Chapter 23

 Five horsemen rode up to him and stopped. They were wearing shoulder bows and quivers with arrows. They were dressed in skinny tights and buff shorts. They had leather vests on their torsos. Each of them had a dagger hanging from his belt. They had short boots on the feet. They were watching Leolik with surprise, silently. He was in no hurry to start a conversation, looking at them too. The pause was obviously becoming too long. But suddenly there was one more stomping, and an open carriage pulled by two horses appeared on the road. The carriage was driven by a young boy about the same age as Leolik was. A man in his forties was sitting in the carriage. He had blonde hair, a small beard, a mustache and bright blue eyes. The carriage approached and stopped.
 - What happened? - there was an authoritative shout.
   The horsemen backed away to the side of the road. The blond man stood up in his carriage.
 - Oh! We have guests! Welcome, Lord Cunningham!"
 - I am neither a lord, nor Cunningham, - Leolik replied.
 - In that case, from where have you taken the lord's clothes and his coat of arms on the clasp, - the situation was clearly amusing the blond man. He climbed out of the carriage and, limping slightly, approached Leolik.
 - I've stolen! Probably from this Lord. But, alas, I had to do that. My only clothes are a knife and sandals.
 - And let me ask you, how come that you ended up naked in the woods.
 - I've escaped from the City of Women.
 The blond man laughed out loud. He was laughing so contagiously that the riders began to laugh, too. Finally, he stopped and wiped his tears.
 - Well, Leolik, that's a good one! You've escaped from Ksenia. And how have you managed that?
 - How did you know my name? And who is Ksenia?
 - The Queen of the City of Women. She is Ksenia as well. She is my ex, by the way. A few days ago, she visited me to talk about you. She described you very well. Yeah, you are a really handsome guy.
 - So you are! Um... the Emperor? The King?
 - Oh! Indeed, why shouldn't I become the emperor? Or I'm always the king, the king. I need to think about it. It's a good offer. Call me Arseniy or just Semyon. I'm fed up with the king, the king. I invite you to visit our city.
 - I don't mind, but your Lord is there, on the lake, without any clothes. I've also stolen a bottle of his wine and his ham.
- All right, get into the carriage. The lord won't feel bad without his wine. I'll send someone to him.
 Leolik approached the carriage. The body of a killed roe deer lay on the floor of the carriage. He stopped, not knowing what to do. Semyon limped up to the carriage, ordered one of the horsemen to pull out the roe deer and tie it to the back of the carriage. When King Semyon and Leolik got into the carriage, the king ordered the coachman.
- Max, let's go to the palace. The picnic is canceled.
 Max whipped the horses, and the carriage hurried across the pine forest, bouncing over tree roots. The forest ended after about a 15 minutes' time. They came out onto a hilly valley. In the distance, a castle came into view. It was also built of white stone. On the hills, Leolik noticed horses grazing. Leolik stole a glance at the king. Piercing blue eyes. A recently trimmed beard. The king noticed his glance.
- Ksenia made me trim my beard. She doesn't like any beards. I had to keep just a little bit.
 Max was chasing the horses at full speed. The carriage rolled briskly to the castle. The drawbridge, the moat filled with water.
 "Interesting, - Leolik was thinking. - What for? If they don't fight any wars."
 The City of Men was much smaller than the City of Women. And the walls were definitely lower. The houses were two storeys high, and the streets were no more than six meters wide. There was nothing to compare with the City of Women. The windows in the houses were much smaller, and the ground floors clearly housed some kind of workshops with wide-open gates. Finally, they came out on a square with a very wide tower in the middle. It was not very tall, about seven storeys high. But its diameter was at least fifty meters. The tower was topped by crenellations. There were no luxurious windows like those of Queen Ksenia on this tower. The windows were small and located at the very top.
  The carriage rolled right into this tower and stopped. The riders dismounted. Leolik was looking around the room with curiosity. It was lit by electricity. To be true, the light was dim.
 - Max, make sure to have the horses taken care of and to have some kebabs prepared for us, - Semyon ordered, - I'll be in my cabinet. Serve us with some beer and wine. Come on, Leolik, let's go.
  Leolik followed King Arseniy. They approached a wooden door. Semyon opened it and stepped inside. Leolik followed him. It turned out to be an elevator. The cabin was decorated by oak panels, with a small light bulb on the ceiling.
  "They're clearly familiar with electricity," - Leolik thought.
  The king pressed the button, and the elevator creaked as it began to rise, stopped on the suitable floor. The doors opened, and they found themselves in a room with windows. A huge fireplace. A carved, massive table. Mosaic wooden floor. A huge number of weapons were hanging on the walls. Sabers, swords, knives, blades, katanas. Various shapes and sizes. Curved, straight, with notches. There were also antlers and deer heads on the walls.
 - Sit down, Leolik. And tell me how you escaped from the City of Women. By the way, how have you got rid of the collar?”
 The king plopped down into an arm-hair near the table. Leolik sat down on the offered chair with pot-bellied legs.
 - I didn't take off the collar. I'm still wearing it.
 And Leolik pointed on the chain hanging around his neck.
 - Really!? Show me!
 Leolik unfastened the gem from the chain and handed it to Semyon. The chain immediately transformed back into a thin, elegant hoop. The king took the gem into his hands and began examining it with curiosity.
- Look, it's just an ordinary ruby, but what an effect it has. Where did you get this stone?”
- The girls gave it to me.
- And if I take your collar off, will you present me this gem?
- Can you do that?
- I'll try.
- Yeah, I agree.
The king took a carved box out of the desk drawer. Leolik was not surprised by the appearance of this computer. He had already seen a similar one at the Queen's place. Semyon opened the lockbox. He connected the wires to the socket, then made several turns around the collar and back to the computer. He turned it on. The screen lit up.
 "He clearly wants to interrogate me, - Leolik thought. - I wonder what the Queen had seen there that made her leave the palace for two days? What had made her so stressed?"
 - What's your name? - Semyon asked unexpectedly.
 Leolik smiled to himself. He was right, there was something strange about his answers that was frightening and alarming them. He was absolutely calm and knew in advance what Semyon would see on the screen. First a green stripe, then a red one. What was puzzling them so much?
 - Leolik. I'm twenty-one. I really like girls. Let's ask me all the questions at once. Did you actually want to take my collar off? And instead, an interrogation, really?
 - How long have you been away from the Earth?
 - Have I ever been there? I don't know, actually.
 - Don't be so rude. We aren't clear to know everything about you. Who are you and what on earth are you? It's a bit puzzling. You're easily cheating the device. And the mystery of your appearance in our region makes us nervous. Well, all right, let it be this way. I'll try to remove Ksenia's code now.
 He was muttering something to himself and pressing the keys:
 - Yeah, Senya, as always, has his own style. The date of our wedding.
 Then Semyon unfastened the collar easily. It opened. Then he wrapped the collar twice around Leolik's right arm and fastened it again.
 - Pull harder, and it will open. You can wear it as you wish, on your foot or around your neck. I'll take the gem.
 - It just disables the usual form of the collar and prevents your computer from tracking me.
 - Tell me, Leolik, how do you know it's a computer? And where have you got that knowledge? - King Arseniy was staring intently into Leolik's eyes with his blue eyes.
 - Yeah! It seems very strange to me too. I don't remember myself, but I still have some knowledge. But this knowledge is clearly not from your world. I know for sure that there should be only one Moon in the sky.
 - That's exactly what I'm talking about. But now let's go up to the roof. They've prepared some roe barbecue and wine for us there. If you want, you can drink beer. It's brewed quite well here."
 Leolik followed the king through the door in the wall. Behind the door there was a narrow spiral staircase. They climbed up to the roof of the tower. The tower square was huge. Almost like a small stadium, only round. Near the nearest battlements there stood a table and two arm-chairs. There were a bunch of bottles on the table. Max was bustling near the barbecue, arranging skewers over the fire.
 Leolik and the king sat down in the armchairs. The king poured some wine into silver goblets for himself and for Leolik. Leolik drank. The wine turned to be very strong. Leolik immediately felt a bit drunk. He began to perceive everything around in some kind of escapism. It was warm on the roof. And he relaxed in his arm-chair. The day was already close to the sunset. The king also drank his full bowl.
           - All right, I'll tell you how I found myself here. You can believe it or not. Ksenia and I lived on the Earth in a remote small town in the Urals. If, of course, the word "Ural" means something to you. The town was surrounded by taiga woods. The town was small, but it had a factory where the entire population worked. One day I went hunting. In the taiga, I stumbled upon a crashed saucer-like spaceship. The day before, everyone had seen a huge meteor, but few paid any attention to it. We had all kinds of anomalous phenomena in the North. Sometimes it was the polar lights, sometimes a meteor was flying by. Someone spotted a witch on a broomstick. So meteors didn't really surprise us. Well, it just passed by and that was OK. The North, in one word. Sometimes one saw such crazy things that you either believed that or you didn't. The fishermen said they saw a dinosaur in a lake. Maybe they were too drunk, or maybe it was true.
             Semyon became silent, poured another full glass of wine for himself and drank it.
           - Does anything in my story seem strange to you?
           - No. Everything is clear. The Urals are mountains. How do I know that? I don't know. But what happened next?
           - Nothing. I stumbled upon this plate-like spaceship. It was lying in a swamp. I somehow made my way through the quagmire to it. The hatch at the top of the spacecraft  was open. I climbed into. That's where I met Chronos. I nearly shot him. But he suddenly started talking. I thought I became mad. At first, he didn't speak a word of Russian. Just some snorting and grumbling. In short, I don't know if he had been wounded or sick. Ksenia took care of him. She's a paramedic.
           - Is Chronos an alien? Is that his name?
           - Yeah, that was how he introduced himself. But I highly doubt that's his real name. He'd picked some our myths and legends. His real name is probably impossible for us to pronounce. Hey, Max, you've probably burned all the barbecue by now, that's enough, bring the it over. Leolik, taste the beer, please.
             Semyon poured something foamy from a bottle into Leolik's wine glass and served a plate of barbecue toward him. Leolik didn't enjoy the beer. It was bitter. But the meat was excellent. Leolik eagerly pounced on the kebabs.
           - It seems that in the City of Women, you was only fed with fish? Is that right?
           - Yeah, and how do you guess that?
           - What's surprising about that? You see, they can't kill animals. And fish aren't animals, in their opinion. Well, they still eat chickens somehow, but if they have to wring a chicken's neck, they call men for that. Men are slaves there, with collars. They probably like obeying women.
             Semyon poured a glass of beer into his silver goblet.
           - It's better to drink a liter of beer than suck a woman's clit. What do you think, Leolik, agreed?
           - No, Semyon! I'm against beer. I prefer women and clit, as you put it. And your beer is bitter. The wine is good, but strong.
           - Oh, you! So you're a ****lover and a ****licker? Why have you escaped from women then? There wasn't any refusal for you in that town, was it?
           - Yeah, Ksenia had kindly provided me with three intimate girlfriends. Nice girls. I left because I didn't want to become Ksenia's lover."
             Semyon did not expect such a turn in the conversation. He poured himself a full glass of wine and drank it in one gulp.
           - So, did you manage to handle all three of them?
           - Yeah, all the girls were happy and satisfied with me. And it seems like they've all fallen in love with me.
             Semyon naturally laughed out loud.
           - Well, Leolik, you're lucky. Didn't they give you anything special to drink?
           - Yeah, they did, so what?
           - Women are witches!
           - Ksenia too?
           - You won't believe it, but sometimes I think like that. It's good that we live apart. She came by recently and made me trim my beard. What do you think?
            - A nice neat beard, isn't it?
            - Well, well! You're still young and stupid. Women, they want all of you. And don't you dare argue with them. They thought up the law. A woman's desire is a law for a man. But I might want the opposite. I want my desire to be law for her. Ksenia and I lived a normal life on the Earth. She didn't cause any trouble. But here on Geia, it's as if she's gone mad. She thinks she's a queen. And also Chronos, that bastard, rejuvenated her. That's when she absolutely lost her mind. She has some kind of obsession with rejuvenation. They invent varieties of creams. For rejuvenation, from sperm. It's just disgusting. I don't use any creams, and how old do you think I look?
            - Well, you look as if you're in your forties.
            - Yeah, you're almost right. And what about Ksenia?
            - Well, probably she looks as if she's thirty-six.
            - Yes. That's right. When we left the Earth, we were almost sixty. Ksenia was also having cancer disease. She could barely walk. But Chronos cured her, and she cured him. Since then, he's been her favorite. I helped him fix his plate-shaped spacecraft. Some platinum stuff was broken. I stole a platinum crucible from the factory and went into the taiga with Ksenia. Chronos melted it somehow and repaired his plate ship. Then he transported us to the large plate mothership. But it was huge, about the size of this tower. I don't know, what way the flight was organized, we just woke up here. At first, we were alone. Robots helped us constructing buildings. And soon after Chronos started bringing people from somewhere. They seemed to be from the Earth and spoke Russian. Scientists, engineers. And then children were born and the population grew up. Probably a hundred years have passed. But Ksenia and I haven't changed. At first, there was nothing. Now at least we have electricity. In the artisan cities, everything is different. Machine tools, electricity. Almost all goods come from there. But we're not slackers either. I've learned how to make knives. They can't make that at their manufactures. Come on, give me your knife.
              Leolik took his dagger out of its sheath and handed it to Arseniy.
            - My work, see the marks on the blade? I made this knife. We make good money from them, and we also breed horses. We don't have cars yet. And meat is always useful. Ksenia delevoped as well. She established a university. Chronos uploaded knowledge directly into her brain. Chemistry, medicine, drugs. I refused. He shouldn't be giving knowledge to women. No matter how much you teach a woman, she's still a woman and a witch. Here's a perfect example. She has her own personal perfumer, Milena. She's a real witch! She makes perfume for Ksenia, seems nothing special, but Ksenia smells so desirable and delicious that I just become a pussy boy. Whatever she asks, I just lose my control. And so it is every time. She has me wrapped around her finger. If it weren't for this perfume, everything would probably be different. It was Chronos, that bastard, who taught them some special chemistry. The men in their city become complete idiots. They wear collars and never refuse the women anything. And, make a notice, they do it voluntarily.
            - Well, the collar in the City of Women is also a means of contraception. Didn't you know about that, really?
              Semyon looked at him in surprise.
            - Um, how do you know that?
            - Well, that's obvious. There're no children in that city.
              Semyon served himself some more wine and drank it. He was definitely drunk already. Leolik was drunk as well.
            - Yeah. I didn't think of that.
              Leolik wanted to listen to Arseniy's story. But suddenly a new character appeared on the roof. It was that Lord Cunningham. He bowed almost to the ground.
            - My King, I've been mortally insulted. My toga and my ancestral crest clasp have been stolen.
            - So what do you want? - King Arseniy asked him.
            - A duel and satisfaction!
            - Leolik, did you hear that? He wants to kick your ass.
            - I don't mind that, but we're not in equal conditions. I'm drunk, he's sober. Let him drink a couple of glasses of wine, not forgetting the beer.
            - Come on, Lord, let's have a couple of glasses and don't forget the beer. And you, Leolik, you're a risky guy. Max, go to my cabinet and bring me a couple of swords.
              Max gave a laugh and disappeared instantly. He returned a few minutes later, holding swords in his hands.
              Leolik took off his toga and belt and picked up a sword. He was wearing only sandals. The Lord was shocked.
            - I won't fight a naked man!
            - Why so, Lord? Who is stopping you from undressing too, so that we are in equal terms? Be noble to the end. I was dressed just like this when I stole your clothes. And you are probably rich enough not to regret such a loss. But you demand satisfaction and blood. Maybe I'll die. I don't know if I'm skilled to use a sword, but don't be offended if I suddenly kill you, - Leolik said ominously.
              The last words had a strong effect on the Lord. He was clearly hesitating.
            - Come on, Lord. Take off your clothes. For real, Leolik is naked. But you're still dressed. These are unfair conditions, - Semyon encouraged the lord. His eyes were sparkling; he seemed to be enjoying the situation greatly.
              The lord was hesitating. Apparently, he had never ever had to fight in that state before. But perhaps the wine he had drunk gave him courage. Spectators began gathering from somewhere. The lord began to undress and, like Leolik, remained in his sandals and with his sword. He was older than Leolik, but the same height. However, he already had a protruding belly. When he was dressed, it was not so noticeable. But naked and with a sword, he looked comical. The lord saluted Leolik with his sword and immediately rushed at him.
              It was the first time when Leolik was holding a sword. He didn't know how he knew that. But some cold rage dominated over him. He wasn't angry at the lord, because he understood that the lord was behaving like a slave of conventions. He would have been happy not to fight with Leolik, but his false pride was forcing him to do so.
              Leolik saw himself as if from the external view. Suddenly, everything slowed down for him. It was the same state he had been in during that incident with horses when he saved Milena. It seemed to him that the lord was moving terribly slowly. The external noises and shouts of the spectators turned into a vague hum. Leolik easily dodged the lord's attacks. He simply jumped aside and did not even swing his sword once. From the spectators' view, it looked like this: Leolik was standing there, then he suddenly disappeared, and after that he was standing there again, but in a different place.
              The lord was already sweating and out of breath. His belly and the wine he had drunk were clearly hindering him. But he still managed to hit Leolik with his sword. It was Leolik's long-suffering right forearm again. Blood spurted out. This inspired the lord a lot.
            - I am satisfied! - he shouted.
            - But I'm not! - Leolik answered. - Continue, Lord!
              This time, Leolik decided not to stand on ceremony with him. As soon as the lord started his attack again, Leolik stepped aside and tripped him up. The lord fell down to the ground. Leolik was really surprised by how slowly he was falling. But he didn't think a lot why his perception was changing so much. He simply whipped the lord's bare buttocks with his sword. Leolik managed to make at least five blows. Leolik's blows made bloody stripes. And when the lord landed down, touching the ground with his nose, his whole butt was covered by blood. From the view of the audience, it looked as if the lord had tripped and Leolik was standing to the side. But the lord's entire butt was just bloody. Almost no one had seen the blows.
            - Lord, are you satisfied? We have drawn blood of each other. Your honor is saved. Or must I kill you for your complete satisfaction? I'm taking your toga as my trophy, but you may take the clasp with your coat of arms. I've no need of it, absolutely.
              The lord hit his nose hard when he fell down, and he was bleeding significantly. Leolik came up to the toga, unfastened the clasp and threw it towards the lord. Then he wrapped the toga around himself and tied the ends into a huge knot. It wasn't very aesthetic, but the toga covered his left shoulder. Then he picked up his belt with his dagger and girded himself. He walked to the table and plopped down into the arm-chair.
              The spectators rushed to lord, picked him and his clothes up, and carried him away.
              Leolik poured a full glass of wine. He took a sip. He poured the rest onto his right forearm.
            - Leolik, he's actually wounded you. Let me have a look at the wound, - King Arseniy said.
              Leolik did not object. But when the king took Leolik by the right hand and began examining his wound, his eyes widened and his eyebrows raised. Right before his eyes, the wound was regenerating. The bleeding stopped. All that remained were dried scabs of blood.
    - Hmm, - he said thoughtfully. He let Leolik's hand go. Then he served himself one more full glass of wine and drank it in one gulp.
      Semyon's strange behavior did not bother Leolik. He was feeling completely calm, but for some reason he was hot. However, his breathing was absolutely calm. He was eager to continue the conversation. He was especially interested what else Semyon would say about Milena.
    - So you have the City of Men here. No women. How do you entertain, actually? Well, I saw that Lord fucking a guy on the lake. But are you all like that here?
    - Actually no, not all of us. Some visit women. Merchants, mostly. Blacksmiths work so hard with their hammers all day that they don't have any desire for sex. And that lord. He's not Cunningham at all, he's Innokentiy. Kesha. They just think up titles and names for themselves. He's a merchant. Well, how about the fact that he fucked that boy? The fellow himself didn't seem to resist, did he? And what about entertainment? Hunting, drinking, fighting. We don't have any theatres or music here. We entertain ourselves as best we can. You've provided me with some special pleasure today, Kesha's face needed to be beaten for a long time. He's been annoying me for a long time already. Well, if you want, we'll show you another kind of entertainment. I'm very curious to see your reaction.
      Semyon beckoned Max with his finger and whispered something to him. Max nodded and disappeared. Literally a few minutes later, about twenty young guys joined the spectators. Semyon stood up and beckoned Leolik to follow him. They walked to the middle of the roof. Max and another servant were carrying chairs for them behind. Somewhere in the middle of the roof there was a ditch. But for some reason, it was enclosed in a circle. Leolik thought it was for water flow. The tower was round and the ditch was round. Moreover, there was a barely noticeable slope from the battlements of the tower towards this round ditch. Stone steps led down into the ditch from the side. Twenty guys, completely naked, were standing one behind the other over the ditch, pressed tightly against each other. They formed a tight circle. They began to caress and stroke each other. Some of them already had full erections. And they began to insert them into the asses of their closest comrades. Finally, everyone did that, and the circle was complete. Everyone was fucking his neighbour and was getting the same from the neighbour from his back. Semyon beckoned Leolik to the steps, and they climbed down into the ditch, started moving along it. Leolik raised his head. The sight was spectacular. A garland of testes above their heads, and cocks in the asses. The whole alive chain was moving, twitching, and moaning with lust. Finally, Leolik and the king walked along the entire ditch in a circle and returned to the steps. They climbed upstairs out of the ditch. The fellows continued to satisfy each other without any shyness. The sight was certainly making horny. Leolik felt his erection.
    - Well, how do you like the show? Wanna join in? - the king asked him.
    - It seems like you've all gone mad without women here! You're not the City of Men, you're the City of Gays! There's a whole city of women without any affection, and you're here scratching each other's asses. And you, Senya, you're the king of these gays.
      Perhaps because Leolik was drunk, or maybe because he was excited, he did not mince his words. He forgot any caution. Semyon gave a mysterious smile. And then Leolik suddenly felt both his arms being twisted behind his back and handcuffs being snapped shut around his wrists.
    - For insulting His Imperial Majesty, Leolik is placed in a pillory for a day. From morning, any volunteer may fuck him. This is the will of the Emperor! - Max proclaimed all this in a loud voice.
    - Hey, Senya, have you already become an emperor? You're forgetting that all emperors had a bad end! And you haven't even created an empire yet, but you've already become an emperor.
    - Well, we have to start somehow, - King Senya was drunk as a skunk.
      Leolik was taken away. But as soon as he was taken, King Senya stood up and announced to his servants by absolutely sober voice.
    - Have you heard all that? So! If any of you or anybody from our town touches Leolik, I will personally fuck you up! And it won't be pretty! Max, give this order to the guards on the square. And to every resident. I need to know who will come to free him. You have all witnessed his unusual abilities during the fight. He barely touched Lord Cunningham but made him wounded. So whoever takes the risk can find himself in that Lord's situation.
      Leolik was escorted to the square. There was a P-shaped structure with three holes. He was bent over and the top beam was lifted. His neck and arms were pinned through the holes. His head and arms were in the holes. He was standing bent over, with his feet on the ground. The top beam was locked. At first, a crowd gathered around. But then Max appeared, said something to them in a low voice, and the crowd dispersed in a few moments.
      The sun was already setting. The blue night was coming.