“I… yes… there…” Valentine began to stutter, trembling.
“What the fuck is it?!” Lis swore.
“A sir has come to you… he said that his name was V… Vitor… Kors!”
“WHAT?!”
Karina jumped up:
“Father?!”
“Damn it,” Lis shouted in annoyance, “he came when we need to leave! We didn't have enough time!”
He jabbed his finger towards Nikto:
“I said that we would not be in time!” Lis began to swear.
“Calm down!” Nikto payed back in his own coin. “We will have time for everything!”
“We didn’t make it in time because of your pranks and that,” Lis nodded contemptuously at Arel.
“Close your mouth!” Nikto swore too hard.
Their conversation in a raised voice sounded something like this:
“Damn, we're going to fuck it all up because of you! Instead of shoving your dick in the ass of this goner…”
“Lis, shut up your fucking mouth…”
And at that moment Vitor Kors entered the room.
“Good evening,” he said. And they fell silent, staring blankly at him.
“I realized that I couldn't wait for your servant to take me into the house and introduce me officially. I don’t want to offend anyone, but he looked somewhat mentally retarded, so I had the courage to go in myself, as it’s cold outside. And I thought that not observing official decency in your hospitable home would not be perceived as a violation of etiquette or disrespect.”
“Wh …wh… What?” Lis barely uttered, starting to stutter the same way as Valentine. And Karina rushed to her father.
“Father!” She hugged him. “I am insanely glad for your arrival!”
In response, he also hugged her tightly, and then pushed her aside, looking at her:
“I'm glad you're alive,” he said quietly.
“Everything is fine with me!” She assured him fervently, realizing that he was looking at her short hair that barely reached her shoulders.
“Sit down, Vitor Kors,” said Nikto at last. “Yes, you're right, everything is simple with us.” Because of the mask, the expression of his face was not visible.
They sat down at the table, silently and with some tension, looking at each other. The pause dragged on.
“Hm,” Kors cleared his throat, “I see you are packed, there are saddled horses in the yard, were you going somewhere? Am I in the way?”
“Did you come alone?” Lis answered impatiently with a question.
“Yes.” And seeing the obvious disappointment and annoyance in the eyes of the Fox, Kors smiled with a token smile and added: “I left my people in the town near the fair.”
“And you were not afraid to come here like this? Alone?” Lis grimaced.
“I have told you,” Kors stressed the last word, “I left a regiment of my soldiers in the town.”
“How many?! A regiment?!” Lis shook his head, as if driving away the obsession. He could not hide his emotions.
“Three battalions of three hundred men each, not counting the servicemen.”
“Where did you get so many warriors?” Lis was stunned.
And Kors laughed:
“Well… I'm pretty rich, Lis. Lis? Is that what I should call you? We never communicated closely, unfortunately, the military department for some reason believed that you were in their competence.”
“Indeed, unfortunately,” Lis smiled his trademark grin, he looked pleased and no longer so dumbfounded. “But no matter what is being done, everything is for the best! But now, I'm sure we'll make wonderful friends.”
Kors raised an eyebrow.
“I thought so too. And so I came alone, as if I were visiting friends.” He turned his gaze to Nikto and Arel.
“Make yourself at home!” Nikto said.
And Karina looked at him gratefully.
“Valentine,” Nikto ordered, “bring food and wine for our guest.”
Kors relaxed a little.
“Let's forget the old times!”
“Yes of course!”
Nikto raised a glass:
“Let's drink to the meeting!”
“For the meeting!” Kors agreed, and they drank wine. Everyone, except for Arel, who still didn’t know how to eat and drink, without removing the mask, but lifting only its lower part. Kors noticed this: “You don't take off your masks? I would like to chat with you, Nikto, seeing your face.”
“I beg your pardon,” Nikto said, and it was clear that this was not for real, “but, unfortunately, I can't take it off now, since we were going on the road, and I glue it along the edge to my face and now you fucking won’t pull it off… that is… it is no longer possible to take off.”
“Yes! I'm delaying you!” Kors stood up.
“No, no, not at all,” Lis also jumped up, “we were just going to get to the river and find a good place for crossing.”
“So far?”
“Yes.”
“But why?”
“To go further.”
“Further, as far as I know, is the village of Riverside, the territory of the Reds and the border fortress.”
“Exactly. We're going to take this fortress.”
“I saw that you have soldiers, but are they enough?”
“Yes, there are few of them, but why not try?”
“I'm afraid that this is too tough nut to crack, and maybe it was worth training your army,” Kors chuckled, at these words, “on smaller goals at first?”
Nikto turned to Lis:
“Lis, show him the map and tell everything.”
Lis spread a map of the area on the table and began to explain. He very quickly, competently and clearly outlined all positions and cleared areas.
And Kors was impressed, the grin left his face. Karina, watching her father, saw this and was proud of Lis. He was a born warrior and now he was in his element, communication with Nikto and Arel clearly led him to degradation, and now he seemed to have perked up.
“I'm impressed,” Kors said. “It's fair. Handsomely. No unnecessary movements, everything is very economical and at the same time productive.”
“Yes, we are not as stupid as you thought,” Nikto answered, and Lis looked at him condemningly, just as before, Arel always looked at Tol when he blurted out something out of place.
“I beg your pardon, I probably just judged the people of the prince by their master,” Kors answered with his own coin, and poor Arel, who had not said a word during all this time, again remained silent.
Kors no longer looked at him and at Nikto either, he asked Lis a few clarifying questions and received comprehensive answers. Karina saw that her father and her fiancé clearly found a common language, meanwhile as two warriors, but still.
“So how many soldiers do you have now? I didn't understand how you separate them, to be honest, you have non-standard platoons and squads.”
“Lis divided Arel’s militiamen into the red manner,” said Nikto, “the red ones form the units a little differently, you should know,