Epilogue: Cradled by the Sky in the Blue Hour
It’s so noisy outside... Ashton sat up in bed, his mind blurry from sleep, just as his attendant Lochie came crashing in, his face pale. Ashton squinted at the clock on the wall, the hands of which indicated that it was the dead of night.
Still before dawn... he thought, scratching his head.
“Ser, the imperial army is attacking under cover of darkness!” Lochie cried. He took Ashton, who was still not fully awake, and shook him hard, Ashton’s neck flopping back and forth. “Now isn’t the time to doze, ser! Please wake up!”
“Okay, okay. The imperial army attacking...the imperial army attacking?!” The weight of the situation jerked Ashton awake, yet he still couldn’t fully make sense of what Lochie was saying. The first thing that flashed through his mind was that Felix and the Azure Knights were at the gates, but then he remembered that, temporary or not, Felix and Olivia had agreed to an armistice. Ashton did not know Felix well, but from listening to him speak with Olivia, he had not seemed like a person who would casually break an oath. What was more, given the current chaos, it was hard to believe that he had the capacity to mount such an attack.
It’s a fair bet that this is a different part of the imperial army, then... Ashton turned to Lochie, who stared back at him with the intensity of a starving beast. “But why would the imperial army attack now?”
“I’d quite like to know that myself! But please, you must get what you need and flee! It’s you they’re after, ser! Lieutenant Colonel Ashton!”
“Me? What for?” Even he could tell how stupid he sounded. But he was confused. Olivia, the thorn in the side of the imperial army, he would have understood. Why would they come after him?
With a look of desperation, Lochie exclaimed, “Obviously, they think your cleverness is getting to be a nuisance for them! Ser, there are imperial soldiers inside the fort right now hunting you down! Please, you have to hurry!”
“We let them get inside?!”
Lochie kept glancing over his shoulder as he replied. “Even at a rough estimate, there are over twenty thousand of them!”
“Twenty thousand?!” Ashton laughed weakly. “You’ve got to be joking.”
After the fort had been partially destroyed in the last battle here, its ability to withstand an attack was, put bluntly, all but nonexistent. Ashton had all the same given strict orders that his soldiers were not to relax their guard, but there were still only some five hundred of them. Five hundred against twenty thousand was not even a fight.
“Lieutenant Colonel Ashton!” At Lochie’s urgent tone, Ashton slid hurriedly out of bed and into his uniform. He picked up the sword, entirely for show, that rested against the wall beside the bed, then Lochie, who was surveying the situation out in the corridor, beckoned to him. When they stepped out into the corridor, he heard angry shouts in the distance. Here at last, the scene took on the feeling of reality, and Ashton thought of Gile, Ellis, and Evanson.
“Where are the others?” he asked.
“They are fighting to buy you as much time as possible to escape. Please try not to make any sound as you run.”
Though this seemed unreasonable, Ashton followed after Lochie without another word. At last, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he realized that Lochie was not carrying a sword.
“Where’s your sword?” he asked.
“A sword? It would only get in the way,” Lochie replied dismissively. This was, in its own way, convincing. Lochie, after all, was even more hopeless with a blade than Ashton himself. All the same, it was definitely worse to go without.
“Use mine,” he said.
“I don’t need it. And what are you going to do after handing over your means of defense to your attendant, ser?”
Though Lochie had a point, Ashton still couldn’t justify letting him go on unarmed. He patted the knife at his belt to show Lochie. “If it comes to that, this will see me through.”
“A thing like that isn’t going to be any use.”
“Don’t be so sure. I once almost fought a Norfess with this knife,” Ashton replied, thinking as he said it that that had been insanely reckless. Of course Stacia had been horrified.
“A Norfess? The legendary beast? Please, ser, this isn’t the time for jokes. Just make sure you stay close to me, no matter what.” Though he kept his voice low, Lochie gave off the air of one who would brook no argument. As Ashton didn’t have much energy to spare himself, he gave up on trying to persuade Lochie then and there.
As they ran on down the dim corridor, he saw through the window his allies under attack by large numbers of imperial soldiers, forcing upon him the dire state of things.
“Damn!” Lochie hissed suddenly from in front of him. Ashton looked ahead and saw a woman in ebony armor with a sword in her hand step out from around a corner.
Olivia’s the only one in the Royal Army who wears armor like that. Which means...
Noticing them, the woman’s lips curved like the sickle moon. She seemed eerie, like a ghost, and Ashton felt a dread that made all the hairs on his body stand on end.
“Wait here a moment,” Lochie said, then he ran straight at the woman. She raised her sword imposingly, an ecstatic expression on her face, but Lochie didn’t flinch. In fact, he ran faster. The woman’s blade swung down with unbelievable speed, but Lochie slipped out of the way with ease.
“He dodged?!” cried Ashton and the woman at the same time. Lochie moved nimbly around behind her, took hold of the back of her collar, then kicked her in the back of the knees, dragging her to the floor.
“Wh—?!” Before the woman could cry out, Lochie put a hand over her mouth. Jumping on top of her, he put his other hand on the back of her head then, as though releasing a spinning top, he pulled hard with both arms. The darkness felt heavy as lead as the woman’s head twisted at an unnatural angle. Seeing her tongue lolling from her mouth, Ashton understood that she would not be crying out again.
“You aren’t even armed...” he stammered. “Lochie, since when have you been that strong?” Ashton had thought that Lochie’s only talent was brewing excellent tea. He could imagine the shock on the faces of the others who knew him if they were here now. Ashton was no expert in martial arts, but even he could tell that the grace with which Lochie moved was not something one could develop overnight.
Right. So that’s why Special Officer Riful acted that way... At last, Ashton understood what she had been talking about. She must have picked up on the fact that Lochie was no ordinary attendant. She had asked about him in such detail because she had suspected he might be a spy.
And of course Olivia picked up on it. It made sense if she had said nothing precisely because she had decided he wasn’t in any danger.
Lochie, meanwhile, cast a quick look around them, then said, “My older sister sent me to the Eighth Legion. Compared to her, I’m nothing special.”
“Your sister sent you to the Eighth Legion?”
“Yes, she knows you very well, Lieutenant Colonel Ashton.”
“Wait, me? Who is she?”
“Right now, let’s focus on getting out of here. The enemy seems to have made it further into the fort than I thought.”
“Oh, um, right.” The woman’s body would be a giveaway if discovered, so they hid it in the shadows before setting off down the corridor once more. As the fourth turn came into view, Lochie made him stop. Ashton stifled his own heavy breathing, then peered out from behind the wall. He saw a soldier in black armor, perhaps a commander, giving an order to another group of soldiers in the same gear.
“I guess they really do want me dead,” he said, trying to lighten the mood. Lochie gave him the most venomous look he had ever seen. Having seen what Lochie had done to the soldier with his bare hands, Ashton cowered despite himself.
“This is no time for jokes.”
“Sorry. But there are five of them. Do we have to go down that corridor?”
Usually, Ashton would have checked the plans of the fort as a matter of course. This time, however, he had neglected it, thinking he would only be here for a few days. That had now come back to bite him.
“Unfortunately, all the main ways in and out are under enemy control. I thought they were yet to get this far, but apparently, I was overly optimistic.”
“Lochie, have you memorized the floor plans?”
“Of course. Handling unforeseen circumstances is my duty.”
“Your duty...? Do I really know your sister?”
Any older sister of Lochie’s couldn’t be far from his own age. If Lochie was telling the truth, she had to have some connection with the military, but as far as he was aware, he had no such acquaintances.
“I’ll tell you once we get through this. I’ll act as a decoy to draw their attention, so you slip by when you see an opening. Once you’re through that corridor, it isn’t far to the exit.”
“But then I’ll be putting you in danger.”
“Don’t worry about me. Just focus on getting out of here alive. You’ll forgive my saying so, but alone, I can handle myself.” There was a bold glint in Lochie’s eyes. This was no longer the Lochie that Ashton knew. He nodded, overawed.
“All right. Hide here behind this pillar until I’ve lured them away.”
“O-Okay.” Ashton stood close to the pillar. Lochie cracked his knuckles, one finger at a time, as though checking they were all in order. After that, everything happened in an instant. Lochie was like a hungry wolf, closing in on the imperial soldiers before seizing the one in front by the hand and twisting it to the ground. The soldier’s body followed, knees buckling. No sooner than their head was down than Lochie’s knee slammed into their face, and the soldier, their face in ruins, went flying along with a few of their teeth. As the other soldiers gaped, Lochie didn’t stop. He spun around to deliver a precisely aimed kick that smashed into the second soldier’s temple. They were thrown into the wall, skull cracking, then crumpled. Next, Lochie turned and began to run down the opposite side of the corridor. A few seconds later, the remaining imperial soldiers bellowed with rage and set off after him.
Ashton quietly stepped out from behind his pillar, then hesitantly approached the fallen soldiers. They were still breathing weakly, but he imagined that would not last long.
He just pulled that off in seconds. Who is that guy? He had so many questions. But for Lochie, who had put his life at risk to draw the imperial soldiers away, Ashton made himself hurry on.
Ashton’s attention was so entirely occupied by the sight of a door that looked like it might be the way out that he put himself in full view of another group of imperial soldiers.
I really am an incurable idiot! With the soldiers chasing after him, bloody murder in their eyes, he had no other option. He could only put everything he had into escaping.
And after Lochie helped me get this far! He had never set much store in his physical abilities. The sound of the imperial soldiers’ well-trained footfalls grew steadily closer.
Is this...it, then...? He could no longer tell if he was breathing in or out. His feet tripped over each other, and he was about to fall—and in that moment, a hand came out of nowhere to seize his arm, before dragging him into a dimly lit room.
Thrown onto the floor with no idea what was happening, Ashton turned around.
“Gile?!”
“Don’t just stand there! Get out the back door and run!” Gile swiftly raised his bow, loosing arrow after arrow at the imperial soldiers who came thundering into the room. All three who had pursued Ashton went down with shafts piercing their hearts.
“Then you come with—”
“Now’s not the time for you to be a bonehead! Hurry up and go!”
“But, Gile...”
Gile sighed. “Look,” he snapped, quickly retrieving his arrows, “I’m not so delicate that I need you worrying over me.”
“I know that.”
“Then get out of here.”
“I can’t!” Ashton insisted, obstinate. Gile let out a short, scornful laugh.
“I promised I would at least keep you safe, didn’t I?” He kicked down the door that led on, then shoved Ashton toward it.
“Gile!”
“I said go!” Gile’s commanding bellow shook the room.
After a moment, Ashton said, “All right. But you’d better come after me, or else.” Gile made a shooing gesture at him over his shoulder, and Ashton, with painful reluctance, ran off down the corridor.
“He goes at last...” Listening to Ashton’s receding footsteps, Gile shut the door, then let out a breath that expelled all the stagnant air from his lungs. “Just when it looks like we’ll need his brains more than ever, it’s like he doesn’t even realize it. I just don’t want to have to see her tears...”
Ignoring the blood oozing from his side, Gile looked up at the new batch of imperial soldiers with a fearsome grin. The soldiers took one look at the bodies of their fallen comrades and pulled up short.
“Did he go that way?” one asked cautiously.
“Do you really think I’m just going to tell you?”
“Then we’ll just have to encourage you.”
“You’re welcome to try!” Eyes full of malice bored clean through him.
You’d damn well better survive, he thought. Spitting out a mouthful of blood onto the floor, Gile nocked another arrow to his bow.
Ashton opened the rattling wooden door, stepping outside to be enveloped in a rush of cool winter wind. The sky was a deep blue. Before long, dawn would be breaking.
Gile, Lochie... Did they all make it out, I wonder...? He cast another look around him, seeing a row of small buildings, half in ruins. He had emerged near long-abandoned stables, it seemed. His legs were like lead, but he forced them forward.
As he pushed his way through the overgrown grass, he felt a soft impact, just as his body tilted to the left. Not long after, heat and pain flared in his right side. Looking to the source of the pain, his eyes found a woman with an ugly smile stretched across her face, standing as though to lean on him. There was a knife clutched conspicuously in each of her hands.
“Oh...” Without thinking, Ashton drew the knife from his own belt, then plunged it into the woman’s neck. She fell where she stood, her smile still in place and knives still held tight.
Ashton’s legs felt even heavier than before. I have to go... he thought, forcing himself forward, but his legs no longer listened to his commands. He pressed himself against a nearby tree trunk, then slumped to the ground.
He tried to apply pressure to the stab wound in his side, but still the blood spilled from between his fingers, dripping down to form a dark red stain on the ground. Ashton watched it dispassionately, as though it were happening to someone else, thinking, People really do bleed a lot... and then, I’ll never live this down, after all the others helped me get this close to escaping.
As if in reverse proportion to the lightening sky, darkness crept in around Ashton’s field of vision. Within his heart, his parents, Claudia, and Olivia, with her innocent smile, were a fragile light against the oblivion near at hand.
The little white flowers that bloomed around his feet turned a deep crimson.
That’s right... You wouldn’t have thought it, but...I always loved how...Olivia liked flowers...
Reality and fantasy blurred together, his thoughts growing indistinct. Drawing up the last of his strength, Ashton picked one of the crimson flowers.
“Oli...via...”
A single ray of light spilled over the horizon, announcing the coming morning. The flower slipped from Ashton’s grasp, and slowly, his eyes closed.
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