Believe in Revolution ©

XXVI

Upon entering through the prison's door, the building seemed not to have surveillance. Two guards noticed them inmediatly after. Seconds after, both were bleeding in the floor and calling for reforcements.

Alexei ran after Pavel, Leon by his side. The reddish-haired cletched his teeth and started stabbing every guard that stepped in his way. Alexei didn't look to him. He couldn't see that. But he was a soldier. This was war. Instead, he took his two knives and went injuring the guards.

"Leon, we have to find your brother!" Alexei shouted in Russian

"I know" Leon answered, also in Russian "People is going up. Second floor, you east, I west. Alright for you?"

"Da" Alexei replied

The stone stairs seemed endless. Alexei was able to keep Leon's pace. When they arrived; they parted ways. Leon, left; Alexei, right.

When the noise started in the lower floor, Ivan hurried to the window. He saw fights. They came to help them! Andrei was back in his cell, near his. And Pierre was also nearby.

Yesterday had been horrible. Seeing Nikulin again. Of course, the worst was being defenceless against him. His forehead was bandaged. But it was no time to think about that.

He ran into the cell bars and shouted "Andrei, we're going to get out of here!"

"Wait, what!?" Andrei shouted "You mean that noise?"

"Da, there's people fighting down there! They're..." Ivan ran to the window and came back "Da, they're the Whites!"

"Really?" Andrei asked and a tiny smile formed in his lips.

They heard steps entering the floor. Two guards fell in the ground as they'd stepped in Leon's way. Ivan distinguished his brown hair in the distance.

"Leon!" Ivan shouted. The younger turned and saw the older's face through the cell bars.

"Ivan!" He shouted and approached his brother's cell "You're okay, I'm glad"

"Yeah, but please, open the door" Ivan said "We've to get out of here quick"

Leon slashed his sword and cut the padlock's chains. The door opened, Ivan came out and hugged his brother briefly but tightly.

"What happened to your head?" Leon asked, concerned

"A fight. Nothing important" Ivan answered. Leon didn't have to know about it.

The soldiers that came with Leon slashed the chains of the other cells' padlocks, including Andrei's and Pierre's. The latter spoke to the soldiers, but the first joined Ivan.

"What do we do now?" Andrei asked

The Petrov brothers ignored him.

"Is Alexei with you?" Ivan asked

"The Tsarevich? Yeah" Leon answered.

Andrei looked at both "You brought him with you? That's dangerous, are you insane?"

"He's eighteen, for God's sake, Andrei!" Ivan spat at him "I know about his condition and everything, but he can help! He knows what he's doing, after all!" Andrei stepped back.

Suddenly, flashes of yesterday's fight came to Ivan's mind.

"Where has he gone?" Ivan asked, worried.

"East wing of this floor. Why?" Leon asked quite innocently. Ivan paled and muttered various curses in Russian. Andrei stared at him, concerned.

"Nikulin's there, Andrei" Ivan said "He's in danger"

"I go" Andrei said "Leon, please hand me any weapon" The man gave him a knive quickly and the White started running.

A few soldiers were in the east wing with Alexei. The brownish blonde looked around and crushed the chains of every padlock of every cell in the prison's second floor. But no trace of Ivan. Or Monsieur Gilliard.

He started thinking that they were in the other side and probably Leon had found them.

He trespassed a door and found himself running through a dark corridor, in search for other cells. He stopped at a determinate moment when he trespassed a second door and ended in a dark room. But the thing that made him think he had gone the wrong way, was the sound of the door closing after him. He tried to open it but found it useless.

"Why doesn't it open?" He complained and kicked it "Черт двери" He was angry at the door, that stupid door. But it was closed. Too closed. For closing itself alone.

"Someone has closed it" Alexei mumbled

"Da, and now you're trapped" A dark voice came from the room. Alexei turned and saw a man. He seemed young, around his thirties, but suspiciously evil. A part of Alexei told him he knew him and that same part was scared. He was in danger.

The man approached him. He stepped back. Great, he had no escape. He tried to take his sword but the man was faster. Suddenly, a hand was placed in his neck. He tried to push the man but was useless. He pointed at the younger's head with a gun.

"Long time no see, Tsarevich" He spit Alexei's title as if it was the most disgusting thing ever "Well, five years ago, I lost my chance thanks to Petrov. But not this time" He stared at him with hatred "Join that bastard and his bitches in hell and rot in death with them"

Alexei closed his eyes, while feeling rage burning inside him.

Черт двери = Damn door (Russian)

Image: Yurovsky (left) Nikulin (right) {I finally found a photo of Nikulin to put, I had to look for him writing his name in Cyrillic to find it}