Chapter 143 - Sacred Mission

'Alexander has such beautiful eyes ... It's like looking at a field of lavender,' she had that fleeting thought as she looked into his apprehensive eyes and felt his fingers on her shoulder. But that wasn't possible, was it?

The princess shook her head, and blinked, hearing her name being called vehemently,

~ Alexa! Alexa! Watch out! ~ she turned to the door, and saw it opening.

Lex threw herself on the floor, next to the drum, and the bench covered with a hide, hoping it would be enough to cover her presence, at least for a little while.

The sudden movement made her vision spin and everything went dark, but she inhaled the air near the floor and realized that it was easier to breathe.

No, there was no longer a flesh and blood Alexander in front of her. 

Her eyes burned and the shadows flickered around the princess, though. Huddling, she heard the person's footsteps coming towards her. A metallic noise confused her. The person was carrying something that ringed when he walked.

The princess soon understood that the man who came in had come to put more narcotic herbs in the brazier, because the smell suddenly got stronger and her eyes burned harder. She needed to get out of there.

Alexa's dilemma was to whether to leave Magnus behind. She rolled in the other direction, and saw her yellow eyes on the same level, staring at her. Alexa didn't know if he could really see her, or recognize her. Although his eyes were fixed on her, Magnus didn't even blink, his pupils were dilated as two saucers.

The footsteps approached, and again she felt Alexander's fingers trying to pull her away. It was difficult to focus, her muscles didn't seem to want to respond as quickly as ever! Alexa knew that she was seeing and feeling unreal things, at the same time that she saw the real things, but she still managed to differentiate them… For how long?

The steps stopped right beside the princess. Huge feet very close to her eyes.

She looked up. The man looked at her in surprise, holding a copper bowl.

'OH! Damn it!' Alexa rolled as fast as she could, away from him. At the same time, the caged prince kicked the cage with a crash, and grabbed the man's leg tightly, pulling him in the same way he did the woman minutes ago.

The princess used that moment to run towards the door. Romeo flew fumblingly close to the door, looking dizzy, but managed to follow Alexa's clumsy run up the stairs.

Alexa could not be as silent as she would like. She felt her body lighter, but she didn't control it so well. She just ran away from people, through the empty corridors, trying to take a deep breath and exchange the stale air inside her lungs for fresh, invigorating air.

'Dammit dammit dammit! They will catch us! ' it was the only thought that repeated itself with some connection in her mind. She entered the first door she managed to open, realizing that it was a room full of trinkets like looms and spindles piled up.

Panting, Alexa stifled a cough, and asked,

"Alexander, find a way out… I need to wait here. I feel like I'm going to pass out," she leaned against the wall, but the feeling didn't get any better. She could see Alexander, instead of seeing Romeo. And her husband put his hands on her shoulders with a stricken look. 

~ Calm down. I'll do it. Stay here. Hide. ~

She nodded.

Looking around, she saw a dusty closet, and in an instant she was inside, feeling sick and her conscience failing to stay in this world. The sounds were excruciatingly loud.

She was sure she heard the door to the room open slowly with a creak.

"Milady?"

ººº

In Alexander's body, the princess opened her eyes in panic, grabbing the covers while her heart was pounding against this body's ribs.

"We are going to die!" 'his' hands were shaking as he remembered Magnus's horrible situation. However fearless and fierce a warrior he was, the Red Lady ensnared him in something Magnus could not fight.

Alexander could do nothing for them in his bird's body, and she had been discovered in her terrible hiding place ...

It was the end.

Balbo came over to the bed, 

"I see that things are not good there, Your Highness. Calm down, uh? Take some water. "

Alexa drank heavily from the glass that the warrior offered him. After a few minutes, when her heart had calmed down a little, she told the warrior everything in a torrent of nervous words.

"Why, it's not so bad. You should be more confident in the sacred mission you have, Your Highness," he said with a smile on his face, clumsily patting the Prince's shoulder.

"Sacred mission?" Alexa knew that Balbo was a man faithful to his belief, but did not know how he faced Alexa's situation there.

"There's no way that all this is just chance. Prince Alexander and you are connected, and it's started even before you got here. He dreams of you practically every night of his life. And you came to Holstein. Of all places, where he was. And yiu became his wife in the strangest way ... Now you shares his body with him. Alexander is possibly the key to destroying evil in this place, Alexa, and you are the guide he needs. That's how I see it. This is Alexander's fate, and you are part of it."

Balbo's words surprised her. Alexa had never thought anything like that.

"But, Your Highness, Father Agnello has not yet been found. I received a note," the swordsman took out a piece of paper from inside the doublet, and Alexa opened it gutlessly. The note just said, 

"I NEED REINFORCEMENTS TO RESCUE FATHER DI BORGHESI. FIND ME ON THE BRIDGE WITH PEOPLE WITH CONFIDENCE AND STRONG HEART.

KVW"

"I believe that Padre di Borghesi, despite everything, is a valuable ally and should not be wasted. As for who sent this note, I do not doubt that it is the same person he met in the Jewish quarter," Balbo concluded.

It was the first time that Balbo expressed his real opinion about Blue Eyes. And Alexa had to agree with his pragmatism ... even though she secretly liked the grumpy and cunning priest.

"Are we talking about Duke Kurt?" the princess scratched 'her chin', thinking she definitely needed to shave, and at the same time condemning herself for having such a ridiculous and small thought in the face of so many serious situations that she lived on both 'fronts'. "If he's getting involved, we can already conclude that the disappearance of Father Agnello is not just a political plot, but must be directly related to the witches."

Balbo nodded. "What do you intend to do?"

"Call my brother."

The warrior tapped himself on the forehead, "I don't know why I didn't think you were going to say that."

It was a little funny to see Balbo trying to be comical, because it definitely didn't match his intimidating figure. Alexa got up.

"Because of Prince Gutard's unfair clause, I will not reveal the truth to my brother."

"Hn, thanks. But, are you really going to help the Inquisitors?"

"It's not about 'helping' the Inquisitors. This is not stupid persecution of people who are innocent or just think differently from Christians, as I thought at first, Balbo. This place really has real witches, capable of bringing creatures from hell and imprisoning souls. Exactly what we Lazarites should fight. The interruption of the natural flow of life and death, the path of judgment and rebirth, which they corrupt. With the sole intention of taking revenge and causing harm."

After Balbo stared at the Light Carrier for a long time, seeming to decide to express his thoughts or not, he shrugged.

"If the famous Narses Dallassenos is half what they say, it will be good to have his help. I feel like this is a fateful night."

Alexa nodded.

She didn't have time to waste there either.

°°°

As I heard, the group of Dominicans had been housed in a parish near the city's western gates, and Lex met Narses near the source that served that region. 

The Second Prince, covered with a cloak and masked just in case, brought only Balbo with him. The city was empty and smelly, and it was necessary to use a cloth over the face to avoid breathing the putrid smell that came from closed houses and dark alleys.

"You have a problem, Your Highness," said Narses on arrival, sounding suspicious.

"Yes, the plague. This all contributes to the opposing forces having the rise they desire, Brother Narses. You must be wondering why I called you," Lex tried to keep the character only in favor of Balbo, who would lose his life if Gutard was challenged. But she felt very guilty about trying to deceive her brother.

"I hope it's going to lead me to where my sister is," replied Narses, just to make her heart sink.

"I dare not defy my father's orders, Narses. Please understand. The truth will be revealed at the right time. But I need your help. It's something important. Someone's life is in danger. "

Narses moved restlessly,

"You are a strange person, Your Highness. There are many questions I want to ask."

"I hope you can wait until tomorrow. I will answer everything I am not, bound by oath, forbidden to reveal. However, I am not being light-hearted in saying I need your skills ... If they are not just legend, it is."

"I am not the same person anymore, so I cannot act as before, Your Highness. Forgive me if I decline your offer," his brother turned his back on the prince and his bodyguard unceremoniously, ready to go.

"The life of the man who gave Alexa asylum and protection in Holstein, and made her a princess, is in danger. Maybe he'll die later tonight if we don't interfere. Please, Narses."

According to tradition and habit, a Tanaion like Narses and Balbo would respond to this call with 'what if it's his destiny?' Lex was even preparing to argue over those classic lines.

But that's not how Narses responded.