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.