Ви Корс - 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?!”