The Mist and the Lightning. Part I

"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.