“Nik?” She finally called, unable to waste any more time in vain, her father had probably already been informed of her act in court, and he would soon begin to look for her. Of course, looking for her here would never come into his head, or it would come last, but still…
“Nik?”
He raised his head. And to her disappointment, Karina saw that nothing had changed. His gaze was still frighteningly empty. Only… or it seemed to her in the obscure flickering light of a flower, his eyes shone strangely somehow, and his cheeks were wet.
And Karina couldn’t stand it, she rushed to him, hugging him:
“Dear, darling, don’t do that… Gods, I can’t bear it! Why is my father so cruel to you?! Why does he think you’re a demon?! He should have seen you now! It is unbearable! It is inhumane to make you suffer because of idle gossip and speculation!”
Nikto didn’t pull away from her embrace, and she put the pencil in his hands again:
“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.
