Chapter 221 - The Forbidden Fruit

The unexpected gust changed the route of his jump, and Lex had to twist and try to land as best he could on the canvas awning. But the impact was greater, and the awning not only shook all over, but Lex heard a distinct, loud sound of wood cracking beneath him.

"Dammit dammit dammit!!" the Prince exclaimed loudly, feeling the tarp fold under his feet as he sank. The pantographic awning had broken and was rapidly collapsing. "Oh oh oh!"

All Lex could do was move his feet quickly and jump to the next awning, which was a little difficult as the unsteady material under the Prince's feet did not provide the necessary firmness to get a good thrust, and ...! Phew!

Balbo pulled the rope to help the prince level up to his next goal. Lex couldn't lose the thrust. The Prince had already discovered that the task was going to be more difficult than he had initially imagined. Mainly because Lex had no idea how resistant the awnings were. And Alexander was actually heavier than Alexa, for starters.

If he depended only on the rope, he would be thrown against a wall and would never have enough thrust to reach the center of the garden without touching his feet on the ground… All the Prince Regent would have to do was be shamefully hoisted and go down in history as the most beautiful and pathetic prince that ever existed in Holstein ... A very short existence, actually.

The wind was getting stronger and stronger, and even through the fabric Lex could smell some herbs. Worse than that, the wind swayed the awnings ever stronger. But the Light Bearer had no time for regrets or going back.

Expecting to be able to stay on the awning long enough, Lex moved closer to its edge, closer to the center. Some awnings were not designed to be mostly horizontal, as they only served as a protection against the strong sun for plants.

However, the wind had suddenly become too strong, even in that garden enclosed by high walls on all sides. The tarps flapped and slats creaked loudly, and Lex wondered if he should change his strategy. The awnings would not support the Prince's weight and the strength of the wind, but they were his only option at the moment.

It was difficult to walk on the awning, which seemed to be about to take flight. The wind came in under the awning canvas and forced upwards. Lex decided to crawl for a moment, and he moved forward successfully until he felt the front of the awning rise and turn against his face. The canvas was coming off the wooden frame!

The Prince narrowly avoided being flung in the air, or being thrown on the floor, wrapped in tarps. Lex just jumped to the side and let the wind push him into one of the vertical awnings.

Now he had to rely on Balbo's awareness to loosen the rope as he ran, using the stretched canvas as a wall. If only he could…

VOOOOOSH!

On the opposite side, one of the vertical awnings came free and flew towards him. Lex just tried to be faster and throw himself into the first of the concentric walls around the Forbidden Tree, completely avoiding being hit.

Only when the Prince felt the painful tug at his waist did he see how wrong he was.

Agh! Lex tried to throw himself forward, grabbing the edge of the wall with both hands.

He felt relief from the opposite thrust when the rope broke. The awning that had come loose, its now shapeless and changing form like a grotesque flying monster passed over his head. With a violent crash, it collided against the awnings on the opposite side, behind the Prince.

'BALBO!' Alexander screamed in his mind. Lex looked over his shoulder, trying to climb the wall and not fall to the floor.

Balbo fell from the window, pulled by the rope that had been hooked to the wreckage of the awning.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" A scream of horror came from the Prince's throat, drowned out by the bandages around his mouth and nose. Balbo was falling at great speed and tried to turn his body for a less catastrophic landing, but he was tangled in the ropes and being pulled down violently.

The loud Manheim of destruction, the flap of the tarpaulins, and the noise of the wind deafened him for a moment. The Prince didn't move. He just flinched, holding himself by his hands, and closed his eyes, feeling his feet dangle half a meter from the floor.

Just a few seconds later, Lex had the courage to open his eyes and look back.

Balbo was lying between the awnings, tangled between the ropes and pieces of wood from the awnings ... and with his body and face about ten centimeters from the floor.

"BALBO! BALBO? ARE YOU ALRIGHT? BALBO?!" Lex rose to the wall, breathing heavily. Was that a nightmare? Was Balbo dead?

After a few seconds, the warrior coughed, moved and said,

"I'm fine, Your Highness ... Almost well, actually!"

"Don't move, Balbo. Do not move!"

Both knew that Balbo's situation was precarious.

"Go ahead, boy. Just leave me. If it's my time, so be it ... I'll kiss this soil. I lived well. "

Lex knew that Balbo believed this with all his heart, and envied him for that certainty. If everyone could leave life with this tranquility... Death seemed to hover around them, but everything around them was lethal.

In the midst of the howling wind, he heard the guards shouting.

"We are going to pull you with hooks, don't worry!"

Balbo was heavier and had to be rescued first, in addition, he might have fractures. But the Prince couldn't give up now. Lex had already been way beyond his goal.

Jumping from one wall to the other, even with the wind, was much less difficult than the way there had been. The distance between them was small, and they formed a small maze, but that was not a big obstacle if you were on the fence.

Upon reaching the last wall, and looking down, Lex saw the exposed roots of the cursed plant. They were red and twisted, creeping into the black earth frighteningly, like claws digging into the flesh.

The tree itself was leafy and vigorous, with shiny leaves and a strong trunk.

A single fruit, with black skin, hung on a branch, and Lex reached out as far as possible to reach it.

The wind almost knocked the Prince over, but it also caused the fruit to come directly into the palm of his hand. Lex blinked several times. Had the branch willingly moved toward him?

At that moment he felt strong dizziness as if all the blood in his body had come to his head, quickly. His ears rang, and Lex knew it wasn't the wind. His heart ached in his chest. Was I about to do something idiotic? The tree seemed to want the pomegranate to be picked.

Lex pulled the damn fruit hard.

PLUCK!

His dizziness passed like a miracle.

'It's done.'

Sitting on the wall for a moment, Lex laughed, and lifted the fruit, for Balbo to see,

"We got it, brother. We went into the garden of hell, and took the fruit."

'Alexa, don't eat it yet,' Alexander warned. 'And we just need a seed. It's better not to take this thing out of the garden.'

Alexa thought it was a good idea, and opened the fruit with gloved hands. The fruit juice was thick and carmine, and looked like blood. It wasn't very appetizing, especially knowing the plant was cursed.

'What we need now, Zand?'

'First, you need to put the seed in your mouth at the very moment when night falls, but you shouldn't swallow it yet. That insignificant moment will be enough to swallow the seed. Just make sure the spiritual bond we have is broken by dawn.'

'How come?' Lex separated only one seed, and taking out a handkerchief, carefully tucked the tiny treasure inside his vests. While doing so, soldiers, inspired by their prince's deed, were descending on ropes to rescue Balbo and the Prince Regent. Much more cautiously than Lex, however.

'Do you really need me to tell you this? Magnus loves you, you love him… I couldn't suggest anything better, ' Alexander said. Lex felt a trace of bitterness and nervousness in the tone of his soulmate.

'Are you unsure whether this will really work?'

'We only have one chance, Alexa. I would like to have Balbo's firmness of character and say I am prepared to leave. But I cannot. Not now.'

The gale continued, delaying and creating extra complications to Balbo's rescue, but Lex had less difficult to leave the garden, just after they carefully removed Balbo trying

not to touch the floor of the garden.

The garden was cursed and tainted by the pomegranate tree, Lex knew. The law was meant to protect, and should be enforced.

When Lex came out of the garden, he saw Ana giving medicine to her Castilian friend. Probably some antidote to minimize exposure. Lex was feeling strangely healthy and with only a few parts of his body sore from exertion, so he declined the antidote. By the way, why take an antidote, if in an instant the Prince would swallow the pomegranate seed?

Lex was trying to sneak out when someone put a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw his uncle, or rather Duke Kurt, looking at him with disapproval.

But the night was falling, and Lex had no time for bullshit.

"What's it? Do you want to see if my shoes are dirty with garden dust?"

Kurt only raised an eyebrow, but Lex took off his boots and threw them on the floor, shocking the witnesses. Talking to no one in particular, the Prince Regent ordered, "Take care of Balbo. And think about the Law on the Forbidden Garden. It is better to rewrite to avoid crazy people like me. It really must be enforced."

Moving away quickly, Lex knew they wouldn't leave the Prince alone until they knew why he did all that. He couldn't get rid of them, so he went to the only place where he would have some peace, at least for a while.

The Secret Tower.

The tower was without most of the furniture, and without its bed. But Lex just sat on the floor.

'Alexander… If that doesn't work, we will only meet in another life.'

'Yes, Alexa. But I will recognize you, 'he said.

Alexa realized that the Alexander of the last days, since Ashgaufelsen, was no longer the young man she had met. He had changed. He sounded more mature, seasoned, and more selfless. She could only suppose that everything he knew, long before her, had affected him.

'If all goes well, we will meet again tomorrow, here in the castle,' she said, and the Prince placed the seed in the back of his throat.