Chapter 235 - Ambition

Alexa hadn't thought of any of this, she just wanted to survive. She felt very stupid for having forgotten her brother's words. There was a murderer looking for her in the city! A murderer allegedly hired by the bishop himself.

"Does he need a saint and does it have to be just me? I think you realized that I am a very ordinary person."

"Perhaps you were born for this glorious moment," said the killer. Alexa realized that they were going to what had previously been the cathedral cemetery. They had time to encircle it and lift some headstones again, but everything looked like a macabre construction site.

"Hey, don't be like that. I really prefer to negotiate."

"I cannot negotiate, princess. There's some honor in this business. And in fact, the advantage will be all yours..."

"I see no advantage in turning a corpse just to a ridiculously ambitious bishop to make money by selling religious trinkets as souvenirs," she sighed, thinking about how she could reverse this situation. She knew she had been stupid and careless, but that wasn't the way her life would end, right? It could be presumptuous on her part, but she wasn't destined to die like a false saintess, Alexa felt in her gut!

"Well, since you know your patron to Heaven's Kingdom," the killer chuckled, praising himself for his own comment. He poked Alexa with a dagger in the back, keeping the machete against her neck, as they walked. "He wants to ask some questions… And I hope you can reply to it quickly."

"I may just not reply," she commented, but the killer snapped,

"Do as you like, I was paid to kill you and make you a saintess. Your confession can be made directly with the Creator, in my opinion."

Alexa fell silent. The killer only treated her as a curious case among his jobs, and he would not be easily convinced. At first she had thought he was taking her behind some tombstone or statue, where he would slit her throat and discreetly dump her body. But then Alexa saw that there was someone in front of the cemetery gate, with a dark cloak.

The Bishop!

"Oh! So… it's true..."

"Alexa of Holstein, such a bad timing to be in Holstein, as you always do," Bishop Hildebrand commented, seeing her face to face.

He was right, of course.

The killer nudged her lightly with the dagger in his ribs and Alexa went forward, since he took the machete from her neck. 

Now, between him and the bishop, Alexa knew death was coming near. In fact, he already felt its inexorable power pooling powerfully around her. All her bravado and the certainty that she would be able to escape drained away quickly, and she worried.

Why did she think she was entitled to a glorious death? She knew it was most likely a ridiculous fantasy. A death is a death, as Jette discovered that morning, regardless of her plans, works or merit. The troubadour wished to be remembered as the creator of an epic and lasting poem, but would be best known for her rhymes about a p.r.o.s.t.i.t.u.t.e's ever-open thighs. And Alexa, perhaps, became known ironically as the Saint of Holstein, against her will. 

That would at least serve not to make two brothers fight for her! There was a certain beauty and usefulness in her unexpected end, after all.

Taking a deep breath and coming to terms with her destiny, Alexa threw herself on the floor,

"DON'T KILL ME, I'M PREGNANT!"

She had no problem with begging for her life. As Jonah Locke said, 'Honor is disposable!'

The Bishop laughed, "Of course you are just a lying cheater. And not a virtuous v.i.r.g.i.n as we expected!"

"But I am a princess! You can't kill me just to keep your schedule! This is stupid!"

"Let's do this good deed for everyone, my dearest stained flower! You have caused the disgrace of nobles with your false innocence! You have deceived everyone! They are trying to correct the mistake and I just wonder what kind of trouble you and that brother of yours planned. But not here. You will be my sanctified creation and you will revert to the good, and not to the shame of this city! I will only spare the Princes from shame, and the people will thank you in the end… No one needs to know what kind of bitch you are!"

"I am not a bitch and this is not 'helping everyone', as you say! For example, dying does not help me," Alexa was angry that the brazen Bishop still wanted to justify all his selfish acts. Of course if he was talking aloud about his pitiful justifications, perhaps his mind still had a tiny portion of conscience he was doing something awful and stupid. Perhaps he was trying to justify himself to God, or whatever. Anyway, perhaps he could be convinced it was just useless. 

"Think carefully. Leave me alone and I promise I will not retaliate. I cannot be a saint, I am an ordinary woman. And you already know that."

"Too late..." he tilted his head, looking at her with cold eyes. "Alive, you are a hindrance, and a nothing. But dead, your value increases."

Before Alexa could answer anything, and paying attention to the killer's movements, Alexa felt an immense cold.

A blast of cold wind blew suddenly and mysteriously, shaking the leaves from the trees and swinging the bishop's cloak in front of him. The bishop narrowed his eyes, as if trying to see from a distance. Alexa looked over her shoulder, realizing that someone was walking towards them, through the dark street.

And that noise ... Were they birds?

Along with the wind and clouds that formed in the sky in an unnatural way, she heard the caw of a flock of crows. In an instant, the sky was littered with patches even darker than the night, landing menacingly on the roofs, tombstones and trees around the cathedral cemetery.

Alexa had already experienced a similar scene before.

"What? What are you doing, witch?!" the Bishop took a few steps back in terror, as did the assassin who, still pointing the knife at Alexa, was walking slowly backwards without taking his eyes off her.

Alexa stood up, not sure if she should really say she had nothing to do with it. But a voice anticipated,

"Alive, you are a hindrance, and a nothing. And dead, you aren't worth much. It applies to you, Bishop Hildebrand."

She knew who it was before she even looked up at the figure in the middle of the street.

Alexander.

He was in his armor, a lonely figure, young and frighteningly beautiful in the middle of that darkness. He seemed to glow in the darkness. Not as a saint, but as a god.

Alexa, at least, was afraid, and knew she should be.

The killer had the first reaction, and moved quickly towards Alexa. But before he touched her again, Alexa just saw the indistinct and blurry movement of something coming her way,

"AAAARGGHGGGHHAWHAHWMMF!"

The killer's cry echoed, despite all the incessant and loud noise of the flock of crows. It was just the time for Alexa to have blinked instinctively in a reflex reaction. When she opened her eyes, her body shrunk with fear. She saw the assassin's body fall to the side, pierced by a spear thrown into the distance. The knife in the man's hand fell to the ground, useless.

With the corner of the eye Alexa saw the Bishop shrink and press his back against the cemetery gate, in clear panic. 

Alexander made a sign for Alexa to come towards him. Fighting her first instinct, which was to flee, she took a few steps into the street, avoiding looking at the murderer who was still dying impaled by the spear in his chest.

All those crows and that unnatural wind were enough of Alexander's power, and she was sure she wanted no more proof it was just a taste of what he was capable of.

Alexander found her halfway, and put his hand on her waist, bringing her to him. 

Bishop Hildebrand, perhaps imagining it was over, tried to run to the side of the building. But in their first steps away from the gate, the crows flew at him, menacingly surrounding him, squawking as if insulting and judging him. 

Again, the Bishop retreated, terrified, shouting to scare the birds. Alexa couldn't remain inert to see the desperation of the man who moments ago wanted to kill her, but Alexander grabbed her wrist before she could move away from him.

"No."

He turned her to him, so that Alexa looked at his face. 

Alexa was horrified, because there was nothing different on his face. He was the same person, the same cold look, the same face like hers.

"Alexa, don't have pity on anyone who doesn't have pity on you ... It's the last time I tell you this."

He made a gesture, and Alexa looked over his shoulder.

The birds, as if moved by a single force, attacked the Bishop, as they would if he were already dead.

The Bishop's screams echoed for a while, until they ceased to exist among the birds' squawking.

Alexander picked her up, when Alexa couldn't stand being there and tried to escape.

"Why didn't you pass out, like you always do, so as not to see? It was a perfect timing for it," he commented almost sweetly as he walked with her away from the cathedral.

"I couldn't," she confessed, hiding her face.

He did something like a laugh, but it wasn't exactly that.

"Why weren't you in the castle, sleeping?"

'Because I was investigating you,' she thought, but of course, she didn't speak her mind. "I need to talk to my brother, I need him to help me with Iacintho ... Iacintho cannot remain as a slave to Volos!"

"You are right about that. But ... Let your brother look for it. He's very capable, and he'll do it. As for you ... I'm serious, do you believe me? Don't leave the castle. As long as you are inside, nothing will happen to you. I guarantee that my influence will keep you safe even from a distance… But I can't promise anything outside."

Alexa looked away, concerned about this new information.