Broken Hero

Chapter 9

Elsa's POV

Since it was night all of the soldiers in the building were asleep, or at least pretending to be. Jack directed me to one of the back storage rooms. It was hardly more than a closet, but Jack promised that it was all mine. I was too stressed to properly thank him, and he must have noticed, because he quickly left to "deal with something."

I slouched against the bag of flour which was now my bed. The bag of explosives was propped against the wall as far from me as I could make it.  Maybe they could explode right now.  It would be blamed on the invaders, not me.  I wouldn't have to deal with any of this ever again.

But the explosion would probably also cripple the wall and take out all the helpless soldiers around me, so that wasn't an option.

"Why did I ever leave Jack?" I whispered as I buried my head in my arms. If I hadn't lost my temper and stormed away then I would have been on the wall when Jack needed me. I never would have gotten kidnapped. I wouldn't have a bag of explosives.

Someone knocked on the door.  Probably Jack.  Not that I particularly wanted to deal with that at the moment.  I looked up.

"Come in," I said.  The door opened and Kristoff stepped inside. His eyes were warm enough to thaw a frozen heart.

"You really are back," he said.

"Like I'd be anywhere but the thick of the action," I replied.  He shrugged.

"I've learned by now that you can handle yourself, but I couldn't help worrying.  Don't tell Jack, but the whole time I thought you were probably kidnapped."

"And you were right."

Kristoff's eyes drifted around the room.  They landed on the bag of explosives.  "Do you need to talk about it?"

"No, I'm fine.  Just . . . recovery would be nice.  Alone."

"Oh.  Sure thing.  I just, I'll just go."

I turned and left.  The door clicked shut behind him.  I waited a moment before pulling the explosives bag towards me.  I reached in and pulled out one of the objects it concealed.

The explosive looked fairly harmless on its own.  It was just a ball made out of some unknown substance.  It reminded me of a mixture of clay and putty.  A fuse made out of coarse yellow yarn protruded from the top.  When I shook it the sound of shifting sand fell on my ears.

It looked so harmless now.  I couldn't set the explosions without destroying people's lives and everything we had worked for.  And I couldn't not set the explosives because they would kill Jack.

My eyes narrowed as I rolled the ball between my hands. They said I needed to set the explosives. They hadn't said how big the explosions had to be. If somehow I could puncture the case and remove the powder inside . . .

Well, then I'd be stuck with a mountain of explosive powder in my room.

But it was possible. Aside from the small matter of finding something to do with the extra powder I could set off explosions which were only big enough to be seen, not big enough to do any damage.

I mulled over the risks in my mind.  I could get caught, leading to my potential execution.  Jack could be killed.  But every single option seemed to lead to that, so it didn't make much of a difference.

In the end my mind was made up. I put the explosive back into its bag. Tomorrow I would scout out the best places to out the explosives, places that would be visible but not too damaging.

———

One good thing about being a war hero who materialized in the night was that people left me alone. That was doubled by the fact that I had my own room.

For the first time I saw what the situation on the wall was really like. The men were terrified. They hadn't been attacked yet, which only made things worse. They expected danger at every turn. They hardly talked to each other.

I took advantage of the silence and emptiness at the top of the wall to do my tour. I had to pick the perfect place to lay the explosives. I had seven of them total. I wanted them all placed on the top of the wall so they'd be flashy but ineffective, but the problem was they were so visible there! Anybody could stumble across them, or me placing them. My best idea for neutralizing the problem so far was to place them at night when everyone was sleeping, but that had it's own problems.

"Elsa?"

"Jack!" I whirled around to face him. He looked exhausted, but he was still smiling.

"I didn't mean to startle you. I was just wondering if you'd given my idea any more thought?"

His idea? My mind scrambled as I tried to figure out what he was talking about. I hadn't been around during any of the meetings. Was it something he had mentioned in private? In passing?

"Sorry, I haven't."

"Oh. No worries." It was definitely worrying him. "Did you see any sign of the enemy while you were up here?"

"Nothing. They're completely and totally hidden."

"I wish we could take the fight to them. If only we knew where their camp was!"

I knew, but as much as it hurt I couldn't tell him. It would lead to him and everybody else dead. Meanwhile Jack was still talking.

"I sent a few scouts out to try and bring back information, but none of them have come back."

"Ho, there!" a voice shouted. Jack and I exchanged a glance before running to the edge of the wall and peering down.

Far below us was a waving man. I couldn't make out details from where I was but I could see he wore a soldier's uniform. Reinforcements?

"Wait there!" Jack called down. "We'll lower a ladder!"

I stepped back as the ladder was lowered and the man began climbing. If he was someone from the capital then maybe I wouldn't have to set the explosives. Maybe help was coming!

"Thank you, commander, I was worried I was going to be stranded down there," the man said as soon as he was safely on the wall.

"We'd hate to desert you to the enemy," Jack replied. "It's good to have another set of hands around here."

"Helping hands are good, although I come with information rather than aid." He turned towards me and my words died in my throat.

The newcomer wasn't a soldier. It was Raul.