"Do you hear, Orel, he's telling me to fuck off!" Tol was laughing.
"Enough! You're a bunch of idiots!" Orel yelled making a strict face. "Stop laughing and eat!"
He didn’t pull it off though, started laughing, too, and the others followed his example.
"I'd like to talk about business," Orel said at last.
Tol hiccupped. Nikto lit a cigarette leaning against the back of the chair.
"What we told each other before was not true or partly true. What we learned about you from others needs to be confirmed," Orel said. "I don't want to go deeper into it but there are some things we need to clarify here and now."
"I can tell of myself," Nikto said, "if you tell me of yourselves. And if you are honest about it."
"All right, what do you want to know?" Orel said. "We have nothing to hide."
"You start."
"What is your real name?"
"Not again," Enriki moaned. "Aren't you tired of it, Orel?"
Orel glanced at him in annoyance. "Shut up."
"Orel, it's silly."
"Shut. Up."
"My name is really Nikto1, as funny as it sounds. I have a nickname instead of a name. There was time when it angered me deeply but then I got used to it. I don't have a family name or father's name either."
"No name, no family name, are you a commoner?"
"I don't know my real parents."
"Who named you then?"
"My foster mother."
"She was a jolly woman, it seems," Enriki said.
"She was a witch."
It was Lis's turn to choke. He whispered shaking his head. "A foster mother, indeed."
"Lis, I've had enough of you," Nikto said.
"What do you think, Nikto can't have a mother?" Tol said digging with a fork in his teeth.
"He can," Lis said in an icy voice.
"That's enough about me," Nikto said, "now you tell me of yourselves."
"You can ask." Orel smoothened his long dark hair.
"Why are you called Orel2?"
"Ha." Orel laughed. "I don't even remember that, my ancestors thought an eagle was their forebear, something like that. I'm the last scion of that ancient, formerly royal family. Prince Arel Chig from the family of Eagle."
"Cool," Nikto said. "Now Lis."
"My name is Atley Alis," Lis said without enthusiasm. "Atley son of Alis."
"Why Lis3?"
"Can you guess it?" Lis tossed his dark-red hair gathered in a ponytail on his nape. Nikto smiled.
"You can guess," Lis stated. "No more questions then?"
"You're not a Black, are you?"
"No. I'm a Red half-blood." Lis winced. "My father was a Red. Something else?"
"Your teeth, they are filed in the way only Red warriors file them. Are you one of them?"
"In the past I was," Lis smirked. "I betrayed them and joined our side."
"Cool, too," Nikto said. "Now Tol."
"At last! My name is Ram Murh! These bastards call me Tolsty4 just because I'm taller and stronger than them! And then they got tired of saying such a long word and they started calling me Tol! I'm not a commoner or a half-blood! I'm a true Black, a native citizen of this damned world! My father owns huge lands in the southwest, only I don't like it there, it's boring."
"As far as I remember, there are only forests."
"Yep."
"And you're the owner of those forests."
"Not yet," Tol laughed. "In ten years, maybe."
"Enriki, now it's your turn."
"I'm from the city and my family lives here. And I'm the only one Orel didn't come up with a nickname for. My name is Enriki Galas and I'm a former investigator, eight years worked for the secret police."
"I think I want to be your friend!"
"Do you like my people, Nikto?" Orel smiled.
"Chosen with a great taste, I'd say."
"Then a question for you," Orel paused. "Is it true what the Unclean say? There is a creature from another world behind you."
"If I say there is a part of the truth in these words, will it be enough?"
"Yes," Orel said. He was looking at Nikto as if he saw him for the first time.
"Do you meet with *him*?" Tol asked; he seemed careless as always.
"What?"
"You know, I've decided I'll take back all the bad words I said to you," Tol laughed. But the others didn't feel like laughing.
"Fine," Orel said at last. "We've cleared it and won't talk of it again."
"So, you're an Unclean, aren't you?" Enriki asked.
"Not at all."
"You look like an Unclean."
"He looks like a half-blood," Tol said.
"The Black have dark hair and eyes," Orel said. "The Red have red hair and yellow eyes. Nikto has blonde hair and light eyes, he looks like someone from the White world."
"I spent my childhood in the southeast near to the entrance to their world," Nikto said.
"Have you been there?"
"Yes."
"Have you seen the sky?"
"Yes."
"How does it look?"
"When it is covered with clouds it looks just like ours."
"So, what are you? Are you a White half-blood?"
"Yes."
"You still look like an Unclean to me," Enriki said.
"I've lived among them a lifetime."
"Oh, Orel, you have a knack for making pleasant acquaintances," Lis said.
"Now we have two half-bloods," Tol said. "Lis is a Black-Red and Nikto is a Black-White."
"Rather Unclean-White," Enriki corrected him.
"The Red and the White races belong to the upper world," Lis said, "they cannot have children from the Unclean, you should know that. Only the Black race that belongs to the lower world can interbreed with the Unclean, and even then not with any Unclean."
"Nikto, can you make a baby to your Unclean girlfriend?" Tol asked.
Nikto laughed. "No, Tol. She is too alien. I think I can't have children at all, as many half-bloods can't."
"How old are you?"
"I don't know exactly. Same age as you are, I think."
"I'm twenty-one and Lis is twenty-nine."
"And I'm probably somewhere between you."
"You look cool," Tol said. "You would be handsome if not for the scar."
"And tattoos," Enriki added. Nikto lowered his head and kept silent.
"Stop embarrassing him," Orel said somewhat nervously. "Enough of your questions, let's have a drink!"
Chapter 5
In the Morning
"Orel, do you understand what you dragged us into?" Enriki said. "Didn't you reassure us saying that the Unclean were lying?"
"Didn't you say you'd never believe that bullshit of the Unclean?!" Lis added.
"I still