

The Mist and the Lightning

Part 1

Author: Vi Kors

Translation: Juxian

They are not offspring of Hell; they just lived nearby...

Arel Chig is a fallen prince, the only one who dares to break the rules in a society separated by race, language and origin. When he meets Nikto, a strange man of many secrets, Arel's life is going to change.

Part 1

Тhis story actually happened in a different reality (a different dimension, a parallel world); you can call it whatever you like, whatever you used to, whatever is convenient for you. Its essence will not change with that. All characters in the story exist and interact just like we exist and interact in our world. Only their names, the names of the gods, peoples and territories are not authentic; they just express the basic meaning the characters put into them.

1 Nikto is translated as 'Nobody'

2 Orel is translated as 'Eagle'

3 Lis is translated as 'Fox'

4 Tolsty is translated as 'Fat'

Chapter 1

The Encounter

"So, are you going to start talking at last?" Orel asked.

"Give me my dr... 'restorer', and I'll tell you everything!"

"Too many conditions, don't you think?"

"Really, it's the first time I see something like that." Tol shook his head. "He must be bonkers."

"I shit care if he's bonkers or not," Orel yelled, "he has to answer. Because we need it. And he will talk. What's your name, again?"

"Nikto."

"Right. We know it. Your real name?"

"I don't know! It is real!"

Orel, Lis, Enriki and Tol exchanged glances.

"Waste of time," Tol said. "We'll kill him but he won't talk."

"Shut up, you idiot," Orel growled.

"I think it is not our business at all..." Lis started cautiously.

"It is our business, Lis. Listen to me and don't interrupt," Orel made a pause. "Please."

"I need a restorer or I'll die," Nikto said.

"Yeah? Or maybe you'll finally go over the edge with the drug."

"No, I won't. I used 'black water' for two years, now I need just the plain one... but often. In my bag..."

"Huh? Two years of 'black water'? You're dead, man! Nobody quits 'black water', you're crazy!"

"That's why he hangs around with the Unclean," Enriki intervened. "That bitch, your girlfriend, she gives you this shit, right? You're a disgrace for humans!"

"I need a shot." Nikto's voice was barely audible.

"Fuck you. Die," Tol said. Orel glared at him. "Sorry, Arel," he hastened. "I just can't stand this piece of dirt."

Nikto awkwardly shook his shaggy head, trying to toss disobedient strands of hair away from his face and look at the people standing over him but it didn't work. In the beginning they had made him kneel at the wooden post, and now he was sitting on his heels in front of them, leaning against the post somewhat lopsidedly. His arms were twisted behind his back, wrists locked in steel cuffs around the post and raised up. The chain of the cuffs was fixed on the hook too high, almost disjointing his arms, not letting him straighten his back.

"Hey, Nikto." Orel sighed. "Let's make a deal. You answer our questions honestly, and we give you a shot."

Nikto finally managed to turn his head and look up at Orel.

"Why are you breaking me? Aren't you a prince, a free lord from the Upper City? We are from different worlds. Our ways never cross. You have no personal interest in me. Whose order do you follow when you interrogate me? I didn't know a prince could serve someone. Who orders you? The king's secret police?"

Orel's face twitched.

"It doesn't concern you." He raised Nikto's chin higher with the tip on his boot making him screw his eyes shut with pain in his twisted arms. "I'm asking questions here, not you."

"Make him kiss your boot, Arel! Show this dirty half-blood who he's talking to!" Tol shouted clasping Nikto's head in his huge palms. "Here, Arel, kick his mug!"

"Tol, enough," Lis said.

"Just look at it, Arel!" Tol's hand in a leather glove made Nikto open his mouth showing his long, inhuman fangs. "And claws! On his fingers! He's a shitty, dirty half-blood! And the tattoos on his cheeks!" Tol squeezed Nikto's face. "Just look at it! The letters of the Unclean. Like something's written on his face!"

Orel met Nikto's gaze. Nikto's face was nothing like crude, irregular faces of the Unclean. The man also didn't look like a commoner; he could easily be called handsome if not for a scar that crossed his forehead and the whole right side of his face, tearing his cheek so deep that it seemed a little more and one could see his molars.

"Leave him be," Orel ordered. "Nikto, if you don't want any more problems, answer my questions, okay?"

"Okay, okay! Ask your questions! I didn't quit 'water' to die like that, in front of a bunch of idiots who don't even know what they want!"

"Easy, man!"

"I was set up!"

"I've never heard anyone speak Black like that," Enriki shook his head. "I barely can figure out what he says."

"He uses correct words," Lis said, "but what a nasty voice he has."

"What's your name?"

"Again? Fuck! All right, all right! It's Nik. Nik."

"How can you prove it?"

"People who know me can say."

"Where are you from?"

"I came to the city from the west."

"Did you live in the local outpost in the west, on the border with the lands of the Unclean?"

"Yes."

"Did you fight them?"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"They captured me. They addicted me to black water. Since then I depend on them."

"Do you follow their orders?"

"Yes."

"What orders?"

"Orders? Ah... well... kill people. Eliminate. Rob."

"Bastard! I'll kill him!" Tol bellowed. Orel stopped him not letting him hit Nikto.

"Calm down, Tol. Calm down."

"What do you think of our king, Nik?" Enriki asked.

"He's a shit!"

Lis laughed.

"I've had enough of it. That's utter bullshit."

"Did you conspire with the Unclean against the king?" Orel continued.

"No. They don't trust me enough for that. Too bad."

"Orel," Lis said. "He lies. He says what we want to hear."

"I'm not sure I want to hear exactly that, Lis."

"I need my drug."

"Don't give him any, Arel, let this disgrace for humans die!"

"Give him his drug he calls a restorer," Lis said.

Nikto's eyes closed.

"Hey..." Orel shook him worriedly. "Don't you dare, I haven't finished with you!"

"He's losing it, Orel, I told you so!" Lis shouted. "If he dies now, your stupidity will be to blame! What shall we do then?"

"My stupidity? Don't you dare talk to me like that! I'm a prince, I'm your lord!"

"Orel, Lis, please, not now," Enriki begged. "The client won't forgive us if he dies. We need him alive. Lis, give him a shot, you know how. Where is his bag?"

"Enriki, take off his bracelets! Hurry!" Lis got a flat box made of black wood from Nikto's bag. "Move faster, you! Unchain him!"

Enriki unlocked the cuffs and pulled on Nikto's arm trying to take off the bracelets. Nikto followed the pull and fell onto his side.

"Oooh, idiot! Stop pulling! Open them! They must be locked!" Lis rushed to Nikto lying on the floor, unclasped several silver bracelets that covered Nikto's arm from wrist to elbow. His arm under the bracelets was wrapped in the strips of black cloth.

"Fuck! Cut the cloth!"

Enriki followed the order as soon as he could – and froze looking down. Lis also halted.

"Where do I have to stick the needle? The other arm, quickly!"

"I don't feel his pulse," Enriki said quietly. Tol came up to them and snorted.

"Yeah, he wasn't lying about 'black water', it's the only thing that corrodes veins like that."

"The other arm is just the same," Lis said.

"He gets what he deserves," Tol summarized.

"No, stick it somewhere else," Orel begged nervously. "His neck..."

"His collar is too wide, Arel, and I can't take it off."

"His leg. Lis, do it for me!"

"For us," Enriki corrected Orel.

"I'll stick it into his groin," Lis said. "Strip him."

"A nice tattoo," Tol smirked looking at Nikto's tattooed thigh.

"He really seems to be from the west," Orel said thoughtfully.

"Okay, he should revive now." Lis took Nikto's wrist to check the pulse. "This tattoo on his arm, the brand of the Unclean – it is the emblem of the western community. If I'm not mistaken."

"Yeah, he has too many tattoos for a plainsman. He's from the west," Orel confirmed.

"Then he was captured, as he said?" Enriki asked. "They disfigured him and addicted him to black water, just as he said?"

"I still don't trust him," Lis said. "He looks more like a mercenary than a slave."

"Maybe they made him join them," Enriki suggested.

"I see only one thing," Tol interfered. "He's into the Unclean up to his ears."

"And what the fuck is that..." Suddenly Lis rushed to the chimney, heated the blade of his knife in the fire and quickly pressed it to the inner side of Nikto's wrist.

The heat revealed a hidden sign, as if a crimson flame ran over a twisted monogram.

"Wow! Nice!" Tol admired the view. "What is it?"

"It's a hidden brand of the Red, idiot," Orel explained. "Lis, how did you notice it?"

"Maybe it's because I also have one," Lis smiled. "He could've been their captive, or he could've worked for them."

"The last thing we need," Enriki exhaled.

"I knew he wasn't telling the truth," Lis said.

"What truth?" Enriki asked. "So far everything we see confirms his tale. He said he needed the drug because he used 'water' for two years, and I bet it's true. I've seen arms like that, only of dead men, though."

"Yeah, me too," Orel nodded.

"He has a brand of the Unclean slave; they addicted him to 'water' and mutilated his face," Tol summarized.

"Yes, it fits," Orel said thoughtfully.

"The Unclean know that a man with such a face won't ever be a full-righted member of our society," Enriki said.

"I think he's quite handsome," Lis said.

"Oh, why don't you get yourself decorations like that then?" Tol laughed.

Lis glared at him. "Shut up, Tol!"

"If someone gets such a wound in a battle," Orel continued musing, "no matter how heavy it is, he can use a medicine, 'sama', for example. It heals without a trace then. And if he didn't do it, it means they didn't let him. I think so."

He bent over Nikto, examining him.

"And there are many small tiny cuts, as if he were slashed. But they are all healed."

Lis squatted near to him.

"Orel, look at those scars at his ear. It looks like his ear was cut off. And then a new one adhered."

"He's been through a lot," Enriki said.

"Well, the Red also cut off ears," Lis said. "Ears and fingers."

They looked at Nikto's hand that missed its ring finger.

"Bad luck for him," Tol said. "It seems we'll find out more about him from his body than he would've told us. Let's strip him! While he's out of it."

"So, both the Unclean and the Red were breaking him" Orel mused aloud.

"And so were we," Lis added.

"And why would everyone need him, this nobody from the west," Tol muttered stripping Nikto.

"That's the thing. It's not so simple." Lis lit a cigarette and took a nervous drag. "I wouldn't mess into it, I told you from the beginning! Orel, do you hear me?"

"I hear you."

"Oh, I'm happy."

"Nah," Tol said, "if they maim you, addict to black water, and the rest of it, you won't care about nothing, you'll just want to stay alive!"

"Look, he's trying to restore," Enriki noticed.

"Yes, this guy claws for his life," Lis agreed looking at Nikto's strong muscular body.

"But he doesn't look like a terribly lucky warrior to me," Enriki shook his head.

"No. Too lucky, to my mind," Orel said. "That arrow hit his heart, didn't it?" He pointed at the oval scar on Nikto's chest.

"A lethal wound," Lis said.

"And this one, on his side. The scar is quite recent."

"He has nine lives," Tol snorted.

"And a bunch of problems as well," Orel added. "I'm quitting."

"Are you crazy?" Enriki stared at him. "What are you thinking of?"

"I'm not breaking him any more," Orel said firmly. "I've had enough."

"Do you know what it means for us? What if he really is a conspirator?"

Nikto shifted, rising somewhat, tossed his hair away from his face and looked over himself: waist-naked, his pants pulled down.

"Did you want to fuck me?" he asked in surprise.

It was like a signal for everyone. Tol bent over cackling, and all the others looked at Nikto and laughed.

"Come here, have a drink," Tol said to Nikto quite friendly.

"Yes, Nik or whatever, really, have a drink with us," Orel agreed.

Nikto got up, clasped his heavy belt, walked up to the table and made a few gulps from a glass.

"May I dress?" he asked.

"Yes, we let you go," Orel said.

Walking back to the pole, Nikto started gathering his scattered possessions.

"Fuck, why did you cut the bandages?"

"Wanted to give you a shot quicker," Orel explained. "Should've told us your veins are shit dead."

He called for a servant and told him to bring new bandages.

"You are skillful," Enriki said watching Nikto wrap his arms in a few seconds.

"Who stuck the needle?" Nikto asked gloomily.

"I did," Lis smiled.

"Thanks," Nikto thought for a moment, "Lis."

Lis laughed. "Aren't you happy? I did my best."

"Oh yes. There was no other place, was there?"

"Well, you'll just have to stay away from your Unclean bitch for a couple weeks," Lis shrugged, "big deal."

Nikto gave him a glance but kept quiet. He was picking up his bracelets from the floor and habitually locking them on his arms with a soft click. When he reached for one of the bracelets behind the post, his long blonde hair fell on the side, baring his back that was completely covered in lash scars.

Friends looked at each other.

"One cool back you have," Lis said.

"Ah, so that's what you wanted to see," Nikto said. "Stripped me, looked at my scars? And now do you let me go because you see I'm a warrior like you?"

"Sit down," Orel said.

Nikto sat down at the table and finished his wine. Tol gave him a cigarette. Nikto glanced at him.

"Thank you." He smoked, leaning against the tall back of the chair. His hand with a missing finger pushed away his hair, revealing the scar crossing his forehead. He examined Tol, Lis, Orel and Enriki with sharp eyes.

"It is not long till the morning," Orel said. "The gates will be open soon, and you will be able to leave the Upper City."

"And what about your job?" Nikto smiled wryly. The disfigured side of his face didn't move.

"Not the first problem of ours. And not the last one," Orel answered. "Not your concern, too."

"You're not so stupid as you seemed at first," Nikto said.

"All right, don't try to play smart," Lis interfered. "We're letting you go – be happy."

Nikto shook his head.

"I am." He walked up to his bag on the floor, picked up his cloak.

"You've ruined my cloak." He looked around. "And what about my mask?"

"Mask?"

"Yes, mask. Black, made of that hard... mm..." he stumbled trying to find the right word, "stuff. I don't know how it's called in your language."

"Who took off his mask? Tol, you did! Where is it?"

"Arel, I... I tossed it to the chimney," Tol said somewhat guiltily. "I was so pissed off!"

"Shi-i-it!" Nikto squeezed his temples with his palms. "Cloak is torn. Mask is burnt! Any patrol will stop me when I look like that!"

"All right, I'll give you my cloak and my mask," Orel tried to settle it. "And you'll walk out of the Upper City without a problem."

"Without a problem! I don't have the right to be in the Upper City at all!"

"I know," Orel smiled.

"See ya," Nikto walked to the door.

"Wait," Orel reached for him. "I'll see you off to the door and give you your weapon. It's upstairs."

His friends exchanged glances but didn't say anything.

"As you wish," Nikto muttered.

In the dim light of the dungeon his face crossed with a scar looked frightening. Half-paralyzed, it seemed lifeless, more fitting for a dead man than a living being able to bitch about ruined things.

They walked up from the dungeon to the ground floor.

"Here is your sword," Orel lowered his eyes avoiding Nikto's gaze. The servant brought a cloak and a mask.

"My slave will bring them back," Nikto said.

"Never mind, they are yours."

"Fine," Nikto wrapped the cloak around himself. A moment before pulling up the hood he stopped and looked at Orel. Nikto's eyes were grey and cold. "Something else?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Nik was never your name, was it?"

Nikto's lips curved in a resemblance of smile.

"Never before."

"And you've never lived in the local outpost."

"Just for a short while."

"And you're not the slave of the Unclean and you don't follow their orders."

Nikto was smiling. "You're very persistent, prince Arel. Farewell."

He pulled up the hood and walked out of the castle. Orel followed him with his eyes.

"No," he said quietly. "Not farewell."

Chapter 2

Conversation with Mark

"So, Lis was right," Orel said. "You also know Nikto."

"Yes, I do." Mark met Orel's gaze. "If you see him once, you won't forget, right?"

Orel looked away, got up and walked to the window. He looked through it not saying anything, with his arms crossed on his chest. Mark also kept silent, watching Orel as if calculating something in his mind. Then he said:

"I think it'll work for you!"

Orel looked back.

"I nearly killed him!"

Mark shrugged. "So what? Me too."

"Yes? And what?"

"Nothing. We're friends now."

Orel walked back to the table.

"A strange friendship – between a friend of the Unclean and someone who fights them," he said.

"He helped me like no one else," Mark's eyes flashed with an unhealthy sparkle, his fingers twitched nervously. "Thanks to him I created a real hell for the Unclean in the west! How we killed them! How we killed them, Orel, if only you could see it. If only any of those fat townsmen could see it! We slashed them! Hanged them! Burned them! Tore them apart. We razed their houses to the ground. We chased them to the very mountains, freed the outpost and many people..." Mark stopped suddenly.

"I see you are a real warrior. A rare thing in our times," Orel said.

"Nikto is a warrior, too."

"I know, figured that out. But he's a warrior of the Unclean."

"You can stop worrying about it. Yes, he is a warrior of the Unclean but he isn't their ally. More than that, I think he hates them."

"Why is he with them then?"

"The cities of the Unclean accept him as a warrior, hold him as an equal and even higher than many of them. And humans don't accept him."

"But you? Haven't you accepted him?"

"I have but he can't team up with me, the Unclean will kill him for that."

"And can he team up with me?"

"Yes, he can. You don't interfere in the business of the Unclean. If you make Nikto your friend, the Unclean will be your friends, too. Your power will multiply, and I heard, prince Arel, your state of affairs is horrible now."

"Perhaps it is, but I don't want to become a toy of the Unclean for the sake of that power! My independence is my strength."

"Not a toy. But having an ally won't hurt you."

"Do I hear it from you? You who fight them to death? I can't believe my ears."

Mark shrugged. "To each their own."

"And that girlfriend of his. That perfect sample of a non-human! She'll cut the throat of anyone who dares harm her precious. I hope you haven't seen that monster."

"I brought her to him from the west."

"What?"

Mark laughed.

"Her name is Amba. I brought her from the west."

"Why?"

"It just happened."

"Can you tell me?"

"Why not? I see he's got to your heart, I know you too well. You'll be a nice pair. New times are coming to the City, together you'll be formidable."

"I haven't decided anything yet."

"Oh, you have."

"Well, it doesn't mean he'll agree."

"He will. Nikto is attracted to humans. And you are from the upper society, rich, noble – exactly what he needs."

"Then tell me what you know of him!"

"Destiny brought us together in the far west. My squadron attacked a caravan of a slave trader. He sold them in village markets. One of those slaves was Nikto. We freed them all and hanged the trader. Many of the men we had freed joined us. We took the ill ones to our camp. The first one who noticed Nikto was an old warlock from my suite. He told me: 'I feel he's dangerous, Mark, we should get rid of him.' I just laughed – but I was stricken with the color of Nikto's hair. At first I took him for an old man, his face was hidden behind a black mask. I asked the slaves who joined us: 'Who's that old man?' They said: 'We don't know. He was picked up on the road.' He was very ill, never said anything, and the slaves didn't see his face. But the servants of the slave trader who had seen Nikto's face begged not to take him along. They told their master such a slave would bring bad luck. But the slave trader didn't listen to them. Then I took off his mask and saw a young man who had no undamaged place on his face. He was cut in a way that even my experienced warriors were shocked. I saw the traces from 'black water' on his arms, the collar, the wounds from chains, tattoos of the Unclean and I figured out he managed to escape.

"I couldn't miss such a chance! We treated him, healed his wounds. In exchange I asked him to tell me everything he knew. At first he kept silent. And had he not wanted to help us, he wouldn't have said a word, no matter what we'd do to him. I raised my sword over his head several times, and he didn't even flinch, as if he didn't fear death but on the contrary, desired it. But I couldn't kill him. I got to love him. He was so young yet so tortured. At some moment I understood that I'd just let him go, and it was when the warlock told me Nikto was ready to tell us everything he knew. The old warlock said: 'He's reading our thoughts,' and I think it was true. Nikto understood what I thought of him, what I felt. It was his way to thank me. The warlock and all the Unclean called and keep calling him 'son of the Devil' but I don't believe it. Could a son of the Devil respond to kindness like that? Only later I understood what he'd done for me. He'd been so far west as no one else had.

"He drafted the layouts of farms and villages of the Unclean, told about their outposts and other things. Without him I wouldn't have had triumphed! I asked him if he'd follow me but he refused. Then I promised to avenge him, avenge everything that'd been done to him.

"He said to me: 'What the Unclean did to me is nothing in comparison with what others had done before them.' I said: 'They slashed your face.' He said: 'I did it myself.'

"He said it so seriously that I felt uneasy. And I didn't ask him anything else.

"We parted. I went to the west and he, to the east. Bidding farewell I warned him that the Unclean would get him sooner or later, to punish him for betrayal. He just smiled. He probably knew what he was doing.

"That woman – Amba – he described her to me, said she was his owner and asked not to torture her but to kill her quickly. But she is very cunning and when I killed all her family, she wrote to me asking to take her to Nikto to the city, and then no Unclean in the city would harm me.

"She wrote about Nikto: 'I hear him, he needs me.' And I took her along. When we arrived to the city, Nikto came and took her away. And the king of the Unclean didn't do anything to me, or to my people, or to Nikto, or to her. You know they even respect Nikto for avenging his humiliation and fear him. The Unclean from the city don't particularly like their western congeners at all. But I think Nikto is a human being, he needs to live among humans, he suffers living with aliens."

"What you told me is terrible," Orel said. "That Unclean knows that because of him all her family was killed. And she still loves him as if nothing happened?"

"Yes, they are like that." Mark laughed. "She's even proud of him, and she doesn't care shit about her family. Well, is it enough for you? You can ask him about the rest."

Orel sighed.

"My people are absolutely against him."

"You know what?" Mark smiled. "Take them tomorrow night to the Lower Coliseum. Nikto will be there, and when they see him fighting, they will beg you to take him on the team!"

"What would I do without you, Mark!" Orel's eyes flashed with joy.

Chapter 3

The Agreement

"He isn't coming," Enriki said.

"He will come," Orel argued.

"If I were him, I wouldn't come," Enriki said. "Definitely."

"But you are not him!" Orel stabbed Enriki's chest with his finger in annoyance. "You are not."

"All right." Enriki raised his hands. "Fine."

A servant brought a tray with wine, bowed and started putting glasses on the table.

"He's here," Lis said quietly; from his place he could clearly see the entrance. Everyone froze.

"Is it really him?" Orel asked.

"I swear. He has your cloak and he's coming right up here," Lis whispered looking down at his glass quickly.

"Get out," Orel hissed at the servant who dropped the tray and disappeared in a moment. Nikto came up to them.

"Hello."

"Hi. Take a seat." Orel pointed at the chair on the opposite side of the table, in the corner.

The tables here were separated by high walls. Tol got up to let Nikto in. Nikto glanced at Tol and took the offered place without saying a word. When he pushed off the hood and let the cloak slip from his shoulders. Nikto's blonde hair fell onto his forehead, and he shoved it aside with a familiar gesture of his fingerless hand. The only difference was that they had seen his scar then and now his face was hidden behind a black mask.

"You can take your mask off," Orel said. "It's our place, feel at home here. Besides, it'll be difficult for me to talk to you without seeing your face."

"Fine." Nikto removed his mask.

"Care for a drink?" Orel put a glass in front of him. "I think you know what we called you for."

"No." Nikto took the glass and leaned back in the chair.

"No?" Orel was slightly surprised.

"The Unclean gave me a note with time and place."

"But did you figure out it was from us?"

"No. But when I saw you, I did."

"You've come to a meeting without knowing whom you'll meet?" Enriki asked in surprise. "It's not reasonable."

Nikto smiled.

"The note was not from you but from my friend, I was going to see him. When I saw you, I understood you found me with his help."

"Yes, that's right," Orel said. "It was Mark who helped us. And I'll tell you something for you to see that we are frank about it. Before meeting you we gathered some information on you. And..."

It seemed to Orel Nikto was smiling. But his lips didn't curve, just his eyes sparkled as if laughing. At that moment Orel recalled Mark's words: 'Nikto is reading our thoughts, and I think it is true, he understood what I thought of him.'

"But you likely know that," he said in confusion.

"No, I don't. I haven't seen Mark for a long while, just got that note. But I can imagine what he told you of me."

"Nothing bad, I can assure you!"

"Well, prince, I don't mind him calling me for a meeting with you – as well as sharing his impressions on me. Let's be done with this topic and talk about business. What is it you want?"

"We want... well, I think you know what!"

"Again you say I know. No, I don't. How can I know if you haven't said anything?" Nikto put down his glass. "We want from you guess-what. It could've been funny if it were not coming from you. You know, prince, I start regretting I've come."

He got up but Tol blocked his way.

"Nikto, wait, we wanted to invite you on our team. Haven't you read our thoughts?"

Orel grabbed his head in horror. "To-o-ol!"

"Well said," Lis added.

"Read your thoughts?" Nikto sat down again suddenly laughing. Orel raised his head. "Did Mark tell you that?"

"Yes."

"I can't read thoughts."

"You can't?" Tol muttered in disappointment.

"Did you want me to help you trick rich guys? Too bad, it won't work out, you're mistaken." Nikto finished his wine. "Well, it was nice to see you."

"Nikto, wait, you have to understand..." Orel started. It seemed his resolution returned to him.

"I understand, no problem."

"But it doesn't mean our offer is cancelled."

"Really? Why would you need a man who cannot read thoughts?"

"Nikto, stop teasing us. We need you as a warrior, not as a warlock."

"Both would be better," Tol muttered under his breath.

"You can just stay with us for a while," Orel said. "If our cooperation doesn't work, you'll leave."

Nikto looked at Orel and his eyes didn't sparkle mischievously any more.

"I'm not such a good warrior as you think," he said. "Otherwise I wouldn't have so many scars."

"Let us judge that," Orel said. He took another glass from the tray left by the servant and put it in front of Nikto.

Nikto was silent.

"We own several streets of the Upper and the Lower city. We also take some orders from clients, sometimes think of something ourselves."

"If you join us, you won't have to do dirty jobs for the Unclean," Tol said with enthusiasm.

"To-o-ol, shut up," Orel hissed.

"Let's imagine I didn't hear that," Nikto said.

"No one thinks your job is dirty," Orel said.

"I'd rather not prove anything here and now," Nikto said. "I'm in a good mood today."

"Shit, do I have to apologize again?" Tol mumbled in resentment. "Okay, okay, my fault," he sighed. He clearly was afraid of angering Nikto but Nikto seemed not to care about his apologies.

"I think four of you are enough," Nikto said. "You found each other a long time ago and I will be excessive."

"No, you're wrong," Orel smiled. "There are not just four of us, that is, now we are four. It is all that is left from my team that used to be big... a while ago."

"So, you're recruiting new people. And what happened to the old ones, if you don't mind telling?"

"I don't mind," Orel smiled. "They were killed. I don't think it'd scare you away. Two of them were ambushed half a year ago, two died of wounds. We had two girls, too, I regret losing them the most. And there are some who are not dead but are not with us now. Toby is a captive with our rivals. Squint-Eye is in prison."

"I've never heard a more sorrowful story," Nikto said, and everyone laughed. "Fine, but what do you think of my connection with the Unclean?"

"You have to choose: either you stay with us and dedicate your life to our problems, or return to them and forget us."

There was silence; everyone waited for Nikto's reply.

"I need a probation period," he said at last. "I'm not sure I can live among humans but I don't mind the idea."

"Will two months be enough for you to figure it out?"

"Yes."

"But no Unclean during this time, not even one! If you manage, it means it'll work for us."

"And what is my role in your game?"

"Just like ours. I'm the boss but we decide everything together, you will have the vote like the others, and the right to your share of profit. You'll get rich soon, will be able to buy lands and slaves."

"And me being a slave myself doesn't trouble you, does it?"

"You're not born a slave, it means you're not a slave."

"But other people don't think so, they will despise you for associating with me. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. The Upper City is closed for me."

"Well, as you see we're opening it for you. Now it depends on you if you have enough courage to enter it."

"I do. But if you decide everything together, I would like to know what Lis, Enriki and Tol think of me. I know you've discussed it and decided - and yet."

"All right, Enriki, what will you say?"

"I'll say we need an experienced man, and you suit us."

"And I'll say," Lis sighed, "that I was against you but I'm in a minority. But as for the opinion of the society, I don't care, for sure."

"Me too," Orel said.

Nikto laughed. "Oh well, I see you don't care about anything but Tol doesn't think so, it seems."

"No, I don't!"

"To-o-ol!"

"No, Orel, wait. I want to have a say, too. I care! I hate it when people laugh at my face and say that Orel's group is a pathetic bunch of idiots and it's just a matter of time to finish them off. I'm going to return us our former respect. And Nikto will help us to scare them all shitless!"

"Ooh. Tol! What are you thinking? What is this trash in your head?" Orel sighed hopelessly.

"Just forbid him to open his mouth at all," Lis said, annoyed.

"You keep your mouth shut, you redhead half-blood!" Tol retorted.

"How can I scare them?" Nikto asked. "Can you explain me?"

"Yes, I can!" Tol said defiantly. "And stop confusing me, shut your mouth, shut your mouth! Everyone knows WHO his father is!"

Everyone froze but Nikto stayed sitting calmly and his expression didn't change.

"You're gonna to get bitten," Lis said.

"Damn you," Nikto said and then looked at Tol with a smirk. "And you are not afraid, are you?"

"I am," Tol said. "But now you're our friend, so, he won't harm us."

"But maybe it's better to stay away from such friends?"

"Maybe it's better – but I like to risk, and it's a good chance to test my luck! And I'm sure you won't be at disadvantage either. You have to join us. I'm speaking straight, I can't come up with clever speeches like Orel. Will you join us?"

"I will," Nikto said.

"Well, Tol, today is your day," Lis said.

"Let's toast. For all of us!" Enriki raised his glass.

They drank some wine and lit cigarettes.

"Can you read and write?" Tol asked Nikto after a while.

"Yes," Nikto said; he smoked leaning against the back of the chair, as usual. The scar crossing his face seemed black in the dim light.

"Human language? Or Unclean?"

"Both. And Red too."

"Cool!" Tol was surprised. "But do you write like you speak?"

"What do you mean?"

"Hmm, a little incorrectly, you're speaking not quite like we do. Same words but somehow another feeling."

"I think Tol means accent," Lis said. "You speak with an accent yourself, Tol."

"Me? You're kidding."

Everyone laughed.

"Do I write with an accent?" Nikto smiled. "No, Tol, I write better than I speak."

"And I speak better," Tol said and everyone laughed again. "Lis is lying about me having an accent! Do you see me having an accent, Nikto?"

"No, I don't."

"See?" he turned to Lis showing him a fist. "Don't you dare kid me."

"You have a south-western accent," Lis said. "Don't you remember where you're from?"

"Okay, I remember but you also remember watching your mouth."

"All right, all right," Lis shook his head.

"And can you count, do you know book-keeping?" Tol asked Nikto again.

"I can."

"Look at him, he can do anything!"

"I heard you're good with maps," Lis said.

Nikto glanced at him.

"Yes, quite so," he said slowly, his eyes not leaving Lis's face.

"And you can even draw them," Lis said standing Nikto's gaze.

"Hey, Lis," Orel said, "do you need a map?"

"No," Lis lowered his gaze obeying Orel's words.

"And can you play cards?" Tol brightened. "Like Snap, or Rummy, or..."

Nikto looked at Tol.

"I can. I can play cards, Tol. I'll leave you broke in a moment."

"We'll see!" Tol bellowed. It looked like he enjoyed this little quarrel to no end.

"And do you like human women?" he asked Nikto again. Nikto looked at Orel who was smiling.

"I like women," Nikto said.

"Me too," Tol said happily. "Do you prefer blondes or brunettes?"

"Oh, I don't know, I like them all."

"Yes! Me too. But Orel says it can't be, that one has to have, what's that called, preferences."

"Maybe but I don't care."

"Obviously," Lis muttered. But Nikto didn't answer his dig.

"You're really a cool guy!" Tol slapped Nikto's shoulder. "Not a shithead as I thought at first!"

"To-o-ol!" Orel moaned, for the countless time this night, and everyone laughed.

Chapter 4

In the Castle

They left through the backdoor of 'Backara' and walked straight to the backyard, five dark figures blending into the darkness of the night.

Slaves guarding the horses rushed to them and bowed. The slaves were not deceived with thick black leather of the cloaks, they knew who was coming. Horses snorted, stepping from one hoof to the other, sensing their masters' approach.

Orel tossed a small coin to the chief of the slaves who knelt bowing in gratitude. Other slaves also knelt following his lead. They knew it was not just any customers but their masters.

"Get off!" Orel waved his hand impatiently.

The slave grabbed the coin and backed away without raising his head, to his shelter behind the stables. Others followed him soundlessly.

Orel walked up to the horses and untied his beautiful horse.

"Are you astride?" he asked Nikto.

"Yes, of course. It would've taken me three hours to walk here from the Unclean District."

"Where did you leave it?"

"Nearby. Two quarters away from here."

"Did you leave it alone?" Tol asked.

"Him. I have a stallion. No, of course not. My servant is watching over him."

"Is your servant one of the Unclean?"

"Yes."

"Can I look at him?"

"Tol, don't you have anything better to do?" Orel asked. He patted his horse, pressed his mask to its nose. "Let's go, my dear."

Holding their horses by the bridle they walked to the place where Nikto left his stallion. It was quiet around, just from 'Backara' one could hear soft music and sometimes bursts of female laughter.

Despite limping, Nikto walked quickly and with confidence, easily finding his way in the dark streets. Suddenly he stopped. Orel nearly ran into him from behind.

"Fuck, Nikto!" he growled softly. Nikto looked back quickly, laughed glancing at Orel.

"I left my stallion here."

And at once there was soft clattering from the darkness, and the horse came up straight to Nikto.

"Where is the Unclean?" Tol asked.

Nikto made a hissing sound. A black silhouette emerged from the darkness near the wall, approached his master.

"What do you want from him?" Nikto asked Tol.

"I want him to show his face."

"No," Orel said. "It's just unhealthy curiosity. You're not a child, Tol. Nikto, I order you to send your slave away."

Nikto quietly said a few words in the language of the Unclean and the servant again disappeared in the darkness without saying a word.

"I know what you said to him," Lis said. "You told him to go home, right?"

"Yes, something like that."

"You were not speaking 'true' Unclean to him but some adapted version."

"The Unclean in the city understand only it." Nikto mounted his stallion making him rear.

"Let's go," Orel commanded spurring his beautiful horse and led the way along the street. The others followed him.

They had to take a roundabout way to reach the gates of the Upper City that were always opened for Orel. The Upper City was full of lights and people as always, they had to slow down a little but Orel knew how to avoid the most crowded streets and squares.

He directed the horse into narrow, empty streets and soon they were ascending the city tier after tier.

It was quiet around Orel's castle. He looked back, the riders stopped and turned their horses.

A beautiful and sublime view lay in front of them.

Far below, the night city spread in its magnitude, piercing the sky with spears of sharp towers that lined the fortress wall looking like a thin snake. The downtown sparkled with colorful lights, life there didn't stop for a moment, unlike in the Lower City that had only its main streets lit. Torch fires glimmered over the Coliseum but farther the city was drowning in the dark, its contours merging into blackness. One couldn't see where it ended; just separate, distant lights flickering here and there proved that there was a city somewhere in this night, this quietness. The city that was not asleep.

"I hate this city," Orel said. "It's too small for me!"

Everyone laughed because the city in front of them was enormous.

"I see the lights in the quarters of the Unclean. What are they doing now?" he asked Nikto.

"Some dirty things, likely," Nikto said. "Can they even do anything but dirty things?"

The group of friends laughed again.

"No, I mean it. Many times I looked at their neighborhoods from here and they always have lights at night. I thought the Unclean didn't need so much light."

"They don't need light at all. They work," Nikto said, "and they will be working throughout the night, in their workshops and forges. It's the light of their ovens."

"Let's go," Orel said, turning his horse and riding to the castle.

The bridge was down, a servant was hastily opening the gates. The watchman on the tower had given him a signal that the master was coming. The square in front of the main entrance was lit brightly.

"Orel, why do you never raise your bridge?" Enriki asked.

"What for?" Orel said. "Let anyone who cares come, and we'll deal with them."

Tol cackled in approval.

"Wow! What a horse you have!" Orel was looking at Nikto's stallion in the bright light of torches. The stallion stepped from one hoof to another impatiently and snorted: he wanted to continue his gallop. Nikto pushed off the hood of his cloak and took off his mask. He smiled from his horse barely keeping the stallion in place.

Orel dismounted and passed his beautiful horse to the servant, then reached his hand to the muzzle of Nikto's black stallion. The horse raised its lip and bared its teeth, growling and showing sharp fangs.

Orel withdrew his hand quickly.

"Is he Unclean?"

"Yes."

The stallion reared and Nikto shouted at him in the language of the Unclean, striking him with a lash. The stallion danced under him.

"He is wild," Lis said. "He won't tear our horses, will he?"

"And our servants as well," Enriki said.

"Is he eating meat?" Tol asked.

Nikto tossed his head pushing away his hair.

"Yes."

He jumped down quickly, put his palm onto the stallion's muzzle and whispered a few words. The horse calmed down immediately, as if falling asleep. Nikto turned to the group of friends, they took off their masks and watched him with interest.

"Here, he won't harm anyone now."

"He's out of it! Just like that! I can't believe my eyes," Tol said.

"I'll have him kept separately from others and locked up, just in case," Orel said.

The servant was afraid to come up.

"Hey, what are you standing there?" Orel said. "Take the horse, do you have any shame left?"

The servant, paper-white, slowly pulled the Unclean horse who obediently followed him.

"How much does such a beast cost?" Orel asked. "Thirty thousand, I bet."

"Why are you so rich?" Tol got curious.

"I'm fighting for money," Nikto said. "And the stallion is a gift."

"Welcome to the castle of the prince Arel Chig!" Orel made an inviting gesture.

They walked up the stairs and the servants opened massive carved doors for them.

"Not like the first time, is it?" Orel said to Nikto. Nikto glanced at him.

"Yes," he said simply.

"Hey, Nikto, can you make someone else's horse fall asleep?" Lis asked. Nikto stopped at the entrance.

"Lis, what's bugging you?"

"Tell me." Lis met Nikto's grey eyes with his yellow eyes and didn't look away.

"Yes, I can pacify a horse."

"Only your own horse? Or any horse? Or maybe not only a horse?"

"No." Nikto almost hissed it. He was speaking slowly, carefully choosing every word, and because of it his accent and a distorted timbre of his voice were even more pronounced, revealing his alien nature.

"No. It is only my horse I can pacify. I trained him like that. No one else."

Servants were pressing to the walls in terror, and the friends were silent and looked at Nikto.

"What's wrong, Lis?" Now Nikto was talking calmly. "Two hours ago you were sure I could read someone else's thoughts and you were not afraid of it. And now you're implying that I'm going to hypnotize you. Why didn't I hypnotize you when you killed my friend Lamy then? When you were beating and abusing my Unclean? When you nearly killed me!"

"Why indeed," Lis said; he was very pale.

Nikto squeezed his temples with his palms.

"Enough of it, enough," he whispered. "You wanted me to be with you, you voted, you came to an agreement with me. I am what I am, and if you're going to suspect me in every little thing, I'd better leave now."

"No!" Orel exclaimed. "You're not leaving! Lis will leave if he decides to say anything else."

He gave Lis an expressive look.

"I don't like magic tricks," Lis said. "If he is a warlock, I'd like him to admit it now."

"Lis, he lived among the Unclean, his horse is an Unclean, he hangs around with them, he's used to it. No magic here," Enriki said.

"Do you even care how Nikto talks to his horse," Tol said.

"If you're going to pick on Nikto because of small things, you'd better leave, Lis," Orel said.

"I won't say another word," Lis promised. "What are we standing here for?"

He turned away and started climbing the stairs. Orel touched Nikto's hand.

"Let's go," he smiled. "You've scared my servants shitless."

Nikto didn't answer. He walked up to the wide stairs and followed Orel holding the rails. They entered the central hall of the castle, huge, gloomy and empty. Servants rushed around to aid them.

"Welcome to the table," Orel said, "the dinner will be ready in a moment."

He pointed at the big table in the left, higher part of the hall. A few steep stairs led to the table.

Nikto took out his sword and walked up the stairs leaning onto it. Orel looked at him in surprise.

"Do you always do it like that?"

"Sometimes."

Orel sat at the table and pointed at the chair on the left of him. "You're sitting here." Nikto sat down silently.

"Can't you walk up the stairs without a prop?" Orel asked.

"I can't - now."

"And what if we have to fight on the stairs..." Orel started but kept silent after looking at Nikto's face.

They sat down, everyone taking his place. Enriki and Lis sat on the right from Orel, on the left side, opposite to them, Nikto and Tol were sitting. Behind Orel's back there was a narrow stairs going to the second floor.

Servants were laying the table hastily.

"Enough, enough of it!" Orel snapped at them. "Get out! And don't you hang around here or on the arcade!"

They stayed alone in the huge hall.

"Treat yourself, Nikto," Orel said. "You'll like what my cooks do. Everyone likes."

"But Nikto is not everyone," Enriki said.

"Ooh, I've just realized how hungry I am," Tol said grabbing his plate. The friends laughed.

"Don't pay attention," Orel said. "We're laughing because he always says that, no matter how many times a day he eats."

"He is always hungry," Enriki said.

"Yeah, that's true," Tol said with his mouth stuffed.

"Hey, Tol, we haven't had a drink for our new agreement yet," Orel raised his goblet.

"Huh? I think we have, when we agreed," Tol said without blinking.

"Fine, stop eating, let's drink for the beginning of our joint business," Orel reached his goblet over the table and everyone joined him raising their goblets.

"Now, pour yourself what you want, without servants. We are of easy manners here, even though I am a prince," Orel said. "What do you think about telling us a little of yourself?" he asked Nikto.

Nikto who didn't expect this question clasped his throat choking and barely managed to swallow.

"Oh gods, you'll kill him with your questions!" Tol said chuckling. The others laughed, too.

"Aah, he's really feeling bad, poor guy."

Nikto rose from the table, sat down on the stairs and coughed, turning away from them.

"Orel, slap his back!" They were dying with laughter. Finally, after clearing his throat, Nikto came back to them. Orel looked at him smiling.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, sorry."

"No, I'm sorry, I chose a bad time for asking, you didn't expect it..."

"You're fucking bonkers, man!" Tol said.

"Fuck off."

"What?"

"You heard what! Fuck off of me."

"Do you hear, Orel, he's telling me to fuck off!" Tol was laughing.

"Enough! You're a bunch of idiots!" Orel yelled making a strict face. "Stop laughing and eat!"

He didn't pull it off though, started laughing, too, and the others followed his example.

"I'd like to talk about business," Orel said at last.

Tol hiccupped. Nikto lit a cigarette leaning against the back of the chair.

"What we told each other before was not true or partly true. What we learned about you from others needs to be confirmed," Orel said. "I don't want to go deeper into it but there are some things we need to clarify here and now."

"I can tell of myself," Nikto said, "if you tell me of yourselves. And if you are honest about it."

"All right, what do you want to know?" Orel said. "We have nothing to hide."

"You start."

"What is your real name?"

"Not again," Enriki moaned. "Aren't you tired of it, Orel?"

Orel glanced at him in annoyance. "Shut up."

"Orel, it's silly."

"Shut. Up."

"My name is really Nikto1, as funny as it sounds. I have a nickname instead of a name. There was time when it angered me deeply but then I got used to it. I don't have a family name or father's name either."

"No name, no family name, are you a commoner?"

"I don't know my real parents."

"Who named you then?"

"My foster mother."

"She was a jolly woman, it seems," Enriki said.

"She was a witch."

It was Lis's turn to choke. He whispered shaking his head. "A foster mother, indeed."

"Lis, I've had enough of you," Nikto said.

"What do you think, Nikto can't have a mother?" Tol said digging with a fork in his teeth.

"He can," Lis said in an icy voice.

"That's enough about me," Nikto said, "now you tell me of yourselves."

"You can ask." Orel smoothened his long dark hair.

"Why are you called Orel2?"

"Ha." Orel laughed. "I don't even remember that, my ancestors thought an eagle was their forebear, something like that. I'm the last scion of that ancient, formerly royal family. Prince Arel Chig from the family of Eagle."

"Cool," Nikto said. "Now Lis."

"My name is Atley Alis," Lis said without enthusiasm. "Atley son of Alis."

"Why Lis3?"

"Can you guess it?" Lis tossed his dark-red hair gathered in a ponytail on his nape. Nikto smiled.

"You can guess," Lis stated. "No more questions then?"

"You're not a Black, are you?"

"No. I'm a Red half-blood." Lis winced. "My father was a Red. Something else?"

"Your teeth, they are filed in the way only Red warriors file them. Are you one of them?"

"In the past I was," Lis smirked. "I betrayed them and joined our side."

"Cool, too," Nikto said. "Now Tol."

"At last! My name is Ram Murh! These bastards call me Tolsty4 just because I'm taller and stronger than them! And then they got tired of saying such a long word and they started calling me Tol! I'm not a commoner or a half-blood! I'm a true Black, a native citizen of this damned world! My father owns huge lands in the southwest, only I don't like it there, it's boring."

"As far as I remember, there are only forests."

"Yep."

"And you're the owner of those forests."

"Not yet," Tol laughed. "In ten years, maybe."

"Enriki, now it's your turn."

"I'm from the city and my family lives here. And I'm the only one Orel didn't come up with a nickname for. My name is Enriki Galas and I'm a former investigator, eight years worked for the secret police."

"I think I want to be your friend!"

"Do you like my people, Nikto?" Orel smiled.

"Chosen with a great taste, I'd say."

"Then a question for you," Orel paused. "Is it true what the Unclean say? There is a creature from another world behind you."

"If I say there is a part of the truth in these words, will it be enough?"

"Yes," Orel said. He was looking at Nikto as if he saw him for the first time.

"Do you meet with *him*?" Tol asked; he seemed careless as always.

"What?"

"You know, I've decided I'll take back all the bad words I said to you," Tol laughed. But the others didn't feel like laughing.

"Fine," Orel said at last. "We've cleared it and won't talk of it again."

"So, you're an Unclean, aren't you?" Enriki asked.

"Not at all."

"You look like an Unclean."

"He looks like a half-blood," Tol said.

"The Black have dark hair and eyes," Orel said. "The Red have red hair and yellow eyes. Nikto has blonde hair and light eyes, he looks like someone from the White world."

"I spent my childhood in the southeast near to the entrance to their world," Nikto said.

"Have you been there?"

"Yes."

"Have you seen the sky?"

"Yes."

"How does it look?"

"When it is covered with clouds it looks just like ours."

"So, what are you? Are you a White half-blood?"

"Yes."

"You still look like an Unclean to me," Enriki said.

"I've lived among them a lifetime."

"Oh, Orel, you have a knack for making pleasant acquaintances," Lis said.

"Now we have two half-bloods," Tol said. "Lis is a Black-Red and Nikto is a Black-White."

"Rather Unclean-White," Enriki corrected him.

"The Red and the White races belong to the upper world," Lis said, "they cannot have children from the Unclean, you should know that. Only the Black race that belongs to the lower world can interbreed with the Unclean, and even then not with any Unclean."

"Nikto, can you make a baby to your Unclean girlfriend?" Tol asked.

Nikto laughed. "No, Tol. She is too alien. I think I can't have children at all, as many half-bloods can't."

"How old are you?"

"I don't know exactly. Same age as you are, I think."

"I'm twenty-one and Lis is twenty-nine."

"And I'm probably somewhere between you."

"You look cool," Tol said. "You would be handsome if not for the scar."

"And tattoos," Enriki added. Nikto lowered his head and kept silent.

"Stop embarrassing him," Orel said somewhat nervously. "Enough of your questions, let's have a drink!"

Chapter 5

In the Morning

"Orel, do you understand what you dragged us into?" Enriki said. "Didn't you reassure us saying that the Unclean were lying?"

"Didn't you say you'd never believe that bullshit of the Unclean?!" Lis added.

"I still can't quite believe it myself." Orel spread his arms.

"Are you mad? He said it yesterday himself, literally: my mother is a witch, my father is a devil!" Lis hissed at him.

"He didn't say his father was a devil... literally," Orel muttered in annoyance.

"What are you trying to achieve? Orel, think who you want to have business with!"

"Do you mean 'who you want to have'!" Orel shouted.

"You said that, not me," Lis said.

"Tol is on my side. Tol isn't afraid of him."

"Tol is an idiot," Lis said.

"Tol wouldn't like you saying that," Enriki interfered.

"And I shit care if he wouldn't! Everything's going to hell and I don't care what Tol likes or not," Lis raised his voice.

"You're panicking because of nothing."

"Yes. Sure."

"What can he do to us?" Orel leaned over the table to Lis. "Kill us and start living in my castle? Take away our streets? It's ridiculous, Lis."

"He can take away you power."

"Oh really? And become a prince? Prince Nobody! I don't have so much power to tempt anyone to take it."

"We will become his puppets. And you have already become one."

"So far he's obeying me."

"Such hubris! He's a wolf in a sheep's skin. Yes, that's true, he pretends to be a misfortunate cripple but his eyes give him away. His cold calculating stare. In his heart he's laughing at us. He's so confident that he doesn't even mind me, my digs only amuse him, I feel that!"

"Lis, you've lost your mind," Orel said slowly; he looked at Lis in surprise and with some sympathy.

"Don't look at me like that, Arel, do you hear me?"

"Sit down," Orel snapped. Lis obeyed hugging his head.

"Oh gods, what's going to happen to us!"

"Why do you keep silent, Enriki?"

"I don't know, Arel. I don't think Nikto wants your castle. I'm more concerned with your intentions. Arel, forget your plans."

"But I fell in love with him! I need him, I want him, want him every minute! The more I look at him, the more I want him!"

"So, who's losing his mind?" Lis said skeptically.

"Orel, leave everything as is, let him stay with us. But for gods' sake, don't touch him - I'm afraid for you," Enriki said.

"Easier said than done! I can't. I want to touch his hair. I can't stand it any more!"

"You're a pervert," Lis winced, "thinking with your ass, not with your head. But if you get together with him, you won't break away from him easily. He's not Toby who was your toy and then you dropped him. Nikto is different \- do you understand you want to fuck the son of the Devil? It's the worst thing one can come up with."

"It excites me even more."

"Orel, I beg you, stop," Enriki moaned. "What do you like about him? His hair? He's probably never combed it. It's dirty and twisted. And his hands - fingers black with tattoos! And what about his face - one has to be totally crazy to tattoo his face!"

"Orel doesn't see it," Lis interrupted. "He's got into a trap. I bet you even like his tattoos. He looks like a painted jug but it arouses you, doesn't it?"

"No," Orel snapped. "Enough. Lis, you belong to me and you know you can't just leave me: either you obey me or one of us dies. Do you want that?"

"I won't fight you," Lis said. "You'll kill me and I want to keep living to see how it ends. I obey your will. Cherish your cripple."

"Don't call him a cripple!"

"Your wish is my command, my lord."

"I order you to become his friend as soon as possible, do you hear?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Right. Enriki, I'm talking to you, too."

Enriki bowed his head. "Yes, my lord."

"Uugh, I'm so hungry!" Tol tumbled into the hall loudly and stopped, looking at everyone in surprise. "Are you praying or what? Ooh, buns for breakfast..." He froze catching Orel's burning stare. "All right, all right, I'm not saying a word."

"By the way," he said a little later when noticing that Orel had calmed down, "where is Nikto? Doesn't he have breakfast with us?"

"I sent a servant to bring him half an hour ago," Orel said. He rang the bell.

"Did you wake up the master?" he asked a shaking servant.

"Yes."

"What did he say?"

"He said," the servant started shaking even more, "...'go to hell!' I was afraid and left. I'm very afraid of him." The servant sobbed and fell onto his knees. "I thought he'd kill me! He looked at me - like I wasn't there - and said: 'Go to hell!' and my legs seemed to carry me to the door by themselves," the servant cried.

"All right, you idiot, you can go. I'll wake him up myself," Orel said.

"Yeah, you try," Tol winked at him.

Orel walked up the stairs and quietly entered the room that had been offered to Nikto yesterday. It was one of the best rooms in the castle.

A splendid bed with a canopy was located on the dais near the wall. The floor was covered with expensive furs. They were littered with Nikto's weapons, his clothes and bag.

Orel approached soundlessly.

Nikto lay in bed on his side, covered with a fur layer up to his waist. He was asleep. Orel stopped and looked at him. Nikto didn't move. Orel smiled and slowly reached to his belt. Carefully, he took out his knife without taking his gaze away from the sleeping man. He raised the knife aiming at Nikto's closed eye. His muscles were taut, he was ready for Nikto to wake up any moment. But Nikto kept breathing evenly and Orel relaxed his hand, lowered it slowly, nearly touching Nikto's eye with the tip of the knife.

"Bingo," he said quietly, then took the knife away. "Lis is just an idiot."

Something crunched under his boot and he jumped back, frightened. Looking down he saw it was just one of the pills that fell out of Nikto's carelessly tossed bag. He picked up a few smooth white capsules.

"What could it be?" He dropped them back on the floor. "Hey, Nikto, wake up!"

Nikto stirred, opened his eyes slowly. He looked at Orel as if he was seeing him for the first time in his life. Orel felt uneasy.

"Hey, come round," he said apprehensively.

"Aah," Nikto drawled. "Prince Arel Chig." He turned to his back, stretched his arms, then covered his face with his palms. "All right, all right, I'm getting up." He took his hands away from his face. "Shit, it's too light here!"

Orel watched him silently.

Nikto sat up in bed shaking his shaggy head. He raised his face looking straight ahead of him with a strange, empty look.

Orel who stood at the side backed away in fear.

"Nikto, stop fooling around," he said.

Nikto turned to him looking through him.

"Orel," he said, "leave now, please. I'm coming down in a moment."

Orel recoiled, then left the room. He walked down to his friends.

"What happened?" A chorus of questions met him.

"Nothing." Orel managed to regain control.

"You look even worse than the servant did!"

"I said everything's all right. Tol, pour me some coffee," he ordered in annoyance.

Gulping his coffee, he looked at Lis.

"Lis," he said quietly, "I could've killed him ten times right now, do you hear me? Ten times! And I'll spit at your face if you say he was giving in to me on purpose."

"Is it true?"

"Yes!"

"I don't know," Lis said shakily, "I don't know."

"I know," Orel interrupted him. "He trusts me and he isn't dangerous to us."

Nikto slowly walked down the stairs and approached the company.

"Hello," he said.

"Good morning," Tol waved to him. "You don't look good, you know."

"Orel, may I sit with my back to the window?" Nikto asked.

"Fine," Orel said. "Enriki, let him sit in your place."

Enriki exchanged places with Nikto in surprise. Now Nikto was sitting on the right from Orel, next to Lis. He took a cup silently and started drinking.

"Nikto, you didn't warn me the daylight caused you such problems," Orel said, "and today isn't even sunny."

"I'm okay," Nikto said, "I've just forgotten when I got up in the morning for the last time."

"I wouldn't say you're okay," Orel said. "You're totally NOT okay, in fact."

He leaned towards Nikto.

"Loot at me."

Nikto slowly looked up.

"Tell me the truth, do you see anything?"

"Yes," Nikto said quietly but firmly. He lowered his eyes again.

"What are you talking about?" Tol asked in surprise.

"The thing is, my friend Tol, Nikto doesn't see shit when it's light!"

Lis turned to Orel in astonishment.

"It can't be!"

"Oh fuck," Enriki said.

"Is he like an owl?" Tol asked.

"I don't know! Maybe, even worse than an owl!"

"I can see!" Nikto said defiantly.

"Really? What is Tol holding? Answer me!"

Tol froze in fear with a piece of bun in his hand. Nikto even didn't glance at him.

"Orel, I'm all right."

"What is Tol holding?"

"Orel..."

"What is Tol holding, fuck you!"

"Bread, bread," Nikto hissed. "He's holding bread."

Tol frantically put the bun back.

"Orel, stop it. Please?" he said.

"Nikto, don't get on my nerves," Orel said. "If you do, you'll regret it."

"What do you want from me?"

"Truth."

"Yes, the light blinded me at first but now it's all right, A few more days and my eyes change their mode completely. My vision will be better than yours."

"We are going out and it is much lighter in the street than it is here!"

"I'll put on sunglasses."

"Fine, we'll see." Orel took out a sheet of paper from his pocket. "It's your pass to the Upper City. You just have to put your name into it. Your name will be Nik - I decided to call you that. Tol, give us ink and a quill. Can you write it yourself?" He gave the paper to Nikto.

"Enough of testing me!" Nikto took the quill and wrote confidently: Nik To.

Orel smiled.

"Good. Name is Nik, family name is To."

The friends laughed.

"All right, put on your mask and sunglasses, I don't know how you're going to put them both, and we're going to the city. Does your horse see by day?"

"Yes," Nikto snapped.

"Let's go! Enough stuffing yourself, Tol, we're leaving."

"Nikto, put on some gloves, too," Enriki added. "Your hands are somewhat..."

"I got it."

They rode through the castle gates: first Orel on his black beauty, without a mask and a hood; his dark-brown hair streamed in the wind. Lis followed him, then Enriki, Nikto and the last was Tol.

Lis came alongside with Orel on the slope of the hill.

"Orel, I saw that. Nikto didn't look what Tol was holding, not even once," he said quickly.

"What do you mean?"

"He just knew what Tol was holding."

He didn't give Orel time to answer and spurred his horse forward.

Chapter 6

In the Arbor

"Do you like our domain?" Orel asked Nikto proudly.

"Yes."

They were sitting on the second floor of the restaurant in the Upper City: it was an arbor made of carved stone, decorated with ivy. It was quiet and fresh here; just some music and noise of crowds reached them from the square.

Tol sprawled in the chair; he took off his cloak and closed his eyes. Enriki sat next to him and smoked thoughtfully. Lis looked down at the square leaning with his cheek against the tracery grate and pushing away the leaves of ivy. Orel put his legs on the table. Nikto, as usual, leaned against the back of the chair; his face was hidden by a black mask. Black glass glimmered in the slits for the eyes. His hands were covered with gloves, the fingertips cut off not to impede his claws.

He smoothened his shaggy hair lazily.

"They went just crazy when seeing me," he drawled.

"They'd gone even crazier had they seen you without your mask," Tol said.

"Never mind, they'd get used," Orel said. "Take off your mask."

"Let the owner bring our drinks first," Nikto objected.

"Don't mind him."

Nikto pushed the lower part of the mask down slightly and put a cigarette into the opening. "No," he said. "I don't mind him but I've had enough of everyone staring at me."

"And I've had enough of talking to a man without a face!"

Nikto stubbed the cigarette harshly and tore off the mask; his face was angry, eyes glaring fiercely. He tossed the mask on the floor.

"Happy now?" He turned away from Orel. Leaning on his elbow on the table, he covered the scarred half of his face with his palm and lit another cigarette.

"Orel, you hurt him," Enriki said.

Orel touched Nikto's hand that held the cigarette.

"Hey," he said quietly, "I always ask you to take off your mask because I like to see your face, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"Fine, fine." Nikto took a drag. "I've got it. But I'm tired of it: put on the mask, take off the mask, put on the mask, take off...!"

"I'm sorry," Orel said.

"Let him wear it when he feels like," Tol said.

"Then he won't take it off at all," Orel objected. "It's made in such a way he doesn't need to take it off at all. Am I right, Nikto?"

"Yes, you are."

"And I don't like it."

"Why do you care?" Nikto asked in annoyance.

"That's our Orel," Tol smirked. "He cares about everything."

"I hope you'll get bored with it soon," Nikto shook his head.

"Futile hope," Enriki said.

The owner of the restaurant knocked on the door softly and entered, bowing, with a tray full of drinks and food.

"You're really humiliating Nikto," Enriki said when the owner left. "The poor guy nearly had a heart attack when seeing him. Here, in the Upper City, people are not used to it."

Tol laughed.

"Did you see his eyes?" He mimicked the owner's face; it looked similar and everyone but Nikto laughed.

"Nikto, stop smoking at last!" Orel smiled. "Have a drink, talk to us!"

"You're playing with me like I'm a new toy," Nikto said angrily. "Be careful - you might finish badly."

"He's threatening us!" Tol laughed.

"Nikto, please forgive us, have a drink with us," Orel didn't give up.

"Only if you give me permission to put on and take off my mask when I choose."

"Fuck you, put it on if you want! You're unbearable like that!"

"You're like two stubborn donkeys," Enriki shook his head.

Nikto bent to reach for the mask on the floor, and his hair spilled touching Orel's hand. Orel shivered and while Nikto was straightening, he had time to pass his palm over one of blonde strands. Tol opened his mouth in surprise seeing Orel's expression. Enriki rolled up his eyes. Nikto turned to Orel and met his eyes. For a few moments they looked at each other, then Nikto turned away and put on his mask.

Chapter 7

Morgan Talas

Orel was galloping along quiet side streets, as usual, and the others followed him. Suddenly he stopped his horse abruptly; it reared, kicking, nearly tossing Orel off. Several riders appeared from behind the corner, blocking their way.

"Damn you, who are you?" Orel was enraged. "Get out of my way!"

The riders didn't move, baring their swords threateningly. One of them raised his hand signaling his wish to speak.

"I'm Morgan Talas," he said loudly. "If you don't know me yet, you'll get to know soon. And don't bother with introducing yourself, I know who you are. You're the dirtiest and most disgusting man in this city, prince Arel Chig!"

"Wha-a-at?" Orel growled pulling out his sword from behind his back.

Lis, Enriki and Tol did the same. Nikto rode up to Orel.

"Calm down, Orel, he talks loud but he won't fight, he's shit scared of you."

"Who's that? What's he doing in my street?"

"It's Lamy's boyfriend."

"Lamy?"

"The girl whose head you cut off by mistake."

"Aah, I see. So, do you want to fight me?" Orel raised his head proudly. "Do you want to get revenge for your wench?"

He swished his sword.

"Come here! Your head will join hers."

But Morgan seemed not to hear his words.

"Nikto?" he said quietly. "I didn't doubt you'd be with them."

Nikto turned to him.

"Think whatever you want."

"You ruined Lamy. She thought you were her friend and you set her up! At first you took her soul, then her life! You cursed devil, why did you need her?"

"Talas, get out of the way," Nikto said. "You have no business to be in this street."

"And what business do you have? The fallen lords have given you their souls, haven't they? Be damned, you, for giving this devil the power to come out by daylight!"

"Are you going to fight?" Orel lost his patience. "You have more people than we do but we'll check what your people are made of!"

Morgan made his horse step back.

"Why should I fight you, you're already dead men!" he said arrogantly. "Your death will be long and painful. The devil will take care of it!" He pointed with his chin at Nikto. "I don't want to give you an easy death in a battle. You deserve hell!" He laughed.

"But I really feel like giving you something," Orel said.

Morgan got pale.

"Listen, devil, I'll find justice for you! There is god stronger than your father, and you'll feel it soon. Black glass won't save your eyes from the daylight, no matter how many lives you will take to pay for it!"

"Are you talking of the god of the Upper world?" Nikto asked. "You're just a fool!"

Morgan bared his teeth and started making a strange sign with his palm.

"Now!" Orel shouted and his horse cut into the crowd of Morgan Talas's frightened men. One of them fell, not even his steel armor saving him from Orel's sword.

"We're retreating!" Morgan yelled.

Orel and his warriors didn't chase them. Tol was laughing like mad.

"I've never seen such a fool before! He's like a little dog, barking but afraid to bite!"

"Morgan does everything quietly," Nikto said. "If he gets you alone, he'll do you away quickly."

"What a bastard," Enriki winced.

"I won't leave it like that," Orel said to them. "He's got on my nerves."

"It was his intention," Nikto said. His voice was cheerful but because of the mask one couldn't see whether he smiled or not.

"Let's go," Lis said, "he might call for a patrol and we don't need it."

"Bet on it," Nikto confirmed.

"Now, now, let's go!" Orel put his bloodied sword back into the sheath. His horse hopped over the spread body easily and galloped forward.

Chapter 8

At 'Backara'

The riders reached 'Backara'. Servants already started lighting torches on the facade of the building. Orel rounded the hotel through the side arc and dismounted in the backyard.

"The main entrance is not for you, sirs, is it?" Nikto asked.

Orel passed Beauty's bridle to a servant. "I don't want to reveal myself today."

They entered the restaurant through the rear exit and the owner rushed to welcome them.

"We'll be upstairs," Orel snapped. "If there is any mail, bring it later."

He quickly walked up the stairs to the room he used as his reception-room in the Lower City. Taking off his cloak, he turned to Nikto.

"Who is it that Morgan? Tell me, tell me now!"

Nikto shrugged.

"A nobody. A commoner, a warrior - but on the whole nothing special."

"I can't believe it!" Orel fell into a luxurious armchair at the head of the table. "A commoner threatens me, where is this world going to?"

Nikto laughed. Orel pointed at the place he could take.

"Orel, I want roast meat," Tol drawled whimsically.

"Then go and order it, don't you see I'm busy!" Orel shouted at him.

"All right, I'll wait."

"No, you go! Go now and order whatever you want! And pick up the mail while you're at it!"

Tol left the room hastily.

"You upset him when you killed Lamy," Nikto said. "Now he'll be trying to get you. He hates rich people and yells about it at every corner. He'll make the whole city know that the prince Arel Chig kills defenseless pregnant women."

"Oooh," Enriki moaned.

Orel passed his hands over his hair, smoothening it back.

"My poor reputation." He smiled, his eyes sparkling mischievously. "I just cut off that bitch's head by mistake. You were hanging around with her in the street, I decided she was your friend."

"She was my friend."

"I wanted to kill the Unclean!"

Nikto laughed.

"You find it funny, you're amused that a commoner puts me down! I need to kill him!"

"You can try. He's like a rat, if he hides, you won't catch him."

"Did you try?" Orel leaned forward.

"No," Nikto lit a cigarette. "Why would I?"

"He was threatening you, too."

"And a lot," Enriki added.

"Let him have his fun," Nikto said. "It works to my advantage. His tales of me scare everyone so much that I can do whatever I want in the Lower City now."

Orel laughed.

"They are really afraid of you, aren't they?"

"You can't imagine," Nikto shook his head.

"I don't find it funny at all," Lis said. "What's good in being a fright for everyone?"

"At last you've said something, Lis!" Orel exclaimed. "I thought you swallowed your tongue! No," he continued, "I'll kill that Morgan nonetheless, and you'll help me find him," he stabbed his finger at Nikto's mask.

"Hey, careful!"

"You seem happy," Lis said.

"Who's happy? I'm happy?"

"No, your horse's happy."

"Fine. I've had enough, I'm tired of all that shit." Orel put his legs onto the table as usual.

Tol entered the room.

"Roast meat is coming," he said. "And here is some mail." He put a few envelopes in front of Orel.

"Oh no, I don't want to be bothered with it," Orel moaned.

"So, what have you decided about Mor... whatever's his name?" Tol asked.

"I'll kill him next week," Orel said.

"Perfect. Why not sooner?"

"I'll let him live for a while longer."

"He'll just use that time to write a few complaints about you - to the court, all the ministers and the king himself," Nikto said.

"Do you mean it? He's writing complaints?"

"More than you can imagine."

"Oh no, I cannot bear it!" Orel pressed his palm to his chest. "Farewell, my friends! Prison is waiting for me!"

Tol laughed. Orel took his legs away from the table.

"So, where is roast meat?"

"Coming," Tol said.

"It's a pity it won't be made of Morgan Talas!"

"Orel, you're crossing the borders," Enriki said, exasperated.

"Enriki is silent," Orel cut him off.

The servants brought the dinner.

"Oh gods, I haven't been praying for a long time but I think I should now!" Orel slapped a maiden on her ass. "Am I right, Rona?"

"I'm praying for you every day, my lord," Rona purred.

"And do you pray for me?" Tol smiled at her.

"For you I don't," she said resentfully and pressed closer to Orel just in case.

"Ah, you've hurt her feelings, Tol," Orel said contentedly. "She remembers. Don't you, little Rona?"

Rona bowed. Orel gave her a coin, the only one of three servants.

"When did I hurt her feelings?" Tol couldn't believe it. "Oh fuck her, that bitch!"

Bowing, the servants left.

"Fuck your mother, Tol, why did you order so much food?" Enriki asked.

"I'm hungry!"

"Stupid ass."

"And I'm thirsty," Orel said.

"Are you going to get drunk tonight?" Lis asked.

"Never mind." Orel halved the bottle in one gulp. Lis looked at him in contempt.

"So, do you like the roast meat?" Tol asked proudly. "Tastes good, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it's okay."

"And what do you think?" he turned to Nikto.

"It's okay."

"Oh bullshit, you don't like it! You like something else, don't you?"

"If I say that, Lis won't like it," Nikto said.

"Aah, I know! You like fox fillet!" Tol cackled happily with his joke. Orel tossed away the empty bottle and looked at them tiredly.

"I know what he wants to say," Lis continued ignoring Tol's remark.

"Really? What?" Tol asked with interest.

"He likes raw meat better."

Tol looked at Nikto.

"Why didn't you say sooner? I'd have asked not to roast your slice!" he laughed.

"Tol," Orel said, "why are you tiring me so?"

"Because you're too nervy! You're nerves are just thrusting out of you!" Tol waved his hands showing the nerves thrust out of Orel. Everyone laughed, including Orel.

"Orel, I need a shot," Nikto said.

"Oh shit. I hope it's not 'black water'?"

"No."

"Then go to my study," Orel pointed at the door behind his back. Nikto got up, took his bag and walked out. The friends followed him with their gazes.

"Are you going to check your mail?" Lis asked.

"Yes, I am." Orel opened the first envelope. "Again some complaints that I should rule out. N complaints about P, and P complaints about V. I don't even know who V is! Do you?"

"I don't know either," Enriki said.

Tol and Lis shook their head in reply to Orel's questioning stare.

"Fine, what else do we have? An anonymous threat."

"What's there?"

Orel tossed the paper to his friends.

"Bey will fuck your every hole, just like he did with your beloved Toby. Prepare yourself!" Enriki read softly.

"Just throw it away!" Lis crumpled the paper and tossed it on the floor.

Nikto came back to the room. He sat down putting his elbows on the table and holding his head.

"You were quick," Orel said. Nikto didn't answer. Lis gave Orel an expressive look and shook his head.

"No matter what Bey does to Toby, I'm not giving him my street!" Orel said.

"We've figured that out," Enriki said.

"You've discarded Toby," Lis snorted, "and the street is nearly Bey's all the same."

"We'll see!"

"Nothing to see here," Tol muttered.

"What else?" Lis pointed at the remaining envelopes.

"Same shit," Orel pushed his mail away. "Traders side with Bey, they choose him over me."

"They don't trust you any more," Enriki said to Orel.

"He coerces them," Orel looked down and paused. "I don't know how but I won't let him have the street," he said at last.

"You're saying it for two months and what?" Tol mumbled.

"Fine, what do you suggest? We'll give him one street, then another and what?"

"We'll have our streets in the Upper City left, he won't be able to take them anyway," Lis said.

"The Lower City is giving me thrice what the Upper does! I have six hundred slaves I have to feed! A half of them are women and children, what should I do to them, sell them?"

"Don't panic. How many soldiers do we have?"

"Not many. Look, Enriki, can you get Squint-Eye out of prison at last? Squint-Eye can bring us mercenaries from the west."

"I'm trying, Arel, but the king controls everything, he keeps his eye on him, I can't do anything. But I'm trying, really!"

"We are so fucked," Orel said.

"Bring your people from the east," Lis suggested.

"Right. There are already five of my people against ten Reds there! If we lose my lands in the east, we're finished."

"We can take Squint-Eye's people even without him," Tol said.

"Do you think it's so easy?" Orel shrugged.

"He can write an order and pass it to us."

"His father and elder brother don't care shit about his orders. While he is in prison, they use his best lands."

"We can kill them."

Orel laughed.

"And what are you going to tell Squint-Eye? Hello, we killed your family because they didn't let us take your people?"

"Maybe he'll be glad."

"Sure!"

"He can write them to give us people," Tol didn't give up.

"We need to get Squint-Eye out, that's all," Orel looked at Enriki significantly.

"I won't be able to do it sooner than in a month, in the best case," Enriki looked down.

"He's there for a year, already!" Orel shouted.

"What can I do? They can keep him there for life! Maybe you can take his place, Arel, and he goes free."

"So, you really can get him out."

"Exchanging him for you - yes, I can."

"Well, thank you," Orel looked at him in disgust.

Someone knocked the door softly.

"Who's there?"

The owner entered the room.

"Master Vil Luven and other masters from the third street have come to see you."

"I know, I know! Tell them I'm busy, I'm dealing with the problem, all right?"

"Yes, my lord," the owner left hastily.

"They are going to keep complaining and ask to protect them from Bey," Lis said. "They won't leave you alone until you do something."

"Yes, I know but what can I do?"

"Let's negotiate with Bey and give him a half of the street," Enriki suggested. "It'll give us a break, I'll have time to get Squint-Eye out, we'll find people and..."

"And then," Orel continued for him, "we'll get our half of the street back, and everything starts again from the beginning but we'll have only half of people left."

"Then I don't know," Enriki spread his arms.

"Any other suggestions? Hey? Where are you, my friends? Help me!"

Everyone kept silent musing.

"Nik, are you restored?" Orel slightly pushed Nikto's shoulder.

"Yes."

"Do you have any suggestions?"

"A lot but they won't suit you." He screwed his eyes shut and rubbed his face with his palms. Tol moved the light on the table away from him, just in case.

"Good morning, my dear," Orel said, "are you going to wake up at last?"

"I have, I have," Nikto leaned at the back of the chair.

"Is your stuff knocking you out seriously?" Enriki asked watching him with interest.

"It doesn't knock me out. But you'll think I'm drunk if I don't take it."

"Ooh. Nikto must have some free men at his disposal," Tol said with a brightened face.

"No men among them," Nikto said very calmly.

Lis looked at him with a fixed stare. "But you do have someone, don't you?"

"As many as you want," Nikto smiled.

"No, we can't do that," Enriki said.

"Why, for fuck's sake?" Tol yelled.

"We can add them to our men, half by half," Orel said, "everyone in the Lower City does that."

"Perhaps we can use half-bloods," Enriki mused. "Otherwise our people desert even sooner."

"They are not my servants, I can only hire them," Nikto said. "But it'll be cheap. Maybe you won't have to pay them at all, just give them some human females, for example."

"That's it. Now we're trapped," Lis said.

"You want to keep your hands clean, Lis," Orel exclaimed. "It won't work, you have to choose."

"You make such a choice once, you'll never have your hands clean again."

"I don't like it either," Enriki said carefully.

"Two of you, three of us," Orel cut him off. "We'll get a break, then come up with something better, maybe."

"We have already lost," Lis said, "and we won't ever win again."

"It's decided then," Orel summarized. "Life makes us change our tactics, we have so few people and they are so expensive that we can't afford it any more."

"Bey has more half-bloods and Uncleans than you can imagine," Nikto said, "that's why he's crushing you."

"And he will keep crushing us," Tol added. "It's time to put the end to it. I personally don't mind Unclean half-bloods, they sometimes look so much like humans you can't tell the difference."

"How many people do we need? Let's decide quickly. Can you find two hundred of them?"

"Two hundred, three hundred - easily, Arel."

"How much time do you need?"

"Two hours."

"Wha..?"

"If you want to choose them yourselves, it'll take more time."

"Oh gods, it sounds so easy!" Tol sighed. "Nikto, I love you!"

"I'll hire them from the Lower City, from the borders with the Unclean District, so you won't have anyone from the Unclean District itself."

"Thank gods," Enriki whispered.

"You could have done that yourselves," Nikto said, "you'd just need a little more time," he paused, "...and a little less pride."

Nikto takes Tol and goes to find mercenaries at the borders of the Lower City and the Unclean District.

Orel talks to the traders of the third street who waited for him in the restaurant downstairs and promises them a quick victory over Bey. He convinces them not to leave his domain. Later he goes back to his castle.

Enriki and Lis gather Orel's soldiers and prepare them to the fact that they will be joined by Unclean half-bloods soon. Commanders start preparing to accept new warriors.

As soon as Tol brings the first party, Lis goes to Orel's castle to report.

Chapter 9

Lis and Orel

Lis entered Orel's room.

"Couldn't you do anything better than sleep right now?" he said in annoyance.

"I needed a little rest." Orel sat up in bed and yawned. "I've drunk too much and you guys really loaded me with all that shit."

Lis came up to the mirror, tried to smoothen his disheveled hair but without much result.

"I'm riding like mad, driving my horse breathless, it's been galloping the whole day, and you're asleep! Maybe you don't care at all how the things are going?"

"I do, I do." Orel got up heavily and stretched. "Have a drink." He came up to the bar and poured himself a drink.

Lis sat down in the armchair.

"Tol brought the first hundred of mercenaries," he said.

Orel's face lit up with a smile, he gulped the content of his glass and filled it again.

"I knew it!" he said. "I knew Nikto would save us!"

Lis reached his hand and Orel gave him a glass.

"It was just yesterday we had a normal talk with him, and today he's giving us a hundred mercenaries and will get another hundred, I'm sure," Orel smiled. "Within two hours he was able to do more than we could in two months. And it's just the beginning," he laughed. "Why do you keep silent, Lis? Nothing to say?"

"Nothing," Lis said darkly. "I don't like many things but here I have to agree with you: he saved us, and did it easily and gracefully. Fucking really gracefully. Curse this devil."

"How did my warriors react?"

"They were expecting any help, they are too tired of fighting Bey's people alone. Enriki assured the commanders that if they didn't like someone, they'd be excluded at once, no questions."

"And?"

"When Tol brought the first party, their doubts vanished."

Orel looked at Lis with interest.

"He brought good soldiers, didn't he?"

"Yes, very good," Lis said. "They are professionals, nothing to say."

"Now we'll see who's going to win!" Orel laughed and fell across the bed. "Now they'll pay for everything!"

He got up again.

"I'll give an order... any of Bey's people we capture \- I'll order to do such things to them that the rest will be horrified. They'll lose any desire to get into our territory."

"Think of Toby," Lis said. "What Bey is going to do to him if you start brutalize his people."

Orel came up to Lis.

"I'll be completely honest, Lis," he leaned forward resting his hands on the elbow rests of Lis's armchair; his face was on the same level with Lis's face now. "I don't care shit what happens to Toby."

They stared at each other for a while, then Orel straightened taking away his hands and walked away.

"Do you understand me, Lis?" he said fiercely.

"I do," Lis said.

"By the way," Orel continued as if nothing happened, "those half-bloods, you didn't tell me, are they very disgusting looking?"

"Not at all. If Nikto hadn't told us, I would've never guessed. They are not different from humans."

"Why are you saying that in such a sad voice, Lis?" Orel smiled. "You were wrong about Nikto, now you have to admit it. You didn't have to pick on him, did you?"

"He helped us but he isn't at a loss either," Lis snarled. "You can say the street is half-his now! And you're right, Arel, he isn't wasting any time. He's getting everything under his control quickly. Too quickly, I'd say, too boldly \- he knows we cannot do without his help."

"Lis, you're paranoid. Why does he need our streets?"

"At first it's the Lower City, then the Upper," Lis said, "it's simple. I'm sure those half-bloods were long prepared to rise, they just waited for his signal. You cannot find two hundred chosen soldiers in two hours!"

"It's nonsense, Lis!" Orel shouted. "We just took him on our team yesterday! Do you want to say that he knew in advance that we'd invite him and we'd need his people? Did he know that when we didn't know it ourselves?"

"Why not? He's not human, he's a son of the Devil!"

"Now you're talking like that madman we met today - Morgan Talas."

"Why did he say we gave Nikto power to come out in the street by daylight?" Lis said.

"What?! You're memorizing this bullshit? Poor Lis! Did your vision grow worse since today? Did the devil take some of it to see better?" Orel looked at Lis as if he was mentally sick.

"No, of course not, my vision didn't grow worse," Lis hastened to explain. "I just didn't like his words, that's all."

"But I'm happy that I met Nikto, he's a great man and you won't make me change my mind! And you know, if he had it planned in advance, he wouldn't take Tol along. Tol will tell us everything."

"Yes," Lis said, "I hope so. Tol is very happy. He said Nikto invited him to go to the very border of the Unclean District, to get the rest of the soldiers, but Tol didn't go."

"I trust Nikto," Orel said. "He doesn't wish evil to us."

Lis kept silent.

"I ordered him to go back to the castle when he finishes with soldiers. And you go to the Lower City to Tol and Enriki."

"N-no."

"Yes," Orel said firmly.

"But I hope you're not going to..."

"Calm down, I'm not going to do anything, I just want to spend some time with him without you. You're always picking on him, humiliating him, asking stupid questions. I want to try understanding what he really is. I want him to relax, maybe, I'll give him a slave - I wonder what he'll do to her, he doesn't get a hard-on only from the Unclean, does he?"

"I hope he's restored after my injection," Lis laughed and then got pale looking at Orel. "You're not going to put him under your special test, are you?"

"I am."

"No, Orel, please, it's another one of your crazy ideas!.."

"Everyone who wants to be around me has to be tested. I won't give up. I'll learn more of him than he knows of himself like that."

"I really doubt!"

"You'll see, I'll make him reveal his true nature. He is too reserved: he speaks only when he's asked, does only what I order, doesn't react at our digs. But I feel he's not so simple as he tries to appear."

"I'm glad at least you understand that," Lis said.

"Yes, now I know he has authority in the Unclean District and on the borders of the Lower City. He doesn't show that but after talking to him today I feel he isn't on the level where we put him without thinking. His place is much higher."

"I told you so."

"And because he didn't try to prove us anything, because he silently took our attitude, I like him even more. He said he didn't care what Morgan Talas said about him, and I believe it's true - he really doesn't care. He doesn't care what we think of him. Isn't it so? Because he is confident. So confident that he doesn't need to try to look better. I respect such people. He is much better than anyone thinks."

"Or much worse."

"No, Lis, I don't believe that. I feel he is not a villain. Since the night we tortured him I feel that he is honest, brave and noble."

"Oh my god," Lis said. "Orel, you're losing your mind."

"Yes, I'm, really - I like him so much. He is so calm, silent and proud."

"Well, he is silent mostly because he doesn't speak Black too well. And I wouldn't say he's really calm. I saw several times he barely controlled his temper."

"Yes," Orel laughed. "Of course, you were getting on his nerves. But he did control it."

"He did, he couldn't afford to spoil everything now when it just started."

"Yes, it started," Orel smiled dreamily. "And I'm happy."

"Oh fine, enjoy yourself, and I'm leaving." Lis put the glass down. "It's late. Your beloved is coming soon, I think. If I don't see him tonight, I think I'll sleep better."

"What if he doesn't come?" Orel said shakily.

"Oh, don't you start! He'll come, you did order him."

"Maybe he doesn't care for my orders."

"Now that's something new. Weren't you certain that he was obedient?"

"Yes, but now I am not. He might stay with his Unclean wife, his house is there."

"You told him: either us or the Unclean. He has the Unclean wrapped around his little finger; we're still loose. He'll come."

"But when? It's so late!"

"It's late for us, it's early for him. He probably only wakes up at this time normally."

"All right, I'll be waiting. And I rely on you."

"We'll do everything we need and I'll come back tomorrow morning. And please, Arel, be careful."

"I promise to tell you honestly everything that happens tonight," Orel said. "I need your cool head because mine is burning."

"I'm glad you say that, you know how much I love you. And you know what I'm ready to do for you."

"Yes, you see through people. And you see me as I am. Unlike Tol and Enriki."

"See you tomorrow, Arel. Have a merry night with your tattooed friend," Lis laughed and left.

Chapter 10

At night

It was quiet in the castle, only from time to time the wind knocked sharply on the latticed windows, and then Orel flinched. He was sitting alone in his big luxurious room and listened. He wanted to hear the stamping of the hooves of Nikto's evil stallion he called a strange, difficult to pronounce Unclean name. But only hysterical gushes of wind reached him. It seemed he'd spent an eternity like that. Far away, somewhere in the castle, the clock rang, loud and solemn.

Orel slowly put a half-empty cup on the table, passed his fingers over the transparent glass.

"Enough drinking," he said to himself. "'Enough drinking, you drink too much, son.' Yeah," he muttered thoughtfully, "your son is totally fucked." He laughed. "I'm drunk and I don't care shit!"

He grabbed his glass, gulped the wine and wiped his mouth with his hand.

"I don't care shit! Do you hear me?" he yelled in the empty room and threw the glass at the closed door. The glass shattered into pieces with a deafening noise. In silence this sound seemed to Orel killingly loud. He squeezed his head with his palms. "Oooh!"

The wind howled furiously behind the window, knocked on the stained-glass window making it jingle. Orel got up heavily, slowly walked up to the bar. He took another glass, filled it with wine.

Before sitting back into the chair, he stopped at the mirror. For a few moments he looked at it dumbly. His reflection stared back at him: his dark hair, long and straight, parted in the middle - slaves had twined a few eagle feathers into it - framed his light-grey face colored with a special paint. His brown eyes lined with black had an unkind look.

Raising his glass Orel clanked it against the mirror.

"Cheers!" he said to his reflection. "You look fucking shitty." He laughed and drank, then turned sharply and threw the glass at the door without looking. He pressed his hands against the mirror table, leaning heavily, then suddenly froze realizing something. There had been no noise, he hadn't heard glass shattering.

It was silent in the room.

Orel shivered and slowly turned to the door.

Nikto was standing in the doorway, holding the glass in his hands - the remnants of the wine leaked over his fingers.

Orel started back, bumping into the table, overturning little jugs and phials that stood there.

Nikto was mask-less, he looked at his hands.

"Shit," he said nonchalantly and walked up to the bar as if nothing happened. "I saved your family glass," he added. "Can a have a drink for that?"

He turned to Orel who was still standing at the mirror unable to say a word.

"Orel, snap out of it," he said in annoyance.

"H-how did you get there?" Orel stammered.

Nikto filled his glass and sat down in the armchair. He looked at Orel carefully.

"Orel, are you afraid of me?"

"How did you get there?" Orel yelled.

Nikto slammed the glass down on the table loudly.

"You told me to come! I used the pass you gave me and entered the Upper City, then rode to your castle. The bridge was down, your servants opened the gates for me. You probably told them I would come. Then I walked through the door, up the stairs - and here I am!"

Orel covered his ears with his palms.

"Okay, okay, just don't shout, please - I can't stand it!"

Nikto got silent, glanced at Orel resentfully and turned away.

"I'm sorry," Orel said, "I was frightened. Yes, you're right, I'm afraid of you. And who wouldn't be if you appear like a ghost, all of a sudden? I nearly had a heart attack. My servant was supposed to tell me you'd come."

"Your servants ran away when seeing me. At least they took my horse - otherwise I'd have to take him to the stables myself."

"Oh gods."

"Enough of calling for your gods."

"Sorry," Orel smiled. "I'm glad to see you, really glad. It's a pity it turned out like that."

"All right, it's my fault," Nikto said, "I should have knocked. But I couldn't even imagine you were spending your time like that."

"It was an accident," Orel flushed.

"I know. Are you going to keep standing there?"

Orel was embarrassed. "No."

He looked at the scattered phials. One of them got smashed and black liquid spread on the expensive carpet.

"Oh shit." Orel gave Nikto a forlorn look. Nikto watched him with interest.

"Regretting for your carpet, huh?" he said, barely able to keep from laughing.

"I dunno," Orel said. "But yes, it's no good."

"It is the face paint, isn't it? Try to pour some of the 'water' you use to wash it off on it. You have some, don't you?"

"Yes," Orel said; he took a phial with transparent liquid and looked at it thoughtfully, "but my skin is one thing, the carpet is another." He poured some liquid on the stain; it paled immediately and disappeared in a few moments. Orel looked at Nikto happily. "Did you know that? Did you do it before?"

Nikto laughed. "Not at all. I have the paint but I don't use it often. But are aristocrats like you allowed to paint their faces?"

"Don't you see mine is painted?"

"I see. That's why I ask."

"Actually we aren't but I'm a fallen prince, I'm allowed anything." Orel sat down in the armchair in front of Nikto and lit a cigarette. "The grey paint penetrates the skin so deep that I cannot dissolve it with anything. I'm a disgrace for my noble family. You know last year they didn't let me in to a theater in the Upper City. There is a gathering of the high society there, once every half a year, and they simply threw me out of there like a dog. And just imagine, my ancestors ruled this whole world once!" He looked at his hand. "Now I only have this royal ring, but it isn't worth anything. You won't understand that. Well, for example, it'd be as humiliating for you as if they didn't allow you into a theater in the Lower City."

"Actually, they don't," Nikto said sipping his wine.

"You're kidding!"

"Not at all."

Orel looked at him in surprise and they both laughed.

"I forgot to thank you for the soldiers."

"Don't mention it."

"No, wait, I decided to give you something for it. Let's go!"

"Where to?"

"To visit my slaves. You'll enjoy it."

* * *

"Well, what do you think?" Orel said contentedly.

A female slave, kneeling, started taking off Nikto's boots gently. He allowed her to do it and took off his jacket.

"Magnificent," Nikto said leaning against expensive pillows in relaxation.

Slaves were dancing in smooth movements. They all were very beautiful, young and slim, with long thick hair and decorated in jewelry from head to toes.

They danced and smiled happily because they knew their master was reveling in them, was proud of them. They felt confident of their beauty that was impossible not to admire.

"Choose any girl," Orel said. "I'll give her to you."

Nikto looked at him and smiled.

"Cool! I was right telling you then that you could pay the Unclean by giving them a few human females."

He reached for his jacket, took out a cigarette and lit it, then looked at Orel again.

"Hey! You aren't going to start throwing glasses again, are you?"

Orel shook his head as if chasing away the thoughts that flooded him.

"Are you going to choose a woman?" he asked quietly and ominously.

"Yes, why not."

"Then choose!"

Nikto looked at the dancing girls.

"Tell them stop dancing and come closer. I like them all but I want to choose the most beautiful - for you not to think that I have no idea about female beauty."

Orel laughed.

"I never thought that, it was Lis picking on you. And you're memorizing every word."

"I'm not trying to, it just happens."

"Really? But you said you didn't care what people said about you." Orel looked at Nikto slyly. Nikto shook off ash from his cigarette and looked up at Orel.

"Everyone cares what others say about him," he said seriously. "I said I didn't care what Las said but I didn't say I didn't care about anyone."

"Las?"

"Morgan Talas, remember?"

"Yes, sure. Of course, I remember him but you're calling him like that, do you know him closely? Lamy was your friend, he is her friend, so, you and him were friends, too?"

"Friends? I don't know, now it doesn't matter, after Lamy's death everything changed, now I'm his enemy."

"Will you forgive me?" Orel asked.

"Don't say that, I have nothing to forgive you." Nikto raised his glass. "Let's have a drink?"

"Yes, let's commemorate your friend. I still feel bad that we set you up in the eyes of that Talas: he thinks you got her into a trap. Maybe we can explain him in some way that you're not to blame for her death."

"Orel, I think you were going to kill him. And now you want to explain him something."

"I just want to restore justice."

"Forget about it," Nikto laughed. "It doesn't suit you."

"Aah, you think I can't do anything good, don't you?"

"Orel, I see you enjoy chatting but you promised me a slave."

"Yes," Orel clapped his palms making the girls stop. The one who was playing a musical instrument also put it down and joined the others. "Come here."

The girls hurried up to him.

"Closer," Orel patted the fur and the girls knelt on it. They froze still, looking down shyly, but inside every one of them was trembling in hope that her master and his guest would choose her over the others.

"I like this one," Nikto said taking one of the slaves by her long black braid. Orel laughed.

"Hey, why are laughing?" Nikto smiled, he tried to pull the girl closer by her braid - she didn't move. "Tell her she may, I'm choosing her!"

Orel waved at the slave. "Obey this master, clear?"

The slave nodded without raising her eyes, then moved closer to Nikto submissively.

"I laughed," Orel said, "because she isn't the most beautiful and you promised to choose the most beautiful one."

"Really? She seemed the most beautiful to me."

They both laughed.

"The most beautiful girl here is Mina," Orel pointed at a blonde girl who quickly looked up at him with her eyes full of love and gratitude. Nikto looked at her with interest. Orel made a sign for her to come closer. She clung to him happily.

"Look what wonderful hair she has," Orel patted the girl's beautiful golden locks.

"No-o-o," Nikto drawled. "Mine is like that, I'm tired of it."

Orel looked at him in surprise, then laughed.

"Yes, you don't think blonde hair is something special but I do," he looked at the girl in admiration. "It's such a rare thing."

"Then keep her," Nikto said; his black-haired partner grew bolder and was clinging to him now.

"Fine, everyone but Mina and that one with braids, you can go."

The slaves backed away in disappointment.

"What, don't you even know her name?"

"Ah, shit, I forgot."

"But you remember the name of your blonde."

"Nikto, stop picking on me. Do you care what her name is? You can call her whatever you want, she's yours now."

Nikto glanced at Orel but didn't say anything, wrapped his arm around the girl.

"Look at me. Do whatever you want," he said to her.

"Thank you, master," she whispered.

"She likes you," Orel noticed.

"Yes," Nikto practically put her onto himself.

She reached to his face, kissed him somewhat cautiously, pulled on his lower lip, laughed. Then she grew more daring, passed the tip of her tongue over two silver rings in Nikto's lower lip. She laughed again.

Nikto pulled her closer, gently touched her eyes with his lips. She closed her eyes, leaning against him in a kiss.

Orel watched them kissing and smiled, his favorite Mina lay in his embrace, forgotten.

For Nikto and his slave everything in the world seemed to stop existing. She pulled up his shirt gently, urging him to take it off; he obeyed, parting their mouths for a moment. Moaning, she pressed harder to his strong chest covered in tattoos, stroking it with her palms. Nikto looked at the girl, admiring her, holding her braid in one hand, then let her go and pushed on her shoulders directing her downward.

She gave in readily, moved down kissing his stomach. She deftly untied the lacing on his crotch with her teeth and, trembling with excitement, helping with her hands, pushed down the black leather of Nikto's pants.

Nikto rose slightly aiding her.

Orel who was staring at them swallowed hard, and Mina who seemed to co-experience everything her friend was doing, grabbed Orel's hand and put his finger into her mouth.

Nikto leaned forward, making a sound like 'aaah'; the slave started sucking his cock and then stroked herself between her thighs wildly.

Mina moaned, sticking her teeth into Orel's finger. Orel flinched and took his finger away.  
"Shit," he said wiping his finger against the cover.

Mina licked her lips and rubbed herself on the furs. Orel grabbed his head.

"Kill her," he said hoarsely. "Nikto, I order you, kill her now!"

Nikto didn't answer; a shiver ran over his body, he strained hissing, coming. The slave moaned loudly, starting back from him, then fell limply on her face on the covers.

Orel couldn't say a word.

Nikto raised and started dressing.

"Where are you going to?" Orel asked shakily.

"Orel, I'm going to my room, to sleep." Nikto didn't even look at him. "I'm tired, I want to sleep. You're going to wake me up early again tomorrow, aren't you?"

He didn't let Orel object and left the room quickly.

"Shi-i-it!" Orel yelled angrily, he was ready to smash something in rage. Mina recoiled from him in fear.

"I'm an idiot!" Orel moaned. "A fool, a total idiot!" He clenched his fists. "Nikto isn't obeying me! He doesn't respect me! He promised to obey my orders but he really doesn't care! Lis was right, damn that Lis!" Orel hit the cover with his fist. "What should I do? What should I do?" he said looking around with an unseeing stare.

"I'll kill him! I'll kill him!" he screamed, nearly crying, pushed away the tray with drinks and food. The tray fell on the floor with a clash. Mina shrieked. Orel glared at her.

"What are you doing here? Get out!" he growled at her, lifting his hand for a blow. She curled in a ball, not trying to shield herself.

Then Orel noticed the other slave lying on the furs. He lowered his hand, his attention changing its focus.

"Why are you still here? Having come too hard? Get up! I hate you so much!" he hissed pushing her with his foot.

The slave didn't move.

Orel froze.

"Hey you, black-braided," he called.

The girl still lay with her face buried in the furs. Orel came closer warily.

"Hey, what's your name, wake up," he called softly. Then he took her by the shoulder and turned over sharply. The black-braided slave looked at him with glassy lifeless eyes; white fluid was leaking out of her mouth.

"No," Orel whispered. "No, no, no! It can't be!"

He grabbed her and shook her with all his strength.

"Wake up! Wake up, you idiot!"

Blood gushed from the slave's nose and mouth. Mina screamed. Orel pushed the slave away in horror - she was dead.

And even though Mina was screaming non-stop, Orel didn't say anything, he seemed not to notice her shrieks at all. He was sitting over the dead slave and watched blood leaking from her mouth onto the furs.

"It can't be," he said to no one. "It isn't possible. How could he have done it?"

He raised his handsome face.

"Gods! How did he do it? How?" He lowered his head and covered his face with his hands. "How did he do it?" he asked again and again, mechanically.

Mina stopped screaming, clenched her hands and started praying.

Chapter 11

Morning with Lis

"Master Lis is here," a servant said bowing politely.

"Let him in," Orel said indifferently.

He was sitting alone in the main hall, at the head of the table, and drinking strong coffee. Outside the windows a stormy night was replaced by a bright sunny day, and rays of the sun shone brilliantly sparkling on the multicolored glass of the stained-glass windows. Red, blue and orange specks loped over the walls, table and Orel's face but he didn't care. He seemed gloomy and brooding. Lis entered the hall.

"Good morning, prince," he said merrily but then frowned looking at Orel. "Is everything all right?" he asked worriedly coming up to the table.

Orel gave him a tired glance.

"Yes, of course. I didn't expect you so early. Sit down."

"I was concerned about you," Lis said sitting in his place. "And I was right, it seems."

Orel smirked.

"No, you weren't."

"Really? I wouldn't say so, looking at you." Lis poured some coffee. "But at least you're safe and sound, I'm glad."

"Li-i-is," Orel drawled smiling. "Why didn't you bring an army to save me, why did you come alone to fight the devil?" He laughed mirthlessly.

Lis looked at him anxiously.

"Orel, you're in shambles lately," he said. "I'm worried."

Orel squinted his eyes gazing at him carefully.

"Dear mother, have you come to visit me? You have changed, dear mom, devils must've frayed you hard in hell, I barely can recognize you," he laughed. "But don't worry, old woman, your son is okay, you can go back to hell peacefully."

"Enough!" Lis shouted. "Enough," he added more evenly.

"Yes, you're right," Orel said tiredly.

"Where is Nikto?"

"In his room, sleeping, likely."

"What happened between you yesterday?"

"Nothing. Not a thing."

"Orel, remember, you promised to tell me everything, maybe, I can help you, all of us!"

Orel looked at him; Lis lowered his eyes unable to stand his gaze.

"Will you tell me what happened?"

"Nothing happened, just something changed in me, that's all."

"Have you been frightened?"

"Yes, I was frightened, of myself, of what I was doing. But it passed, everything's all right, Nikto is a great guy, he's obeying me."

"So, you've tested him, haven't you?"

"Of course! I never give up on my plans."

"Did he kill her? Did he kill a slave without questioning, at once? What did he do: strangled her, stabbed her? I see you were impressed. Was he particularly cruel, tortured her, made her scream?"

"No," Orel said, "she didn't scream. He didn't kill her at all."

"What?! I can't believe you!"

"Trust me, to say that he killed her would be a lie, he didn't touch her."

"Orel, you're confusing me, did he kill her or not?"

"No. I don't know. I don't know."

"How can you not know? Is she alive?"

"No, she is dead," Orel said slowly.

"Then he killed her?"

"I don't know. He probably did... or maybe not."

"Wait, wait, don't start all over again," Lis interrupted him. "You're going to tell me everything in detail now, from the beginning to the end."

"No, no," Orel moaned, "I can't, I don't feel like recalling the last night at all. Lis, don't torment me, everything's all right, everyone is safe and sound, nothing happened, believe me."

Lis shook his head.

"I don't believe you. Not everyone is safe and sound: a girl is dead, and I want to know what happened," he said firmly. "You promised, tell me."

"All right, what do you want to know, I'll tell you, maybe, I'll feel better then."

"That's a good decision," Lis said with joy. "So, Nikto came to the castle and..."

Orel flinched.

"Yes, he came," he said distantly as if thinking of something personal. "By the way, Lis," he suddenly got animated, "do you remember, when you left, did I lock the door?"

"Yes," Lis said, "you always do that. Why?"

"Nah, it's nothing."

"Orel, what happened?"

"Nothing. So, Nikto came, I took him to the leisure hall," Orel avoided answering. "The slaves started dancing, he chose one of them."

"Wait, not so fast. What did he say when you offered him that?"

"Ooh, Lis, it's such a small thing! He said something like 'cool!' He was calm about it."

"Which one did he choose?"

"I don't know her name – don't remember. She wasn't the best even though he said he was going to choose the most beautiful," Orel smirked. "You got on his nerves with your words that he wasn't knowledgeable about women. He said: 'I'll choose the most beautiful one for you not to think that I don't know anything about women,' yes, that's exactly what he said. But the most beautiful there was Mina."

"Gods! You offered him Mina!"

"Yes."

"But you love Mina! What if he'd chosen her?"

"I even wanted him to choose her," Orel said calmly.

"Orel, you cannot do that to Mina!"

"I can," Orel shrugged. "She is my slave, nothing else."

"But you love her!" Lis almost screamed. "I know you love her, you never give her to anyone!"

"Yes," Orel said, "I started getting attached to her and I don't like that. I wanted to test myself if I had enough strength to doom her to death."

Lis was silent.

"Why don't you say anything?! Tell me what a bastard I am!" Orel shouted.

"And if he'd chosen her," Lis said at last, "would you have been able to complete it? Would you have told him to kill Mina?"

"Yes," Orel said, "I was prepared. I wanted to find out what I'd feel when seeing them together, what I'd feel when he was killing her. Now I understand I was too self-confident, I was prepared only to what I imagined. He chooses Mina, I give her to him, let him do whatever he wants to her..." Orel laughed joylessly. "I was an idiot!"

He looked at Lis who was listening carefully.

"And then," Orel continued, "when he's totally losing his mind because of her, when he's trembling with eagerness and desire, when he wants her most of all in the world, a tough guy Orel comes forward and says: 'I order you, kill her'."

He shook his head.

"It's so simple, he doesn't dare disobey, he is afraid of appearing weak, he is a son of the Devil, isn't he – he must know how to kill. She begs to spare her, looks at me with pleading eyes, I'm her only hope. But I've already given the order, now I want only one thing: to enjoy the sight of her death, her agony." He got silent, immersed in his thoughts. "It was nothing like that. Nothing like I imagined. And now I'm glad he chose another one, I wouldn't want Mina to die like that. I was a fool when offering her to Nikto, now I know that. I even feel sorry for that black-braided girl."

"Black-braided?" Lis repeated.

"The one he chose – she had two braids, black ones, down to the floor. I forgot her name, that's why I call her black-braided."

"Shela," Lis said.

"What?"

"Her name was Shela, she is the only one who had her hair like this, she always braided it to keep it in order."

"You know her. Did you like her?" Orel asked in surprise.

"Yes. You never paid much attention to her, preoccupied with your Mina. But she was really a nice girl. When you gave us permission to take you slaves, we always chose that Shela, we had a lot of fun with her."

"You were always having fun with her?"

"Oh well, I was choosing her often for myself, she is good at blow-jobs."

"She was," Orel corrected him. "By the way, it was exactly the last thing she was doing before she died."

"Poor Shela, I will be missing her."

"You know," Orel said, "everything happened so fast. He chose her and they started kissing each other at once, that Shella seemed to be out of her mind. I was with Mina, we couldn't stop staring at them. Mina really went wild with arousal. Me too, actually, I felt hot all over," he laughed, "there was something emanating from him, you couldn't just stay calm. He didn't even strip her, didn't even touch her breasts, he just held her braids, and that was great!"

Orel smiled remembering.

"That Shella wasn't afraid of him at all, rubbed herself against him like a cat, nearly fainted under his gaze, and when he pushed her down, she gave such a performance! If you could only see how she caressed him! How she sucked! It was something. I really underappreciated her. She sucked his dick and rubbed her hand between her thighs, her moans were driving me mad. And his dick! I wouldn't mind having it in my mouth, with all its tattoos..."

"Shut up!" Lis yelled. "Enough, enough! Spare me those details or I'm gonna be sick! I don't want to listen to anything like that, stop it or I'll leave."

"All right, all right, I stop," Orel said grinning.

Lis sighed in annoyance.

"You're so difficult," he said.

"Should I tell more?"

"Yes, but please, without including your sexual fantasies."

"You don't like what I said about his dick, about wanting to suck him off, do you?" Orel laughed.

"Enough, Arel, you've got on my nerves," Lis got up.

Orel put the heft of the spoon into his mouth and started moving it up and down, looking at Lis askance. "Aaah, aaah, feels so good!"

Lis laughed, unable to stand this stupid view.

"You're such a fool," he said to Orel and sat down again.

"Yes, I know," Orel said. "Anyway, I was so carried away then – almost as I am now – and I said 'Kill her' too late. They seemed not to hear me at all. He was trembling, moaned or hissed in some strange way, she also was coming, squeezed her hand..."

"Orel, what did you promise me?"

"Well, they came, then she lay down on the cover and he got up, dressed very quickly and said something like: "I'm going to sleep.' And left without giving me any time to come round."

"Wait, you said that Shela..."

"Yes, listen and don't interrupt me! He left and I started cursing myself because nothing happened as I wanted to. She kept lying there, I yelled at her – she didn't even move. Then I grabbed her, turned her over – her eyes were empty and his c... blood was leaking from her nose and mouth. Her whole face was bloody. I felt so bad, Lis, I was shaking her but she didn't care, she was dead and I don't know why."

Lis looked at him in surprise.

"Don't you believe me?" Orel said. "Then go and look by yourself, she is still there. I was sitting there and looking at her for the whole night and thinking how he could have killed her. Gods know I haven't understood that. But I understood something else. If he killed her, easily like that, without any effort... if he really killed her, Lis, then I don't know why you're still alive."

"No," Lis said, "I don't want to believe that. If I believe that, I'll lose my mind: to live and know that he can take your life any moment! No-o, I won't believe that. And you shouldn't. The girl died by herself, had a heart attack or something, whatever."

"It's easier for you," Orel said, "because you were not there."

"Arel, I beg you, forget that night! Nothing happened, he didn't even hear you, he doesn't know she's dead. He left and something burst inside her with overexcitation, that's all. It happens. And Nikto has nothing to do with it. Let's not become hostages of our fear, we should treat him as before."

"He is a warlock, I'm sure now – you don't need to tell me any more that I got fucked up, now I know that!"

"No, no, forget what I said!" Lis hastened.

"Well, I cannot understand you at all. At first you say one thing, now just the opposite. There was no reason to doubt him before but you were going to blame him for any small thing. Now when we have the reason, you say 'Forget everything I told you'. Lis, don't you think it's too much?"

"I understood that we shouldn't be afraid of him," Lis said. "Even if he is as powerful as you think – and I doubt that – but even then... If he is so strong, he could've killed us a thousand times. But he hasn't done that – so, he has something in store for us, we're his friends. Mark said Nikto needed friends among humans. We need him and he needs us, nothing else."

"I'm not sure," Orel said.

"Tol turned out to be the smartest one of us: he was never afraid of Nikto, never treated him with suspicion. And Nikto pays him in kind. He took him along to the Lower City and Tol was happy about that trip, he'll tell you about it. Mark was right saying that Nikto treats people the way they treat him. It depends on us whether he'll be our friend or foe."

"Do you mean everything you said before is nonsense?"

"I don't renounce my previous words. But I looked at it from a wrong point of view."

"But he killed your Shella," Orel said slyly. "He didn't touch my Mina but he chose your girl."

"Don't provoke me, Arel, I got it, it won't happen again. Her death opened my eyes."

"Ooh, you surprise me! I bet he'll do something else and you'll change your mind again."

"I don't swear it won't happen but I'm not going to pick on him again. He is a part of us, it's stupid to fight – we should cooperate."

"I want that," Orel said, "but you don't."

"I'll try hard to want, and I'll be watching him."

"Wow, I like that!"

"Yes, that's it."

"They gave you your name for a reason: it fits you, you always manage to slip out. You change like a wind, blow this way or that, one can't catch you."

"I don't think it's humiliating to amend according to the situation. What else can I do? If I couldn't do that, I'd be long hanged by the Red by now. I should've listened better what you told me of Mark and Nikto's relations from the very beginning. And the Unclean, too – they don't fight him, even though he brought a lot of evil to them."

"They hurt him too," Orel said.

"Yes, but you see, he doesn't fight them any more."

"He doesn't touch those who doesn't touch him, right?"

"I think so."

"I wonder why."

"I don't know, I've figured out just that."

"Fine, I got that, even though I don't care much. I love Nikto and cannot become his enemy, no matter how I'd try."

"So, you have nothing to fear. As long as you love him, you're safe. Relatively safe, at least – you can never be completely sure. But it is not so dangerous as it seemed to us at first."

"Do you think I can sleep with him?"

"No, Orel, don't start again! I won't discuss this topic."

"I don't want to humiliate him, he just excites me madly."

"I won't talk about it."

"I'm afraid of ruining everything."

"There is nothing to ruin, everything's already a disaster."

"What if he guesses what I think, what if he really reads my thoughts?"

"Enough. Even if it is so, it doesn't matter to you. Think what you want and let him guess and decipher. Just imagine what is running through our minds – one can feel sorry for him if he has to read all that."

Orel laughed.

"Fine, Arel, I'm going to my room, I need to change, it's too warm in the street. And then we'll go see the others, okay?"

"Sure."

Lis left.

"My head is spinning because of talking to Lis," Orel said to himself and turned to the side stairs hearing approaching steps.

"Hello," Nikto said; he was walking down holding the rails. He was fully prepared: dark sunglasses protected his eyes, his mask hung on his chest, ready.

Orel smiled to him.

"Good morning. I was just going to wake you up."

"Thank you. As you see, I was able to wake up myself today. I heard Lis's voice, is he here?"

"Yes, he's coming in a moment. He said it's warm in the street."

"Doesn't matter. Sun is bad for me."

Nikto sat down in Enriki's place.

"Drink some coffee," Orel offered, "you'll feel more cheerful."

"No, I've had enough of stuff to cheer me up in my room."

Orel lit a cigarette.

"Take a cig. Did you try any like that?"

"No, but I cannot smoke a whole one now."

"Here, take a drag, you'll like it," Orel gave his cigarette to Nikto. Nikto took it, inhaled the smoke.

Orel closed his eyes:

"Oh, I'm so sleepy."

He flinched suddenly in surprise – Nikto touched his hand softly. He placed the cigarette between Orel's fingers carefully, returning it, and didn't take his hand away immediately, passed his fingers over Orel's hand slightly. Orel felt it at once, blood rushed to his cheeks; he looked at Nikto. Nikto glanced back at him, his face looked shy, maybe, a little guilty. He tried to smile a little with his crooked smile and even though his eyes were hidden behind the sunglasses, it was clear he was looking at Orel and waiting for his reaction. But Orel couldn't say a word, he could just smile back, overfilled with feelings.

If you can really read my thoughts, read now what I feel about you, he thought, because I cannot put it into words.

"Good morning, Nikto," Lis said coming in, interrupting their silent dialogue.

"Good morning," Nikto said taking his mask.

Lis noticed this gesture.

"Forgive me, I was wrong laughing about your face," he said.

"Are you serious?"

"I saw the soldiers you gathered in the Lower City yesterday. Almost every one of them has tattoos and rings like you. And Tol said he didn't meet a single man with an untouched face on the borders with the Unclean District."

Nikto laughed.

"Oh yes, he particularly liked Borgan, my friend from the Lower City who helped me with mercenaries."

"You simply belong to a different world," Lis said.

"No, I don't want that."

"Do you want to be with us?" Orel asked.

"Yes."

"Then prepare yourself, it'll be difficult," Lis said. "People from the Upper City won't accept you as one of their own."

"I know that."

"It'll be easier for you if you erase some tattoos, at least on your face," Orel said. "I mean these strange letters on your cheeks, they are not so big. Your face would be clean."

Nikto touched his face.

"I cannot do that. If I do that, it'll be my death sentence. The Unclean made them on my face for a reason."

"The Unclean made them?"

"Yes."

"Do they mean something?" Lis asked.

"Yes," Nikto leaned against the back of the chair.

"Can you say what, at least approximately?" Orel asked.

"That I'm a traitor, a corrupt thing," Nikto said very quietly.

"So, they punished you for cooperating with Mark! He told me they did nothing to you!"

"I tried their patience for too long. It is a usual thing to write on your face what you are. A warning for those who would like to deal with me. If I erase these letters on my own accord, it will mean to defy the Unclean. I'm not ready to do that yet."

"So, you can't get rid of them," Orel said sadly.

"I said I'm not ready yet but it can change with time. I don't care about their fucking brands. No matter what they did, I've never regretted my friendship with Mark, not for a moment!"

"Do you know what I want?" Orel said. "I want you to never regret becoming one of us. I want to throw a party in your honor – do you like this idea?"

"How do you imagine that?"

"I'll invite my trusty people from the Upper and the Lower Cities, Enriki's sister – she is such a doll, she rejects no one," Orel and Lis laughed, "and some important people. Everyone will drink and have fun. And we can celebrate our success at recruiting soldiers."

"What should I do?"

"You'll give yourself into the hands of my slaves. They'll bathe you and comb your hair. You'll paint your face grey, the tattoos won't be visible."

"And what about the scar, I can't paint it over."

"I've thought about it. You'll cut a part of your mask that will cover only your forehead and the scarred cheek, the rest of your face will be open."

"And how is it going to stick to my face?"

"You can glue it to your skin, isn't it easy? Do you agree?"

"Oooh," Nikto barely could moan.

Orel gives orders about the forthcoming party.

Three of them return to the Lower City where Tol and Enriki are waiting for them.

Orel inspects the mercenaries, discusses working aspects with commanders. He gives a stirring speech to his warriors urging them to be fearless and merciless in the battle.

They have dinner at 'Backara' before going back to the castle.

Chapter 12

Vil Luven

They sat in the main room of 'Backara' that was not crowded by day. Relaxing after a luxurious dinner, they sipped their wine.

"Hey," Lis raised his hand calling for a servant. "Oh shit. Vil is coming straight here," he hissed through the clenched teeth.

"Hello, I see you're having fun!" a young man said coming up to their table.

"Actually, Vil, I was calling for a servant, not for you," Lis said.

"How are you, Orel?" Vil asked ignoring Lis's remark.

"Fine."

"I'm glad for you! So, have you thought about me?"

"Vil," Orel said in a tired voice, "I told you a thousand times: you don't suit us. You d-o-n-t."

"Aah, I get it," Vil didn't lose his composure at all. "You just don't want to say that because of your new friend," he pointed at Nikto.

"By the way," Orel said, "let me introduce you. It's our new teammate, his name is Nik."

"Oh?" Vil's head jerked, his face paled with sudden distress. "Wait, I know you!" he said to Nikto.

He looked at Vil, his face impassive.

"It was you whose ribs Morel Nevis re-counted at 'Coliseum' last season. They started calling him Morel the Butcher after that."

"Yes, it was me," Nikto said calmly.

"Ha ha," Vil chuckled nervously. "You've made a perfect choice, Orel."

"Get out, Vil," Orel said. "If I need you, I'll let you know."

"Don't hold your breath, though," Tol said.

"All right," Vil bravely tried to hide his resentment. "But you know," he pointed at Nikto, "you should've stayed in the Lower City and kept your mask on."

Nikto silently watched Vil. Vil turned sharply to leave and bumped into a servant who approached the table with a tray full of wine glasses. Glasses fell on the floor with a deafening noise, shattering. Vil and the servant fell, too.

"Shit!" Vil yelled. "Where are you going? Are you blind or what, didn't you see I was coming?!"

"But you were standing, sir," the servant tried to explain.

"I've cut my hand, gods," Vil wailed.

He got up, all soaked in wine, and left the restaurant under bursts of laughter. Tol was laughing louder than anyone. Lis looked at Nikto piercingly but when Nikto raised his head and met his gaze, Lis turned away.

"Vil is a good warrior," Enriki said at last.

"I won't take him in," Orel snapped, "he is a fool."

"A revengeful fool is dangerous," Lis said.

"Yes, I hurt his feelings badly today," Orel said.

"You'll have to either take Vil on the team or kill him" Lis summarized.

"You're right!" Tol exclaimed. "I'm dying to kill that asshole."

"No," Orel said, "I cannot order to kill him: his family served mine for many years. I know Vil since we were children, we grew up together, I'm somewhat attached to him. Maybe he is my half-brother."

"Half-brother? Does it mean your father fucked his mother, your servant?" Tol asked.

"Yes."

"Ooh."

"Then you have to let him join before he joins our enemies," Lis said.

"You can give him some minor position," Enriki said, "For example, he can control one of our streets in the Upper City. He can collect money, rule out small conflicts, something like that."

"But nothing more," Orel said. "I won't trust him anything else."

"It'd be better to kill him," Tol drawled.

"No," Orel said. "I'm going to send a servant to his place and invite him to our party. Enriki, I entrust him to you. Choose a street for him in the Upper City, explain everything, okay?"

"Fine, Arel, gladly."

"Bury him with book-keeping," Lis said. "Our business in the warehouses and markets got out of hand. While Arel fights Bey in the Lower City, we are getting robbed in the Upper."

"I can't control everything at once," Orel flushed. "Who has to take care of it? Huh, Lis?"

Lis lowered his gaze.

"Fine, Arel, I'll take care of it, don't freak out!"

Chapter 13

Before the Party

Orel knocked on Nikto's door.

"Nik, it's me, Arel, can I come in?"

"Yes."

This voice couldn't be mistaken for anyone else's. Orel came in.

"Wow!" Nikto said admiringly when seeing him.

Orel smiled shyly.

"Do you like it?"

"Yes. A lot," Nikto said. He was sitting on his bed and looking at Orel.

Orel was dressed like a king; his handsome aristocratic face was covered with a fresh layer of grey paint that gave him an unhealthy look. His dark hair only intensified the effect. A thin silver hoop like a crown decorated his head.

Orel came up to Nikto's bed.

"May I sit down?"

"Yes, my ghost-king. Do you mind me looking like that in your presence?"

Orel smiled. "I don't."

He looked at Nikto who sat with his legs crossed, clad only in his pants. The bed was littered with his bracelets.

"Did you enjoy bathing?" Orel asked.

"Yes. But your servants cut off my claws," Nikto showed Orel his hand. He looked upset.

"Ooh, Nik," Orel laughed.

"You find it funny," Nikto said angrily. "Maybe next time you'll have my teeth pulled out?"

"Do you mean your fangs? Yes, I wouldn't mind having them filed..."

"Enough, Arel!"

"Okay, okay," Orel smiled.

Nikto reached to the table, scooped some transparent ointment from a small jar, then in one sharp motion, upwards, covered the damaged veins on his left arm with it. His face twisted in pain, he pressed to the back of the bed, screwing his eyes shut.

"Oh, that's something," Orel said in surprise. "You even flushed. For the first time I see your cheeks red."

Nikto, still groggy, opened his eyes and lulled his arm pressing it to his chest.

"Yes, it's really silly," he said. "I look stupid."

He tossed his head back waiting for the pain to abate.

"Why are you here?"

"To hurry you up."

"Don't worry, I'm getting ready." Nikto started wrapping black cloth around his arm. Orel took one of the bracelets from the bed absent-mindedly, played with it, not knowing how to start.

"Nikto, are you really glad I decided to throw a party in your honor?"

Nikto finished wrapping his arm.

"Why not?"

Orel laughed.

"What's wrong now?" Nikto shook his head, he was taking his bracelets and locking them with a sharp click, covering his arm from wrist to elbow.

"Everything's all right."

"No, you tell me."

"Why not?" Orel tried to copy Nikto's voice and his accent, he managed it quite well. "The Black don't speak like that: 'why not?' – it sounds somehow awkward."

"Maybe you're right but I didn't speak Black for a long time. Sometimes when you, Lis, Tol and Enriki start arguing, or talking all at once, or very quickly, I don't understand you. You don't notice it because you think the whole world should understand you but it is not so."

Orel looked at Nikto timidly.

"I didn't even think it was so hard on you!"

Nikto carefully pulled his bracelet from Orel's hands.

"Not so hard. You're talking a lot to me and it gets easier with time."

"I got it! You're even copying my intonation," Orel exclaimed. "I always stretch Tol's name, and you too! I couldn't get it at first but now I see. You're repeating after me, even the things you shouldn't!"

Nikto shrugged.

"Sorry if it offends you."

"No, it doesn't offend me, on the contrary, I'm flattered that you chose me as a model," Orel said.

"It's just because you spend more time with me that the others."

"And I'm very happy I do!"

"Why?"

"Because I like you a lot." Orel blushed but grey paint helped to hide it. "Don't you see it?"

"I see," Nikto said. "You're playing with me like a child plays with a new toy that didn't bore him yet."

Orel went pale but the paint saved him again.

"No!"

"And you believe those tales about me."

"No!"

"Yes! You don't believe me but you believe them."

"I try to believe you! But you're lying. Maybe I don't believe you're a son of the devil literally, it would be too much, but you're a warlock, that's for sure."

"A warlock?"

"I didn't want to talk about it, Nik, but you make me. What happened to the slave last night?"

"She died."

"Ooh, what a lie!" Orel got up.

"What do you want to hear from me?"

"You killed her!"

"Shut up!"

"What? You're telling me to shut up? You don't dare! I'm a prince! Yes, you think you're cool but I don't care!"

Nikto laughed.

"Don't you dare laugh at me!" Orel lifted his arm against him but Nikto immediately grabbed his wrist and twisted it hard making Orel lie down on the bed again. Tears burst from Orel's eyes with pain but he didn't make a sound. Nikto loosened his grip a little, leaned over him.

Their eyes met.

Orel looked at Nikto as if he was seeing him for the last time in his life, couldn't have enough of seeing him. Nikto let his arm go but Orel didn't move, didn't attack him again. Nikto looked at him somewhat strangely and suddenly put his hand between Orel's legs, right onto the conspicuously hard cock.

Orel flinched and looked at Nikto in terror.

"Nik, it is not what you think," he babbled, his cheeks burning with shame.

"You..." Nikto didn't continue.

Orel closed his eyes.

"I didn't want to," he was beyond himself. "You're not leaving, are you?" his voice trembled.

"No."

Orel's face brightened slightly, he got up leaning against the bed rail and walked to the door on unbending legs.

Chapter 14

Tol's Tale

Tol, Lis and Enriki entered Orel's room.

"Just look at him!" Enriki exclaimed in exasperation. "Arel, are you mad? Tonight is an important event, you'll have to introduce Nikto and..."

"I know, I know," Orel interrupted him angrily. He put a half-empty bottle down on the floor and flopped back to the pillows.

Lis shook his head and sat down in the armchair.

"Orel, please understand, you won't drown your fear in wine, you'll just make it worse."

"Fear?!" Orel sat up staring at Lis. His painted face framed with dark disheveled hair looked ghastly. For a while he glared at Lis, then fell back without saying a word.

"He's drunk," Tol said.

"He's drunk when the guests are coming," Enriki huffed.

"Vil's already here," Lis said.

Tol came up to Orel and raised him forcefully making him sit in the bed. He hugged Orel like a child, patted his hair tenderly.

"Arel, Arel, come round."

Orel tried to push him away.

"Fuck off, Tol, let me rest a little."

"No-o." Tol stopped hugging him and sat behind his back quickly, supporting him and not letting him lean back against the pillows.

Orel looked back, saw he didn't have place to lie down and tried to lean against Tol who hugged him again. He locked his big arms over Orel's chest supporting him seated. Since Tol was taller and bigger, Orel couldn't do anything but give up and stay seated.

Tol blew onto the top of his head, rubbed his cheek against Orel's thick hair.

"Orel, you're so beautiful today. You're the most beautiful of us."

Lis laughed.

"Where did you lose your crown, Arel?"

Orel raised his arms and embraced Tol's neck.

"My Tol, I love you!"

"I love you, too," Tol said, "we all do, and that's why you shouldn't drink any more, pull yourself together, we need to show them we're the best!"

Orel let Tol's neck go, rubbed his face, coming round.

"Yes, Tol, you're right, it is not like me to become sloppy before an important meeting."

Lis laughed again. He sprawled in the chair with his legs crossed, watching Orel with interest. Tol tossed a pillow at him in annoyance.

"Shut up, you red-head."

Orel glanced at Lis resentfully. Lis pushed the pillow away; he wasn't smiling any more.

"Sorry, Arel."

"Aaah," Tol said with content, "you don't like it when I call you red-head. Red half-bloods are known for their rotten guts, everyone knows that!"

Lis hissed. Orel got up.

"Shut up, both of you. Why are you always quarrelling?"

"Because Lis thinks he's the smartest," Tol muttered. "And I don't like his hair and those little stains from the sun on his face."

"I shit care what you like!" Lis yelled.

"If you ever call Lis red half-blood again, I'll put you into the dungeon for a month," Orel said to Tol strictly. "For a month! Not for a week like before but for a month, and I swear I won't let you out a day earlier."

"You will," Tol muttered lowering his eyes.

"No, I won't. Do you want to make sure?"

"Orel, enough," Tol said very quietly, "I won't do it again."

"Keep yourself in check, Tol," Orel asked. "I know it's difficult for you but please try."

Tol was silent.

"Orel, I'd like to ask you..." he started at last without raising his gaze.

"What else? Say it!"

"I want to have another tattoo." Tol looked at Orel timidly.

"Gods! One more!" Enriki exclaimed. "Tol, you're a nobleman!"

Lis rolled his eyes up at Enriki's words and shook his head.

"Do it!" Orel said. "I don't care! Tattoo yourself from head to toes, like Nikto! Keep him a company, Tol, he shouldn't be the only one among us who walks in his mask and gloves for his whole life!"

Tol looked at Orel fearfully.

"But I didn't want to have a tattoo on my face or fingers, like he has."

"Why?" Orel asked. "If you're going to do it, do it in full!"

"Actually," Tol stammered now knowing how to say that, "I wanted to make two small, very-very little tattoos, on my gums."

"Where?!"

"On my gums," Tol repeated quietly.

Orel looked at him tenderly.

"Yes," he said softly. "It's a great idea. I never doubted you."

He embraced Tol.

"Tol, Tol, I love you so much, if only you knew that! You can be uncontrollable, evil, harsh – but without you my life would be boring."

Tol smiled happily, his confusion and indecisiveness left without a trace.

"Frankly speaking, it wasn't my idea," he said lightly. "I saw tattoos like that in the Lower City; Borgan had them. The guy Nikto and I went to visit about mercenaries. I liked it very much and he noticed it and explained me that these tattoos were very important and special protective signs, only a very respectable Unclean could have them, not just anyone. And if a simple Unclean gets such a tattoo, he'll have his teeth knocked out in a moment. It is a sign of being special, chosen – cool! He explained it very clearly, that Borgan. And Nikto said that it was true. So, I want such protective signs, too, over my upper canine teeth."

"Wait," Enriki said, "you're not an Unclean, are you allowed to bear such signs?"

"Yes," Tol said. "Nikto has them. But he only has brands, without paint, so you can't see them. And he isn't allowed to use paint."

"Aah," Orel drawled, "he isn't cool enough, right?"

"What are you comparing: Nikto who's spent all his life with the Unclean – and you!" Enriki said.

"It doesn't matter," Tol said happily. "Borgan said I could have them only over my canine teeth, nowhere else, but with paint - because I'm a nobleman and noblemen are permitted anything!"

"Total bullshit," Lis said.

"I've even sobered," Orel said. "Tol, let's leave this topic alone for a while. Tell me about the Lower City, okay? What were you doing there?"

"Oh no! I'm bored of recalling it all over, the guests are coming..."

"The guests will wait. Tell me, I order you!" Orel sat down in the armchair and lit a cigarette.

"You can start," he looked at Tol expectantly.

Tol sighed and started telling:

"We went to the Lower City.

It was the fifth or sixth tier, I don't know, there is a valley behind the river – well, it was a bit farther.

Streets there are like shit, I can tell you, the road is horrible, 'cat head' stones and half of them missing, I was afraid my horse would break its leg. And sometimes the streets are not paved at all, there's just dirt. I can't imagine how they paved them!

Nikto told me:

'Don't rush like that, follow me.'

I said: 'What a shitty place!'

Houses around were no better: almost no windows, unpainted, and no people at all – and if we saw someone, they ran away at once.

Do you know how unpleasant it is: you're riding – and then you hear shutters over your head close, and the doors, too. And no one around.

I saw street whores there, nice girls – I just wanted to take a closer look and then they saw us and ran! All of them ran away in a moment, I was even angry. I'm not used to that, girls running away from me – they are not standing there to run when a man comes up, are they?

I ask:

'Nikto, why are they running away, are we so scary?'

He laughed and said:

'Of course, we are,' he's so calm, like he cared for nothing.

But I was so angry I was going to catch someone and beat the shit out of them not to run away from me next time.

I say:

'Nikto, how are you going to gather people if they're hiding like mice in their burrows?'

He says:

'Don't worry, I'll gather them,' and laughs.

Imagine him in that mask, with black glass instead of his eyes... He turned to me, I looked at him: no face, no eyes, everything's black. And his voice, it seemed to me even nastier than before. A creepy voice, really, nothing of a human in it, no matter what he said about himself.

Borgan asked me later:

'Do you believe Nikto, Tol, when he says he's human?'

I said:

'No, I don't, a human won't have a voice like that.'

And Borgan laughed:

'People called him 'Mute' for a reason at Coliseum.'

I say:

'They called him 'Mute' at Coliseum because he fights silently, never even makes a sound during the fight. Even when Nevil cut him down badly, he just fell without a sound, then they started calling him 'Mute'.'

He:

'You believe only your ears, don't you?'

I say:

'Of course I believe my ears! I talk to him, he can't be mute! Are you joking, Borgan, thinking I'm a fool?'

He:

'No, I'd never allow myself anything like that in my life! You're the best guy from the Upper City I've met! And believe me, I met many of them. But as soon as I saw you and found out you're from the Upper, I understood it was my destiny that gave me a chance to make friends with such a great gentleman from the Upper City like you. Nikto knows whom to choose as his friends!"

"Tol, Tol, wait," Orel interrupted him, "what is this bullshit you're telling us? Keep your imagination at bay. And start from the beginning, you haven't got to Borgan yet, my head is going to split! Please, Tol, spare us, try harder."

"I try hard," Tol said resentfully.

"Nikto knew whom to take along to the Lower City," Lis said. "Toll will never be able to explain us what they did and what really happened."

"Do you mean I'm an idiot?" Tol yelled.

"No," Lis said calmly, "I mean that Nikto is very cunning and deceived us – as always, and we won't find out anything from you."

"You will!" Tol shouted. "And he didn't deceive me! He didn't do anything LIKE THAT at all! I don't know what you try to catch him on!"

"Just listen to yourself!" Lis shouted unable to bear it. "'He didn't do anything like that!' What do you mean 'like that'? What do you mean saying 'he didn't do anything like that'?"

"Don't yell at me! Anything means he didn't do anything bad! No ruses against us."

"Would you know if he did? You're an idiot! He'd deceive you without even making an effort – and he and Borgan did that!"

"They didn't deceive me! I'm not an idiot!"

"Who's that Borgan? Is he human?"

"No!"

"What then? He's an Unclean, isn't he?"

"Yes."

Lis got up.

"Can you imagine an Unclean, seeing a human for the first time, say to him something like that: 'Ah, you're so wonderful, Tol! You're so smart, Tol!' Sure thing he was laughing at you. Ridiculing you and thinking probably 'what fools those humans are!' If you don't lie, that is, that he said that."

"I don't lie!" Tol shouted. "I don't lie! He said that to me! And he wasn't laughing. He respected me because he is an experienced warrior and he saw how cool I was! And I'm not surprised that he liked me. He wouldn't like you, that's for sure. And that's why Nikto took me along, he is my friend and not yours! And don't you dare! You weren't there, you didn't see anything, you don't know anything, so shut up! I was there, I know better! And I would notice if they cooked something but everything was open! Open! But you wouldn't understand that. Everything was open, Orel," he said in a calmer voice, turning to Orel, "believe me."

Orel was silent, not knowing what to say.

"I was afraid of being there with Nikto, really afraid. But I didn't show that. They could do anything to me! I know it's silly to think so and they had no reason to harm me, it was just a business trip and Nikto is our teammate and yet... It wasn't easy to be there.

Later, when Nikto left me alone among them - and I used to hear for all my life what fools and animals they are, that they have no brains, only hatred towards humans – do you know how hard it was? To stay alone among them like that...

And do you know, Orel, they were just like us, absolutely! I didn't notice even one of them looking at me with hatred. They looked with curiosity, maybe, and even more with respect, and then lowered their eyes.

When I was choosing them, the ones I didn't choose didn't look angrily at me, no, they nearly wept in despair that they couldn't get a job, and I felt sorry for them. Because they only needed a job from me, nothing else.

And when everyone was running away from Nikto in the streets, I asked:

'Why are they so afraid of you?'

He says:

'I'm from the Unclean District. They are afraid of everyone from there.'

I was surprised.

'Isn't it the Unclean District?'

He:

'No, it's still far from there. It's humans who live here. Mostly poor ones, and criminals, too, runaway slaves but they are humans. Though you probably think that everyone who lives below the third tier is an Unclean.'

...And don't you interfere, Lis, with your clever ideas, I understand and see everything. And Nikto talked to Borgan just like he talks to us: he told him the main thing about the business and then kept silent. And he didn't take off his mask. He asked later:

'Will you go with me to the Unclean District?'

I said to him:

'Nikto, are you sure I can go with you, I'm human.'

He says:

'You can go, I swear to you.'

I said:

'No, I won't go.'

Then he says:

'Fine, stay with Borgan and choose mercenaries - whichever you want from the ones he offers you - and take them to our territory, I'll come later. You'll pick a hundred of them and I'll pick a hundred.'

We did everything as we agreed. It could appear strange but there was no deception from them, everything was much simpler.

They even looked like us.

Borgan has something like a military school there, it is equipped as good as the one in the Upper City. He took me around to see all the ranges, showed everything, explained everything, even though he's an Unclean. But he was treating me better than some humans. I don't know if it was because of Nikto or not, but he really said he liked me.

He says:

'Come to visit me, Ram Murh from the Upper City, I'll be always glad to see you! Come any time, alone, without Nikto, we'll have a drink and chat.'

I say:

'Don't call me Ram Murh, everyone calls me Tol.'

He laughed. It was Nikto who introduced me when we arrived. He said: 'It is Ram Murh from the Upper City, he needs your people to guard his territory in the Lower City.'

Yes, it was simple like that. Borgan looked at me, at first somewhat in surprise, then with joy, and says:

'You're from the Upper City! Congratulations! When I look at you, I begin to believe something good can happen in this world after all. You give me hope that not everything is lost.' Then he turned to Nikto, and says: 'Thank you for introducing me to such a fine gentleman, it is like honey to my wounded soul.'

Nikto also laughed. I was embarrassed, and say:

'I'm a human, and you?'

He:

'And I'm an Unclean," and laughs happily.

Later, when Nikto left and we waited for people to come, he asked me about the place where I was born, poured me a tasty drink..."

"You were drinking with an Unclean!" Enriki looked up in horror.

"Yes, I was. He offered us a drink from the very beginning. Nikto drank it – I don't know how he does it, without taking off his mask, but I refused at first, I was afraid. But when Nikto left and I got used, I decided to try, really wanted to try.

They have such a delicious drink, shit, I could've drunk more of it! But I didn't want to get drunk.

Oh, and when we walked around, Borgan was showing me everything... I was without my mask, took it off because I can't wear it for long. I can't drink and smoke in it, like Nikto does.

So, there were girls – they were training... Half-bloods but aah, so beautiful!

One of them ran up to me and started babbling something in her Unclean, so friendly. And I didn't even understand a word, was standing there like dumb. Borgan said to her something and we left. I liked her so much! Borgan noticed that and asked:

'Do you speak Unclean?'

I say

'No.'

He says:

'She only speaks Unclean. Do you like her?'

I say honestly:

'Yes.'

He says:

'If you talk to her in your human language, she'll scratch out your eyes. But she likes you, too, so learn our language.'

I say:

'No-o, I can't, I'll break my head learning your language, it is so difficult, I can't even imagine how you speak it.'

He laughed, and says:

'Did you try to learn it?'

I say:

'Of course, but that's not for me.'

He laughs; rolls with laughter, really, and says:

'You must have had bad teachers. Come to visit me, I'll teach you everything you need to know in two hours.'

I say:

'You're kidding about two hours.'

He says:

'You can't even imagine what powers you have, you just need to know how to release them!"

There was a soft knock on the door.

"Lord Arel Chig, guests are here."

Orel flinched.

"Shit! Tol, you talked me to death. Time to go," he turned to his friends.

Orel introduces Nikto to his friends.

The party goes on long after midnight.

Tol, heated with drinks, is unable to cope with his feelings to the half-blood girl from Borgan's school. He leaves for the Lower City.

Nikto takes Enriki's sister – Mily - and her friend Dony to his room. They have a great time in a threesome; closer to the morning Orel joins them. Nikto shares his girls with him.

Chapter 15

Orel and Nikto

For a few moments Orel sat stunned.

"Oh shit," he said at last. "Your tricks again?" He looked up at Nikto.

"What tricks?" Nikto asked in annoyance. "Do you want to have problems with Enriki?" He yawned and started dressing. "Shit, I can't see anything!" he snarled angrily.

"But how did you know Enriki was going to see Mily?"

"How did I know?" Nikto got surprised. "What time it is! It was time for them to leave, that's all."

"Did you feel it?"

"Did I feel? Well, if you like to think that..."

"Do you feel me?" Orel asked quietly.

"Sometimes," Nikto said, "sometimes I feel you. Especially when your feelings, hm... protrude," he laughed.

Orel's face changed in shame, he turned away quickly.

"Don't flinch like that," Nikto reassured him, "I can't see you anyway. Though you probably look funny at the moment," he laughed again.

"I need a drink," Orel said, "to clear my head."

He reached for a bottle on the bedside table, grabbed it with shaking hands and gulped greedily.

"I need to clear my head, too," Nikto said.

"Are you going to have a shot?" Orel asked.

He leaned against the pillows comfortably and relaxed a little.

"Yes," Nikto said. "I'm so tired of it!"

He sat down with his back to Orel, found by touch the flat box in his bag. Orel looked at his hair admiringly, it covered Nikto's whole back, the tips lay on the bed. The lowest layer of his hair was made of four braids. They were so long that Nikto double-folded them and the slaves put equally distanced silver clamps with black and blue gems on them.

"Nik, why do you braid the lower part of your hair?"

"If I leave it loose, there will be too much of it."

"Why is it of various length? The strands around your face are short, most of it reaches to your waist and the lower part is the longest!"

"It is the way the witch's daughter, my half-sister, did it, a long time ago. It stays like that since then."

"It is so thick and beautiful," Orel carefully reached his hand and touched the tip of one of the strands.

Nikto flinched and Orel jerked his hand back abruptly.

"Don't make me leave," Orel said, "I so want to have a chat with you."

"Why do you think I'm going to make you leave?" Nikto grinned.

"You're going to take a shot and you always do it alone."

"Stay if you want. But I inject it in my neck lately, it is not a nice sight."

"In your neck?"

"Fine, stay but don't ask stupid questions, shut up."

Nikto turned away and injected the needle into his neck by touch, right under the collar. They kept silent for a while. Nikto lay down on his face on the bed and stayed like that. Orel closed his eyes falling asleep. Suddenly Nikto sat up abruptly. Orel, awake at once, sat up, too. Nikto rubbed his eyes, he was looking around blinking, then held his head and said something harsh in Unclean.

"This white mist is going to be my end!" he snarled and hit the back of the bed with all his might. The oak back shook but withstood the blow.

"Hey, don't break my bed," Orel said in exasperation. "Put on you sunglasses."

Nikto got up silently and quite confidently walked up to the mirror where he left his sunglasses. He found them by touch but before putting them on he took one of the jars, poured its content onto a towel and wiped the grey paint from his face, quickly and sloppily. Then he put on his sunglasses, looked at himself in the mirror and wiped off the rest of the paint.

"How did you pick the stuff you needed?" Orel asked.

"What? I smelled it. I can smell where something is."

"Can you see?"

"Not as much as I'd like to!"

Nikto returned to the bed.

"I need 'black water', I can't any more..."

"Do you have it?"

"No! I must go to the Unclean for it!" he said it so angrily that Orel flinched involuntarily.

"It all goes to hell!" Nikto said. "It all goes to hell again!"

"I've never seen you like that," Orel was frightened. "You look like you've come from hell yourself."

Nikto laughed mirthlessly. "Fine, I'll control myself. You know little of me, I'm not so cool as you think."

"We all are not so cool as we seem," Orel said.

"No, you're cool, Arel, cool indeed," Nikto lit a cigarette. "Just the thought that you're a prince makes you very cool."

"Yes, I'm proud of being a prince," Orel said. "What's wrong with it?"

Nikto shook his head.

"Nothing."

"I can't imagine how you can inject a needle in your own neck, without seeing a shit, anyway!"

"I'm used to it," Nikto said. "I feel my vein with my fingers and practically hear blood filling the syringe. I count necessary time and push back," he made a pause. "I did it so many times that I don't think about it any more, my hand is doing it by itself."

"But why in the neck..."

"It's more convenient like that, my arms are finished."

"Can you heal them?"

"Don't be a child, Arel! If I don't stop using 'water', it only gets worse."

"But can you replace it with something?"

"And what am I doing right now, in your opinion? But I can't any more. I'll hold on for a few more days, no further."

"And then?" Orel asked.

"Then I'll die," Nikto said very calmly.

Orel stared at him in horror: "Are you joking?"

"No, I'm not."

"But you can't die just like that!"

Nikto laughed.

"Sure I can. But don't worry, I'll come up with something."

"If you need 'black water', I'll give it to you, I have it."

"You do? But why?"

Orel was satisfied with Nikto's reaction.

"Yes, I have 'black water'. I'm a prince, I have everything, even this! Do you need it right now?"

"No, not now, in the evening... or tomorrow. The longer I do without it, the better it is. Even an hour matters."

"Fine. But don't delay it too much so that we don't have to give you a shot again. Lis couldn't inject it in your neck that time, your collar was in the way. And if he sticks it there again..." Orel laughed, "...and with 'black water'..."

"I've spent two months without 'black water', so, one injection will be enough for me to live for a month without it normally."

"But are you going to take your shots all the same?"

Nikto smiled.

"Of course. I can't do without them."

"So, I get it you can't quit 'black water', you can only stretch the gaps between the doses – replacing it with lighter stuff."

"If you can stand a year without it, then you can use 'water' once in five years and twice a months a substitute. I've seen people like that. They didn't want to die."

"But could they snap?"

"Every day," Nikto said. "They could snap every day."

"Could you live for a year without 'water'?"

"No, I can't even stand two months," Nikto laughed.

"It's your misfortune, not your fault," Orel said.

"Oh forget it. What are you going to do today?"

"I don't know yet. I'd like to get sober at last but I probably won't manage. Did you like Enriki's sister?" Orel suddenly asked laughing.

"Yes, she is wonderful," Nikto said, "and her friend too."

"Do you know what I've noticed?" Orel said looking at Nikto and smiling. "Every woman likes you. They are just going wild because of you – and they are not afraid."

"I love women and they love me," Nikto smiled.

"You're lucky!" Orel said. "They don't love me."

"Come on. Don't play modest. Everyone loves you – even more than you deserve."

"Do you know – I think you don't miss your Unclean at all."

"She is not mine, rather I'm hers. She's a real bitch, just like all other Unclean!"

"Does she love you?"

"Both loves and hates."

"And you her?"

"Me too."

"I don't know if you heard but I had a wife a long time ago," Orel continued. "Father made me marry a girl: I was sixteen, she was fourteen. I hated her! We spent a year and a half together, tormenting each other. She didn't like anything I was doing. I already started doing what I do now. She hated my friends, despised me and them. When my father died, I wanted to kill her but she probably figured it out and ran away. At first to our estate in the east, later somewhere to the border with the Reds. Tell me, is she alive, what you think?"

"Orel, I don't know."

Orel looked at him.

"You know. I can't see your eyes but I'm sure you're lying. Can't you answer even one of my questions honestly?"

"I honestly told you I'm an addict. Is it not enough for you? And are you always honest with me? Or with Lis, or Tol? I don't even mention Enriki. You lie to them and they lie to you."

"How do you know that?" Orel tensed.

"You're trying to catch me on my words but it's useless. Even a fool can notice you always hide something from each other, no big mystery here."

"Really?"

"Really! I don't need to read your thoughts to notice how you look at me, how you touch my hair secretly. Why do you do that, Arel? I bet you don't know yourself."

Orel swallowed hard, unable to say anything.

"So, why do you keep silent? Why can't you be honest? You demanded me to be. Why do you always make me so angry? I'm irate when you look at me like that. I want to hit you hard but as far as I see you'll enjoy that! Yesterday you were ready to let me do whatever I wanted to you. Why do you do that?"

"I behave like a fool because I like you very much and I can't control myself!" Orel raised his voice. "I want you to be near all the time! I like to look at you!"

"I'm not a toy!"

"I know, I know," Orel said quietly and pleadingly. "But I can't do anything. I don't treat you as a toy, no, I don't want to hurt your feelings at all. I just... I just... I love you!"

"What? No, Arel! You can't love me, you can't love anyone but yourself! I'm your next whim, your caprice. You have everything and you don't know what else to want!"

Orel was nearly in tears.

"Nikto, don't say that! It is not true! I'll die if you turn away from me, I can't stand it!"

"Yes, you're used to getting everything you want, aren't you? Well, just do it then! Why are you so shy? Orel, go ahead, what do you want? Hug me, kiss me, fuck me?"

Orel covered his ears.

"Shut up, please, I beg you!"

"No, I'm not going to shut up!" Nikto grabbed Orel's wrists and pulled his hands away from his ears forcefully. "Do you like my hair? Here, touch it! Touch it!"

Nikto yanked Orel closer and pressed Orel's hands to his hair. Orel started crying. Nikto let him go but Orel didn't take his palms away from Nikto's hair, he passed his hand over it gently. Nikto took off his sunglasses and looked at Orel very seriously. Orel raised his eyes. They looked at each other. Nikto didn't look angry any more, he smiled at Orel slightly. And then he suddenly grabbed Orel's hand and pressed it to his face hard, to the scar. Orel felt harsh, jagged edges of the scar sticking into his palm, his face distorted with disgust; not knowing what he was doing he instinctively tried to jerk his hand away but Nikto held it and Orel managed just to move it a little. It got even worse because this way his little finger slipped into the crack on Nikto's face.

Nikto pushed him away.

"What a fucking idiot you are, Arel! Get out, get out of my room!"

Orel ran out without saying a word. He broke into his room, tossed himself down on his face onto his bed and cried until Lis came to him.

* * *

"Oh gods, what is it?" Lis exclaimed entering Orel's room and seeing him

"Go away, Lis, get out! Now!" Orel yelled at him.

But Lis didn't leave. On the contrary, he walked up to Orel, yanked him up by his wrist and slapped his cheek sharply.

"Come round at last, Arel, fuck you!"

Orel silently kept smearing tears over his handsome face.

Lis grabbed the paint neutralizer from the table, gripped Orel's hair, yanked his head back and poured the whole phial onto his face.

Orel screamed, screwing his eyes shut.

"You'll burn out my eyes, idiot!"

The paint on his face faded significantly, his skin acquired more or less acceptable color, even if not quite natural all the same.

"That's better," Lis said. "You're hysterical with your endless drinking. Here, have that." He shoved a glass at Orel's face.

Orel made a few gulps.

"Shit! What is it?"

"Water. Just cold water. You forgot how it tasted?"

"Enough, enough," Orel sniffed and pushed his hair away from his face. He looked at Lis. "How dare you treat me like that? You hit me!" he said resentfully.

"And I'll hit you again, even harder, if you don't start pulling yourself together," Lis said.

He tossed Orel his clothes.

"Get dressed. Everyone is tired of waiting you downstairs. Tol wants to talk to you about his tattoos, besides, he is in love. Vil can't live for a moment without you, we're all tired of him. He has some problems with book-keeping. And we are going to the river, it's a wonderful day!"

"And Nikto?" Orel asked; his voice shook treacherously.

"Your precious Nikto, too. He's sitting there like nothing happened, in his sunglasses but without his mask, and laughs when Vil tries to flirt with Dony."

"What? Dony's there! Why didn't she leave?"

Lis shrugged.

"Dony and Mily didn't leave. Actually, they are going to the river with us."

"Dear me! I'm not going! You can perfectly do without me!"

"Yes, you are going. You need to have some fresh air - besides, we cannot do without you. Are you our master or not?" Lis looked at Orel seriously. "Are you not, any more?"

"Nikto butted me off," Orel said sorrowfully.

"Ah so. That's why you're crying like a rejected maiden," Lis laughed. "Frankly speaking, I didn't expect he would. He's even bolder than I thought. Well, now you can kick him out."

"No!" Orel grabbed Lis's hand. "I'll never kick him out!"

"You're going to look at him and suffer. Good luck."

"You don't understand anything, it's all my fault."

"Sure," Lis said. "I hope he didn't do you any harm. Because if he harms even a hair on your head, I don't know what I'll do to him."

"I can defend myself," Orel said in exasperation. "He was right. It was me who hurt him, believe me, Lis."

"I believe you. But he doesn't show it at all. You couldn't guess by his look when he came downstairs that something happened between you two," Lis smirked.

"What should I do? I ruined everything! But I love him! I don't want to lose him!"

Lis laughed.

"He isn't going to leave us, don't you worry, and he definitely likes you, I don't even doubt that. There is something in you that attract others. The main thing for you is to behave now as if nothing happened. Follow his example. You'll see, everything will work out. And you know, when the time is right, I'd like to talk to him myself because no one else can. Tol is a cheerful idiot, you're a love-besotted idiot. Enriki always has his head in the clouds. I need to talk to him and I'll ask about you, if you want me to."

"Yes," Orel nodded, "I do! I know you won't spoil anything. Talk to him. As soon as you have a chance."

"Okay, then we agreed. Now let's go - and cheer up."

Orel smiled.

"Thank you, Lis, you always help me."

"Let's go, Vil is waiting for you," Lis laughed.

"Oh shit," Orel said getting dressed.

At the door he stopped suddenly.

"Do I look all right?" he asked uncertainly.

"You're splendid!" Lis smiled. "Let's go."

Orel and Lis go downstairs where they discuss their plans for the day. They decide to go to the river and swim.

Tol asks Orel's permission to take along the Unclean, half-blood girl Asa - the girl from Borgan's school.

Orel decides to take along his favorite slave Mina.

They ride to the river, Orel with Mina, Enriki with Mily, Nikto with Dony. Lis rides alone, Vil rides alone, Tol and Asa ride their own horses.

Vil is very upset that Dony chose to ride with Nikto.

Chapter 16

At the River

They reached the river. Tol was bouncing like a child with joy; he was the first to jump down from his horse.

"Asa, take off your clothes and come to me!" he shouted to his girlfriend and ran into the water tossing off his clothes on the way.

While taking off his boots and pants he got caught in them and nearly fell. At last he got to the water and threw himself into it raising a fountain of splashes. He was shrieking with delight.

"Idiot," Orel said shaking his head and laughed together with others.

But it was not so easy for Asa to join Tol. Her horse reacted very badly at Nikto's stallion. It neighed wildly, trying to rear; she barely could control it. Spurring her horse with her heels she shouted some commands in Unclean. The horse didn't obey, it bared its teeth trying to attack the rival. Nikto's stallion snarled fiercely in reply and beat his hooves. At some moment they almost clinched attacking each other. Nikto barely managed to yank the stallion back but did it so abruptly that his horse reared and nearly fell.

Dony screamed in fear. Asa yelled at Nikto in Unclean and her gestures were so eloquent that it was clear what she wanted to say even without translation. Nikto answered her with equal courtesy. The friends were rolling with laughter looking at them. Enriki, bending with laughter, carefully took off his sister from the horse.

"I'm afraid for Dony," she said nervously, "stop laughing, now!"

At last Nikto and Asa moved their horse apart for a significant distance. Asa dismounted and ran up to Tol who was coming out of the water. He hugged her.

"What happened?"

She answered something in Unclean pointing at Nikto and making a face. The friends came up to them. Dony was smiling.

"What kind of a shitty horse you have!" Tol said.

"Like horses, like masters," Enriki said.

Everyone stared at him - such a dig was unexpected - but then they laughed again.

"It was fun," Lis said stifling the laugher. "But I want to swim at last."

He started undressing. Nikto took off his mask and pulled off his sunglasses cautiously, he was screwing up his eyes and rubbing them.

"It's okay, the sun is behind the clouds," Tol laughed.

He wrapped his arm around his half-blood's muscular waist and smiled watching Nikto's attempts to open his eyes.

"It is never sunny for you," Nikto said in irritation, "but it's always too sunny for me."

He put on his glasses again.

"Poor Nikto," Dony said. She had already undressed and now was clinging to him. "Let's go and swim," she purred.

Nikto stripped and unclasped all the bracelets on his arms. He kept the black cloth, though. Everyone looked at him with interest, examining his tattoos. He noticed that and turned silently letting them see him better.

"Yeah, impressive," Lis said.

Enriki screwed his face as if he was going to puke but didn't say anything. Asa noticed that and said something to Nikto in Unclean. He shrugged in reply.

"What did she said to you?" Tol asked.

"She asked me if she should undress."

"Of course!" Tol shouted. "What the fuck?! There's nobody to be ashamed of! Tell her to strip, tell her, Nikto!"

Nikto smirked.

"She understood, calm down."

Asa blushed and stripped baring her dark body covered in an ornament of tattoos almost all over. She looked at the people and cursed in Unclean. Everyone laughed.

"Let's go," Orel said and entered the water.

Mina followed him very carefully. Then Tol ran into it, yelling wildly, showering everyone with splashes; he dragged Asa with him. She laughed and shouted something at him in Unclean trying to avoid splashes. Then the others, laughing and splashing at each other like children, ran into the river. They swam and play in the water until they got cold. Then, shivering and with their teeth chattering, they hurried ashore and started drinking to get warmer.

"I want to play that... ah... a ball!" Tol screamed. "Let's go and play!"

"How are we going to play?" Enriki asked. "A team to a team?"

"Yes," Tol said, "teams are a great idea. I'll decide who plays with whom."

"Don't count on me," Orel warned, "I want to have a rest."

"Fine then. In my team there are me, Asa, Nikto and Dona."

"Dony," she corrected him.

"Tol, you'll lose if you take me," Nikto said. "I can't run." He stood wringing his wet hair.

"Wait, Tol," Enriki interfered. "If you're playing with your Asa, then I'm playing with my sister, right?"

"Yes, a pair to a pair," Tol said.

"If you also have Nikto and Dony, then who'll play for our team?" Enriki's sister asked.

"Vil," Tol said and laughed.

"But I don't have a pair," he said apologetically.

"Borrow Orel's Mina," Tol found a way out. "Mina, do you want to play?"

"If you want, you can go," Orel said.

Mina laughed happily.

"Mina is good," Tol said, "I wouldn't mind her on my team."

"No, you won't have her," Enriki snapped.

"Wait," Vil recalled suddenly, "You forgot Lis!"

Lis, who'd just come out of the water, brought a bottle to his lips.

"What's Tol again having against me?" he asked between gulps.

"He forgot to include you into the game," Vil reported.

"But we don't have a place for Lis," Tol objected. "We have four people and four people, two teams, two girls in each. Where should I put Lis?"

"Then Orel has to play, too," Enriki said. "Orel, join our team."

"No, I said I won't," Orel lay down on his back and closed his eyes.

"You see," Tol said happily, "Lis doesn't fit."

"Okay, okay, forget about me," Lis didn't seem upset.

"It's settled then!" Tol smiled. "Let's go!"

They walked to a clearing not far away.

"Still suffering?" Lis asked Orel when Tol and the others moved away for some distance.

"Yes," Orel said simply.

Lis sat down next to him, he watched with interest how Tol measured the clearing with his steps, making some marks with his sword on the ground.

Orel turned onto his belly and put his head onto his arms.

"How's Nikto going to play?" he said.

"You mean he's lame?" Lis asked.

They watched Tol and Enriki make some kind of gates with two swords they shoved into the ground in their sheathes, first on one side of the clearing, then, after Tol measured everything with his steps again, on the other side.

"Tol will likely make him a goalkeeper," Lis said. "Tol is smart about such things."

They saw Tol discuss something with his team, then point at the gates and at Nikto.

Orel and Lis laughed.

"Exactly as I said," Lis lit a cigarette, "he did just that."

Orel lay down on his face on the ground, not supporting himself with his arms any more.

"I love him," he moaned, "I love him so much!"

Lis shook his head; he was watching the game.

"Wow! Mina nearly missed a goal!"

Orel raised his head and looked up again.

"They made Mina a goalkeeper?"

"I think they're right," Lis said. "Now it's actually Enriki and Vil against Tol."

"Really? Don't you count his Unclean? She's worth of two men."

Lis laughed.

"You're probably right."

The game continued; Lis and Orel heard joyful shouts of the players. Nikto deftly kicked a ball away from the gates of his team. He was laughing. Orel and Lis looked at each other.

"Here you are," Lis said. "You were worried how he'd play."

"I love him," Orel didn't look away from Nikto.

"Enough of lamenting," Lis winced. "I'm sick with your wails."

"He's the best," Orel said without paying attention to Lis's remark. "I can't look at him, I cannot bear it." He put his head down on his arms, pressing his face into the grass.

Lis looked at the players absent-mindedly.

"I don't understand," he whispered suddenly.

"What?"

"I don't understand," Lis said louder.

"What don't you understand?"

"I don't understand anything," Lis said rather to himself than to Orel.

They kept silent for a few minutes.

"I wonder how old he is," Lis said suddenly.

Orel raised his head.

"You mean Nikto? I don't know."

"He is very young," Lis continued. "Now as he's laughing and playing with them, I wouldn't say he's even twenty."

"He said he's about as old as we are," Orel said.

"No, he's clearly younger than you and me. Younger than me, at least, that's for sure, and a lot, for seven years at least."

"It can't be!"

"Just look at him."

Orel looked at the players. Asa managed to score a goal against Enriki's team at last. Tol roared with delight, Dony and Asa shrieked. Nikto was as happy as the others, he raised his fist sharply as if saying: 'Yes, we did it!' He looked very satisfied.

"He's content," Orel said, "I'm suffering here and he's content!"

"I couldn't even imagine he was able to enjoy himself," Lis said surprised.

"Yes, I agree, he is younger than he seems at the first sight," Orel said. "The scar makes him look much older."

"Now as he's playing he looks like a boy," Lis shook his head. "But he is not human, I won't be deceived by this creature."

"Tol scored a goal!" Orel screamed happily. "Two to nil! You said something about Nikto?" he looked at Lis. "Sorry, I missed it."

"No, it's nothing," Lis waved his hand. "Nikto. Nik-to, Nik-to," he pronounced with various intonations and suddenly slapped his forehead. "Oh gods! It's that simple! Why didn't I guess before! The answer was right on the surface but I didn't see it!"

Orel looked at him in perplexity.

"Lis, what are you talking about?"

Lis turned to him, his eyes shining.

"He's Nikto in the direct meaning of this word. Do you understand?"

"Yes, his name is Nikto, so what?

"It is because he really is Nikto – nobody!"

Orel glanced at him.

"Your logic bewilders me, Lis."

"It doesn't matter," Lis again looked at the players. "Two to nil, you say?" he smirked. "He's gonna miss a goal now if he doesn't want to spite us."

"What can he do to spite us?"

"I said he had to miss a ball, and he knows that, that's why he won't miss it not to confirm my suspicions."

"Do you think he knows what you've said? That he's gonna miss a goal?" Orel said in surprise. "Did I get you right?"

"Ooh, he missed!" Lis said.

"Fuck! How did you know he'd miss?"

Lis laughed. "They'll win with a minimal advantage, not to hurt the feelings of those who play in Enriki's team."

"But why are you so sure?"

"Aren't you sure? You admired him so often that infected me with it. Could he really miss that shitty goal? What do you think?"

"No, of course not!" Orel laughed. "You're a real bastard, Lis."

He looked at the players.

"He missed another, and I swear, it looked very natural!"

"Now they are equal," Lis summarized, "he won't miss again. Everything depends on Tol, Dony and Asa, if they score a goal, they'll win. That's fun!"

"Maybe he's really just playing," Orel said. "So what if he misses, everyone would miss in his place. Can't that be?"

"It can. That's the thing: I cannot be absolutely sure. I cannot catch him. I'm not sure of anything! Maybe he's really just playing, I don't know!"

"Then why to think about it," Orel shrugged. "He's having fun, he enjoys being with us, we enjoy being with him. He is handsome and smart, what else do we need?"

Lis laughed. "Hey, what's between him and Dony?"

"Nothing. He just fucked her."

"Already?!"

"Last night. And in the morning we had fun all together, he and I fucked Mily and Dony in turns."

"Wow! You really find time for everything!"

Orel laughed recalling. "Just imagine what Enriki would think if he knew the two of us fucked his sister together for an hour. She nearly passed out!"

"She and Enriki are so different," Lis said.

"They both are somewhat bonkers," Orel smiled, "just in a different way. But I don't care. I enjoy being with Enriki, and with Mily, too, they are my family."

"Yes," Lis said. "We all are one family."

Later, when after finishing the game the others came back to the river, they swam again and returned back to the city.

Tol goes to see Asa off.

The others go back to the castle and Vil burdens Orel with book-keeping.

Nikto goes to his room with Dony.

Enriki is going to the king's palace to do something about Squint-Eye's liberation. Later he leaves taking Mily and Dony along.

Orel, Nikto, Lis and Vil go to 'Backara'. Tol also has to come there.

They get some initial information about the fight with Bey's people.

Bey finds out that Orel used the help of mercenaries from the Unclean District and is enraged.

Chapter 17

The Ultimatum

They were almost at the gates of the Lower City when they saw several riders approaching them.

"Arel, they are Bey's people," Lis said quietly. "What do they want here?" He tensed holding the bridle of the horse in his left hand and ready to pull out his sword with his right one any moment.

"Calm down, Lis, don't freak out." Orel stopped his horse.

Four riders came up to them very closely.

"Prince Arel Chig, I presume," one of them said to Orel. Orel took off the mask that hid his face.

"What do I owe this honor to?" he asked coldly.

"I am Edin Ol," the rider introduced himself. He was the only one in a mask.

"So what?" Orel snorted.

Ol smirked. "Don't pretend you don't know who I am. I'm Black Bey's right-hand man and you know that."

"What do you want?"

"I need to talk to you on behalf of my master." He pointed at the open restaurant in the corner of the street. "Let's go there. I don't need to get in trouble with the guards." He glanced at the passer-byes who hurried past them, casting fearful and displeased looks at the people who blocked the street.

Orel shrugged indifferently.

"Fine but I'm short of time, remember that."

"All right," Edin Ol turned his horse to the restaurant. His riders followed him.

Orel glanced at Vil. "Go home," he ordered.

Vil looked at him pleadingly. "Orel, please let me stay with you," he said quietly in such an unusual begging manner that Lis whistled in surprise.

"I don't repeat twice. Go!" Orel snapped; Vil's pitiful gaze didn't affect him.

"Orel, please..."

Orel reached for the sword behind his back.

"One more word and you're dead," he said slowly.

"I'm sorry," Vil sniffed. He was nearly in tears.

Orel turned his horse to the restaurant; Lis and Nikto followed him without saying a word to Vil. Vil stayed in the street alone. After a while he finally spurred his horse in fury and rode away.

Three of them entered the restaurant and sat down at the opposite side of the table where Edin and his people already sat. The waiter wasn't in a hurry to serve them. Customers watched them in fear but didn't run - it was the Upper City where people were not that terrified.

"I'm listening," Orel said looking at Ol in contempt.

"Bey sent me to talk to you, it's just a conversation, nothing more."

"I got it. And?"

"Leave the Lower City, prince," Ol said quietly but firmly. "Leave it in an amicable way. Bey still gives you such a chance. You have no business in the lower streets; they belong to those who were born and live there. You came from the Upper City, we'll drive you away. Just like you, rich bastards, drove away and closed the access to the Upper City for commoners. Yours is the Upper City, the Lower is ours. Enough of trying to grab both yours and someone else's, Arel Chig, you've lost any shame. You invaded our streets using your nearly limitless power and money. But we've had enough of you! We tried to bear with you and your people to the very end. But now we cannot stand it any more. We cannot stand what you're doing in the streets of our Lower City!

"Now I see you finally lost your mind if you brought mercenaries from the Unclean District to our Lower City! How dared you litter our city with the Unclean from the valley levels? How dared you bring half-bloods from behind the river to our neighborhoods! Bey warns you for the last time. Either you take away your Unclean trash," Ol quickly glanced at Nikto, "or the whole Lower City rises against you. People don't want to live next to those creatures. You don't care shit about their safety, I understand it, you're safely hidden behind the strong walls of the Upper City and you don't care what happens to the people in our streets, you just want to get more money from them.

"Isn't it so, prince? Even though you already have more money than you need but your greed doesn't have any limits. What will those bastards you gathered do to peaceful citizens? If you don't take them away, we'll unite with the owners of the northern and eastern territories, they are ready to do that. When it concerns protection of our people from the Unclean, we act together. You're a stranger in our territory and everyone will be against you. Do you understand it? That is why – stop until it is too late. We're not afraid of you or your allies.

"We'll dispose of you, we won't let you litter our streets and set a new order here. The Unclean will have no place in the Lower City!

"If you want to deal with them – go there and don't soil the Lower City with your presence. You're a disgrace among humans. Your rich friends kicked you out but we'll do the same. We won't let you ruin our city, our streets. Do you get that?"

"I would kill you right here," Orel said calmly, "but I want you to pass my words to your master. I won't take the Unclean away from my streets and I'll bring more if need be." He kept silent for a while watching Ol's reaction. "And I shit care about your threats. If Bey doesn't submit, I'll tear apart the whole Lower City. You want the war – you'll have it. I'll kill everyone. Everyone who lives in your streets. I'll raze your streets to the ground and will inhabit them with the people I want.

"You're right, I don't care about people who live there and that's why I can do things that will make you regret a million times that you opposed me. I'll slaughter the whole Lower City if I want. You cannot stop me! I'll tear you apart just for fun! If you care so much about peaceful life of common people – which I really doubt – think twice before opposing me. They'll die because of you. They'll suffer and it'll be your fault. Don't even try to touch me – I will do whatever I want. I didn't touch you but you made me and I won't stop until I take everything that belongs to Bey. I'll take all his streets! And he will swallow it. I don't envy you, there are difficult times in store for you," he smirked. "That's all, I don't have anything else to say to such an idiot as you. If Bey cares, let him come and bow to me." Orel laughed.

Edin Ol was red in face, barely controlling himself.

"So, that's it?" he hissed through the clenched teeth. "You're declaring a war."

"Yes, that's it."

"You'll regret it!"

Orel got up. "Let's go," he said to Lis and Nikto, "we have nothing to do here."

They left the restaurant.

"You're insane," Lis said when they reached their streets. "The whole Lower City is going to oppose you. And they will be right. We'll be eliminated."

"I'm not afraid of anything," Orel said. "I have friends and they'll help me, won't they?" He turned to Nikto.

"You can always count on me," Nikto said. His face was tightly covered with a mask, black glass glittering through the eye-slits.

They arrive at Orel's military camp where he decides to arrange a show trial for Bey's captured people.

Before his warriors, Orel executes the captives with his own hand.

Their chopped-off heads are sent to Bey.

Later Nikto goes to the castle and injects himself 'black water'.

For the whole next day he doesn't come out of his room. The friends go on with their business without him. At night Lis decides to talk to Nikto, and Nikto allows him to enter.

Chapter 18

Conversation between Lis and Nikto

Nikto got up greeting Lis. Leaning against his cane, he walked up to the bar. Lis sat down in the armchair and watched him silently. Nikto tried to take a bottle and pour a drink but his hands didn't obey. His fingers didn't bend; they were so swollen and blue as if someone beat them with a hammer. His cut fingernails blackened, the tattoos on his fingers and hands looked like black burnt furrows. After a few unsuccessful attempts to pour drinks for Lis and himself, he turned back. His face was covered with a mask.

"Lis, can you pour a drink for us?" he asked.

His voice didn't change. It was strange, unpleasant but familiar. Lis got up, came up to the bar and poured wine silently.

Nikto turned his hand so that his fingers fit into the gap between the glass and its handle, and Lis put the glass there.

"Wait, I forgot." Nikto carefully gave his glass back to Lis. "I want to take off my mask and sunglasses."

"Yes," Lis said, "it's difficult to talk to a man if you don't see his face and eyes."

Nikto froze in indecision, then very slowly, using both his hands, took off the mask. He looked horrible; 'black water' disfigured him. His face was swollen, the skin on his cheekbones burst and dry blood caked there hiding the letters of the Unclean. But the scarred half of his face looked worst of all – the scar was black and swollen. The cheek was swollen, too, his eyes barely open. Nikto tried to smile with his puffy cracked lips.

"I know I look bad but I cannot do anything about it now." His reddened eyes glittered feverishly; he looked at Lis.

Lis lowered his gaze giving Nikto his glass and returned to his place.

"You don't look bad," he said. "You cannot look any worse! A corpse that spent a week in the warm ground looks better. If only Orel could see you!"

Nikto sat down in the armchair in front of Lis, put the cane next to him. He was silent.

"Your human body is falling apart," Lis continued, "and it is so young!"

Nikto's face darkened.

"Don't say that, Lis," he said, "don't repeat what the Unclean say." He lowered his head.

"What happened to the man whose body you use? He was mute and insane, wasn't he? He was mute, that's why you couldn't use his voice, you had to keep your own."

Lis watched Nikto. "He was very beautiful. You chose a beautiful body," he said thoughtfully. "But you treated his beauty cruelly and didn't take care of it. You damaged it – but it doesn't matter because its former owner isn't there any more. He died, didn't he?"

Nikto looked at Lis.

"No, he didn't die," he said slowly. "He is me."

"I don't believe you," Lis shook his head. "You're nobody. You don't have a body in our world. And I can't imagine how you look in reality. But your eyes are enough for me to know that it is for the better. The eyes are yours, right? You're looking at our world with your eyes. That's why you can't see well. You try to restore his vision but you cannot do it yet. Maybe that man was not only mute but also blind?"

"No," Nikto said, "he wasn't blind and he wasn't mute. It's all fantasies of the Unclean. That man could see, and hear, and talk normally but he lived among dark creatures and tried to be similar to them. He rebuilt himself with their help. His eyes started seeing just like their eyes. And his voice changed unrecognizably because he was speaking only their language. He was with them for too long and started looking like them. He lost himself. But he didn't die. You're talking to him now," he passed his swollen hands over his disheveled hair trying to smoothen it. "I barely look like human, I know. But I am a human. And I'm tired of being anything else. You are not talking to a demon, Lis, you're talking to me. I'm not a demon, I'm a man."

Lis was silent.

"Light me a cigarette please," Nikto asked.

Lis took out a cigarette, lit it, made a small drag and gave it to Nikto. Nikto leaned towards him and Lis put the cigarette between his lips.

"I knew it would be a difficult conversation," Lis said, "but I'll be honest, I wanted to talk to you anyway. You attract me just like you attract others, even though I hide it. There is something in you that make me respect you. Maybe it is the way you use your power deftly and unnoticeably – because you can do a lot, right? I'm amazed with your self-control. If I had such powers as you do, I wouldn't be sitting here and listening to some silly fantasies of a human who imagines himself too smart."

Nikto laughed nearly letting the cigarette fall out of his mouth.

"I wouldn't make efforts and spend my time constructing one situation after another," Lis said. "You make people do what you want but in the way they think they want it themselves. You work with everybody, going all out, including me. I wouldn't ever do that! I would control everyone without explanations! I'd use them as my puppets carelessly. I'd make them obey me and kill those who wouldn't."

"And what would the great Lis do to himself – as he is now?"

"I'd kill him first of all," Lis said without hesitation.

Nikto laughed again.

"And then you'd stay alone, on the mountain of corpses, and you wouldn't have a friend to exchange a word with. You would go mad and howl at the moon," he said laughing. Lis laughed, too.

"You have a better knowledge what an unlimited power could bring. But the temptation is too big to think of consequences."

"I don't know anything about it," Nikto said. "Whatever I knew I lost. Sometimes some things come back to me, things from my former life but it's nothing in comparison to the abilities you attribute to me."

"You're a practiced liar," Lis smirked. "Here I'm talking to you and you almost made me believe you're really a human – just a little bit different from others."

Nikto shrugged and stubbed his cigarette.

"You'll see for yourself when you get to know me better, if we stay together."

"Do you want to stay with us?"

"Yes."

"Though I probably said it wrong: it's us who are with you."

"No. It's me who is with you," Nikto said. "It's me with you," he repeated.

He finished his wine.

"I feel so bad! If you could know, Lis, you wouldn't say I'm able to do anything. If it were so, would I let myself get into such a condition? Oh yes, it is not my body, I don't need to spare it, I forgot. Sorry, Lis, you made such a beautiful and neat construction that I even enjoyed it."

He clenched his arm where his damaged veins were. "Shit, will it ever end?!"

"Do you really feel pain?"

"Yes," Nikto said. He got up and hobbled to the bar leaning onto his cane. He managed to pour some wine.

"Why are you limping?" Lis asked.

"I don't know. As long as I remember myself, I was lame. I wasn't mute or insane. I was lame..." he said thoughtfully. "I barely remember anything about living with my mother. Sometimes I have memories, especially when I have a dose of 'black water'," he laughed. "No, Lis, I'm lying, I recall. I was insane and mute for two years after I was captured. Later I restored but everyone thought I got possessed by the devil. And I didn't reassure them. When I say that I restored I don't mean I became as I had been before. I lost a lot and I can't bring it back."

"You were captured by the Red and they broke you. It is true, your tattoo witnesses it. But I can't understand," Lis paused thinking, "I had to know you! If you were held captive by the Red why didn't I know anything of you?"

"Why should you have known about me? They had many captives. Well, you didn't ever take any captives, you preferred to kill them all straight away, including women and children. Right, Atley Alis – or Sigmer? Which of these names is the real one?"

Lis screwed his eyes shut suddenly as if he were in pain.

"You found out. I was prepared to that."

"It wasn't difficult. Three years passed but the Black at the borders still cannot forget you and your army. They call you Sigmer the Death."

"Yes, I know. But it isn't me any more."

"Why did you betray the Red?"

"It's a long story. I fell out of grace, was accused of all deadly sins and sentenced to death. I had no other way but to run to save my skin. My mother was Black, you know that, I was born at the border and grew up among you. I even fought against the Red for a while. Then I found my father. He accepted me and named me Sigmer, in the manner of the Red. That's how I became Red. I fought for them for almost ten years but one day my power was destroyed. I returned and got my former name my mother gave me. I couldn't stay at the border, too many people knew me there. I came to the city and met Orel. I used to have everything. Now I have nothing... but Arel."

"What happens when the Black buy you out?"

"They know about me, they just don't have serious proof. I wasn't leaving any witnesses alive. Besides, they don't want to oppose Orel."

"Does he know the truth?"

"Yes, sure. He, and Enriki, and even Tol."

"Why does he protect you?"

Lis smiled showing his sharply filed teeth.

"I'm an experienced warrior and a good strategist. Do you think Orel would be able to seize so many territories with his pathetic number of people without my help? Arel doesn't know how to take care of people." Lis lit a cigarette. "By the way, I'd like to talk to you about him. Can you promise me not to do Orel any harm? You mean too much for him."

"I promise you," Nikto said. "You don't need to worry. I won't do anything bad to him."

"Good," Lis nodded. "I'll believe you. Maybe, for the first time I'll believe you."

He got up to leave.

"And tell him I'll be all right by tomorrow night," Nikto stopped him. "I'm in such a bad shape because I managed without 'water' for too long and got out of habit. Tell him not to torture yourself. He thinks he hurt my feelings but it is not so, it was my fault as well. Tell him forget everything that happened."

Lis smiled. "Fine, I'll tell him. Get well faster, Black Bey pushes and we need you."

He left the room.

When Lis walked downstairs, Orel rushed to him.

"Did you talk to Nikto? Did you figure out anything?"

Lis shook his head. "I talked to him but I didn't figure out anything, I got even more confused. Now I don't understand anything at all!"

Orel laughed.

"Poor, poor Lis, maybe enough tormenting yourself?"

"No," Lis said, "now I won't give up for sure. I'll find out everything, no matter what it costs me."

"Will it make you feel better?"

"Hardly. But it doesn't matter. By the way, I talked to him about you. He told you to forget what happened between you. He said he was to blame, too."

Orel brightened up.

"Lis, thank you! He really said that, you're not lying, are you?"

"I'm not," Lis said, "I can't be sure about him."

Enriki brings good news: Squint-Eye is getting out of prison.

At Tol's request, Orel takes Asa on the team without the right to vote.

Chapter 19

Squint-Eye

'Backara' was celebrating. Squint-Eye was already tired of answering endless congratulations. He leaned onto the table, putting his head onto his arms.

"I'm so out of habit with all this!"

"Get used again!" Tol laughed. "There are great victories in front of us!" He gulped from his glass. Asa who sat on his lap purred something tenderly. Squint-Eye looked at her in surprise but didn't say anything. Enriki noticed that.

"What did she say?" he asked Squint-Eye "I seem to know Unclean but can't understand what she babbles."

Squint-Eye shook his head tossing away thick black bangs that hid his left eye.

"She says to Tol she loves him, every minute," he smirked.

Enriki's sister laughed seeing his eyes that stared at different directions.

"I almost forgot how you look," she said. "You're so funny!"

He smiled at her quite kindly.

"I could've looked even funnier if not for your bother. He did his best to get me out."

Mily glanced at Enriki with love and respect.

"I know my brother is the best," she said proudly.

Enriki grinned contentedly: "All right, all right, I wasn't saving Squint-Eye on my own. Everyone participated."

"But it was you who saved me from the shameful brand," Squint-Eye said. "Otherwise I'd have my nostrils torn and a brand here," he pointed at the center of his forehead.

"Nostrils torn, how horrible!" Mily said fearfully puckering her pretty face in disgust.

Enriki laughed. "No problem, he'd just get new ones."

Mily smiled and looked at Squint-Eye very affectionately.

Orel who was quite drunk by then hiccupped and looked at his friends with misted eyes.

"Now everything is gonna be different!" He slammed his goblet against the table. Tol laughed. There were new tattoos on his gums.

Two pretty girls from 'Backara' came up to their table, posing gracefully and pouting. "Are you going to drink up everything here? Let's dance!"

"Vil, you're drooling," Lis said. "Close your mouth."

Everyone laughed.

One of the girls hugged Enriki.

"You're so handsome, master Galas! Let's dance!"

Enriki kissed her gently. "Sure!"

Squint-Eye looked at Mily. "May I ask you?"

She lowered her eyes and got up readily.

Orel and Lis exchanged glances. Lis laughed and shook his head.

"I need to find someone, too," he said. "You're okay for me," he said to the remaining girl.

"You're okay for me, too," she said leaning towards Lis in such a way that Vil's nose nearly got buried between her breasts.

Tol and Asa also stood up.

"Orel, let's go jump with the music!" Tol said. "Or are you going to do book-keeping with Vil again?"

"No-o-o, anything but that! I'll find someone... And it is called 'to dance', Tol."

"Who cares!" Tol hugged his girlfriend.

They started kissing with such passion that everyone shrieked in delight and applauded.

Vil didn't want to stay alone, he followed the others. He chose a girl and started dancing, too.

Nikto and Dony came out of their room. Seeing the complete chaos at 'Backara' they laughed and came downstairs to their friends.

Nikto looked much better than a few days ago. The scarred half of his face was always hidden behind the black mask, the other half was fully healed. He didn't even paint his face shocking the audience with the tattoos of the Unclean. Instead of his usual nose ring he inserted quite a heavy decoration with a chain into his nostril. The chain went over the mask and ended with a ring in Nikto's ear. There were two rings in his lower lip – a sign of half-bloods.

Clients of 'Backara' and its staff looked at him in an unconcealed horror.

"I want to dance, too," Dony said, "but I think I can't. Where is Mily?" she started asking everyone.

Everyone smiled, hugged her, kissed, congratulated but no one knew where Mily was. At last she met Lis.

"Where is Mily?" she asked.

"I think she's gone to the loo," he said, "and Squint-Eye helps her find the way." Lis laughed.

"Oh shit," Dony said. "All right, thank you."

"Not at all," Lis started petting his girlfriend again.

Nikto sat down at the table and poured a drink. Dony was stuck in a crowd of her acquaintances. Squint-Eye came back to the table, sat down on the opposite side from Nikto. Nikto looked at him.

"Didn't you guard Mily at the loo?" he smiled.

"Yes," Squint-Eye said. "A year and a half in prison cost me dearly. I guarded her too quickly." He was somewhat upset.

"I think you'll restore fast."

"I hope so," Squint-Eye tossed his bangs away and shook his head sorrowfully. "Oh shit," he muttered unhappily.

Nikto was drinking silently and watching him. Over Squint-Eye's upper lip there was a thin black thread with little knots.

Squint-Eye looked up.

"Are you reading my thread?" he asked.

"Yes. Every knot is someone's life. Your thread has such knots that I haven't seen on any thread before. It's just too cool! What are you in Orel's team? A pro killer?"

Squint-Eye laughed mirthlessly.

"In Orel's fucking gang I'm a scapegoat. Orel is having fun and I'm going to prison for him! Is it cool, you think?" He lit a cigarette narrowing his squint eye against the smoke. "The times when I fought for my right to wear the thread passed. Frankly speaking, I'm tired of everything."

Squint-Eye inhaled the smoke.

"I'm tired. Tired of endless disfavor, of prison, I'm tired of doing dirty work for everyone," he looked at Nikto with his good eye. "Do you know what I mean? I met Orel when I was in prison for the first time, for murder. His sentence was two years, he was the king's relative but I got the full term. He won me over – he was so strong. He had to go through so much humiliation but he didn't break. I respected him and we became friends. Later, when he went clear, he helped to free me after a while. We eliminated everyone who had to do with his process, didn't show mercy to anyone. That's when I started wearing this thread. And then Orel was bored with me. He got new friends. I got to prison again and so was it. I'm the man he throws into the king's maw to absolve himself. Everyone is happy but me. I haven't seen any life! Fucking Lis, a war criminal sentenced to gallows both here and in his own land, is walking free and doesn't care! Enriki, an unscrupulous, corrupt investigator: you can't imagine what deals he made under the king's very nose! His family got rich! He is respected. I don't mention Orel at all, he does whatever he wants. He'll demolish the whole Lower City – no one will say a word. Let him enjoy himself as long as he doesn't raise any claims for the throne. And I'm in deep shit! My house is burnt, my family had to run to the west. They cannot come to the city. I'm in such ass, Nik or whatever your name is..."

"You say that because you've just got free. Wait for a little while and everything works out," Nikto said.

"No," Squint-Eye shook his head. "I want someone else to go to prison next time, not me."

He stubbed the cigarette.

"By the way, I've heard a lot about you. You got free only recently, too, right?

"You can say that."

"Were you in the 'king's prison'?"

"Not for a long time, I spent more at the 'farm'."

"Are you a slave?"

"Yes," Nikto said very slowly.

"How did it happen?"

"Do you want me to tell you my life story? Perhaps not tonight?"

Squint-Eye laughed.

"Fine, sorry for my curiosity. It's just your face – it's like a picture book. Even someone who can't read will understand. But I can read, unlike others. And I wonder whom Orel is going to give my job."

Nikto looked at him sharply.

"I don't want to compete with you," he said.

"Don't worry. Do you think I see a rival in you? It is useless, even if I don't let him interfere with my orders, Orel will give you a couple of profitable jobs sooner or later, you're his favorite, after all. I don't have a choice, in any case I'm out of the game." Squint-Eye lit a new cigarette and looked at Nikto. "But I don't mind. I told you, I'm sick and tired of everything. Let everything stay as it is – and then we'll see."

"I think Lis owes you his nickname," Nikto smiled.

"Do you think I'm sly? No-o-o, but I wouldn't mind exchanging nicknames with Lis. I'd give him mine gladly, together with my eye!"

Nikto laughed.

"With your eye? Why?"

"It just hinders me." Squint-Eye shook his head in irritation. "I see everything somehow dumb because of it. Besides, everyone is always staring at me and laughing." He looked at the dancers angrily. At the same time his squint eye looked straight at Nikto. It was so unnatural and funny that Nikto laughed involuntarily covering his mouth with his hand. Squint-Eye turned to him.

"You're laughing! I'm so tired of it! An eternal clown, for fuck's sake!"

"I'm sorry," Nikto said. "I understand you, I really do."

"No, you don't," Squint-Eye said. "Your appearance frightens but doesn't make people laugh. And my eyes always amuse everyone. I look like a fool."

"What's your real name?"

"My name is Bert Dallen."

"Cool!"

"Yeah, it's cool – but no one remembers that."

The friends, tired of jumping around, came back to their table in a noisy crowd. They laughed and talked all together.

"Pour some drinks, now, now!" Orel shouted. "Let's toast for Squint-Eye once more!" he looked at him. "I'm so happy to have you on the team again!"

Tol yelled and started expressing his joy so flamboyantly than nearly overturned the table. Everyone sitting there started back; girls shrieked and Asa almost fell. She laughed and cursed in Unclean. Tol nearly fell, too. Nikto caught him just in time; his chain swayed and clicked against the hard mask loudly.

"Hey, Tol, watch out!" Nikto shouted.

Tol looked at him drunkenly and hugged him laughing.

"Nikto, Nikto, my friend!"

"Now, Tol, leave me alone! I don't want you!" Nikto pushed him away and laughed.

"Tol, calm down and go hug your Asa," Orel said.

"Yes, my lord!" Tol said readily and put Asa onto his lap. "Nikto, will you pierce my nose?" he asked. "I want to wear the same thing you have!"

Everyone laughed.

"He won't pierce your nose, he'll smash it," Lis said, "if you don't leave him alone."

"And I'll smash your whole face," Tol said happily, "if you don't stop butting in."

"Again!" Orel moaned. "You can't stay away from each other even for an hour."

Squint-Eye laughed.

"Lis and Tol didn't change at all. They're still confessing their love to each other every moment."

"Nikto, don't you get tired of your decorations?" Enriki said. "You're a good guy but I'm sick of your jewelry."

"No, I don't," Nikto said.

"I know it's not my business but maybe you should stop looking like an Unclean? Humans leave their faces untouched, that's the law. Besides, you set some bad fashion, and Tol is the first victim of it. If it goes on like that, soon all of us will start wearing rings and tattooing our asses."

Everyone rolled with laughter.

"Enriki is right," Orel said. "Tol needs a tattoo on his ass, to be completely happy."

"Why not?" Tol guffawed. "But who's gonna do it for me?"

Nikto looked at Orel's grey face: its skin already started peeling because of his permanent use of paint. He looked at Squint-Eye: on his cheeks right under his ears silver needles pierced his skin holding the thread. He looked at laughing Lis: all his upper teeth were filed sharp.

Lis noticed his stare.

"Don't look at me," he grimaced. "I shit care about the laws of the Black, I don't wear signs of half-blood in my lip and I am proud about my scars."

"We're outlaws, Nik," Orel said.

"Yes!" Tol yelled. "We're all touched! Arel put his brand on every one of us and Enriki should stop pretending, he's also 'touched'."

"Oh, here is goes again," Enriki sighed. "Of course I'm touched since I'm here with you and not at the palace."

Vil gets on Orel's nerves with the problems in the Upper City. But Orel doesn't hurry to bring everything into order.

He is carried away with the Lower City and his revenge on Bey. Orel's army take their streets back and it's just the beginning. Orel is obsessed with his idea to take away everything that belongs to Bey, just as he threatened. Now he prepares invasion to the rival's territory and gets more soldiers from Borgan.

Squint-Eye goes to his estate in the west to hire more people for the war.

Participating along with others in the street fight, Asa proves herself a good warrior.

Enriki manages to settle down all the claims of the king to them and the king kindly allows Orel to "establish order" in the Lower City.

Bey is feverishly looking for allies to unite against Orel.

Chapter 20

Vil's Acceptance

The day was waning, and they spent their time at the 'Arbor' in the Upper City. Noise and music reached them from a nearby market square. Street artists were giving their performances, people danced and enjoyed themselves.

Lis, as usual, watched motley jolly crowd below through the tracery grate. Enriki nodded leaning back in the chair. Even Tol was quiet today and sat silently, staring at the wall with a dumb look. Orel smoked and looked through the business documents from the Upper City Vil regularly and lovingly provided him with. He narrowed his eyes against the cigarette smoke.

"Hey, anyone, help me!"

Enriki flinched and woke up.

"No-o-o, Orel, I'm so tired of papers at the palace."

"Just throw them away," Tol said, "do you care?"

"I care," Orel said sharply. "Where is that fucking Vil? He's late!"

"No," Enriki objected, "we are early."

Nikto took a few papers from Orel and laughed.

"Wow! You need abacus, are you calculating that in your mind?"

"Well, I'm trying," Orel blushed.

Lis looked at a nearly empty bottle on the table in front of Orel and snorted in understanding, then looked at the square again.

"Make the owner bring abacus," Nikto said, "it is impossible to calculate something like that mentally."

He was without his mask and glasses. The scar on his cheek nearly returned to normal after the 'water', there was just some blackness left around his eye and on his cheek. It looked like his eye was bruised and it amused the friends a lot. Nikto nearly touched the papers with his nose, his vision was still bad. Orel called for a servant and ordered to bring abacus. The servant obeyed immediately.

"Great!" Tol muttered without delight when Orel put the abacus on the table pushing away Tol's plate and nearly overturning his glass.

There was a ring in Tol's nostril.

Orel didn't pay attention to his displeasure. "Let's start counting," he said.

"What happened to that Unclean, is he still alive?" Tol asked watching Nikto.

"What Unclean? Ah, you mean the scar. No. But it was a Red." Nikto passed his hand over his cheek. "I'm so used to it that I often forget."

"Sure," Tol said, "You don't see it!" He laughed, happy with his joke.

"But there is always some cretin who'd remind him," Orel muttered angrily.

"Nikto, I hope you didn't get offended, did you?" Tol got scared.

"You're kidding!" Nikto laughed. "I'm used to it, there's always someone who thinks he must wag his tongue against my scar."

"Oooh," Enriki moaned, "I'm going to puke."

"Lis, why are looking at me like that? Something wrong?" Nikto noticed Lis's strange gaze.

"No, nothing," Lis turned away.

Nikto looked at the paper closely, he tried to decipher the writings.

"No, Arel, you'd better dictate the numbers to me and I'll count," he said at last. "Fuck that Vil, I can't see anything. Is he stingy about paper or what? Couldn't he write bigger letters? And what is that?" he pushed the paper to Orel and pointed with his finger.

Orel looked down and laughed. "Vil probably made a mistake and covered it with white paint," he explained.

"I feel like he covered everything with white pain, and wrote with white paint, too," Nikto said gloomily.

Everyone laughed.

"Why do you see everything in white?" Orel asked laughing.

"I know," Lis said. "We see everything in black in the darkness, and he sees everything in white by daylight. I think so."

"Do you see me white, too?" Tol asked at once.

"No," Nikto said in irritation, "I don't see you white."

"And how do you see me?" Tol didn't stop.

"Grey!"

Everyone laughed again.

"Very funny," Nikto muttered.

"I start dictating," Orel said.

"Fine." Nikto flipped the bird to Tol. Lis, Enriki and Tol laughed again.

"Enough!" Orel shouted. "You don't let me work! I'm tired of you! Shut up, now!"

The friends got quiet.

"No, I can't stand it any more," Tol moaned after fifteen minutes that Orel spent dictating various combinations of numbers non-stop. Nikto calculated them with the abacus and gave replies. Orel wrote the results on the paper and compared to the results given by Vil.

"I can't bear it!" Tol could barely control himself. "I'm gonna smash that thing with little balls and tear all the papers."

"Just try that," Orel said without stopping. "Sit down and shut up."

It seemed he enjoyed this monotonic activity. He continued dictating numbers, carefully and tediously, and waited patiently when Nikto floundered and started recalculating. It was unbearable. Tol looked at Enriki and Lis in misery and, giving Orel a glance, rolled his finger at his temple.

"Tol, I see that," Orel said calmly. "Here! It's gonna be interesting!" His voice became cheerful. "Now, now... Nik, count that for me!"

He continued pouring numbers on Nikto with even more passion. Enriki sighed, leaned back in the chair and lit a cigarette. Lis fingered his hair with a bored expression. Tol lit a cigarette, too, he looked like he was going to be sick any moment.

"When is this Vil going to come at last?" he mumbled dejectedly.

After a while, when they had lost any hope, Orel suddenly got silent.

"Well, what's the result?" Nikto turned to him in curiosity.

Orel sat silent for a while, looking at the paper in front of him.

"Nothing," he said at last. "Not a thing!" he screamed in rage and tossed the papers on the floor.

Lis was the first to laugh, then Tol and Enriki joined. They really rolled in laughter, unable to say a word.

"They laugh," Orel said to Nikto, exasperated. "Do you see it: instead of helping me they laugh at me! I try to bring our business into order!" he yelled at them angrily. "How can you behave like that?" He sat down. "What shall we do now?" He looked distressed. "I don't understand anything any more."

"I think," Nikto said, "either Vil messed up somehow, or we made a mistake. Or someone in the Upper City tries to cheat on you."

"All three things at once, likely," Lis said laughing. "Orel, wouldn't it be easier just to scare the shit out of them and everything will be all right?"

"But I want to find every one whose fault it is," Orel didn't give up. "I want to punish them, punish mercilessly."

He paused for a while.

"And I'll kill Vil. Now that's for sure."

"You said you couldn't kill him," Tol said.

"Yes, I said that but now he touched me and I can do anything!"

"He just tries to do his best and help you," Enriki tried to explain.

"Yes, I know, I know," Orel waved his hand at him. "But he ruined my mood."

"It's a good reason," Lis agreed.

"Aren't you tired of killing someone every day?" Enriki asked looking at Orel disapprovingly.

"No, I'm not!" he snapped back. At this moment Vil entered the 'Arbor'.

"Hello," he smiled. "Am I timely?"

"More than untimely," Lis hissed through the clenched teeth. "As always."

"Come in, sit down," Orel said quite friendly, to their joy.

Vil noticed the papers on the floor and his smile faded.

"Something wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"No, everything's okay," Orel forced a smile.

Vil sat down next to Tol who put a drink in front of him silently.

"Orel, I know we agreed to discuss book-keeping of the Upper City," Vil started, "but, frankly speaking, I'd like to talk about a different matter."

He cleared his throat.

"I understand, of course... book-keeping is very important..." he looked at the abacus on the table. "But really, I don't know how to say that..."

"Say it quick," Orel said. "What do you want?"

"Take me on your team, Arel!" Vil blurted out.

"Ooh, idiot," Lis moaned quietly.

Orel looked at Vil sadly.

"No."

There was silence in the room.

"No," Orel repeated. "How many times should I say that?"

"But why?" Vil screamed, he was in despair. Lis who sat next to Tol shoved Tol in his side.

"Make him leave while he can!" he hissed.

Tol was quick to get it.

"Vil, you'd better leave," he said quietly.

"What?" Vil turned to him. "No, I'm not leaving! I want to know why Arel always rejects me!" He flushed. "Tell me, Arel, why are you so much against me? Did I ever hurt you? Am I a bad warrior?"

"You're a great warrior," Orel didn't argue. "And you didn't ever hurt me. Neither me, nor my friends."

"But why then? Why do you drive me away?"

"I'm doing that for you!" Orel couldn't stand it any longer. "You idiot, don't you see what you want to get into?"

"I know what's better for me," Vil wasn't scared at all when Orel yelled at him. "I can decide myself what's better for me. I'm not a child, don't worry about me! I want to be with you! I don't understand why you think I'm worse than the others, why you took them in and you reject me!"

"You don't understand," Orel got angrily, "and you will never understand! You don't suit me – that's all I can say to you. And enough of that."

"No," Vil didn't give up. "It's not an answer, I won't leave."

"If you don't leave now, you'll regret it badly," Orel said; his eyes flashed unhealthily.

"I won't leave," Vil shook his head. "You think I'll get scared and leave. But I'm not a coward, Arel, you can kill me but I want to be with you and only you. Otherwise," he swallowed hard, "otherwise I don't have a reason to live."

"Oh gods!" Enriki looked at Orel pleadingly.

"You're fishing for trouble," Orel said to Vil.

"I don't care," Vil said. "You think I'm a fool and a coward but I'm not, and I'll prove it!"

"No one here thinks you're a coward," Orel said, "calm down, I don't wish evil to you. I don't!" He hit the table with his fist. "But you make me. You're not like me or them," he pointed at his friends. "I can never be completely sure in you. You won't manage, Vil. Believe me, I know what I say. I cannot risk and take a man I doubt on the team. You're a brave and experienced warrior but you're different! Before I take someone in, I must be hundred percent sure that this man is mine. You're not my man!"

"But we grew up together, how can I be not yours?" Vil shouted.

"It doesn't matter how much time we spent together! Two minutes are enough for me to understand if you're my man or not. We lost more than a half of our men just lately. And even more before then. From those who were with me in the beginning only Squint-Eye is left, and that's because he spends most of his time in prison. Everyone else is long rotting in my castle cemetery. I'm responsible for everyone's life, and if something happens, it's my fault. We are at war with Bey and you want me to take a man on my team who cannot work as I need it – to stake our lives on your whim?"

"I'll do everything you want! Everything you tell me! I won't spare my life for you! I'll do my best! I'm not afraid of hardships, I'm not afraid of Bey, I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Such a bold declaration," Orel smirked. "He isn't afraid of anything. It just proves your stupidity once again, I'm wasting my time with you."

He rose. "Let's go. Tol, gather the papers."

"No!" Vil blocked his way. "No! Take me on your team or kill me! I won't let you leave like that!"

Orel gave him a somewhat strange look.

"Are you setting conditions for me? Fine, you wanted that..." he paused. "Perhaps it's better to end it now, once and for all."

Vil stood at the 'Arbor's' door, pale but full of resolution. He was silent and looked at Orel.

Orel lowered his gaze and returned to the table.

"Sit down, everyone," he said. "You too, Vil. You're on the team now."

Enriki's face brightened. Tol spat on the floor in irritation.

"Shit!" he cursed in anger.

"Calm down," Lis said quietly; his eyes glittered slyly.

Vil kept standing, unable to believe Orel's words.

"Why are you standing there? See, we aren't leaving. I said you're in," Orel shook his head. "Oh gods, you're so dumb!"

"And what about them?" Vil asked nervously. "Do they agree?"

"Questions, questions, endless questions, that's why I dislike you, Vil – for your endless stupid questions."

"I also asked something like that when you offered me to join you," Nikto interfered. "It's quite a reasonable question."

"I agree with Nikto," Enriki added.

"Fine," Orel said. "Fine. Who's for Vil's being on the team?"

He raised his hand, Enriki and Nikto joined him.

"Ni-i-ik!" Tol moaned in disappointment, screwing his face. Nikto looked at him and shrugged.

"Who's against?"

Tol raised his hand. Lis didn't vote.

"So, it's three against one, plus Lis who abstains. Are you happy?"

Vil slowly came up to the table and sat down. It seemed he was going to faint.

"When I said I'm taking you in, I knew I had a majority behind me," Orel explained, "even though it actually doesn't matter because I have the last word. It'll be as I say. But I seldom use it because we're a family and I like to take everyone's interests into consideration."

"As if," Tol muttered resentfully.

"Do you understand what I mean?" Orel leaned to Vil over the table.

"Yes, yes..." Vil nodded.

"I don't see it by your face," Orel poured some wine for him. "Have a drink, unwind."

"Thank you." Vil took the glass, his hand was shaking.

"For you, Vil!" Orel raised his glass, the others joined him. "You're with us now," Orel smiled, "and there is no way back. Come round at last!" he shouted seeing that Vil still was beyond himself.

Vil forced a smile.

"Orel, I'm sorry, I wanted it for so long – and now when it happened, I don't know... I'm lost like a fool," he stopped not knowing what to say.

"Yeah, that's just like you," Orel agreed. "But I advise you to pull yourself together because relaxing is not in our habit."

"Of course, of course, Arel, yes..."

Tol turned away in disgust. "What a shitty day!" he said darkly.

Orel pushed convolvulus away from the grate and looked down at the square.

"Do you see those people, Vil?"

"Yes."

"Now you're not like them, you'll never be able to be with them. To be just one of them. Now you're their enemy, their pain and disaster." Orel let the convolvulus go hiding the square from their view. "They'll run away just seeing you. They'll curse you in their prayers. They'll hate you from the depth of their hearts. Because they have the right to decide who deserves it and who doesn't. And I don't challenge that right of theirs – they don't exist for me, they are just raw meat. What will you say to that, Vil?"

"I'm glad you took me in," Vil prattled, "but I don't wish evil to anyone."

"The more difficult it will be for you," Orel smoothened his hair and lit a cigarette. "Lis, you were looking at the street all the time," he said, "is there something worthy of your choice?"

"Yes," Lis smiled.

"So why are you still sitting here?"

Vil watched Lis leave; he'd come round now and looked quite cheerful.

"I'm going to give you your first task," Orel said to Vil. "Are you ready?"

"You want to give me a task?"

"Yes. I don't have time to waste. So? Are you ready?"

"Yes, Orel, yes! You can count on me, I'll try to do my best. I want you to be happy with me."

"I see you're very energetic," Orel made a sour face. "And whether I'll be happy we'll see later."

Lis returned to the 'Arbor' but he was not alone. He was bringing a girl holding her hand. It was a street dancer and she was beautiful. The friends gasped when seeing her.

"Such a beauty!" Tol exclaimed. "That's something."

Everyone looked at her in admiration. Lis smiled contentedly.

"Do you like her?"

"Of course, we do! Lis, you're a genius!" Orel was delighted. "How did you manage to see her from here?"

"She was dancing prettily," Lis said. "Dance some more for us, okay?"

The girl bowed to them and started dancing, signing a merry song. She had a clear lovely voice and her motions were so nimble that Tol could barely keep himself from joining her. When she finished her song, he was the first to applaud her loudly, started kissing her hands and giving her coins mixed with compliments.

"Tol, leave the girl," Orel said. "She's not for you."

Tol was displeased but left obediently.

"Did you enjoy it, Vil?" Orel turned to Vil.

"Yes," Vil said, "it was wonderful."

"Great!" Orel finished his wine and slammed the glass onto the table. "This is your first task: kill her."

"Wha-at?" Vil rounded his eyes, not understanding.

But the girl understood at once. She was very smart and dashed to the door before they figured out her intent. Perhaps she'd have a chance to escape if not for Lis who was on his guard. He blocked her way and grabbed her wrist. She screamed loudly. He pushed her back into the 'Arbor' and stood at the door. He smiled with satisfaction.

"Shut up!" Orel yelled at her. "Shut up! Or I'll kill you myself!"

The girl got silent, she pressed to the wall.

"No," she whispered. He eyes filled with tears but she composed herself.

Tol looked at her sadly.

"Vil, it's unbearable, do it faster," Enriki hastened him.

"Do what?" Vil's voice shook.

"Do what Orel told you and let's be done with it."

"But I cannot kill her, I cannot!"

"I order you," Orel said quietly and firmly.

"No," the girl said, "don't listen to him, don't!" She covered her ears.

"But how?" Vil whispered. "How can I kill her?"

"Any way you want," Orel answered.

"Better quickly," Tol advised, "not to make her suffer."

"Vil, Vil, don't let me down!" Enriki moaned.

Vil clasped the handle of his knife gingerly. Tears streamed from the girl's eyes, she looked at Vil incessantly. Vil took away his hand, not baring the knife. He didn't move.

"No, I can't," he whispered.

"It is my order," Orel said. "You promised to fulfill my task."

"But it is not a task!" Vil shouted. "She is innocent!"

"So what?" Orel also yelled. "It doesn't matter! You don't need to think if she is innocent or not, it doesn't concern you! You must obey me unquestioningly!"

"But it is not fair," Vil shook his head. "It is not fair! She didn't do any bad to us!"

"Who mentions 'fair' here? It is my order. It is my order and nothing else."

"But it is a stupid order, stupid and cruel, I'm not an executioner. I don't want to kill a defenseless girl on your whim!"

"Didn't you plead with me to take you on the team? Didn't you swear you'd do anything for me and our mutual affair?" Orel got up and walked up to Vil, shook him by his shoulders. "Who was crying to take him in? Who?"

Vil raised his eyes to him.

"I, I was doing all that."

"So what are you fooling around here, disgracing yourself and Enriki who stood for you! He believed in you!" Orel raised Vil forcefully. "Stand up and do what you must!"

Vil obeyed. He got up and walked up to the girl on unbending legs. They stood face to face. She looked at him silently.

"Forgive me," Vil whispered. "Forgive me."

"No," she said. "I'll never forgive you!" Her voice shook but then became firm again. "What they make you do is unforgivable. Don't obey them! You're not like them, you have a heart! Why are you letting them stomp on it?"

"But they are my friends," he could barely say it out.

She laughed, tossing her head back, and wiped away her tears proudly.

"Are they your friends? Can they have friends at all? They don't care about you, Vil!"

"Don't call me Vil!" he screamed in horror. "Don't you dare!" He took out his knife, his lips trembled.

There was fear in her eyes but she controlled herself.

"Fine. Kill me!" She suddenly yanked her corselet baring her chest. Vil shrunk back. The girl started undressing slowly.

Orel looked at Lis in delight, he wanted to say something but Lis nodded to him and pressed his finger to his lips.

Now she stood absolutely naked before them.

"Go ahead," she said. "Kill me. I never had anything, no wealth, no power, no strength, no one who protected me. I had only my life. And you want to take it away. You can do it easily, here I am in front of you, defenseless. You ask me to forgive you but even if I do, can you forgive yourself? If yes, then don't torment me any more, I'm tired." She knelt down and started praying quietly with her hands clasped in front of her chest.

Vil let the knife go and covered his face with his palms. He took a step back, turned to Orel – his face was full of resolution.

"I won't do that, Arel. I'll never obey your order."

"Coward," Enriki whispered.

"Call me whatever you want," Vil sat down. "You're right, Orel, I'm not your man."

"So, you won't kill her," Orel said.

"No," Vil shook his head.

"You want to let her live."

"Yes!"

"And you're going to pay for it."

"I'll do anything, just for her to stay alive! I beg you! Leave her alone! Don't touch her! Let her go, please! I'll pay for her!" Vil squeezed his head. "I'll pay any price for her, just let her go, let her live!"

"Fine," Orel turned to the girl. "Dress and leave. You've won."

She didn't say a word, grabbed her clothes and ran to the door. Lis didn't stop her. Orel came up to Vil and raised Vil's face in his hands.

"Now you see what I mean saying that I'll never be able to trust you completely."

He leaned to Vil, looking straight in his eyes.

"You betrayed me, Vil. Betrayed me for a commoner. For a street girl. She defeated you with her weakness, and together with you she defeated me and them," he looked at his friends.

"I didn't betray you," Vil said, "there was no threat to you. It was just your whim!"

"No," Orel said letting him go. "It was your task. And you flunked it."

"Let it be! But I cannot play with someone else's life! I can't and I don't want to learn to. Killing for amusement is disgusting, Arel, don't you understand that?!"

"Do I look amused? I suffer as much as you do because you're my friend and I love you in my own way and it hurts me that it turned out like that. But you got yourself into a trap."

Orel returned to his place at the table.

"It's all because of your conceit."

"Orel, we have to go," Enriki said carefully.

"Yes," Orel said, "we've spent too much time here. Lis, kill him," he nodded at Vil.

"No!" Vil tried to get up but it was too late.

Lis stuck his knife into Vil's belly. Vil bent and fell down. He wheezed, clasping the wound with his hands; blood poured out of it through his fingers. Lis raised his knife to finish him off.

"No," Orel stopped him abruptly. "Let him die slowly. Let him understand what it means to be sorry – but for himself, not for others."

Vil crawled away from the table and leaned against the wall with difficulty.

Orel got up and gathered his possessions.

"Do you feel good, Vil?" he came up and looked down at him. "That wench would have killed you without hesitating. She's great! I'd take her in, maybe, were she a warrior."

"Why do you do it, Arel?" Vil said quietly; his face was white, he could barely keep from moaning.

"Well, you've paid for everything," Orel said. "Let's go."

"Arel, are you going to leave him like that – to die like a dog?" Enriki asked.

But Orel didn't answer anything. He left the 'Arbor' and the others followed him.

Only Nikto stayed behind and came up to bleeding Vil. He squatted in front of him. His cold grey eyes looked straight in Vil's eyes.

"What do you need, son of the Devil?" Vil whispered. "My soul?"

Nikto smirked.

"Your life, idiot," he said gently and put his hand onto Vil's eyes. When he took his hand away in a few moments, Vil was unconscious.

Nikto took out a piece of paper from his pocket and unclasped the purse from his belt. He put it next to Vil and left, following the others.

After Orel and his friends leave, the street dancer and the owner of the restaurant come back to the 'Arbor'. They take Vil to the doctor whose address Nikto left. The prince and his people don't know about it. They forget Vil quickly.

Squint-Eye comes back with his army; Orel and Lis work out the last details of the invasion they plan to start any day now.

Nikto prepares for the next fight at 'Coliseum'.

They spend nights at 'Backara', drinking and indulging in debauchery, or in Orel's castle, doing the same.

Chapter 21

Orel's Disciplining

They were spending the night in the castle. Tol, Asa, Enriki, Squint-Eye and Nikto played cards at the table in the big hall. Orel was introducing order among his servants and slaves. Their screams periodically reached the players and made Enriki wince.

"How long is it going to continue!" at last he couldn't stand it any more. "Does Orel ever get tired?"

"Never," Lis answered. He smoked without taking the cigarette out of his mouth.

"I'm afraid we might be next," Squint-Eye shook his head. "That's for you," he said to Asa in Unclean and tossed her a card.

Asa hissed and took it. She was losing badly.

Nikto who sat next lazily put out a card for Tol. He leaned back in the chair in relaxation and was playing very sluggishly but managed not to lose even once nevertheless. Tol started warding off in his usual active manner.

The screams of the slaves didn't stop.

After a while Asa lost again. She shrieked madly in Unclean and tossed the pack of cards at Squint-Eye. He answered her just as harshly. Nikto laughed.

"What happened?" Tol asked worriedly. "Nikto, translate for me."

"She says Squint-Eye is always looking at her cards with his crooked eye and that's why she always loses."

"It isn't true!" Squint-Eye said exasperated. "She loses because she's a fool." He knocked on the table with his knuckles.

Asa didn't understand anything but tried to knock, too, not on the table but on Squint-Eye's head.

"Tol, hold back your goat or I don't know what I'll do to her!" Squint-Eye yelled.

"Come to me, little Asa," Tol said affectionately. Asa snapped at him.

"You bitch!" Tol got up and slapped her. She growled but shut up.

"Make her sit somewhere else," Lis advised, "it's simple."

Enriki got up. "Sit in my place," he said in broken Unclean. "You'll play to Squint-Eye."

Asa nodded happily. They changed places and continued to play. But it really didn't go well tonight.

"Asa was right, he's always peeping," Enriki exclaimed after a while.

"I'm not peeping!" Squint-Eye was irritated to no end.

"And Lis is cheating!" Tol added.

"When did I cheat?" Lis reddened with anger.

"I saw you cheating," Tol didn't give up.

"And I saw Squint-Eye peeping into my cards!" Enriki continued.

"You're imagining things! I was not looking there!" Squint-Eye snapped back. "It's not my fault my eye looks this way."

"So! Your eye looks!"

"No, it doesn't. I don't need your cards! I don't need to look there, you don't have a single trump anyway."

"How do you know that?" Enriki tossed his cards on the table. "Here, look at it! Not a single trump. And he knows that! Oh how I'd like to punch you!" he lifted his arm against Squint-Eye.

Squint-Eye started back. "I'm not going to sit next to him!" he yelled. "Enough insulting me! It's not my fault my eye is like that!"

"Just look at him! I'm insulting him! It's me who doesn't want to sit next to you!"

"Make him wear his eye-patch," Tol said.

"I won't cover my eye! I'm not single-eyed to wear an eye-patch, I almost always wear it anyway! You don't let me rest even at night! Look, Nikto isn't wearing his mask!"

"But I don't peep into someone else's cards."

"You know them without it. Don't tell us that shit, only Toll will believe you!"

"Are we going to play or not?" Tol yelled. "And just try cheating again! If someone dares, I'll punch his mug. His brazen freckled mug."

Everyone laughed.

"That's enough, I've had enough of you!" Lis hit Tol who responded quickly.

They wrestled, overturning bottles on the table with a loud noise. Asa pulled on Lis's hair cursing dirty.

"You bitch, don't interfere!" Squint-Eye tried to pull her away from Lis but Asa shrieked madly.

"What's going on here?" Orel stood in the doorway of the hall.

When seeing him, everyone calmed down immediately and sat down in their places.

"Can't I leave you alone even for half an hour?" Orel was drunk and very angry. "As soon as I look away you start fighting with each other like shitty fools!"

He came up to them.

"How long is it going to continue? Huh? I'm asking you!"

"We won't do it again," Tol muttered touching the ring in his nostril Lis nearly had torn out.

"I've heard that many times!" Orel sat down at the head of the table. He poured some wine and drank it in one gulp. "I'm so tired of you! You're always fighting Lis! And Squint-Eye..." Orel turned to him. "Squint-Eye!"

"I'm done with," Squint-Eye whispered, getting pale and slipping down under the table.

"What have you done to my slave, you bastard?!" Orel growled. "Come here! Kneel, you son of bitch!"

Squint-Eye walked up to Orel very slowly and knelt in front of him gloomily.

"What have you done to my slave?" Orel's voice was cold like ice.

"Orel, I'm sorry, I didn't want to," Squint-Eye tried to explain. "She laughed at me."

"So she laughed at you!" Orel got up and kicked Squint-Eye a few times. Squint-Eye took the kicks silently, trying to cover his head.

"I haven't beat you for a while, have I? You forgot my fist! Well, I'll make you remember!" Orel grabbed his hair and punched his face hard. "How dared you cut my slave all over? One of my best slaves!"

Blood streamed from Squint-Eye's broken nose.

"Did you lose your mind totally in prison? I allowed you to have fun with her! And you cut her all over! Soon I won't have any slaves left at all! Do you know how much she cost? It was a 'royal' slave, 'royal'!"

"I'm sick. I have problems. I can't get a hard-on. And she started laughing and mocking me! I don't know myself how it happened!"

"So you have problems! I'll help you solve them – you won't ever have to worry about a hard-on again! Do you want that? I promise!"

Squint-Eye curled in a ball waiting for new blows. Orel continued yelling.

"I'll order to bring my lash now, the one I've just used on my servants! I'll lash you so hard you'll never forget!"

"Orel, please forgive him," Enriki asked. "He'll buy two 'royal' slaves for you. He promises."

"I promise, I promise," Squint-Eye whined.

"Get out of my eyes!" Orel pushed him down from the dais where the table was located. "It's your luck I'm kind today."

Squint-Eye didn't wait for a repeated order and ran out quickly holding his broken nose.

"Well," Orel turned to his friends. "Does anyone else want to get a lesson?"

They kept silent.

"You've got out of hand unbearably. Lis, I told you to bring my papers in order, did you do it?"

Lis didn't answer looking down.

"Did you do it? I'm asking you."

"No," Lis muttered.

"What? Speak louder, I don't hear you."

"No," Lis said loudly. "I didn't."

"Good boy! I knew I could always rely on you! And you, Enriki, did you get a pass to the palace for us?"

"But Arel, please understand, it takes time. You see I'm doing my best every day about this pass!" Enriki pleaded.

"No, I don't see it. I see you sitting here and fucking around. Instead of going to the palace and doing what you can for us. Do I need to go there myself?"

"But Arel, I try, believe me!"

"If by the ball season I don't have a pass to the palace," Orel sighed, "I don't know what I'll do to you, Enriki, but believe me, I'll do something."

Enriki was silent.

"And you, Tol, did you sort out Asa for her last night behavior at 'Backara'?"

"Yes, yes," Tol tensed. "I talked to her."

"He talked to her! Did you hear that? How could you talk to her if she doesn't understand you and you her? You can only fuck each other! I warn you, if she starts a fight or a scandal ever again, I'll kick her out together with you, got it?"

"I got it," Tol said looking at Orel with a devoted stare.

"Nikto, translate her what I'm saying: if you, bitch, misbehave again, I won't spare you. I'll tie you to a post and flay you with my lash. And no one helps you, I'm not afraid of your Unclean buddies."

Nikto translated Asa Orel's words. Asa was silent, her cheeks burned.

"And don't touch my servants! They complained about you today, that you're beating them! You don't give them any rest! Do you think you're a queen?"

Nikto translated. Asa answered something.

"She says she won't do it again," Nikto said.

Orel sat down tiredly.

"What kind of people are you that I always have to yell at you? These two ruined the whole room, broke expensive glasses, burned the carpets. Lis, by the way, at 'Backara' they complained about you, too, don't you let your hands loose."

"I just hit that whore once," Lis exclaimed. "And she ran to you to complain at once."

"Right. It's always not your fault! I don't allow you to take my slaves any more, only if I give you permission. Clear? What shit is happening to you?"

"Nothing's happening to us," Lis snapped. "It's something happening to you. You're mad and I know why."

"Lis," Tol whispered fearfully, "shut up, he'll kill you."

"I'm not going to kill anyone," Orel said tiredly. "Go to sleep. Tomorrow morning we'll go shooting. Bey's people are everywhere and you're out of habit. That's all. Good night."

Orel got up and walked upstairs.

The others followed him.

Orel starts the invasion.

Without much trouble they manage to conquer several streets that belong to Black Bey.

Now Black Bey is in the same situation Orel has been in lately. His streets are occupied by a strong rival and the enemy isn't going to stop.

The southeastern part of the Lower City is in the black smoke of fires.

Traders and citizens become refuges leaving their houses. They settle in the territories of other owners bringing them a lot of profit. That is why no one is going to help Bey in his war against Orel. They think rightly that the weaker the rivals get in their war against each other, the easier it will be to do them away later.

Nikto wins his next fight at 'Coliseum'.

Chapter 22

Asa

The morning came. Orel lay relaxed in his luxurious bed with his eyes closed. He wasn't asleep, so he heard a soft knock on the door at once.

"Yes? Who's there? Come in," he turned onto his side tiredly and opened his eyes.

Nikto entered the room.

Seeing him stand in the doorway hesitantly, Orel sat up forgetting about sleep at once.

"You?!"

"Can I come in?" Nikto asked warily.

"Yes, of course... sure... come in," Orel started smoothening his disheveled hair hastily. "I'm sorry, I thought it was a servant. I didn't expect to see you," he began to explain.

Nikto smiled a little. "Did I disturb you?"

"No, no, don't leave! That is, come in, you don't disturb me at all."

Nikto walked in and stood with his back to the window.

"You used to came to my room frequently," he said. "Now you don't. So I decided to visit you myself."

"You've done the right thing! Sit down please!" Orel got up, pulled thick curtains over the window and turned to Nikto. "Is it better?"

Nikto smiled and nodded.

"Thank you," he sat down on the edge of the bed. "You don't talk to me at all lately. Are you tired of me?"

"How could you think so!" Orel exclaimed. He sat down in front of Nikto, with his feet on the bed. "I just... I always do stupid things," he lowered his eyes. "I've ruined everything."

"Don't say nonsense," Nikto laughed. "I forgot about it a long time ago! Didn't Lis tell you?"

"He did," Orel nodded, "but..." he stammered not knowing how to say that. "I didn't want to intrude," he exhaled. "I did a lot of wrong things anyway."

"And that's why you decided to ignore me. Right, Arel?"

"No, no, of course not! I just... I don't know," Orel stopped and looked at Nikto guiltily.

"Yesterday when I won a fight, everyone congratulated me, hugged me, was happy for me. And you were sitting angry, gloomy and didn't even smile," Nikto said bitterly. "At first I pushed you away out of foolishness. Now you're pushing me away. I didn't want relations like this," he paused. "But if I really bother you and you don't like me any more, tell me now. If you don't need me any more, I'll leave. Because I have nothing to do here without your friendship."

Orel got pale.

"Oh gods! How could you think that?" he squeezed his temples. "I distanced myself from you because I was afraid to hurt your feelings – but in the result I hurt you even more! I thought I was harassing you, especially after I said so many stupid things to you. Please, forgive me, yesterday I behaved like a real boor! I felt so miserable, I thought you didn't need me at all. I didn't even think it'd offend you. As always, I was thinking only of myself! Will you forgive me?"

"Don't beg me for forgiveness, I was to blame, too. I laughed at you, insulted you every time when you came to me with the best intentions. I was rude to you, I don't know why I did it. I like you very much," Nikto lowered his head, the last words sounded very quiet. "You were reacting at me in such a way..."

"I understand," Orel flushed. "You decided we couldn't have normal friendship, I acted as if obsessed. I'm so ashamed of it! If not for the paint, you'd see me blushing with shame. But I swear it won't happen again!"

Nikto raised his head, there were mischievous sparks in his eyes.

"I'm not sure about it," he said and touched Orel's leg. Orel shivered starting back.

"No, no! I swear to you! But you also shouldn't provoke me!" he pressed to the back of the bed.

"I'm sorry, I was really provoking you just now," Nikto smiled. "I'm very flattered that you like me so much. You like me indeed, don't you?"

"Yes," Orel answered. "But let's forget about it or we'll say some stupid things again."

"Fine. I agree," Nikto smiled.

Orel couldn't stand it and laughed. "Stop it, a smile doesn't suit you!"

"But I can't! I feel good and it just happens. I can wear my mask."

"No, don't! I can't stand it when you wear it, you remember."

"Fine. Do you know how the Unclean and commoners show their smile when their faces are covered with masks?"

"No!"

Nikto pressed his forefinger to the corner of his lips horizontally.

Orel smiled. "Nikto, I'm so grateful that you are here and talk to me!"

"Yes, we really have a talk: begging each other for forgiveness for the whole hour! I can imagine how it looks. Enriki would probably say: "If my sister heard it, she'd cry."

"I don't care what Enriki or anyone else would say," Orel continued. "I'm happy that we... we clarified everything. Have you come to talk to me about something concrete?"

"No, not at all. You know, at first I was irritated with your conversations about nothing. Or your questions. But now I understand I really like to talk to you. I like following your orders. I try to do everything you say. You ordered me not to wear my mask, and I was terribly annoyed. I thought my disfigured face amused you. But now I got used to it and I started enjoying it. I have the right to do that, just like others. Right?"

"You have the right to do whatever you want," Orel said. "Feel the freedom! Freedom is the main value. The main treasure! It is the most important thing for me." He looked at Nikto. "You probably don't understand. You have never been free. You're a slave: of humans, of the Unclean, of 'black water', of your reconstructed body and all that shit I don't even want to know about. I'm so sorry."

"What do you mean 'all that shit'?"

"Magic, of course."

"Ooh! Only you could say something like that," Nikto laughed.

"Isn't it so? All right, let's talk about it for the last time but don't pout at me, okay?"

"I'll try."

"Didn't you lose your vision because of that damned magic – and you can't even speak but wheeze? Am I right?"

Nikto leaned against the back of the bed.

"I'm trying to restore, you know that."

"Yes, I know. Good luck!"

"Why are you angry?"

"Because it angers me to see what you've done to yourself! How could you touch your eyes? I want you to see the world as I see it! As any shitty commoner sees it – bright, multicolored, in all its splendor! Not white and grey as you see it. Why did you do that? I can't forgive you for it! What did you do? What did you do, Nikto? Sorry, I'm saying too much again. It was your choice, after all. I shouldn't talk to you like that."

"Say whatever you want."

"You know – for that, for spoiling your eyes – I'd knock you really hard on your grey head!"

"You'll have to bear with it," Nikto said raising his voice slightly. "I can't help you here. I see as I see and that's all. I'm not irritated with you for not seeing in the darkness, am I? You said 'the world in all its splendor'. But at night the world isn't any worse, believe me."

"No, I won't believe you," Orel said gloomily.

"You made your choice and I made mine. There's nothing to argue about," Nikto shrugged. "Forget it. Don't be a child."

"You're right, let's talk about something else if you're not bored yet. I think I could talk to you forever."

"Yeah," Nikto drawled. "It's great. But I think I won't manage. I'm not used to talking for long. If we talked in Unclean, it would be bearable. But Black is just killing me. I get tired of looking for words all the time. And my voice just can't handle it."

"I got used to your voice and your horrible accent," Orel smiled. "Remember the night we met for the first time, when we were breaking you? I was shocked with your appearance and your behavior, that's for sure. But at the same time I was hooked. You caused me such feelings I long forgot. The more I looked at you, at your hair, your face, the more..." Orel stopped in the middle of the phrase and turned away.

"Which didn't prevent you from breaking my nose and battering my insides," Nikto laughed.

"Forgive me, please! I don't remember that! Did I beat you so badly?"

"Yes, pretty much."

"Maybe it was not me who broke your nose? Maybe Lis did it? Or Tol?"

"No," Nikto shook his head. "Breaking noses is your privilege, as I see."

Orel laughed. "You're right. I never thought about it. Poor Squint-Eye." He took out a pack of cigarettes. "Let's smoke and forget about it, okay?"

Orel gave Nikto a cigarette.

"You have nice rings on your fingers. Especially this one," Orel pointed at one of them.

Nikto raised his hand examining the ring, then took it off.

"Can I give it to you as a sign of our friendship?" he looked at Orel questioningly.

"Nik! Thank you!" Orel took the ring happily and put it on his finger. "But it is a very generous gift, it costs insanely, I bet."

"Not more than your rings."

"Where did you get it? I think it's a family ring of some aristocratic clan." Orel brought the ring closer to his eyes examining crafty engravings around the dark-blue sapphire.

"So, where did you get it?" Orel raised his head smiling and looked at Nikto slyly. "Confess, confess!"

"I bought it."

"Don't lie. You wouldn't spend money for such a thing. Besides, family rings are not for sale."

"How are you so sure?"

"I am – and not 'how' but 'why'."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because I know that and I know such things aren't bought. They are cut off with fingers usually. Right, Nikto?"

"Are you going to give it back?"

"No, don't worry. I can imagine how much really valuable jewelry passed through your hands and you wasted it on drugs."

"The really valuable thing is your family ring. You have to be proud you wear it. You have the right to wear it."

Orel looked at his 'royal' ring.

"Perhaps you're right but it rather reminds me of the lost power of our family. It angers me and nothing else. What's the point of wearing the true royal sign of power if I'm not a king."

"You said something about freedom."

"Yes, right. Maybe I don't have everything I want but I'm free!"

"And your friends, why did you brand them? Don't they deserve freedom?"

"Oooh, it was a long time ago, I was younger and angrier. I enjoyed proving my authority. They had to accept that I alone could stay absolutely untouched. I had to break Lis and Enriki but I made them submit. They wanted to be with me but they didn't want to carry my brand. They wanted to be free, just like me. I had to crush them, brand them by force. It was easy with Squint-Eye and Tol."

"And what's going to be about me?" Nikto asked quietly and very seriously.

Orel leaned towards him but stopped, controlling himself.

"Nikto, I only dream of you to become mine. But how can I make you do anything you don't want yourself?"

"Fine, then your brand will be the best brand in my collection."

"Nik..." Orel stumbled in half a word; he reached his hand and touched Nikto's face. Nikto let him do it.

Orel gently passed his finger over the intricate letters on Nikto's cheekbones, repeating the lines. He raised his eyes.

"May I?"

Nikto barely nodded closing his eyes.

Orel gingerly touched his lips. Then, more boldly, he passed his fingers over two rings in Nikto's lower lip. He pulled one of the rings slightly; Nikto's lip followed it. Orel let go. He rearranged the ring turning it in the lip, then stroked Nikto's cheek with his palm – first his clean cheek then the scarred one. He repeated the lines of the tattoos with his finger again, several times; then gently patted Nikto's nostrils, touched a ring there, returned to Nikto's lips again. Nikto didn't move.

Orel slowly covered his face with his palms. He touched the scar but didn't take his hand away, just moved it a little. Orel's lips pressed to Nikto's lips very carefully.

Orel froze for a moment but continued when he felt no resistance. Closing his eyes, he kissed Nikto harder with trembling lips, pressed his mouth to Nikto's, sucking on it. Impulsively he squeezed Nikto's head twining his fingers through Nikto's white hair. He pushed his tongue into Nikto's mouth, pressing Nikto down with his body. Nikto slipped down on the bed under Orel's weight. And at this moment they heard insane shouts in the corridor. Tol broke into the room without knocking.

"Arel! Arel! Help me!" he screamed like crazy. His eyes were full of tears. He didn't even notice Orel and Nikto start back from each other.

"Tol! What happened, fuck you!" Orel yelled at him so angrily that Tol stopped wailing and looked at him in fear.

"Arel," he muttered, then looked at Nikto as if just realizing he was there. "Nikto! Arel! Help me!" he started crying.

"What is it?" now Orel was frightened, too.

"Asa! Asa!" Tol bellowed. "She's dying! She took my stimulators. Shot herself my stimulators while I was asleep! It's because we laughed at her. We said no matter how well she fought, she was a woman and not equal to us. She decided my stimulators would help her. But they are too strong for her. She's dying!"

"Fuck your mother!" Orel got up dressing quickly.

"Arel, Nikto, please save her!" Tol continued moaning. They ran out of the room and met Lis and Enriki in the corridor.

"What happened?" Lis asked. "Why is Tol yelling so?"

"Asa overdosed stimulators," Orel said quickly.

They entered Tol's room that was in a complete disorder. Asa lay on the floor in the middle of the room without any sign of life. Tol's medicines were scattered on the floor around her. Orel kicked them away.

"Why didn't you hide them, cretin?"

He bent over Asa, pressed his fingers to her neck.

"She is alive," he said to his friends. "So far."

Tol whined. "Help her? Help!"

"Lis, bring a doctor," Orel ordered. Lis left without a word.

"Arel, help!"

"Stop whining, Tol! It's your fault. She is yours and you didn't watch over her. How can I help you? You should've thought first. If she dies, you'll be to blame."

"If she survives, she'll be paralyzed," Enriki added.

"Shut up!" Tol yelled at him and turned to Nikto. "Nikto, help me, help me! You are my friend! You know how to treat half-bloods!"

Nikto knelt next to Asa and turned her onto her side.

"We need to pin her tongue," he said, "or she'd swallow it or bite it off when she starts jerking. I'll give her some of my medicines and she'll have convulsions. But she'll come out of stupor."

He rose and walked out of the room.

"Nikto will help me!" Tol moaned.

Orel took a napkin from the mirror table and found a big pin in a drawer he simply yanked out and overturned.

"Here, do what Nikto said," he gave Tol the pin and the napkin.

Tol started back.

"But I can't"

"Fuck you! Is she your wench or not?"

"Orel, please! I can't, I won't be able to! I never did it, maybe you can..."

"I won't," Orel said sharply.

"Enriki!" Tol looked at Enriki like a kicked dog.

Enriki took the pin quickly, opened Asa's mouth by force and without changing in face pierced the pin through her tongue.

Tol looked away.

Nikto returned; Enriki got up making place for him.

"Tol, hold her head or she'll beat out her brains," Nikto asked.

Tol, sobbing, knelt, put the girl's head on his lap and held it firmly.

"Will it help? Won't it finish her off?" Enriki asked.

"Shut up!" Tol shouted. "I trust Nikto!"

"Yes, it'll help," Nikto nodded. He injected the medicine he brought into Asa's vein. Then he pulled out the needle, waited for a while and injected another dose. He hadn't finished pushing blood mixed with the restorer back into her vein yet when a convulsion went over her whole body. She arched her back. Nikto barely had time to yank out the needle. Asa was shaking. Enriki sat down on her legs. She wheezed, she was shivering and trembling so hard that Tol could barely hold her head on his lap. Suddenly she screamed and started breaking free; her hands scratched the carpet breaking the fingernails.

Asa shrieked so loudly that Orel covered his ears. Enriki and Tol did their best holding her in place. She jerked for a few minutes, then went limp suddenly and trembled thinly. She opened her eyes. Nikto yanked out the pin from her chin freeing her tongue.

"Raise her," he said to Tol.

Tol quickly raised her holding her under her armpits. Asa puked onto her chest.

"Oh shit," Orel moaned.

Enriki got off her legs. She pulled her legs up, then got on her fours and started throwing up. After that she sat rocking like a drunk, looking at them with dim eyes. There was blood leaking from her mouth. She moaned and fell on her side, curled in a ball and shivered from time to time.

"That's it," Nikto said. "She's survived but she'll stay down for a long time."

Tol wiped his tears and leaned to her.

"Asa, my little Asa, what have you done? Forgive me, Asa," he patted her raven-black tousled hair.

"Yeah," Enriki said, "you can't jump over your head."

"She wanted to be cooler than everyone," Orel snorted, "what a fool she is, Tol! No normal person would use the stimulators you take."

"Don't say that," Tol whined, "she wanted us to be proud of her and admire her strength."

"She was worth of three men," Orel said. "Now she's worth nothing."

"She'll restore," Tol said, "I'll help her."

"Yes, help her but don't run screaming to us again: 'Arel! Nikto! Help her, save her!'" Orel mimicked Tol.

Enriki laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" Tol yelled at him. "Asa is sick and you're laughing!"

"Let's go, let them get lovey-dovey alone. Tol, come down for breakfast."

"Fuck you," he snapped hugging Asa like a child.

They walked downstairs.

"Where is Squint-Eye?" Orel asked.

"He got full of beer yesterday and then took some drugs," Enriki said.

"Beer? Aaah, another idiot! She is injecting herself gods know what! And he uses restorers, then drinks beer. Takes every shit he finds. Good luck to them! I'd like to see how they're going to fight."

"I told him so," Enriki said darkly.

"Fine," Orel said angrily. "Fine. Beer and stimulators, that's cool!"

Enriki lit a cigarette.

"Squint-Eye is losing it," he said. "Arel, I mean it."

"We need to wake him up. Does he still hang around gods-know-where at night?"

"Yes, he's absent frequently, he comes back in the morning and locks his door."

Lis entered the hall.

"Orel, I've brought the doctor. Can you come up for a moment?"

Orel got up.

"Stay here until I come back. Shit, if I kill Asa, I'll have less headache." He followed Lis upstairs.

Enriki called for a servant and told him to wake up Squint-Eye.

"I'm afraid he's broken," Enriki said to Nikto. "Bert is just destroying himself and the most horrible thing is that he understands it but doesn't want to stop. Orel will ruin him, fucking prince! He'll never help! If you're all right, he is with you. If you have problems, if you're down – he'll help to bury you."

"You worry for Squint-Eye because he stands by you in a fight, right?"

"Yes. I'm not sure in my partner any more. He is unreliable."

"When there were four of you, you were paired with Orel. Now Orel is with me. Tol is always with Lis and you have Squint-Eye."

"Squint-Eye was the best. He fought in a pair with Orel for a long time. I was with Orel just for a short while. Orel risks, it's difficult with him. Do you know why he gets away with everything, why the king doesn't touch him now? Do you know? He hopes Orel gets killed in this senseless slaughter."

Nikto kept silent.

"The streets are in shambles, they aren't bringing any profit. Orel doesn't care, he likes to fight, nothing else!"

"Enriki, I don't know what to say..."

"You don't need to say anything. You're in such deep shit, Nik, you can't imagine. First of all, Arel, he'll fuck you to death and you won't be able to do anything, you depend on him. You need to push him away and you don't want to do it. And somehow you're right, if you stay alone, the king will get to you easily, you'll go somewhere where you can't harm anyone. Not to penal servitude, as before, but into a prison cell. There are a lot of people waiting for you in prison, do you know that?"

"Yes," Nikto breathed out.

"You're a traitor for the Unclean and a criminal for humans. How did you get into such a situation, Devil's son?"

"You call me Devil's son so contemptuously. A gentleman from the Upper City, you despise me, I understood it a long time ago, you don't need to demonstrate your attitude one more time. I already try not to come close to you, never touch you with a finger."

"And you're right! I'd rather not to have fingers at all than have such disgraceful black fingers like yours."

"I cannot flay myself alive to please you! But I do my best for us to be on good terms, you can't even imagine how hard I try!"

"And I'm trying to save you from prison. I lick officials' asses for you to sit here and not there. So stop pouting like a girl!"

Nikto didn't say anything, he turned away from Enriki and looked down.

Sleepy Squint-Eye walked down the stairs.

"Hello," he muttered and sat gloomily in his place, lowering his head and staring at the table.

Enriki and Nikto looked at him but didn't say anything.

Three of them sat silently and not looking at each other until Orel, Lis and Tol came back.

Tol was sad; he painted half of his face in black, the common sign of mourning for someone badly ill or dead.

"Tol," Enriki asked, "how is Asa?"

Tol raised his eyes. "Bad. She is puking all the time and the doctor doesn't really help her, I think."

"Tol, you're unfair," Lis said, "he is not a magician."

Tol looked at Nikto.

"Nik, please inject her your stuff. Talk to her, find out how she feels. She is saying something. I don't understand anything."

"Tol, I'll make an injection but about talking, you know she doesn't like me, I sold myself to humans, she thinks."

"Thank you, Nik! I'm so grateful to you!"

Nikto got up. "Orel, may I?"

"Yes but be quick," Orel waved his hand. "Squint-Eye, look at me. How's your nose? Ooh."

Nikto and Tol went back upstairs.

"She is puking," Enriki snorted. "Maybe she's pregnant. Tol likes to do that to his girlfriends."

"No-o," Orel disagreed. "Can't be. The doctor said she is worth nothing as a woman, she can't have children."

"Why?!"

"Too many stimulators a woman shouldn't take," Lis explained.

"She is a warrior, not a woman," Orel said.

"Then maybe she'll grow a dick soon," Enriki laughed. "If she keeps taking pills with the same speed, she will be fucking Tol, not he her."

Everyone laughed.

"The doctor said had we not brought her out of coma by the time he came, she'd have died," Orel continued. "By the way, he still can't understand how we did that."

"Nikto will explain him," Enriki laughed. "The poor doctor is going to go into coma himself."

"I think Tol will make him leave before letting Nik in. Maybe we should keep the doctor in the castle for a while. He'll have some more patients," Orel looked at Squint-Eye.

Squint-Eye didn't react at his words.

"Orel, it's useless," Lis said. "He'd never stay, not for any money. He is terribly afraid of us. Even now he is afraid Tol will kill him if Asa gets worse."

"It can happen," Orel shrugged. "I won't stop Tol."

Nikto and Tol came back to the hall.

"You're quick," Orel said.

Tol smiled. "Asa is such a bitch! As soon as Nikto gave her a shot and she got better, she cursed him all over."

Nikto laughed.

"Tol, it's all right."

"When she gets well, I'll teach her to respect you," Tol said. "You'll see."

"Yeah," Orel drawled. "But we still need a doctor."

Chapter 23

Dim Al

They rode up to the main entrance of 'Backara'. The servants bowed obsequiously and accepted their horses. Lis's new horse was still afraid of Nikto's stallion.

"Put it as far away from the Unclean as you can," Lis said to a servant.

"Yes, sir. I remember," the servant glanced at Nikto fearfully but Nikto didn't even look at him.

Pushing off his hood, Nikto jumped down from his beast and patted the stallion's muzzle gently with his gloved hand saying something affectionate in Unclean. The stallion leaned forward, pressing to his palm.

The friends laughed.

"Such sentiments! Nik, enough!"

Nikto turned to them, they couldn't see because of his mask whether he was angry or smiling.

"Do you want to pat him, too?"

"No-o-o!"

Everyone laughed again.

Leaving the horses to the servants they entered through the main entrance of 'Backara'.

Everyone but Nikto took off their masks.

"Prince Arel Chig himself!" Dim Al, the owner of 'Coliseum' in the Upper City rushed up to them. He gave his hand to Orel. "Glad to see you!"

"Hi there," Orel smiled and they shook hands.

"I heard of your success! It seems luck is turning towards you, prince!" Dim looked at Orel. "And you're with your warriors, as always. One is lame, another is squint-eyed, the third is red!"

Dim laughed at his joke; everyone joined his laughter but Squint-Eye.

"Not funny," he muttered darkly and walked into the restaurant without waiting for the others.

"Ooh! Arel! Forgive me, for gods' sake! I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings!" Dim was embarrassed.

"Don't mind him," Orel said, "it's okay."

"You just have a talent for finding people," Dim continued. "I'd like to gain them over to my side."

"You can try!"

Dim looked at Tol. "Hey, I don't like that! What happened to your cool girlfriend? I was keeping a place for her in my list!"

"Forget her," Orel said.

Tol's eyes darkened.

"I'm going in," he said, "it was nice to see you."

"Me too," Lis said shaking Dim's hand.

Enriki smiled to Dim.

"Nice to meet you. We're going, Arel, okay?"

"I'll be right there." Orel turned to Dim. "We'll come to visit in a few days, all right?"

"I'll be looking forward to it," Dim looked at Nikto. "Here is someone I'd like to see at my 'Coliseum' most of all. Mute, you are the best in the Lower City. You were great in your last fight. Arel, let him have some fights at my place. I really need him! I've been watching him for a long time. Though I've never seen his face."

Nikto pushed his mask up silently showing his face. Dim shrunk back, his smile fading at once. Nikto pushed the mask down and walked past him without saying a word. Orel kept standing there, unable to say a word.

Dim looked at him in perplexity.

"You know, Arel," he said very seriously at last. "If this... this man... if he is really faithful to you, I can only envy you."

Without looking at Orel Dim Al left 'Backara' quickly.

Orel slowly leaned against the wall throwing back his head. He passed his trembling hands over his face, closed his eyes.

"Nik, Nik, Nik," he whispered barely audibly.

A company of idlers came out of the restaurant but got quiet when seeing him, pale, leaning against the wall.

"Are you unwell, sir?" one of the men asked cautiously.

"What?" Orel tossed his head back looking at him dumbly.

"Do you feel bad?"

Orel smiled.

"No... No!" he repeated loud and laughed adding. "I feel good!"

The company recoiled in horror and quickly left. Orel continued laughing.

"I feel good," he whispered, "oh how good I feel!"

He slowly slipped down against the wall, squeezed his head, still shivering. The clients of 'Backara' tried to pass him as quickly as possible. At last he got up, smoothened his hair and walked in.

Orel came up to the table where his friends waited for him.

"I ordered dinner," Tol said.

"Fine," Orel nodded.

Enriki got up letting him in. Orel sat down in his place and looked at all of them. They were sitting around the table, in the order he'd chosen for them once. Enriki next to him – self-assured, dignified, clad more expensively than the others. His face was calm and beautiful, free of any scars or paint. His hair combed back showed his high forehead, his ears and fingers were decorated with gold. Then Lis – his long dark-red hair spilled over his shoulders. The stare of his piercing eyes was burning but with cold, not with heat.

Sitting in front of Lis, Bert Squint-Eye was dressed worse than the others. His jacket was old and worn out, its lacing torn and tied in knots carelessly. Squint-Eye's hair was coal-black but there was something very attractive about him. Enticing, bewitchingly dark beauty only a well honed and lethally dangerous blade could have.

Then a bumpkin Tol, rough but incredibly charming.

And right in front of Orel – Nik, the only one in a tight back mask covering his face completely. Only his eyes glittered merrily through the slits, not covered with black glass tonight.

"What's wrong with you, Arel?" Tol asked in surprise.

"Nothing," Orel shook his head. "It's nothing. I just... I just love you all so much!"

Everyone laughed happily.

"Ooh, Arel, thank you! We love you too!"

He looked at Nikto, looked in his grey eyes. Nikto slowly pressed his forefinger horizontally to the corner of his lips hidden under the mask. Now Orel knew it meant a smile.

176

