"They know about me, they just don"t have serious proof. I wasn"t leaving any witnesses alive. Besides, they don"t want to oppose Orel."

"Does he know the truth?"

"Yes, sure. He, and Enriki, and even Tol."

"Why does he protect you?"

Lis smiled showing his sharply filed teeth.

"I"m an experienced warrior and a good strategist. Do you think Orel would be able to seize so many territories with his pathetic number of people without my help? Arel doesn"t know how to take care of people." Lis lit a cigarette. "By the way, I"d like to talk to you about him. Can you promise me not to do Orel any harm? You mean too much for him."

"I promise you," Nikto said. "You don"t need to worry. I won"t do anything bad to him."

"Good," Lis nodded. "I"ll believe you. Maybe, for the first time I"ll believe you."

He got up to leave.

"And tell him I"ll be all right by tomorrow night," Nikto stopped him. "I"m in such a bad shape because I managed without "water" for too long and got out of habit. Tell him not to torture yourself. He thinks he hurt my feelings but it is not so, it was my fault as well. Tell him forget everything that happened."

Lis smiled. "Fine, I"ll tell him. Get well faster, Black Bey pushes and we need you."

He left the room.

When Lis walked downstairs, Orel rushed to him.

"Did you talk to Nikto? Did you figure out anything?"

Lis shook his head. "I talked to him but I didn"t figure out anything, I got even more confused. Now I don"t understand anything at all!"

Orel laughed.

"Poor, poor Lis, maybe enough tormenting yourself?"

"No," Lis said, "now I won"t give up for sure. I"ll find out everything, no matter what it costs me."

"Will it make you feel better?"

"Hardly. But it doesn"t matter. By the way, I talked to him about you. He told you to forget what happened between you. He said he was to blame, too."