Chapter 169 - No Regrets

"Alexa!"

She recognized Narses' voice into the smoke and cries of the slaves. Beside her, General Doukas reached for his blade quickly.

Her only thought was to get out of Doukas' reach as quickly as possible, and Alexa threw herself to the floor, crawling to a corner and away from the bed. She heard the clash of swords, and when she looked up, she saw the oil from the lamps igniting with the flames as they fell on the sumptuous rugs and dr.a.p.es of the room.

"Alexa!" another familiar voice called her.

Was Iacintho there too?! Her heart could not humanly beat faster than it already was, but the realization of what was happening renewed her spirits.

Her brothers had come for her!

The consequences of this insurgence was a complete disgrace for the Dallassenos family, yet they had come to rescue her!

One of the guards came towards her, but Alexa kicked the brazier, which poured onto the carpet and raised a flame high enough to keep the man at bay for a moment.

Regardless of the fact that she was n.a.k.e.d, the Dallassenos girl jumped on the bed again, where Narses and Doukas were entangled in a fight.

Iacintho grabbed her by the arm as soon as he saw her, and the siblings exchanged a glance for a tiny moment. Alexa tried to show that she was fine, though. Her intellectual brother put her behind him, and assessed the scene in the room, looking for an escape route.

All of Narses' abilities as Tanaion were not geared towards face-to-face combat. And apparently his advantage as a light and lethal assassin was lost in prolonged situations and whose opponent had superior physical strength. Although Doukas was covered in blood, he still moved vigorously, and had avoided the first assault and following fulminating attacks typical of a Tanaion of such repute as Narses. 

Handing the sword in hand to Alexa, Iacintho ordered,

"Go to the window and go down! Narses and I will follow suit!" he barely had time to say that and pull a short sword from his waist, parrying a soldier's blow with difficulty.

More soldiers entered through the main door, and Alexa knew it was essential that they leave quickly. 

"CAPTURE THEM, DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" the general roared, letting his pain escape through the strained tone of his command.

Narses had disentangled himself almost as if by magic from Doukas's powerful attacks, and making use of his constant training as a spy, jumped into the chandelier suspended by a thick chain from the vaulted ceiling of the room. Even for Alexa, used to her older brother's exploits, that was fascinating and froze her in place for a moment, until Narses shouted,

"Lex! Watch out!"

A guard lunged at the maiden and Iacintho, and she had very little time to dodge, using the sword in an instinctive movement against the soldier. She felt the blade slice human flesh in horror, and she flinched in disgust.

Iacintho wasted no time and used his blade against the enemy, impaling him to the hilt of his sword. Even in the chaos of fire, smoke, clash of swords and screams, the sound of that man's final gurgle seemed frighteningly loud to Alexa.

Narses jumped to the window, making an almost perfect landing, and the other two Dallassenos joined him. Iacintho pushed Alexa into the arms of the older brother, turning to defend the withdrawal. Alexa looked over her shoulder seeing the bravest soldiers crossing the fire boldly.

Amidst fire she also saw Doukas' face, cut horribly. She could see the exposed bone and half of its face as a curd of flesh and blood. The general held the flesh with one hand, while with the other he wielded the sword toward the Dallassenos.

It was the last thing Alexa saw in the room before her brother tossed her on the shoulder and started down the rope. Leaning on her shoulder, she felt the moisture on Narses' clothes, and prayed that all that blood was from Doukas and not from Narses.

Even down there in the palace courtyard where they descended, there was a skirmish against the palace guard. Later she would come to know that some loyal friends of the Dallassenos took part in the action. They were all traitors now.

"YOU'RE GOING TO DIE, DOUKAS!" Iacintho's howl even made Narses freeze on his descent, and look out the window above them, where the older brother was.

Alexa heard a loud hiss getting closer and closer, and cringed, clinging to her brother's back.

At this moment, the arrows began to fly towards them, against the palace wall.

"Hold on, sis ... we're going to ... fly!" growled her brother, using his feet against the wall to propel himself ...

And he jumped into the air.

Something went wrong in the middle of the descent, however. Alexa felt a powerful impact on the ribs, and felt that her strength was gone since the air in her lungs was expelled painstakingly. She struggled not to let go of her brother, but that just didn't happen because Narses grabbed her tightly, altering the fluid free fall that would have had a perfect landing. Or almost.

They fell awkwardly onto a wagon full of fodder, which Alexa supposed was strategically placed there for an unforeseen event like this. Still, the impact was painful. Narses fell on top of her, and jumped away, looking pained. His dark clothes didn't allow Alexa to see the blood, but the ends of his blond hair were dark and sticky.

From the midst of the hay a person stood up, and before Alexa could recover from the fright, the stranger wrapped her with a cloak and picked her up in a single movement. Alexa even glanced for a second at Narses before being removed of the midst of the skirmish. Her brother was panting and had his hand on one knee, seemingly caught out of breath and in pain. But she had no other option but to abandon her siblings.

Only from the moment she and the unknown ally left behind the palace gates in a fast gallop, Alexa felt that she no longer had command over the pain or her body. Something blunt, had struck her in the back and every minor bump in the road hurt like hell.

However, no more than the fear of losing her brothers who remained in the battle, or the hatred she had for Doukas.

She stayed awake and suffering for the entire flight, praying for her family and praying for revenge. 

They came to the side entrance of a villa. The smell of the place was sufficiently recognizable to Alexa, even in the middle of the chaos of her mind.

It was a familiar place, but it was not her home.

Of course it wouldn't be.

Now they were fugitives.

The mosaic-covered patio and the fragrant jasmine and orange trees said she was in a safe place. At least, it would be safe until they found out that the Saskia were covering for the Dallassenos.

'Uncle Saskia' in person came to see her. 

When she saw him, Alexa burst into tears, not being able to refrain any more pent-up emotions throughout the day. Uncle Saskia had known her since Alexa was a stumbling toddler…

"Don't cry, don't cry! Shhhh! Everything will be fine…"

°°°

"Don't cry! Why are you crying, Alexa?!"

Magnus leaned forward from the chair he was in, staring at her. She couldn't blame him for not trusting her. But it didn't matter at the moment.

"I ... I'm a big problem ..."

"Ehhh ... Hey. You are a problem. But not the big type," the Prince got up, and came to her, on the edge of the bed. "Don't start crying. I'm not even a sympathetic audience..." He stroked Alexa's hair lightly, uncertain whether to be sarcastic and suspicious, or to give the princess comfort over her strange and sudden crying.

Alexa gripped the Prince's belt tightly, while tears streamed down her chin.

"I always cause problems for people around me ... You were right all the time about me ..."

"Shhh ..."

he whispered, bringing Alexa's head to his belly, and continuing to stroke her hair gently. "There is no use regretting. Do you think the rain mourns when it wreaks havoc? No. Because several times, it also brings life. Like you, Alexa."

The princess buried her face in the fabric of Magnus's shirt, babbling miserably,

"No, I know it's not like that ..." her fists now clutched the shirt, as if that was the only safe place in the world. Magnus pressed her head against him,

"Shhh ... It's alright ... It's alright ..."

The door key fell to the floor with a squeaky metallic noise.

Alexa looked at the object, and Magnus too, static. His fingers stopped stroking her hair.

"Ah, you scheming little pest…"

Alexa quickly grabbed the key, closing her fist victoriously, and stuck her tongue out to him,

"Admit it was a good trick. Something you deserve for trying to lock me up here."

"How can you?!" Magnus was angry but there was also a gleam of humor in his eyes. He struggled not to laugh at the unusual of having been deceived so pathetically.

"My tears? I have a lot of suffering stored in my chest, Prince. Enough to cry at any time," she raised her chin in defiance.

"You know you're a lot worse than the Red Lady to me, don't you? She tricked me and poisoned me to sleep with me. You did it to meet another man! But what could I expect from someone who posed as a pagan goddess?"

"I have something important to do, and you are on my way," she wiped her damp face with the sleeve of her dress, resolute. She had already stooped to dope him, and there was no going back. Why should she back down?

Alexa turned towards the door, but Magnus grabbed her fist that held the key from behind, wrapping it tightly with his hand,

"Not so fast… If you can use the brute force of your tears, I can also use my strength…"

"GRRRR! Drop it!" she snarled, when he started using his strong fingers to open her fist clutched around the key. "It's not fair!"

"Try to keep your hand closed with the strength of your tears, if you can!" Magnus shrugged viciously, taking his petty revenge. He acted slowly but inexorably uncurling Alexa's hand, which she tried to resist, without success. The princess even tried to run away twice, but just a tug from Magnus made her come back.

"You shouldn't even try. It's late," Magnus said when the key finally fell to the floor. The light had left the room some time ago, but it was only now that Magnus drew attention to the fact that Alexa realized that a long time had passed.

The fact the First Prince seemed less and less angry and more and more amused, confused her. Instead of grabbing the key, Magnus pulled her out and Alexa hit his chest again. His arms wrapped around her, so she couldn't leave,

"You know ... The more I know you, the more I think I should hate you ... But my own words condemned me."

"Uh?" It was impossible to be more confused, and yet, she felt the same way. Alexa knew she should hate him, but it was impossible,

"What words?"