The Mist and the Lightning. Part VIII. Ви Корс

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!