The horse's hooves make a soft sound when they step on the ground that has begun to look soft, the green grass is very comfortable to step on, and the slightly more vigorous ones rub against the calves without passing the horse's paws, and whenever this time Pagasus makes a light sound in his nose.

But Pagasus felt that the guy on his back obviously did not understand this mood, for whenever he whispered praises of the arrival of spring, he was taught a lesson not lightly, and after a few times Pagasus began to feel that this morning was not so pleasant.

The woods are quiet in the early morning, except for the beautiful chirping of the early cuckoos, except for the slow sound of horses' hooves.

Alexander pulled the reins to keep Pagasus from running too fast, for it would startle the birds in the woods, and he skimmed past some of the tall branches, and he watched the woods warily.

Lucrezia was exhausted from the bumps of the night, and by this time she could no longer care that the man behind her was her kidnapper, she sat on her side, curled up in a ball, and snored softly in Alexander's arms, and occasionally twisted her head because of the uncomfortable position.

A loud birdsong woke Lucrezia, and she was accustomed to stretching her arms, but at the slightest movement of her arms was covered by something soft, and when she came to her senses, she found that she had reached Alexander with her hands from her cloak behind Alexander's waist, and her cheeks were pressed against his chest.

Lucrezia felt a little fever on her face, and she didn't mind borrowing a man's chest to keep warm, but this person was the criminal who kidnapped her, which made Lucrezia feel very unsightly.

At this time, the sun has risen high, and the trees are full of rose-red brilliant light, and the bright sunlight shines in from time to time through the gaps in the lush foliage, making people's eyes always flicker with all kinds of light.

Lucrezia wanted to say something, but she couldn't find a topic because of the embarrassment in front of her, so she could only tilt her head slightly to the side and look at the woods in front of her, which seemed to never be able to get out.

"I remember we were in this woods before dawn," she finally found a reason to speak, but her face changed slightly when she said it, "God, you won't get lost." ”

Alexander smiled bitterly, he didn't think Lucrezia was cute at all, especially when he opened his mouth to talk about their current predicament.

"Are you really lost?" Seeing the look on Alexander's face, Lucrezia first laughed and sneered, and then the smile on her face couldn't be maintained, "Then what should we do, this forest is so big, we will be trapped in it." ”

Lucrezia began to get nervous, she had heard the legends about getting lost and eventually dying in the wilderness, especially one of her half-brothers, the former Duke of Gandino Henry, who was surrounded by enemies during the battle and died of injuries, so she knew that it was not funny at all to get lost, and it would even be terrible if it was in the field where no one was traveled.

Alexander ignored Lucrezia, who had almost found the edge of the woods, but he was still on the road to Montina because he had gone in the wrong direction before dawn.

As she walked a little further, the light outside the woods was already evident, and Lucrezia breathed a sigh of relief, but she was still staring nervously ahead, as her mind began to figure out how to escape from the man.

Now he was alone, and the bohemians were being chased by the men who had come to save her, and though he was still in his hands, it was much easier to escape from one than from a crowd.

Lucrezia stared at the clearing that seemed to have a road not far ahead, she knew that there were not many chances of escape, so she carefully hid her mind and waited for the opportunity.

When Pagassos' horsepaw landed on solid ground, Alexander looked at each side of the road, and then looked up at the sun in the sky.

In the direction of the sun, he knew he should go to the left, but looking at the road that led down the hillside, he was a little worried about whether he would encounter the cavalry.

Alexander was not worried about the Bohemians, with their habits if they did not want to engage people, then no one could stop them, this is the advantage of the light cavalry, even if the other side is a light cavalry, it is unlikely that it will be easy to catch up with them, not to mention that the other party is obviously catching up overnight, and it is difficult to compare with the Bohemians who have been resting for a while.

"Be careful."

Alexander reminded himself that there was no one around him now, and if he was discovered, would he really use Lucrezia as a hostage? If that's the case, it's really not far from looking for death.

With this in mind, Alexander decided to continue his previous walk for the time being, and then turn in the direction of Montina when it was almost time.

The woods were obviously large, but they had reached the end of the woods, so the woods became more and more sparse as they followed the road, and when they came to an open field with a good view, they realized that a town had appeared in front of them.

"I'm going to wash up," said Lucrezia suddenly, and she glanced at Alexander quietly, and when she saw that he didn't seem to have any objection, she continued, "I'm a little hungry too, and I haven't eaten much of what you gave me yesterday." ”

Alexander nodded, in fact, he was also a little hungry, and yesterday's dried meat and bread were indeed hard to swallow, which reminded him of Ulliu, if the Moors could at least eat a decent meal, which made him decide to take the Moors with him wherever he went in the future.

The people in the town in front of them had obviously gotten up, and from a distance, it seemed that the town was not small.

Alexander urged the horse to move slowly, he had to be careful, even if he didn't have Lucrezia by his side, he had to be cautious, and if he was careless when he was away from home in this era, he would probably lose his life casually.

And he couldn't help but admit that with Lucrezia's appearance, even if she didn't take the initiative to find trouble, maybe trouble would find her.

Alexander's arrival caused a small commotion in the towns, and a group of children who had been helping their parents threw away the sieve they were sifting the fat grains in their hands and ran after them, and some simply ran to the front to report to the adults.

Alexander pulled Lucrezia into his arms with a blanket, and at the same time pressed her waist with the hand hidden under the blanket, secretly warning her not to act rashly.

The town was not small, and there were small grocery stores on one of the main streets, but all the houses in the town looked very dilapidated, and the people looked at them with indifference in their eyes, which made Alexander secretly vigilant.

The best building in town is the one that doesn't look too tall and is somewhat crumbling.

To Alexander's surprise, the door of the church was sealed.

Seeing this scene, Alexander couldn't help but secretly touch the handle of the musket hidden under the cloak.

In this day and age, it is a little strange that there is no priest in a church in one place, and the door is sealed, and strange things always happen in strange places.

A townsman who looked very old approached, and he stood at a distance to look at him before he walked up to Alexander's horse and looked up at him.

"Outlander, who are you?" The old man's nose was large and red, apparently the cause of his chronic alcoholism, which made Alexander feel a little strange, although life in this era was much better than in the dark Middle Ages, but it was rare for a town resident to drink rosacea.

"Where is this?" Alexander asked cautiously.

"Is this," the old man looked around, a smile on his face, "this is Nordusey, and this is the largest town in the vicinity. ”

"How far is it from here to Montina?" Alexander's hand was still pressed against the handle of the musket, and he felt that there was something strange about the town.

The old man froze slightly, as if wondering where Montina was, and then he shook his head, and said, "Well, that's still a long way off, and you seem to have gone the wrong way, and if you want to go to Montina, you should go back the way you came." ”

Alexander nodded, he knew that what the old man said was right, and just as he was about to speak again, Lucrezia, who had been honest and silent, suddenly poked her head out of the blanket she was covering and asked, "Why is the church here sealed, and where is the local priest?" ”

At the sight of Lucrezia, the old man's face was momentarily stunned, and he looked at Lucrezia in amazement, as if completely stunned by the sudden appearance of this beautiful girl, so much so that he forgot to answer her question.

"Where, pastor?" Alexander repeated the question slowly, but his hand hidden under the blanket pressed Lucrezia's waist to warn, but then his hand was held down by Lucrezia, and the two of them secretly fought under the blanket.

"The priest was driven away," said the old man, a little mad, and speaking unscrupulously, pointing to the door of the church that had been sealed with wood, "and the priest was going to give communion, and then there came a priest who was on patrol, a very good man, and he lectured the priest and had him whipped, and right there, did he see the wooden frame on which the animals were bound, and the priest had the priest tied to the rack and whipped him, and then he drove him out of the church. ”

"It's a sacrament ceremony," Lucrezia whispered in Alexander's ear, "and a priest can give communion, but he doesn't have the authority to perform a ritual, it's blasphemous." ”

Alexander frowned, he didn't quite understand what Lucrezia meant by this ritual, but he couldn't help but think of something similar to what happened in this town, which made him vaguely feel that something was wrong.

"Where's that priest?"

He asked with a solemn expression.

"Go......," said the old man, who walked around the place with his hand raised, and then pointed in the distant direction with some blank looks, "and went over there, and as he went, the priest had the whole town drive him away with whips, and the children threw garbage at him, and then he went out into the woods on that side. ”

Lucrezia looked at Alexander a little strangely, she couldn't understand why he was suddenly interested in this and that priest.

As for the fact that she would deliberately talk to this old man, she had her own mind.

Lucrezia believed that she would impress the townspeople with her beauty, so that those who rescued her would come to the town and find out her whereabouts with a little inquiry.

Alexander didn't seem to notice Lucrezia's tricks, he was thinking about something else.

He took out a gold coin from his bosom and threw it to the old man, saying, "Get us something to eat and drink, hurry, and give you the rest." ”

The old man let out a happy sigh, and couldn't wait to bite the gold coin with his teeth, and when he saw the shallow tooth marks on it, he immediately bowed and saluted.

"Don't worry, sir, I'll send it to you soon."

The old man laughed and turned to run, and behind him a group of children chased him to the grocery store on the street.

"Aren't we going to take a break?" Lucrezia asked with some annoyance, "I'm tired, I want to eat something, get some sleep, and I want to take a shower if I can." ”

Alexander ignored Lucrezia and shook his head silently.

Somehow, there was a faint uneasiness in his heart, as if something was about to happen.

The old man came back not long after he went, and he carried a basket in his left hand with something in it, and in his right hand a coarse porcelain wine bottle, and walked up with his head up and drinking as he walked with his feet floating.

From afar, a pungent smell of bad wine came to my face.

Lucrezia tilted her head to the side in disgust, and then she saw that Alexander seemed to be staring at the closed doors of the convent.

The old man came over and shook the basket in his hand, and said in a vague voice, "I have brought you food and drink, and some other things, which you will surely enjoy." ”

Alexander bent down slightly, and saw a few pieces of bread in the basket, a large piece of fat with white lard hanging from it, and a bottle of wine that looked the same as the old man's hand, and he frowned a little and took it.

"And this," the old man babbled, as he laboriously pulled out a mess of things, "this is what I gave you, as a thank you for buying me wine." ”

"What is it?" Alexander asked a little strangely.

"It's an indulgence, this is approved by the Pope, no matter what sin you have committed, you can get forgiveness, of course, the price of the big sin is different, but for the sake of your gold coins, these are all given to you, enough for you, even if you commit the most unforgivable crime, it doesn't matter."

As he spoke, the old man glanced at Lucrezia with a slightly obscene look, and opened his mouth to reveal a mouthful of rotten black and yellow teeth.

Alexander was stunned for a moment, and then understood what the old man meant.

It is clear that he mistook the two men for the cheating man and woman who had escaped with each other, which made Alexander both angry and funny.

Lucrezia's face was already flushed with anger.

She turned her head to stare at the old man, looked at the rattling amulet in his hand, and said angrily: "You dare to cheat in the name of the Pope, don't you know what kind of crime this is?" ”

The old man burst out laughing, he looked at Lucrezia sarcastically, as if she had made a joke, and then he put away the atonement charms with some annoyance, and at the same time kept nagging: "You don't believe that I was approved by the Pope, you must know that even when Pastor John was still here, he did not forbid me to sell the atonement charms." ”

"That's why the priest was expelled," said Lucrezia angrily, "and that man desecrated the Eucharist and deserved to be excommunicated." ”

"Oh, you're such a great woman."

The old man muttered impatiently, but before he could speak, Alexander had already led his horse around him.

Alexander wanted to get out of the town as quickly as possible, but somehow, looking at the closed church, he felt uneasy.

There is only one main street in the town, and the church is almost in the middle of the town, so just continue a little further and then follow the slightly curved street to get out of town.

Alexander decided to get out of here as soon as possible, he didn't want more people to see them.

Lucrezia was so beautiful that she would certainly attract a lot of attention in such a remote place, and anyone who saw her would be impressed, which was very bad for him who was evading the pursuit.

The old man was still babbling on and on, but his feet were fast, perhaps because he had drunk too much, and he actually began to run down the street, and soon overtook Pagassos.

Lucrezia reached out and patted Pagasus on the head with some dissatisfaction, as if trying to make him run faster, but Pagasus did not speed up, but instead stopped suddenly, and its two erect ears suddenly twitched.

Looking at Pagassos's strange appearance, Alexander's heart suddenly moved.

At the same time, he faintly heard a strange sound coming from the direction of the town entrance at the opposite corner.

Alexander couldn't help but take the reins and listen carefully, and then his face suddenly became solemn.

Lucrezia also heard something at this time, and she first casually looked in the direction of the town, and when she was sure what the voice was, a trace of excitement and joy suddenly appeared on her face.

But by this time Alexander had already turned around with his horse, and before Lucrezia could make a sound, Pagasos was already rushing towards the empty alley between the two low earthen houses.

Just as their figures disappeared into the box, several figures had already appeared at the entrance of the town, and as the sound of horses' hooves trampling on the ground became heavier and heavier, a group of cavalry suddenly appeared at the entrance of the town, and then rushed into the town in a swarm.

Figures swept past the alley, the hooves of the horses hitting the ground, and at that moment, Alexander suddenly felt Lucrezia in front of him move!

Alexander reacted quickly, grabbing Lucrezia's two struggling arms from behind with both hands, and slamming her into his arms with all his might!

But at this moment, Lucrezia suddenly shouted desperately: "Help! ”