staring at her in hatred. Looked her up and down and finally caught her eye.With clenched teeth she approached him and knelt in front of him. She carefully tore off a piece of her cloak and wanted to use it to clean his wounds, but he turned his head away and snorted.
"It's still igniting," she said softly, trying to bring him to his senses. "At least let me-"
Sabir spun around and glared at her.
"Get out of here!"
Arai winced and bit her lower lip.
"No," she countered, then pulled out a dagger.
"Are you finally going to finish it?" He asked in a bitter voice.
"What should I finish?", She replied and began to work on Sabir's chains.
In a very short time she had cut the rope. Sabir looked at her in disbelief, then briefly rubbed his wrists with one hand.
"Why did you do that?"
“Because I don't care to kill you.” Arai looked at him. "Why should you?"
Shaking her head, she took the piece of cloth again and tried a second time to repair the scratches.But this time Sabir's hands were free and he grabbed her wrist and squeezed. Arai gritted her teeth. The pressure hurt, but she said nothing. She waited to see what he would do or say next. Then she felt something on her cheek. Sabir put his other hand on her cheek and smiled. But only briefly, because then his face changed and he struck. Arai reflexively raised her other hand, but the movement did not end. Sabir's hand hit her with a force that she would have fallen over if Sabir hadn't still got a firm grip on her wrist.
"You could easily have fended off my hand," he said softly.
“Why should I have done that?” Arai ran a hand over his cheek. "I deserved it."
Sabir shook his head.
"You probably did," he replied dryly.
Arai didn't answer, but got up and went to the tent entrance.
"The guards are gone, if you leave now nobody will notice." Arai turned around again.“Then you'll get in a lot of trouble.” Sabir had also got up and went to her side. "You are still something like my daughter."
"Maybe, but I want you to go. It doesn't matter what happened to me now. I can't get away from Ramius, it's over."
Sabir looked at her slightly startled. What did you mean, she couldn't get away from him? What was that supposed to mean?
"What do you mean?" He asked softly.
"I'm in a fall. The first sign of this are my eyes. Do you remember?" She closed her eyes and smiled sadly. "Those with black eyes have bad ba."
"That was just a story," said Sabir, a little chokingly.
“If you say so.” Arai looked at him and he flinched back. Those eyes were terrifying.
Arai took it and turned away.
"Get out of here now."
"I'm not leaving you here."
“Shall I help you out?” Her voice began to tremble.
"Mahina?"
"My name is Arai."
"For me you stay Mahina.""Good as well."
"Arai, please come with me."
“I said I can't. And I'm sticking to it.” Arai whirled around and suddenly held her sword in her hand. "And I'll stick to the fact that I'll help out if you don't leave right away."
"I will tell the Pharaoh about everything here. Perhaps he can"
“He can do nothing!” Arai gritted his teeth. "Don't make him do anything stupid."
Sabir looked at her confused for a moment, then nodded. But the intention to report everything to the Pharaoh remained.
"Then I'm going now," he said softly.
“Well, I'll go with you until you're safe.” Arai put her sword back in its holder and pulled the cloak around her tighter. "Follow me."
As lithe as a big cat, she crept on. Sabir struggled to follow her because she was incredibly quick for the fact that she was so quiet. Suddenly she stopped.
"You can do it from here on your own. I wish you the best of luck."
"Thank you, I wish you that too.Hopefully our next meeting isn't on the battlefield. "Sabir smiled slightly and wanted to hug her goodbye.
“Please don't.” Arai stepped back into the shade of a tent.
Sabir seemed confused, but said nothing. He quietly disappeared into the darkness and Arai was left alone. Heart pounding, Arai went back to the tent where Sabir had been held. There sat down on the floor and closed his eyes. If Ramius came now, he would certainly not be pleased. Maybe hit or kill her. But anything was better than living with him. Really everything. With a sad sigh, she finally fell asleep.

Atemu was now back at his favorite place and watched the dancing lights of the torches that burned by the tents in front of the city. How was Arai doing? Was she even still alive? Nonsense, if something had happened to her, he would have felt it. Or not?
These thoughts drove him crazy and he turned around.Seth stood behind him and Atemu flinched back.
"Don't ever sneak up on me again," he hissed at the priest.
"Forgive my Pharaoh, but you probably didn't hear me. You were thinking pretty loud." Seth grinned in amusement.
The Pharaoh instantly blushed on the cheeks and turned away.
"Is there a reason for your late arrival?" He asked instead.
"There is very much," said Seth, "the captain is back."
Atemu spun around.
"Where is he?"
"I was just about to get you," Seth said with a grin.
Then he left the room and Atemu hurried after him. Seth went on and finally stopped in front of Shimon's room.
"Shimon takes care of him, but he's not critically injured."
Atemu nodded, then stepped in and saw Shimon bandaging Sabir's arm and Sabir grimacing.
“My Pharaoh.” Shimon bowed and Sabir also indicated a bow.
The Pharaoh came up to Sabir and wanted to say something, but Sabir got ahead of him."Excuse me, my Pharaoh, for interrupting you, but I think you want to know everything?"
Astonished, Atemu nodded and waited.
"I was overwhelmed by a man and when I woke up I was tied to a pole in the middle of a tent. This man stood in front of me and just laughed maliciously. Then he had someone fetched someone and I thought I didn't see right because-"
"Arai? She's still alive?" Atemu had interrupted him.
Confused, Sabir looked at Pharaoh, then nodded.
"Yes, it was Arai. Then you know that she is in the power of this monster? And leave her there?" The disbelief in Sabir's voice could hardly be overheard.
"Arai is under his control", Atemu replied sadly and quietly.
"I will tell you more, then you will see that it is not so," said the captain firmly. "As you already said, he called for Arai. She has developed amazingly and to my shame I have to admit that I regret being her foster father.In any case, this man seems to have done something to her. I couldn't know that and I threw less beautiful things at her head. But as I passed her, I noticed something about her. Can you guess what? "
Atemu shook his head, perplexed.
"I looked her straight in the eye. And they showed fear. Inconceivable fear, along with grief. I never taught her to be cowardly, but rather taught her to be strong over and over again and, best of all, to switch off all emotions."
"Arai ..." Atemu looked at the floor. "Please go on, I want to hear everything."
“As you wish.” Sabir took up the thread again and went on to report: “I was brought into a tent and Arai came in the evening. Apparently she was supposed to take over the watch. But she untied me and sent me away. She said she is this - Ramius? Is that his name?
Atemu nodded.
"Yes, his name is Ramius. But what did she mean by" expired "?"
Sabir shrugged helplessly."Unfortunately I don't know. But she asked me about the color of her eyes."
“The color of her eyes?” Seth interfered and looked at Sabir confused. "Dark brown, right?"
The addressee shook his head sadly.
"Black as the night."
"Is that bothering you?" Atemu asked.
"Yes, unfortunately when she was little I kept telling her that people with black eyes have bad ba. I thought she wouldn't take it seriously."
Atemu sighed.
"We have to do something. But I have to admit that I have absolutely no idea what exactly we have to do."
Sabir thought about it. Then something seemed to occur to him.
"When she came to me and my wife, she was wearing something around her neck. A strange sign." He began to rummage in his pockets. "I always carry this necklace around with me as a good luck charm."
He finally found what he was looking for. Slowly he pulled out the necklace and showed it to Atemu. He eyed the chain. A round amulet hung from it.A coat of arms was depicted on this. At least that's what it looked like. A bird that looked like it was on fire had wrapped itself around Arai's signature. The amulet was very finely made, but the whole thing had become noticeably more worn over the years.
"Her name is on it, then why did you call her Mahina?" Atemu asked straight out.
"I don't remember. I had a feeling that sooner or later she would have that name and I was probably right."
Atemu ran over the signature and gave a short shudder. It was like something had gotten into him. Some kind of spirit or power? Confused, he shook his head.
"Where did you find her back then? Or did she come to you? We have to know everything about her now. Really everything."
"Would that be okay with you?", Sabir asked.
"It doesn't matter at all. We have to act before Ramius does something really bad to her."
"You are right," said Sabir, "then I'll start."
He thought about it and was probably looking for a start.Then he nodded.
"I was on the road that day because I was supposed to do something for your father, so I heard something. Actually I should have done my job, but I followed the noises and found Arai. It didn't look good for them and me then I was afraid that she wouldn't survive the night. But her will was stronger. "
Atemu smiled knowingly.
"She is forever stubborn," he said softly.
Sabir looked at Atemu briefly, then nodded and considered.
"From that day on I took care of her. As far as you had to take care of her. When she was seven or eight she really wanted to play against me. I defeated her then, but two years later I