Ви Корс - The Mist and the Lightning. Part 17

“You led the soldiers out of the lethal cauldron?” Asked Zaf, his face was very serious.

“Yes. More than a thousand soldiers, but we lost Vlas.”

“Sometimes it is more right to retreat,” noted Zaf.

“Tell that to Lis,” Kors chuckled with some bitterness, “or he’s Sigmer now. Stop! How did I not immediately guess who his father was! His father’s name is Igmer, and he is his son. Igmer’s son – Sigmer! How simple it is!”

And everyone looked at Kors so that he was even embarrassed a little of their looks, just like Nick was before.

“Well, it's just…”

“Vitor, you are very smart,” said Nikto. He sat in the chair, as Kors had seated him, and also looked at Kors with respect. And Zaf handed Kors a glass of wine:

“Let's have a drink,” he suggested. “And I want to relax already, finally. There are such plump women here, have you noticed? I want to hush up some plump maid!”

“They have eaten too much sweets,” Parky remarked, grinning, opening his mouth slightly, the decoration in his nose still didn’t allow him to breathe normally. He looked longingly at the chocolate and fruit, but didn’t dare to take them without the permission of Kors.

They laughed.

“I'll take the fattest one with me to the Black City,” said Zaf, “or two. Two plump red pigs.”

“What's the point, Zaf?” Smiled Kors. “They will lose weight quickly!”

And Zaf again whinnied in satisfaction:

“Yes! But I saw one with such an ass…”

And at that time Karina entered the room, everyone turned to her.

“Karina? Everything is fine?!” Asked Kors anxiously.

“Yes… probably,” she sat down on the sofa in confusion, took off her mask, her expression was not at all happy.

“What's happening? Has Igmer accepted him?”

Karina looked at her father:

“I think so, he said, “Welcome,” but he didn't even hug him. After all, this is his son! And then, he said to me: “Send her away”, and I ran away.”

“It's okay,” Kors shrugged. “Why would he hug his prodigal son? He didn’t live up to his hopes, Lis failed the offensive, which ultimately led to the defeat of the red army, began to take drugs, “black water”, and, being almost the king of the reds in our world, slipped down and became just a banal bandit. Complete failure. He disgraced his father. I'm sure Igmer had to endure a lot of humiliation and ridicule because of his son. The reds sentenced Lis to death, he was incredibly lucky that he managed to escape. And mind you, his father, no matter what, didn’t disown him. So I think it's okay. And the fact that Igmer asked you to leave is also in the order of things. Lis is used to dragging you everywhere with him, where it is needed and where it is not needed. Red women don’t participate in the lives of men and their conversations. You will have to come to terms with this, Karina, since you chose a red husband.”

“It's just…” Karina looked upset. “He somehow toughly talks with him, and not about that… and Lis, I felt he was unpleasant from this …”

“Yes? Unpleasant? Why didn't he send him to hell, how he sent us here a hundred times a day?”

And Karina looked at her father very condemningly.

Igmer walked over to the table and sat down at it, gesturing to the chair opposite:

“Sit down.”

Lis came up and sat down, his father continued to examine him closely, and Lis looked away.

“You have changed, you have become different,” Igmer repeated again, “outwardly it seems that you have remained the same, but something in you has changed, changed a lot, and I cannot understand what!”

He again looked closely at frozen Lis, held out his hand, turning his hand towards him, looking at the inscription “Impudence”. Reds were calm about body modifications, and for warriors it was often mandatory: scarring, tattoos and piercings were not considered a sin and an unnatural distortion of the divine image of the ancestors, desecration of the body, created by the gods in their own image and likeness.

“You had scars on your face, now they are gone. Where are your battle scars? Did they disappear after thirty too?”

“No.”

“Did you remove them? Are black healers so advanced in medicine?”

“Yes, I got rid of the scars on my face.”

“Why so? Didn't you have the audacity to wear them with pride?” Igmer grinned.

And Lis said nothing.

“Okay. Congratulations. You took over the Ore town thanks to Kudmer’s stupidity. You are lucky. This fat fool was never clever, but this time his head just went blank, he kept repeating: “We will meet them behind the wall. We will meet them behind the wall”, as if a demon had possessed him, he behaved like a possessed person. However, it doesn't matter anymore. Tell me what do you intend to do next?”

“I don’t know yet,” said Lis.

His father looked at him very closely.

“You know. But you don't want to tell me. I'm not your enemy.”

Lis reflexively reached for his cigarettes and lit one. Igmer just shook his head silently and winced. Lis, without taking a couple of puffs, quickly put out his cigarette in a porcelain vase:

“Sorry.”

“What to do now, it stinks anyway! Smoke! What a disgusting habit!”

But Lis didn't light a new cigarette. He still tried not to meet his father's eyes:

“I really don't know yet,” he repeated and quickly looked at Igmer, who looked at him reproachfully.

“Some time ago I heard rumors that red commander Sigmer had appeared across the river. With his army, he cleaned the territories and put things in order, burned the regional outpost. I…” Igmer hesitated. “I wanted to believe and didn’t believe. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t think of anything, I buried you and mourned. And I was afraid that I was just flattering myself with false hopes, and there was an impostor walking across the river, hiding behind your legendary name. But when I learned that Sigmer had captured Crimson Rock… then… I believed it was you. Only you could do it! Crimson Rock is too tough for anyone. And I left the Upper World, I was waiting for you here. Because I knew my Sigmer would not stop and would move on. I knew that you would come to Ore town.”

Lis was silent, his head bowed.

“Do you know what to do next?” Igmer took out Marcus’ folded leaflet from his pocket. “And what's that?”

Lis looked at the leaflet:

“Just agitation.”

“No. Not just agitation. We thought about it with you, planned, dreamed. Many reds are thinking about independence. And now even more. We are tired of the war with the blacks. The war turned into an absurd and unpromising action. You appeared at the right time and in the right place.”

And, since Lis was still silent, his father asked:

“Tell me, how did you manage to survive in the Black City, among enemies?”

“I took on the service of Prince Arel Chig… Chester, he needed an experienced strategist in the fight against competitors for spheres of influence in the city.”

“Are you taking substances?”

Lis shook his head slowly, and, lifting the sleeve of his jacket, showed his father a chained wrist.

“Didn't you take it off? Didn't get rid of it?” His father was surprised. “Do you still wear the bracelet with which I chained you?”

“Yes. I never took “black water” again, I kept my vow to you.”

“I believe you,” Igmer said, “simply because if you continued to do this, you would not be sitting here now.”

And Lis finally looked at him point-blank.

And Igmer for the first time in all this time changed for a second in his face:

“Now I recognize you,” he whispered and was the first to look away.

He got up: