"We picked on him, picked on him and then we made up. Because there was nothing between him and Asa."

"Really?" Orel pretended to be surprised. "There is nothing between you, is there?" He turned to Nikto still looking at him with resentment.

"Really," Nikto said raising his eyes and meeting Orel's gaze. "I just fucked her a couple of times, big deal."

"Whaaat?!" Tol shouted, and Squint-Eye, Lis and Enriki started laughing.

"Come on, Tol, it was a joke," Squint-Eye said.

"I don't like this kind of jokes at all." Tol was displeased.

"Enough about it," Orel ordered. "Time to go." He finished his wine, poured some more and gulped it.

"Arel, don't drink like this," Lis said carefully.

"Drink like this? 'Like this' is how? I have the second glass, is it a lot, you think?"

"And how many did you have upstairs?"

"Lis, fuck you! I hate you all! I hate you!" Orel got up. "Let's go. Mina, come to me, and you, Nikto, don't even come closer!" He made a show turning away from Nikto and walking past him. Everyone else followed him, including Nikto. Vil was the last to go. He came even with Enriki.

"Enriki, what shall we do in the Lower City tonight?" There was concern in his voice.

"I don't know," Enriki said indifferently. "Do you care?"

"Probably not," Vil whispered.

"What?" Enriki asked.

"No, nothing."

* * *

They walked down to the yard. The servants had their horses ready. Orel ran down the stairs and mounted his horse, ready to leave at once. His horse danced under him impatiently.

"What are you waiting for? Faster, faster! Let's go!" He turned to his friends and saw Nikto still standing on the top of the stairs, unable to walk down the iced steps.

"Nik," Orel called for him impatiently.

Nikto started forward instinctively, following this call, but he couldn't make even a step, or he would've just rolled down the stairs. Orel saw his face – pale as always and lost – as if Orel was going to leave him now, go away without him.

"Damn you!" Orel dismounted but Lis was faster. He ran up the stairs and gave Nikto his hand, helping him to come down. Orel walked up to them. Nikto avoided his gaze. Orel silently took the mask hanging on Nikto's chest; Lis quickly pushed Nikto's hair away from his face and Orel put the mask on Nikto, hiding his face and eyes behind the black.

"Let's go," he said.

* * *

They swirled along the streets of the Upper and the Lower City like a vortex. Orel was the first one – with his face unhidden and his hair streaming in the wind. He pressed Mina to his chest. In her white fur coat she looked like a fragile toy in his arms.

When they reached 'Backara' Dim and Berta joined them.

"Prince Arel," Dim shouted, "I'm chasing you since the Upper City, why are you in such a hurry? Do you want to break your neck? It's insane!"

Orel smirked, holding his horse.

"I know the way like my own palm and the horses have spikes on the hooves, they won't slip."

In a difficult battle against Bey Enriki is lethally wounded and Vil couldn't help him.

Bey gets back some of his territories.

Chapter 2

In the Castle, Afterwards

"What should I do? What should I do?" Orel rushed about the room like a beast in a cage. "I hate them! I hate them, damn them!" He fell on the floor, on the fur carpets, hugged a bear head pressing his face to it, then started back at once, hissing in pain. His corroded skin made any touch painful.

"Easy, Arel," Nikto said.

He sat on the bed with his good leg bent; his lame leg lay straight and lifeless.

"'Arelh'!" Orel mimicked him. "My name is Prince Arel! And I can't defeat this shit! A simple commoner! I'll kill Enriki for it! I'll kill him! It is his fault! His, Vil's and Squint-Eye's! They set me up!"

"Enriki is already dying," Nikto said calmly.

"Let him die! I hope he'll die sooner! I'll spit on his grave!"

"You will be able to do it in a couple of days."

"Are you mocking me? Laughing at me? Get up!" Orel came up to Nikto, yanked him up by his wrist. "Get up, I order you!"

As soon as Nikto got up, Orel wrapped his arms around him from behind, pressed onto his shoulders forcefully, making him kneel. Nikto resisted.

"You're fucking mad, Arel! Leave me alone!"

"Nik, I order you!" Orel whispered hoarsely, leaning forward, pressing to Nikto. Without saying another word Nikto knelt with his face on the bed, unbelted his pants and pulled them down. He couldn't help but hiss something in Unclean with a sudden push. Then he fell with his face on the bed; his hair spread over the bed cover. He waited for Orel to move faster, as fast and hard as he could, then back away, panting, fall face down on the floor trying to calm down his racing heart…

* * *

When Enriki's sister left in tears, Lis, Squint-Eye, Tol and Vil exchanged glances.

"We have to do it," Squint-Eye said. "Otherwise he'll just burn out in front of our eyes."

"A warrior cannot die in bed," Tol added.

"Yeah, and that's why we'd better make a carrion out of him!" Lis said coldly.

Squint-Eye glared at him with his only eye.

"Lis, you know I'm right."

"Why should I?"

"'Black water' is the only thing that can save Enriki. Don't pretend to be an idiot, you wouldn't be alive without it yourself!"

"Lis used 'water'?!" Tol asked in surprise.

"No," Lis said without a blink. "Never. Squint-Eye simply wants to turn everyone into carrion because he is a carrion himself."

"Lying bitch," Squint-Eye hissed and dashed towards Lis, grabbed his hand quickly, pulling the sleeve up. "Looks nice, Lis, an armband from wrist to elbow! What is it covering?"

"Nothing." Lis yanked his hand free, hiding his steel incrusted bracelet under the sleeve again.

"Why cannot it be taken off then? You can take off the bracelet on your other arm, I know it."

"Fine. There is a tattoo under it."

Squint-Eye laughed.

"Lis, it is not smart, I expected better from you! You don't hide your other brands. You have decorations cut on your both upper arms and you don't hide them under bracelets, why?"

"Scars of the Red and the brand Orel gave me are not tattoos."

"Orel gave you a brand?" Vil asked. "But why a brand?"

"Because I'm a Red half-blood, for fuck's sake! You make your tattoos with black paint but the Red don't. They cut the lines on their skin, cut them meat deep, or burn out. Orel doesn't know how to make scarring, no one among the Black can do it, so, he just branded me."

"He didn't tattoo you because you don't deserve it," Tol interrupted him. "One cannot tattoo a Red with black paint, it would mean to consider him equal with us. The Red are burnt with their fucking fire they like so much!"

"Perhaps it is so," Lis said contemptuously, "I won't argue. I learned to live with your humiliating laws and with your attitude to people like me. What else can I do? The Black judge people by their looks, not by what they are."

"You'll do anything just to drive the conversation away from the sensitive topic," Squint-Eye interfered. "You're lying to us! Your bracelet hides the traces of 'black water'. The traces that will stay forever!"