And Kors kicked the door with force.

Clive huddled beside him, in such fury he had never seen his boss before.

With a couple of strokes, Kors kicked the door open and burst into the room. Clive was behind him. Karina’s apartments were empty, only a dress thrown apparently in a hurry lay on the floor. The dress of black velvet in which she performed in court. Kors picked it up:

“I knew it! I knew that this stupid bitch would run away with him!” He yelled again. “Well, we’ll see! I will catch you! I know where you will go…”

“Where?” Literally meowed Clive.

“To the estate of the prince, where else! Now we will go, we will catch up with them, remember the tavern outside the city, in the east?”

“Yes.”

“They will have to stop there. At least in order to water the horses! Check out immediately! I will kill Lis! Gods see, in memory of my Iness, I will kill this son of a bitch!”

“Sir Kors!” They heard shouts, this was the overseer of the root part of the prison tower hurrying to them/ “Sir Kors, finally I found you! We have big problems!”

“What?! Has he died?”

“No! He ran away! He is not in the chamber, and the guard is killed.”

And seeing Kors turning pale right before his eyes, the overseer hastened to add:

“I think he’s still in the tower, it’s not so easy to get out of there, and we raised the alarm…”

Kors looked at Clive, then at the overseer, he clearly didn’t know where to run, where to rush.

“Clive! Go for Lis and Karina! Kill Lis, bring Karinaback! Do you understand? Why are you looking at me like that? Show me what you are capable of!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Act!”

“And I’ll deal with this damn demon, he can’t go far. Did you block all the exits?”

“Yes, sir, all exits are blocked!”

“Follow me!”

Chapter one

What really happened

Karina felt complete devastation and fatigue, it would seem that she should have been happy, because she had done good, and Lis would not be hanged. The crowd in the marketplace will not mock him, and the platform will remain in the full possession of the dancer Norta. But Karina was not at ease, probably she was afraid of her father. Of his reactions. And this fear poisoned and overshadowed all other feelings. It froze everything, leaving only emptiness. She just didn’t know what to do! And what she had already done, was that right? Her head was full of confusion, and she really needed to talk with someone, talk about everything and hear some kind of unbiased opinion in response. Maybe hear some practical advice. How to look in the eyes of her father now. What to tell him?

“I need to talk to Nikto! He reasons wisely and he will help me to gather my spirit before meeting with my father! He’ll tell me how to behave!”

Nikto has some kind of wholeness that she so lacks. And yet, there is an inner calm in him, which she too is very lacking now!

He told her to stay away from him and not come again, but in this situation it doesn’t matter. No!

And, quickly changing clothes and grabbing her bag, with which she usually went to Nikto (it contained all the passes, medicines and a “stone flower” in a special glass case, it didn’t need light, but lit everything around no worse than a candle), Karina rushed along the usual path into the depths of the prison tower.

The guard near hs chamber, not at all surprised, already as usual, without question, let her in.

And trembling with excitement, Karina ran to Nikto:

“Nik! Nik! Are you sleeping?”

Nikto didn’t answered her. He lay on his side, not moving, holding one arm under him, the other was twisted up, fastened by the handcuffs to a ring in the wall.

“Nik?” She called him again, already scared. He didn’t seem to sleep, and there seemed to be something very wrong with him. “Oh Gods!”

Nikto really looked like a corpse now. Not a spot on his pale face, cheekbones very clearly defined, facial features sharpened unhealthy. And the complete absence of at least some reaction to her words…

She tried to moisten his forehead with a damp rag, constantly repeating his name, interspersed with affectionate words, and to her joy he stirred, opened his eyes, but his gaze didn’t express anything.

“Nik! Wake up, please! I beg you! I need you!” Unable to see him in such a deplorable state, so exhausted, Karina burst into tears. She began to lift him, because his unhealthy twisted arm scared her. He sat very slowly, still without making a sound. Karina brought a cup of water to his lips: