The Night Rider

Chapter 17

My legs are waving through the air before Novak puts me back on the ground. Feeling his body again, his warmth, filling a long empty piece. This young man was by my side the half of my life. Together we've seen the world change into what it is today. We fought by each other's side and cried in each other's arms.

His dark red eyes look at me with so much emotion, enough to tell me he feels the same. 'I missed you Cell'. A smile adorns his lips. 'Me too', I mumble the words but that doesn't mean they don't come from the deepest point of my heart. He puts a kiss on my forehead before he looks at Jamie.

Jamie takes a little bow to Novak with a smile on his face. 'Don't be silly, man. Come here'. Jamie laughs and then comes walking towards us with quick steps. He also disappears into Novak's arms. A short hug between the two men follows. In order not to violate their ego's too much, they let go of each other pretty quickly and then drop their gaze on me.

'What brings you here, Novak?' Jamie's ahead of me asking the question that was on my lips. Novak straightens his long black coat and then drops a quick glance at me. 'When I heard The Night Rider had returned, I couldn't stay behind'. A little smile follows that graces his lips. There also follows a silence where you clearly can feel discomfort. 'He knows', I mumble. Both eyes are equally focused on me. I can almost feel Novak's red eyes gliding through my soul.

From under my eyelashes I look at him with a slightly guilty feeling. 'We saw her, on a Nazu' Novak's eyes enlarge, like the first time we saw Rafiki. Novak grabs my hand and braids his hands around mine. His eyes look straight at me like he wants to read my soul.

His eyes shoot back and forth as if the letters were written in my eyes. 'Take me to her.' His words are soft, almost fragile. The cheerfulness that was just visible in his eyes has changed into a pain I understand, the pain of having the knowledge. I give him a nod and start walking for the two gentlemen to Rafiki's room.

The last corridor was what separates us from the young princess. As soon as the door appears, in my point of view, I see that we are not the only ones who knew that Rafiki is awake. In silence we continue our way until Chea notices us. She turns around after which her eyes enlarge at the sight of Novak. For the third time this hour someone runs to Novak and ends up in his arms. 'Hello girl', I hear him mumbling in Chea's hair.

I walk past them and enter Rafiki's room. On the just made up white and blue bed the girl lies in the blankets. Nuri sits next to her but there is no pleasant atmosphere between the two. In silence I walk to the end of the bed and take a seat. The silence is cutting. 'Do you feel better?' I ask to break the silence.

Rafiki looks at me. She doesn't answer in words but sits upright. She pulls up the sleeve of her dress and opens her wrist. I can only close my eyes for a second and take a deep breath by this sight. From the centre of the palm of her hand a black twist runs to the beginning of her wrist. The black twist does not run there for no reason, it is her lifeline that is burned.

'Where is the young princess?', All three of us look up to Novak who's too excited in the doorway. His gaze glides to Rafiki's wrist and then changes to worried. Nuri gets up and silently gives Novak a hug. I get up from the bed and make room for Novak. He understands my action and sits down in front of Rafiki.

'May I?' His words are soft, but hard enough to make Rafiki understand. He reaches out his hand to her and hopes to receive her hand. Rafiki nods and puts her hand in his. Novak lets his eyes go over the black lines as if it is a book he's reading. The man's arrival is a bright spot in the darkness, his knowledge is a treasure we could not have missed now.

His fingers glide down the lines in a gentle movement. His eyes close for a few seconds and then open with their blood red color. Once again he lets his eyes and fingers go over the lines. He puts Rafiki's hand on the blankets to see if it is made of Diamond. His eyes color back to their normal dark red and then those eyes slide in my direction.

'The curse that governs your body is spreading faster than expected. Through your veins it has slowly spread to your lifelines. Your lifelines are a lot more vulnerable than your veins, so they can't handle the black magic. The black magic burns you slowly.' For is this not new news but hearing it out loud makes it harder than I thought.

Rafiki just nods, for her this is clearly nothing new anymore. Before your lifelines can burn there is a path that cannot be missed. For Nuri this news is new information. Her breathing has been stopped several times during this information and her eyes indicate a form of panic. 'What can we do about it?', she murmurs.

Novak first lets his gaze rest on me but with a single shake of my head I make clear that I am also out of my answers. He lets a sigh slip over his lips. 'There's one possibility I've ever heard, a rumor I've been taught. A lifeline from the earth must be connected to yours. There's only the Narvik spell for that'