After having escaped the witch by a hair, the man hid in a small alley, tightly clutching the book that he had taken from the underground chamber. He was naked, like a newborn.
Heavily heaving for air without realising, he leaned against a door, and after having checked that, nobody followed him. He tilted his head against the door with a bang and let out a sigh of relief.
The door behind him suddenly opened, and he fell to the floor, and the book slipped out of his as he tried to catch himself before falling.
The woman let out a scream, and in the spur of the moment, he jumped up and covered her mouth with his hand and put his index finger over his lips to tell her to be quiet.
The woman, scared for her life, nodded, and the man took his hand off her mouth, and his eyes darted to the floor, looking for the book.
As soon as he spotted the book, he picked it up, moving as quickly as possible and returned to the woman.
" Blood!" his voice was raspy and bearly audible.
He saw the woman getting ready to scream again, but before she could open her mouth again, he covered it with his hand.
" One drop!" he plainly said again, and the woman's head bobbed up and down, and he took his hand off her mouth again.
Before he even had a chance to grab a knife to get the blood he requested, the woman grabbed the broom and charged, swinging it from above to hit him with the handle. The man caught the broom and reached for the knife, and before she knew it even happened, he had already nicked her wrist. Blood started to trickle from the wound, one drop at a time, on the wooden floor.
The man smiled " Thank you!" he said as he let go of the broom and grabbed the sack of flour that rested on the counter, pushing the woman away from the blood and began drawing a circle within its simple runes.
As soon as he finished, he grabbed the book and began reading an incantation.
The woman watched what he was doing, and despite being afraid of him, she couldn't help but stay glued to her spot and curiously observe him.
As soon as he finished chanting the incantation, the circle burst into flames, and the blood slowly rose in the air and divided into two thin threads. One thread returned to the woman where it came from and the other to the man. He cut his wrist, and the blood settled on the wound.
When the two were finally connected, the blood glowed with a reddish hue, bursting into flames.
The man sighed in relief " Don't die!" he said as he looked at the woman who gaped at him, and she was at a loss for words.
" Clothes!" he curtly requested, but the woman stayed glued to her spot. She looked stunned, unable to comprehend what was happening.
The man shrugged and began looking around the room for something to wear, pulling out dishcloths from the drawers and aprons, nothing he could use to cover his nakedness.
His eye fell on the door, and next to it were hooked cloaks hanging on them. He picked up his book and a cape and opened the door to leave.
" We are bound, so if you die, I die! Do me a favour, don't die!" he said as he looked over his shoulder, and the woman nodded, still very much in shock.
He draped the cloak over his shoulder and pulled the hood over his head, clutched tightly on the book as if his life depended on it and stepped out of the house, leaving the woman staring at the door.
He made his way through the small alley and the citadel towards the heavily guarded main gate. He looked around; it was getting dark outside, and most people had already returned home. There weren't many people leaving the citadel so that he could sneak past the guards.
Now, he had to find a way out of the citadel before the witch noticed the book was gone. He searched with his eyes everywhere, but he couldn't see anything that he could use to get past the citadel guards. His eyes fell on a cart pulled by a horse heading towards the main gate. A wide smile broke his lips when his eyes fell on his way out of the citadel. He swiftly moved from his spot and slid under the cart, and glued himself to the bottom of the cart as the cart continued to move towards the gate.
The cart stopped " Papers?" one of the guards demanded while making his way to the back of the cart and thoroughly checking the load.
" You may go!" the guard said, waiving his hand as soon as he finished checking the man's papers, and the cart began moving again.
The man peeked from under the cart, making sure to slide from under it as soon as it was out of the citadel. He had no idea where the man was heading, but he couldn't hold on to it for a very long time. After some time, the carriage passed over the moat surrounding the citadel, and the man let go of the wooden bars that he was holding on to. The cart passed above himself as he lay on the ground unmoving.
He stood up from the ground, grinning ear to ear, and gave one last look at the citadel and began walking away from it when a piercing scream coming from the fortress made him halt his steps and look at it one more time he grinned again.
" It serves right!" he said to no one in particular and reprised his steps.