Chapter 14

Max felt he was unlucky to have it be the wasp dream again. Of all the nightmares his Alius had made him live, that was the one that bothered him the most. Even now, after having experienced it several times, he awoke twitching at the phantom wasps crawling over his skin, his hands shaking badly, made worse by the fear that he was still under the Alius's influence and the nightmare was not even finished yet.

Max sat up slowly, taking stock of his surroundings and finding nothing out of place. Alva was already gone, though almost everyone else in the class were still splayed out on their mats. He got up, after glancing at Blair who merely nodded back at him, and left, heading straight for the dining hall. He saw Alva's bright coloring in the sea of browns and blacks, and took a seat beside them. As soon as he had, though, Alva got up and left without so much as another word to him. He sighed, watching them leave, despairing at their frozen attitude towards him. How could he even begin to try and figure out what he'd even done to infuriate them if he couldn't even get them to talk to him?

He ended up eating more than he knew he should, and left the dining hall feeling slightly sick. Evening was starting to turn to dusk as he made his way to the house. As he approached, his ears caught something strange: voices, coming from around the back of the house.

As he got closer, he began to make out the voices, recognizing one of them as Alva.

"...dimwit like you can't-" Max heard a wet thump, cutting Alva off. It was followed by a wheezing breath.

"Can't I?" A vaguely familiar voice said. "Who's gonna stop me?"

Max crept around the side of the building, peeking around the corner, his eyes going wide and his heart picking up. There were five Draagen in all, one of them the Draagen that Alva had previously slapped. One of them held Alva, their arms pinned behind their back. They were bending forward as much as the Draagen holding them would allow. "That was...cheap." They wheezed.

Alva looked up and locked eyes on Max, their eyes going wide. One of the Draagen saw their look, and turned Max's way. Max froze, until the Draagen cried, "Hey! Stop!"

Max turned and bolted, sprinting away from the house back towards the castle. He could hear the heavy footfalls of his pursuers getting closer, and he didn't even make it halfway before a pair of large arms grabbed him around his chest, picking him up. Max struggled, kicking in the air and screaming, until one of the Draagen shut Max's muzzle with a strong hand. "Quiet." He growled. "Or I'll break your neck, got it?"

Max whimpered through his closed muzzle. Unwilling to take a chance on this being a dream, he nodded and the Draagen released his muzzle. Helpless, the Draagen carried Max back to behind the house, the Draagen whom Alva had slapped grinning widely.

"Well, look what the cat drug in. I'd hoped you'd get to see this. You behave as you're supposed to, but it never hurts to get a reminder of what happens when you don't behave."

"Damn you and your reminding," Alva spat. "I won't take back what I said because it's all true."

He laid another punch into Alva's gut, making them grunt and cough weakly. "You will, once I'm done with you."

The Draagen recoiled as Alva spat in his face. He wiped Alva's spit off of his muzzle, giving them a murderous stare. He swung his fist once, twice, three times at Alva's face, Max crying out in dismay.

Alva's head lolled as blood dripped onto the ground, the Draagen turning around to give Max a grin. "He knew better than to do that." He grabbed Alva's chin, lifting their head up. One of their eyes was already swelling closed. "All he's gotta do is tell us what a dirty little manling he is."

Alva didn't respond, their eyes a little distant.

"Hm, looks like I knocked the daylights out of it. I know what to do about that, though."

He wound his arm back, giving Alva a hard slap across the face. "Wake up, manling."

Alva blinked for a second, then slowly looked up, glaring at the Draagen.

"I don't think it's awake yet." He said, slapping them again. He looked into their glaring eyes. "Nope, still not yet." He said, delivering another hard slap.

"Stop it!" Max yelled, struggling against his captors.

"I'll tell you what." He said, looking to Max. "I'll stop if this one-" He said, pointing to Alva. "-admits that it's a whore that loves being bent over by real men."

"Damn you to hell."

"If you insist." He said, gleefully driving his knee into Alva, followed by several other swift kicks, at least one of them accompanied by a sharp snap. Alva's breathing was ragged, and he coughed violently as the Draagen stepped back. "Say it." Alva made no motion. He surged forward, grabbing Alva's jaw and forcing them to look up. "Say it!"

Alva was still silent.

"Alva, please. Just say it." Max pleaded.

"See, this one understands. You're freaks living in my world, so you play by my rules. Which means you do as I say, when I say it. Understand?"

Alva coughed again, spitting blood onto the Draagen's feet. "No."

The Draagen snarled in rage. "Let him go, Dominc."

He let go, pushing Alva forward. They stumbled, but managed to stay on their feet. They looked up, raising their arms in what Max presumed was a fighting stance, though they wobbled in place.

The Draagen snorted, lunging at Alva. Alva started to move, but as off-balance as they were, not fast enough. The Draagen's fist connected with the side of their muzzle, snapping their head to the side and sending them sprawling to the ground.

"Stop!" Max pleaded.

The Draagen gave Max no acknowledgement. He lashed out at Alva with his foot, the claws on his feet carving red lines into Alva, who curled up into a ball. He took a step back, glaring at Alva's panting form. The cuts he'd made bled visibly, matting the fur surrounding them and had shredded some of Alva's feathers. He stepped back, surveying his work. "Yeah, you're not going to forget that any time soon, are you?" He said with a laugh. "If I go any further I'd kill you, and unfortunately that is looked down upon, even if you are a manling." He kneeled down next to Alva. "Next time I have to do this I will kill you, laws be damned."

He stood up, gesturing back towards the castle. "Let's go, these manlings have learned their place."

Max was shoved to the ground, the Draagen around him laughing as they walked away. Max crawled over to Alva, kneeling next to them. "Alva?" He breathed.

They didn't so much as stir. At least Max could see they were breathing, if slowly. Afraid of what might happen to them if they didn't get help soon, Max picked them up as gently as he could. It was difficult to pick up someone as big as he was, and he had to be slightly rough on them, causing them to moan in their unconsciousness. Carrying them back to the castle was slow work, and he cried out the whole way, "Help! I need help here!"

Despite his loud cries, no one came. The few people in the greenspace surrounding the castle did not so much as acknowledge him. When he walked into the entrance hall, people milling around froze upon seeing Max with Alva's bloodied body. "Someone help me!" He cried.

Yet his cries only caused whisperings among the scattered groups, the people hurrying away from Max with the air of vague politeness. Burdened with Alva, he couldn't keep up with the people walking away, and he found himself alone in the entrance hall.

His eyes blurred. "Someone." He croaked, at a complete loss of what to do now. It crushed him to see that the Draagen's actions had not been an outlier. He shouldn't have been surprised, yet he'd thought for a second that maybe even Alva, given their extremely poor condition now, would garner some sympathy. But, no. He should've known better. Having trouble seeing the way back to the house for the tears he was now shedding, Max made his way slowly back to the house, intending to do what he could for Alva.

He made it about half way to the house before he awoke with a start back in the session room. It took Max a second to understand what had happened, and when he finally wrapped his head around what this meant, he shivered, in relief as much as in horror. Just to be sure, he looked himself over and found no sign of Alva's blood on his clothes.

He got up quickly once he saw that Alva wasn't on their mat next to him, making a beeline for the dining hall. When he didn't find them there either, he went to the house and banged on their bedroom door.

"Alva! Alva, you in there?"

They didn't respond, and Max pushed open the door, peeking his head inside. Their room was dimly lit, and it took Max a minute before he realized their bedding was covered in blood, and their eyes were stared listlessly at him.