The Mist and the Lightning. Part 11

Chapter one

The limit

Desolation reigned in the witch's cave, mice darted underfoot. Nikto, looking at the witch's paraphernalia, suddenly laughed, turned to Karina, who was tensely standing next to Lis and Arel:

“To whom did she address? Well, when you tried to drive me out and free your brother.”

“She was referring to some more powerful Demon, as she said. He should have ordered you to leave,” Karina shyly looked down.

“How did she address him? His name?”

“I don’t remember… something long and incomprehensible…”

“It says here: Ran-hma-nap-hchi. Was she referring to the Demon Ranhmanaphchi?”

“Yes,” Karina barely uttered. The memories of that evening were terrible.

“Is it your acquaintance?” Lis grimaced skeptically.

“There is no such Demon, he is not real,” Nikto answered.

“But she had results,” Karina said. “So he helped her, whatever he was?”

“I don’t know how to explain to you,” Nikto thought. “You won’t understand at all, there is nothing even similar in your world.”

“Well, of course, how can we have it,” Lis grunted knowingly.

“Lis, this is a Demon, he is not alive, he is well, like… like a toy. Demons created him, he's not real. Well… like a complex mechanism. Only not alive anyway. He is an artificially created Demon. Not real. He can answer some questions like a talking toy.”

“Artificial Demon?” Lis asked.

“Yes,” Nikto laughed, “it's funny that she talked to him like to a real person, in all seriousness.”

“Well, why was it necessary to create him?”

“Just to help, well, and why not, if it’s possible.”

“And you?” asked Lis. “Can you create such a Demon?”

“Me – not.”

“Why?”

“This task is not included in my mission.”

“Tasks, tasks, only tasks, but is there something for yourself, not for a task, can you do it?”

“I can,” Nikto snapped, “I'm remaking Arel for myself.”

“However, she was able to send you away, expel you from my brother's body,” said Karina.

“Yes. But not for long. And I came back.”

“And the Demon who created this Rah… could he expel you forever?” Lis asked. “Wait, let me answer myself. This was not part of his mission.”

“Why am I telling you this at all!”

“I'm interested,” said Karina. “And what is this?”

“Her altar, I think so. She addressed the four elements of nature. You see, there are charred pieces of wood here – this is a fire zone, and there was water in the bowl until it evaporated, feathers meant air, and stone – earth. By the way, she correctly positioned them to the cardinal points. She has a good altar, you can cast magic on it.”

Karina looked cautiously at the empty sandbox.

“And here she used to have two snakes, I wonder where they are? And what if they escaped and crawl around here?”

“Don't worry,” Nikto stood in the center of the room. “Come all over here.”

Arel, Lis, Karina and Verniy approached him. Nikto opened a portal to go to his own world, created by him in the unclean limit as an outlet.

Small world of Nikto he created for himself didn’t had the sky, it looked like a vertical pipe going into the depths, lower and lower into completely alien worlds of unclean beings. There were portals on each tier.

Through them, the unclean ones, taking advantage of the owner's invitation, entered his world and went back, descending to the level they needed. The human world was like the top floor on this tower. It consisted of many rooms and corridors; many unclean friends of Nikto lived and worked there. His slaves and female slaves lived there. Claire lived here, whom Karina perfectly remembered, but now didn’t want to communicate with her.

Karina liked the small artificial garden with trees, flowers, birds flying and several animals walking. There was even a small pond in the garden. Karina didn’t know what was on the other floors and didn’t want to go down there at all, and, fortunately, Nikto didn’t insist on it. He kept his word and didn’t touch her. The room he put Karina in was very comfortable and had a balcony. You could go out on it and admire the light gray valley lying far below and framed by mountains, the same pale gray sky hung above it. Everything was very similar to the scenery in a theater – not real, but still beautiful. A fresh breeze was blowing from the valley. That was the only relatively large space in his limited world. Nikto came to check how she settled down, whether she was doing well. At his limit, he was a little different, without a scar. His face was clean. He smiled at Karina, apparently understanding her gaze perfectly.

“It's just an illusion, sometimes I also want to look normal, not like a disfigured cripple. But this is the same mask. And it only works here, inside my world,” he approached Karina, she stood on the balcony, leaning on a stone balustrade. “Do you like it?”

“Yes. It’s very beautiful. Is this all real? Or is it an illusion too?”

“It’s real.”

“Why did you create this space?”

“Just for fun.”

“Is it possible to go down? Walk around this field?”

“Yes. And you can ride a horse there if you want.”

“Who lives there?”

“Nobody.”

“I saw last night far, far away near the mountains, the lights flickered, as if a fire was burning there.”

“Ah… this… yes, some small insect-like unclean ones started up.”

“How?!”

“Simply, they crept into my space and now, they took root. They are primitive and not dangerous.”

“But why don't you drive them away?!”

“Let them live until they bother me, if they multiply too much, then I'll have to go down and remove them.”

But Karina didn't want to ride a horse there anymore.

“Rest, my servants are at your disposal. Eat, drink, walk in the garden, stroke the animals, sleep, gain strength. If you get bored, come to my slaves, they are happy to wait for you. Claire speaks good black, she'll chat with you. Nobody will touch you.”

“And Lis?”

“I will return Lis to you after a while. Don't worry about him like that, I won't do anything bad to him. And you can live here together when I leave with Arel for below.”

Lis looked around nervously, confused by the half-human height cages against the wall, but they were empty. Nikto and an unclean master named Marg paid no attention to him, completely absorbed in conversation. Arel stood in front of them naked, and the master touched him, twisted, turned, looking at him as a thing, as an object that the customer had brought and which needed to be decorated better. Nikto said something to him in unclean language quickly, Lis was nervous and didn’t understand. He saw that they were driving their fingers along Arel’s back, from shoulder blade to shoulder blade, along the buttocks. They planned where and how to tattoo the prince, but he stood motionless, his eyes downcast, and only sometimes flinched a little when Marg or Nikto poked him too much with their clawed hands. When they finished discussing the back, they moved on to his chest, belly, and cock. Finally finished, Nikto turned to Lis:

“Lis, come here,” he called in black.

Lis approached them resignedly. Nikto handed him a sheet of paper with a very beautifully drawn fox, it was as if it were alive – bright eyes and fluffy fur, cunning and predatory expression of the muzzle.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes,” said Lis, the drawing was really excellent, it seemed that the fox was about to jump from a flat sheet to the floor.

“Marg will make you this fox on your chest, it's a pity that not on the shoulder because of your scarring. Take off your clothes, let him look.”

Lis obediently, like Arel, completely undressed. His collarbones, too, were ornately decorated with patterns of red, but there was plenty of room below on his chest. The master shook his head. And Lis realized that he said to Nikto: “It's a pity, there is not enough space, but I will do, I will draw the fox in, and these patterns will be like a frame on top.” Marg with curiosity began to examine the body scarred according to the tradition of the red warriors, apparently, he was impressed and liked it. He smiled at Lis, nodding his head:

“Very good. Very beautiful.”

Lis was silent. The prospect of being tattooed with a fox on his chest didn't scare him. It was really very beautiful, and if the master transferred this image to his body, it would even be great. He smiled at Nikto:

“Thanks.”

“Do you really like it?” Nikto was delighted.

“Well, yes,” Lis replied, quite sincerely.

And Nikto shook his bright head with content.

“What will you do to Arel?”

“Wings on the back!”

“Ah, well, yes, because he is an eagle.”

“Yes,” Nikto agreed. “It will be very beautiful too, they will be like living!”

When Lis came to the tattoo artist the next time, he saw an unclean in one of the cages, he was sitting tied and waiting for the master to finish with Lis and return to work with him. Lis then always saw one or two unclean slaves in the cages. The owners seemed to hand them over to the master for a while, the master tattooed them and after a while returned the already decorated slave to the owners.

Nikto never left them with Marg, he always took them away. In general, Lis himself negotiated with him, he came and went. It took three times to make the fox, but Lis often came with Nikto just for the company, sat on a soft sofa, sipping alcohol, smoking and watching Arel tattooed. Or Nikto. The master corrected all the damaged tattoos for him, made, as Nikto said, “restoration”. And some, very old and damaged by ulcers, he first lightened with the help of a special tool and then covered with a new, more beautiful and clear pattern. And once, having also come with Nikto and Arel, Lis saw in the cage not an unclean one as usual, but a man. Absolutely human, not even a half-breed. A young guy. He looked deeply unhappy, hunted, but when he also saw people, he, without realizing it, rushed to the bars of the lattice. In the cage he could only move on all fours, it was too low to stand up to full height.

“Help,” he whispered, looking at Lis with mad eyes full of fear and despair: “Help.”

Lis looked at Nikto:

“Where are the other people here from?”

Nikto asked Marg.

“He says he was caught deep in a cave in the Western Mountains a few days ago.”

“But what should he do in the mountains, so far away?!”

Nikto shrugged his shoulders:

“I don’t know. An escaped slave or a criminal.” He sat down in a chair and put his hand on a special armrest. Marg began to mend the barely healed demonic beast eye on his hand.

But Lis couldn’t calm down, his gaze returned to the cage, and the guy, clinging to the bars, also looked at him.

“Nik… he is very young, he is a human.”

“Lis, the unclean have a lot of people as slaves, get used to it.”

“But he doesn't look like a criminal or a slave.”

“Fuck, talk to him yourself, if you're so interested!”

Lis went to the cage, squatted down:

“Who the hell are you?!”

“My name is Marcus.”

“And what were you doing so far in the mountains, Marcus?”

“I'm a traveler. I explore different places, in the North and in the South. I am a researcher.”

“What? What the fuck are you talking about? Researcher?!”

“Yes! I am a scientist, I study the nature and features of our world! I discovered in the north such fat birds that cannot fly, but can live in the cold! These are rare unknown species of flora and fauna. And also plants and minerals, in this cave I discovered a unique colony of stone flowers… my notes, my notebooks with notes…” When he spoke it quickly, choking with words to be in time, his eyes lit up.

“Are you out of your mind? What flowers?!”

“Unique stone flowers that exist only in our world! They glow! Nowhere else are there such ones!”

“Have you been fucked by the unclean?” Lis asked.

And Marcus wilted, froze. Then he pulled back from the bars, head down.

“Do you understand WHAT they will do to you?”

“Help me!” Marcus looked at Lis again with eyes full of despair and hope.

“How can I help you?! I am also a slave, just like you!”

“You are a slave? But you don't look like a slave! Who are you? Warrior?”

“Yes. How did you guess?”

“It's easy to understand, your posture, such a face.”

“Yes, I am a military commander.”

“How did you get into slavery? How could they capture you?!”

Lis smiled sadly:

“I gave up myself.”

“What do you mean yourself?”

“I sold myself in exchange for power.”

Marcus stumbled back, leaning his head against the side wall of the cage.

“Clear. War, murder, any cost justifies victory. You won't help me.”

“I won't help you,” Lis stepped back from the cage, “no one will help you.”

When Lis came back to the master a few days later, he saw that Marcus was still there. He lay crumpled on the floor, and when he raised himself to the noise, Lis saw that on Marcus’ cheek from the ear to the corner of his mouth a dick was tattooed, as realistic as a real one, with an aroused head. And, apparently, the face of Lis at that moment, when he saw it, spoke for itself. Marcus cringed, crawling into the far corner, hiding his disfigured face. But Lis approached him.

“Marcus?”

He didn’t answer.

“Marcus?”

“You won't help me, no one will help me,” Marcus finally answered, “and now it's too late.”

“But what about your northern birds and stone flowers, which are not found anywhere else?”

“Nobody gives a shit,” Marcus said.

And Lis shook his head:

“I'll try to help you, maybe buy you back or exchange you, I don't know how yet.”

Lis told Nikto everything about Marcus.

“Marg says that his master prepares slaves, then resells them,” Nikto explained.

“Is it really possible to buy him? How much will he cost?”

“Do you want a young boy as your slave?”

“I don't want to fuck him! He is a scientist!”

“Who?”

“Do you need a scientist? An explorer of this world?”

“Ha-ha, no, of course!”

Nikto spoke to Marg again.

“You can't buy him. He is not for sale.”

“But why?!”

“Why are you looking at me like that? Am I to blame that he is already being customized? You see, the master tattoos him the way the customer wanted. He has already been purchased!”

“Do something! Buy him out! I was in your limit, I was not yet your slave, and you paired me with Aika, and my child is here.”

“I didn’t forcibly pair you with a slave, as you put it! You wanted it yourself! You fucked Aika of your own free will.”

Lis grabbed his head:

“Well, why cannot you agree!”

“Why should I fulfill your whims?”

“You gave Arel the best horse, but you can't give me an unfortunate boy?! I'll give three reds for him! What do they want? For breeding and selection?”

“Do you have them?”

“When we take the Fort, I will!”

“Well, then we'll talk.”

“By this time they will disfigure him so that it will be easier to just kill him! Ask for a loan! As a pledge, I don’t know how you make the deals here!”

“Lis, you know, fuck off! If we ransom every person, no money will be enough! There’s a plenty of people here, do I need to show you? Do you want to save everyone?”

“I am begging you! After all, my child is here.”

“Your child is here, and your children are also in a heap of places, in this and even the Upper world. From those peasants whom you raped, seizing their villages, from various whores and slaves! You shit on them, and it doesn't matter what they eat, drink or what they wear.”

Lis was silent, discouraged by this answer.

“I'll figure it out later,” he said finally, shaking his head as if to drive away the obsession.

“Well, of course!”

“Nik, help me buy Marcus out. I'm asking you!”

Nikto sighed:

“Well, why do I always allow you everything, Lis?”

“Will you agree?!”

“I'll try. But I don't promise you anything.”

Nikto returned Lis to Karina. He himself, along with decorated Arel, went below.

“What did Nikto make you do?” Karina asked, looking at his new tattoo on his chest.

“Nothing special. Everything as usual. He decorates Arel, in his opinion, deals with him all the time. Drags him down to his unclean friends. Shows them his slave. He drags Arel, not me.”

“Have you been there?”

“I was a little lower last time, a couple of tiers, no more. There is something like a throne room and many lounges. They all gather there.”

“Nikto has some kind of a palace here.”

“Yes. But I don't want to go down there anymore.”

“As well as me.”

“Let him drag Arel, he definitely dragged him across all the worlds. These are the prince's problems. Let them have fun as they want.”

“And how did he decorate him?”

“Shitty. I don't even want to talk about it.”

“But I will see it later.”

“Well, yes, I don't think he will fix it.”

“What?”

“Fuck, I don’t want to remember this.”

“Li-i-is, what did he do to the prince?”

“In general, nothing special, he put a chastity belt on him, so hard, of course, with a metal tube inside the dick, now Arel can cum or piss only when Nikto opens the tap. On the side where Arel had a brand on his cheek, he pulled out all of his side teeth below and above and cut a hole in his cheek.”

“What for?” Karina whispered, her eyes widened.

“Now he can shove his dick into Arel’s mouth through the hole in the cheek.”

“Oh Gods!” And Karina began to cry.

And Lis got angry:

“Why are you crying? Do you feel sorry for him? Do you still like him?! Did you like how he fucked you? Especially with Nikto, I guess? When they two fucked you, simultaneously in all holes. Did you like it, huh? Arel treated you badly, cut your hair off, and you whine over him!”

“I have no grudge against him, and the hair will grow back. It's just hair,” Karina tried to wipe away her tears. “He's like that because he saw only cruelty in his life. He was never treated well. Therefore, he didn’t learn to be good.”

“What are you saying? Why do you always remember only Arel? Always, when it comes to how someone was unjustly beaten and humiliated, everyone always remembers Prince Arel!”

Lis lit a cigarette, and his face turned angry:

“You remember how his father beat him in childhood, how he was bullied in prison, how unfairly he was treated. But if we compare all the facts, they mocked me no less, and I had to endure a lot of humiliations too! But for some reason it seems to everyone that everything is always in order with Lis! And only the handsome prince endured incredible suffering! Arel had a strict father who beat him and raised him. Well, I didn't have a father at all! And I was not a noble master, but an illegitimate half-breed, do you think I was not humiliated? Didn't they tease me? Didn’t they mock at my hair color, freckles? Arel knew from childhood that he was a prince, the chosen one. I also realized very early that I was worse than others, a waste. He was taught by the best masters of military affairs, I was simply taken into the army. And there the commanders were not ceremonious with me, as I was second class, I remained. Why is Arel justified by the fact that his father was too cruel to him and therefore nothing good came of Arel? Why did it come out of me then? Arel became a criminal, and I, the red-headed half-breed, became the commander. Why? Was it somehow easier for me? Was it?”

Karina was silent.

“Good. Then he was bullied in prison for a year, this, of course, is an unpleasant fact. But I also sat in the Reds' prison and they mocked me too, I was not raped, however, who needed me, I’m not so handsome. But they beat me, they kept me in a tight shackle as a very dangerous criminal, on bread and water. Then in a cramped cage. They cut off my finger! Does anyone ever remember this? Everyone remembers that, fuck it, they painted Arel’s face with gray paint and cut off his hair! Disgraced the noble gentleman! Fuck it!”

Lis extended his hand to Karina, which was missing a little finger:

“Do you see this?! Nobody ever remembers this! I couldn’t move in my shackles, immobilized in complete darkness, my vision didn’t fully recover after that, I began to see worse and can no longer shoot as aimed as before. Nobody gives a shit! Because Arel was raped, and he ate shit.”

“Lis, please don't…”

“Let's go further! What other humiliations I went through while I was wandering around restless, okay, let's skip it. I got to Arel, he reigned, and no one mocked him at that time. On the contrary, he mocked others as he wanted. He whipped them. Toby slit his mouth open. He also humiliated me, everyone knows that he put a strip of jester on me, although I was not guilty of anything, but Arel just wanted to. I still have a scar from it, all over my face! Nobody ever remembers this, although it is visible! What difference does it make? Make fun of the red-headed half-breed, throw a stone in the head! He humiliated me in the castle as he wanted, he was not touched. Now, very recent events: Arel again was raped in prison. He was beaten and fucked again. And… damn it, me too! They beat me every day, knocked out all of my teeth, broke all the ribs and all the fingers and toes. Before the court everything was corrected, and even then, that half of the face, which was turned into a mess, didn’t fully recover. And even at the trial it was clear that I was beaten. And they raped me. Not a king with lords as a prince. Just dirty criminals and soldiers. And they pissed on my head too. The only thing is that I didn't eat shit, and thanks for that! They were not so snazzy and, apparently, rarely shit. Therefore, the Gods had mercy. But Arel has been stuffed with shit a couple of times in his entire life, and shit has been pouring on me forever since birth! In front of me, no one bowed, didn’t breathe out: “Prince! Prince, how handsome he is! Descendant of the royal family!” It's not a pity to swallow a couple of pieces of shit for such words! And I was just fucked. Everyone humiliated me all my life! And Arel again humiliated me, painted me like a clown, I resigned myself, you saw that he, and then Nikto made a jester out of me. Arel now wears a nose ring, think about it! I wore bells, I wear the same shit! Nikto humiliates and torments me the same way. Is not it so? I suck and I get fucked whenever they want. How am I better than Arel? Why does it seem to everyone that Arel is being bullied, but not me? Wasn't I even more bullied? Isn't my life the same series of bullying? But you can't see it from me, right? I don’t look humiliated and pathetic, even when painted like a jester. Everyone feels sorry for Arel, but not for me. What difference does it make to me what else they make me wear, take in my mouth. Anything! You are welcome! The prince is a true descendant of the black ancestors – this is victory, success! Half-blood red is a shame, a failure.”

“Please, please stop! Arel for this title, by order of the king, was made sterile,” Karina tried to object somehow, so that it would not seem to Lis that all the bad things happened only to him. “He paid dearly for his nobility.”

“Well, yes,” Lis threw down a cigarette, out of habit, immediately lighting up the next one from her. “But I have a lot of children, according to Nikto, and all from whores and slaves!”

“But you yourself are to blame, you play very hard, you yourself understand it. You yell at Nikto, you call him names. You are very cocky. So you get it,” Karina decided not to develop the topic about his children.

“My wonderful good life made me so, and I will remain so!”

“Stop smoking.”

Karina hugged him, and he didn’t pull away.

“I love you for that! You will become king!”

“And Arel will become a Demon!”

“Well, Lis, well enough. Stop being jealous of him.”

Lis covered his face with his palms:

“That’s all. Sorry. I won't anymore.”

After a while, Nikto brought everyone back. They again stood in the center of the room in the old witch’s cave. And Nikto clumsily sank to the floor and groaned:

“Oh, damn…”

The difference between the way he was in his limit, and what he was again was too obvious. They got used to him fast, strong, without a scar, with a clean beautiful face. And now his face was disfigured again because of Karina's brother. Nikto covered it with his hands. He sat hunched over, not moving, as if coming to his senses, getting used to the limitations of a crippled human body.”