Last Rank

Chapter 18

- Elly -

Nathaniel kept the pouch with the money below his bed, Elly had seen it while cleaning the other day.

Annabelle had her weapons laying all over the place. She would probably not even notice one missing. There was the carriage going in and out of the castle and the capital once a day to the nearby farms.

Elly could be gone before anyone knew it. She could take the money and a weapon with her to work in the morning, but instead of heading to the kitchen she could head to the stables and hide herself in the empty barrels from the day before.

Upon arriving at the house Elly stopped with a sigh.

She had thought the exact same thing every day since arriving at the capital and every day the exact same thing had stopped her from running. 

Maybe Jake and his group were insane for aspiring to overthrow the King. Bug what if things really could be different? What if things could be better? What if other innocent girls could be spared from the grim fate Elly had suffered?

She found Nathaniel and Annabelle awaiting her in the kitchen, also like every day, but the looks with which they welcomed her, were something she had not seen before.

They were tensed, unnerved, and upon noticing her presence they stopped whatever conversation they must have had.

"What is it?" Elly asked. Fear spread through her body.

"The boss is back," Annabelle said.

Elly's heart skipped a beat. That was something to be happy about, wasn't it? What were those faces of worry for then? Why were they so upset? She remained staring, waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the continuation of the explanation, but that did not come.

"Upstairs." Nathaniel said eventually and pointed his finger up towards the ceiling.

"O-Okay."

Uncertain what exactly to expect Elly climbed the stairs. The wood floor creaking below her weight must have announced her, but everything remained silent.

Carefully Elly looked into the few rooms, as if her nightmares would jump her.

And then she found him.

Jake sat on the bed. No, he crouched, his shoulders hung slumped and his head low. He held his face hidden in his hands, that he leaned upon.

Elly had worried for days how to react upon meeting again after their inappropriate parting, but all of that was gone in an instant.

Something was very wrong.

She sat down on a chair in front of Jake and waited for his reaction to it, but none came. "Are you ... quite alright?" she asked. "Jake?"

Slowly he rose his head to glance at her. He looked sickly tired, worn out beyond what should have been possible to endure. Pale skin, dark shadows below haunted eyes. An expression of pure agony.

"It's over," he mumbled. "Nathaniel was right. With everything." He let his head hang again and ran his fingers through his hair like he was about to pull them out.

Elly tried to remember some conversations she had overheard to make some sense of the words. But no one had ever told her anything important and the rest was a little beyond her as well.

"What happened?" she asked. Because something had, hadn't worked out as planned, it was painfully obvious.

Jake shook his head.