The Mist and the Lightning

Chapter 11 ​          

   Since Nik and Arel were quiet and didn’t touch him, Kors was indeed able to fall into a restless and disturbing sleep. And in the morning the nightmares began. He was blinded again, but this time not by plaster, but by iron spoon glasses, the same as those of Zaf’s mutilated slave. The flaps dug into the delicate skin around the eyes, injuring it and causing incessant aching pain. Kors tried to free himself, to pull out the bar threaded through the bridge of his nose, but he couldn’t do it, because in addition to the “glasses” and over them, Kors was wearing a mask. The mask was iron, but not smooth, decorated with engravings and slightly raised patterns of some incomprehensible symbols. Kors could feel their curved contours with his fingertips as he touched its surface. The mask fit snugly to his face and delivered no less discomfort than shielded eyes. In an unsuccessful attempt to free himself from such a dubious decoration, Kors tugged at the mask, pulled, tore it, experiencing sharp pain in those places where the iron was literally screwed to his flesh. At the cost of painful efforts, and more by some miracle, he still managed to tear off the steel shield of the mask from the lower part of his face. Freed, he opened his mouth, breathing heavily and realizing that the main part of the mask was still on his face, he felt its hard edge on his cheeks and under his nose from ear to ear. The sensations were so real that Kors awoke with a start. Habitually throwing Arel’s hand off his shoulder, he abruptly sat down on the couch, taking convulsive breaths of air and continuing to choke. Hisbody was wet from the cold perspiration that covered it. His face burned, his injured eye throbbed from within with dull jolts. Maybe from these painful sensations he had such an unpleasant dream? “Iurgently need to get out into the fresh air,” thought Kors and stood up. Neither Arel nor Nik, who was lying on the floor, woke up. “What’s the problem asking for another trestle bed?” Kors thought, looking at Nik, who was sleeping in clothes and not covered by anything. “He doesn’t need anything, he is an animal. But hell, even animals like to sleep on soft stuff!” Kors left the tent. It was very early, the rain had stopped, but apparently not for long, and the sky was still covered with low gray clouds. A damp, refreshing coolness enveloped Kors, clearing his head of an unpleasant dream. He mentally called Adrian and ordered him to bring a bucket of water. He tried to put himself in order, washed his face and comb his hair. Nobody bothered him or called him. In this pre-dawn hour, the unclean ones were sleeping, and there was dead silence in the camp, not even the snorting of horses was heard. Kors looked bitterly at his face in a small mirror. The eye was completely swollen, hidden by a maroon hematoma, and the right cheek was swollen and swollen. Kors was swollen and squint-eyed. “Thank you, Prince Arel!” With a heavy heart, Kors returned to the tent and began to dress. Apparently, having nevertheless heard the sound of fastened metal buckles and the rattling of weapons, Nik woke up and raised his head: “Where are you going?” He asked sleepily, staring in surprise at the fully ready Kors. “I want to go check on the unclean ones given to me,” said Kors. “Check them mentally,” drawled Nik, “or let Parky report to you.” “I want to check myself, personally.” “But your face is broken!” “So what?” Kors snorted, shrugging indifferently. Oddly enough, but now he really didn’t care – just think! “In your environment, this is not something out of the ordinary,” he noted. Nik paused, obviously digesting Kors’ last sentence, but still he was not so easily fooled: “Then where are you going?” Nik sat on his skin, staring intently at his father, and his bright transparent eyes literally burned from the gap between the black bandages. Kors felt uneasy: “I’m not going anywhere.” “Don’t lie! To Zaf’s?” “I wanted to go to Zaf’s, but then I changed my mind,” Kors answered quickly as casually as possible, as if it were a meaningless trifle. “No, you didn’t change your mind!” Nik raised his voice, and Arel, waking up, stretched lazily, stretching his arms up and yawning. “Nik, I don’t understand your irritation…” Kors began, but Nik interrupted him rudely: “You aren’t going anywhere! And even more so for Zaf!” “Before, I didn’t let you go to the unclean ones, and now you don’t let me, what an irony,” Kors chuckled. “I don’t forbid you to go to visit Zaf,” Nik immediately objected, slowing down his tone. Kors couldn’t see the expression on his face, but he knew perfectly well that Nick was dissatisfied and annoyed. And, confirming the correctness of his conclusions, Nik, nervously touching the ring hanging under his nose, literally blurted out: “We’re breaking up the camp and leaving!” “Nik, now?” Kors was stunned, not expecting this turn of events. “We just set it up last night, didn’t we?” “So what? And now we’re leaving!” “What kind of strange decisions?” “We are far behind the people, we are leaving!” “We’ve been riding with minimal stops lately. We are almost at the crossing and not much behind,” Kors tried to give some reasonable arguments. “Now!” “And it won’t hurt you to rest, lie down calmly. Endless shaking in the saddle doesn’t allow your wound to heal...” “Vitor, shut up! That’s all! You ride next to me! Or should I chain you up?” Nik pointed pointedly at his belt, where a chain twisted in several turns hung: “Do you want?” “No,” said Kors obediently, “I’m right there, Nik.” On the one hand, it pissed him off, but on the other... “What stupid things, dear Nik, you do to hide your jealousy”. Kors was flattered by this. And Nik, despite the early time, seemed to no longer want to sleep at all. Sitting on his couch, he leaned his back against the wall, his legs widely apart and bent at the knees, as usual. He put his straightened arms on them, stretching them forward. From the wrist to the elbow, they were tightly wrapped in black bandages. Slightly tilting his head up, Nik looked at Kors standing in front of him in confusion, but he couldn’thelp but look at his crotch, so seductively covered in black leather pants. A little more, and the leather will burst, the seam will open. And how Kors wanted to put his hand there now! To press his palm to such a well-marked bulge. To apply a little pressure, but it’s better to take off those depraved pants that are too tightlyfitting his legs and ass, take them off and turn Nik back... and put his own hand between his thighs, behind him, grope for his balls and squeeze ... Kors involuntarily swallowed. And Nik made some kind of short sobbing sound that was completely unusual for him, and quickly closed his legs. He clearly heard Kors, literally felt it, and he didn’t want to be the object of his endless sexual fantasies right then. “Stupid whelp, you can’t even hide that you’re jealous of me for Zaf,” Kors grinned in his thoughts, “not only are all emotions reflected on your face, also your actions are just as primitive in an unsuccessful attempt to hide the true motives. But at least you learned to stupidly hide your face behind a mask, but you can’t hide your actions. ” “Vitor!” Kors realized that Nik heard him: “Sorry, thoughts are not words, and I can’t keep them under one hundred percent control, thoughts are like black fish in the depths of the mind. They will flash and disappear in an instant, and you will not catch them…” “Oh, everyone, shut up,” Nik almost groaned. “We are going!” And Kors smiled contentedly, realizing that, to some extent, thanks to him, the unclean ones didn’t really rest and would go on the road in the rain, and... he liked it! Nik drank the rest of the way to the prince’s Estate. InKors’ opinion, he simply shamelessly jammed this vile moonshine of the unclean ones, from morning to evening, without stopping, and Prince Arel didn’t lag behind him. The guys drank strong alcohol without restraint, drank it just like water, and this was tearingthe heart of Kors. This was both because Nik openly ignored him, and because Kors was tired of seeing them drunk, and they didn’t dry out. At some point, at the next short halt, Nik, getting off his Unclean Power, got tangled with a lame leg in the stirrup and simply collapsed on the ground with a bag. It was not surprising and quite predictable. Kors was looking forward to this all the time and was amazed that it hadn’t happened much earlier. He couldn’t even imagine that in such a state it was generally possible to stay in the saddle, ride a horse and not fall under his hooves. Jumping up to Nik, Kors lifted him by the armpits and dragged him to the couch near the fire. In response to his actions, Nik only mumbled something incoherently. And Kors thought that he could now unbandage his face and see what’s with the scar, but he was afraid that Nik would sober up and understand. And Kors wouldn’t be able to wrap bandages around his head like before, and it will be noticeable that he was looking at his face. So Kors simply laid his son on the skin, trying as best he could to smooth the matted and dirty white hair that Nik didn’t comb and didn’t care for it at all, however, as well as about anythingelse.    “Stinking, unwashed and uneducated!” Kors thought angrily, while not for a second ever ceasing to love him and madly want. Prince Arel came to the parking lot himself, and, having collapsed on the skins laid out by the fire, with confused movements began to unbutton his fly, taking out his cock and starting to piss, lying straight on his side. “You motherfucker! Do it not here!” Kors yelled at him, pushing him from the perimeter of skins into the grass. Having buried his face in the ground, Arel didn’t even wake up. “Well, at least not in your pants,” Kors shook his head, “crazy creatures!” After a few hours, the friends recovered a little, got up heavily, and, staggering, returned to their horses, while already clutching another bottle in their hands. Taking a couple of sips straight from the throat, they passed it to each other, like a cigarette, and very quickly threw the already empty one aside. Looking at all this lawlessness, Kors involuntarily thought that, perhaps, that was also why Nik and Arel got along so well and fell in love with each other. They were tightly boundby an irrepressible attraction to drinking, and they found themselves an ideal companion and partner in this destructive passion. Because hardly anyone else could make them a worthy couple in such an immoderate use of strong drinks as they were to each other, and they were on the same wavelength. Kors was very tired from their drinking, but he couldn’t say anything to them and stop this mess. He only hoped that in the end they would calm down and come to their senses. Meanwhile, the black warriors of Zagpeace and Tol, who arrived in the prince’s lands a little earlier, had already settled in a nearby town and were celebrating their arrival and the successful completion of the campaign with might and main, having fun with the locals at the fairground. Many unclean ones, as soon as they arrived, immediately joyfully joined them. And those who didn’t go for a stroll to the fair pitched their tents in the vicinity and also began to have fun and celebrate with no less enthusiasm and scope. On the porch of Prince Arel’s mansion sat a large and very well-fed black-and-white tomcat. He slowly turned his head, showing his beautiful white chest, and looked with an indifferent, unblinking gaze at the riders entering the yard. The clatter of horses’ hooves, the jingle of harness and weapons didn’t agitate the animal in the least, the cat didn’t even move its ear. He raised his hind paw and began to lick it thoroughly with great diligence.  Nik, Kors and Arel with Valentine entered the living room on the first floor of the estate. “Gods! I’m not even happy because I can finally spend the night under the roof,” Kors said with relief. “I’m glad just because you’ve finally finished your bad competition over who will drink more!” Nik thought for a moment, but then, apparently, he understood: “Aha, we didn’t compete at all.” And Arel laughed too: “I don’t compete with anyone and never, I just do what I want!” “Yes, I know, I know,” Kors muttered, “does your head hurt?” “What?!” Arel laughed again. “Well, yes, if it’s empty, why hurt there, what am I talking about ...” Kors agreed. “Actually, do you know that at the crossing your stupid Beauty plucked grass near the sandy shore? You were not up to it at that moment, of course, and now he probably has a stomach full of sand.” “I’ll figure it out,” Arel replied. “How? It must be pumped up with water properly, andhis stomach – washed through the tube.” “Vitor, watch your own horse. Forget about my Beauty, he’s not yours anymore! Arel turned away in displeasure, and Kors, looking at his arrogant and painted face, thought about how crazy one still neededto be in order to cover his face with gray dye for most of his life and be with those black lips and black paint smeared around the eyes. Live with such a face. “Arel, everyone thinks that you are not afraid to be yourself, but really? It’s high time to put you in a psychiatric hospital, Arel,” Kors thought, but said: “Eh, I forgot about this horse a long time ago, I just feel sorry for him. Stupid horse, I had to tinker with him, educating him, and you ruined him again.” “It doesn’t concern you!” “You will live with us in Arel’s room,” Nik told Kors. Kors remembered this room very well, only everything had changed too much since then. “It’s small,” he remarked, “won’t the three of us be cramped? You, probably, will also put Verniy and Valentine there? There were large rooms in the Fort, and the Prince’s Estate was of an ancient construction. There are thick walls, but cramped rooms, low ceilings.” “We won’t be cramped,” Nik objected. “Nik, I understand that you are used to living in small kennels, and often not alone, and you have no idea what personal space is, but maybe I’ll live nearby? In the room where I used to live? I’m used to living in spacious apartments. I will come to you at the slightest call.” “No! And Ver and Valin I will settle in the former room of Lis. They will go there,” Nik immediately objected categorically, “and you will live with us. And you will leave the room only when I allow it!” “Law of reflection,” Kors nodded knowingly. He defiantly removed his iron stick from his belt and handed it to Nik: “Hold on! I assumed that it would be so, and I am ready to endure all this shit to the end.” “What? No! I’m not going to shove you with a stick like you did to me! It’s painful and unpleasant.” “And humiliating,” added Kors, “well… it would definitely be humiliating for me, so come on! Don’thold back!” “No. And I behaved badly then, I was guilty. I didn’twant to wear glasses and reminded my father of the past. I behaved very, very badly and received little more for my such disgusting behavior, I received an undeserved punishment. You should have punished me even harder, you took pity on me, daddy. I love you, I won’t do this to you!” “Nik…” Kors even stammered, “sometimes you sneer so cynically that I feel uneasy…” “You speak very clever words, daddy master, you understand everything, and I’m a fool, you know.” Kors took a deep breath. “I know, Nik, that you and Arel love me very much, okay?” He unconsciously touched his injured eye. The tumor had already gone, but there was still a black bruise under the eye, and the skin around it was a bright yellow-green color. “Yes! Is it clear now!” Nik rejoiced. “But when will you understand that I am not punishing you?” Nik turned to Arel, behind whom Valentine stood like a shadow. Thin and lanky, dressed in expensive leather clothes, but at the same time in a slave helmet, Valentine was heavily stooped, tilting his head down and forward. “Valin,” Nik asked, and he shuddered in fright, bending his head even lower, as if he wanted to completely squeeze it into his shoulders, “Valin, what do you think we are doing with sir Kors? Answer me!” Valentine hurriedly knelt down. “Y…Y…You are changing s…s… Vitor K…Kors, j…just like you, sir Nik…you were changing m…my m…master sir Arel, and m…my…master…is changing… me,” Valentine barely managed to utter, as he alwaysbegan to stutter violently when being nervous. “Why are we doing this?” “T… to…become better, sir…” Nik looked questioningly at Kors. “Here you see? Even Valin understands the essence of what is happening, and you still continue to think that I am punishing you for cooling down.” Kors grimaced in displeasure, he was insanely annoyed by Valentine’s eternal bleating, how much he stuttered, and now he was also infuriated by the fact that Nik compares him to some kind of miserable slave, and even sets him as an example. Allegedly, Valentineunderstands everything, but Kors, you see, does not understand. He barely restrained himself: “Nik, you need to understand that punishment is not used out of revenge for a mistake, but to prevent it in the future ...” “Fuck, this is not a return to you!” Nik shouted in annoyance. “You really are obsessed with punishments. This is not a punishment! But you know what?! Until you understand this, for you it will be so!” “Okay, so I don’t get it yet,” snapped Kors. “Well, if you don’t understand,” Nik immediately responded, “then let’s go!” They went upstairs to Arel’s room, where everything remained as it was, as if they had never left, and the wide bed was neatly covered with a silvery northern fox fur coverlet.   Valentine immediately knelt at the front door, and Nik said, turning to Kors: “Take off your clothes, undress and go over there,” he pointed to the post near the bed. Kors understood what awaited him, but didn’t object, some crazy anger and stubbornness continued to bubble in him. “Don’t be afraid, don’t ask and… don’t think about it, damn it!” He undressed, went up to the post and knelt down: “Yes please! Since this is not a punishment, I will fulfill any of your thematic requests!” “What?” Nik and Arel looked at each other and laughed. “Fuck, Vitor, I’ll probably never get used to your expressions,” Nik said through laughter. Bandages prevented him from smiling broadly. “Just like me to your piercing!” Kors didn’t remain in debt and pointedly looked at the ring sticking out from under the bandages. “Did you mean to say that you can never stop jerking off to my piercing?” Nik’s shoulders shook with laughter again. “Enough!” Kors shouted. “The fact that you don’t understand my noble expressions, and you have a meager vocabulary, is not my problem!” Nik attached a chain to Kors’ collar and tied him to a post. But he left a considerable length, Kors realized that he could easily get up and lie down, and even move a few steps away from the pillar. He didn’tmove. Let it be, what will be, and he will not call Zaf for anything! Nik is jealous of Kors, and this can only aggravate the situation. Kors would endure now, whatever it was: punishment, reflection, training, and when they returned to the city, he would ask Leonardo for help, so he decided. Nik and Arel obviously didn’t plan to stay in the room, they began to gather, and Nik covered his bandaged face with a mask. “Nik…” Kors asked cautiously. “What?” “Are you going somewhere? It’s hot outside, don’t put on a mask over the bandages as well, this can aggravate the already deplorable situation with your face.” “What am I supposed to do? I’m going to go outside, and there are people.” “Are you going to the holiday? Nik, to drink again?!Damn, how much can you?!” “Not to the holiday, and you yourself explained to me that I should not open my face in front of people, like my mouth.” “Did you ever listen to what I told you?” “Yes, and more than once! I listened to you and obeyed. Are you my father? Or no longer? I always told you that I listen to you! I love you and listen to you!” “Yes, yes, I am your father, and I told you this, and if you are doing this because I ordered you...” “I promised you!” “Nik... I’m canceling my order. You can not wear a mask and talk to people with whom you want.” “Hmm, if you’re trying to ease your situation this way, it doesn’t work that way, Vitor.” “No. My position is irrelevant here. Limit me as you wish, do whatever I did to you...” “I don’t reflect! Well, you motherfucker! This is not a return or revenge! How many times do I have to repeat this before you get it?!” “Okay, okay, you’re changing me, I get it... Training. It’s not very clear how I can change and develop from the fact that I was strapped to a pole ... but okay. “I just limited you a little. What's bad about it? “It’s probably familiar to you, but I haven’t been a slave for ten years!” For me it's bad! Nik shrugged. “I left enough space for you,” he turned to Valentine, “Valin, bring a bucket from the bathroom.” Valentine immediately followed the order, and, understanding everything, put the bucket next to Kors. “Here. If you feel like it,” Nik said. And Prince Arel silently handed Kors a bottle of wine. Kors looked frowningly at the prince and took it. Nik didn’t listen to Kors, didn’t take off his mask, and, putting on gloves, adorned his finger with a ring as usual. “Don’t wear a ring over a glove! Complete bastard!” Kors thought angrily, watching him, unable to restrain himself. And Nik froze, then turned sharply to him: “And you’re whining about humiliation?! Am I humiliating you?! I’ve never hit you with words the way you do! Never! And you lied to me! You knew from the beginning that you would never introduce me to the world of true blacks. Because I’m finished for you, and such a son can never be shown to noble friends! You knew it from the start! You fed me with empty promises!” “No, no…” “And you haven’t told me anything about your true black world! You thought I didn’t need it! Of course, why, if I’m a jerk! You haven’t revealed any of your fucking secrets! You didn’t tell me about your secret language of communication, your phrases, gestures, which, like a password, open doors only for the elite, immediately make it clear whether you are yours or the dirt under your feet! I have told you much more about the Demon world than you have told me about the true black world! And then I’m a liar to you?! I’m a liar, right? Not you?” Kors froze, but caught himself quickly. “What secrets? Prince Arel is a true black, why don’tyou reproach him? Why don’t you demand from him the discovery of a secret behind seven seals?” “Arel got kicked out, thanks to you too!” “He had to behave normally!” “Yes, he is an apostate, and he put a dick on all your pretentious rules! He ignored them!” “Whatever the prince, Arel was in the system and knows a lot. I don’t understand what you want from me now? I pulled you up as best I could! And, you might think, you don’t know everything yourself, Demon, all the secrets. Are you looking for an excuse to hit me? What are you accusing me of now? You pretend as if you believed my words!” “I trusted you and your opinion,” Nik replied softly and resentfully. “Fuck it, what a show!” Kors shouted in annoyance. “You were just playing with me! You already know everything about true blacks!” “I wanted my daddy master to tell me about it. “Enough! What kind of daddy master am I to you?!” “Why not?” “I am the physical father of a human, that’s all.” “You said you were the Demon’s father too.” “But you laughed at it! You just played along with me.” “No! And when you say that now, you hurt me! I really feel like an orphan!” “Okay, okay,” Kors held out his hands with open palms slightly forward and towards Nik in a conciliatory gesture. “If you want me to be your Demon father, I’m only too happy about it. But then I’m higher than you in the hierarchy, why don’t you obey me?!” “I obeyed you!” “You didn’t fucking listen at all!” “I obeyed as best I could! Just because I am like this!” “Incorrigible?” “Yes!” “Okay, I’m sorry if I didn’t believe you and didn’t understand that you weren’t a liar and I… I honestly worry about your physical condition,” Kors tried to turn an unpleasant and dangerous (as he decided) conversation for him into another direction.   “It’s fine with me, and I don’t want them staring at my bandages anyway,” Nik bought into his ruse, changing the subject to one that Kors had carefully directed him to. “I don’t like it when people stare at me. And everyone got used to me in a mask.”  “And that’s sad,” Kors breathed in relief. “I’ll be right back,” Nik said. They left, and Arel took Valentin with him. Kors was left alone. For a while, he just sat on the floor and drank wine from a bottle, trying not to think about anything. But it was hard for him to sit like that. Moving a little closer to the bed, since the chain allowed him to do this, and the pillar was close, Kors pulled the fluffy coverlet of the silvery fur of northern foxes. He pulled it off the bed, folded it into two layers, and lay down on top of it. It became softer, but not more comfortable. Soft fur tickled the body, and it was hot. Kors felt himself sweating and the fur sticking to his damp body. He stood up and folded the coverlet with the fur on the inside and the silky quilted lining on the outside. So it was much more comfortable, but there was not enough pillow. Kors pulled the pillow off the bed and lay down. “Are they coming soon?” He tried to see them, but he couldn’t. Nik closed him not only in the room, but also from being able to hear and see them. “Nik said they weren’t going to party. Okay, they’reprobably just handing out some housekeeping instructions. In the end, Arel is the owner of a large Estate, and he needs to check what happened here without him. What was the harvest. Arel has huge areas planted with grapes, and he will surely take care of the wine. Or did they still go to the party? To the unclean ones? Hardly, though…” Kors tried to stop guessing and torment himself. In order not to think about anything and not to panic, he simply recited in his head all sorts of verses and passages of texts that he remembered by heart. Over and over again, he repeated the same thing, eventually sliding down to several lines and just stupidly repeating them like a clockwork:   "Every night and every morn Some to misery are born Every morn and every night  Some are born to sweet delight

Some are born to sweet delight

Some are born to endless night"  

Every morn and every night  Some are born to sweet delight

Some are born to sweet delight

Some are born to endless night"  

Some are born to sweet delight Some are born to endless night"