Alva in scarlet velvet immediately took Tallian's place on the throne and sprawled in it, one leg over the armrest.
"You know I am the real one," he said haughtily, turning up his chin. "You just don't want to believe it. Don't try and persuade me to leave this cosy tower, it will be a total waste of time. Although," he ran his hand over his thigh, "some arguments I am ready to hear out."
Alva in chains quietly wept by the pillar.
Alva in blue uniform came to Khattal who was silently holding up a tray with wine glasses, and drained a full glass at a gulp.
Khattal looked over his shoulder, and there was sympathy in his eyes. Pity. Bitterness. One could stake anything that he wasn't very pleased with his mistress and with what she made him do. Maybe they could make him their ally against Dame Tallian.
A quick interrogation showed that all three Chevaliers possessed quite accurate knowledge about their past. If they had forgotten something, it was no more than the real Alva would have. The one that seemed the liveliest and most genuine, in Guards uniform, guzzled down wine absolutely like Alva did, and behaved absolutely the same capricious way as Alva, refusing to answer some questions. Although it was clear he knew the right answers.
When Ithildin ventured some questions he didn't know the answers to himself, for example, what kind of flowers Alva's mother had been growing in the garden of their family estate, they weren't baffled either.
"Phloxes," Alva in scarlet velvet drawled lazily. "Silly flowers."
"Pansies and marigolds," Alva in chains echoed.
"Idiots." Alva in uniform shrugged. "They were tiger lilies. She always said they reminded her of Father. Aren't you tired? I know a better method."
He pressed the elf to the wall and started to kiss him deeply and passionately. Khattal put the tray on the table with a loud bang and muttered through his clenched teeth, "Damn perverts!"
Kintaro barely managed to suppress the desire to hit him in the mouth. Instead he advanced in the direction of Dame Tallian throne. Alva in scarlet velvet squealed and hid behind the throne.
"Don't come any closer!" he yelled, as if it could have stopped the barbarian.
A few half-hearted feints, and Kintaro caught him, easily holding both his wrists with one hand and the back of his head with another. Alva fought him, breathing heavily, but his resistance was not convincing, especially once he moaned into Kintaro's mouth and went limp, pressing his body into his assailant's.
"Swine! Filthy barbarian! Animal!" he whispered between kisses, and it sounded like a plea to fuck him right here, right now.
Kintaro was the first to break the kiss and let go of his prey, even though it took all of his self-control. The sobering-up thought of his oath also helped. This one could be the real Alva, but he could just as easily not be. Somehow the thought of sleeping with another man in his sweet redhead's body was revolting.
He dragged Alva number three away from Ithildin and grabbed the elf's hand.
"Let's go. We need to talk."
Khattal took them back to their room on the lower floor. He started to make the bed, but Ithildin gently stopped him and lay face down on the bed, driven to complete exhaustion by despair. Kintaro sat by him and stroked his back, his flowing hair. Touching the elf calmed him too, helped gather his scattered thoughts.
"Look, I am really sorry it all went down like this," Khattal said awkwardly, embarrassed by his own sympathy.
Kintaro looked at him angrily. "You know who the real one is."
"I know," the Arislani admitted. "Won't tell you though. It's your quest."
"I know many ways to loosen someone's tongue." Kintaro stood up and faced Khattal, towering over him menacingly. His fists were clenched.
Khattal didn't look frightened. He glanced defiantly at the nomad and shrugged. "Just try me. I know many ways to cool you off. You think you are tough, eh, chief? Maybe you are tough in that Wild Steppe of yours, but not here, you aren't."
"Let him be, Kintaro," Ithildin said from the bed. "Most likely he is under a spell. Couldn't say anything even if he wanted to."
"Listen to your lover, chief, he is the brains to your brawn."
"Off you fuck then, why don't you?" Kintaro said, irritated, and plopped onto the bed.
"By the Prophet's sacred beard, you're dull beyond any measure. Just imagine: I'd been stuck here, at the World's Edge, for fuck knows how long, with nothing to do and no one to see, except my lady and her boyfriends. And suddenly you two decide to drop in. Still, nothing to write home about, of course, but you know what they say − better a small dick than no dick at all... or was it about fish and dish?"
A smile stretched Kintaro's lips almost against his will. The Arislani's infinite sauciness was growing on him.
"Well, as a way of small talk, want to hear how I screwed your Khaliddin?"
"Want to hear how I screwed your redhead?" The barbarians's eyes immediately flashed fire, promising cruel and unusual punishment, and Khattal waved his hands placatingly, "Just kidding!"
In the course of the next couple hours they snarled at each other more than once, but overall the peace talks were conducted in a friendly atmosphere, as they usually say in diplomatic circles. At the end of the evening the elf and the barbarian felt like they knew Khattal all their lives. They traded news of the outside world (outdated by half a year at best, mostly more) for a pack of gossip. But Khattal still told them nothing they didn't know or suspect.
One could leave the black tower only by a magic portal − which was beyond Chevalier Ahayrre's magic abilities and would be for a long time yet − or by walking over the frozen sea, as they actually had come. They were lucky Dame Tallian gave them only three identical redheads − she could have thrown in thirty three of them, she wasn't called Mistress of Illusions for nothing. She was also called Lady of the Sea, unlike, say, Lady of the Lake or the River King. The sea was the source of her power, her energy channel, that's why she had always built her dwellings amid the waves and decorated herself with all those wet seaweeds and smelly fish. Like any higher mage worth their salt, Dame Tallian would never stoop to lie outright, but she was an expert of half-truths and omissions. That's why she was able to catch the silly Chevalier in her net so cunningly.
Khattal spoke about his mistress with the usual familiarity of a servant, and with an air of bragging too, as if he was somehow privy to her powers. He went on and on about phallic symbols in the magical culture, about long magic staves and big black towers, until Kintaro winked and said, "Let's just get them out and compare the size. Mine is definitely bigger, by the way!"
"How uncouth!" Khattal said indignantly, but he was barely able to suppress a laugh.
The Arislani turned out not to be such a hypocrite and a boor as he tried to look when they first met. If someone could help them, it was he and only he. But, when they tried to lead him into conversation about Alva, he artfully changed the subject or simply fell silent. It was hard to take him by surprise. Khattal said only as much as he was going to say, not a word more.
When they were left alone, Ithildin said pensively, "He is too tightly wound. Doesn't want to relax, even a little. We should get him to talk more freely. Loosen him up. He won't give us the right answer, but he'll be able to throw a couple of clues our way."
"Loosen him up? How, I wonder?"
"I don't know yet. It's you who's the expert on seducing uptight Arislani natives."
"This one is way too uptight."
"Everything I know about mages indicates their servants should be losing their prejudices pretty quick. What, don't you like him even a bit?"
"Umm, it's not that. I made an oath, remember?"
"If this doesn't work, you'll be keeping your oath to the end of time."
"I can't believe a chaste and pure elf is trying to talk me into fucking some stranger."
"I can't believe a lewd and insatiable barbarian needs to be talked into it."
In the end they made a deal with each other: they would try and get Khattal drunk, and all was fair play after that.
***
And now the sweet and funny illustration by Fururin for this exact chapter XD