Elise held on tightly to the Watchman as they rode through the night, trying to ignore the throbbing of her head. The rain was coming down hard, now, the drops feeling more and more like rocks with each second that passed. The graze hurt more and more with each jolt and bounce of the horse. The pain nearly blinded her, now that the adrenaline of the moment had worn off. She wasn’t certain that she could manage to stay on the horse for much longer. The Watchman hadn’t said where they were going, or how much farther they had to go, but wherever it was, she prayed that it was close. Before she fell right off the horse and wasn’t able to get back on it, again.
“Do you know how to load a rifle?” The Watchman asked as they rode on.
Elise forced herself to open her eyes. The world felt like it was tilting to one side, making her stomach twist and turn inside her.
She closed her eyes, again. Before she could get sick.
“No,” she said. “I-I don’t know anything about guns.”
The Watchman cursed.
“Better pray this isn’t as fast as this horse can go,” she said under her breath.
That could only mean one thing.
Elise opened her eyes and looked over her shoulder.
At first, she didn’t see anything. No lanterns, no sound of distant horses, no gunshots. Nothing but a soggy road full of swirling, pulsing shadow. The shadows almost seemed like a living thing, one that seemed to reach out to her.
And then the shadows grew eyes.
Elise thought she was seeing things. One of the shadows to their right didn’t just seem like a living thing, anymore. It was a living thing. With eyes like burning coals. It had arms. Actual arms. A body that faded away before it got to legs. It seemed to be peeking out from behind a tree, as if it were curious to see what the commotion was about. Just looking at it, an overwhelming sense of dread filled her. The only thing that filled her head while she looked at it was a primal fear, one that she’d never felt, before.
The Watchman looked to the side, right at the shadowy monster. Her eyes narrowed.
“Blight,” she muttered under her breath, looking back at the road ahead. “Better not have any buddies around.”
“The Blight isn’t real,” Elise said, closing her eyes, again. Even as she said it, it felt hollow. What else could it have been? Especially if someone else had seen it.
“It’s more real than you know,” the Watchman warned.
Elise took a few deep breaths. It was all too much. She’d grown up with stories about the Blight, been told that it would come for her if she didn’t do her chores. A couple people had claimed to have seen the Blight out in the woods surrounding Thaos, but nobody had believed them. In fact, they’d been written off as crazy. By everyone, including her.
But then, the Giskens came, and every last one of them were convinced of them. They were even convinced that the Godswater existed. She was certain that her life had been turned upside down for a fairy tale. And now, she’d seen the Blight, herself. And if that was real, then that meant that the Watch really was tasked with fighting it. And if that was true… did that mean the Godswater existed, too? Did Ulrick really have some Gods-given ability to heal from things that would’ve killed an ordinary man? What did that mean for her brother?
Gods: how much more are you going to turn my life upside down, this week? Elise thought to herself as they rode on.
She didn’t know how long they were on the road, though it felt like eternity. Finally, though, she felt the Watchman relax.
“Made it,” she said to herself.
Elise looked up and opened her eyes.
They were in a town, one that was much bigger than Thaos. The streets were quiet, paved with stone, streetlights painting the houses and the pavement orange. At the end of the road was a stone wall, one with a heavy gate. Soldiers dressed in the Watchman’s grays stood in front of the gate, as well as on top of the wall.
She knew exactly where they were, even though she’d never been there, before: Fort Airde, where her brother had gone to find out where he would be stationed. Where he still was, as far as she knew.
How am I supposed to tell him what happened? She thought to herself.
The soldiers at the gate raised their rifles as the three of them approached the gate.
“Stop, or I’ll shoot!” one of them ordered.
“OPEN THIS DAMNED GATE! NOW!” the Watchman barked.
The soldiers, apparently, recognized the Watchman’s voice: they scrambled to follow her orders, the gate heaving with a groan.
They entered Fort Airde, and the gate swung shut behind them.
Relief washed over Elise as the gate shut with a thud and the horses slowed to a stop. She’d made it: they’d escaped Thaos.
That relief was short lived as she watched Ulrick fall from his horse. He didn’t get back up.
The Watchman cursed, jumping from the horse and running towards him. One of the guards ran off, calling for someone called Doc. More men came out of a building right next to the gate, one that Elise guessed was some sort of barracks. They looked disoriented, held their rifles up while looking for whatever threat was causing the commotion.
“Commander Kurzhakova-“ the other guard began.
The Watchman – Commander Kurzhakova – looked up at him. “What the hell are you standing around for? Go find Commander Baines!”
The guard saluted, then ran off across the parade grounds.
Commander Kurzhakova looked to the other men that were gathering. “Two of you: go stand guard outside the gate. One of you: help the girl off the horse and find a spot in the stables for them. The rest of you: go find something useful to do, or go the hell back to bed!”
The men rushed to follow her orders.
One of them came up to Elise and the horse. He held his hand out to her. “Miss.”
She took his hand and slid down the side of the horse.
The second she landed, the time spend riding the horse caught up with her. She stumbled, the world lurching to the side. She might have fallen over, had it not been for the soldier helping her down.
“Miss, are you alright?” the soldier asked.
What the hell does it look like?! “I-I’m fine. I should just… probably sit down.”
The soldier looked up as Elise slowly sank to the ground. “Someone ran to get Doc, right?”
Commander Kurzhakova looked up at Elise, then cursed. “Damn it, girl: why the fuck didn’t you say anything?!”
Elise put a hand to her wound. She didn’t realize just how bad it was until she felt the raw, broken flesh. She saw herself in her mind’s eye, one side of her face covered in blood, gore matting her hair. “I think… I just need stitches.”
Before she could chastise her any more, a well-dressed man with glasses and an apron over his slacks and white dress shirt ran up, carrying a carpet bag. Three soldiers followed him: the guard that had run off to find Doc, two with red bands of fabric sewn around both forearms and their own satchels.
“Looks like Ulrick found some more trouble,” the man – Doc, Elise assumed – said. “Silas told me what you did: you didn’t manage to get shot, did you?”
Commander Kurzhakova nodded over at Elise. “You’ll want to go see that one for that.”
Doc looked up at Elise. “Ben: go make sure she’s alright. Jacob: help me carry this one to the infirmary.”
One of the men ran over to Elise, while Doc and the other red-banded soldier knelt down to make sure Ulrick was alright.
“Evening, ma’am,” Ben said. “Looks like you’ve had a long night.”
Elise might have laughed, if she weren’t so tired. The fact suddenly hit her like a brick to the head. As did the fact that the rain had chilled her to the bone.
Ben knelt down and began to look at the wound to the side of her head. “Pretty good graze you’ve got, here. Good news is, these usually heal up just fine: so long as you keep it clean, all you’ll have is a little scar.”
Elise nodded as he opened up his bag. They were carrying Ulrick away, now. Taking him to the infirmary, she guessed. He was looking much like the night he came into the tavern: like he was going to die at any second.
“Don’t worry about him, miss,” Ben said as he cleaned out the graze. “Commander Praetor’s never down for long. In a few days, he’ll barely have a scratch on him.”
She hoped he was right.
***
Silas Baines stood over Ulrick as Doc worked on him. He looked like shit: beat to a bloody pulp, then beat a little more. He was amazed that the kid had managed to get that far before collapsing. And even more amazed that Eza had managed to drag both Ulrick and that girl they were with out of Thaos without any of them dying. Or getting shot.
“How’s he doing?” Silas asked as Doc bandaged Ulrick up.
“He needs to be on bedrest for the next couple days,” Doc said. “Thanks to that Blessing of his, though, he should be fine. If I were you, I’d be more worried about Eza.”
Silas raised an eyebrow. “And why’s that?”
“Because she looks like she’s about to go right back to Thaos and take on the Giskens, herself.”
Silas sighed. Of course. “Where is she?”
“Where’d she end up?” Silas asked.
Doc shrugged. “She stormed off after Ulrick started mumbling to himself. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but I guess she did, because she was pretty damned upset.”
Silas sighed, slicking his hair back with one hand. He knew that he should probably go and talk to her, make sure that she wasn’t about to do something stupid, but he wasn’t about to leave Ulrick’s side. Not in the condition he was in.
“Ulrick’s not going to be awake until morning with all the laudanum I gave him,” Doc said without even looking up from his work. “Go make sure that girl’s okay.”
“If he wakes up and you don’t send a runner, I’ll wring your neck.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
Silas rolled his eyes and left the infirmary.
Eza wasn’t exactly difficult to find. In fact, she was in her favorite spot: the drill field. She was practicing, stabbing a straw-filled dummy over and over again with her bayonet in the dark. And in the rain.
“I think you got ‘em,” Silas commented as he approached.
Eza, of course, ignored him. It was one of her favorite past times, like scowling, or telling him that all of his ideas were terrible.
“Let’s get inside, at least,” he continued. “Didn’t Mitrius ever tell you you’ll catch your death playing in the rain?”
Eza finally stopped. She didn’t look at him: she simply stood there for a few seconds, then sighed. Not the one she normally gave when she was annoyed with him. This one was tired. Like she hadn’t slept in days. Which, as far as he knew, was true.
She finally turned around to look at him. Silas hadn’t seen that look on her face in a long time. She’d never admit it, but that was the face of a girl who’d just seen a ghost from her past.
“King Thias is dead,” Eza said quietly. “Ulrick was there when it happened.”
Fantastic.
She went back to stabbing the dummy. “Do you know what happens when you kill a country’s leader in the middle of an invasion? They die right along with them.”
“Or they rally behind a martyr and become as strong as ever,” Silas countered. “This ain’t Kurzh, kid: we ain’t exactly going to be running around like chickens with our heads cut off. We’ve still got Polain and Princess Marion.”
Eza turned and gave him a skeptical look. “She hasn’t even recovered from losing her mother. What do you think finding out her father’s dead and that she’s the queen of a country at war is going to do to her?”
Absolutely destroy her, like it would any other human being. “You of all people should know that some people are stronger than they look.”
Eza went back to stabbing the dummy. “Did Doc say if Ulrick was going to be alright?”
“He’s on bedrest, but he’ll be alright,” Silas said. “I don’t suppose he told you just how fucked we are, did he?”
“He didn’t need to.”
Silas sighed. Gods, was Eza a depressing person to talk to, sometimes.
“Well, if we ain’t going to get some answers out of Ulrick anytime soon, we might as well see if that girl y’all dragged out here knows anything,” Silas said. “Why don’t you go and talk to her?”
Eza turned and raised an eyebrow at him. “Why me?”
Silas shrugged. “You’re both women, you both know what it’s like to have the Giskens come in and destroy everything you hold dear; the two of you have a lot in common.”
Eza didn’t seem convinced.
“Look: that girl has just lost her whole life, and nearly died trying to get to this new place where she doesn’t know anybody,” he finally said. “Sound pretty familiar, doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you have liked someone who knew exactly what kind of fresh hell you’d just witnessed to help you sort through your feelings?”
I also don’t trust you to be by yourself, right now. He planned on taking that last part to his grave.
Eza sighed. “Where is she?”
“I told Ira to set her up in the diplomat’s quarters; not like we’ll be using those anytime soon,” Silas said.
Eza began to walk away.
“Try to not scare the poor girl, alright?” Silas called after her.
Eza responded with a grunt.
Silas sighed. “She’s going to scare the poor girl.”
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