Their chopped-off heads are sent to Bey.
Later Nikto goes to the castle and injects himself "black water".
For the whole next day he doesn"t come out of his room. The friends go on with their business without him. At night Lis decides to talk to Nikto, and Nikto allows him to enter.
Chapter 18
Conversation between Lis and Nikto
Nikto got up greeting Lis. Leaning against his cane, he walked up to the bar. Lis sat down in the armchair and watched him silently. Nikto tried to take a bottle and pour a drink but his hands didn"t obey. His fingers didn"t bend; they were so swollen and blue as if someone beat them with a hammer. His cut fingernails blackened, the tattoos on his fingers and hands looked like black burnt furrows. After a few unsuccessful attempts to pour drinks for Lis and himself, he turned back. His face was covered with a mask.
"Lis, can you pour a drink for us?" he asked.
His voice didn"t change. It was strange, unpleasant but familiar. Lis got up, came up to the bar and poured wine silently.
Nikto turned his hand so that his fingers fit into the gap between the glass and its handle, and Lis put the glass there.
"Wait, I forgot." Nikto carefully gave his glass back to Lis. "I want to take off my mask and sunglasses."
"Yes," Lis said, "it"s difficult to talk to a man if you don"t see his face and eyes."
Nikto froze in indecision, then very slowly, using both his hands, took off the mask. He looked horrible; "black water" disfigured him. His face was swollen, the skin on his cheekbones burst and dry blood caked there hiding the letters of the Unclean. But the scarred half of his face looked worst of all – the scar was black and swollen. The cheek was swollen, too, his eyes barely open. Nikto tried to smile with his puffy cracked lips.
"I know I look bad but I cannot do anything about it now." His reddened eyes glittered feverishly; he looked at Lis.
Lis lowered his gaze giving Nikto his glass and returned to his place.
"You don"t look bad," he said. "You cannot look any worse! A corpse that spent a week in the warm ground looks better. If only Orel could see you!"
Nikto sat down in the armchair in front of Lis, put the cane next to him. He was silent.
"Your human body is falling apart," Lis continued, "and it is so young!"
Nikto"s face darkened.
"Don"t say that, Lis," he said, "don"t repeat what the Unclean say." He lowered his head.
"What happened to the man whose body you use? He was mute and insane, wasn"t he? He was mute, that"s why you couldn"t use his voice, you had to keep your own."