It was a few days before Rae found time to test out the bathing caves. The baby had still yet to be born and Duke Ashem and the rest of the family were too busy tending to the Shana to oversee Rae’s work too closely. Bejuk was quite excited by the whole idea and was happy to take on Rae’s duties in exchange for feedback on his hard work.
“It doesn’t look like much,” Gaori said when they reached the mouth of the cave.
They had walked up a winding little mountain path, unassuming. The entrance to the bathing caves was marked with a plain red banner and an unlit lantern. The ground around the cave had been artificially levelled, and more lanterns were mounted on the walls inside the cavern.
They lit the lanterns as they walked, revealing the gleaming moisture clinging to the cave walls. The entrance was cool and damp, not exactly an inviting combination.
But as Rae and Gaori walked deeper into the cave, the air went from crisp, to lukewarm, to steamy. Eventually, the passage opened into a vast chamber, in which water flowed.
The water wasn’t murky but smelt quite different from the fresh river water that fed the Shak’s camp. Like something cooking, something stewing.
“Do you think it’s safe?” Rae asked, before turning to see Gaori crouched down, dipping his fingers in the water.
“It’s hot! That’s all that matters to me,” he said and threw aside his belt and sword.
After only a second, his leather breastplate was gone too, followed by his boots, tunic and trousers.
“Hey! You came here to watch out for intruders, not to bathe,” Rae said.
His cousin was standing in the water up to his waist and looked like he wanted to melt into it.
“There’s sand on the bottom, feels very soft underfoot! Rae, you must get in, come help me find a good spot to sit,”
Gaori waded further into the pool, but the water didn’t seem to get much higher than his belly button. The light from the lanterns flickered across the water and danced off the rising steam.
“It looks like it goes deeper,” Rae said, squinting into the darkness that enveloped both the walkway and the far end of the pool, “I’m going to take a look,”
“Alright,” Gaori had found a stone to sit on, and let out a sigh as he submerged himself deeper, “I’ll keep watch here,”
Rae scoffed and strolled deeper into the darkness. It was comforting, being in this deep, hidden place, gradually illuminating it with flickering light. The sound of rushing water got louder, and Rae found the main pool was fed by a small waterfall at the end of the cavern. There, the passage twisted to the left and grew narrower. And the air grew moister. Rae wondered if this passage was simply here to vent the steam from the spring, but there were still regular lanterns mounted on the wall, and the floor had been carefully levelled and cleared of wreckage, so he suspected there might be one more thing to discover.
Once the lanterns were lit, the passage didn’t seem quite so long anymore, and soon Rae emerged into another vast chamber and saw the glare of daylight again.
The chamber was almost perfectly round, large enough to fit about ten people comfortably. In the centre of the ceiling, there was an opening to the sky, drenching the chamber in light and fresh air.
Rae took a deep breath, the warmth of the thermal pool was surely very soothing after a long walk, but paired with the peace of this chamber, with its natural window, Duke’s Bejuk’s secret baths were really something else.
He stood beneath the opening, trying to catch a glimpse of the forest above. Other than a few stray tree roots, all he could see was sky. Steam from the baths twirled up to the surface, illuminated by elegant sunbeams.
“Gaori, come out for a second! Come see this!” Rae shouted into the passage behind him.
If he could get a seat brought up the mountain, he would find this a pleasant, private place to meditate or sunbathe. His secret hideaway… with a bath attached!
“Gaori!”
The waterfall must have been drowning him out. Worrying the chamber might just be a fleeting dream, and would be gone, or less magical when he returned, Rae went back to the bathing pool.
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Rae had since he took his first steps, known how to move without making unnecessary sounds. He stepped lightly, with most of the weight on his toes. He wore minimal, unadorned clothing, that didn’t restrict his movement. He took slow, measured breaths.
Rae was so talented in this regard that he hardly noticed he was doing it. He had often appeared at his cousin’s side without warning and caused him to startle. If this time, things hadn’t gone so awry, that is likely what would have happened in the bathing caves, and they would have had a good laugh about it.
As it goes, however, when Rae rounded the corner back into the main chamber, he was met by the sight of a black shadow, holding his cousin’s head under the water.
“Goari!”Rae cried, and the shadow looked up. A white, sharp face with framed with black hair. Piercing amber eyes.
“You-!” Rae gasped, his hand fumbling for his sword. The water around the beast churned but Gaori was firmly held under.
There wasn’t a moment to wait! Rae’s legs -which a moment ago had been reduced to jelly- moved on their own. He surged towards the assassin and aimed his sword at the shadow’s throat. A guttural sound Rae had only heard from beasts escaped his lips.
The shadow leapt away, silent, his eyes gleaming in the lantern light. He was as slender as a willow vine, and his water-logged clothes didn’t seem to hinder his movement at all.
When Gaori came up spluttering, the bestial part of Rae relaxed a little. He took on a defensive stance.
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“Where is your sword?” he asked, without breaking the glare he had fixed on the shadow.
After less than a second, the amber eyes flitted to the ground, and Rae knew the sword was lying at the beast’s feet.
“Dammit,” Gaori said after he had coughed up all the water, “he came out of nowhere!”
He was up and talking, but he didn’t look like he could manage much more than that, even if he had his sword.
“What do you want?” Rae asked the beast, all his effort going to keep his sword arm from shaking, “Your master has scolded you once, did he not punish you properly?”
Rae puffed out his chest and tried to channel Ven Ashem. Before, this fiend had backed off as soon as the Ashem young master haughtily told him off, but something had changed in the beast since then.
“Don’t act ignorant,” the beast said, unsheathing his blade and rushing Rae.
Rae was prepared for the beast’s strength and was able to counter his attack without being knocked prone. The clang of the blades meeting rang in his ears for only a second, before Rae returned with a slash at the beast’s waist.
It never connected, and the force of the next attack forced Rae back a step. At least he wasn’t standing on a roof this time.
“They call me a beast, but you’re something-“
Rae felt smug when his next blow shut the bastard up but he was soon pushed back again.
Rae might have been well-trained and fitter than average, but his small size could only contain so much strength. With the ground slippery and the edge of the pool not far off, he had almost been backed into a corner, next he would be pressed up against the wall.
Gaori, naked and winded as he was, was still in no state to help out. Rae gave his cousin one last glance before he darted into the passage to the windowed chamber.
Rae was able to sprint through the forest undergrowth faster than anyone else in Camp Kaolin, but the shadow was faster.
Just as Rae pivoted to greet the beast with a fresh wave of attacks in the open chamber, a fist hit him in the face.
Rae stumbled back, assuming the defensive stance that had worked in the past. Instead of trying to knock him off his balance, the shadow focused all its ferocity on the arm which held his sword.
Disoriented from the punch and his wrist being painfully twisted Rae’s sword clattered to the cave floor.
“Rae!”
Gaori had finally gathered himself. He would be running down the passage, sword drawn. All Rae needed was a little time.
“Your master doesn’t want me dead,” Rae said, half to convince himself, as much as the beast.
“Neither do I, unless you refuse to cooperate,” the beast said, his amber eyes boring into Rae.
He used his free hand to pull what looked like a kind of acupuncture needle out of who-knows-where. There was a sharp pain in the side of Rae’s neck, and the cave began to swim.
If the punch had dazzled him, whatever the beast had given him burnt him to a crisp. He couldn’t tell which way was up. The opening in the cave shifted, grew and shrank, then all his vision was white.
He could feel the beast, his grip firm and his body close, and tried to kick his way to freedom. The beast continued to manhandle him but didn’t harm him any more.
Rae was dragged under.
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When Rae’s mind returned to him, they were in the forest. He had been swung over the beast’s back, held by his legs. Looking up, he could see the undergrowth the beast was tearing through. Looking down, aside from his own limp body and the beast’s shoulder, was that familiar blue sky peaking through the foliage.
As he was taking this all in, Rae let out a groan. He felt sick. He couldn’t tell if his limbs were in agony or completely numb. And the swinging motion of his upper body as he was carried upside down… He was going to throw up.
He couldn’t open his mouth to speak, so he tapped on the beast's back. It was a weak tap that said, ‘Please have mercy, just for a moment!’ but it sapped Rae of the last of his strength.
“Bear with it,” the beast said simply.
Rae didn’t even have the energy to kick his attacker, so focused everything he had on not throwing up. His head throbbed and the trees and rocks swam before his eyes.
After who-knows-how-long, the beast came upon a dilapidated building. Maybe a hunting shack? It was built of wood and stone, with a dirt floor covered with a straw mat, and a hearth set on one wall. The beast threw Rae onto the mat, and it took a few more minutes for his mind to finally stop spinning.
While Rae was incapacitated, the beast bound his hands and feet with a thin black rope. When his work was done, he sat back and waited for Rae to gather himself.
“Are you going to kill me?” Rae croaked. He couldn’t understand, there was no benefit to ending his life, but there was even less to taking him captive. Especially for Duke Ashem, if Rae wanted, he might be able to convince Bejuk to help him build an army and raze camp Ashem to the ground in retaliation for this humiliation.
“It depends on today’s outcome,” the beast said, “you are to tell me what you had slipped into Miss Jiwat’s food. Who you had do it. And how? If after all that, the Shali lives, I’ll let you go,”
Rae felt like he must still be sluggish from the drug.
“The Shali? I don’t… I don’t know what you mean,”
The beast grabbed his collar, hauled him a foot off the ground and shook him.
“The Shali! You’ve sent an assassin to poison Jiwat li Ashem! And you’ll be after the rest of them next,”
Ah, so the beast was mad. There was likely no saving Rae at this point but he couldn’t help but try to defend against the terrible accusation.
“You’re wrong-“ Rae had the breath knocked out of him when the beast released his collar, and his skull impacted the floor. Even so, he couldn’t let this crime be ascribed to him.
“I have no one except the one you almost drowned in the cave! Do you really think he could have done such a thing?”
“That’s not true! You have someone else, working in the shadows,” the beast’s tone was ruthless, but Rae caught a glimpse of despair in his amber eyes. For the Shali? He was a loyal beast, Rae realised.
“Think it through! I have no reason to harm my sisters. The ones I have a grudge against are the Shana and Duke Ashem. And you-“ Rae paused, before deciding to take a leap, “-you must have been watching me, after that night at the guesthouse? Someone of your skills-“ Rae spoke as meekly as possible, “-would have noticed if I had a secret assassin to order around, wouldn’t you?”
The beast was frozen, just staring a Rae. Then, the ice was thawed into horror.
“But… If it wasn’t you, then Miss Jiwat…” the beast’s eyes were wide, his voice with more rasp than before. He was spiralling and Rae had to act fast.
“It wasn’t me, which means the true culprit is still at large. If you let me go, I’ll find who did this,”
“Miss Jiwat…” There were tears in the beast’s eyes, he couldn’t have been much older than Rae was.
“There, there… Just untie me. I’ll help you fix this,”
Rae wasn’t sure if he was lying or not. This beast didn’t know what he was, a one-man force of nature one moment, overcome with hopeless sentiment the next. Regardless, the beast must have seen something trustworthy in Rae’s eyes, because after wiping at his eyes and taking a deep breath, he released Rae’s wrists.