told me that his friend killed himself a few daysbefore they left. Apparently, the stress of battle and the fact that they werelow on rations was too much for him.”

Ezacursed. “I know that Marion wants us to save Raul for her, but after this, Imight just go ahead and kill him, myself.”

“That’sa bad idea, kid.” Olrick looked over his shoulder to see that Silas had joinedthem. He was standing with his arms folded over his chest as he, too scannedthe crowd of boys that stood in the small, sparring area. “I don’t think theGiskens would take it too kindly if their leader was killed on his way to apeace conference.”

“Well,it isn’t a very good idea to look in on him, either,” Eza said. “I don’t thinkthat would be taken well, either.”

“Atleast we have a chance of them not knowing about that,” Silas said. “Anexecution is a little too public.” Eza was pissed about what he’d said, but shedidn’t argue; she knew as well as he did that assassinating Raul at that pointwas out of the question.

“Dowe know when he’ll be arriving?” Olrick asked.

“He’llbe here within a few days,” Silas said. “Is our inside lady ready?”

Olrickbegan to rub the back of his neck. “I think so; she seemed a little nervouswhen I took her to the castle, though. I’m not sure if she’s just doing thisbecause she feels obligated to or not.”

“We’llhave to change that,” Silas said as he began scratching at the scruffy beardthat was just beginning to form on his chin. Polain had told him to shave itbefore Raul showed up, but Olrick doubted he would; he’d never groomed himselffor anyone, before, and he probably didn’t see the point in starting then.

Beforethe conversation could continue, a little boy walked up to them. He had abandage wrapped around his head, covering one of his eyes, and his skin hadpale, sickly pallor to it.

“Doyou have some bread?” The innocent sound of the boy’s voice stung. He should beat home with his mother, not here, without enough food and blankets foreveryone.

Ezanodded as she opened the small satchel that was slung over her shoulder. Theboy’s eyes and smile grew wide when he saw the loaf of bread in her hand.

“Tryand be sparing with this, okay?” she said. Her voice was soft, softer thanOlrick had heard it in a long time; it was almost motherly, even. “I don’t know when you’ll get food, next.”

Theboy took the bread in his hands and held it close to his chest, like a mothercarrying her newborn child. He looked back up at them with an amazed look onhis face, as if he were looking into the faces of the gods, themselves. Thelook made Olrick’s heart ache.

“Thankyou!” with that, the boy ran off into the crowd, his precious bundle in hand.

“Youdon’t strike me as the humanitarian type, Eza,” Silas said. “I’d always assumedthat you’d need a soul for that.” Eza rolled her eyes and slugged him in theshoulder, hard.

“Andhow would you know anything abouthaving a soul?” she asked as Silas rubbed his now sore arm. He chuckled as hepulled out his pocket watch and checked the time.

“Youtwo should probably head back to the castle,” he said. “I don’t think Polainwould be very pleased if Marion and Kael were to go unguarded for much longer.”

Thecastle was busy the day Raul was supposed to arrive. Every member of the staff– including military members – were set to work cleaning everything: theyscrubbed the floors, polished the silverware, dusted the chandeliers;everything that could possibly be done to make the castle more clean andbeautiful was done in preparation for General Raul’s arrival.

Dueto her purpose for being there, Elise was in the west wing of the castle withEza, Silas, and Olrick, in the bedchambers that would be General Raul’s whilehe was in Semata. They were beautiful, with enough riches to feed a smallfamily for months, but she hardly noticed any of it; she was much too nervousto gawk at anything.

“I-Idon’t think I can do this,” Elise said as she finished sweeping the granite floors.She was nervous beyond belief, to the point

“Sureyou can.” Silas was sitting on a velvet couch, with his boot clad feet proppedup and his hands clasped behind his head. “It’s not like he’ll strangle you ifhe replaces you in his room-“

Ezadidn’t give Silas the opportunity to say anything else: she smacked him on theback of the head, hard, and muttered something under her breath in Kurzhian. Hesat up and rubbed the back of his head, annoyed.

“Don’tlisten to him,” Olrick said. “You’ll be fine.” Eza nodded in agreement.

“Yes,don’t mind him,” she said as she shot Silas a dirty look. “He just enjoys beingan ass too much for his own good.” He rolled his eyes at the comment, and Ezalooked back at her.

“Wepicked you for a reason, Elise,” she said. “We knew that the odds were very lowof you being suspected of being a spy, much lower than they would be if we’dchosen one of our own.”

Eliselooked up at Eza, trying to decide whether or not she was lying. As always, herface remained a stony mask.

“Doyou really think I’ll be alright?” she asked. Eza nodded.

“Iknow you will be,” she said.

Thedoor cracked open and Polain, dressed in fine silks, poked his head in. “Howare things going in here?”

Eliseperformed a small curtsy, her head bowed. “I just finished sweeping, dusting,and changing the linens in this room, sir. Should I go ahead and mop in here,or are there other rooms that need attention more than this one?”

“Bothwould be wonderful, but I’m afraid they will have to wait,” Polain said. “Arunner just came from the wall; he told me that General Raul has arrived at thewall and will be here in a few minutes.”

Elisetried to hide her discomfort. She’d known that this moment was coming for a fewdays, now, but it still scared her to think that it was right around thecorner.

“I’llmeet you all in the main hall,” Polain said as he scanned the room, lookingeveryone in the eye. His eyes lingered on Silas for a little longer thaneveryone else, and he sighed, shaking his head.

“CommanderSilas, what reason do you have for not being in your formal uniform?” Polainasked. “Did it burn in a mysterious fire?”

Silaslooked down as his clothes. Due to the fact that General Raul was arriving thatday, all military personnel working in the castle were being required to weartheir formal uniforms: for the intelligence core, it consisted of pleatedtrousers, leather boots, and a double-breasted suit jacket with a high collarand gold, braided epaulets. Eza’s uniform was black, while Olrick’s was gray inorder to show which branch of military intelligence they belonged to. Silas,however, was dressed in a more casual uniform, with only a black cloak to showthat he was in the military, at all.

Helooked back up at Polain. “Is the fact that I hate the formal uniform reasonenough? It’s so stiff and uncomfortable-”

“Goget changed,” Polain said. “I will not have my head of intelligence lookinglike some sort of vagrant with an important guest coming.” Silas sighed andwalked out of the room, skirting passed Polain on his way out and mutteringsomething under his breath.

Withhim gone, Polain focused on the rest of them. “Would you three be so kind as toget Princess Marion, for me?” Eza nodded.

“Wouldyou like us to get Kael, too?” she asked.

“I’drather not,” he said. “The odds are extremely low, but I don’t want to risk himrecognizing him.” They nodded in understanding; they wouldn’t want to have arepeat of what happened in Lügenburg all those years ago, when Raul declaredwar on the rest of the world.

“PrincessMarion should be in her room,” Polain said. “Please make sure that she’sdressed like a proper young women before you bring her down.”

“Yes,sir.” The three of them left the room and headed for Marion’s chambers.

Theroyal family’s rooms were located on the east wing of the castle on the top floor,above the rooms of the castle guards. They were massive, with eleganttapestries lining the walls ad tile floors that Elise could see her reflectionin. Candelabras hung on the pillars by the walls, casting an orange glowthroughout the hallway. Just like everywhere else in the castle, everythingaround her was beautiful; to think, that just a few weeks ago, she wouldn’thave been able to imagine riches such as these.

Marion’sroom was especially exquisite. The walls were a cream color, just as everythingelse was. Her sheets were made out of the finest Jotiese silks, with goldflowers stitched into the blankets and the pillows. The armoire was intricatelycarved with lilies and vines, and a chandelier hung in the ceiling with candleslit in it. Marion seemed to disregard it all as she angrily swung at her bedpostwith a practice sword, making loud, angry clacks ring out in the air.

“I’mnot going.” Marion didn’t even pause from her work to look at them when shespoke.

Ezafolded her arms as she leaned against the wall. “Polain didn’t exactly soundlike you had a choice when he sent us.”

Marionlooked back at them, her eyes narrowed. “Of course, I have a choice; I am the crown princess of Caitha, aren’tI? My coronation is in a few weeks, for the gods’ sakes!”

“Whichmeans that Polain still has the right to send you where he likes when he likes,whether or not you want to,” Olrick said. “We need to hurry, Marion; I’d rathernot have Polain pissed at us for being late to this.”

Marionthrew the practice sword at the ground and glared at them.

“Idon’t care if Polain wants me there or not,” Marion said. “I’m not going tograce that monster with my presence; Polain can grovel in submission to Raul,but I certainly won’t!”

“So,you’re going to let Raul win, then?” Eza asked. Marion paused, then looked backat her.

“Whatare you talking about?” she asked, confused. “How will I be letting him win?”

Ezashrugged, seemingly indignant. “Well, by not showing up, you’ll be telling Raulthat you’re scared of him, which is exactly what he wants from you; it’ll suregive him the ego boost he needs to get his army into the city.” Marion got veryred in the face when she heard that.

“I’mnot afraid of him!” she protested.

“Thenprove it.” Eza’s voice left no room for negotiating. “Come meet him when hegets here and show him that you aren’t afraid.” Marion didn’t say anything fora few seconds, then sighed, defeated.

“Fine,”Marion grumbled as she walked over to her wardrobe. “Wait outside for me; I needto change.”