AM/VW: The King & The White Petal

XI: The Destruction Of Fort Merceus

The month after, Claude took Sarai with him when he returned to Castle Riegan. "Welcome back, Master Claude.", Nardel said to him as he walked inside to the castle. "And hello to you as well, Miss Sarai.", he greeted her as she walked over to them. "Oh, come on! You haven't seen me in half a year and you're really going to just greet me like that?!", she said to him before the castle maids guided her away to get her cleaned up in the guest bedroom she would be sleeping in until she went back to Castle Blaiddyd after the very next round table conference. After a few days, Sarai surprised them with a white and blue dress her family sent to her from the kingdom. "Oh, wow.", they said when they saw also had a white veil on her head with a silver crown placed right on top of the white veil she had over her head. "It seems Hilda wasn't lying when she told us you were used to dressing like that.", Claude said to Sarai as she followed him out of the castle to his wyvern. Once they got to the building where the meeting would be held, they got right off his wyvern and walked inside. The other lords turned as he walked into the room, but she hid behind the doorway out of embarrassment they would see what she was wearing. "Please come in. Even if you're really nervous, you know we won't hurt you.", Lord Rogelio Von Edmund said to her as he kept his eyes on the doorway. "Oh, alright.", she replied and walked into the room before walking over to sit down next to Claude. "Thanks, Rogelio.", Lord Theron Von Ordelia said before Lorenz's father Lord Payton Reid Gloucester turned to their country's leader."While I'm happy you were able to help keep the empire away from our territories, I'm also not happy with you for allowing you and your friends to join forces with the kingdom's army!", he said to him and Sarai turned to him. "That's enough, Payton!", Hilda's father Lord Seamus Octavio Goneril shouted as he banged his hand on the table. "With Miss Eisner as their current queen, the kingdom has no reason to surrender to the empire!", he said and Sarai confirms she is married to Dimitri by putting her left arm on the table for Rogelio, Theron and Payton to see her emerald ring. "Truth be told, I only really told you and Hilda's brother this.", she said to Seamus. "In return, not only did Holst and I keep it a secret from Hilda, but we also kept it hidden from everyone else.", he replied. "After this, my father chose to remain there with me rather than continue being a knight.", she said and Claude turned to her to whisper something in her ear. She nodded in agreement before they got on with the meeting. Once this was over, they left the building and returned to their respective castles. Later that day, Claude and Sarai left Castle Riegan and returned to the church on his wyvern, after which she got off his wyvern and returned to the kingdom on her horse. At the end of the month, both armies traveled right to Fort Merceus while disguised as imperial reinforcements to trick the imperial army into opening up the gates for all of them. "I know you're here, stubborn woman!,", their commander said before he ordered the soldiers to eliminate them. Suddenly, Claude appeared on the other side of the ancient fort alongside another wyvern rider and five of his soldiers. "No matter who they are, let's pound them!", Nader said before he flew over to her. "Lead them on ahead, Dimitri! I'm certain he won't let any imperial soldiers hurt me!", she said to him and she turned to him before he landed his wyvern on the ground, after which she got up onto his wyvern in front of him and he took her to the other side of the side of the fort, where she jumped down from his mount and used her hero's relic to help him take out any imperial soldiers coming their way to make sure she wasn't harmed as she made her way to their commander. Once she found him, he was quick to swing his scythe at Sarai, but Dimitri defended her with his hero's relic, allowing her to defeat the commander with her hero's relic, ending the fight. After this, he gave her and her allies the signal to look up in the sky before a strange pillar appeared and destroyed part of the fort, forcing everyone in there to evacuate before more strange pillars appeared from the sky and destroyed the entire fortress, making it look a ruined wasteland. Afterwards, Sarai and her allies gathered around outside the fortress and the soldiers under her command ran over to her. "Your Grace! Are you okay?", they asked her. "I'm fine, but the fortress looks as though it's seen better days.", she replied as she wiped dust off her dress with her hands. "What was with those pillars?!", Judith asked her as they walked away from the wreckage. "Plus, what is Nardel doing here, Claude?!", she asked him as they made their way back to the alliance, but before he could answer her, the older wyvern rider left to see his soldiers go back to Almyra. "You better tell us the truth once we get back to the great bridge!", Lorenz shouted. Back at the great bridge, he told them everything the older wyvern rider had done for him when he was a child. "Wow! No wonder you're friendly around him.", Ignatz said when he finished explaining before they went back to the church.