The Mist and the Lightning. Part 19

There is a loud knock on the door, and now Kors realizes that he himself is banging on it.

“Gods, why knock like that in the middle of the night,” Cassiel is literally shaking, “this one is his… Nik, he takes Black water, I hope he didn’t die… otherwise I’m finished…”

(You are both finished, I will recall everything!)

Kors sees Zagpeace hurriedly up to the second floor and enters Varakh’ room. He quickly tells him:

“If Kors comes in here, play dead. It will be calmer for everyone, otherwise we will never get rid of this annoying idiot! He pokes his nose everywhere and spoils everything!”

(What?! Varakh! Friend! You went for it?! Listened to Zagpeace? How could you do it?!)

Zagpeace barely has time to cover Varakh with a sheet when Kors bursts into the room. How badly he looks! Thin, in expensive clothes, but dressed untidy, somehow dirty, hair pulled back in a ponytail, wild eyes, look of a madman. Seeing Zagpeace in the room, Kors freezes on the threshold, stunned:

“What… what are you doing here!?”

“What about you, Kors?” a question for a question, Zagpeace answers, and, unlike Kors, he is completely calm.

“I have come to my friend!” Kors glances at the bed and sees that it is suspiciously strangely made up with a white sheet, under which the outlines of an emaciated body are vaguely guessed. The face of Kors is full of bewilderment.

(Oh! And I scolded Nik for the fact that all his emotions are reflected on his face! I am no better himself!)

“Really? To a friend? Friends are not attacked with a sword!” Zagpeace replies harshly.

“He drew his sword first!” Kors screams.

“I know perfectly well what happened between you. Before that, you hit him with your fist several times, like a commoner, humiliating him.”

“He insulted my son!”

“Because you yourself have created fertile ground for this! You left your son as a slave and kept him among the inferiors.”

“It doesn’t concern you! I didn’t come to talk to you!”

“Well, you’re late!”

Kors looks back at the bed.

“What’s up with him?”

“Kamiel Varakh passed away to another world a quarter of an hour ago,” Zagpeace replies.

(Sneaky liar!)

“No!” Kors rushes to the bed and rips off the sheet. “No!”

Varakh lies with his eyes closed and doesn’t breathe. Zagpeace comes up to them and rudely pulls the sheet from Kors’ hands, hastily covering Varakh with it.

“Leave!” He says to the stunned Kors.

“No, let me say goodbye to him!”

(“Gods, what a fool I am!” Now Kors is literally ready to tear his hair out of anger at himself.)

“You will say goodbye to him in the Black City.”

Kors covers his face with his hands, and Zagpeace looks at him intently. He sees that Kors is really upset by the death of a friend. For a moment, Zagpeace’s face softens, but only until Kors removes his hands from his face.

“Go away, Kors. And what are you doing here at a time like this?” Zagpeace recollects himself, becoming harsh again. “Why do you need a doctor? Why did you come to Camiel?”

“That’s none of your business!”

“You were here not so long ago, brought Nik, went to Varakh. Before that, you were not interested in him, but then you suddenly started coming here more frequently. This is very suspicious!”

“What the shit are you talking about?”

“Didn’t your attention make him feel worse? Kamiel Varakh was well treated, and now, as soon as you appear, he suddenly dies. Did you come to see if your plan worked? What did you give him to drink or inject him?”

“Are you out of your mind, Zagpeace?” Kors backs cowardly towards the door.

(What a disgrace! What a shame!)

“How did you know he was dead? Did you come to check it? What have you done with Varakh?!”

“I? I didn’t know he was dead!”

“Then why are you here now? This is very suspicious, Kors! Answer me! This is no longer a special case, but a serious matter. The true black is dead. You must obey me! Answer my questions! Let’s go out and you’ll tell me everything now! Not here, let’s not offend the memory of the deceased with your vile revelations. Let’s go out!”

“Go to hell!”

Kors hurriedly rushes out of the room.

And now he “sees” how Kamiel Varakh throws off the “veil of the dead”, sits on the bed, and he and Zagpeace begin to laugh.

And from this, such a simple and understandable scene, tears of bitterness and anger involuntarily appear in Kors’ eyes. But he sincerely was worried! He was upset by the untimely death of his friend, he blamed himself for his death!