Elise woke to the sound of thunder. Odd, since it wasn’t raining. In fact, the sky was barely even dark. It must have been far off, still. She could hear Pa talking to someone - probably Ulrick - in hushed tones. As if they were trying to keep anyone else from hearing.
Immediately, her heart began to flutter in her chest. Something’s wrong, her gut told her. Something’s really, really wrong!
She got out of bed and grabbed the knife from her dresser. She didn’t know what she thought she was going to do with it, but… if something bad was about to happen, she’d rather have something to defend herself.
Someone threw open her door.
She just about jumped out of her skin.
She held the knife out in front of her-
And immediately lowered it when she realized who was at the door.
Ulrick was looking far healthier than he had any right to: his black eye had nearly healed, and the massive cut he’d had above his eye looked more like a scratch, now. But, she hardly noticed those miracles: what stuck out to her was the grim look on his face.
Her mind went back to the messenger from the previous night. The warning. Suddenly, she knew exactly what was happening.
“They’re here, aren’t they?” Elise asked.
Ulrick nodded. “Get dressed, pack a bag. Don’t take anything you don’t need to survive.”
“I-I’ll be out in a second.”
She closed her door and got to work.
Elise’s hands shook as she took off her nightgown and changed into her shirt and blouse. She could barely do up the buttons on her blouse, or lace up her boots. The Giskens had arrived. After all the rumors, all the talk, they’d come for Caithia.
Why? She thought to herself as she shoved a change of clothes into a knapsack. What do they want from us? What does Caithia have that Gisk doesn’t?
There was still one thing that dominated her thoughts, even with the arrival of the Giskens: Milo. Now, more than ever, she worried about where he was, whether or not he was alright. Whether or not the Giskens had gotten to him. They had to find him. She didn’t know how, but they had to.
She didn’t know what she was supposed to pack. A spare change of clothes, her medical supplies. What else was important enough? Would anything she owned be worth slowing them down? Could she bear to part with some of those precious memories?
In the end, she only grabbed one thing that wasn’t essential: the medical book. The last thing she had of her mother.
The last thing she grabbed was the knife. She tucked it in the pocket of her apron, praying she wouldn't have to use it.
She took one last look around her room, wondered if she’d ever see it again, and walked out.
Ulrick and Pa were at work outside her room. Pa was packing a bag with food, his rifle slung over his shoulder. Ulrick was dragging furniture in front of the door, barricading them. Outside the tavern, she heard people screaming in Caithian and shouting orders in Gisken. Gunshots - the noise she’d assumed was thunder - rang out in the streets.
People - her friends and neighbors - were out there dying, and what were they doing? Running away. Abandoning everyone they’d ever cared about.
She wished there was another option.
“What’s going on?” Elise asked. “Where are we going?”
“Fort Airde, as soon as possible,” Pa said. “Right now, though, I’m just concerned about us getting out of here.”
“You folks don’t happen to have horses, do you?” Ulrick asked.
“Not many people around here have them,” Pa said.
Ulrick cursed.
Someone began pounding their fist on the door, followed by screaming in Gisk.
Elise’s heart jumped into her throat.
Ulrick cursed, again. “I thought we’d have more time!”
“What are we going to do?” Elise demanded.
“Plan doesn’t change,” Ulrick said. “Not for you two, anyway.” He turned to Pa. “Hand me the rifle; I’ll keep them busy. You two get out of here.”
Pa held the gun closer to his chest. “How the hell are we supposed to defend ourselves without a gun?”
More pounding on the door. More screaming.
Ulrick’s eyes went wide in desperation. “We don’t have time to argue: if they see you with that gun, they’re going to kill you. Now, give me that gun!”
Pa hesitated. Then, he handed Ulrick the gun. “I guess you don’t care about them killing you, do you?”
Ulrick’s shoulders sagged. Resigned. “I didn’t enlist to run. If this is how it ends… I just pray I take some of those bastards out with me.”
A shot rang out, shattering one of the front windows.
Elise yelped.
Ulrick pumped the lever on the rifle and took aim at the window. “Get behind the bar. Hurry!”
Elise was frozen to her spot as someone approached the window until Pa dragged her to cover.
Her hands were shaking as another gunshot rang out. She had to cover her mouth to keep herself from screaming.
“I won’t lie,” someone said. It sounded like the same man who’d been banging on their door. “I knew you were still alive: you’re like a damned cockroach.”
Elise crawled to the edge of the bar and peeked around it as someone pumped the lever on their gun.
“Elise, what are you doing?!” Pa hissed. “Get back here!”
She stayed where she was.
The man who stood in front of Ulrick sent a chill right down her spine. He was tall, with deeply tanned skin, black hair, and the face of a predator. He was wearing a deep green uniform, with a saber on one hip, gaiters that went to his knees, a felt cap, and a large rifle in his hands, one that was longer and thicker than the one Pa had bought, and had a knife attached to the end. Ulrick had his gun aimed right for his head. The Gisken didn’t even have his gun raised.
The thing she noticed the most was the Gisken’s smile. He looked like a kid getting into a little trouble by stealing eggs from the neighbor’s chickens, or flirting with the wrong girl. Not like a man who had blood all over his gun.
“Walk out of here, Blair,” Ulrick said. “I don’t plan on missing a second time.”
“I doubt you’ll be able to fire that antique, again,” Blair said. “Put that down, and we can get back to business.”
Ulrick wrapped his finger around the trigger. “I don’t think so!”
She frowned. Did they… know each other?
“I take it you don’t plan on walking out of here,” Blair said. “Let me guess: staling to keep that pretty little girl from getting into trouble?”
That was when Elise realized that Blair was looking right at her.
The blood drained from her face as she watched him take aim at her.
Ulrick acted faster: he knocked the gun to the side with the barrel of his gun just as Blair pulled the trigger.
The gun went off, sending a bullet into the bar just inches from her head.
“Get out of here!” Ulrick screamed.
Elise scrambled to her feet-
Just in time to watch Blair stab Ulrick in the stomach with the end of his rifle.
He gasped, stumbling backwards.
Blair ripped the gun out of his hands and tossed it to the side.
Right towards Elise.
She froze right where she was as she watched Blair shove Ulrick off his gun and to the ground. He didn’t try to get up: he writhed on the ground, wrapping one arm around his stomach. She knew she had to do something as she watched Blair circle Ulrick, like a cat playing with a mouse.
“Familiar, isn’t it?” Blair asked him. “I’m sure you want me to go ahead and end it, but… watching you squirm after all the shit I went through because of you is kind of nice.”
He kicked Ulrick in the side, hard.
He yelped.
Elise slowly picked up the gun. It was heavy in her arms; she could barely hold it up to her shoulder. Her hands were shaking, to the point where she wasn’t confident she could shoot it.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason she wasn’t confident of shooting that gun.
“L-leave him alone!” She squeaked as she pumped the lever.
Both of them looked up at her.
“Elise…” Ulrick groaned.
“So, your name’s Elise,” Blair said. “And that old sack of bones behind you must be your father.” He pointed his rifle at her and pumped the lever. “I’m only going to ask this once: put down the rifle, before someone gets hurt.”
She didn’t. Part of her wanted to. Part of her knew that she was as good as dead no matter what she did. So, she just stood there.
“Leave. Him. Alone,” she said, again. More confident.
Blair wrapped his finger around the trigger. “Trust me: you don’t want to waste your life on this bastard.”
“Do… what he says,” Ulrick wheezed. He’d managed to roll over on his stomach and prop himself up on his elbows.
Blair kicked him in the stomach, again. Ulrick collapsed, barely even daring to move, anymore.
Elise hadn’t even realized she’d pulled the trigger until she heard the click.
Nothing happened.
Panic began to flutter in her chest. What had she done wrong? Shouldn’t the gun have fired instead of just clicking?
“Oops: look like I was right about that gun jamming,” Blair said.
He took aim at her, again.
Tears began to brew in her eyes as she realized she was about to die.
“No!”
Pa stepped in front of her.
Elise didn’t have time to move him before Blair’s gun went off: all she could do was watch as her father collapsed, blood blossoming from his chest.
No, she said to herself over and over in her mind as dropped the gun and knelt down beside Pa. This isn’t happening; this can’t be happening!
Pa wasn’t moving. She pressed her hands against his chest to stop the bleeding, but she knew it was useless: she could tell the second she put her hands on his chest that Blair had shot him through the heart. Even as she sat there, trying to do something to save him, she could feel his pulse getting weaker. Weaker. Weaker.
Elise pressed her forehead to his. “I’m sorry, Pa: I’m so, so sorry!”
“You only have yourself to blame,” Blair said. “You should’ve put that gun down like I told you.”
She looked up at him. She didn’t know what she expected to see. Remorse, maybe. Some semblance of humanity. She didn’t see any of that: all she saw was a cold, blank stare. He didn’t care that he’d just killed her father; he didn’t care that he’d just stabbed Ulrick, kicked him while he was down. As far as she could tell, he didn’t care about anybody, or anything.
The hole Blair had just ripped in her heart began to feel with warm, uncomfortable heat. She realized then that she wanted to kill him. She wanted to take that knife at the end of Blair’s rifle and stab him. She wanted to keep stabbing him until he stopped breathing. Until he stopped begging for mercy.
And Gods, did that scare her.
“You’re a monster!” The knot in her throat didn’t allow her to say it above a whisper.
Blair didn’t even try to disagree with her. Instead, he took aim at her, again, pressing the knife at the end of his gun to her throat. “I suggest you stand up if you don’t want to end up like your father.”
She slowly stood up, not daring to look away from him.
“You just tried to shoot me. That makes you a combatant,” Blair said. “You know what that means?”
Elise didn’t say anything. She clenched her fists at her sides. Her palms were slick with Pa’s blood.
Without warning, Blair turned the gun around and hit her in the stomach with the butt, hard.
The wind left her lungs the second the butt connected to her stomach with a crack. Pain exploded in her stomach. She fell to her knees, gasping, wrapping her arms around her stomach.
“You wanted to act like a soldier; you’re about to be treated like one,” Blair said. “We’re going to take you out back and shoot you right alongside your Watchman friend.”
“Leave… her alone… you bastard!” Ulrick wasn’t trying to get up, anymore: his entire body was rigid, his fists clenched tightly enough that they’d turned white.
Blair turned to look at him, again. “Don’t worry: I think you know full well we can’t kill you before we have a little fun.”
Blair ran his knife straight through Ulrick’s shoulder. The same one he’d been shot in.
Ulrick let out a short cry before he bit his lip. He began squirming, but Blair kept him pinned to his spot.
“You remember it all, don’t you?” Blair asked as Ulrick struggled underneath him. “Of course, you do. How could you forget?”
He twisted the knife in his shoulder.
Ulrick screamed.
“Stop it!” Elise pleaded. “You’re hurting him!”
“That’s the idea,” Blair said. “I take it he didn’t tell you anything about us? We had some things we needed to learn from him, and he wasn’t exactly willing to talk to us. So, we had to make him more willing.”
The dots were beginning to connect in her mind. The bullet wound, the burns, the cuts, the bruises. It hadn’t been a boar, and it hadn’t been bandits. It had been Giskens. It had been that Gisken.
It might as well have been the Blight: the man in front of her was looking less like a man and more like a monster with every second.
“Haven’t you done enough to him, then?” Elise asked.
“No,” Blair said. “After that little stunt he pulled the other night, I don’t think I’ve done enough.”
Another twist of the knife. Another scream.
And then, another Gisken climbed through the window.
“Lieutenant!” The Gisken ordered.
Blair turned to look at the new Gisken, pulling his gun out of Ulrick’s shoulder. He whimpered and finally stopped squirming. “Morning, captain: I’ve found the Watchman. And one of his accomplices.”
Elise slowly began to crawl towards Ulrick.
“What happened, here?” The Captain demanded. “I ought to take you to the general in chains!”
Elise reached Ulrick. She pressed her hands against his bleeding shoulder, making him gasp in pain.
“I’m sorry,” he whimpered. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” Blair said. “This girl tried to shoot me. I defended myself, and her father got in the way of that.”
The Captain didn’t look like he believed him: his eyes were narrowed, his hands clenched behind his back.
“Where’s the general?” Blair asked.
“Back at camp,” the Captain said. “I plan on telling him exactly what I’ve seen here.”
“As do I. And I plan on bringing these prisoners with me.”
“You need to take Ulrick to a doctor, first,” Elise said, looking up at them.
Blair and the Captain looked down at her.
“I don’t remember asking,” Blair said. “Besides: I think you know full well he doesn’t need a doctor.”
“What are you talking about?” Elise asked. “How could you be so cruel?”
“You know damned well what I’m talking about.” Blair pointed his gun at her, again. “Now, get up.”
The Captain grabbed the barrel of Blair’s gun and pulled it away from her. “That’s enough of that, Lieutenant.”
Blair glared at him and yanked the gun out of the Captain’s hands. He stopped pointing it at her, though.
The Captain turned back towards her and held out his hand. “Miss: let me help you up.”
Elise didn’t take his hand as she stood up.
Blair grabbed Ulrick and yanked him to his feet. Ulrick began to sway the second he was on his feet.
Elise took his uninjured arm and put over her shoulder.
“Start walking,” Blair said. “I don’t think you want to keep the general waiting.”
Comments (1)
See all