Szeddisosh is succinct in most of his answers. He prefers to keep the use of words to a minimum, many think it is to avoid providing unnecessary information, but it is actually because he is not very smart, his mind wanders easily. Having a cruel streak, very self-indulgent and self-destructive; something that only grew due to his mother. Which he deeply resents.
Born in the south, the bastard son of a nobleman from House Verda, Szeddisosh learned much about the area and how to hide his most serious flaws from his mother. His father was young and his mother, a courtesan, caught his attention during a court festival. His father's real wife discovered the affair and as punishment his mother was expelled from court, condemned to live on a remote farm, with only the servants as contact. He was regularly beaten by his mother, who blamed him for losing everything in life. Finally, when she died mysteriously. His father could bring him to court, with the tacit agreement that he would never receive more attention than a minor noble from House Verda.
That's why he avoided, like a mouse avoids a cat, any contact with family members, his half-siblings and his father's wife, especially if possible only in public.
On the outside, he came across as quiet, quiet, unambitious and accommodating. And yes, he was all that, his other side, cruel and gluttonous, only his servants and slaves knew. Until one day at the Midsummer Festival, he saw a courtesan. It was his undoing. She had to be his, to play with, break and destroy, like he always does with his toys.
Unfortunately for you, this courtesan. Atl'ti.
That name would forever be infamously etched in his life.
It was also a secret toy of the second son of the leader of House Serpenta Ungego, the Warlords. Cue-tol D'Serpenta Ungego, when he discovered that his favorite toy was broken, became furious.
Who would have thought that a courtesan would be resurrected? This is for nobility only!
Like this. The sea of shit came down the castes, until my father called me.
I remember it as if it were yesterday.
My father with his huge body, 12m long, 1.3m in diameter, his scales oiled and smelling of various floral essences, his crown of feathers completely open, signaling his aggressive temperament, looking furious at me as I entered his business office.
As soon as the doors close. All that shit held up behind my father's back is dumped on me.
“Brat! This is how you pay me! Shame is what you brought to your House.” His tail hit the floor with a thud at each end of his sentence. “I received an insulting letter from Lord Cue-tol D'Serpenta Ungego, demanding a formal apology from me! FROM ME!" Acidic venom drips from its fangs, staining the tile floor.
“Apart from the demeaning sum of money that was requested, I have to sign the apology!”
“MY HONOR IS AT STAKE….BECAUSE…OF...YOUR,…BOY!”
I quickly lie flat on the floor and turn my belly up in a sign of supreme submission.
But my father keeps spitting his anger in my face.
Damn, she was just a whore. I didn't even eat it whole!
“But you will learn to never put me through that again.”
My father finishes a little calmer, but his tone becomes even more acidic.
“I will send the written and signed apology, as Lord Cue-tol D'Serpenta Ungego, demanded. Yes, I will! AND...THIS WILL BE WRITTEN AND SIGNED WITH YOUR SKIN AND BLOOD!
My father's feathers once again extend and vibrate with his hatred. He stays like this, in combat possession, armed boat, looking at me on the ground like a rat.
“And if you show weakness during the flaying, your life will be ended, your weak seed will not be carried forward, and your name will be erased from the family record. GUARDS! Take him!”
I can barely contain myself with happiness. I won't die!!! ALIVE! ALIVE! But I will keep this lesson, choose my toys better.
My mother's years of beating, served something. I managed to resist both the pain and the humiliation. After my skin was removed and given to my father, I was healed, just enough, not to die. The next day, one of his butlers, Cōpa, came to my chambers carrying a letter on a crystal tray.
I cast Mage Hand and open the card to read:
Letter of Expulsion and Exile.
**Lord Szeddisosh D’Verda,**
With regret, but with the firmness of justice, I write this letter to notify you of your expulsion from the Capital of the Kingdom of Rashakn. His conduct, which was disrespectful to his superiors, deeply violated the principles of honor and loyalty that govern the conduct of Casa Verda.
Their presence in the Kingdom has become a burden and a threat to the order, honor and security of our society. For this reason, and after due deliberation by the Council of Casa Verda, we decree your exile.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
With immediate effect.
You have 2 days to leave the Kingdom of Rashakn, taking only your personal possessions with you. Any possession or property belonging to you within the borders of the Kingdom will be confiscated and administered by the Treasury of Casa D’Verda.
The path you chose led you to ruin, but there is still time for redemption. May this expulsion and exile be a moment of reflection and repentance.
May justice prevail and may the Kingdom of Rashakn remain strong and prosperous.
**Lord Pe'coatl D’Verda**
**Queen Calxochitli IX D’Vipura Nesttodomo**
**[Seal of the House of Truth]**
**[Royal Seal]**
“Don’t wait the 2 days, my wife wants more than your skin. A carriage awaits him at the back of the palace, it will take him to Beymoor. Together I am sending Cōpa, a faithful and capable servant of this house for generations. Make no mistake, obey him without question, he is my eyes and ears and will report to me any mistake you make. One mistake and your hide will be used as a latrine mat! Don’t lay your scales on the capital until I tell you otherwise.”
“My Lord. Cōpa, at your service.” He bows like no one has ever bowed to me, at least not without me training him a lot beforehand. “Your ride awaits, we must proceed with speed.” Says my new head butler.
I drag my body and follow Cōpa, he takes me through the corridors of servants, which were not made for a pureblood like me, every time my body hits the walls the pain comes, but only those who are alive feel pain. I live to play, I live to eat, drink and feel pleasure. “My Lord?” Says Cōpa.
When I look I'm in front of my carriage. A transport without House marks, and pulled by beasts of burden, ankylosaurs. Another nail in the coffin of my shame.
My father could have teleported me, but of course that costs money.
“No marks!” I say
Cōpa, open the carriage door. “You thought the time on the road would be good for you.” He says it so seriously and correctly that I don't know if he's praising me or being condescending.
I climb into the carriage and before the door closes I ask.
“Where is this place, Ke..” Damn I forgot the name.
“Kebury, it's a 10 day trip from the capital, 1/3 of the trip will be by carriage and the other part by boat. Kebury is the largest village in the region, has 580 souls, is walled and its last ruler died in a Mantis attack.”
“580, by Cymis, this palace has more servants than that. Another thoroughbred in the region.”
“No, my Lord, your grace will take the place of the one who died.”
I look at the palace where I lived a life of pleasure for a few years and get into the carriage.
Just before we leave the capital another unmarked carriage joins us.
At one of the stops, to give the beasts a drink, I ask Cōpa. “Cōpa, who are these accompanying us?”
“Hethress daughter of Grrrmmballhyst – Champion of hylasis, Goddess Of Rivers. She and her master, Zolin D’Verda, were exiled. He was sent to the Fortress of Pain and she to the same village as her grace. The one mounted on Kelek was called Hiutotiaco, a paladin of the Fury of hylasis.”
“Also an exile?”
“No, my Lord, she seems very competent, but her paths in the capital are closed.”
“A caravan of outcasts.” I let out a laugh.
Cōpa looks at me blankly. The sound of the caravan leader's whistle indicates that we should continue.
Soon the stone roads in the central region of the kingdom's capital, with their posts with continuous fire and magic to dispel the fog, are giving way to dirt roads. Until we reach the river where a barge of products to be sold downstream awaits us. There is no cabin for thoroughbreds like me, but Cōpa provides a tent to give me a minimum of comfort.
The priestess and the Paladin descend to the inner cabins of the barge, neither of them carrying more than a large travel bag. The two of them don't leave their cabins until we get off at the port of arrival.
“Cōpa, you said the village was walled.” What I see is a village, medium-sized, with a port with 3 docks, but without walls.
“My lord, this is Huemalka, Kebury is 2 days away.”
“Again locked inside a cramped carriage.” I say with an air of irritation.
“My lord, it is a trail.”
“What do you mean Cōpa?” My feathers open.
“Your grace will have to accompany the caravan yourself.” He says this and bows.
For a few seconds, the idea doesn't enter my head.
We get off the barge and things start to be transferred to the ankylosaurs. The idea of dragging myself for 2 days through a humid forest, full of insects and wild animals, doesn't enter my head. Until I see 2 of the 3 ankylosaurs have cells.
“Cōpa, who is riding in these cells?” My feathers open again.
“The drivers, probably the priestess and her paladin, my lord.” He bows again
“Cōpa. IF I HAVE TO DRAG THROUGH THE WOODS TO THIS PITCH, CALL KEBURY, THEY WILL TOO!!! I FORBID ANYONE TO GO RIDING!” Then everyone on the dock looks at me. The priestess and her paladin alike, oozing contempt for their peers, the paladin best indifferently. Everyone else hangs their heads like the inferiors they are, except the two of them. We stay like that, staring at each other for several seconds, then she turns her back and goes back to organize things in her ankylosaurus.
“My lord, I will communicate your demand to the members of the caravan, with your permission.”
It makes me look away without looking like I lost the contest. Naughty woman. My feathers vibrate with hate. I nod and turn my hatred towards women and begin to assume an attacking position. Then me or a “Tsssk”, almost inaudible in the buzz of the docks and the breeze that carries a few fishing boats both up and down the river.
I look at Cōpa, then, with an expression that I hadn't seen until today, contempt, boredom and tiredness. He simply gestures, imperceptibly except to me, “no.”
Then I remember. He is not my butler, he is my jailer.
As my mother taught me. I hang my head and pretend nothing happened.
These two whores are going to pay me back one day.