Fhirdiad's walls had frightened Edelgard as a child. Enbarr depended on Fort Merceus for defense, so the rough gray stone seemed impossibly forbidding, another reminder that she was trapped far from home. She was too old for childish fancies, but there was a tightness in her chest as she surveyed the walls for the first time in years.
"If you told me a year that I'd be trying to conquer Fhirdiad like this," said Count Bergliez beside her, "I would have called you a liar."
"Not trying, Bergliez. Succeeding." The wind went through her cloak, but she forced herself to stay still. Hard days lay ahead for the army, and her men with looking to her for guidance almost more than when she had been emperor. "Her Majesty will see us through."
"I admire your commitment to your abdication," he said in a tone that suggested nothing of the kind. "She's far better than Arundel, but after all I have sacrificed to restore Adrestia to glory, to have it end at the hands of a common mercenary..."
"I won't hear such talk. She isn't common and never has been." Her eyes narrowed and she dropped her voice so that none but him could hear. "You never sacrificed. It was me and my siblings who were tortured to give you your perfect puppet to fulfill your dreams of faded glory. You 'sacrificed' a stepbrother you hated."
He was silent for a long moment. "I suppose I should have put a dagger in the former Prime Minister the day that you and that thing that wasn't Arundel returned from Fhirdiad. And for all that, you abdicated to save me and my men. I will never not grateful for that."
"Hmph." I did it for Caspar, not you.
Byleth's magically amplified voice rang through the air loud enough that Edelgard felt the vibrations. "Cornelia! Surrender and throw open the gates! You cannot hold Faerghus."
Hours stretched by without response. Byleth must have known that Cornelia would rather kill every person in the capital then surrender. But it was a formality that was carried out without fail so that those who shed blood could sleep easier at night. Edelgard had never found much use for the rules of chivalry. There was nothing honorable about taking another life, and the most compassionate course of action was to do what you could to end the war as quickly as possible. Then again, that line of thinking had led her to become far closer to Agartha than she'd wanted.
Her hatred of siege warfare was, however, firmly intact. There was nothing to do but wait and very little to relieve the tedium. Hammers and axes sounded at all hours of the day and night as they worked to build the siege weapons that were their only hope of victory—if they didn't die of thirst before they ever met Cornelia's troops. A few meager cups were distributed to officers and soldiers alike and the knowledge that Byleth and Seteth were enduring the same thing on the plateau did nothing to cool her parched lips or wash the filth from her body. She hadn't looked like this, felt like this, since the day her cell door had opened and she had collapsed into her father's arms.
"Is it true that the Royal Palace in Fhirdiad has heated baths?" Lysithea asked her on the sixth day as they played chess together in the tent.
"Dimitri said so, but I never saw them." Edelgard moved her knight. "I only went to the palace once and that ended with a red-haired boy locking me in the vaults. My uncle was in a state when the guards finally got me out. Check."
Lysithea shuddered. "Trapped in the dark with all those bones and Crest Stones. It must have been terrifying."
"Honestly? I had been trapped at my uncle's house for so long that it was an adventure. It was only later that I learned being trapped in the dark was a bad thing."
Lysithea put a hand over hers, the lightest pressure. "Once we take Fhirdiad, we'll find that the rest of them and make sure no one else goes through what we did."
Edelgard forced herself to smile. "There were days that promise of that were the only thing that kept me going." She turned her hand so that she could squeeze Lysithea's. "And having people like you around."
Lysithea colored but didn't pull her hand back. "Well, someone had to keep you from wallowing in self-pity. Anyway, the first thing I'm going to do when we win here is take a nice long bath."
"I'll drink to that. As soon as I have something to drink."
Someone shouted nearby, and they bolted from their chairs, the game forgotten. It didn't take long to find the source of the disturbance. A cluster of guards stood outside the water tent, holding a green-haired soldier between them. His skin was pale but his eyes flashed with defiance. Edelgard sighed. It was only a matter of time before someone tried to circumvent the rationing system. It was a miracle that everyone had obeyed until now. "What's all this?"
"I just wanted a drink. My insides feel like paper. You can't expect a man to fight to the death when he feels like that."
"What's your name. Where are you from?"
"Lukas, Your Majesty. Er, ma'am. My family has farmed Varley lands since Great Emperor Wilhelm."
Edelgard pinched her nose. Despite them all fighting under one flag, matters of discipline were still handled by commanders from the same nation to prevent accusations of score-settling. Which made Lukas her problem, unfortunately. "The punishment for attempted water theft is two strokes with the cane. Guards, take him away."
Lukas trembled. "You can't. Please. My brothers and sisters died for you at Gronder. Have mercy."
Edelgard wished he was lying, but she had grown too familiar with that precise tone of agony to believe that he was. The slaughter at Gronder would follow her all the days of her life. "The person whose water you stole deserve some mercy as well." She signaled the guards and turned her back.
Lysithea took her hand again and Edelgard flashed her a grateful smile. She had done the right thing, no question, but sometimes that was no comfort at all. She looked up at the cloudless sky. They needed rain or a break in the wall or something before things got worse. But despite Byleth's mysterious powers, there was no Goddess to hear the cries of the desperate. There was only, as ever, humanity. "Could you see that Lukas gets the rest of my rations for the day? He'll need them to recover. Don't tell him where it's from."
Humanity was all they had, but humanity had limits. Edelgard's days were increasingly consumed with breaking up fights between former Alliance and Empire forces and meting out punishment for infractions large and small. And as their water supply dwindled, she could no longer offer up her own rations to suffer in their stead. If she had still been emperor, she would have consented to whatever atrocity Thales demanded if only he could deliver victory.
The day the siege weapons were to be completed, she was reminded of what that would have meant. A flash of red hair appeared on the battlements. Cornelia. None of them were the type to waste a chance at an easy victory, and every mage and archer within range struck at her. Cornelia wreathed herself in light and the projectiles fell harmlessly away as she laughed.
"My my." Her voice was amplified as Byleth's had been. "You have been here such a long time. I thought you would have died of boredom. You certainly look as if you're dying. I've been so terribly rude in not speaking to you at all. It's only courteous off me to remind you what awaits those who defy the rightful ruler of Faerghus. Say hello, Rodrigue.
Duke Fraldarius? His death had never been confirmed by either side, but he had been assumed killed along with the rest of Dimitri's army. The figure Cornelia had forced beside her was too far away to see clearly, but he had Rodrigue's dark hair and blue clothing. He struggled in his bonds as Cornelia removed something from her cloak. "It did take some refinement to discover how to use a Crest Stone to transform a Crest-bearer into a Beast without years of exposure, but I managed."
She spoke words in an incantation that Edelgard didn't recognize and thrust the Crest Stone at Rodrigue. He screamed as the dark ooze enveloped him. His body twisted and grew until he was little more than misshapen limbs and an enormous head with flesh encased in stone. "You see how useless the so-called blessings of the Goddess are. I would tell you to turn back, but I rather enjoy the prospect of destroying you once and for all." With that, Cornelia and the thing that had been Rodrigue vanished.
A pall fell over the camp. Soldiers murmured. Edelgard could well imagine what they said. She was accustomed to fighting monsters, but for the common soldier, they were little more than campfire tales. Tomorrow she would have to ask every man on this mountain to possibly give their lives. They wouldn't mutiny, probably, but they would be dreading the Beast. Cornelia's cruelty was matched only by her cleverness.
The attack was planned for an hour past midnight to allow for the siege towers and battering ram to be moved under cover of darkness. Edelgard stood outside her tent, watching and rubbing her hands against the cold as her soldiers made the last of their preparations. In the old days, she would have delivered a speech to rally them, but the words stuck in her throat. They fought because someone had to be the sacrifice in exchange for Byleth to have a hope of victory. Edelgard had chosen the forlorn hope for herself, but she had chosen it for the soldiers as well. Once more, thousands would die on her order.
A figure approached. "It's me," Byleth called.
Edelgard relaxed. "Your Majesty." She bowed. "Preparations are proceeding apace, and we should have no problems supporting Duke Riegan's siege troops."
"So I see. Tell them that the first person over the top may have as much water and wine as he likes." She smiled at the cheers of those who overheard, though it was too wide and too bright for a real smile. "When the walls come down and we take back Fhirdiad, it's wine and sweets for everyone."
More cheering, so they didn't notice Byleth leading Edelgard away. They walked together for some time in silence, until the camp was nothing more than pinpricks of torchlight.
The sky was clear and the full moon gave Byleth a soft glow as she turned back to Edelgard. "Claude did some analysis. Even if everything goes right, half of those men are going to die. And I promised them wine." She buried her face in her hands. "How did you stand lying so much?"
Edelgard gently pried her hands loose. When she had been a student and hating herself for her dangerous infatuation, she had wished for some sign that the unflappable Professor Eisner was as mortal as the rest of them. After all these months, after learning the secret of the Ashen Demon, she felt only pain and tenderness. "Because every soldier has their role to play, and it's the duty of the Emperor to inspire her people."
"And I happen to be good at that for some reason. But I keep wondering how many people are going to be dead by the time we defeat Cornelia. I wonder why I'll have to sacrifice for victory. If"…" She reached for Edelgard, her fingers hovering over the outline of her cheek. "Promise me that you'll survive. Promise."
Edelgard's breath caught. It wasn't the first time they had stood like this or the first time that Byleth had demanded such a promise. Her blood hummed all the same. She had thought the part of her that could feel desire had been destroyed alongside everything else that was simply Edelgard. Even when she had discovered otherwise, it had seemed useless. But Byleth was looking at her as if her own life depended on Edelgard making that promise. It couldn't be true. Her old infatuation couldn't be requited after she had so thoroughly lost herself. The idea was as much nonsense as the Book of Seiros.
But she wanted it to be true. The realization knocked the breath from her lungs. She wanted Byleth. Selfishly. She wanted to kiss her and run her fingers through her hair. She had denied herself the pleasures of courtship when she was in school, had had nothing but one despairing night with Dorothea before the Battle at Enbarr because the thought of dying a virgin was too humiliating. But she wanted something more than sex born of fear or playing at courtship with her only friend. She wanted...to entrust her heart the way she had entrusted her crown: to Byleth alone.
"Edelgard?" Byleth frowned at her. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, no, no." She deserved to be sniped by one of Cornelia's archers for such woolgathering. "I promise I will do my best to be one of the lucky ones. I'd ask you to do the same, but you hardly need luck."
"Then I'll give all my luck to you. Because if you die out there, I could destroy all of Agartha, and it still won't feel like a victory." There was a shine to her eyes that might have been tears or moonlight. "I've been a coward. And an idiot. Nothing for it now, I suppose. But the next time I see you, we are going to celebrate." She stroked her gloved hand over Edelgard's cheek as if committing the lines of her face to memory. Edelgard drank in the warmth as if it were water.
A horn sounded. "It's almost time," she whispered. "You have to go, Your Majesty."
"I do." She pulled her hand back. "For Adrestia. For Fódlan. For humanity."
"For humanity."
Her troops, the pride of Adrestia who had fought for her at Gronder and Enbarr, the wyverns of Ordelia. the knights of Gaspard and Rowe, all those who sought absolution for sins real and imagined, assembled. Their armor glinted in the torchlight. A dark shape loomed in their midst: the one tower that would remain with her. They had ladders and incendiaries, but it wasn't enough. Any of their troops who made it inside before the defenses collapsed were happy accidents.
She mounted her horse and turned to face them. "Many of you fought for me when I was Emperor. I ask you to fight today for the same reasons we always did: to free humanity from those who control it in secret. Make for the walls and don't turn back." She raised her axe. "Forward!"
They charged down the mountain. Shouts and the thud of hooves and the flap of wings filled Edelgards ears. Soon the noise was joined by the clang of bells as sentries stationed atop the battlements summoned their comrades. Arrows and stones whizzed by. Edelgard rode on over the trenches freshly filled with stones to ease their passage. The siege tower crawled forward. A stone missed Edelgard by inches. Men screamed as their mounts fell under them.
"Wyverns!" she shouted. The beating of wings grew louder as the wyverns overtook her. The riders took oilcloths from their saddlebags and the night sky was alive with flame. They made for the battlements. The enemy arrows shifted skyward. One by one the flames went out as wyverns plummeted to the ground. Edelgard grit her teeth. Most of them would fall to archers or the ballista, but as long as some got through to deliver their fiery payloads, it would be worth it.
"Forward!" The battlements were illuminated by firelight. Now it was the defenders who screamed. Edelgard hoped they had gotten some of Cornelia's mages. "Left flank, focus fire on that section of wall. Right flank, screen the tower."
The stench of blood and smoke invaded her nostrils. Just like Gronder. She kept her gaze fixed firmly ahead, but there was no escaping the carnage around her. Horses shot full of arrows. Men screaming in pain for the Goddess or their mothers or both. She had always thought that she hated sieges because of the time they took, but maybe this was the true reason. Her cavalry and infantry could do little but endure the projectiles that the defenders rained down on them as the tower creaked on. "Keep going! For Adrestia! For the Empire!"
But for the first time since her coronation, those behind her hesitated. Edelgard spared a glance backwards and blanched. Bodies littered the ground. Disfigured by fire, bludgeoned by stones, skewered by arrows or crushed by their mounts. She caught a glimpse of the frightened faces of the survivors. She had seen such a look before. They were a moment from retreat and handing Cornelia a rout.
"You heard her!" Bergliez's voice rang through the air. "Are you so craven that you would let a worm that scurries in the dark hold the city you were promised? Those who fight today will birth a united Fódlan as it was meant to be. I won't run from the honor I've wanted all my life. Onward and to the flames of torment with any who desert the Emperor!"
He spurred onward and... they followed. Edelgard swallowed hard and joined them. The walls of Fhirdiad loomed close enough that she could have thrown a rock of her own at them. The infantry surged around her dodging flames and blasts of magic that left the soil pitted and scarred. The vanguard reached the walls. Bergliez was at their head shouting encouragement as the scaling ladders flew up. The tower brought up the rear. Edelgard shivered. They were going to establish a foothold after all.
Panicked Dukedom soldiers scurried along the ramparts. Fear made them sloppy and the arrows that had been so deadly now sailed harmlessly by. Bergliez scaled the ladder, shouting as he went. Off in the distance, new sounds of battle joined the din. Byleth's and Claude's soldiers had begun their own advance.
A mage appeared above Bergliez. His skin was deathly pale and covered with arcane tattoos. Myson, one of Thales more skilled underlings who had forged the Flame Emperor armor for Edelgard so long ago. His lips curved into a smile. Black flame swirled around Bergliez. He shuddered and grunted as oozing sores appeared where the fire touched him. Edelgard watched in horror as they grew and Myson held aloft a Crest Stone. He was creating another Rodrigue.
Bergliez locked gazes with her as the blackness encased him. "Your Majesty...don't let me...betray the Empire."
Edelgard understood. She summoned the power of the Crest of Seiros and leapt into the air higher than any human could reach. Her axe flew out, cleaving his head from his shoulders. A blast of magical energy suddenly without focus now that he was dead hit Edelgard in the chest and tumbled into a trench among the corpses. Their clammy limbs and Bergliez's corpse smothered her and for a moment she was once more beneath the palace with what remained of her siblings. Her breath stopped. She was going to die here among the dead, the idiot who led Adrestia to ruin twice over.
"Dad!" Caspar's voice cut through her fog. Only his hands and a flash of silver-blue hair were visible as he clawed at the bodies. "Edelgard."
He lifted her from the corpses. There were tears in his eyes as he stared at what remained of Bergliez. "Dad! Dad!"
Another figure appeared. Ferdinand. He touched Caspar's shoulder. "We can't afford to grieve here." He started to pull Caspar and Edelgard toward safety.
Caspar jerked away. "You're right we can't!" He screamed and cast his gaze toward the ramparts." You hear that, ugly? I'm going to make you pay for killing my father!"
"That's what they all say," came Myson's voice. Dark shapes appeared before the walls. Soldiers, not of the Dukedom, but Agartha. "But this is a fine opportunity to go hunting. To me, my friends and leave none of the beasts alive. The hour of our vengeance approaches."
Edelgard steadied herself and grabbed the sword of a fallen soldier. "You won't find us such easy prey. She called to to any soldier who could hear. "Hold the line. Hold it against those who would steal your very humanity." All they had to do was hold on and buy Byleth time. She hoped that she was strong enough to last and make the blood shed today means something.
Byleth looked down at the rocks and dirt three storeys below as a wave of dizziness washed over her. If she'd known leading the assault on Fhirdiad would mean sitting in a very exposed siege tower as it rumbled across the plateau, she would've passed the job to someone who wasn't afraid of heights. At least up here with her students, she didn't have to be the Emperor or Enlightened One. "I think I'm going to be sick."
Leonie frowned and edged as far away as the tight quarters permitted. "Please don't. This is my last clean shirt." She gripped her bow. "Sure wish I was on a horse right now."
"You two have no appreciation for the advantages afforded by height." Claude sat atop his wyvern, flying next to them and ahead of Ingrid and the pegasus knights. "Such as watching Cornelia's people panic. See for yourself."
Byleth took the offered spyglass. Dukedom soldier stared slackjawed and unmoving at the army that had been on the other side of the city a few hours ago. Even some of the Agarthan mages were shaking. Sounds of other battles echoed in the distance, a reminder of the cost of all that shock. Let all her students survive. Let Edelgard survive so that Byleth could say all the things that she should have found the courage for long ago.
If the previous weeks had been tedium punctuated with occasional bursts of danger, the next few hours managed to be tedium and danger all at once. Her engineers had fashioned a battering ram that could smash through the curtain wall and the inner wall besides, but getting all of Claude's ingenious contraptions into position meant dodging rocks and fire while the wheeled platforms moved with the speed and grace of a turtle. Soldiers fell under the hail of missiles. Byleth's hands burned with the urge to turn back time, even though there was nothing she could do in a handful of seconds to spare them.
At last, the battering ram was in position. The first strike caused the curtain wall to tremble. Again and again her soldiers slammed into the walls and mortar dust fell like snow. Cracks sprouted in the stone. Dukedom soldiers cursed. Mages threw down blasts of fell magic that smelled of sulfur and made Byleth feel faint just being near.
The strikes slowed. Ah of course. There was magic not taught at Garreg Mach, dark magic that sapped will and strength. Lysithea was a master at it and those who had forced her second Crest on her even more so. If this contagion were allowed to spread, her army would drop from exhaustion.
But Byleth knew how to give people strength. She had done it for Edelgard. She closed her eyes and thought of how they were her soldiers, fighting because they believed in her and her dream of a world where people of all cultures and backgrounds lived and learned together and none were despised because of their lineage. Those soldiers had families and sweethearts too that they wanted to see again. She would take a portion of their fatigue upon herself. Someone with the power of the progenitor goddess should be able to do that.
Golden light spread over the battlefield until the darkness was no more than smoky wisps that drifted towards her. Byleth huddled atop the tower. Her limbs were heavy, her insides felt as if they had been scraped clean away and her mouth was papery with the need for water she didn't have. But the soldiers below resumed their assault on the stone.
Someone passed a waterskin to her. "You need this more than I do," Leonie said and forced it to her lips. "Captain Jeralt would be proud."
"He'd remind you that you need water too."
A faint blush spread across her cheeks. "Not me. You."
Cracks became fissures until at last section of the curtain wall gave way, Men atop the ramparts and battlements shouted in terror and fell back as the battering ram thrust forward until it was almost at the main wall. Soldiers that had been too weak to move hours ago let out a cheer to shake the ground. Even Byleth managed a weak smile.
Some of the defenders recovered themselves enough to throw down casks of flame. Those who had been manning the wheeled platform sprang away as the battering ram was set alight. Claude's voice rang through the din. "Help it along. It'll only get in our way now." Those atop the remaining wall realized their mistake and poured buckets of water on the blaze.
Those in the towers and atop winged mounts were at last close enough to exchange fire. Leonie nocked and fired arrows with a speed that truly would have thrilled Jeralt. Byleth gripped the Sword of the Creator. Even the hilt felt heavy.
Ingrid flew close beside. "No, Professor. You'll need your strength for the battle inside the city. You saved us. Now let us protect you."
A great spar of flame sailed in front of the tower and for a delirious moment Byleth thought it was a javelin of light. The smoke stinging her eyes and nose brought her back to reality. The wood burned oddly. So this was the fire that could burn water that Edelgard had warned her about. Water was scarce but vinegar they had in abundance. Those in towers cut open sacks of the stuff and extinguished the fire. The way was clear. Thank you, Edelgard.
They rained down suppressing fire on the dukedom soldiers, Arrows and stone, magic and thrown lances, sailed all around Byleth as the allied troops fought for a foothold. She not sit here like an invalid. Byleth drew the Sword of the Creator once more and Ingrid was too occupied with the press of battle to stop her. The sword still felt heavy, but she held it aloft so that all could see the red glow. "For the Goddess!" she said with a twinge of guilt and hoped the unfortunate whose bones she wielded didn't mind being a totem.
Smoke of ordinary flame choked one of the defense towers. The wall was on fire. Defenders rushed away in a coughing panic. This was their chance. "Cut loose the screen!" One of the wattle screens fell and Leonie and the others surged across the makeshift bridge.
"I suppose it's too much to ask for you to remain here." Ingrid found a section of clear wall and dismounted. "I'm not Edelgard, but allow me to be your sword and shield as we take back my home."
Byleth took her hand and lumbered onto the walls. "For Faerghus."
"For Faerghus."