Chapter 213 - Awestruck

The two men looked at each other, as if remembering something Alexa had no idea what it would be.

Magnus asked the French housekeeper,

"You said there would be no time!"

"Yes, Your Highness, but everything has changed! I am confident this is the best alternative! On my one-person flight, I covered about five kilometers in six minutes. How could a cart be faster than that?!"

Alexa could not understand what the housekeeper Mirna meant by flight, and with all those terms, but Magnus nodded and everyone followed Mirna to the barn behind the house.

Although the shed was not touched by fire externally, Alexa saw through the windows that there was some kind of fire inside, due to the intense light and heat.

She immediately thought it was some kind of forge, but when she entered, following the woman, the princess saw something unbelievable!

There was a small boat made of wicker, tied ingeniously to a gigantic hollow pyramid, which Alexa thought was made of silk in a wooden or iron frame.

The intriguing part was that the small boat floated in the air, and in the middle of the ship was a small furnace! At least Alexa had discovered how easy it had been for Mirna to set the cottage on fire.

The princess asked,

"What is this? How can this help us? "

"This is a flying boat, Your Highness. We can travel a few miles away from here on it. I, Your Highness and your brother, I believe. The men would come on horseback. We can reach the river, where we will meet! "

Dubois added,

"Mirna will explain everything later, just trust, Your Highness. She is the daughter of a mathematician and inventor, and has used this flying boat before! "

"Well, never the night, actually, but… Princess, trust me! It will be fast and smooth, I just need help now! " Mirna looked like someone else, with a flushed face and an excited gaze.

Alexa nodded, perhaps infected by this excitement and adventurous feeling.

Dubois was better able than Magnus to help Mirna, and after installing Alexa and Iacintho on the flying boat, the two men were instructed by the flying housekeeper to remove the canvas roof over the shed.

Alexa clung tightly to the edge of the boat when they loosened the ropes slowly, and the flying boat started to ascend to the sky. It was sweltering, and certainly quite precarious.

Getting Iacintho out of Volos' reach quickly was essential now!

He wouldn't be unconscious for long, she thought as she looked at her dear brother at her feet, giving signs that he was waking up.

Mirna operated her furnace with a thick leather apron, gloves, and even a mask, while Alexa stayed as far away as possible, which made her stomach chill.

Magnus ran under the boat that was ascending to the open sky, and looked up at Alexa, excited but afraid of her safety,

"Are you sure?"

"Yes! We'll meet at the river!" she laughed to cover her nervousness.

He ended up laughing too, awe showing in his face, and Alexa felt her heart melt.

She knew he wanted to make her confident too! But all she wanted was for Magnus and Dubois to get on their horses and leave as quickly as possible, far away from Volos!

When the flying boat finally left for the night, Alexa saw the stars above her head, growing and glowing brighter as they went up. And also the horrible column of smoke below, coming out of what was once a lovely cottage surrounded by a flowery garden.

"Get ready, princess! Do you feel the warm air stream blowing towards us?"

Alexa would lie if she said she was, after all, she was very close to a small furnace that blew hot air up.

As the fabric of the pyramid-shaped tent on top of their heads stretched, Alexa figured that the heat was what made the boat fly. As the cold wind blew the sails of a caravel to the cardinal points, the warm air from the fire blew upwards!

Mirna was a navigator of the skies!

"This is incredible, Miss Mirna! Your boat really does fly!"

"Yes! My dad created this, and I'm perfecting it! It's a long story! But… What do you think? " Alexa couldn't see her expressions and could barely hear because of the crackling fire, but she shouted back,

"Can we get to the stars, Miss Mirna?!"

"Huh?! No. I don't think we have any fuel for that!" the housekeeper shouted back. "Just sit down and stay alert, we can't swing the basket too much or tilt it! My father once told me the tale of a man who made wings glued with wax, one for him, one for his assistant. They were flying, but the boy wanted to go towards the sun, and his wings melted, and he fell to his death!"

Alexa had heard a legend like this,

"If we go to the stars, will we melt and fall, Miss Mirna?"

"I don't know, but I know if there is an incident with my furnace, we will fall like a fireball!"

"You should be cheering me up!" Alexa exclaimed.

"Hold on, Your Highness! This is my first night flight!"

Alexa winced, while gawking at the sky and the landscape, awestruck.

They were moving away from the house, propelled by a warm breeze from that direction, and away from the cold cursed forest.

At the same time, Alexa could see a black cloud forming over the hill and the forest, and just wished the boat could go even faster.

But looking at the stars and traveling towards the night horizon, full of glowing constellations, was an unimaginable adventure!

°°°

The trip took about half an hour and was not as smooth as Mirna had promised. The landing, mainly, was problematic and ended up falling in a field, instead of landing near the river as Mirna wanted.

In fact, they tried their best not to fall on a caravan gathered around a fire, and luckily they did.

Iacintho had regained consciousness during the flight, although he was still a little dazed, he helped them out under the tent.

They heard dogs and men screaming and running in the direction where the object that fell from the sky had landed. Alexa knew they would be in trouble, and Magnus and Dubois had not yet gotten there.

They had seen where the flying boat fell, right?

But the French housekeeper just took off her apron and mask, smoothing out her braid and straightening up,

"Excuse me for landing, if there's a next time, I promise I will perfect this."

Alexa couldn't help herself, and hugged the housekeeper, who was suddenly stiff as before,

"Congratulations, Miss Mirna! You are awesome! You not only saved us, but you also created a flying boat!"

"Ahem, as I said, my father created it, but… I helped him. Why," she sidestepped the subject and the Princess at once, embarrassed by Alexa's compliment and cheerful display, "What a ruckus! These people really aren't from Alençon. All of our neighbors know me and my boat."

The Princess could understand why the flying boat was a major attraction in the region.

Before people arrived, running across the field, she asked,

"Should we run?"

"What crime are we accused of?" replied Mirna.

Iacintho covered his head, which had dried blood all over his hair, so as not to attract attention anymore. He suggested,

"We'd better let Miss Mirna speak. From the size and type of the caravan, they appear to be gypsies or artists. Better if they are the second type. If they understand we are from the region, they might not upset us. And if they upset us ... Run towards the river, while I delay them."

A group of people surrounded them with sticks.

"Who are you?! What was that?!"

"My God, they came from heaven in a flying tent!" a female voice with an Italian accent spoke. For their clothes and variety of types, they were not Romanis, but artists. A troupe of artists. There was a dwarf, a giant woman, and…

"Hey, look! It's Princess Alexa!"

"No, it can't be!"

"Why would she be here, being a princess?"

Alexa could not follow who was saying what, as they got closer.

Mirna stamped her foot and threatened,

"Get away from my artifact! It's about to get the King's favor!"

"What happened? Did your circus fly with the wind?"

"...!" Mirna and Alexa gaped when someone mistook the amazing flying boat for a mere tent that had been dragged by the wind.

"Wait, how do you, how can you mistake that fire spot in the sky for a tent?" Alexa questioned.

"I don't know, but now that I'm looking closely, it's a strange tent," a funny-voiced man nudged the pyramid with his foot.

"I told you she could only be an acrobat, dancer, or rogue," the giant woman said, coming closer to Alexa, "So agile, and that trick on the mast!"

"I also do that as well as she did!" the Italian woman sneered.

"Ahem, I am not a circus artist, nor is this a tent that flew with the wind!" Alexa explained. She found their exchanges funny, and they seemed harmless, actually.

"Yes, it's her! Look at her cute face," a thin man in a flashy vest approached with the torch, but Iacintho stood in front of Alexa. When the flame lit his face under the hood, the man turned away,

"Jesus Christ! You scared me!"

"You?! Is Princess Alexa from Holstein? The one who would marry the Sleeping Prince?"

The throng of horses startled them,

"Are they hors.e.m.e.n of the owners of these lands?" the speed of the gallop frightened the group.

Alexa squinted her eyes, and soon deduced that they were Magnus and Captain Dubois, and relaxed,

"Stay calm, everyone. We won't be expelled from these lands. My friends are coming..."

Relieved, the group got even closer, to check at Alexa and the strange object up close.

Magnus and Dubois stopped the horses abruptly, taking out their weapons, still not understanding what was happening, but Alexa reassured them,

"Calm down. These people came from Holstein."

"Excuse us, we were in Holstein, but we are not from Holstein," someone corrected.

"Yes, we are artists; we have neither origin nor destination!"

Alexa opened a smile. She could practically identify with that!

"Isn't that beau ... isn't him Prince Magnus of Holstein?" the giant woman touched Alexa's shoulder.

"Well ... actually, it is," revealed Alexa.

The group surrounded the Prince, who had barely jumped from his horse.

"YOU!!! YOU OWE US!!!"