Rackus

Indrik's Pov

"Blaire!" I repeated, my voice faint.

"Indrik!" She called excitedly, the torch clattering to the ground as she reached through the bars and embraced me as well as she could. I did not return the awkward embrace as I was still wondering what she was doing here. The prisoners were not exactly helping matters either as they resorted to showing their displeasure by banging their fists on their prison doors.

"Blaire!" I called again, confusion evident in my voice. "What are you doing here?" I asked unable to understand why she would be here. She would surely be in trouble if she was caught and it would not exactly help my case either.

"How are you doing? My gosh! You smell horrible. Give me a minute, will you?" She avoided my questions as her words came out in a rush. She disentangled herself from me and groped around the floor for something. I soon discovered the something to be a key as she found it and inserted it into the keyhole and with a couple of turns pulled it open. Without a word, she dashed into the cell and gave me a proper embrace this time. She reeked of lemons and roses and everything else that was beautiful. Everything that seemed to be a world apart from me now. Because the torch was lying on the ground, I couldn't see much but I saw enough to see tears rolling down her cheeks as she pulled away from me. "Come on, I will get you out of here." She muttered, a tone of urgency in her voice and to buttress her point, she started to pull me along after her. I had stepped out of the cell and I must say, even here, I could feel a sense of freedom. That room really was hell but it was where I needed to be. I stopped moving. "What are you doing, Indrik? We have to get out of here quickly." She was almost screaming to be heard above the sea of voices.

"I can't." I sighed as I slid my hand out of hers.

"What do you mean you can't? You won't survive here!" I could hear her voice breaking even in the din but I couldn't afford to lose sight of why I was doing what I was dot.

"And where will I go if I leave? And you? You will get into trouble to. I'm sorry Blaire but I have to stay. And you don't have to worry because I won't be dying anytime soon." I started to head back to the cell.

"Indrik!" She cried as she threw her hands around me from behind, resting her head on it. My back hurt even more but I didn't tell her that. I rubbed her palms and sighed.

"I want you to know that I really appreciate your effort but I really can't leave. I have to stay and finish my sentence so...." I let the words hang as I pried her hands away from me. When she finally pulled away, I could feel my shirts having grown wetter from her tears. I sighed, feeling terrible for making her sad like this but there really was nothing I could do to change the state of things.

Around us, the prisoners seemed to be growing tired as the intensity of their voices reduced. I was starting to walk away again when she placed an arm on my shoulder. "Atleast, let me check your wound." She muttered sadly. I nodded. If that was what it would take to make her feel better then I would go with it although I wasn't exactly sure about what she could do given that she wasn't a doctor nor was she learning to be one. We walked back into the cell and even in the dull lighting, I could see her grimace. I had to stand against the wall but she managed to peel off the cloth. I groaned. Dried blood had glued it to my back making taking it off a real hassle but she finally managed to.

She released a soft sigh as she went out and returned with a medical kit. Where she got it from, I had no idea but I sure was glad she brought it along as she started to treat my wounds. It took a while but she was finally done. She applied some bandages before helping me out my clothes back on to avoid the guards seeing it. Then she brought in a package of food. My stomach rumbled like it had been waiting for it all day. I almost didn't notice when I wolved down the first round of food.

"You want more?" She asked as I chugged down some water. I knew that piling food was never a good idea but I was pretty certain that missing food was just as bad an idea and I had done that all that so I figured it couldn't be that bad.

Finally, it was time to leave. I made sure she left nothing behind that could put her in trouble.

"I will be back tomorrow." She promised but I shook my head.

"Don't Blaire! I really appreciate what you did for me tonight but please, do not put yourself at risk for my sake. I will be fine, I promise." I hoped I sounded convincing enough because my tummy really did not agree with that. I noticed that the prisoners had all fallen silent. They seemed to have gotten tired of creating a commotion. In the silence, the sound of the dripping water had become a significant presence once more. I squeezed my hand softly around Blaire's, hoping she would listen to me.

She pulled away from me and gathered her stuff as she locked my door. "I will be back!" She muttered with a tone of finality and left before I could protest.

As she drew farther away, the light grew dimmer and dimmer until darkness reigned supreme once again. I sighed as I got used to my solitude once more.