Cacoethes' Works

 Chapter Sixteen: Dinner with His Excellency NILHIN HAD BEEN A TORTURER, working in the once-closed Zishe cell block, for a full season when he and eight of his fellow torturers were invited to the head table that night to dine with the main family of the Zaw Clan. It was a great honour, of course, but it felt rather like a death sentence to Nilhin, who prepared himself, scrubbing himself clean in the bath that was prepared for such an occasion. He got dressed in the finest clothes he had been given as a payethi, and clipped his necklace around his neck, holding his hair up off his neck. It had started to grow quite long, but he still hadn’t ventured far from Neuma, and certainly not into Kotesh, the city bustling in the uppermost layers of the mountainous dwelling of the Tbai capital.  He walked, last in line since he was the youngest payethi currently employed in such a position, and followed the others to the main dining hall. It was a grand reception room with murals depic...

 Chapter Fifteen: Good Intentions, Bad Promotions NILHIN HAD BEEN A SERVANT FOR TWO SEASONS, a little longer than six months, and he had remained out of the eye of anyone important. He had no friends, and any allies, but he was cordial and friendly with all of the fellow servants. He knew everyone’s name, servant and master, disciple and teacher, that he attended to or occupied the same space as for any length of time. His main duties mainly involved tending to the gardens in one of the lower levels, thus climbing and descending several dozen sets of stairs multiple times a day, and tending to the laundry of the Neuma dormitories, preparing their uniforms so they could attend their lessons in clean clothes.  Nilhin’s boss was an old man, a generational servant of the Zaw clan, and he had discovered Nilhin writing poetry, to add to the pages he had transcribed of his mother’s work. The man nearly dropped the bowl of brown rice he came bearing, his eyes stuck on the brush in Nil...

 Chapter Fourteen: First Prince of Zaw TWO DAYS LATER, Gronjas was preparing a carriage and a small army of servants to accompany them on their journey into Tbai. He brought no other disciples or warriors with them, and put a cloth hat on Nilhin’s head to help disguise him among his servants as they exited the Hvit Fortress. Their journey to the Tbai border would take nearly three weeks, and it was along the border that they were to meet with the first prince of Zaw.  The journey was long and arduous, but it was only this way because Nilhin had to suffer the constant and persistent company of Gronjas, who didn’t trust him not to run away it seemed. Gronjas kept Nilhin by his side, despite having dressed and told him to act like a servant. He was not treated like a servant, he was treated like a well-liked criminal being transported.  However, they soon came across a bustling city, flourishing under the border between territories, and built into the side of a small mountai...

 Chapter Thirteen: The Escape Plan HE WAS SURROUNDED by the warmth of many blankets, and the soft presence beneath him indicated a thick mattress. Whoever had brought him to their room, was someone of importance, prestige, or both. Even Nilhin’s mother hadn’t been afforded such luxuries and she was the most popular courtesan at the Ya Brothel. The more Nilhin’s senses returned to him, he started to realise he was bound with shackles around his wrist, and his arms were forced against his sides with rope that burned just a little whenever it touched his bare skin. Nilhin immediately began to struggle, trying to wriggle out of the ropes, because there was no way he’d get out of the shackles on his own.  The curtains on the side of the bed were pulled back to reveal Gronjas, and the man sat on the edge of the bed. Nilhin let out a whimper when his calloused fingers came for him, but they only brushed against his forehead and pushed his bangs off his skin.  “If you were really...

 Chapter Twelve: Revelations WHEN NILHIN RETURNED to the dormitory to prepare for the beginning of his lessons, he found that his trunk was turned over, and his bed was both a mess and sopping wet. He didn’t want to think of why that was, but he flipped his trunk over. It was empty. His trunk carried his uniforms, and his most precious possession. He looked around the room, at the other boys and men that were standing and observing his reaction. Kveda stepped up.  “We heard that foxes scent mark things,” Kveda said. “We were just trying to tell you that this isn’t your place.” Nilhin didn’t care about their dramatics.  “Where’s the book that was in my trunk?” he asked, remaining polite but no less demanding that someone who wanted their most valued treasure. Kveda motioned to the wet bed, and Nilhin pushed the mushy blankets aside to see that the rest of his clothes as well as his book were all covered in the same liquid -- more urine by the acrid smell of it. He didn’t c...

 Chapter Eleven: Legend of Xiu Ming (Part One) THERE ARE TWO ways that Xiu Ming is rumored to have been born. The first is through deceit. His father was tricked into procreating with a fearsome she-devil disguised as a beautiful woman, but the other is that his father, a scholar, was a helpful man that was out one night carrying dozens of scrolls in his arms. He came across a group of hunters trying to find a pelt to sell, and they had cornered a magnificent, large fox -- perfect to make a luxurious pelt from. Surely her skin would sell for quite a large sum, but she was too beautiful and innocent a creature to die for human greed. From a distance, Xiu Ming’s father, Xiu Bei, threw his scrolls at the offenders, making wild sounds like ghosts and monsters to spook them away.  Of course, they ran after some time, and Xiu Bei had to gather his priceless scrolls he had just flung around. The fox he saved, however, was so large because it wasn’t a normal fox at all. She was a fox ...