The Mist and the Lightning. Part III
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"No. Now," Orel said firmly.
Squint-Eye waved his hand hopelessly.
"No one changes pairs before a fight," Tol interfered. "I remember it from school."
"Shit! You were going to school?!" Orel yelled, unable to stand it any longer. Tol decided it was safer to keep silent. "I'm tired of your displeasure," Orel continued, and by his voice they felt they had got to him. "You always dislike everything! Whatever I do! Whatever I suggest! In reply I always hear: 'Arel, it's stupid! Arel, it's dangerous! Arel, it's wrong!' I'm not sure any more if you need me at all! Maybe you'll lock me in the dungeon and go on with your business as you feel like?!"
"Don't exaggerate," Enriki, who had been silent till now, said at last. "I don't mind if you change our places."
"You have nothing else left!" Lis snorted.
"Fine, maybe," Enriki shook his head jerkily. "Arel does everything right," he said as calmly as he could but his voice betrayed him, ringing with resentment.
"You're washed to the gutter, Rik, congratulations!" Squint-Eye said. He lit a cigarette, inhaling deeply, and leaned against the back of the chair.
Enriki raised his eyes to the ceiling, looking at the blackened girders. Lis turned to Squint-Eye and slowly, for him to see, flicked him on his eye-patch. Squint-Eye, who was used to such treatment, turned his head with dignity.
"What?" he asked looking at Lis; his eye was narrowed against smoke.
"Congratulations to you, too," Lis said. "You're not 'washed to the gutter'!" He smirked wickedly.
Enriki regained control.
"What are you talking about? I'm even happy with this new allocation! It will be easier for me to prove you that I'm worth something!"
"Enriki, you can rely on me," Vil said gingerly. Enriki didn't answer. "I'll also prove what I'm worth!" But no one listened to Vil.
"Basically, if to be honest," Lis continued, "it is a good allocation… good – if you don't care about interests and feelings of people," he paused, "people who are interconnected with friendly, close, important relations. If to forget about it, this allocation is not bad. But it is too stiff and straightforward, you don't take into account our feelings and ties, as if they are not there at all. And it is not right! If it rude towards Enriki – first of all, it's simply a betrayal, let's call a spade a spade. And I'll also say you couldn't come up with it, Arel."
"What do you mean?"
"It is not your idea! You wouldn't change our places, you would have thought it risky and unprofitable but you would have left us as we are. I know you and your style. You believe in luck. What you're doing now is not your style, Arel."
"Lis, I don't understand you. Do you mean the plan is good? Or is it bad?"
"It isn't good or bad, it isn't yours. It is not yours," he repeated slowly, nearly in syllables.
"Do you want to say that I cannot come up with anything?"
"You can," Lis agreed, " and you did many times, and you would never, never put Asa with Tol. You wouldn't even think of it!"
"You can only criticize, it's easy to do! Can you do anything but take a dig on me? Suggest your allocation, I'll think about it. What, why do you keep silent?"
"Who's gonna listen to me, you listen only to Nikto."
Everyone froze.
"Ooh shit," Nikto, who kept silent till now, drawled.
"So, you think I do what Nikto tells me," Orel reached for a cigarette. "Right?"
"Right," Lis said. "Who else will take Squint-Eye away from Enriki not to risk Squint-Eye, and who else will put Tol with Asa to protect her."
"Lis, don't drag me into it!" Enriki pleaded.
"Really! Enough humiliating him," Squint-Eye said. "He has already got to understand what his love and devotion are worth. And I'm not surprised, Orel did the same to me."
"Yes," Orel raised his voice. "I give up on Enriki, if you care. He is weak and I don't want to risk Squint-Eye for him!" He looked around. "I'm honest with you, what will you say?" He turned to Enriki. "Tell me whatever you want. I admit it, I'm betraying you. If Squint-Eye stood by you, very possibly you'd be just wounded but then Squint-Eye would be wounded, too, and I cannot afford it. With Vil you'll likely be killed. This is how I paid you for everything you did for me." He shook his head tossing his hair back. There was no embarrassment or repentance on his handsome grey face. He looked at Enriki, looked at his face calmly and confidently.
Enriki lowered his head.
"Thank you for your honesty, Arel. I know you for a long time and I'm not surprised. I understand that you think realistically and correctly. We are not children to weep over not being taken into a game. We're not toying here, it's life – everyone is for himself. But I will make you change your mind about me after the fight," he raised his head. "It's too early to write me off! I won't say anything else, words don't prove anything. You'll see it with your own eyes." And, seeing pity on their faces, he shouted. "I won't die to please you! You don't believe me? Fine! I shit care about you and your allocations, I just want to live! I want to stay alive! And I will survive even if you leave me all alone. Don't think I'm just wasting me breath, I am afraid, very afraid to go into fight with it," he raised his mutilated hand, "but I have to, or I cannot respect myself. And you betraying me – I would do the same if such a thing happened to someone else. If you're unlucky, it's your problem, don't drag anyone else into it." He stopped.
No one from those sitting around the table said a word. Vil seemed to want to say something but changed his mind and kept silent, too. He started getting used and was tuning his behavior up to Lis and Orel. Vil became more silent and thoughtful, he became different.
"Maybe he is right," Tol said at last. "Why are we burying Enriki in advance? But I still think it's better to put me with him."
"Shut up," Orel snapped.
"But I don't want to be paired with Asa! She is too weak for me!"
"She's restored and she is okay for you!"
Asa asked something in Unclean. Lis answered her, naming their new allocation. Asa laughed happily.
"Nikto is promoting you just the way you want," Lis said. "What did you do to get into his grace? Maybe, used your Unclean hole?"
Asa got white with fury.
"Wasn't you ready to lick my hole just a short while ago?"
"Soon all of us will be licking one Unclean hole," Lis hissed.
"Do you want to start right now?" Nikto interfered.
"Hey!" Orel yelled. "Speak Black! Since when there is Unclean sounding at this table?"
"Get used," Lis said to Orel. "Soon we'll all start singing in Unclean, like good boys."
"Never!" Tol was enraged. "I will never do it!"
"You will be the first," Lis snapped.
"Shut up!" Orel was in fury. "Shut up, you all! Or it won't ever end. You're not kids. You're experienced warriors. No matter how I'll put you, it'll be good."
They laughed.
Orel stopped in surprise, then smiled.