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— Well, your madam not really loves you if you came to be here ... The slave, you are speaking? Too well-groomed for the slave.
— I told, I am a favourite slave.
— The slave for love? — Vislav hemmed. — And who loves you more often, the hostess or the owner?
— I do not understand you, master, but your speeches seem to me offensive.
— Ah, forgive! And what the favourite slave is engaged in?
— I help the hostess to go way of beauty. She appreciates my taste and my sense of beauty. I am very skillful in the choice of clothes and a make-up and in art of wearing jewelry. Still I can sing, recite verses, play on a zither and a pipe.
— My friend, these talents will be useful to you at very distant day if at all will be useful. And I thought, looking at you that you are the male whore from a lupanar.
— What?
— Oh I said nothing ... Call me Vislav. Or Vis. Now you have neither master, nor madam. You are a free guy, Leodan. Only your freedom will be short.
— My master surely learns that I am here, and will make everything to return me back home.
— I doubt that he learns. And even if learns, we will be already in a stomach at Ygerabal together by then.
— It seems to you to be ridiculous?
— No. Stamp for me.
Casta could not understand in any way where she was. Noise in ears and nausea prevented to concentrate, heart jumped in a breast, legs and hands insufferably hurt. During the first moment it seemed to her that she was being carried in the shaken cart. Probably, to Breathings Square, to the place of execution. She turned the head to make out the driver, but saw only the blue bottomless sky. She felt smell of the sea. Then voices rushed into consciousness.
— Oh, she is coming! — The shadow fell to her, and Casta saw the ugly face with deeply put monkey eyes and the wry smile baring decayed teeth inclined over her. — Wake up, the bride, fiancés were tired of waiting!
— Leave her, Bug, — spoke in a bass another, and the nasty ugly face disappeared, but there was another, not less repellent: pale, extended, with a hooked nose and gray lips. Strong hands stirred Casta up, and bitterness rose to the girl's throat. — For sure your attractive face is familiar to me, sugar. Where could we meet? Whether in the cheerful house of the old grumbler Hushshur?
— Where ... am I? — Casta croaked, trying to overcome nausea and weakness.
— Speaking! — Gray lips stretched in a happy smile. — If is speaking, so she is alive. And if she is alive, so will give. Will be able just to give.
Someone began to guffaw under the ear in a disgusting way. Casta leaned hands in a deal floor, rose, looked round. She was on the deck of ship. And there were people around (oh, Beris, what vile faces they have!) and they were looking at her.
— Where am I? — Casta repeated.
— At friends, — the owner of the extended physiognomy told. — And we can`t wait to make closer friends with you.
— I am alive, — Casta murmured, having started fingers in the uncombed mane. — Damned what`s going on? Why am I by the ship?
— Because jailers have a sense of humour too, sugar, — told man with grey lips. — Generally they say that the woman by the ship brings misfortune. But it is not so. We are lucky to be here with you, sugar. Judicial rats made us the abrupt present. Will be what to be engaged at a leisure. We have not had young meat for long time.
— Hey, Sambar, this whore already recovered, it is time to put her in use! — someone shouted.
— Shut up! — Sambar bellowed. — It is my ship, and I am a captain here. I solve what to do, dig?
— It is clear, the captain, — Casta heard someone's derisive voice. — Only your ship is lousy. Any minute we will go to feed fishes.
— Nobody asks you, choohi, — angrily answered Sambar. — If you open a mouth in waste, I will not look that you are from lucky guys. A stone on the neck, and in the sea.
— I saw here some ropes, Sambar, — the derisive voice answered. — But I did not see any stone. And there is nowhere to hang me up — neither masts, nor yards. We even have no water, and you pose as the shofet. Do you know how to get out of this shit? Do not make gods laugh, tell something worthy instead.
Meanwhile Casta could sit and make out all picture surrounding her. She already understood that somehow she had appeared by the ship, and people around her were the same prisoners as she was. But where are guards? For some moment she felt joy: truly, they were transported somewhere, but prisoners made revolt and seized the ship. However then joy passed — whatever there was onboard, she is in the power of these people, and is absolutely clear what part by this ship of robbers is going to be assigned to her.
— Worthy? — Sambar grinned as a dog. — You as I have a look, prefer boys. So we favor them too. And how I think: if you are in brotherhood, so all yours also belongs to brotherhood. Right? So select, choohi — either you are with us, or ...
— I am not lucky enough to belong to respectable guild of robbers and murderers, — the derisive voice answered. — I am only a thief and the player. And as I cannot descend from the ship, you should stand my unworthy person, the captain. Consider that I am your passenger, and this young man is my baggage. If you deliver us safely to the port of destination, we will get even, I will not offend.
— Let's get even? — Sambar hemmed. — What will you pay in?
— Gold. Only it is necessary to survive at first, Sambar. And to wait until I dig out the grists.
— Hey, you heard, boys! — Sambar laughed loudly. — What generous passenger! Let's believe him, or not?
Casta then considered the owner of a derisive voice. The stranger was sitting on steps of the ladder conducting on a tank, and behind his back Casta saw one more passenger of this strange ship — the effeminate young man seemed to be very frightened. Apparently these two men did not belong to the gang seized the ship.
— It is necessary to believe, — the stranger told. — If you knew me better, captain Sambar, then you would not begin to doubt my word.
The interesting man, Casta thought. Not handsome, but can make an impression on any woman. He is already elderly, but well constituted, tightened and strong. How old is he? Thirty five, forty, more? His dark hair is short-cut and mostly gray, but the face is without wrinkles — and open. Nice face. It is easy to trust the owner of such face. This sort of man never lets down. But his partner ... Is this effeminate type hiding behind his back really his lover?
— And how much will you pay me, Vislav the Lucky? — asked Sambar, he seemed to forget about Casta.
— Your ship, Sambar, is not similar at all to the galley of His Majesty Shofet by which as I have heard, the guests are served with the best viands and wines and crew arrange representations and persecution of animals for them. So thirty silver coins for three will be enough.
— For three?
— I`ll pay for myself, for this boy, — Vislav showed on Leodan, — and for the girl.
— See, what a bright guy! -Sambar playfully exclaimed, and bandits laughed servilely and loudly. — Only for you thirty coins, choohi. On friendship. And the cockerel and girl ain`t on sale. They are mine, got it?
— You will get nothing!
Casta said it quietly nevertheless her words were heard by all. But the girl was ready to effects. She recovered already enough completely to control the body. Rocking of the deck were still given by nausea, but she already felt former force. And the growing hatred to this dirty son of a bitch Sambar representing himself the captain.
— What did you say? — Sambar forgot at once about bidding which conducted, sharply turned back to Casta. — And well, repeat, the port whore! Took in head to argue with the captain, bitch?
— You are not a captain. You are the piece of cat's shit which stuck to the deck of this vessel. You stink as a heap of throws. And I am not afraid of you.
— You are not afraid? — Sambar became green. — Well look, the white trash. I will kill you slowly. I will cut you in pieces. I`ll cut out only those places which fit to my boys for fun and feed the rest to sharks!
— Hey, Sambar, wait a moment! — Vislav shouted, only his hail could change nothing any more. Sambar snatched out the bronze plate ground to sharpness of the razor from a sandal back, with the triumphing smile went to Casta.
The girl perfectly understood that she deals with the real bastard. While he wants to teach a good lesson the rebellious maid, posing at his buddies. The noble duel will not be: as soon as Sambar feels her force, right there will call to the aid of friends, and seven bandits will rush her at once. But it had no value any more.
Death is only death. She got used to her presence long ago.
The main thing is not to die like a sheep under the butcher's knife.
Sambar began to roar, jumped forward, threw out a hand in cunning swing. Casta evaded from killing razor, sat down in a rack and answered with direct stroke in a stomach. Sambar moved back — Casta did not calculate distance a little, the blow did not conceive effect, however frightened the robber. Sambar also did not assume that he would meet resistance. He also could not imagine that some stranger girl behaves so bravely and fights so skillfully. A moment opponents watched at each other, then Sambar, having broken out in perfect abuse, again rushed on Casta. The girl felt an acute pain in the right shoulder, the bronze razor deeply cut skin and passed absolutely close from Casta`s throat. Retaliation of the Seltonain had directly in the Sambar`s chin. Blood scattered, the bandit became shook the head stupidly, but Casta, without allowing him to come round struck two short blows on the right and the left and when Sambar raised hands and revealed put direct crushing blow from below up in a solar plexus. Sambar dropped the razor began to wheeze goggled. And during this all his six friends instantly rushed on Casta.
The main thing is not to die like a sheep ...
Casta brought down the first bandit on the deck with blow of a leg, stopped the second by a fist in the left cheekbone, and then added under edges with right leg. Several seconds she won. But Sambar already recovered, furious bandits with cries pressed her, and no blocks could save from blows which rained down on Casta. However Vislav was not the indifferent observer any more. With a soft jump he rushed into a fight seized one of the bandits by a collar and hit him to a deck superstructure that the robber was disconnected at once, brought down from legs the second, rejected to a board the third — the bandit did not keep on the edge of the hatch and failed in a hold with a cry, breaking bones. Casta meanwhile forced to develop in half the bandit by nickname the Bug with the blow in a groin. The hefty robber with a curve nose, having jumped through Bug howling from pain, pushed Casta in a breast, then, dexterously having come behind, tried to take her for a throat. Casta managed to bite a hairy hand of the spindle-legs, with a furious cry struck with an elbow, from a turn, directly in a face, breaking the spindle-legs` nose which had already suffered much from others fists. At the same time Vislav with two blows knocked out the bandit with the wolf head on a breast who jumped on him from a superstructure.
Sambar managed to pick up the bronze razor and tried to strike Casta on neck, but the girl solved his maneuver. Stridently having screamed, she intercepted Sambar`s hand with the skillful block and hit the leader of bandits with the heel on an ankle joint. The bandit howled. Casta broke him the hand, beat out the razor then cutting dumped Sambar on the deck and hit already lying bandit with all foot in a stomach. Howl broke painful rattle. A second later the Seltonain grasped Sambar by neck.
— Not ... kill! — croaked Sambar, spitting out blood.
— Die! — whispered Casta.
Collected the strength, and sharply jerked the enemy up. The dry crash was distributed, "captain" became soft, his eyes were rolled up, bloody foam rushed from mouth. Having flung away lifeless Sambar, Casta jumped up to Bug rising from the deck and was through with him as well as the leader in a flash. Then became turn of the third robber — the one who Vislav sent to a knockout. Having turned back to the escaped three bandits, Kast growled:
— Well what are you waiting for? Go!
Bandits only moved back from the Seltonian. They were three but they were afraid. There was a superstitious horror in their eyes — just this little girl, dexterous and cruel as the wild cat finished off without any mercy their leader and two members of gang on their eyes. It was indeed terrible to look at Casta: soiled by blood, with the swept hair, she stood above corpses of bandits and her eyes were white from rage. Heavy breath of the girl seemed the breath of death to scared bandits.
— Madam! — The bandit with the broken nose failed on knees so that knee-cups loudly knocked about deck. — Forgive!
— Forgive! -two his companions gloomy muttered, too falling on knees.
Casta did not answer. She was shivering, sweat and blood from the cut eyebrow filled her eyes, heart rose to a throat. Then she felt that rage and blood lust leave, giving way to infinite fatigue.
— Throw out them overboard! — she ordered. Passing by Sambar, several times furiously kicked the dead with a leg to break the rage which was still dimming reason.
— Cruelly you have done with them, woman, — noticed Vislav, examining the bones of the fingers broken in blood.
— Shut up! — Casta cried, then, having taken breath, added already more softly: — Forgive. Thanks to you. You saved me.
— Do not mention it, captain.
— Captain?
— Of course. You finished off this poor fellow, so now you are the captain.
— You are joking, take away you Nekrian!
— At all. Personally I am ready to submit to you implicitly. You see this poor creature did not suspect that he dealed with Casta the bloody goddess of Darnat Circus. And I recognized you at once.
— Really? — Casta looked at the "sailors" dragging the Sambar corpse to a board. — And your name is Vislav, right?
— Flattered you remembered my name. You can call me just Vis.
— I like Vislav much more. And how to call your ... friend? — Casta looked where Leodan sat having nestled on a board.
Leodan began to tremble when noticed that this terrible woman looked at him. The fight which witness he became horrified him and how Casta dealt with prostrate opponents got him into deep shock at all. Casta looked at a deathly-white face of the young man, at the shivering lips and hands, glanced in his glazed-over eyes and contemptuously spat.
— He is not my friend, — Vislav told. — Just another future dead man, as you and me.
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