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

Olrick stood on the rain-slicked roofof Castle Matisse, tying a piece of rope around his waist and his legs. Aftertalking with Finn for those few minutes, he’d ran to his room to get a changeof clothes and some supplies. He’d ditched his formal uniform for a pair ofwell-fitting pants and long sleeve shirt, soft soled shoes, leather handguards, and a half balaclava that covered his mouth and nose, all of which werea mottled gray color to help him blend in with the fog that often coveredCaitha. He’d also grabbed a very long, thick piece of cord, some rope, strappedhis short sword to his back and knives to his thighs, and attached his lockpicking kit to his belt. All the while, he came up with ideas on how to breakinto Raul’s room and get Elise out. With what Finn had told him, he would haveto get into Raul’s room without being seen (making the main entrance bad, sinceit was constantly guarded), grab Elise, then get out. Under those circumstances,using the servant’s passage seemed preferable, but he didn’t know the firstthing about navigating them, and he didn’t think he had the time to learn; hecould just use that as an escape route, once he had Elise to help him.

Andthat was how he found himself on the roof of the castle, getting ready to godown to Raul’s room.

Itwas a little nerve racking, to not have anyone with him as he prepared to godown from the roof to Raul’s window to break into his room; normally, whengoing down the side of anything with considerable height, he would have someonethere with him, double-checking everything he did to make sure that he wasn’tabout to do something that would get him killed and holding onto the rope atthe top, just in case he did something while he went down that could cause himto fall to his death. This would be his first time rappelling alone.

Afterhe’d finished tying the rope to his waist and the cord to the castle, Olrickpulled the end of the cord through the loop on the front of his makeshift harnessand took a deep breath. Now that he was about to do this, he was starting tosecond-guess himself. This was insane; he should’ve had Eza or Silas come withhim, at least for this part.

Hewalked over to the edge of the roof and got himself into position. It was toolate for that, now; every second counted, and he didn’t have the time to runback down stairs to grab one of them. Besides, Silas wouldn’t let him hear theend of it if he told him he was too scared to rappel alone.

Olrickwalked off the edge of the roof.

Justas it was supposed to, the rope kept him from falling down to his death, and hebegan to rappel down the wall. His confidence back after going over the edge ofthe roof (that part terrified him, even though he’d been doing this since hejoined the Watch), he began to go faster, zipping down much faster than henormally did.

Hewas going fast enough that he almost missed Raul’s window. Once he was there,he stopped, tied the end of the rope above him so he wouldn’t go any farther,and tried to open the window. Sure enough, it was locked, and there didn’t seemto be any way to unlock it from the outside.

Olrickcarefully drew his sword, making sure to keep the blade away from the rope thatkept him from falling to his death. Polain would kill him just for this; forgetabout breaking into the room of a visiting enemy in order to get someone who’dbeen sentenced to death for espionage: this alone would be enough to make himwant to skin him alive.

Hesmashed the pommel of his sword against the window, hard.

Theglass shattered against the blow, sending sharp shards of clear glass acrossthe floor in Raul’s room. He sheathed his sword and carefully brushed the glassoff the window frame so he wouldn’t cut himself when he entered.

Nowcame the tricky part: getting himself off the rappel cord and into the room withoutfalling to his death.

Heuntied the rope and moved to the side, so his feet were touching the wall ofthe castle. He jumped a few times to get some momentum, then moved to the side,allowing himself to swing inside the room.

Tosay the least, it didn’t go quite as he’d planned.

Luckily,he was in the room and not outside when things began to go south. Withoutrealizing it, Olrick let go of the rope that was holding him up with one handas he swung inside, making it slip through his fingers. The next thing he knew,he was lying on his back in a pile of glass, his back throbbing and the windknocked out of him.

Olrickslowly got up, wiping the glass off of his pants. Gods, that could’ve gone somuch worse.

Afterhe’d taken himself off the rope, he began to look around. Obviously, nobody wasin the room; there weren’t even any Giskens standing guard in front of thecloset, where Finn said Elise was.

Olrickquickly drew his sword, suspicious. Something was up, he was sure of it.

Withhis sword at the ready, Olrick began to inspect the room, looking under piecesof furniture, behind curtains, any place that Giskens could be hiding, waitingto strike. Sure enough, there was no one there.

Finally,Olrick checked the closet, where Finn said they were holding Elise. When hetried the doorknob, he found that it wasn’t locked.

Hisgrip tightened on his sword. The only reason they would leave a prisoner’s doorunlocked was if they were positive they wouldn’t try to escape. There wereprobably some Giskens in with her right now, trying to get her to turn.

Heopened the door, expecting to replace himself in a fight-

Onlyto replace that the closet was empty, just like the rest of the room.

Fora few seconds, he stood in the empty doorway as his stomach twisted itself intoknots. Elise was gone; he was too late to help her.

Damn it! He managed to restrain himselffrom punching a wall. He’d already let Milo’s father die after telling him hewould protect his family, and now, it seemed that his sister was going to diebecause of him, too.

“Iwas wondering when you were going to show up.” Olrick turned around, pointinghis sword in the direction of the voice. Bram was leaning against thedoorframe, his arms folded in front of him and a smug look on his face. “I wasbeginning to think that you guys really weregoing to leave her out to dry; I can’t even imagine how Elise must have feltwhen you didn’t come to save her as we were taking her away.”

“Whatdid you do to her?” Olrick growled, his grip tightening on his sword. Brambegan to laugh.

“Gods,aren’t you blunt?” he asked. “It’s no wonder you don’t have a woman; you haveno talent for foreplay.” He looked past Olrick at the shattered window and therope. “Now, was it really necessary to break the window? Those things are apain to make, you know.” He began walking towards him, his hands shoved intohis coat pockets.

“Eliseis in the dungeon, by the way,” Bram said. “I think they were planning oninterrogating her, but I didn’t stay long enough to replace out.”

Olricktried to keep himself from killing Bram. He was a monster, just as bad as Blairand maybe even Raul, himself. He wanted nothing more than to rid the world ofhim, but he couldn’t. He didn’t have time to deal with him; he had a job to do.

Hetried to step past Bram, but he wouldn’t let him. He stepped in front of him, pullinga newly made long sword from his hip.

“Oh,I’m afraid that I can’t let you go that easily,” he said. Sparks began to flyup and down the blade of his sword as Bram forced his energy into it. It seemedthat the Giskens had managed to get their Oraniomancer a sword made of purezinc, a metal that was known for its sensitivity to magic. “You see, GeneralRaul has given me strict instructions to kill anyone who tries to help thelittle whelp escape; try not to take this personally.”

Bramlaunched a bolt of lightning at him.

Itcaught Olrick right in the stomach, launching him across the room, through thearea of shattered glass, and almost out the smashed window. Thank the gods, itdidn’t feel like it was at its full power; if it had been, he doubted that hecould’ve gotten to his feet so soon after.

Olrickheld his sword out in front of him. It looked like he would get to kill Bramthat night, after all.

Helunged.

Bramwas ready. He knocked the sword out of the way and sliced upward with hissword. Olrick stepped out of the way, narrowly avoiding the electrified blade.Was it him, or had Bram gotten worsewith swords since they last fought? He let the tip scrape against the stoneground, dulling the edge, and wielded it as if it wasn’t even sharp.

“Comenow, Olrick,” Bram said as he swung at Olrick’s neck, like an executioner swingingan axe. He swatted the sword out of the way. “Stop playing hard to get.” Heswung the sword at his head again, but Olrick blocked it, again. He was gettingreally tired of playing around.

Bramswung at him, again, but this time, Olrick parried and cut Bram’s hand. With acurse, he dropped the sword, recoiling and grabbing his hand.

“Stopwasting my time,” Olrick said, pointing his sword at Bram’s throat. Bram heldhis hands up in mock surrender, a smug look on his face that made Olrickextremely nervous.

Olrickran out of Raul’s room.

Justas he began to leave, he could feel another bolt of lightning slam into hisback, sending him into the door on the opposite side of the room. This time,the lightning had zapped the strength from his muscles for a few seconds,rendering him paralyzed on the floor.

“LikeI said, Olrick, General Raul has given me orders to kill anyone I replace tryingto assist in Elise’s escape,” Bram said as he picked up his sword and walkedtowards Olrick. He tried to get back to his feet, but he couldn’t seem to doit; that last bold of lightning seemed to have done him in.

However,he realized as his death came towards him, he wouldn’t need to get back on hisfeet; not yet, anyway.

Olrickgrabbed one of the knives he’d strapped to his legs and took aim at Bram. Hecouldn’t seem to get a clear shot, though; the world was spinning a little toomuch.

Brambegan to laugh as he stopped walking. Olrick’s vision was beginning to steady,now, to the point that Olrick began to trust in his own sight. “Oh, Olrick,you’re too funny; what makes you think you can beat a sword-wielding opponentwith a little knife? I think that last little bolt may have fried your brain alittle-“

Olrickthrew the knife as hard as he could.

Bramlet out a shriek of pain as the knife stuck in his knee. Olrick had been aimingfor the stomach, but he didn’t care; at least a knife to the knee would keepBram from following him.

Heslowly stood up, using the wall and his sword as braces. His legs felt a littlewobbly beneath him, but they were strong enough to run.

“Don’tgo too far,” Olrick said, sheathing his sword. “I’ll be coming back for thatknife.” He began running down the hall, praying to the gods that he hadn’t justmade a huge mistake in leaving Bram alive.