Chapter 130 - Ambushed!

Immediately after Alexander's warning due to his new bird's abilities, Alexa discreetly looked around, but failed to see the enemies hidden in the vegetation on both sides of the road.

Internally cursing her bad luck, she glanced at Mildred, who had innocently been riding the little mule, and at Johannes and Ulrich, each at one end of the caravan. She would be able to reach one of them, but not the other, without forewarning the ambushers. Or she could call out the impending attack and hoped that the caravan warriors would react faster than the attackers.

She would require help to protect Mildred, however.

A discreet scanning look revealed something her intuition already told her, but Alexa insisted on ignoring it: the peasants seemed alert and uneasy.

'It assuredly is an ambush planned in Tanbury!'

However, she had no time for further conjecture.

The Princess spoke to Alexander, while checking that her dagger was ready,

"Tell Mildred to buckle down and keep it!"

~ Yes! ~ He replied promptly, in an excited voice.

Leaning herself on Lady Gwen's vigorous horse, the princess maneuvered the animal to return to Ulrich, who was in the rear. She was sure that her movement would be the trigger for the attack, but hoped that at least she had come out of the crosshairs with her sudden change of direction.

And she was right.

An arrow whizzed by her horse's ear, and she cried the alert with the full force of her lungs.

"BANDITS!"

With her gaze locked on the line ahead, between the two ears of the animal she was riding, Alexa saw the peasants readily seek shelter in their carts and get out of the way, while the soldier beside Ulrich drew his sword hoping to take the Saxon warrior by surprise. But Ulrich wasn't entirely unprepared, apparently, and used the warrior's own shield to push him back, unbalancing the treacherous English soldier, who missed the blow.

Alexa quickly reached them, and pulled the enemy's horse's reins from between his thighs, immediately turning the horse away from Ulrich,

"Ulrich! Get Mildred!" she screamed, while Ulrich struck the soldier, who fell off his horse with the combined attack. 

Alexa was an excellent horsewoman, able to win races with a good horse, and maneuvered away from the soldier immediately. Another arrow flew past the princess, hitting a cart wheel beside her.

"Ouch, just barely!" she hissed under her breath, returning to Mildred while watching the attackers reveal themselves coming from within the forest. 

Ulrich had already passed her and rode to the blind girl, although clearly busy with defending Alexa's return. He was only armed with the short sword that survived the shipwreck along with him, but that was enough for him to sweep the attackers who came upon them. 

With a swift movement the warrior practically threw Mildred on Alexa's horse, and the animal protested while the blind girl struggled to stabilize. Alexa heard the hissing of arrows and realized that there was no way to help much, except to run. 

"Alexander, where are you?" she cried, realizing that she had lost sight of the nightingale in the melee. She could only see Johannes fighting two men, and Ulrich took the staff of a peasant who tried to hit him, spinning the stick and blowing the random attacker hard on the ear. The man fell immediately.

The Princess fought the urge to close her eyes in the face of violence, as she needed to be aware. The Saxon warrior was accomplished and sharp, and managed to prevent the attack of the English soldier who reached them again on horseback, and tried to pull Alexa by the arm.

Blood sprinkled on the maiden's face when the enemy warrior's arm was cut; no, crushed, right in front of her wide eyes, the moment his glove landed on her forearm. The scream of pain echoed in her ears.

However, one arrow struck Ulrich, and another. Back and arm. She saw his hand involuntarily let go of the sword, but his willpower won out and he grabbed the sword handle hard again, turning and shouting at Alexa, 

"Princess, forward! Go now!"

She obeyed, realizing that fleeing was the only alternative left. She hoped that her warriors could also escape.

"Alexander!" she shouted, calling again. Sweat beads covered her head and her heart was racing. Just as she sensed Mildred's heart beating hard against her back. The blind girl was clinging to her as if she were a board in the rough sea.

Upon noticing raiders trying to reach her as soon as she emerged from the skirmish Alexa maneuvered the horse several times, avoiding fighting and flying arrows. She didn't want to go too far without Alexander or the First Prince's men. 

That the princess saw three men mercilessly surround Johannes after the warrior finished off his two opponents. A mace violently blew against his skull, and Johannes fell forward immediately. Alexa refrained a cry, the scene was too brutal and horrifying. 

"ULRICH!" she called. Her remaining ally should retreat from the skirmish. Even though Ulrich was a skilled warrior, the number would beat him now. But before her attackers caught up with her again, Alexa turned the horse and sprinted, hoping to lure someone away from the knight, so that Ulrich too could retreat.

Alexa's great advantage was that she had a vigorous and trained horse, and that she and Mildred were small and light for the animal. The purebred wouldn't respond so well in the hands of an inexperienced rider, but Alexa controlled it perfectly. No doubt the stallion's actual owner didn't count on that. Spotting a trail entering the forest, Alexa followed that way, looking back to see that she was gaining distance from her pursuers.

The Princess found a shallow stream with a pebbly bottom, crossed by a small wooden bridge, cutting the dirt road. She guided the horse by the creek bed to lose them. A pinching, uncomfortable burning pain in the upper part of her arm was bothering her, and the Princess looked at her shoulder, for the first time in minutes of wild escape.

An arrow lodged between the layers of fabric in her cloak, and pierced across the mink collar and the thick velvet hood.

Angrily, she drew the arrow out, which was only superficially into her flesh. It hurt, but Alexa pressed the spot with a deep sigh, knowing the fabric would absorb the blood. It was nothing to kill her after all. If it had poisoned her, she'd know by now.

'Damn, now that I see this, I'm going to be in more pain…' she thought, remembering what Narses always said when teaching him, 'If the wound isn't making you dizzy, it should be ignored while you're not in a place safe.'

But where was it a safe place? She knew nothing there and was getting farther into the forest, following the course of the stream.

After some time Mildred, who had no experience in riding, was almost falling off the horse, having jolted a lot during the ride. Alexa had to stop. Moving away from the creek, she chose a flatter spot and got off the horse, carefully pulling Mildred out. The animal immediately started drinking water. 

"Are you okay, Mildred?" she asked, trying to see if the girl had any visible injuries. But she found nothing, but the old purple bruises and her smelly bandages. Mildred nodded,

"Am I okay? Where is Zand? What happened to Zand?"

This was also a question that the maiden asked, but she felt, inside herself, that he was alive.

"I don't know, Mildred," still paying attention to her surroundings, Alexa took the water flask from the saddlebag and refilled it, offering it to Mildred first. The peasant quivered and sobbed, out of fear, but Alexa just had a somber and worried heart. She also drank water, and then weighed her options.

She hoped that Ulrich had escaped. So at least there was a possibility of meeting him later. Had they survived a bloody wreck, just to die in a stupid ambush? This was too unfair!

Alexa apparently still had not got used to the injustice of life.

The princess reproached herself for being so concerned with other things that she was unable to think of that Lady Gwen had shady plans for this trip to Duncaster.

'Of course! She suggested it herself! How stupid we were! I just thought she wanted to get rid of the Christian girl and considered her too stupid to be a threat… '

Now, the Princess was sure they were still looking for them. Instead of moving randomly and ending up even more lost, Alexa found a clearing near the stream to wait. 

She didn't want to be too close to the water because I was afraid of wild animals, like bears and even wolves. Later, if they were not found, she would risk going back on the road. At least she needed to find shelter for the night.

The afternoon came and Alexa shared the journey's snacks with Mildred. She had asked the girl not to talk so she could be heedful to any sound. 

The Princess heard the trill that she could recognize anywhere, and her heart filled with joy and relief. She spotted him in the sky, coming towards her, and raised the uninjured arm for Romeo to land.

~ He's coming! ~ Alexander spoke a little breathlessly. Alexa perked up, that was good news. But when Ulrich approached, she didn't like what she saw. Her horse jerked and stomped on the ground, and even Mildred looked in the rider's direction.

He came on foot, with a sword and shield, and had a set purpose in the dead gaze.

Ulrich's Shade knew he was dead.