"We need to make haste to the castle." Lukas told Celica and Clive immediately after the battle.
"Why?" Celica asked.
"One of our spies has just discovered that all of the generals, with the exception of Desaix himself, have left the castle. This is the prime time to attack."
Clive and Celica were both shocked at the revelation. Why would all of the generals leave just after an attack on their castle?
"That is a big deal. We should leave here immediately." Clive told Celica, who agreed. The Deliverance packed up swiftly, and they marched towards the castle. At the rate that they were going at, they would reach castle Zofia by daybreak the next morning.
As they were marching, the pig tailed girl, Mae, and the tan skinned boy, Boey, both approached Celica. Celica greeted them, and they began to talk.
"So, where are you from?" Celica asked the new recruits.
"We are from the Novis Priory." Boey said.
"I see. My grandfather told me about that place. I may have been sent there if he did not take me in." Celica told them.
"We know." Mae said before saying. "We heard that you were the princess of Zofia during the battle." Mae's words shocked Celica in her tracks.
Boey saw this and said, ""Wait, we are here to help you save Zofia. We were sent by the priory to help the princess save Zofia. We thought that you could be in the Deliverance."
Celica relaxed and began to walk again. "I see. So you were sent by the priory to aide me in helping Zofia?"
"Yep!" Mae said at the same time that Boey said yes.
They continued to make small talk well into the night.
{Linebreak}
"Why did we not think to prepare for an extra person? Especially an extra old person." Berkut griped as the group had to stop again for the horses to take a break.
"Because Rigel does not just have horses to spare." Alm replied.
"I am aware, but this is ridiculous. How long are these two going to stay asleep anyways? We didn't hit them that hard." Berkut poked Kliff in the face.
"These Zofians are just weak little bugs. They can't handle being hit harder than a hug." Alm joked and joined Berkut in poking the white haired boy in the face.
"Stop that, it is very rude to poke people in the face whilst they are sleeping." Rinea said.
"He is sleeping. It dosen't matter." Berkut rebuttled jokingly.
"Do you want him to wake up, and be all squirmy the rest of the way back to the castle?" Rinea put her hands on her hips. "If so, then be my guest and keep poking him." This caused both Berkut and Alm to stop poking him, and they both went back to being bored.
"So, why do you think that father wants Mycen?" Alm asked Berkut as they laid on the grass.
"I don't know. Maybe he knows something that Uncle wishes to know." Berkut thought.
"Yeah. Maybe." Alm said.
They were silent for a few moments after that.
"Let's continue. The horses have rested long enough." Berkut got up, and he began to prepare the horses.
{Linebreak}
"Remember, everyone, we are taking the castle today. If we cannot do this, then we have no chance of standing up to Rigel!" Celica shouted to her army as they came upon the castle. It stood tall and proud. With the flag of Rigel waving from the tops of the towers. They were going to change that.
The Dliverance began to attack the castle. They used the same tactics that they had used on the fortress earlier. The cavalier units charged, mercenaries assisted from behind, fliers aided from the sky, cleric healed the wounded, and the mages and archers helped from behind. The Deliverance soon reached Desaix. The man had put up a tough fight, but they won because of a surprise attack from Saber.
All was silent for a moment as the soldiers from both sides looked at Desaix's fallen body. Then, all at once, the Deliverance cheered as loudly as they could. They suppressed the remaining Rigelians, and they entered the castle.
It was just as Celica had remembered it to be. There was gold everywhere, and the throne room had red satin lacing decorating man of the things there.
Many of the soldiers were in awe at what they were looking at, and most of them immediately went to explore the rest of the castle. The only ones that remained with Celica in the throne room, were her friends from Ram.
"Does this place scream 'fancy rich people' or what!" Tobin exclaimed as he took in his surroundings.
"Nooooo... This is just the place of literal royalty, are you stupid Tobin? Of course it is going to be fancy." Gray said as he bonked Tobin on the head.
"I was just saying! Sheesh. Can't tell when I'm joking." Tobin said as he rubbed his head.
Faye sighed and said, "You two are so immature. Claire isn't ever going to like either of you if you cannot act your age."
"I don't need to impress Claire with manners!" Tobin said just when Claire and Clive entered the throne room, but Tobin didn't see either of them. "I have my manly muscles!"
"Who are you showing off for?" Claire asked.
Tobin's face was one of pure shock and embarrassment. Gray and Faye just laughed.
"Claire! I was just- uhhh.- comparing my muscles to Gray's scrawny ones!" Gray stopped laughing and began to compare their arms in earnest.
Claire rolled her eyes. "Ugh. You boys are so immature. Not at all like you, Brother." Claire smiled at Clive, and they both continued to make their way to the throne room balcony.
"Perfect. Now she thinks that I'm immature." Gray sighed.
"I have a lady who wishes for an audience with leader Celica!" One of the Deliverance's messenger called out.
"I will meet with them now." Celica said.
"Hello, Celica." Tobin's sister, Adelle, walked into the throne room.
"Sister?" Tobin was surprised that she was here.
"I have to tell you all something." She spoke quickly.
"What?" Faye asked.
"It's Kliff and Mycen. They have both been taken by the Rigelians."
"How do you know this?" Gray asked while Celica and Faye both panicked.
"I was heading off to visit Mycen, because he has one of the best orange trees in the village, but a group of people were already there. There were paladins, a mage, a blue haired woman, and two people that were talking to Mycen and Kliff inside. So, I waited by the hay and Mycen and Kliff were attacked. They did no stand a chance. They were both taken by them, and the last thing that I heard was that they could not let the town know that they took Mycen and Kliff. I came here as quickly as I could to tell you."
"Why would they take Kliff?" Gray asked.
"To keep him from being a witness." Celica said. "We need to progress to the border now. They will knoe=w that we took the castle, and they will try to escape to Rigel. We needto capture them before they succeed."
"Right." The others agreed.
{Linebreak}
"Dammit!" Berkut said when they saw the castle from afar. They were all on top of a hill that overlooked they castle. "That Zofian scum took the castle."
"We just have to go to the border then. We have to be swift though. If they catch us, then it's over." Alm said as he rode off with Zeke following him.
"We should get there tomorrow if we go fast enough." Berkut said when he caught up to Alm.
"We cannot have any breaks. Let's hope that these prisoners say asleep long enough." Zeke said from beside Alm.
"Yes." Alm said. "Let's hope."
AN
I probably won't be able to write much during the next week because I am going to go visit my Great Grandmother, and she does not have any wifi. I hope that you liked the chapter, and I hope to be done with this story by April 10th.