The Mist and the Lightning. Part 19

After listening to all this rather indistinct stream of words, and even with an unclean accent, because when Nik spoke a lot and for a long time, he involuntarily began to swallow vowels, Zagpeace somehow wearily sighed and shook his head:

“And then what happened?”

“Arel… Prince Arel came for me. He said that I was his warrior, and he put me up for fights at Dim’s Coliseum. He yelled that he was not going to give me a black man to accompany me every time I needed to go to training. And if his pass was not enough for them, and he also has to come to the station for his soldiers and explain something there, he would arrange for them such a fun life that they will regret it. Arel promised that he would smash everything to hell, and he would get nothing for it!” Nik laughed merrily, but Zagpeace, on the contrary, was clearly not laughing.

“Arel was very angry,” said Nik, continuing to have fun and not paying any attention to the expression on Zagpeace’s face. It seemed that, unlike his listener, Nik found this story amusing and he himself was so carried away by his story that now he couldn’t be stopped:

“They were afraid of him, began to make excuses to him that they detained me because I didn’t obey the order and didn’t take off the mask. And he said, “You idiots, it’s glued on! This is my warrior, he obeys my orders, and only I decide when he has to take off and when not to take off his mask! He told them a lot. Aha-ha! Arel is so cool! He took me from there. They didn’t seem to care anymore, and they just wanted him to stop yelling and get out as soon as possible. And the next day he again sent me to Dim’s alone. But they didn’t stop me anymore. And I always drove on the same road, and the patrols already knew me, and then they went to fights, they liked to watch my fights, and they didn’t touch me anymore.

“You said you were detained a couple of times… for what else?”

“Well…I just went into this…expensive shop…without a black escort, and they called the guards.”

“But why did you go there?!”

“I… I saw beautiful bottles in the window… I wanted to buy one… One of green glass, like an emerald,” and Nik involuntarily looked at his hand to where a ring with a green stone sparkled on his finger. “It was so… it was like it was made of a precious stone, and inside there was dark wine. I had money. I wanted to buy it!”

“And you didn’t know that they wouldn’t sell you anything in Upper, even if you had money?”

“Eh, I knew… I… I was very drunk, and I just thought badly…”

(Yes, and even now, Nik, you are drunk and you think badly if you tell himall this!)

“What was the name of this store?”

“Hmmm… I don’t remember…”

(You yourself know very well what this place was called, Peace! And I remember this incident! The fire in the Glass Island. Now I know, and you can probably guess what caused it to burn down so unexpectedly!)

“And how did it all end? Did Prince Arel take you away again?”

“Yes, but this time he had beaten the shit out of me.”

(Nik! Looks like it’s me who will beat the shit out of you today!)

Kors was angry with Nik, and at the same time, probably only now did he fully realize what a humiliating position his son was in. And the fact that Nik couldn’t move freely in the Upper City, ride the streets wherever he wanted, without a black pass or escort. He couldn’t go into shops, let alone restaurants or the theatre. A patrol could stop him and arrest him at any moment. Kors only now realized that even to collect tribute from his streets, in order to avoid unnecessary problems, Arel sent him not alone, but together with Squit-Eye, who was black.

“On the one hand, I am impressed by your desperate character, it was he who did not allow you to completely break down over ten years of slavery,” Zagpeace said a little out of his style, not minting every word, as usual, but more gently, “and therefore I want help you.”

(Of course! What a hypocrite!)

“But on the other hand, listen to me, this is important,” Zagpeace continued, returning to his impassive intonation. “I understand that you have never been to that part of the Upper City where I tell you to come, and the patrols there don’t know you, so when you are stopped, follow all their requirements. Show them the pass. If they say they’re taking you to my academy, don’t argue with them.”

“And there already my guards will meet you, I will warn them, they will be waiting for you. You will be handed over, just be silent and do whatever you are told.”