Nox woke up.
He had yet again spent a night in the same bed. 'Torven's going to ask me the same thing again today, isn't he?', he thought.

For the past few days, he had spent his entire time in the bedroom, only leaving it in the evening to join Torven for a supper in the sitting room. And each time, after forcing down the food in very awkward silence, he heard the same question. And each day, he goes straight back to this bedroom where he gets locked in overnight. He had a few luxuries here, a bowl of fresh fruit on the table, the old servant lady even replaced the flowers in the vase on the windowsill, and brought fresh water to his bathroom every day.

Confused, Nox didn't even know what Torven was really asking for. He couldn't help feeling increasingly confused and agitated as he failed to wrap his head around what Torven could possibly want from him.

'What kind of question is that, anyway? "Do you have something to tell me?"' He shook his head.
'I need to do something about this. Maybe I'll find a way out of here,' he thought. He had to reach his family somehow.

He suspected that during the day, Torven kept himself occupied elsewhere, as he hadn't heard any footsteps outside the door again since their first meeting.

Nox walked up to the door, just like on the first day. Pressed his ear against the cold, wooden surface. Silence. Something told him Torven wasn't nearby. He carefully pressed the handle and was surprised, it wasn't locked. He opened the door slightly and peeked through the gap. Empty.

He then decided to push it open wider. 'Does this mean I'm free? I can leave this room?'
When the hinges creaked loudly, Nox froze. And then... he found himself face-to-face with Velkan.
'Damn', he thought, suddenly startled. He couldn't read the giant's expression; just a massive figure with a stony gaze.
Nox nodded. "Good morning."
Velkan nodded in return. His face remained blank, but Nox caught a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

'Does this mean I'm free to go?' he asked himself silently. He looked around more carefully.
His bedroom was at the end of a hallway, and the only path led toward the eastern wing of the estate.
He looked up at Velkan, he had to tilt his head to meet the man's eyes.
"Can I go out?" Nox asked.
Velkan nodded, and they slowly began walking toward the sitting room.

Nox remembered exactly how many doors they had to pass to reach the room where he ate in the evenings.

On one of the walls, he noticed a new painting, a bizarre and unsettling image of a creature that looked like a grotesque cross between a rabbit and a bull. Its body was hunched and misshapen with eyes that gleamed red with malevolence. The creature was set against a pitch-black background, making the figure appear as if it were emerging from a void. Menacing. Monstrous.
'What an awful drawing', Nox thought, shuddering a little.

They passed the door to the sitting room, through the open double doors, and he noticed that by daylight, the space didn't look as gloomy.

On the other side of the hallway were the estate's front doors. Nox gave Velkan a questioning glance, but the man said nothing. So he decided to take a chance.
He slowly approached the doors and pressed down the handle. It gave way.

As Nox stepped outside, the fresh air wrapped around him. It felt clean and clear, making the stale air inside the building fade away. He felt calm and refreshed for a moment, as if the outside world had been waiting for him. He only just realised how trapped he had felt inside.

There weren't many options on where to go, so they turned right, toward the outbuildings. The path they followed was almost completely overgrown with bushes and weeds. At its end stood two weathered outbuildings.

Unable to contain his curiosity Nox rushed to peek inside the building closest to him. It turned out to be a stable divided into four stalls. The first two were occupied by white mares. The third was found empty. When he approached the last one, his heart skipped a beat.

Gerhart.

His horse. His friend.
"Gerhart..." he whispered.
Tears welled up in Nox's eyes. For the first time since arriving in this place, he felt something other than fear and uncertainty. He felt hope. A surge of relief hit him; they were still alive, and for the first time in so long, Nox believed that not all was lost.

He embraced the horse. Gerhart looked well cared for. His brown coat gleamed, and his build suggested he was well-fed. At least in this regard, Torven hadn't let him down.

'I have to get us out of here', the thought crossed his mind.
The stable doors were old and rusty, but maybe if he had a crowbar or a hammer...
'I need to think this through carefully.'

He looked toward the second building. Approached it, grabbed the handle, and opened the door slightly. Without warning, a figure appeared in the doorway: Torven.

"You're not allowed in here!" Torven shouted angrily.

He glared furiously at Velkan, who only lowered his head in a silent, apologetic gesture. But it was too late, he was already angry. Torven slammed the door shut behind him, making sure Nox wouldn't see what was hidden inside, and yanked Nox by the wrist, dragging him back toward the manor.

"Let me go!" Nox tried to pull free, but Torven's grip on his wrist was like a vice. The leather of his glove was scraping Nox's wrist, wounding it.
He turned his head, his eyes pleading with his silent guard to help him. Velkan stood frozen, like a statue, his eyes fixed on the ground.

"Stop! That hurts!" Nox shouted.
But Torven was deaf to his words.
The boy dug his heels into the gravel path, his shoes scraping against the stones, but it was all in vain. He pleaded and at the same time formed his left hand into a fist and attempted to hit Torven's back. But he only barely grazed his shirt.

"Please, listen to me!". He begged.

No one listened.

They reached the manor quickly. Their footsteps echoed through the corridors. In front of the bedroom door, Torven practically threw him inside. Nox fell to his knees in the middle of the room.
The last thing he heard was the sound of the key turning in the lock.