“Colonel Claudia, there might be survivors inside the fort,” Saizo said, requesting permission to search. Claudia thought quickly.
“We’ll divide into two groups. Half will search for survivors. Be on your guard; there might be enemy survivors too. The other half will keep watch on the perimeter. Regroup here in an hour’s time.”
“Yes, ser!” her soldiers replied as one. They moved swiftly into action. Saizo led the search party, and they made their way cautiously into the fort. The next hour passed without any further news.
It’s about time they were back... Claudia thought, shutting the pocket watch her father had given her. She had just given up on finding any survivors when Saizo came running up to her, his face pale.
“What is it?” she asked.
Saizo glanced around them several times too many, then hissed, “I have something to tell you in confidence.”
Claudia was so shocked by what he whispered in her ear that before she knew what she was doing, she had used Swift Step and was rushing toward the fort. She flew down the staircase that led below ground, then along a narrow corridor. There, under the watch of a number of her soldiers, she saw a soldier sat propped up against the wall.
“Is it true?! Were the imperial forces who attacked the fort after Lieutenant Colonel Ashton?!” She rounded on the soldier, grabbing him hard by the shoulders. He was barely conscious, but his eyelids fluttered open halfway.
“Colonel...Claudia...” he murmured. “It’s...true...”
Claudia choked, then demanded, “And Lieutenant Colonel Ashton? Is Ashton safe?!” The soldier made no answer. “I asked you a question!” she shouted.
“Colonel Claudia.” A hand closed on her shoulder, and she spun around instinctively. “The man’s already dead...” It was Saizo, short of breath. All of Claudia’s strength left her, and she dropped limply to the floor.
“Why...why was Ashton here...?”
“Ser, let’s leave off the search and get out of here. I’ve gotten the others ready to leave.” Claudia complied, standing up sluggishly. The ground beneath her feet felt as insubstantial as clouds as she made her way back out of the fort. Kagura came over to her, whinnying in concern.
“That’s true,” Claudia said to the horse. “You’re right.” Under her soldiers’ mystified stares, she leaped up into the saddle. Then, she gave the order for them to move out from Fort Tezcapolis. Scarcely ten seconds later, the thunder of frenzied hoofbeats came from behind them. As Claudia rode hell-bent down the slope, the cries of the death-eater birds that circled in the sky above the fort sounded like mocking laughter.
“Colonel Claudia, slow down! The others can’t keep up! And you’ll ride the horses to death!” Claudia did not reply. “Colonel!”
She heard Saizo, of course. And from the sweat pouring off Kagura like never before, the horse was terribly tired. But the thought of Ashton made her refuse to slacken her pace. Her fears grew unchecked until they arrived at Fort Belganna, the imperial fort they had taken after Fort Astora. It was deserted.
Here they clearly carried out the orders. So why? Why was Ashton still at Fort Tezcapolis?! She slammed her fist into the wall.
Saizo, looking hesitant, said, “We should head on to Fort Astora.”
Claudia set off at a gallop. None of their voices reached her anymore...
Fort Astora
When Lise received word that Claudia had returned, she was with Blood and a few other officers deliberating over the repairs to the fort. Twin Lions at Dawn had failed in its objective of bringing them back from the brink, but Fort Astora had originally been built as a fortified outpost against invaders for Fernest, and it still had the potential to threaten the empire. Blood’s opinion was that, after suffering its first loss of territory since its founding, the empire would have to reconsider its strategy going forward, and that was why one of his first orders after arriving at Fort Astora had been for repair work.
I’m glad Claudia made it back safe, at least. The real fight is only just beginning, Lise Prussie. Time to step it up! She swallowed her tea in a single gulp, then slapped her cheeks to marshal her spirits. “Right!”
Blood looked at her with worry, but Lise smiled at him. “I’ll go to receive Colonel Claudia.”
“Right. Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel.”
“Ser!” Lise left the room, then, with a glance at the ongoing repairs to the outer walls, she set off briskly toward the gate. The guards had orders direct from their supreme commander that when Claudia returned, they were to keep her there.
The main gate came into view, and Claudia with it. She had her arms folded and was pacing back and forth in front of it. Even at this distance, it was clear she was annoyed. The guards who had to have borne the brunt of her anger were cowering so badly Lise felt sorry for them.
“Just how long do I—?!” Claudia caught sight of Lise. Shaking off the guards’ attempts to hold her back, she approached. Lise raised a hand to signal to the panicked guards that all was well. Then, she turned to Claudia and gave a salute they could have put in a textbook for new recruits.
“Colonel Claudia! My sincere apologies for keeping you waiting, ser!”
“Is Ashton here or not?!”
Claudia, who set such store by rules and discipline, had never in Lise’s memory raised her voice without so much as returning a salute before. Up close, her expression revealed a tangled knot of anger and impatience that she had never seen before. Lise could make out none of her usual levelheadedness.
How she found out, I have no idea, but it’s clear from how she’s talking that she knows something happened to Lieutenant Colonel Ashton. Nothing more specific than that, though. So that’s where we are...
“I asked you to tell me where Ashton is!” Claudia shouted. “You will answer me now, Lieutenant Colonel Lise!” Her hand shot out to grab Lise’s collar, but Lise was faster, quickly knocking it aside. Shock bloomed on Claudia’s face while Lise turned away from her.
“I’ll take you to him,” she said, doing away with formalities of rank. “Come on.” Without waiting for an answer, she walked away. Claudia followed a few steps behind. Not another word passed between them until Lise had seen them to their destination.
“Lieutenant Colonel Ashton is in here.” Lise pushed open the door to the small mausoleum contained within Fort Astora, then gestured for Claudia to enter.
Claudia’s expression had changed completely. There was now undisguised panic in her eyes. “This is the mausoleum, isn’t it...?” she said slowly. “What would Ashton be doing here? Stop joking around.” At once, she turned and tried to leave.
“You already know, don’t you?” Lise called after her, her voice cold. “You’ve lied to yourself long enough.”
Claudia gaped at her. “I’m not lying to myself!”
Ignoring this, Lise walked over to the stone pedestal in the very back of the room. Light streamed in through a skylight in the ceiling, casting the stone in a dreamy glow. There was a white coffin atop the pedestal. Around it hung the scent of new wood.
“I don’t understand. Lise, I don’t understand what you’re saying...”
“Hurry up and come here,” Lise replied softly. “He’ll have been waiting for you too.”
Claudia’s eyes flitted frantically this way and that, and her lips trembled. She looked nothing like the heir to the House of Jung now. It took her a long time to arrive before the coffin, moving in a series of small advances and retreats that spoke volumes for her emotional state.
“Ash...Ash...ton?”
At first glance, Ashton appeared as though he were only sleeping within the coffin. But the utter absence of warmth in his skin made it harshly apparent that blood no longer flowed in his veins. Lise had only spoken with Ashton on a few occasions. But even then she had understood why it was that Claudia, who was devoted to her sword to the point of stupidity and totally oblivious to matters of the heart, had fallen for this young man.
Claudia stood frozen, staring blankly at Ashton for what felt like around five minutes before her lips began to move in time once more.
“I’m sorry... I’m sorry... I’m sorry... I’m sorry...” Over and over again, the same apology spilled from her lips. “I’m sorry... I’m sorry... I’m sorry—”
Atonement suffused every word that poured forth from her. Lise silently watched this unspeakably cruel reunion between the two. As Claudia gazed down at Ashton, one fat tear then another spilled from her eyes.
Lise went over and wrapped her friend tightly in her arms. “There’s no one here but me,” she murmured. “So if you want to cry, you can cry.”
Claudia whimpered, then began to wail. Her anguish echoed through every corner of the mausoleum. Lise gently stroked Claudia’s hair—anything she could do to ease even a fraction of her grief.