Chapter 262 - Gunpowder and the Awakening Demon

While they hoped that the border dispute would be resolved quickly, this was not the case. 

Holstein was a smaller kingdom than his enemies, and its political alliances were too shaken for support to be swift. The emperor was hesitant, and the strongest ally, Florence, was getting reinforcements and resources to send to Holstein, despite their own constant feuds with other Italian neighbors.

Spring passed quickly, while bloody conflicts were escalating. Alexa was located in the most advanced fort, where Magnus spent most of his time. That peaceful and idyllic afternoon that they spent together in Edelsteintal was the last moment of beauty and calm silence that Alexa remembered.

Mirna and Narses came to be with Alexa, and she was grateful for that. Narses had a post as an officer, but Mirna just kept the Duchess company.

Letters came and went from the capital. Except for the shadow of war, her brothers were optimistic. 

Letters from the new Bishop of Holstein, Agnello di Borghesi, on a trip to Rome, implied that the damage caused by rumors of witchcraft in Holstein was like an infected wound, and it needed much treatment in the Church's memory.

She couldn't ignore the pain and horror of the war. And even if the new Prince Sovereign managed to keep Holstein's much more powerful enemies mostly at bay, it took a lot of time, energy, resources, and lives. 

In the past few days, she and Mirna had been involved in an unusual activity: Alexa had remembered seeing a hand cannon with a hook that made it more manageable when living in the East. And she wondered if that was more practical than the complicated hand cannons. Mirna started to design an alteration to the weapon. There weren't many in the army, and nobody used them because they were complicated to operate, and inaccurate.

The first tests were promising, even if noisy and frightening. 

Unfortunately, they weren't able to do many tests because even she didn't have enough power to request much war material for that use. Furthermore, she knew that if she told Magnus ahead of time, he would forbid her to continue testing, due to the danger. Even Mirna insisted that Alexa no longer participate in the tests, and be content with the reports on Haakbus, or arquebus1 as they baptized.

But Alexa knew that her baby was fine, growing inside her as if 'she' wanted to eat the world through Alexa. How hungry the baby was!

A great battle took place in the middle of the summer, and on that day Alexa believed that everything was lost. Her agitated dreams, like her belly, seemed like ominous omens of an impending disaster.

"Your Highness! Are you awake?" Mirna's voice, audible enough on the other side of the door, totally woke her up. She had woken up a moment earlier with the sensation of hearing thunder in the distance, which made her heart race.

Alexa just hoped that reinforcements would arrive soon, and that the invaders would give up altogether.

It had been over twenty days since she had seen Magnus, who had not returned from the front.

"Mirna ?! What happened?" she wished it were not bad news, although she sensed it was. He urgently opened the bedroom door, almost tripping over the other woman.

"If you hurry, Your Highness, perhaps you can stop Narses from leaving!"

"What are you talking about, Mirna?!" 

All she could see was that she might never have seen Mirna with her hair down and her clothes in disarray, and that she had never seen her so upset. Not even on the day of the fire in the house where Mirna served until her thirties.

"Narses is returning to the capital. He and Iacintho have a plan for Alexander, and according to the letters they have been exchanging, the time has come!"

'So this is what they were up to ...' she knew the brothers exchanged confidences of which she wasn't a part, but she felt stupid for not thinking they might plan not to include her in the real action of freeing her from the curse or from Orcaius.

An accomplishment passed through Alexa's mind at the same time that her hand reached for her cloak, so Alexa could go to her brother before Narses left.

"How can you know that, Miss Mirna?"

"Your Highness, this is not important now, but that they don't fight with a lich even worse than Volos!"

That was a fact, but Alexa already had her answer. Mirna might have been a mystery to her, but her brother seemed less fond of alcohol and didn't spend the nights with the other soldiers as he used to… Since they arrived at this fort.

The two women ran to the stables, while a large garrison arrived with prisoners. Looking this way and that, Alexa couldn't see her brother.

"Are we that late?" she asked, distressed. She had no idea what was going on there, but she pushed Mirna aside so the soldiers and horses wouldn't push them. The aggressive and hostile mood made her tense. Some prisoners were their own men!

"What's going on here?" She demanded an answer from one officer. The man looked at her a little confused as to why the Duchess was there in the middle of the night, and when he opened his mouth, he thought better of it and closed it.

"Say it!" she ordered, realizing that the only way to get him to speak was to use his social position.

"Your Highness, I have bad news. A reinforcement of mercenaries reached the shores and rejected our reconquest action. The battle was very tough. Even so... As the reinforcement promised by the Florentines did not arrive..."

"Magnus?!" Alexa despaired. Mirna supported her back, but Alexa pushed her, she was so nervous. She wanted answers and took two steps towards the man, almost grabbing him by the clothes.

But he left in time and spat it out, to avoid further irritating the Duchess...

"An entire unit has deserted, Your Highness. These are the men we are capturing. The Prince was left with only one cavalry unit and two infantry units… They will not take it…" 

The way he spoke was so defeatist that Alexa wanted to punch him right in the middle of his face. He spoke as if he were already sure that everyone was dead by now.

Now she understood the confusion between the fort's garrison and the patrol units that captured some deserters.

Alexa was sure that Magnus had not fallen, unlike them.

He could be with few men and it left him with few options, but Magnus was not dead, and nowhere near that.

She had had a 'petite mort', and that was not how things were going to happen. Actually, she even didn't know if he could die...

A knight rushed over to Alexa, his face apprehensive to see his officer dealing with the Duchess _ probably in the wrong way.

"Your Highness… We received a message in the early evening, warning that the ship with the Italian mercenaries has already been spotted. Unfortunately, the message didn't reach the battlefield, and after a hard attack on one of our camps, a unit dispersed... However, we don't know..."

"How long does it take for the ship to dock with the reinforcements?"

"Why, Your Highness, I don't see why you should worry about this, please calm down..."

"You are in charge of this fort, which is just a supporting garrison, Lord Bauer ... We are less than two hours from the battlefield. If we go there now, we can help secure the defense with another hundred men, at least for a few hours... Not to mention the deserters," Alexa spoke at once. "And I know that if we do nothing, we are the next target. It won't take long. You have the choice to help your Prince with reinforcements, however small, today. Or try to defend this fort with even fewer people, or prepare to retreat… By tomorrow."

"Miss Mirna, the men who have been testing the new cannons have told me we have thirty of these new weapons ... That it can be an element of surprise." Bauer turned to the Frenchwoman.

"Thirty-six, oui."

Alexa rejoiced internally. There were few weapons, but they could be an element of surprise. The moral impact was devastating. She had seen it firsthand. At this point, the attacking sh.i.p.s' cannons, if any, had run out of gunpowder for a few days, already.

"Müller, gather everyone in the courtyard, including the prisoners!" Knight Bauer ordered immediately. Alexa felt a slight relief that the knight who led the defense of the fort was neither stupid nor a coward.

"Your Highness is going to need an escort to go back to Edelsteintal," he recalled, amid the orders he was giving in a frantic pace.

She had to choose a path. Either she'd go after her brothers, or after Magnus.

But her instinct was that she had to go to the battlefield, however insane it was.

°°°

Alexa had already been at the back of wars, and knew her surroundings and their results. The corpses; and the refugees escaping in despair. Burnt fields and Death, like a big fat monster lounging in no hurry to finish, haunting the region. 

She knew soldiers, warriors, and the inherent cruelty that prolonged conflict unleashed. In this regard, her innocence was not guarded.

In the course of two hours of brisk walking, her eyes saw what the past twenty days had done to the region. And she understood why soldiers had abandoned their lines by fleeing for their lives.

She had promised to stay with Mirna at the rear of the unit. It was impossible to leave the Duchess behind after all the ridiculous and cruel threats she made to go with them. At least they got her protected by a helmet and a heavy chest plate that didn't close properly because of her belly, and her promise to retreat at the first order.

By now, she knew that Magnus and his men had recently invaded a taken citadel, even with a quarter of the necessary men! Flames still engulfed burning sh.i.p.s in the small port. 

She didn't know much about military strategy, but because of the heavy countenance of officers and soldiers, and the simple fact that soldiers deserted, either Magnus had made an insane and proud mistake, by blindly trusting the promised reinforcement would arrive in time… or he knew what he was doing.

They would never know the truth, only the consequences.

In the morning, the Florentines disembarked in the bay with little trouble. And before the sun was high in the sky, Holstein's flag was raised again on the citadel wall.

There was still the sound of isolated skirmishes, and shots of arquebuses, when Alexa escaped the sight of her escort and sneaked into the citadel.

She had a bad feeling about Magnus.

She wandered cautiously through the destroyed city until she saw him.

Magnus was surrounded by a pile of bodies, and with inhuman roars, he was brutally attacking what a few moments ago was a person, but now was a bloody and half-broken carcass.

She saw nothing around but the frightening figure with disheveled hair and beard, covered in soot and blood, brandishing a sword like a club.

She screamed in horror.

He turned his golden eyes in his direction, at the sound of his voice. His movements stopped. He, however, seemed to be slow to recognize her.

It's known that the Arquebus weapon appeared in this region around this time. I thought it would be an interesting addition to the story.