Cacoethes' Works

 Chapter Six: The Madam Speaks IT TOOK OVER a week and a half to get back to Ya Brothel, and as soon as he approached the steps, his aunties crowded around him and tended to him. As soon as he was taken inside and stuck into a bath, he started to cry. He didn’t stop until the second water change. He hiccuped as he tried to stabilise his frantic, broken breathing.  “How’s mother?” he asked Aunty Ogi. “I couldn’t get her a doctor--” he choked on his breath and the tears started to fall again. He leaned forward and leaned his forehead against Aunty Ogi’s shoulder as he cried. “Father doesn’t want us. I can’t do it on my own. How will I save mother?”  “Oh,” Aunty Ogi said, before she too started to cry. That sobered Nilhin up a bit as he shifted in the water so he could properly pat Aunty Ogi’s back to try and comfort her while she cried. On the other side of him, Aunty Dasan was also sobbing. “It’s just too horrible! You poor, poor boy!” Aunty Ogi was in no state to speak af...

 Chapter Five: Power And Imbalance NILHIN'S ARMS WERE covered in dirt and mud. He had tried to wash them off in the water, as well as he had tried to prepare the animals he had caught for the children to eat, too, but dirt stuck in the crevices of his elbows and his forearms, and under all his long nails. He would have to cut his nails when he found an instrument to do so, because no matter how much he wanted to just drag them down the side of a tree, he couldn’t imagine how terribly those nails might catch on his clothes or his friends alike. They were really sharp, just like his mother’s, except she always knew how to be careful with them. Nilhin wasn’t used to them, and had cut his pants in two different places since they randomly grew out. It must have been more magic that he used accidentally.  “Maer?” Nilhin asked, guiding the buffalo back to the cart. He found Maer spread out on the bench, asleep, and the children were all asleep too. Nilhin was shocked for a moment, bu...

 Chapter Four: Breaking His Bonds THE FIRST DAY Nilhin spent fully in his cage, he tried to hold his hands out and make flames appear. It was the most basic spell that one could do, because fire was the base of pyretic energy, which was the dominant force that made mages be able to perform magic. Fire should have come easily to Nilhin, especially because he was a man, who made this energy far faster and easier than a woman might. Nilhin huffed as he failed to even make a spark. He didn’t know what he was doing wrong at all and nobody had been able to teach him either because nobody at the brothel knew magic!  “How’s it coming along?” Maer asked a few hours after Nehe left, giving them each a torn piece of bread.  “It’s not working at all,” Nilhin admitted with a groan of frustration.  “Well, maybe try something else?” Maer asked. Nilhin growled, something inhuman that he didn’t know he could make and then he quickly stopped. Maer sighed, probably used to it after the...

 Chapter Three: Too Cozy For Comfort AS NILHIN HAD described earlier, despite the distance, the best way to summarise Nehe and Tsani’s cottage was that it was cozy. There were thin walkways, shallow stairs, and rugs thrown over nearly all the hardwood floors. Their table was pushed into the corner of the kitchen, and held onto three seats. There were flowers in vases, and drying herbs over the furnace and stove. Tsani pulled a chair out for him, and he slid between the tall wooden back and the edge of the square table. Angla sat across from him, picking up a wooden spoon to scrape an empty plate.  “What do you like to eat, Nilhin? We’ve got berries, fish, and bread,” Tsani said.  “I like whatever you don’t mind sparing for this one,” Nilhin said. Tsani reached down to squeeze his cheek before she gathered him a plate of all sorts of the foods she mentioned. Angla grasped the ornate porcelain teapot -- a much higher quality than almost anything else in the kitchen -- and t...

 Chapter Two: Good Uncle AFTER HE LEFT the kind uncle’s farm before the sun came up, he only had to travel a little further before he saw a wagon being pulled by a big, horned buffalo.  “Uncle!” he called, running towards the wagon. With any luck, and from the direction they were facing, they were heading in the right direction for Nilhin to join him for at least a little bit. He caught up to the driver, and held onto the side of his wagon to keep up with his pace. “Are you heading to Aurumte, uncle?”  “Just on my way back to Villas,” he said. “Where are you headed, kid?”  “Capvita,” Nilhin said. “Perhaps a travelling man such as yourself would know how far that is from Villas?”  “Capvita’s in Seritium,” the man said, bringing his hefty buffalo to a stop. “I can get you to Villas. I suppose you’ve never been to Aurumte, have you? From Keydaya, I’d bet.” Nilhin nodded, and then the man slid over on the front seat of his wagon. “Well, climb on. You can sit in the ...

Chapter One: Departing From The Den HIS MOTHER'S ROOM was stuffy with sickness, but his mother wasn’t well enough to visit the outdoors anymore for fresh air. The opened windows did nothing to help the stifling indoors. Nilhin knelt at the side of the ornate bed meant for his mother to entertain her guests, men who wanted nothing more to rut against his precious mother, unaware of how amazing she truly was. Nilbi, his mother, held his small hands between her own, stroking the back of his knuckles with her thumbs like she had when he was far younger. He was almost fourteen years old -- the age that the aunties had decided he would soon put all the knowledge of human pleasure they taught him to use. Nilhin didn’t want to become a courtesan like his mother, but he didn’t want to leave her either. Due to the complications of her illness, he may not get a choice in the matter.  “You know what I’m going to say,” his mother said, correctly so. Nilhin nodded and pressed his forehead agains...