THE PATH OF RENUNCIATION

13

The knock was loud and insistent. It looked like they were pounding on the door with their fists.

Reluctantly emerging from half-asleep, Paraman hardly opened his eyes. The hand habitually reached for the blade lying behind the pillow. Since the day his mother was killed, when his father took him by surprise, he never slept without a weapon.

They knocked without stopping. Mentally swearing, Paraman somehow pulled on his boots and threw a camisole over his shoulders. The heart was beating heavily and intermittently. After wiping the sweat off his forehead, he sighed heavily and went out into the corridor.

The secret door, barely visible on the silk-paneled wall, shuddered slightly from the blows.

- Who? Paraman asked loudly, feeling for the key in his pocket. - For what business?

In the silence that hung, they could hear a horse neighing alarmingly outside the window. There was a muffled shout and the creak of wheels.

– Paraman… I beg you! The sister's voice sounded loud and