Displaced

Chapter 81

Hoxoni bustled with activity as the Stragman people hurried to prepare for the Great Hunt—or at least, that was what Rudra assumed was going down. The day following the Chos's proclamation, his remote cavern remained largely undisturbed. His cell still hung from the cave ceiling, rocking back and forth almost imperceptibly as he sat against a wall and wallowed in his misery.

He had failed. It was that simple. Any attempts to rationalize his actions, to couch them in softer terms, fell flat. He'd failed himself. He'd failed the Shells. Worst of all, he'd failed Tepin.

Though he was the one who'd bargained for daily visits from Tepin, he found himself growing more and more agitated as the first such visitation approached. On the one hand, there was nobody he wanted to see more. He found himself almost pining for the fragile beastwoman, their recent time together having fanned flames in his heart that he'd thought extinguished years ago. Yet, on the other hand, he found himself dreading her arrival more with each passing second. He could already picture the look of betrayal on her face, and his imagined version was more than enough to send him into a spiral of despair. He couldn't conceive of what the real one would do to him.

Several moments later, Rudra heard the sound of gears clacking many meters away. With an unceremonious lurch, the cell began to slowly travel from his usual location above the center of the Chasm along the system of chains and pulleys fixed to the ceiling. An agonizing span of minutes later, the cell finally touched down onto solid stone.

Rudra watched as the cage's door swung open, revealing two large silhouettes with a much smaller one sandwiched between them. He immediately recognized the tiny figure as Tepin. The two larger figures—surely guards—shoved Tepin into the cell and closed the door behind them. She stumbled from the force but caught herself before she fell.

Slowly, she strode towards him. Rudra, for his part, simply stayed seated against the back wall and let her approach. The small woman halted her advance right in front of him and said nothing. Rudra, for his part, wanted to say a number of things, but he couldn't seem to find the words for any of them.

The glowmoss that Tepin had burned just several days ago had not even begun to grow back, leaving only the soft glow of the moss growing intermittently around the cavern to illuminate his prison. The light from behind created a halo effect, leaving much of her face hard to discern with his one good eye. All he could make out were her eyes shining in the darkness, those iridescent orbs gazing down on him in silent judgment. He didn't see betrayal in those eyes. Instead, he found profound disappointment. He quickly discovered that was just as terrible.

Without a word, Tepin drew her right hand back before swinging it towards his cheek.

Slap!

"You."

Slap!

"Stupid."

Slap!

"Bloody."

Slap!

"Fool!"

Already huffing and puffing from the mild exertion, Tepin's arm fell. Still, her rebuke continued.

"All our progress is disappearing as we speak! The Chos will feel emboldened to undo everything she agreed to now that she has you under her control! We don't even have our largest source of leverage anymore since you saw fit to bring her husband back, and he's far more conservative than she is! He'll push her to revoke every concession and likely restrict Shells even beyond how they were before! All because you were weak!"

"What was I supposed to do then? Just let you die?" Rudra asked.

"Yes, you idiot! You should have just let them kill me! As long as she can hold my life over you, everything is lost. I should end it myself and free you of that burden."