"No," Vil shook his head.

"You want to let her live."

"Yes!"

"And you"re going to pay for it."

"I"ll do anything, just for her to stay alive! I beg you! Leave her alone! Don"t touch her! Let her go, please! I"ll pay for her!" Vil squeezed his head. "I"ll pay any price for her, just let her go, let her live!"

"Fine," Orel turned to the girl. "Dress and leave. You"ve won."

She didn"t say a word, grabbed her clothes and ran to the door. Lis didn"t stop her. Orel came up to Vil and raised Vil"s face in his hands.

"Now you see what I mean saying that I"ll never be able to trust you completely."

He leaned to Vil, looking straight in his eyes.

"You betrayed me, Vil. Betrayed me for a commoner. For a street girl. She defeated you with her weakness, and together with you she defeated me and them," he looked at his friends.

"I didn"t betray you," Vil said, "there was no threat to you. It was just your whim!"

"No," Orel said letting him go. "It was your task. And you flunked it."

"Let it be! But I cannot play with someone else"s life! I can"t and I don"t want to learn to. Killing for amusement is disgusting, Arel, don"t you understand that?!"

"Do I look amused? I suffer as much as you do because you"re my friend and I love you in my own way and it hurts me that it turned out like that. But you got yourself into a trap."

Orel returned to his place at the table.

"It"s all because of your conceit."

"Orel, we have to go," Enriki said carefully.

"Yes," Orel said, "we"ve spent too much time here. Lis, kill him," he nodded at Vil.

"No!" Vil tried to get up but it was too late.

Lis stuck his knife into Vil"s belly. Vil bent and fell down. He wheezed, clasping the wound with his hands; blood poured out of it through his fingers. Lis raised his knife to finish him off.