Half a step away

Felicia and Alex were in his bedchamber for a change. She had just left Hildegarde after bringing her, her meal directly from the kitchen. Her hawk like eyes had watched the meal being prepared and taken notice of all the hands involved. As an extra precaution, she had instructed the kitchen servants to make enough for two and eaten from the same plate as her nanny. After ensuring Hildegarde took her medication, she left to find her brother.

Entering Alex's room, she took a quick glance around and realized that it was more spacious than the Emerald room. And less luxurious. The furniture was more about function than acquisition and it was clear her brother did not feel the need to surround himself with excess. 

Seated at his study table, she watched with furrowed brows as Alexander continued to swing the Holy Sword around. He had cleared a space near the left quadrant of his room and used it for sword practice. 

Felicia's training had been cancelled since it was both raining and hailing quite heavily. Sir Rovar had given her an exercise routine she could do in her room, but she was unwilling. Her mind was greatly troubled and she was not in the mood for physical activity. She continued to watch Alex move his body and his blade in perfect synchronization. His maneuvers were very precise and graceful. It almost looked like a dance. The sword might as well have been an extension of his arm.

Brother is very skilled. I can only hope to achieve even half of that.

Alex wiped the sweat off his brow and rolled his eyes in his sister's direction. It was clear that she was still brooding and giving herself a migraine.

Placing the Goddess's sword flat on his desk, he propped himself up and took a seat. He snatched the glass of untouched water Felicia had poured for herself from her fingertips and emptied the entire content down his gullet.

"Felicia, you need not worry so much. We will figure this out."

"There is already too much for me to worry about and now I have to worry about Hildegarde being poisoned as well." She glanced to the side, her tone filled with frustration.

What were that evil mother, daughter and maid up to right now?

Alex signed. "The knight I chose to guard her will do his diligence, Felicia. I promise. He is loyal to the Duke and to me since I'm the heir. He is not one of Tyren's bootlickers."

Felicia brushed her hair back. "Even so, I can't help but be on edge. Tyren will not just give up. And Helena too will try to stir up trouble for me. And the Pope! What is his next plan of action? We do not know how he will strike at us next."

"Felici--"

Felicia abruptly placed her palm on the Holy Sword. She felt it warm under her fingertips. "We need to get that red ruby, Alex. Immediately! It will give us the leverage we need over the Pope. It'll also help us nail Tyren for her crime. We desperately need more information. And we need to be able to acquire it without putting ourselves at risk again. What happened at Hildegarde's cottage cannot happen again."

Alex pressed his lips together. "The fight we are here for will be most brutal and bloody. And our opponent is a Demon Lord. There will be casualties, Felicia. Even if we do our diligence, we cannot save everyone. So please stop feeling this way. And just train very hard. Once you transform yourself into a fighter, you will be able to save yourself."

Alex paused, feeling conflicted. "I am both your brother and your Guardian, so I will always be by your side protecting you. But...I would love nothing more than for you to become as strong as possible."

Felicia absorbed his words with silence. It failed to ease her mind. The Holy sword levitated a bit as she raised her hand, slightly. Her eyes examined the symbols and she felt even more frustrated. She felt like an idiot. They had tried so hard to make sense of the carvings. They had even gone back to the library and tried to draw comparisons between the information on the Holy Sword in the books and what was actually on it.

Sadly, a lot of what the Goddess had carved onto her sword remained a mystery for every priest and historian who had documented it since most of the sword was buried in rock. Nobody aside from Alex and herself had seen it. Only the infinity symbol had been visible since it was located near the hilt. And even that bit was translated in a very vague manner.

Felicia had already sent drawings of the symbols to both Liam and Constantine hoping they could garner useful translations from their respective libraries and resources. 

Unfortunately, they had not written back so Felicia could only conclude that they were as stumped as her and Alex.

Rubbing her fingers against the warm blade, her mind went back to her nanny. "Alex, do you think we should instruct another knight to keep track of Tyren's movement and report back to us?"

"That...we could, but what are the chances Tyren may not recognize his actions for what they are? She could make up some bogus charge and get the knight in trouble with the Duke for disrespecting her. Or worse, she may convince him to side with her."

Alex looked directly into Felicia's eyes. "Tyren...as much as I hate to admit it is very good at manipulating others. A knight standing guard outside Hildegarde's door and accompanying her on her daily walks will do his part, but a knight following Tyren around will be susceptible to her sly tongue. Either he will get caught and no longer be of help to us or Tyren will task him to spy on us and report back to her while pretending to be spying on her for us."

Felicia nodded her head. It was difficult to know who to trust. How far would any of the servants and knights go to perform their duty? If Tyren discreetly threw a sack of gold at them...

So the ruby was well and truly their only option. The difficult part would be to extract if from the crown of the statue of Goddess Kartara. Which was located inside the very public holy temple. How in the name of common sense were they going to be able to pull that off without getting caught?

"Felicia, I've been thinking.." Alex's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "I think we should both learn how to perform the teleportation magic. I know that the two times we previously did it we had to use the sword, but I think the magic is more complicated than that."

"How do you mean?" Felicia asked.

Alex held up his marked wrist. "I think the infinity symbol can work both with and without the sword. This mark signifies time and space. It's what brought us here and what allows us to make a fast escape when we are in danger or need to cross large distances." He paused for a bit as he held the infinity symbol on his wrist next to the one engraved on the sword.

"Travelling, healing, hearing, seeing...I...what can't it do? It's....let me try something," Alex stated as he picked the sword off the table. His eyes glanced around. "Quickly, close all the blinds."

Felicia stood up to do just that. She thought Alex would wait until she was watching before attempting whatever idea had come to his head, but when she turned around she saw him vanish into thin air. There was a loud crackle, reminiscent of a log burning in a fire, and the Holy Sword vanished with him. They both dissolved in the shape of the loop.

Before she could react, he reappeared half a stride away from where he was previously standing and promptly fell flat on his face. 

"How anticlimactic," she drawled with a roll of her eyes. "Wait, where's the Holy Sword?"

When Alex did not respond, she kneeled down and nudged him onto his back. "Alex? Hey!"

Placing his head on her lap, she realized that he was out cold. "What the hell happened?"

She pressed her hand on his chest and imbibed him with her healing magic. A few seconds of this confirmed that he was fine. The exertion from the spell he had just performed had worn him out. Had he done it wrong? She contemplated her strange feelings when a sudden knowledge filled her. It was not meant to be done alone. It was different to do it alone. More difficult. Felicia recalled the singular small part of the inscription on the Holy Sword they had been able to understand: The infinity always takes two. She understood now. They could not do the spell individually. She and Alex either teleported together or not at all. Now it made sense why he disappeared only to show up exactly where he was already at.

"Well, at least we've made a small step forward." She pinched her brother's adorable cheek and smiled. Asleep, he looked more like a boy than a handsome man. "Really impressive experiment, Alex. You fainted teleporting half a step away. I'm proud of you."