The Mist and the Lightning. Part I

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.