Ви Корс - The Mist and the Lightning. Part II

"He made a hole in my eye with the 'royal' ring, oh gods," Orel whispered sitting on the floor and rocking from side to side. "What shall I do now? My eye will leak out and even if it doesn't, it'll stop seeing. I don't want to be a cripple! I don't want to be single-eyed! Ooh…"

Suddenly he froze and looked at Nikto with hope.

"Help me! Heal me like you healed Asa! You can!"

"I'll try," Nikto raised his eyes. "But I have to go to the Unclean District for medicines."

"I believe you," Orel said. "I believe you and trust you and…" He moved towards Nikto and hugged him. "I don't blame you. It's my own fault."

"It'll be all right, I promise you," Nikto said.

Chapter 2

Friends

"He's here!" Lis shouted to his friends looking into Nikto's room. Orel sat up in bed forgetting about the bandage and at once understood what a stupid thing it was to do. He quickly buried his face into the pillows screaming: "Get out!"

But it was too late; Lis suspected something and rushed to him.

"Arel, what happened to your face? What happened?"

Orel sat up again slowly and looked at Lis angrily with his only eye.

"Nothing."

Tol, Squint-Eye and Enriki stood in the doorway and watched him in fear.

"Ooh shit." Orel turned away.

"Orel, what happened to your face and where is Nikto? How many times can I ask?" Lis asked again.

Orel shook his head trying to toss his hair away from his face and winced with pain.

"Shi-i-it!" He grabbed his bandaged eye. Then he looked at Lis. "I knocked myself down while drunk and Nik went to the Lower City to bring some medicines for me."

"How could you hit yourself like that?" Enriki asked Orel.

"I told you, I was dead drunk – like when I fell down from the stairs and broke all my ribs."

"Let me see," Lis said reaching for the bandage on Orel's damaged eye. Orel shrunk back.

"No, don't!" He hit his head against the back of the bed and howled in pain. A thick dark trickle of blood leaked from under the black cloth.

"Oh gods! Arel? What is it?" They rushed to him crowding around.

"We need to take him to the doctor right now!" Enriki said shakily.

"No, go to hell," Orel could barely speak, clenching his teeth in pain. His fingers gripped the cover. "Leave me alone!"

Lis turned to his friends; he was pale.

"Nikto mutilated Orel," he said to them, then turned to Orel. "Well, Arel, you did finish badly, didn't you?"

"Fuck you," Orel hissed holding his bad eye. He looked terribly: his glorious dark hair, half-heartedly washed of blood, hung in tousled icicles. His lip, despite the ointment, was still puffy. A thick black bandage covered his forehead, the bridle of his nose, his damaged eye and the upper part of his cheek. Nikto pulled it under Orel's hair and knotted tightly. He had based his actions exclusively on the practical use and hadn't cared about the appearance. The crude bandage looked horribly on Orel's chiseled, beautiful face, disfiguring him. The remaining brown eye looked at the friends in pain. Orel suffered but did his best not to show it. Yet they knew him, he couldn't deceive them. Enriki looked at Orel with unconcealed horror. Tol and Squint-Eye were distressed, not know what to say. Lis clenched his fists.

"I'll kill Nikto," he said. "I'll kill him!"

Orel moaned. "Nikto is not to blame!"

"Lis, perhaps it's true, Nikto is not to blame," Tol said gingerly. Lis didn't even look at him.

"If I were you, I wouldn't fish for trouble," Squint-Eye said to Lis. He sat down in the armchair at the bed and looked at the friends frowningly, cracking his knuckles.

"Stop cracking!" Lis yelled at him. "I'm sick of you!" He looked in disgust at Squint-Eye's arms covered in razor scars and terrible bruises left from injections.

"Do you think you can tell me what to do?" Squint-Eye's face distorted, he looked at Lis hatefully. "I see you think you're the boss here and I'm a loser!"

"Yes, exactly," Lis looked at him defiantly. "I respect myself unlike others who follow Nikto like a dog begging him for drugs!"

Squint-Eye started shaking. "Who are you talking about?"

Lis bared his teeth. "About you, you, don't worry, just sit and shut up."

"Lis, why are you treating me like that?" Squint-Eye was barely controlling himself.

"Ah, I've hurt your feelings! Go and cut your arms then, you like to do it! Go, go, you'll feel better!"

Squint-Eye practically went grey with rage.

"Lis, shut your mouth!" Orel yelled.

Enriki wrapped his arm around Squint-Eye's shoulders. "Bert, calm down, don't mind him. Lis is just upset. We all are," he said.

Squint-Eye lifted his hands and squeezed Enriki's fingers.

"It's all right, Rik, I'm in control."

"Where is your ring?" Lis said to Orel suddenly.

"Lis, leave me alone. Go away, all of you! Go!"

"Where is your ring?" Lis raised his voice. "If you don't tell me now, I'll punch your other eye, you know I have a heavy hand!"

"Just try," Tol interfered. "If you touch him, I'll knock out both of your eyes."

"What are you doing?" Enriki cried out in exasperation. "Let's keep at least some decency!"

"Nikto beat Orel up and took his 'royal' ring! And you talk about decency!" Lis was in rage.

"You also beat Orel up and more than once, I know!" Tol stood by Nikto.

"Only when he was begging for it!"

"Nikto didn't beat me up!" Orel yelled. "And I gave him my ring!"

Everyone stared at him.

"Are you complete mad?" Lis asked.

"I'm not going to explain anything! It's my ring, I can do whatever I want to it, got it?"

"I got it," Lis nodded. "You paid Nikto with your ring. You couldn't come up with anything better. I'm disappointed."

"Yes, I couldn't come up with anything better," Orel said quietly. "And I couldn't do anything else, I needed him, I was ready to pay any price, anything to be with him."

"So why isn't he with you now? Why did he take the ring and run?"

"He didn't run. He'll come and heal me! I believe him, do you hear?"

"Wait," Tol interfere. "Wait! I don't understand anything. What does it mean pay Nikto with the ring? Isn't he already with us?"

"He is with us but not with our lord Orel personally," Squint-Eye smirked. "So, you bought him like a whore, for a ring? Cool!"

"What?!" Tol got pale.

"No! No! Don't dare think that! I wanted to do it," Orel pressed his palm to the bandage soaked in blood. "But he hit me – that's why he hit me. It's my fault, I insulted him with my offer."

"So, you offered Nikto to sleep with you for the ring and he beat you up," Enriki said. "I was always afraid something like that would happen. I asked you not to harass him but it's useless to talk to you!"

"Oh my," Tol whistled. "That's something."

"He didn't beat me up, he just punched me slightly – and even that he did because he was full of drugs. He felt bad and I woke him up, nagged him…"

"It doesn't matter," Lis shook his head. "He didn't have the right to beat you, whatever happened. We talked about it, he promised me not to do you any harm and I believed him like a fool! Fine, I won't make this mistake again."

"I think he just couldn't control himself," To said. "I'm sure he didn't want to."

"Yes," Squint-Eye said. "Perhaps he believed it himself when he promised you but then he got angry and forgot about it for a moment. And when he came round, it was too late."

"He is not you," Lis muttered. "Nikto never forgets anything and he controls himself, you won't make me change my mind. I'm absolutely sure Nikto knew what he was doing when he hit Orel. And I'm sure he remembered his promise. But he did it nevertheless, he didn't care about me and our agreement. I will never forgive him that!" He stared at Orel. "Why are you looking at me like that?"