"What?!"
"I knocked out your eye," Nikto repeated and looked at Orel again waiting for his reaction.
Orel started at him for a while, not understanding. Then he got it.
"No," he shook his head. "No!"
"I didn't want to. I hit you precisely to hurt you very much but it had to be safe. I don't know why… Oh shit! The ring! It was because of the ring! Your ring you put onto my finger! I wasn't used to it. I didn't even notice it then."
Orel grabbed his face.
"Nik, do you want to say that you knocked out my eye with the ring?"
"Yes. At first I thought I was mistaken, you'd be all right, but now I see you won't. Maybe you shouldn't have strained and come… It got worse."
Orel touched his swollen eye carefully.
"Are you absolutely sure?"
Nikto just nodded.
"But I don't feel anything."
"Do you want to feel?"
"No-o, no! Anything but that!"
Nikto kept silent.
"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?"
Squint-Eye laughed suddenly, he was rolling in laughter like a madman. Everyone stared at him.
"Fuck! Bert, you said you're in control," Enriki said disapprovingly.
Squint-Eye covered his mouth with his palm, compressed his lips together with his fingers in expensive rings. Lis glanced at him quickly, then looked at Orel.
"Yes," he said. "I did a tremendously stupid thing believing Nikto. How could I even think one could negotiate with him about anything. I'm an idiot. It is written on his face that he is a traitor and can't be trusted."
"Stop it," Orel moaned. "You just wanted to protect me."
"Yes, yes, I did. But I didn't manage! And it is not for the first time, right, Arel? He hit you before, he hit you every time you harassed him, that's why you had that stupid idea to give him your ring. Oh gods! How could it even come to your mind? Where is your pride? Where is your pride, prince Arel Chig? Why did you harass him, followed him like a dog, debased yourself in front of this bastard who has shit instead of blood! He is a commoner, he isn't fit to hold a candle for you. Is it the way true princes treat slaves? You put yourself below him! You, you… you're really a fallen prince! Yes, you are!"
Orel got pale.
"Yes, Orel, that's how low you fell. Your friends say such things in your face, do you like it?"
"I don't say that," Tol said.
"Orel, you haven't been such a fool, what happened to you? Where is your brain, up your ass?" Lis was shaking.
"Get out," Orel whispered. "Get out, I don't need you."
"We are not leaving, we are not like someone else who ran away. We don't ditch our friends!"
"He didn't ditch me!" Orel shouted. "He'll come back!"
"If he comes, I'll sort him out," Lis didn't stop. "And I don't care about those scary tales of him!"
"Just try to say something to him! I'll kill you!" Orel growled.
"You're defending him," Lis smirked. "And he is an evil, lying bastard. And a thief!"
"I gave him the ring, I gave it to him!"
"Do you think he is not coming back?" Enriki asked Lis.
Lis shrugged. "I don't know. It depends on what he wants. If he wanted the ring, we won't see him again."
Squint-Eye got up and came up to the bar.
"Why would he need the ring? It's bullshit!" He poured a drink.
"Stop drinking in the morning," Enriki said.
"Enough of watching over me," Squint-Eye snapped. "Ooh, there is a lot of shit." He opened a casket on the table. "No, he'll definitely come. There is all his money, jewelry and drugs."
"Squint-Eye, stop rummaging through someone else's things!" Enriki gasped.
Squint-Eye took out a few capsules.
"I wonder what it is. A medicine or…"
Lis and Tol walked up to him. Lis took several capsules from the casket and put into his pocket.
"What are you doing?" Orel asked darkly.
"I'll show them to knowledgeable people to check something. Soon I'll know everything about your beloved."
"You fool," Orel said. "Ask him, he'll simply tell you."
"No, I've had enough of his tales, now I know their worth."
"Don't play an insulted gentleman, he didn't deceive you. Nikto didn't touch me, not even once!"
"Yes. Calm down, I know."
"I think it was stupid to demand such promises from Nikto," Squint-Eye said. "No matter how much he'd try to control himself, his real essence would come out, sooner or later. He is not human, the whole city knows that. He is a dangerous predator, you have to be careful around him – since Orel decided to take him on our team. I don't mind Nikto but we have to take his nature into consideration and remember that he lives according to different concepts."
"He is human! You don't know him at all!"
"Well, now you know him," Squint-Eye smiled dreamily.
Tol took out Nikto's jewelry, the chain with nose and ear rings.
"Wow! It's heavy!" Tol admiringly weighed it in his palm.
"Put this disgusting thing back," Enriki winced.
Tol looked at Orel.
"Can I try it on? I wanted to see how it looks on me for a long time!"
"Why are you asking me, it's not mine," Orel turned away; he felt sick.
Tol came up to the mirror.
"Beautiful!" he whispered admiringly, pulling out the ring from his nose to put on Nikto's chain.
"We need to bring a doctor," Lis shut the casket. "We're wasting time."
"I won't let the doctor touch me," Orel shouted, "I'll kill him, I have enough strength for that, rest assured!"
"But why, for fuck's sake?"
"Because Nik will heal me, that's why! He wounded me and he'll heal me!"
"But it is stupid, Arel! Let me take a look, at least!"
"No! Get your hands off me! Get your hands off, Lis, or else!"
"You're burning! Oh gods! You have fever!" Lis grabbed Orel and yanked the bandage off. Orel screamed wildly. There was a crimson swelling in the place of his eye, seeping blood and white mucus.
Enriki covered his mouth. It seemed Squint-Eye's bad eye managed to look straight at the moment when he stared at Orel. Tol dropped the chain, forgetting to stick the ring into his ear, and the chain hung swaying onto his chest from his nostril.
"He knocked out your eye!" Lis screamed holding his head. "What shall we do? He mutilated you! Gods, what shall you do? You're a warrior! How will you fight without an eye? How?"