Orel grabbed his head in horror. "To-o-ol!"

"Well said," Lis added.

"Read your thoughts?" Nikto sat down again suddenly laughing. Orel raised his head. "Did Mark tell you that?"

"Yes."

"I can"t read thoughts."

"You can"t?" Tol muttered in disappointment.

"Did you want me to help you trick rich guys? Too bad, it won"t work out, you"re mistaken." Nikto finished his wine. "Well, it was nice to see you."

"Nikto, wait, you have to understand…" Orel started. It seemed his resolution returned to him.

"I understand, no problem."

"But it doesn"t mean our offer is cancelled."

"Really? Why would you need a man who cannot read thoughts?"

"Nikto, stop teasing us. We need you as a warrior, not as a warlock."

"Both would be better," Tol muttered under his breath.

"You can just stay with us for a while," Orel said. "If our cooperation doesn"t work, you"ll leave."

Nikto looked at Orel and his eyes didn"t sparkle mischievously any more.

"I"m not such a good warrior as you think," he said. "Otherwise I wouldn"t have so many scars."

"Let us judge that," Orel said. He took another glass from the tray left by the servant and put it in front of Nikto.

Nikto was silent.

"We own several streets of the Upper and the Lower city. We also take some orders from clients, sometimes think of something ourselves."

"If you join us, you won"t have to do dirty jobs for the Unclean," Tol said with enthusiasm.