16 Is it punishment or foreplay?

More than anything, Aidan just wanted to chill. After everything he had witnessed during his trip with the Prince, he thought he deserved some peace and quiet. If he was in his own world, he would have prepared a bowl of instant ramen and rewatched old cartoons. Now even this seemed like a luxury.

Aidan sighed and entered his mansion, where the one-armed servant politely greeted him.

"Welcome back, General. Your bath will be ready in a moment. In the meantime, would you like me to send some porridge to your room as usual?"

Aidan remembered the ascetic "porridge" and shuddered.

"No, thank you," he frantically shook his head. He just had a brilliant idea of sending Corus to the nice tavern where they had enjoyed the tasty pig before his trip. Those fatty ribs would make for fine comfort food. Aidan was sure that Corus wouldn't say no to such a decadent meal.

"What else can I offer you, General? As always, we have rice, water, and..."

"Lettuce," Aidan gloomily interrupted him. "Yeah, yeah, I am aware. You know what, get Corus for me, would you?"

"He... but...," the servant stuttered in response.

"What's wrong?" Aidan asked. "Is he all right?"

"Yes... I thought you knew, General, " the man was now visibly uncomfortable.

"Knew what?"

"The... His Excellency Reo Atarian sent his men to... confiscate the slave," the servant said quietly, bowing his head.

Blood roared in Aidan's ears. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The wave of uncontrollable anger rose inside him, threatening to consume him entirely.

"When did that happen?" he clenched his fists, barely keeping it together.

"On the day you left."

That sneaky son of a bitch!

"So...you just handed Corus to the Regent's men?" Aidan asked. He was about to explode.

"I beg your forgiveness, General," the servant fell on his knees and covered his head with his only hand. "We can't go against the Regent's official decree. If we fought against his orders, that would be considered treason."

Not to mention, there was not a lot Adnan Minn's servants could do, being all crippled and maimed. Aidan now felt bad for throwing around blame without thinking.

"I assume Corus didn't go willingly," he said finally.

"They immobilized him, as they do with all the slaves for transportation."

"Of course."

So Corus had been gone for three days now. Who knows what horrible things the Regent could have done to him in all this time! Why didn't Aidan prevent this from happening? He couldn't protect the one person he actually liked in this world! And now Corus was somewhere being tortured or sold to perverts, or even worse - dead!

Without thinking even for another second, Aidan turned on his heel and stormed out of the mansion.

"General...?" the man behind him called out.

Aidan didn't bother to respond. He barged into the stables, took a fresh horse, and made his way directly to the Emperor's palace. During the ride, he got progressively angrier at himself, and at the Regent, and at this stupid world where one could just sell and steal human beings. But this time, he wasn't going to play by the rules and take Regent's shit like a good little boy.

At the palace gates, Aidan jumped off the horse and decisively marched inside. He ignored the servants and their pathetic attempts to stop him.

"Where is he?" he yelled as he walked through the bright golden halls.

"General, please, stop," the servants were desperately trying to block him.

Aidan grabbed one of them by the front of his shirt and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Where is that pig face?"

The man in the servant's uniform gave him a confused look.

"The Regent, damn! Where is he?"

"His Excellency is with his council right now. We can't bother him. If you could wait..."

Aidan wasn't going to wait - that much should have been clear.

"Take me to him," he bellowed at the man, whom he was now holding a couple feet off the ground.

"But..."

"NOW!"

Trembling, the servant finally nodded and led Aidan to the Eastern side of the palace, stumbling several times on the way.

"Here, General," he pointed to the end of the hall. "But you really shouldn't..."

Aidan wasn't listening anymore. He pushed the doors wide open and walked into the room. Inside he saw several people sitting around a giant oval table. Now all of them were staring at Aidan. The Regent was the only one who didn't look particularly surprised.

"General Minn, you were not invited to this council, if I remember correctly," he said icily.

Aidan didn't say anything – instead, he approached the Regent in five giant steps and punched him right in his arrogant stone-cold face. That was something he had wanted to do since the first time he saw this guy.

A heavy silence fell upon the room. The Regent slowly turned his head and spat out dark blood.

"What is the meaning of this, General?" he asked, wiping the side of his mouth with a snow-white handkerchief he pulled out of his sleeve.

"Where is Corus?" Aidan asked, breathing heavily. It took all of his self-restraint to not deliver another punch. Unfortunately, this asshole won't be very talkative after he loses all his teeth.

"Ah, you mean the slave of yours whom you've been keeping in your household despite my clear orders? He's where he should be – in the custody of the Empire," the Regent responded with a smirk and gave a sharp nod. At that moment, Aidan felt somebody grab him from behind and push him down on the floor. He got up immediately and made the person who was holding him fly into the wall. Aidan knew now how much strength General Minn possessed, and he wasn't going to hold back anymore.

The guards had filled the room and were now surrounding him. Being outnumbered and having no weapons, he was at a clear disadvantage. But Aidan didn't care He just wished to do more violence. He kicked and punched and pushed and even managed to stab some guys with their own swords. However, eventually, they still overpowered him and tied him up like a rotisserie chicken.

As he was lying on the ground and struggling to get out of restraints, he saw the Regent squat next to him. The man leaned forward and gently put a strand of hair behind Aidan's ear:

"I've been dreaming of getting rid of you for such a long time. Thank you for providing me with this opportunity," he whispered and then loudly told the guards:

"Give him ten lashes, and then introduce him to our lovely dungeons."

Aidan laughed out loud when he heard these words. The only thing that he regretted was that he didn't spit into the Regent's face when he had the chance. And now he was just too far away.

The guards, of course, followed orders and mercilessly dragged Aidan out of the room. Soon he was kneeling in front of the rack.

"Put him up there," one of the guards said.

"No, you put him up. I'm not coming near him when he's untied," the other guard responded.

"Smart boy," Aidan smirked to himself.

In the end, five guards were holding him down while they untied his legs. Unfortunately, before Aidan could kick anybody, another five guards had already managed to secure him at the rack. His back was now facing them, exposed and waiting for punishment. Aidan couldn't help but wonder if the lash was going to be more painful than his father's leather belt.

As the first hit fell on his flesh, he laughed:

"That's all you got? Come on, make it worth my while!"

Another hit.

"Don't you ever train your arms? My grandma hits harder than that."

And another one.

"Pff, is it punishment or foreplay?"

By the time the last hit came, Aidan was barely conscious, but he stubbornly continued to taunt the guys. Coming up with new lines kept him from passing out, which was a handy trick he had learned early on in his life.

It still took five guards to take him off the rack, and they even tied him up again. Aidan was obviously giving a great performance.

"Aren't ten lashes a bit of a light punishment for hitting His Excellency?" One of the guards asked quietly while they dragged Aidan down the narrow steps into the underground tunnels.

"That's just the beginning, buddy. You know what they say about Reo Atarian... Believe me, once he's done with General Minn, his own mother won't recognize him," the other one responded.

"How crazy is this guy to do something like that?" another guard gasped.

"Didn't you see the way he was acting? He's obviously not all there!"

Aidan wanted to say that he was the only one in this place who actually was "all there". But as soon as he opened his mouth, blood came gushing out, so he could only gargle something unintelligible.

The guards pushed him into a dim cell with hard stone floors and locked him there without even untying.

Those cowards.

The air smelled damp and at the same time, pungent and musty. Having lived in his share of crappy apartments, Aidan was very familiar with this particular type of odor - the place was obviously infested by insects. As if in confirmation of his thoughts, a giant cockroach with long whiskers crawled right under his nose. Judging from the sounds that came from the corners of this place, there were at least several rat families living here too.

Aidan spent some time trying to wriggle out of his restraints. It took a while, but he finally managed to free his hands by literally tearing through the rope with sheer strength. Once again, he had General Minn to thank for this extraordinary ability. Untying his legs took a bit longer, as he was continuously passing out from horrible pain. After he untied the last knot, he could feel his back oozing blood and puss. It made him sick to his stomach.

But this time, he couldn't just give up and wait for the sweet release of death - he needed to hold on for Corus. He promised that they'll go drinking together again and, everything be damned, Aidan was going to deliver on his promise! This thought made him remember something delightful - he still had a bottle of that village "rum" in his boot! There was not a lot of it left, but it was better than nothing. Shortly he thought about using it to disinfect the wounds on his back but then decided that he would rather be tipsy than in pain.

He emptied the bottle in one big gulp and immediately regretted his decision, as his mouth was now on fire – Aidan had completely forgotten that he had received some blows to the face during the fight with the guards. Wincing from pain, Aidan smashed the bottle against the floor. This move left him with three uneven shards of glass. In Adnan Minn's hands, these were deadly weapons.

Soon the warmth from the alcohol spread through his body. Despite the stabbing pain in his back, burning pain in his mouth, and dull pain in his head, he managed to fall into something resembling sleep.

In his dream, Aidan was stuck in a tiny cage. It was too small for him to even get up or move properly. He tried to smash the bars while continuously screaming: "Let me out!"

Then somebody, right next to his ear, said:

"Dream on. You will stay here forever."

These words jolted Aidan awake again.

Unfortunately, he was not drunk anymore and still in pain. But he wasn't too concerned about it – Adnan Minn's body was very resilient - he could take on this and much more. And when the Regent decides to give him a visit – and he will undoubtedly do so - Aidan will be ready. This time he will not hesitate - he will take the asshole hostage, if needs be, and negotiate for Corus to be released.

"What the hell did you get yourself into?" he suddenly heard a voice coming from behind.

Moaning in pain, Aidan slowly turned his whole body. Once he was facing the other side of his cell, he saw no one other than the Prince looking at him through the rusty bars.

"Ah, long time no see. How have you been, Your Highness?" Aidan asked mockingly. "As you can witness, I have been doing splendidly, since we last met."

"This is serious, Adnan," the Prince sounded angry.

"In that case let me ask you a very serious question," Aidan licked his broken upper lip. "When did you find out about your uncle's plan to kidnap a man from my house? After we came back? Or before that... sunshine?"

As expected, the Prince kept quiet.

They both knew the answer.