Chapter 134 - People of the Forest

The group that surrounded the princess must have had between ten and fifteen people, including men, women and children. The dirty, miserable and hardened appearance of everyone left no doubt that they were a group of inhabitants of the forest. Perhaps robbers.

'Think fast, Lex!' she seldom had contact with this type of person, who despite the particularities of each region and culture, had something in common: they had nothing to lose but their lives. They could be violent, cruel and petty, but they could also demonstrate the generosity and piety that only shortage taught. She just knew that her chances of converting that highly unfavorable situation to something good were very slim, and she wouldn't have a second chance if she missed.

~ Damn Alexa, we're surrounded, ~ Alexander this time was the last to notice. She ran her finger over the bird's head, unable to answer, and turned to the man holding the reins of Lady Gwen's horse, pretending to have seen it just now,

"Oh my God, it was Divine Providence that sent you my way! Sir, please help me!" she spoke as clearly as she could. This made the man a little embarrassed, although he gave a mocking laugh shortly afterwards,

"Why, what does a Lady do with a corpse in the middle of the forest?"

The small man's embarrassed reaction was instrumental in her choosing the path to follow,

"Sir, I need to get to the convent at St Ewe, near Duncaster. This girl ... is practically a saint. She was persecuted for her love for Christ, she was blinded for defying a group of pagans ... and tonight she died trying to get to the convent. I was a witness, and I think I am only alive so that Mildred's story does not die in this forest, as does her body. " 

She knew he wasn't the leader of the pack, but the damsel had to start with someone. Alexa had not yet seen this person among them, but she was being watched by a good number and needed to make a good impression, much better than she did at Holstein when she was questioned.

The question he asked took her by surprise, however,

"Who were you talking to?"

She took a deep breath,

"With my nightingale, Romeo. I was scared. Terrified indeed. I was putting my thoughts in order," at that moment she 'realized' the people around her, turning around and pretending to be surprised. She wondered if anyone really heard the conversation. But if they had heard, they would hardly have understood what they were talking about, as it wasn't in English.

"Am I… in your territory?"

No one really answered, so she looked at the people she could see. They were suffering, hungry, and united by difficulty. Perhaps they were fugitives with several stories, broken and desperate families. 

"Our ship was shipwrecked far from the coast, but we managed to reach dry land. Tanbury," she said. Romeo stirred on her shoulder, his little claws tucked into Alexa's shoulder. "Lady Flairclough received us, and ..."

"That demonic bitch!" someone spoke, and the princess's eyes darted to the source of the voice. An elderly, toothless woman with her hand on the shoulder of a boy of about nine had hatred in his eyes.

"I said it was the people of Tanbury in the woods last night," someone else commented.

"This girl told me horrible things. She was tortured and blinded, and died here, fleeing Tanbury,"Alexa quickly added the information, realizing that, as Mildred had said, many people had fled Tanbury when things changed. These people lost their land and their dignity. Alexa managed to understand them completely.

"Mildred and I were accompanied by two men who came with me, but the group going to Duncaster was attacked. I wouldn't have realized if the caravan's scouts hadn't turned on my friends and joined the attack!"

"Apparently, someone is getting to know the true hospitality of the Lady in Red!" a voice stood out, interrupting her.

Some people laughed, and someone inspected Mildred's body, while a bony-faced woman with red hair came closer to the foreigner,

"Is she really a lady ... Is she a foreigner?"

"Who cares? She has a purse, a horse and good clothes… She certainly doesn't need all of that," another male voice, cruel and mocking, was heard.

"Oh, well, I can't judge you for thinking that, but it's not quite true ..." she disagreed, turning to the group. The woman casually touched her hair and looked at her, 

"What strange eyes you have!"

Alexa fell silent and cringed. The woman seemed to be rather unempathetic, and put her hand in the Princess' pouch to take the gold from her.

"Ivy, don't be rude, the lady didn't allow you to touch her!" the man holding the horse interfered, although he also appeared to be only mocking.

"Please, just allow me to take this maiden's body to the convent. She must have her final rest as a martyr for her faith. I will give all my possessions to you as proof of my good will, since my destination is the convent of St Ewe. Where Mildred wanted to go. But died before fulfilling her destiny and her will ..." She felt Romeo pecking at her cheek, so she would stop talking, but she ignored him,"Everything I have from mine is in this bag. This dress is borrowed, as is the horse. The cloak I had… was what warmed Mildred's last night… "

People listened to her words. The curiosity of her situation at that moment was more important than the goods she carried. She had their attention.Alexa pondered she couldn't say she was a princess from a faraway kingdom, as that would cause even more problems. After all, in that dog eats dog world, maybe they would ask Magnus for a ransom to return it, if he was lucky. And what good could come of it?

But how to say something different? If only she were dressed as Alexios ...

"But who are you, anyway?" a woman with short hair and a pregnant belly asked, from afar. She had a sharp, penetrating look, and people were silent to hear her. But Alexa knew that she wasn't their leader either.

"I am grateful that you thought I was an English noblewoman just because you saw me dressed as one… But as I said, this outfit is borrowed from Lady Gwen. I didn't lie about the attack, nor did I about my oath to take Mildred's body to the convent. Right now, I'm helpless and lost in a land I don't know. Last night I saw my friends killed… So I could escape,"as she spoke, Alexa spotted the leader, just behind the short-haired woman, watching her closely.

"Where are you from? Where were you going? " the woman asked, recalling the fact that Alexa did not say her name or who she was.

"My name is Alexa, from Holstein. I was going to France by ship when the storm sank the caravel." 

Most people didn't even concealed the fact they had no idea where Holstein was. The short-haired woman looked at the leader, the dark-bearded man in his thirties. They were a couple, that was clear.

"I need help getting to Duncaster," she insisted.

"Perhaps we should take her to the Old Man," said the woman, after long non-verbal communication with her companion. Alexa didn't like the fact that they postponed the decision, and asked, suspiciously,

"Oh, I appreciate it, but ... Who is this person and why do I have to be taken to him?"

"Ah, little one, you are a threat to the Lady in Red, and that must mean you are an even more powerful witch than she is!" said the man holding the reins.

"But ..."

"You were talking to your magical companion, so of course you are a witch. And we saw a flash coming from here moments ago! How do you think we got to you ?!"

Alexander froze on the princess' shoulder.

"A rich and beautiful witch... The woman from Tanbury couldn't stand a rival, could she?" the red-haired woman beside him spoke with a chuckle that sounded like a growl. The woman again reached out to touch Alexa's purse, but the group leader whistled, and the woman's hand stopped in the air,

"Don't touch it! The Old Man will see her, and we will know whether she is a witch or not. "

Next, he chose some people to follow him to the hut where the 'Old Man' lived. The rest were to stay at the camp with Anne and wait for the group to return. Alexa didn't argue, knowing that it was useless at that moment.

Her destiny was in the hands of an unknown man who could either point her out as a witch or exonerate her.

Alexander remained silent all the way, wisely. Alexa was escorted by the leader, whose name was still unknown, a woman and three more men with bows. At another time she would be interested in their story, but while walking up the hill, taking Mildred tied to her horse, the princess just thought about how she could get out of this situation.

And whether, after all, Magnus was fine or not.

She spotted the heaped stone house and the thatched roof at the top of the hill. Some sheep grazed peacefully in the gray landscape, without care.

Apparently, inside there was the person who could seal her fate today, and Alexa shivered.

"Old man! Cymric Gladwine! " yelled the man who led the pack when they approached the house.

After a few moments, an old man with gray hair in a single long braid, a thin white beard, and a face marked with strange symbols erased by time, came out leaning on a staff. Stopping by the door, he looked at the group in front of him as if they were a great annoyance. This left Alexa confused,

'After all, are they Christians or not? This man looks more like a priest in a pagan cult than a Christian zealot, 'the maiden clasped her hands tightly as she watched. Then the old man stared at her for a long time, realizing that the subject that brought them there, without even speaking, could only be the strange woman with the bird on her shoulder.

Alexa cringed. He had a special look, and took a step forward, looking her straight in the eye.

She was sure, at that moment, that the Old Man knew.