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“Write me something. Write that everything will be fine!”
Nikto obediently took a pencil in his hand, Karina only now realized that his right hand was fastened to the wall, and he wrote all the time with his left! But it seemed that this didn’t bother him and he succeeded.
He handed her a piece of paper.
“I want to die” was written on it.
“I… I will show this sheet to Arel, and he will arrange such a thrashing for you! You mustn’t give up!”
Nikto held out his hand, and again receiving a pencil, wrote as if specifying:
“I'm dying.”
“Do you need black water?”
Nikto shook his head.
“Damn, I will find it, inject you, and you will come to your senses! Fuck! Damn! Can you walk? When will your vision be restored? I’ll get you out of here! I will get you out of here, no matter what it costs me, and I will return you to Arel! Safe and sound! I pulled out Lis, and you are my brother, so I’ll get you out too! I have decided!”
Karina jumped up:
“Let's go!”
Nikto didn’t move.
“Let's go! Either now or never! You make me commit this madness and betray my father, but I can’t see it! I can’t see you like that! After all, you saved my life. Have you forgotten it?! And you smiled there, in Backara, you were a merry villain, like all your friends! I liked you more like that!”
She drew her sword:
“Move back a little…”
With force she slashed several times along the links of the chain, freeing Nikto’s hand. Fortunately, the chain succumbed. Nikto pressed his freed hand to his chest, as if it were a small wounded animal. And Karina was already pulling his other hand, lifting him from the floor:
“Let's go! If we don’t do it now, he will put you in this damned coffin forever, and I won’t be able to help you! Neither I, nor anyone else!”
Nikto didn’t get up.
“Nik! For me! For my sake – I'm your sister! And for the sake of Arel and Lis, Enriki, Tol, Squint-Eye, Vil and all your other friends! They need you! Let's go! I beg you! For the sake of your Rosa and our mother, Iness. I beg you, Nikto, let’s go!”
Forced by her, Nikto stood up. Without releasing his hands and holding the sword ready, Karina cautiously approached the door and knocked with a special signal. The guard immediately opened. Leaving Nikto for a second, Karina came out first. The guard had not even had time to ask her anything, as she, having invested all her strength, hit him with a sword in the lower abdomen, just there the protective bib ended. She turned the sword, ripping open his stomach. And when he, clutching at the falling out insides, fell to his knees, she hit him in the neck, it certainly was not Arel’s crown blow, but very rough and clumsy work, but the guard was huge and healthy, and Karina was small and fragile. And although she didn’t take his head off, this was quite enough.
“Dad, I'm sorry,” she whispered, seeing how she had like a butcher finished the guard, who, by the way, covered her all this time.
Well, okay! Well, let it be so!
She returned for Nikto:
“How are your eyes? Can you see anything?”
Nikto shook his head.
“Well! Come on!”
Having left the chamber together with Nikto, she squatted down next to the guard lying prone, unfastened his bandage and his knife.
“Let’s take his sword,” she explained, “suddenly it may come in handy.”
Both the knives and the bandage were stained with blood. She could be accused of murder and imprisoned, this was not a joke and she got into a really bad thing, Karina understood this. But she reasoned so: she will pull out Nikto, sit out somewhere, and then her father could not bear the separation and would call her back. Time will show that she was right and did nothing wrong. Maybe she could even manage to reconcile him with Nikto? And the security guard… well, it could well be self-defense, or she could even blame it on Nikto… For him it already doesn’t make any difference. Having calmed herself in this way, Karina handed a weapon to her plagued brother.
“Here it is, take a sword, it can come in handy.”
But he shook his head.
“Can’t you fight blindly?”
She still hung an additional sword on her back.
“Okay, let's go!” She pulled Nikto after herself.
Slowly they moved along the low corridor. Karina’s heart was pounding so that it seemed to her that now it would jump out of her throat. It was one thing to go here and get to Nikto secretly, even if they caught her, she was sure that her father would quickly forgive her, it was an innocent prank, a whim, especially since the doctor himself sent her for the first time here. And it was a completely different thing to wade past posts like this, with blind Nikto who was out of his mind. When any patrol would be a disaster for them. She frantically scrolled various options in her head and realized that her plan, by its lack of thought and stupidity, didn’t enter into any framework of sanity.
“I hold your hand. Follow me as quietly as possible, just sneak. If they spot us, I’m not sure that I will handle it!”
Slowly and carefully they walked along the narrow corridor. Karina turned into a low arch, inside of which steps immediately began to go up, and up there… there should have been another guard, no, no, not the last. Just another one. And Karina didn’t know how to pass him. And how to pass the rest?
“Wait, who's coming?”
“Karina Kors, I’m leading a convicted person to my father for interrogation!” She replied loudly, suddenly realizing with all clarity why Nikto refused to take the sword.
“Your pass!”
Karina boldly held out the paper, the guard knew her. He glanced at Nikto, perhaps it was worthwhile to put a bag on his head for greater persuasiveness?
“Lady, are you doing this alone? Can I help you?”
“No,” Karina answered very quickly and probably too harshly, “I… the soldiers and Nolan will meet me there… and you… you must let me in and not leave your post!”
“I obey, madam!”
Gods! This guard was dumb, and what will happen next? The higher they rise, the more savvy the guards will be. But! In any case, they managed to pass by this one. And some confidence that she was doing everything right settled in the heart of Karina. Nikto slowly, but to pay tribute to him, despite blindness and a lame leg, very quietly, almost silently stepped after her, and she remembered his complaints about how he fell several times on the stairs.
Passing a few more unguarded arches and turns, they entered a rather wide corridor. Just a little more, and narrow loopholes of windows will appear, maybe to get out the window, it will not be very high, the second floor, they can try, and if to cling to the rough masonry of the tower… so what? Once in the prison yard, they will be in full view. Who will open the gates to them? Only if you put everyone down, steal the horses… if Nikto was in good condition… he could “put everyone down”, for some reason she had no doubt about it. “Yes, and I would also help,” she thought, not without pride. Only, they still have to go to the windows, and maybe it’s easier like that – to go through the cordon after cordon, supposedly leading him for interrogation. And to meet with her father at the door of his office, huh…
Her feverish thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Security was checking the floor around the perimeter. The corridor was quite wide and there was nowhere to go. What to do?!
She pushed Nikto around the corner, into some small dead-end arch, and herself darted behind him. Maybe they will not be noticed?
Her back felt a quiet breath. Nikto didn’t move, and even his heart seemed to be beating quietly, but her one must have been beating so that the guards could hear it. Their steps were getting closer, closer …
“Who is there?!”
That was the end. They were noticed…
“I’m Karina Kors, I’m leading a prisoner to my father for interrogation…” She slowly stepped apart from Nobody, came into the light.
“Your pass!”
“Here you are,” Karina glanced at this overseer and understood everything. Slowly, without making any sudden movements, while the overseer was still interested in her pass, she again stepped back a step, pushing Nikto who was still standing in the arch with her back, a little rude, probably as if making it clear: “It's trash!”
“Why are you hiding from us, lady Karina Kors? And where is the escort? Are you alone?!”
“Because the matter is secret, you see! No one should know about this!”
And with relief, Karina felt that Nikto understood her, and slowly, carefully, gently was pulling the sword of the murdered guard from the sheath behind her back.
“A secret matter? Show me your prisoner! Why are you hiding him behind you, behind your back?”
Karina pulled away frowningly.
“Oh! What is with his eyes? The Devil’s son bewitched the daughter of Kors!” They all snapped at once.
“Take…”
But the guard didn’t finish, blind and weak Nikto at the oblique trajectory cut him from neck to chest. Karina drew her sword, too, one of the guards ran away from them, to where there were other corridors to the exit, to where there were windows, and he desperately blew a trumpet, giving out the most vile sound that Karina had ever heard. Karina looked at Nikto, and at the bodies of four guards lying on the floor, only one there was killed by her.
“Well, you're a monster! But what should we do now? Soon my father’s entire army will be here!”
And in confirmation of her words, somewhere up there, the buzzing sounds were heard, a clang was heard, and the ringing of additionally locked doors and bars. The path to the top was cut off. Everything was blocked. They couldn’t walk forward even ten meters. What to do?!
And as if answering this dumb question, Nikto pulled her back.
She ran:
“Run, faster, Nik!”
They had already heard the clatter of guard approaching behind them. So far, only the nearest patrols were in a hurry to help, but soon there will be many more. The failed fugitives, of course, darted back, but Nikto couldn’t run fast, although he tried very hard. At least with one hand, from time to time, he needed to stick to the wall, feeling his way. Here they walked slowly, but now they had to retreat quickly. And she could not even reproach him, because she saw that he was trying very hard and was doing everything in his power. They would be now overtaken by the next group of the fastest soldiers… No! Karina couldn’t stand this hell the second time! Moreover, they again descended to the basement level, which meant that the passages there were narrower and narrower. If Nikto waves his sword, then who will give a guarantee that he will not touch her. No! No! No!
She withstood it. Again fiercely defending themselves and retreating, they didn’t allow the guard to come to themselves. And again, Nikto, fighting silently and blindly, shocked her, and even scared her to some extent. He never hit her, although there was nowhere to turn around in the narrow corridor. Once again, getting out of this two-minute mess, although it seemed to Karina like an eternity, Karina exhaled convulsively. For her, the first time was enough, how she withstood this tension and was able to repulse the second attack, or rather help Nikto to repulse it. She herself didn’t understand how she managed to do it! But what was the use? They had nowhere to run. Only down, which meant that sooner or later they would be caught like rats in a dungeon. There were no exits. The more they resisted, the more corpses they would leave behind, and the worse it would be… the worse it would be for Nikto. Later.
Because now she knew that everyone would say, and how to justify herself: “He bewitched her.” Everything was simple. And very noble in relation to his brother. But it will be later, and now… Now she even regretted that the first guard was so stupid that he let them through, now he only bothered them, and they would have to kill him. To kill again…
Nikto was ahead of her. Having got rid of the guard, almost head over heels they flew down the stairs, from the arch, again to Nikto’s chamber. What a pity that nothing came of it, and he will have to be closed there again. And now, of course, he will be executed, because everyone will consider that he bewitched her, and even if she defends him, no one will believe her. After all, she is bewitched!
There was his chamber. But it seemed that Nikto wasn’t going to return there at all. He ran, if one could call it that, past, deepening further down the corridor, heading in the opposite direction from all exits.
“Nik! There is a dead end! There are no exits!”
He turned around, and to her horror, he quickly approached her, grabbing her arm. The way he dragged up his leg and his blind eyes, to be honest, frightened her now no less than they frightened the guards.
“Where are you taking me?”
Does he want to take her as a hostage? Well, this is not so stupid. Only if his voice came back to him, otherwise the notes would hardly work out with the guards. Without letting her come to her senses, Nikto pulled her along, turned somewhere, several times they went down some steep and narrow stairs, as if he knew this road, knew where to go, and there was nobody here. And the guards were already left somewhere behind.
“Wait!”
It was all the same for him, but Karina was afraid to break her legs in the dark, she took out a glass with a “stone flower” from her bag and lit the corridor a little.
It would be better if she didn’t do this, because right there, she saw a door ajar on her left hand, and there she saw a coffin behind this door.
“Gods! This… This is…”
Nikto opened the door and went inside. He held Karina tightly by the hand, and she had no choice but to go in there with him. The flickering greenish light of the flower only exacerbated the situation, making things in the room even more scary than they actually were. Some iron hooks, an object similar to a poker, and…
“That’s it? The very that “stone bag”? Yes?” Karina asked in a whisper. She didn’t hear the chase after them, but it was so quiet there that for some reason she didn’t want to break this silence with the loud sounds of her voice.
The lid was slightly moved, and Karina involuntarily looked down. Goose bumps ran along her back. And what was he like?
Nikto, still palpating objects with his fingers, touched the stone lid. In the light of the “stone flower” Karina saw that his face had not changed expression. It was as if he was looking for something, some reference point. Having stopped at the head of this stone coffin, he seemed to have turned into hearing, listening to something inaudible for Karina. He pulled his nose, as if sniffing, and then went, no longer holding onto the wall, to the left corner, confidently, as if knowing what he was looking for, but Karina had no doubt, he was looking for something, it was there.
He knelt down, there in this corner, began to fumble on the floor with his hands. Karina understood that this was crazy, sooner or later the guards would get here. When her father becomes aware that she is here, he will order to put the whole fucking tower upside down, turn everything upside down, but find them. And Nikto… he scared her. He dealt with the guard so professionally, he can do whatever he wants with her, because she herself gave him a sword! “Ah, poor little brother, how can I help you?” Now he will put her in this coffin, and sorry, goodbye!
Nikto turned to her, or rather, almost to her, because he didn’t see her, and she stood silently, but approximately in the direction where she was. He turned around and waved his hand, as if calling her.
At that moment she heard the sounds of the trumpet and the screams of the guard, still far away, it seemed to her that a whole detachment had run over their head. Karina quickly approached Nikto and saw what he had found. It was a hatch. A small hatch, and a groove to it from a stone coffin. What was supposed to flow into this hatch? Blood? The stool of the unfortunate walled up alive?
In any case, she realized that Nikto was trying to open it, and he needed her help. Together with him she tucked the hatch with a sword:
“Oh no! Nik, a sword can be broken! Wait a minute!”
She remembered a strange thing that reminded her of a poker.
“There it is! Try it, Nik!”
Using the “poker”, or it was some old instrument of torture, Nikto pushed the hatch lid. Karina looked into a narrow black hole. And there, they will be found too, sooner or later.
“There are no exits, Nik. This is not a city sewage system; grilles and wide passages are walled up everywhere. We just get lost there, and die of hunger.”
To her surprise, Nikto shook his head. Then he put his hand to his heart and on, as if he had drawn an arch with both hands. She realized for herself that he was hoping to find a way out.
“Nik, I don’t want to deprive you of hope, but there is no way out…” She said and raised her head unconsciously, crowds of guards rushed over them on the floors.
Nikto took her hand, very gently, making her ashamed of the thought that he would take her hostage or throw her in a stone bag. He made a movement with his other hand, and she understood, gently pulled her fingers out of his hand:
“Now, Nik, hold it,” rummaging in her bag, she handed him a notebook and a pencil.
And crouching on the floor, putting forward one knee, he wrote something and handed it to her.
“I won’t do without you” was written on a piece of paper. And Karina felt ashamed. Didn’t she, just for an hour, or even less, dragged him out of the chamber? She screamed: “I'll get you out! For the sake of Rosa, for the sake of Iness, let's go!” So what? She herself was blown away, as always! She forced him to make this escape, blind, after three days in this stone bag, his voice lost, almost driven crazy. No! She pulled him out, and then as soon as the first problems appeared, threw him away. And they should have appeared. Because her plan was spontaneous and ill-conceived. And now, she, like the last bitch, dives into the bushes, with that excuse that she was bewitched! And Karina became so ashamed, especially because he didn’t write to her: “You let me down!” or something worse. And he didn’t suffocate her after everything that happened, but so gently tried to hold her. He is not limp, he is fighting, he has led them to a place where they will not be searched for a long time, he has led her blindly! Just remembering the way he was taken here. He found this hatch. He did everything!
