Two hours went buy slowly and fast at the same time. Feeling that the midnight was approaching, Nick gestured for Beata to come closer and, under the jealous eyes of YunYun, they practiced one last time how she will hold on to him. Then he covered her and also himself once again, just in case, with the 'stealth powder'.
Few minutes later, right after Steven lit up the second light, they stepped out the window. Beata's heart almost stopped when she saw the actual height they were at.
She loudly gulped and heard Nick's whisper, "Try breathing calmly."
Beata clenched her hands around his neck, almost suffocating him from the back, but Nick didn't really care. He was barely able to hold steady and with clenched teeth tried to gather more Qi in his palms for them to stick to the wall.
Two minutes later, all drenched in sweat, he was at the roof level. Noticing the approaching guard squad in the distance, he tried to increase the speed of his descent, but slipped as the result.
At the very last moment he instinctively plunged Wakizashi in the wall as he had done many times before while scaling cliffs near his cottage, stabilized himself and then resumed the climb. To his big surprise, Beata didn't make a sound and only after landing on the scarce rocks below the castle wall he understood that because of the tightly shut eyes she didn't even notice anything.
Nick turned to switch his position and now they were hugging each other face to face, but both didn't care about how intimate it might seem.
"Take a deep breath." Nick whispered in her ear and they both rolled in the quick stream almost without making a splash.
Nick tried to balance them somehow with one hand paddling a bit or grabbing to a rock from time to time, but mostly his attention was on keeping them both under the surface with Beata on top so that his body would absorb the frequent collisions with rocks and stones on the riverbed. Luckily his head didn't take any hits and as soon as he felt Beata start convulsing because of the lack of air, he raised her head above water so she could breathe.
The stream was quick and he earlier calculated that it takes less than twenty seconds to pass the castle. The brave girl even managed to hold her breath for over ninety seconds thus they were most likely in the clear. Nick softened her grip around him and positioned them to be more comfortable side by side and soon she managed to catch her breath and calm down. Maybe the cool water helped that as well.
Of course, soon she got excited again when she understood they have left the castle and were freely floating further and further away. When Nick noticed her actively trying to look around and becoming restless, he whispered, "Stay calm, you are now a log in the water."
The girl immediately listened and pretended to be the log he wanted to see. Even though she was excited, back in the tower Nick multiple times repeated over and over again how important it is to listen to his orders if they want to live and others to survive as well. This was not the right time play the moody princess.
They floated down the river like that for over fifteen minutes and Nick could see how on the riverbanks the nice buildings of the city center were gradually replaced by the shacks of the suburbs.
Suddenly he felt Beata starting to shiver, probably from cold.
"Hug me if you can't bear the cold water anymore. We should soon be there." He whispered, but the proud princess already hugged him enough for one night. Actually in her eyes this young man was already someone's fiance and she didn't want to cause any more 'awkward moments'.
While the princess was battling her ethical values, Nick observed the dark surroundings and soon noticed the few landmarks Clayton mentioned.
'Three small houses on the right bank, then grove, then a big tree and the fisherman's hut. Alright, we are there!' He began to 'steered' them closer to the shore and soon stopped, and carried the shivering Beata out.
"Nick!" He heard Clayton's voice from behind the trees.
Just in case, to not miss anything, Clayton has been monitoring the river since dusk and already felt himself getting dizzy, trying to discern something in the shimmering waves. To his great relief he finally saw Nick climbing out with one of the girls in his hands.
"Quickly, she is really cold. Dry her up and let her change. I'll hurry back, but I don't think I can manage to get another one out tonight." Nick hurriedly said, put Beata in Clayton's hands and dashed away without uttering unnecessary words.
While running, he changed in dry clothes and calculated the approximate time spent. He should've enough spare time to get to the Steven's place and give his friend a short report. The guy probably was as worried as Clayton, if not more.
As it turned out, it was easier and faster to float downstream than to try to quickly sneak through the half of the Nestri empire's capital.
While it took around half an hour going down the river, he had to spend more than an hour going back.
'If only I could freely run by the riverside.' Nick complained to himself when nearing Steven's hideout.
He couldn't use his full speed since it could catch an unnecessary attention form any nearby Qi master. And it was clear that the Qi masters in Olava were mostly emperor's people so Nick had to be patient.
After confirming that no one was around, he climbed up on the second floor and gently knocked on the windowsill. Steven instantly opened the window to let him in and gazed at him with eyes of a puppy who was asking for its beloved toy.
"One is out. How much time do I have?" Nick reported.
"Fifteen minutes." Steven answered, "Nick … which one?"
"They drew lots and it was Beata's turn." Nick, of course, understood what Steven meant, but couldn't bring the news he was waiting for, "I'll come tomorrow again if I have time, if not, continue till Clayton comes to call you, no matter how many days it takes."
Steven wanted to ask more, but Nick already disappeared through the open window. Watching his friend darting through the shadows in the distance, Steven could only clench his fists and concentrate on the task. Even though he knew what he did was important, for some reason he felt useless again.
Nick was short on time and quickly repeated the process he did last night – after going up the river, submerged in the water and floated back to the castle walls, then changed in dry clothes and covered himself with the 'stealth powder' again. After waiting for Steven's signal between the rocks, he scaled the tower wall like a spider, pausing before reaching the top of the castle walls to make sure no guards were walking by.
A minute later he dropped on the floor in front of three anxious pairs of eyes.
"She's safe." Nick smiled, "We'll continue tomorrow evening. I'll sleep a bit now."
He was too exhausted and finally could rest, thus he passed out almost immediately. He didn't even notice how YunYun, learning how to be a good wife, came over and covered him with a piece of cloth, then lied down beside him to sleep as well.
Kate and Conny watched this with stupefied faces. They took this all 'marriage' thing as a joke, but this young lady in front of them was completely serious. Still, they were similarly tired, probably from mental exhaustion, and, after sitting down and closing their eyes, quickly managed to fall asleep.
When Nick woke up he felt something soft and extremely comfortable around him, but after opening his eyes and seeing the delicate hand on his chest, he understood that this was a bit too 'extreme'. He gently tried to slip out from YunYun's hug, but she woke up as well and instinctively kicked him away, then jumped up in a defensive position just to become embarrassed by her actions.
"You can't treat him like that or he will run away one day." Kate giggled behind her along with Conny. Both girls were up for some time, but tried to stay quiet and let Nick rest as much as he needed until this hilarious play was performed right in front of them.
"So … sorry." YunYun blushed.
Nick sighed and waved her off. There was no real way to deal with her for now and he already decided to ignore all that 'engagement and marriage' stuff until she forgets about it on her own. Of course, he had no idea how a woman's heart worked, especially one from the Eastern continent and Lethe kingdom at that. Probably they didn't know it themselves, but Nick couldn't bother to think about it.
He brought out some water, fruits, nuts and honey for them to have for breakfast and, while eating, he shared their experiences from the last night. Nick particularly praised Beata's strong will, how she didn't make a sound during the whole endeavor and expressed hope the other girls will be able to be like her. They nodded with serious faces, promising to perform even better.
Nick had no idea what 'even better' could mean in this case, but was happy enough they understood the importance of his instructions.
During the day girls continued to practice while Nick was digging around the emperor's wristband. There were many treasures and rare items which he didn't recognize, but he didn't want to show around any of those things before they got back to Aurora. He still remembered how madam Salma instantly recognized her diamond and there was no reason to take any unnecessary risks, even though there were no seemingly unfamiliar people around.
Nick didn't forget to hang out to dry the wet clothing from the last night. Although Clayton did buy quite a lot of it, he would run out if he carelessly disposed of what he previously wore.
When the evening came, the atmosphere become serious once again and the girls somehow instinctively gathered around Nick. Next in the line was Kate and, if everything went smoothly, Conny as well.
Once again he went over instructions and even though they found the repetitiveness annoying, Nick expressed his understanding, but asked for theirs as well – every detail was way too important.
Then he made them practice to hug him properly and this time he made some alterations – the girls had to place one hand around his neck and the other below his armpit to not suffocate him like Beata did.
After Steven's signal, he carried the horrified Kate outside and even though she was a bit heavier than Beata, the way down went better than the previous night. In the water she didn't care about her pride and purity and allowed Nick to hug her to not freeze as much while he kept infusing Qi in her to help her resist the cold and soon they were at their destination.
With tears in her eyes Kate hugged Clayton while Nick was already running off in the distance. This time he didn't pay Steven a visit and therefore was not as pressed in time.
After patiently waiting for the signal, he climbed back up to the great joy of the two remaining prisoners. But just as he entered through the window, suddenly a soft knock sounded at the door.