Chapter 242 - Hanged Man

When it was over, there was the horrible smell of death and blood in the air. 

Nothing outside the locked cells remained untouched.

Besides the groans of those still dying, inside the cells the prisoners screamed in despair or sobbed in terror.

The Princess and the Priest remained embraced, frightened to realize that, despite the cell where they were standing with the door open - the last thing Duke Kurt's ally did before being attacked by the hellhounds - the supernatural creatures totally ignored them.

Jailers and Dominicans - no one escaped. The exit door was locked.

Would the Black Queen, invoking Hecate's powers, have interfered with the imminent torture of Alexa and Agnello?

Or was it Alexander's promise that inside the castle the Princess would be safe? Even though she was a prisoner, would she be physically safe until his return?

Neither the sword nor the attempts at exorcism by these men was enough. The creatures of darkness tore them in pieces.

But what good would that do, if the chains remained locked, if they were still prisoners?

A loud bang followed.

They were using a battering ram to knock down the large door to the dungeons. Alexa could hear Captain Gunnar's loud drills.

Perhaps she could convince him it was a coup and threatened Holstein's future!

Father Agnello was getting hot and sweaty at her side. Blue Eyes was certainly not well after more physical and spiritual suffering. He murmured prayers, but Alexa could not concentrate on doing the same, if only to empty her mind.

"BOOOM!"

Heavy footsteps of boots ran down the stairs, and Alexa thanked the little light she saw.

The soldiers investigating everything that happened in the dungeon, ignoring the hysterical cries of the prisoners asking for mercy because hell had visited them that night. Captain Gunnar came with his men to where Alexa and the priest were, finally.

"You can't deny it, Princess, it's your doing... Where you are, strange things happen!"

"But you are wrong! I didn't do it! Don't you think that even the ghosts of this castle have revolted with what is happening? Captain Gunnar, listen to me! Don't allow a coup against the Prince! Ensure that the rightful heirs have somewhere to return! Don't let the Duke shut us up! He's ignoring all of Prince Gutard's orders! He, a mam who was banished once! And more than that! Is all the power of the Church now in the hands of a Prior who came from elsewhere? What does he know about Holstein?!"

"Don't let this angelic face convince you despite the evidence before your eyes, Captain," the Prior spoke behind the group of soldiers. They made room for his passage to the cell door.

He examined what happened in the cell with the torchlight, and Alexa looked around. In a radius of about three meters around her and the priest, there wasn't even a single bloodstain on the floor. The Moor Khalil was lying in the cell doorway... or rather, most of him. The rest of him was horribly scattered around the corpse.

The Prior didn't look shocked. In fact, he just looked disgusted.

"Yes… Here is the evidence. Nothing has touched us or the convicts in this dungeon. It only touched men who would do harm to innocent people," said Father Agnello, looking up with contempt at the other religious man. "Nothing happened to us and we were kept from all harm… If you insist on torturing us, rest assured… You will also be a criminal… I have been in the hands of witches and my spirit has not broken. That man, the Duke, may have a heart full of good intentions, but only if they are made for the benefit of what he wants! But… If God is really with you, you shouldn't fear any harm…"

"You are full of fallacies, Father Agnelo! Don't you dare challenge God, your wage will be death!"

"I challenge you, not God, Reuben. If you are with Him, you will have enough power to drag us from here to the death that you believe we deserve… If you are truly His representative, I accept my death and surrender to it, by your hands and by the Lord's desire."

Either Blue Eyes was really convinced of what he said, or he was an excellent bluffer. Alexa gasped, wanting to believe that this would at least change something and help them, but the Florentine priest's bravado was too bold!

"If you need to see the Lord's power to die knowing you made the wrong choice, Agnelo, then the Lord will help me!" replied the Prior, after a few minutes of silence looking at them both. He signaled, and the Captain had Khalil's body removed from the door. In horror, the guards had to obey and clean the passage.

In Reuben's first steps into the cell, the torches flickered, and their fire extinguished. Alexa begged,

"Please, Captain! Save yourself and your men! Get out while you can!"

The captain looked at the torch flames and the mutilated bodies, and his men dragging their feet towards the stairs. They were not cowards, but something terrifying had happened here. Common sense was in the Princess's words.

"Prior! We better go...!"

The prisoners started screaming again, begging to be taken out. They felt that the darkness was returning.

Before the Captain gave the order, some soldiers ran for the stairs, abandoning their duty in despair. Nobody wanted to die like those people who were torn in pieces and had their guts scattered throughout the dungeon. The Captain cussed them for their cowardice, and pulled the Prior by the arm to retreat, but Prior Reuben just shook his shoulder, letting go,

"Run, coward. I have nothing to fear! God is with me!"

"Stubborn man! You are wrong!" The captain turned his back, looking at Alexa one last time.

"Pleasepleaseplease, stop it!" Alexa murmured, with her eyes closed, knowing everything was going to start again, when the cell door locked by itself with a bang, behind the Prior.

°°°

"Kill me,"

implored the Prior in a weak voice. Many hours had passed since the cell door closed behind him. Scarce streaks of sunlight entered the vents, letting them know it was morning.

Father Agnello was unable to get up from the cot because of an internal wound, swollen in his abdomen. Alexa had tried to relieve Prior's suffering, but it wasn't possible, she had no strength and the chain around her neck didn't allow her to let go.

Prior Reuben was tied upside down by one foot, by one of the extra chains in the cell. His face and lower limbs were swollen and purple from the acc.u.mulated blood from the inversion, and the wounds. He was suffocating little by little.

Alexa for a while tried to support his head, but could not do so for a long time.

"Someone will help us, take it easy."

"She has much more mercy than I do," coughed Father Agnello, addressing the Prior. "So is the person you wanted to kill ... But boasting is always the greatest enemy of a servant of God."

"Kill me," repeated the Prior.

Alexa heard a new sound, coming from the stairs. It was soft and stuffy, and it filled her heart with hope.

Only a familiar light appeared, small and bluish.

"Narses!"

"Little sis, calm down! I'll get you out of here," he whispered, lighting his face for a moment, near the cell. "Sorry for the delay."

She was so happy that he was alive to begin with! His delay was probably justified.

Her brother used a key to open the cell door. Only when his light illuminated the place better, he could see the Prior hanging upside down. 

"Hmmm ..." he mumbled when he saw who it was. But Narses ignored him, coming over to his sister and using the same key to open the chain around her neck. The Princess felt a relief to lift that weight off her neck and shoulders.

"Father Agnello can't walk alone ... But the Prior ..." Alexa whispered. I wasn't sure what to do.

Narses released the priest and whispered to her, while placing him on his shoulder,

"Go to the stairs! Be cautious. Lady Duvignes is waiting for you there!"

"Lady Duvignes?" Alexa opened her eyes wide, hardly believing what she was hearing. But he still heard Prior's request,

"Kill me."

Narses turned to the hanging man, and the light went out for a moment,

"As you wish, Prior."

Alexa ran for the stairs in the darkness.