The next day Kai spent as usual. However, it was without horseback riding, but there was a full-fledged training session with Gifar and his warriors.
For lunch, Kai was invited to the Sheikh's table, where he did not take his eyes from him, blazing in the depths of the fire of passion. Kai saw it and now knew what that look, turned to him, expressed.
He didn't want to eat at all, but in order not to draw attention to himself, he ate a little and asked permission to go to the library. There he tried to focus on the text. It was the biography of the great Japanese military leader Takeda Katsuoria, whose years of life were fifteen forty-six -fifteen eighty-two. Kai understood that the lines floated before his eyes, the hieroglyphs jumped, their meaning escaped, but at the cost of great effort, he forced himself to read and even began to realize the essence of what was written. He was fascinated by the description of the Time of Troubles under Otate and that Takeda betrayed his allies from the Hojo clan and sided with Uesugi Kagekatsu.
Kai closed the book, realizing that he was tired of deceiving himself that he was now worried about Katsuori's problems. He leaned back in his chair, knowing that evening was approaching, and Arshad did not change his plans for him. And if last evening everything finished with a kiss, then it was stupid to hope for the same outcome of this evening. Arshad, of course, restrained himself, and he was amused by this game with him, like a cat with a mouse, but Kai knew that when a person was thirty, he would not remain at the level of the bouquet-candy period.
What then should he do? Standard plots from films and books about the behavior of girls in such a situation climbed into his head:
"It is poisoning with not clear what and then if you mistake with the dose, all this will result in vomiting and diarrhea," Kai winced, imagining how his stomach would be washed.
"To throw myself off the tower of the castle - I can, of course, try to climb somewhere and from there fall onto the rose bushes," the thorns in his ass did not attract him very much.
"To cut my face, but how much I have to booze in order to do it?"
To pierce theatrically the chest with a dagger! Well, I'm a doctor, perhaps it will be difficult to do, knowing the consequences of such injuries.
So what else is there? To drown myself, to hang myself ... Enough! Stop! I am a military officer, and I behave like a hysterical young lady. Such nonsense creeps into my head ... "
Kai found cigarettes from Maksud and lit up, knowing that he had not come up with anything reasonable in this unreasonable situation.
Maksud came for him came and took the dying cigarette butt from his hand, extinguished and led him, holding the hand as if he was a child.
"It necessary to start resisting, not to let them dress me up, put on makeup, combed my hair ... Stop! This is all suitable only for girls!"
Kai sighed, seeing that the X-hour was approaching, but he never made any decision.
When he was brought into the night apartments in his yesterday's outfit, which he mentally called for himself "for fuc*ing", he stopped in the middle in confusion. Maksud went out and returned a minute later. Gently took Kai by the hand, led him to the table with fruits, sweets, and drinks.
"Arshad will be a little late, don't be bored, eat something tasty."
Maksud bowed and left.
Arshad really was a little late, his father called him, and he could not cancel or reschedule this conversation. And his father liked to talk with his son slowly and for a long time.
Kai stared blankly at the table in front of him, realizing the words of Maksud and realizing that his X-hour was not postponed for long. His throat was dry from tension and constant thoughts. He was thirsty.
Looking for water, he opened the wine and drank the glass. It relieved his thirst at least a little. He drank some more. It was expensive red dry French wine. He read all this on the label and drank the whole bottle being nervous.
He looked around the table. The abundance of various fruits did not attract him, he did not like oriental sweets at all, but his nerves demanded something else to chew or drink. He saw a bottle of champagne "Veuve Clicquot", pink, as he liked.
"There is a reason to drink!" Kai exclaimed, opening the bottle. The bung flew out with a bang. He filled his glass, "For the loss of anal virginity!" famously, in a hussar, he said a toast and drank.
The soft sparkling champagne tingled so pleasantly the tongue, that was just one "but": it was warm, and he liked to drink cold champagne.
"I must tell Arshad! There is such a significant event here, but I have to drink warm champagne," he drank another glass. Kai looked at the bottle through the light, saw that there was a little pink drink left in it, - Why should a good thing be wasted - it will die!" the guy poured the leftovers into his glass and drank it simply, without toast.
The champagne gave him a positive mood. Life seemed not to be so gloomy and hopeless anymore. He glanced around the table again. After the champagne, he wanted to eat something sweet.
"This one," Kai's hand reached for the bottle of Sheridan's liquor.
Kai took a clean liqueur glass and poured himself.
"It is delicious!" two colors, dark and white, were mixed in his glass. He drank, topped up more, licked the sweet sides of the glass with his tongue, smudged himself, smudged the table, some clothes on himself.
He got upset, tried to wipe it off, but only smeared everything worse, then left this occupation.
"Shit! How quickly it ended!" Kai licked the neck of the bottle and wiped his sweet fingers with napkins.
After such a sweet one, he realized that he urgently wanted to eat something savory. He looked around the table and saw what would come in handy now. His hand reached for the whiskey bottle.
"This is what I want. Otherwise, it turned out very sweet."
He reached for a bottle of Cathy Sark, a fifteen-year-old Scotch whiskey, found a glass with whiskey, generously splashed himself half of the glass. He breathed in its scent and drank it all in one gulp. Then, looking up, Kai saw that he was reflected in the mirror, sitting at the table, with an empty glass and a bottle of whiskey in his hand. He winked dashingly at his image.
"Don't chicken out! We won't get drunk. We'll just remove the nervous stress," while pouring, he turned to his reflection in the mirror. "Prokhor taught me to drink. He's a real man. You know what he said: What is the most important thing to know when drinking?" the image in the mirror looked at him inquiringly but did not answer. "You do not know! And I know and will teach you. Remember! When you drink, the main thing is to increase in degree! Here, look here," Kai pointed to the drunk bottles, "first wine, then champagne, then liqueur, we slightly increased the degree with it and now we have increased it normally to forty!" he showed a bottle of whiskey.
The guy from the mirror nodded approvingly at such a reasonable speech of his interlocutor.
"Oh, and your glass is empty. Well, what is it I ... you've come to visit me, and I keep chatting and chatting. Put the glass down, now we'll drink one more."
Kai poured himself a glass, raised his glass, and turned his gaze to the mirror, making sure that he also had a bottle, he said:
"Well, what do we, like drunks, drink without toasts? It's wrong! Here, you know, let's drink to me ... not ... not like that. In short, I have an important day today, just don't laugh," Kai saw the guy in the mirror writhing with laughter. "Well, don't laugh. Listen. Today I will become a fag ***t, " he said almost clearly and loudly. "Let's drink to this."
The guy opposite supported this toast, clinked glasses with him, raising his glass, and drank everything to the bottom.
"Well, you drink a lot!" looking at the empty glass in the guy's hand, said Kai. "Now I will pour more. Put the glass on the table."
Kai poured, looked into the glass, then looked at the guy.
"Well, I haven't told you everything yet. Imagine, Arshad has a crush on me. Well ... well, don't laugh, listen!" Kai again saw how the guy in the mirror nickered, bending in half and splashing the whiskey from the glass. "Uh ... don't let it go to waste, let's have a drink, and then I'll tell you further," Kai raised his glass and, clinking glasses with the guy, drank. "So, he fancied me! He has a whole harem there, there are probably girls with such boobs and beautiful, well, and he wants to fuck me! Can you imagine? Well, stop laughing already, listen to me! So what did he find in me? Look, how beautiful you are, your eyes are so beautiful ... your hair is curly, and in general, I like you ... but I'm thin, bony, and what did he like when he had girls with boobs there? In short, I don't understand anything ..."
Kai looked up at the guy in the mirror.
"Uh, look here ... why are you so sad? Come on, prepare a glass, we'll have another drink now. It's me must be sad. Imagine what I'll tell Prokhor later, and the bros ... well, just guess. I'll come and say - I'm a fag***t! Damn it ..."
Kai poured another one and drank in silence.
"Now I sadness came over my spirit, but you know, Prokhor told me right away, even if you became a fag***t, come anyway. Imagine what a great friend I have. He will not leave a friend, even if his friend is a fag***t."
Kai looked at the guy in the mirror again.
"Friend, you are something completely limp there. Come on, don't worry. I've seen how people become fag***ts. Prokhor showed me. Fuck, it probably hurts. That guy was yelling like that. In short, we need to drink to it. Oh - the whiskey is over."
Kai got up to see better the table and the bottles on it.
"Eh, where did you go?" he glanced at the guy in the mirror. "Well ... sit down ... look what I've found. Now we will drink some brandy! Here's what," and he stammered, "Albert de Montabert"," then added syllables, " X and O - in short, cool. Don't think, I'm fooling you. Do you know how much it costs? It doesn't matter, Arshad pays for everything, I'm a kind of like his beloved woman here," Kai giggled again, and then poured brandy into a glass.
"Well, for me. I'm almost a fag***t," Kai giggled again, then showed the bottle to the guy opposite. "By the way, can you imagine, we drink the right way? We increase the degree. This cognac is forty-five degrees. This is what you need to drink for."
Having drunk one glass at a time with the guy, Kai remembered the important thing and began to pour the cognac into the glass again.
"Between the first and the second there is a small gap," he quickly clinked glasses with the reflection, drank some brandy, and immediately poured another one. "Well, now we can also talk, -uh ... just don't fall asleep there, okay? In short, I've chatted with you too much. He'll come to fuck me now, and I'm not in bed yet."
Kai looked at the bed in the middle of the room.
"Well, I'll go there," he waved in the direction of the bed, "and I'll take some booze with me for courage. Let's drink the last glass, as they say, for the road!" he clinked glasses with the guy, waved his hand and tried to get up.
He immediately realized that it would not be possible. Then, getting on all fours, he confidently moved towards the bed, not forgetting to hold the unfinished bottle of cognac in his hand, having carefully twisted it with the lid.
He managed to walk part of the way to bed like this, but then when he decided to stop and have a drink, as he explained, "during the way", he was led to the side, and therefore he crawled the rest of the way.
He was crawling along the luxurious red carpet with a bottle in his hand, as if across a field to the trenches of the Mujahideen with a grenade. When the bed was in front of him, on the fourth attempt he managed, pulling off the coverlet for which he was clinging, to climb onto the bed, having previously thrown a half-empty bottle of cognac onto it.
On the bed, he crawled to the bottle and sat down, unscrewed the cork, poured the rest of the cognac into himself, and then just fell off on his back, spreading his arms and legs in different directions.
It was in such a pose of a starfish, thrown out on the coastal rocks, with an empty bottle in his hand, Maksud found him.
Maksud looked at the cognac the guy had drunk, then at Kai, and then his gaze fell on the empty bottles lying at the table, and he realized that his legs were giving way from weakness. But there were footsteps in the corridor. Maksud rushed to the door and ran into Arshad, nearly knocking him down.
He fell at his feet and began to cling to the hem of his master's robe.
"Arshad, oh Great Arshad, oh Great Arshad," Maksud lamented.
"What's going on?" Arshad tried to unhook Maksud from his robe and go into the room. Finally, he succeeded.
He saw Kai's sprawled body on the bed, rushed to him in horror.
"He is poisoned!" Arshad's voice sounded pain and fear from the realization of what had happened.
"No, he got drunk," the stern voice of Gifar sounded, who ran into this room, attracted by the cries of Maksud. "Yes, look for yourself," Gifar nodded towards the lying bottles.
Arshad walked to the empty bottles, rolled them with the toe of a slipper embroidered with gold, then returned to the bed, bent over Kai, and finally made sure that he was not just drunk - he was drunk completely out, absolutely hammered ... out of his mind!
Arshad took a bottle of cognac from his hands and turned it over. A pitiful drop of the drink came out of the bottle. Arshad began to laugh. Probably, neither Maksud nor Gifar had heard such a sincere laugh from their Sheikh for a long time. Arshad laughed, curled up with spasms of laughter, sitting on the bed, and wiped the tears from his eyes.
Gifar and Maksud also smiled, realizing that the storm had passed them, and Arshad reacted to this extraordinary event in his own way, as they had not expected.
Slightly suppressing his laughter, the Sheikh got out of bed.
"Tomorrow, when he wakes up, call me," he turned to Maksud. "First I will enjoy his sight, and then you will begin to save him."
"I think tomorrow it will be very bad for him," Gifar said pointedly.
Arshad and Gifar left the chambers, Maksud remained standing beside Kai. Oddly enough, he did not even take offense at him for this, although Arshad could have done anything to him for such an offense. But this amused Arshad, which meant that everything was going very well for everyone.
***
When Kai tried to open his eyes, he realized that the "Morning of the Shooting Execution" had already come for him. He felt sick, his head was splitting from a thousand hammers pounding in it, his temples throbbed with terrible pain, and everything floated before his eyes.
"My beautiful rose," he opened his eyes again, it was Arshad. "How do you feel?"
Arshad, indeed, now enjoyed the sight of the pale green Kai, who tried to open his eyes and relieve his headache, pressing his hands to his head.
"Maybe you shouldn't have been drinking like that?"
"Sorry, Arshad, can I talk to you later? .." Kai muttered through his teeth, trying to crawl out of bed. "I'm going to vomit now."
The servants quickly grabbed him from both sides and dragged him into the bath.
Arshad laughed again.
"Go and save him," Arshad continued to smile. Maksud bowed and went to the bath for Kai.
There, Kai was already hugging his "white brother". Maksud literally forcibly poured one of his tinctures into it. From its taste and smell, Kai began to spew again. So Maksud mocked him several times. Then he was stripped and shoved into a bath filled with fragrant herbs. And again Maksud made him drink the medicine brought in a cup. Kai did not resist, even when they took him out of the bathroom and smeared everything with a very smelly ointment, and when Maksud again forced him to drink warm tincture, and then, finally, he was left alone, laid on the bed and wrapped in blankets.
After sleep and all the procedures, by the evening Kai felt better. At night, Maksud again soaked him in a bath with herbs, rubbed him again with a strange ointment, and made him eat. Then he again gave his medicinal elixir to drink and put the guy to bed.
***
The next morning, Kai was like a reborn. He was awakened early by Maksud, saying that Arshad was waiting for him for a horse ride. Kai liked this occupation. Here Arshad was a normal guy, no problems. They rushed through the desert, overtaking each other and forgetting about everything.
Today he was not invited to dinner, Arshad had guests, obviously, these conversations were not intended for Kai's ears. Therefore, having dined under the supervision of Maksud, he went to the library, where he continued reading about Takeda Katsuori and his defeat in the battle with Oda.
In general, after all, Kai did not think about the future, he just lived. When in the evening he was again dressed in the appropriate clothes, "it oppressed him". Dejectedly, he walked after Maksud, who tried not to meet his gaze.
Entering the night chambers, Maksud brought him to bed.
"Lie down," again, without looking into his eyes, said Maksud.
Kai sighed and lay down. Immediately, four servants grabbed his arms and legs and, pressing him to the bed, began to hold him. Kai jerked, but they held tight.
Maksud without looking at him bowed and left.
Literally a minute later, Arshad entered.
He smiled, walked over to the bed, and sat down next to the sprawled Kai.
Then, without taking his eyes off him, he began to bend over him.
"What are you doing? .." Kai tried to pull his hands away.
"I want to kiss you."
"You're out of your mind, we're not alone!" Kai turned his gaze to the servants holding him.
"Oh, that. Never mind, they don't look. I didn't think such little things bother you."
He began to lean towards Kai's lips again.
Maybe Arshad was not bothered by such trifles, but it unbalanced Kai. He put up with it when all this happened between them alone. But when the servants were standing on four sides, Kai was horrified at the realization of what was happening. He started to twitch.
"Arshad, stop! Handcuffs were enough and to spare."
"You were twitching too much, handcuffs leave marks on your beautiful skin, and I don't want that. Therefore, they will hold you."
Arshad again began to catch his face with his hands, showering his cheekbones, cheeks, chin, and neck with kisses.
"Arshad! Not! Please! Do you hear?!" Kai was beginning to have something in between panic and hysteria.
Even Arshad froze and pulled away, seeing how Kai was beating on the bed.
"Arshad. I will lie still. Do you hear! Just let them go. Please, Arshad!"
"Will you let me kiss you and not resist?"
"Yes. Just let them go!"
Arshad looked at Kai, then waved his hand, the servants immediately released him and, bowing silently, left.
Kai exhaled. He lay there, breathing heavily, like after a hundred-meter race.
"Can I have a drink?"
"You can," Arshad sat on the bed and watched as Kai rushed to the bottle of wine.
"Don't worry, I'm a little. I won't get drunk."
Arshad vaguely shrugged his shoulder, watching as Kai took a couple of sips of wine.
"I'll smoke."
Kai took the cigarettes and a lighter lying here on the table.
Arshad continued to silently watch the picture as Kai lit a cigarette, took a couple of nervous puffs, then put out his cigarette, drank wine. The guy took a couple of steps in his direction, then came back again, lit a cigarette again, inhaled, nervously put out a cigarette, finished his glass, and, with the air of a man walking on a scaffold, went to the bed. He resolutely flopped down on it, lifted his chin, and grabbed the sheets with both hands.
"My rose ... of a desert," having heard the voice of Arshad, Kai, who had previously screwed up his eyes, opened one eye, "you are not in the dentist's office. Let go of the sheet."
Kai forced himself to unclench his fingers, which were convulsively gripping the scarlet silk sheets.
"Maksud will come for you," Kai saw Arshad, getting out of bed, went to the exit from the chambers.
Then Maksud came in. Kai sat up on the bed.
"Arshad ordered to take you to sleep," said Maksud calmly.
Kai realized that he was being returned to his room.
Probably, if not for Maksud's tincture, he would not fall asleep today. But Maksud, at his request, brought him something stronger, and his sleep was calm and serene.
When Kai fell asleep, Maksud with the same strong tincture went to Arshad and, upon hearing his request, immediately gave him a miraculous drink for a restful sleep.
***
The next day there was no horseback riding, only training with Gifar, then meals in solitude, if it was possible to call the solitude when Maksud was standing next to him and five more servants. Then Kai went to the library.
Maksud went to Arshad. Gifar was already in his office. They heatedly discussed the vital issues of the life of their people. But from the look of Arshad Maksud understood that he was now worried about completely different problems. Finally, Arshad could not resist and started talking about it himself.
"I don't understand him. I don't understand him at all. What am I doing wrong? In general, what is wrong? I'm not in a hurry, I'm ready to wait, but he is not ready at all for a relationship with me. Maksud, why?" Arshad nervously walked around the office. "When I kissed him, I saw - he felt good, he liked it, he was mine, he responded to me ... and then again everything starts from scratch. Even worse ... I understand why he got drunk. He doesn't want this. Do you understand? He wants nothing. And yesterday, he lay there looking like this, clutching the sheets like a man awaiting torture. But I'm gentle with him. I do not understand him…"
"Maybe he is not ready for such a relationship?" Maksud watched Arshad walking around the room again.
"Don't tell me he's afraid. He who landed the plane in the desert. The plane that cannot be landed. Why, the plane, I know, there was a crew, and they all jumped off, but he stayed. He sacrificed himself for the sake of others, knowing that the last parachute was stitched with bullets," Gifar told Arshad this, having examined the plane. "He's not afraid of anything at all. He was dying a month in the desert, I arrived, and instead of throwing himself at my feet, he pretended to be a tough nut, and he is like that. Then he trudged through the desert on foot - if I had seen him then, I would never have allowed it," Arshad sighed.
"To understand a person, you need to learn more about him," Maksud uttered, looking at the Sheikh's torment.
Arshad perked up.
"Gifar, did you find out anything about him?"
"No," seeing the darkened face of Arshad, Gifar began to make excuses. "Usually you are not very interested in the biographies of your boys."
"Do you say that about him?"
"Sorry, Arshad. I'm not talking about him, but about the fact that you have never been interested in knowing the details of the lives of those who are in your bed."
"You're right, Gifar. But here is another case. I want to know everything about him. You hear, everything! And as quickly as possible," Arshad walked briskly around the room. "By the way, what do you think is his nationality?"
"American, English, German?" Gifar suggested.
"With such a brilliant education and at the same time he is so lively, real ..." doubt slipped through Maksud's voice.
"Spaniard, Italian, French ... " Gifar suggested thinking about a more "lively" nation.
"Not! There is something about him ... I can't explain it yet ... but this is definitely not Spanish, not Italian or French."
"Australian, Canadian, Latino," - to all enumerations, Gifar received a convincing answer from both - no.
"Stop guessing. I want to know who he is!" Arshad stopped at the window, then looked at Maksud. "Until I find out everything about him, I do not want to see him. Does he get bored?"
"No, in the morning he has a training session with Gifar, then he spends time in the library, in the evening he plays the console."
"What does he play?" Arshad's eyes widened.
"Didn't I say?" Maksud smiled slyly, who liked to leave in stock different news for Arshad. "He loves to play, you know, there in all sorts of adventure games, shooters. I'm not very good at this. There are some freaks, he fights with them."
Arshad sat down exhaustedly on the sofa.
"A person who sacrifices himself to save his comrades plays a video game."
"He's still a child!" Gifar blurted out.
"Well, in general, you are right," Arshad thought. "Probably, too much has fallen on him. And he doesn't even complain, he carries everything in himself. It must be hard for him."
"He feels good when you are riding horses, haven't you seen his happy eyes?" Maksud tried not to let Arshad get bogged down in self-flagellation.
"Maksud, what do I not know about him yet?"
"He is very fond of chocolate and cocoa."
"And you have been silent!"
"Arshad, do not be offended, but Gifar is right, having told you that before you were not interested in those with whom you sleep."
"With him everything is different ... well, Gifar, go! You have a lot to do. You hear - I want to know everything about him!"