Qhal’s eyes landed on him and took him in.
Tiyan was placed in the scented water and small hands, the same ones he hoped were not on his private parts, cleaned him with soft soaps and balms. The fairy behind him took a bottle filled with… something glittering, of a deep green colour, like fresh spring leaves. She uncorked it, and a strange scent enveloped him… as if… Yes. Like liquid spring. The miniature leaves danced in the bottle, small signs of rebirth. Spring seemed to be trapped in a small bottle, held captive until someone decided to bathe in it.
Rebirth in Dal’coler. Something unnatural and as imprisoned as him, giving life on the altar of fey beauty.
A Fae who washed his hair, radiated with something bright that was inevitably lulling him to sleep. Each time she came closer, his eyelids grew heavier and he was almost ready to lay his head on her pallid breasts and dream. Her aura was intoxicating and soothing, so much so that he didn’t even react when other fairies began to clean and touch him between his legs. Not even when they squeezed and laughed. The pixie behind him smiled all the time, like a kind mother. A mother who was alive, not like his real one. A mother who would take him into her tender embrace and let him rest.
Completely.
Forever.
“You are a very simple being,” Qhal’s voice tore through his celestial state. “And I would believe that after what I saw in the Shadowlands. I have never seen anyone submit so easily to the spell of the Shadow Fairies. But I trust Him that you are not what you appear to be.”
Tiyan murmured something to himself. The fairies rubbed him and the water he sat in became blacker. And redder. Dirt and old blood separated from his skin, revealing the pale body of a hunter.
“Siferne, leave us alone. He can’t sleep if I talk to him.”
The Fae behind him gave Tiyan a tender kiss on the cheek and parted from him, rising gently, her white wings flapping behind her.
“As you command Rai’har Qhal,” she said with a slight sneer. But Qhal did not seem to care. The other fey was still rubbing Tiyan from head to toe.
Siferne’s spell stopped working after a while, and Tiyan finally realised that he was lying in a tub filled with old blood and slowly melting mud. Surrounded by enemies. His situation returned to him with full force.
“I saw you burning,” Qhal decided to continue and approached the tub. He sat down beside it. Knees crossed, relaxed posture. He looked as if he didn’t care about the water that leaked from the tub and pooled under his feet. “A very enlightening sight. I was curious, so curious that I allowed the Shadow Fairies to kidnap you.”
Tiyan shook his head, teeth pressed together.
“I saved your life then,” he said through a clenched throat. “Without my help, you would never have escaped the Shadowlands. I gave you the cursed blood of Lorian.”
At first, Qhal showed no sign that Tiyan’s words had affected him. His hand went to his cheek, and even when Tiyan threw his body back, he squeezed it and pulled him out so that he could look him in the eye.
And laughed.
It was a cruel, vicious laugh. Filled with mockery, much more piercing than the irony of the fairy minutes ago. His laugh was deep, vibrating in his transparent throat.
“The Shadow Fairies have no control over me, poor Tiyan Markon. But I enjoyed watching your dreamlike suffering as they projected those worms and teeth into your brain. I saw them, mirages, devouring your body. An intoxicating sight. But useless if you do not use your power.”
Tiyan looked at him in shock as he spoke. His skin crawled with unwanted cold.
“But then you broke free, your glorious flames bursting high. You walked like a hero of old, almost like a faery. The snow melted beneath your feet wherever you went. And I knew my king would want to taste it. To bathe in your fire and gain even more power. And I wanted to offer you to him.”
“But… why…” Tiyan couldn’t understand. It made no sense. Why would he pretend? He had him dancing to his tune. Why all this?”
“It gave me lot of enjoyment,” Qhal smiled beautifully. “Playing with your attachment; I woven it with pleasure. I saw it in your face, Tiyan Markon. Trust. And it gave me such a thrill. Masterful deception takes practice. And you were a truly gentle subject. Trust… a poison to those who have it. And a sweet liquor for those who know how to plunge into it and lay it on its back to fuck.”
His hand squeezed Tiyan’s face again, the young hunter wanted to pull away again, feeling pure disgust, but Qhal’s grip was firm and strong.
“You even ate the meat I gave you. When you had every reason not to trust me in this case.”
He saw Tiyan’s eyes open wide, so wide that a thrill ran down his spine. Tiyan was prey and however much power he had, not being able to use it made him defenceless. Even more than if he didn’t possess it.
“You never asked. Your faith in me grew each time I pushed you through a particularly dangerous situation. My kind rarely eat animal meat,” he laughed so sweetly, Tiyan’s marrow bubbled with increased fear. “You ate human flesh. And you loved it, abandoning yourself in hunger and relief from it. You should taste it while it is still bleeding, warm, hot even. I assure you, it tastes delicious.”
Tiyan threw himself into the bathtub, trying in horror to get up and run, run, anywhere, just to be away from here, away from this… creature. His throat closed and gagged as he suddenly felt the taste of dry meat on his tongue. His skin crept in disgust. You ate human flesh. Those monsters chopped a human and dried them to eat. For goddess’ sake! He crawled out of the water but didn’t manage to do go further..
… the fairies returned.
They were carrying something.
A thick tube with dry blood on one end.
“We would do it with magic,” a fairy shrugged as she approached him. “But he is our king’s plaything… he needs special treatment.”
“I am noone’s plaything, you little fuckers” his voice trembled but his self-preservation instinct decided to start working, at full speed – delayed but fueled with panic. He fell into group of fairies, aiming to somehow kick them off and leave this place – not even thinking how he will survive outside. His feet reached one of them; he felt the sticky and soft touch of her wings and his leg became numb; the stinging went fast, higher, reaching up to his knees – just like under the touch of sea gronal, holding paralizing poison. Their laughter in response on his action was most honest and impressed, as their power captured him in the mid–jump, and pushed him again into the tub.
“Playthings always say so.”
“Eventually becoming eager and willing.”
He didn’t remember how loud he was. He didn’t remember finding himself on his fours in the bloody water. But he remembered everything else.
The fairies lifted him up and checked his bottom with their little fingers, squeezed and spread it, and with a deft push they went with the tube inside him. Deeply. Deeper still. So deep that he gagged again, the taste of dry flesh intensifying in his memory.
“It’s not that bad,” the little fairy giggled at his ear. “It will get worse.”
And just when he thought the tube couldn’t go any deeper, a stream of water flowed into him. Hot. Too hot for him not to scream. He could swear his entrails melt and fill him with even more liquid.
His knees began to shake and he would fall face into the bath, but the strenght of the faeries was exceptionally great for their small bodies.
“You have to be clean.”
“Everywhere.”
“To please more.”
And as they did it, he could see Qhal’s mocking smile, etched into the Fae’s face, shining with amusement all the time.
“Spread him wider.”
“He likes it!”
“Look at his tears of joy…”
“Poor Noida, she didn’t even clean the blood from it…”
Tiyan didn’t even know when it ended. He was pumped with water forever, until he was laid down on the soft silk. He heard the ringing of metal and the pressure on his neck.
And that was all.
The end of all things.
A bliss of nothingness…
His flames didn’t move, didn’t save him, didn’t devour the faeries. They slept, oblivious on his suffering.