Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.

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Exit

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I can hear the thumping, feel it against my face. I'm lying on my stomach, atop something warm, firm and uneven. Something heavy is resting on my back. I ache. I ache so much.

I open my eyes and see nothing. I place my hands near my shoulders and push myself up, and my vision fills with Chaor's chest. It's rising and falling softly with his breathing, shaking with his heartbeats, glistening in the torchlight as it moves. His eyes are closed, his tongue hanging out the side of his open mouth. One of his hands is draped across my back, holding me down.

Right. I passed out. I take a deep breath and let it out. Then I breathe in through my nose. Yup, still in there. No broken bones, either. That's good. I really need to take a shit, though.

...Oh. Is Chaor still inside...? ...Yup.

I shudder and fight down the bile rising in my throat. I press down with my knees to lift my body all the way up, struggling to ignore the sound and sensation as I slide off Chaor's- I feel the vomit on my tongue this time and have to choke it back down.

Chaor's hand slides off me as I shift around, and his chest rumbles as he shifts underneath me. He doesn't wake, though. Good, having this escape end before it could even begin would be soul-crushing.

I carefully crawl off Chaor's stomach onto the mattress proper, dragging trails of thick slime with me. Quick update to the plan. Wash up, then escape. Chaor's and my clothes aren't back, so I woke up before the servant brought them. Good.

I hear the door click open while I'm slowly climbing down the side of the bed. "Oh," a familiar female voice says softly. "I hope I did not wake you."

"Oh, it's no problem," I say while making sure I've reached the ground. "I was already awake."

I turn to see the same rat-like woman from earlier. She has a pile of laundered clothing in her arms. She looks up and down at me with wide eyes. "Ah... Did he...?"

I put my finger to my lips as I glance back at Chaor, and she falls silent. "Best not wake him up. He might want to go for another round."

The servant shudders. "Ah. Well, I'll just leave these here."

"Wait," I interject, and she pauses. "Will you do something for me?"

She nods slowly. "If I can," she adds with a frown.

Okay, if I'm going to involve her this much, then I should at least know who she is. "First, what's your name?"

The rat-woman blinks. "Uh, my name? Pepranithalint."

...That's a mouthful. "May I call you Pepper?"

She nods. "I do not mind."

"Okay, then." I rub my hands together and glance back at Chaor. There's still no signs of movement, save the occasional twitch of his tail dangling off the bed. I turn my attention back to Pepper. "I need to wash up, real bad. I have goo in places I don't even want to think about."

Pepper nods and sets the clothing down. "I will go and start the baths."

"Ah, no," I say. At Pepper's confused look, I continue, "Could I use the washroom in the servants' wing? And, uh, carry my clothes for me, please? I don't want to get all this on it," I gesture at my body.

Pepper nods with a pitying look as she picks my clothing out of the pile. "Of course, I understand completely." She gathers my things and heads out the door, and I follow close behind.

Then we are immediately stopped by the guards outside the door. "Where are you going?" one of them says to me.

I recognize that voice. "I'm going to wash up. Care to escort us?"

The soldiers pause and glance at each other. "Er, we need to keep the door guarded."

I raise an eyebrow at them. "Then just one of you. I don't feel safe wandering the halls alone at night." I glance at Pepper and add, "Not that you're nobody, it's just, he has a weapon."

Pepper nods a little, her eyes wide and her knees shaking.

The soldier sighs in disgust. "Fine." He turns to his companion. "Stay here, I will be back soon."

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The walk to the servants' wing went by uneventfully, except for a moment where I greeted a decorative suit of armor thinking there was a person inside. The soldier is still chuckling about it, and even Pepper is smiling.

Pepper enters the washroom, and I turn to the soldier. "Could you wait out here? Ah, and no hard feelings about you and your friend trying to spear me the other day."

"Er, I was the one with my spear at your throat, not-"

"Not the spear I'm talking about, big guy," I laugh as I knock my fist against his codpiece. I head through and close the door behind me as he flinches.

"We have no hot water down here," Pepper apologizes. She's filled the bottom of a shallow wooden tub with a few inches of water.

"That's fine," I say as I step in.

Gah, it's like ice. Forcing myself to sit down in the water takes immense effort, and shivers are running down my spine. I pick up a nearby brush, then pause. This is going to be hard.

"Ah, I hate to impose more than I already am, but could you scrub me?" I cringe and hold the brush out to Pepper. "I'm not used to cold baths, and I don't think I can wash myself quickly like this."

"I am here to serve," Pepper says as she takes the brush from me. "No need to apologize."

I grit my teeth as Pepper splashes my back with freezing water and starts to scrub. "I'm not your master," I say with a shaky voice. "Pretty much a servant myself, when you get right down to it." Honestly, "slave" is a better word.

"You have it better than a real servant," Pepper laughs humorlessly. "You get to eat what he eats, large and warm meals. You get to use his baths, sleep in his bed." She pauses her scrubbing and traces a finger down the chain on my necklace. "You are given beautiful gifts before he breeds you."

I remember a time when I was under the impression that Chaor had a lot of wives, rather than a lot of servants who weren't allowed to say no to an invitation to his chambers.

"Does he... you...?" I trail off. "I shouldn't have asked, sorry." What a thing to ask someone.

"I do not mind," Pepper says, moving the brush to my lower back. "I find myself enjoying having someone to talk to about all of this. Nobody else really speaks to me, because I'm..."

"An OverWorlder," I finish.

Pepper hums. "You are perceptive."

Most beast-folk in Perim are OverWorlders, it was simply a lucky guess. UnderWorlders like Rothar are the odd ones out. "Well, if you want me to ask, then, does Chaor have you, er, join him in bed?"

Pepper shakes her head. "He would not taint himself with me," she states.

That's a relief, at least.

Pepper continues, "No, he lets the palace guard have their way with me whenever they feel like it. The ones guarding Chaor's room were why I was late in bringing your clothing in."

...I don't know what's worse, what she said, or the submissive tone she used as she said it. "I'm sorry," I mutter.

"That is life," she shrugs. "Lean back a little."

I do so, and she starts on my chest.

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My skin feels raw after that scrub down. I can acutely feel my clothing rub against my skin as I get dressed. It feels so good, better than after those fancy baths. Chaor's absence might have something to do with that, to be honest.

"I suppose this is goodbye for now," Pepper says as she cleans up after me.

Not a chance, Pepper. "Er, I think you should come back with me, actually," I state. "I don't think you folded Chaor's clothing."

Pepper blinks, and then her eyes go wide. "Gods below, I forgot! Thank you!"

How long has she been down here, to be using the UnderWorld phrase "gods below" rather than the OverWorld "gods above"?

The soldier says nothing when we exit the washroom, simply falling in step behind us. The trek back is quiet, up until we pass by the decorative suit of armor once again.

The armor is posed standing at attention, one hand over the other, both atop a sword. The sword is pointed at the ground, held in place only by the armor's hands. I focus on the diamond near my throat, and I hear the silent song of the metal of the whole display. I let another few dozen steps go by, then...

"I don't like this," I say suddenly, turning my head from side to side.

Pepper's eyes go wide, and she looks around. "What is it?" Her voice is trembling.

"I don't know." I glance at Pepper, then the soldier. "It feels like... like we're being watched."

The soldier looks around as well. "We are alone," he says after a long pause. "You are jumping at shadows."

Pepper puts a hand on her chest. She's breathing heavily. "Perhaps you are-"

The soldier is focusing his attention on Pepper. I twitch my hand, and the armor lifts its arms a little, freeing the sword. The weapon tilts forward, and a scoop of my hand makes it stop mid-fall.

"-simply tired. You-"

I rotate my hand at the wrist, and the sword rotates until the hilt hovers between the armor's legs and the blade points down the hall.

"-should hurry back to bed." Pepper gives no sign that she noticed my motions.

Neither does the soldier. "Can we get moving? I would like to get back to my post as soon-"

I twitch my palm into my thumb.

"-as-"

The soldier's body jolts as a blade erupts from his stomach, and he inhales quickly at the shock. Pepper shrieks, and I stagger back as if taken by surprise as well. The soldier's helmet tips down, and he stares at the blade silently.

I extend my thumb again, and the sword pulls back cleanly. No longer blocked by the metal, blood sprays from the hole in the soldier's gut. A bit gets on Pepper and me. The soldier falls to his knees. Pepper continues shrieking. I grab Pepper and push her behind me.

I put my thumb back into my palm. The sword shoots forward again, at speeds that render the soldier's armor about as useful as paper. The blade pierces his back and exits through the center of his chest. The soldier falls forward, hits the floor, and remains still.

I turn to Pepper and cover her mouth. I put my finger to my lips. "Quiet," I breathe as low as I can manage.

Pepper slowly pulls my hand down. "We-we're being attacked," she breathes back. Her pupils are like pinpricks.

"No, we aren't." I turn and step over to the soldier. I grasp the sword by the hilt and pull it out, then place it on the back of his neck, where the helmet and breastplate don't quite meet. I wrap both my hands around the hilt and put my full weight on the sword.

The soldier's body spasms as the blade pierces through bone, nerve, and flesh, and there's a clink as the blade's tip strikes the stone floor beneath. If the second blow didn't kill him, then this one surely did.

I turn to Pepper. She's staring at me, at the corpse, back at me. "You... you killed him."

"I did." I grab her hand. "We need to go."

I half lead, half drag Pepper with me, and we run, our footsteps echoing down the empty halls.

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Chaotic belongs to TCDigital.