Chapter 2

Conversation with Mark

"So, Lis was right," Orel said. "You also know Nikto."

"Yes, I do." Mark met Orel's gaze. "If you see him once, you won't forget, right?"

Orel looked away, got up and walked to the window. He looked through it not saying anything, with his arms crossed on his chest. Mark also kept silent, watching Orel as if calculating something in his mind. Then he said:

"I think it'll work for you!"

Orel looked back.

"I nearly killed him!"

Mark shrugged. "So what? Me too."

"Yes? And what?"

"Nothing. We're friends now."

Orel walked back to the table.

"A strange friendship – between a friend of the Unclean and someone who fights them," he said.

"He helped me like no one else," Mark's eyes flashed with an unhealthy sparkle, his fingers twitched nervously. "Thanks to him I created a real hell for the Unclean in the west! How we killed them! How we killed them, Orel, if only you could see it. If only any of those fat townsmen could see it! We slashed them! Hanged them! Burned them! Tore them apart. We razed their houses to the ground. We chased them to the very mountains, freed the outpost and many people…" Mark stopped suddenly.

"I see you are a real warrior. A rare thing in our times," Orel said.

"Nikto is a warrior, too."

"I know, figured that out. But he's a warrior of the Unclean."

"You can stop worrying about it. Yes, he is a warrior of the Unclean but he isn't their ally. More than that, I think he hates them."

"Why is he with them then?"

"The cities of the Unclean accept him as a warrior, hold him as an equal and even higher than many of them. And humans don't accept him."

"But you? Haven't you accepted him?"

"I have but he can't team up with me, the Unclean will kill him for that."

"And can he team up with me?"

"Yes, he can. You don't interfere in the business of the Unclean. If you make Nikto your friend, the Unclean will be your friends, too. Your power will multiply, and I heard, prince Arel, your state of affairs is horrible now."

"Perhaps it is, but I don't want to become a toy of the Unclean for the sake of that power! My independence is my strength."

"Not a toy. But having an ally won't hurt you."

"Do I hear it from you? You who fight them to death? I can't believe my ears."

Mark shrugged. "To each their own."

"And that girlfriend of his. That perfect sample of a non-human! She'll cut the throat of anyone who dares harm her precious. I hope you haven't seen that monster."

"I brought her to him from the west."

"What?"

Mark laughed.

"Her name is Amba. I brought her from the west."

"Why?"

"It just happened."

"Can you tell me?"

"Why not? I see he's got to your heart, I know you too well. You'll be a nice pair. New times are coming to the City, together you'll be formidable."

"I haven't decided anything yet."

"Oh, you have."

"Well, it doesn't mean he'll agree."

"He will. Nikto is attracted to humans. And you are from the upper society, rich, noble – exactly what he needs."

"Then tell me what you know of him!"

"Destiny brought us together in the far west. My squadron attacked a caravan of a slave trader. He sold them in village markets. One of those slaves was Nikto. We freed them all and hanged the trader. Many of the men we had freed joined us. We took the ill ones to our camp. The first one who noticed Nikto was an old warlock from my suite. He told me: 'I feel he's dangerous, Mark, we should get rid of him.' I just laughed – but I was stricken with the color of Nikto's hair. At first I took him for an old man, his face was hidden behind a black mask. I asked the slaves who joined us: 'Who's that old man?' They said: 'We don't know. He was picked up on the road.' He was very ill, never said anything, and the slaves didn't see his face. But the servants of the slave trader who had seen Nikto's face begged not to take him along. They told their master such a slave would bring bad luck. But the slave trader didn't listen to them. Then I took off his mask and saw a young man who had no undamaged place on his face. He was cut in a way that even my experienced warriors were shocked. I saw the traces from 'black water' on his arms, the collar, the wounds from chains, tattoos of the Unclean and I figured out he managed to escape.