They are not offspring of Hell; they just lived nearby…

Arel Chig is a fallen prince, the only one who dares to break the rules in a society separated by race, language and origin. When he meets Nikto, a strange man of many secrets, Arel's life is going to change.

Part 1

Тhis story actually happened in a different reality (a different dimension, a parallel world); you can call it whatever you like, whatever you used to, whatever is convenient for you. Its essence will not change with that. All characters in the story exist and interact just like we exist and interact in our world. Only their names, the names of the gods, peoples and territories are not authentic; they just express the basic meaning the characters put into them.

¹ Nikto is translated as ‘Nobody’

² Orel is translated as ‘Eagle’

³ Lis is translated as ‘Fox’

⁴ Tolsty is translated as ‘Fat’

Chapter 1

The Encounter

"So, are you going to start talking at last?" Orel asked.

"Give me my dr… 'restorer', and I'll tell you everything!"

"Too many conditions, don't you think?"

"Really, it's the first time I see something like that." Tol shook his head. "He must be bonkers."

"I shit care if he's bonkers or not," Orel yelled, "he has to answer. Because we need it. And he will talk. What's your name, again?"

"Nikto."

"Right. We know it. Your real name?"

"I don't know! It is real!"

Orel, Lis, Enriki and Tol exchanged glances.

"Waste of time," Tol said. "We'll kill him but he won't talk."

"Shut up, you idiot," Orel growled.

"I think it is not our business at all…" Lis started cautiously.

"It is our business, Lis. Listen to me and don't interrupt," Orel made a pause. "Please."

"I need a restorer or I'll die," Nikto said.

"Yeah? Or maybe you'll finally go over the edge with the drug."

"No, I won't. I used 'black water' for two years, now I need just the plain one… but often. In my bag…"

"Huh? Two years of 'black water'? You're dead, man! Nobody quits 'black water', you're crazy!"

"That's why he hangs around with the Unclean," Enriki intervened. "That bitch, your girlfriend, she gives you this shit, right? You're a disgrace for humans!"

"I need a shot." Nikto's voice was barely audible.

"Fuck you. Die," Tol said. Orel glared at him. "Sorry, Arel," he hastened. "I just can't stand this piece of dirt."

Nikto awkwardly shook his shaggy head, trying to toss disobedient strands of hair away from his face and look at the people standing over him but it didn't work. In the beginning they had made him kneel at the wooden post, and now he was sitting on his heels in front of them, leaning against the post somewhat lopsidedly. His arms were twisted behind his back, wrists locked in steel cuffs around the post and raised up. The chain of the cuffs was fixed on the hook too high, almost disjointing his arms, not letting him straighten his back.

"Hey, Nikto." Orel sighed. "Let's make a deal. You answer our questions honestly, and we give you a shot."

Nikto finally managed to turn his head and look up at Orel.

"Why are you breaking me? Aren't you a prince, a free lord from the Upper City? We are from different worlds. Our ways never cross. You have no personal interest in me. Whose order do you follow when you interrogate me? I didn't know a prince could serve someone. Who orders you? The king's secret police?"

Orel's face twitched.

"It doesn't concern you." He raised Nikto's chin higher with the tip on his boot making him screw his eyes shut with pain in his twisted arms. "I'm asking questions here, not you."

"Make him kiss your boot, Arel! Show this dirty half-blood who he's talking to!" Tol shouted clasping Nikto's head in his huge palms. "Here, Arel, kick his mug!"

"Tol, enough," Lis said.

"Just look at it, Arel!" Tol's hand in a leather glove made Nikto open his mouth showing his long, inhuman fangs. "And claws! On his fingers! He's a shitty, dirty half-blood! And the tattoos on his cheeks!" Tol squeezed Nikto's face. "Just look at it! The letters of the Unclean. Like something's written on his face!"

Orel met Nikto's gaze. Nikto's face was nothing like crude, irregular faces of the Unclean. The man also didn't look like a commoner; he could easily be called handsome if not for a scar that crossed his forehead and the whole right side of his face, tearing his cheek so deep that it seemed a little more and one could see his molars.

"Leave him be," Orel ordered. "Nikto, if you don't want any more problems, answer my questions, okay?"

"Okay, okay! Ask your questions! I didn't quit 'water' to die like that, in front of a bunch of idiots who don't even know what they want!"

"Easy, man!"

"I was set up!"

"I've never heard anyone speak Black like that," Enriki shook his head. "I barely can figure out what he says."

"He uses correct words," Lis said, "but what a nasty voice he has."

"What's your name?"

"Again? Fuck! All right, all right! It's Nik. Nik."

"How can you prove it?"

"People who know me can say."

"Where are you from?"

"I came to the city from the west."

"Did you live in the local outpost in the west, on the border with the lands of the Unclean?"

"Yes."

"Did you fight them?"

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"They captured me. They addicted me to black water. Since then I depend on them."

"Do you follow their orders?"

"Yes."

"What orders?"

"Orders? Ah… well… kill people. Eliminate. Rob."

"Bastard! I'll kill him!" Tol bellowed. Orel stopped him not letting him hit Nikto.

"Calm down, Tol. Calm down."

"What do you think of our king, Nik?" Enriki asked.

"He's a shit!"

Lis laughed.

"I've had enough of it. That's utter bullshit."

"Did you conspire with the Unclean against the king?" Orel continued.

"No. They don't trust me enough for that. Too bad."

"Orel," Lis said. "He lies. He says what we want to hear."

"I'm not sure I want to hear exactly that, Lis."

"I need my drug."

"Don't give him any, Arel, let this disgrace for humans die!"

"Give him his drug he calls a restorer," Lis said.

Nikto's eyes closed.

"Hey…" Orel shook him worriedly. "Don't you dare, I haven't finished with you!"

"He's losing it, Orel, I told you so!" Lis shouted. "If he dies now, your stupidity will be to blame! What shall we do then?"

"My stupidity? Don't you dare talk to me like that! I'm a prince, I'm your lord!"

"Orel, Lis, please, not now," Enriki begged. "The client won't forgive us if he dies. We need him alive. Lis, give him a shot, you know how. Where is his bag?"

"Enriki, take off his bracelets! Hurry!" Lis got a flat box made of black wood from Nikto's bag. "Move faster, you! Unchain him!"

Enriki unlocked the cuffs and pulled on Nikto's arm trying to take off the bracelets. Nikto followed the pull and fell onto his side.

"Oooh, idiot! Stop pulling! Open them! They must be locked!" Lis rushed to Nikto lying on the floor, unclasped several silver bracelets that covered Nikto's arm from wrist to elbow. His arm under the bracelets was wrapped in the strips of black cloth.

"Fuck! Cut the cloth!"

Enriki followed the order as soon as he could – and froze looking down. Lis also halted.

"Where do I have to stick the needle? The other arm, quickly!"

"I don't feel his pulse," Enriki said quietly. Tol came up to them and snorted.

"Yeah, he wasn't lying about 'black water', it's the only thing that corrodes veins like that."

"The other arm is just the same," Lis said.

"He gets what he deserves," Tol summarized.

"No, stick it somewhere else," Orel begged nervously. "His neck…"

"His collar is too wide, Arel, and I can't take it off."

"His leg. Lis, do it for me!"

"For us," Enriki corrected Orel.

"I'll stick it into his groin," Lis said. "Strip him."

"A nice tattoo," Tol smirked looking at Nikto's tattooed thigh.

"He really seems to be from the west," Orel said thoughtfully.

"Okay, he should revive now." Lis took Nikto's wrist to check the pulse. "This tattoo on his arm, the brand of the Unclean – it is the emblem of the western community. If I'm not mistaken."

"Yeah, he has too many tattoos for a plainsman. He's from the west," Orel confirmed.

"Then he was captured, as he said?" Enriki asked. "They disfigured him and addicted him to black water, just as he said?"

"I still don't trust him," Lis said. "He looks more like a mercenary than a slave."

"Maybe they made him join them," Enriki suggested.

"I see only one thing," Tol interfered. "He's into the Unclean up to his ears."

"And what the fuck is that…" Suddenly Lis rushed to the chimney, heated the blade of his knife in the fire and quickly pressed it to the inner side of Nikto's wrist.

The heat revealed a hidden sign, as if a crimson flame ran over a twisted monogram.

"Wow! Nice!" Tol admired the view. "What is it?"

"It's a hidden brand of the Red, idiot," Orel explained. "Lis, how did you notice it?"

"Maybe it's because I also have one," Lis smiled. "He could've been their captive, or he could've worked for them."

"The last thing we need," Enriki exhaled.

"I knew he wasn't telling the truth," Lis said.

"What truth?" Enriki asked. "So far everything we see confirms his tale. He said he needed the drug because he used 'water' for two years, and I bet it's true. I've seen arms like that, only of dead men, though."

"Yeah, me too," Orel nodded.

"He has a brand of the Unclean slave; they addicted him to 'water' and mutilated his face," Tol summarized.

"Yes, it fits," Orel said thoughtfully.

"The Unclean know that a man with such a face won't ever be a full-righted member of our society," Enriki said.

"I think he's quite handsome," Lis said.

"Oh, why don't you get yourself decorations like that then?" Tol laughed.

Lis glared at him. "Shut up, Tol!"

"If someone gets such a wound in a battle," Orel continued musing, "no matter how heavy it is, he can use a medicine, 'sama', for example. It heals without a trace then. And if he didn't do it, it means they didn't let him. I think so."

He bent over Nikto, examining him.

"And there are many small tiny cuts, as if he were slashed. But they are all healed."

Lis squatted near to him.

"Orel, look at those scars at his ear. It looks like his ear was cut off. And then a new one adhered."

"He's been through a lot," Enriki said.

"Well, the Red also cut off ears," Lis said. "Ears and fingers."

They looked at Nikto's hand that missed its ring finger.

"Bad luck for him," Tol said. "It seems we'll find out more about him from his body than he would've told us. Let's strip him! While he's out of it."

"So, both the Unclean and the Red were breaking him" Orel mused aloud.

"And so were we," Lis added.

"And why would everyone need him, this nobody from the west," Tol muttered stripping Nikto.

"That's the thing. It's not so simple." Lis lit a cigarette and took a nervous drag. "I wouldn't mess into it, I told you from the beginning! Orel, do you hear me?"

"I hear you."

"Oh, I'm happy."

"Nah," Tol said, "if they maim you, addict to black water, and the rest of it, you won't care about nothing, you'll just want to stay alive!"

"Look, he's trying to restore," Enriki noticed.

"Yes, this guy claws for his life," Lis agreed looking at Nikto's strong muscular body.

"But he doesn't look like a terribly lucky warrior to me," Enriki shook his head.

"No. Too lucky, to my mind," Orel said. "That arrow hit his heart, didn't it?" He pointed at the oval scar on Nikto's chest.

"A lethal wound," Lis said.

"And this one, on his side. The scar is quite recent."

"He has nine lives," Tol snorted.

"And a bunch of problems as well," Orel added. "I'm quitting."

"Are you crazy?" Enriki stared at him. "What are you thinking of?"

"I'm not breaking him any more," Orel said firmly. "I've had enough."

"Do you know what it means for us? What if he really is a conspirator?"

Nikto shifted, rising somewhat, tossed his hair away from his face and looked over himself: waist-naked, his pants pulled down.

"Did you want to fuck me?" he asked in surprise.

It was like a signal for everyone. Tol bent over cackling, and all the others looked at Nikto and laughed.

"Come here, have a drink," Tol said to Nikto quite friendly.

"Yes, Nik or whatever, really, have a drink with us," Orel agreed.

Nikto got up, clasped his heavy belt, walked up to the table and made a few gulps from a glass.

"May I dress?" he asked.

"Yes, we let you go," Orel said.

Walking back to the pole, Nikto started gathering his scattered possessions.

"Fuck, why did you cut the bandages?"

"Wanted to give you a shot quicker," Orel explained. "Should've told us your veins are shit dead."

He called for a servant and told him to bring new bandages.

"You are skillful," Enriki said watching Nikto wrap his arms in a few seconds.

"Who stuck the needle?" Nikto asked gloomily.

"I did," Lis smiled.

"Thanks," Nikto thought for a moment, "Lis."

Lis laughed. "Aren't you happy? I did my best."

"Oh yes. There was no other place, was there?"

"Well, you'll just have to stay away from your Unclean bitch for a couple weeks," Lis shrugged, "big deal."

Nikto gave him a glance but kept quiet. He was picking up his bracelets from the floor and habitually locking them on his arms with a soft click. When he reached for one of the bracelets behind the post, his long blonde hair fell on the side, baring his back that was completely covered in lash scars.

Friends looked at each other.

"One cool back you have," Lis said.

"Ah, so that's what you wanted to see," Nikto said. "Stripped me, looked at my scars? And now do you let me go because you see I'm a warrior like you?"

"Sit down," Orel said.

Nikto sat down at the table and finished his wine. Tol gave him a cigarette. Nikto glanced at him.

"Thank you." He smoked, leaning against the tall back of the chair. His hand with a missing finger pushed away his hair, revealing the scar crossing his forehead. He examined Tol, Lis, Orel and Enriki with sharp eyes.

"It is not long till the morning," Orel said. "The gates will be open soon, and you will be able to leave the Upper City."

"And what about your job?" Nikto smiled wryly. The disfigured side of his face didn't move.

"Not the first problem of ours. And not the last one," Orel answered. "Not your concern, too."

"You're not so stupid as you seemed at first," Nikto said.

"All right, don't try to play smart," Lis interfered. "We're letting you go – be happy."

Nikto shook his head.

"I am." He walked up to his bag on the floor, picked up his cloak.

"You've ruined my cloak." He looked around. "And what about my mask?"

"Mask?"

"Yes, mask. Black, made of that hard… mm…" he stumbled trying to find the right word, "stuff. I don't know how it's called in your language."

"Who took off his mask? Tol, you did! Where is it?"

"Arel, I… I tossed it to the chimney," Tol said somewhat guiltily. "I was so pissed off!"

"Shi-i-it!" Nikto squeezed his temples with his palms. "Cloak is torn. Mask is burnt! Any patrol will stop me when I look like that!"

"All right, I'll give you my cloak and my mask," Orel tried to settle it. "And you'll walk out of the Upper City without a problem."

"Without a problem! I don't have the right to be in the Upper City at all!"

"I know," Orel smiled.

"See ya," Nikto walked to the door.

"Wait," Orel reached for him. "I'll see you off to the door and give you your weapon. It's upstairs."

His friends exchanged glances but didn't say anything.

"As you wish," Nikto muttered.

In the dim light of the dungeon his face crossed with a scar looked frightening. Half-paralyzed, it seemed lifeless, more fitting for a dead man than a living being able to bitch about ruined things.

They walked up from the dungeon to the ground floor.

"Here is your sword," Orel lowered his eyes avoiding Nikto's gaze. The servant brought a cloak and a mask.

"My slave will bring them back," Nikto said.

"Never mind, they are yours."

"Fine," Nikto wrapped the cloak around himself. A moment before pulling up the hood he stopped and looked at Orel. Nikto's eyes were grey and cold. "Something else?"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Nik was never your name, was it?"

Nikto's lips curved in a resemblance of smile.

"Never before."

"And you've never lived in the local outpost."

"Just for a short while."

"And you're not the slave of the Unclean and you don't follow their orders."

Nikto was smiling. "You're very persistent, prince Arel. Farewell."

He pulled up the hood and walked out of the castle. Orel followed him with his eyes.