Welcome to Incubus Tales: A Thousand Words by Hushicho. In Noctemberg, it is always night. Dhiar, proprietor and gay incubus, welcomes you to Phantasies, a very special shop. Sensuality is more than just Dhiar’s stock in trade, it is his raison d’être. NSFW.
A new chapter appears every Thursday. This week is Chapter Forty-Five.
45th Night—Meteor
“So what’s your hometown like?”
“You’d like it,” Dhiar answered, leaning against Adoric under the stars, on the deck. The chill in the air and the sea spray had driven all the rest of the passengers inside. “It’s on the water.”
“Really! Actually I’m from a landlocked place.” The first mate exhaled a cloud of smoke that drifted out around his head like a halo. “I always wanted to see the sea, sail the oceans. I read all the stories about Sindbad and you know… all of his adventures, his ordeals…”
The Incubus turned his head to kiss softly at the place where the man’s ear met his cheek. He lowered his voice, deep and intimate. “And have you had adventures and ordeals like Sindbad?”
Adoric’s cheeks reddened, and a shiver ran down his back. “A few.”
“Tell me.”
“But you’re a demon! I mean… you must have had far more exciting adventures than I…”
“No, no. Tell me.” Dhiar reached over to stroke the man’s chest, through the turtleneck he wore. “I’m interested in you.”
The blush on the man’s cheeks deepened, and he looked down at the glowing cherry of his cigarette. “Well… it was some time ago. It’s been smooth sailing on this liner. Not so much to do with passenger cruises, but when I wasn’t on this ship… things were different!”
He took another draw from the cigarette. “I remember one of the ships, it was barely seaworthy, hardly ship-shape. The men were a potpourri, a patchwork quilt made from the oddest variety of ports. I was always the captain’s favourite, but that was probably as much my capability as my looks, to be honest with you. He never seemed to carouse too much when we went to port, but I knew how he looked at me wasn’t the way a man looks at another unless he has a sort of interest in him.”
“Like this?” Dhiar flared his eyes open and made a mock-intense stare, and the both of them broke into laughter.
“Not quite! But something like that. Not too different… anyway, in those days I was less earnest and far less dutiful. It was a different time, a different place…”
“Many different places,” Dhiar chimed in.
“Right! But I remember once, when we went inland… oh, it was atrocious. One of the crew was this grubby little man, always looking for something shiny. And that in and of itself isn’t so bad. Everyone wants a little treasure. I think every sailor took his first step aboard a ship because there was the promise of treasure. It’s a bit like life, if I might be so bold as to philosophise; taking the first steps because, somewhere beyond our sight and just out of our grasp, the promise exists of something shining and brilliant that we can hold as our own.”
He looked up to the Moon, which looked benevolently over them, clouds curled around it in the air with glitter-stars on the firmament surrounding. “There was a little church in the town, and we didn’t think much about it. But apparently they were highly influential… and the little blighter stole some icon from them. It was just a little thing… but it was as if the entire town had been turned, zombie-like, against us. There were accusations, counter-accusations, and we found ourselves at the business end of several unpleasant-looking weapons, bladed and blunt.”
“My goodness!”
“But we weren’t about to get ourselves locked up, and they weren’t about to listen. None of us knew the little fellow had done what he had done, and it wasn’t a port we frequented. We had never really been there before, we’d only heard stories. But we were to find that it was hardly a place we should have stopped, regardless of its convenience.”
“You couldn’t have known, of course!”
“Of course not, but it was still a mad time. Madness!” Adoric shook his head slowly. “We barely got out intact, barely with our skins! I thought it would be the last port we would land… but it turned out to be just another adventure. I’m glad we came out alive, though I’m not proud to say I had to take a few of the weapons and turn them on their owners. Non-lethally, of course; I’m sure they had some nasty headaches.”
He took a breath in, then sighed and settled against Dhiar, pressing the remainder of his cigarette into the thick green glass ashtray. “We tried to explain, but they wouldn’t hear it. We honestly ended up tossing the damned thing off the boat as we were pulling out to sail, and they scrambled for it like a bunch of seagulls for a piece of bread. Or ants for a sugar cube. It was… almost inhuman, how they did. Their eyes were so glassy and hollow…”
“You might’ve stumbled upon something more than just humans at a place. Perhaps it was a cursed locale, or perhaps another presence there influenced them.”
“There are more things in this world than I understand, or ever will.” Adoric slipped his fingers between Dhiar’s and squeezed his hand tenderly. “I was just happy to get away from the place. We never went back.”
“And the little fellow?”
“Booted out on the next port. The captain threatened to throw him to the place we’d just barely escaped.” Adoric laughed loudly, echoing in his chest. “He was a bit of a bastard though, so none of us were too sad to see him go. Awful man. I don’t mind picking up a bit of treasure here and there, but one must be prudent…”
“Yes, about what one chooses to take! Sometimes it’s something that will set off a whole town into a murderous rage, apparently.”
“I’m glad I got out of it.”
“Tell me more.” Dhiar reached up to turn the man’s chin toward him, looking deep into his eyes. “I want to know everything, especially everything you’ve felt you could never share with anyone else.”
“You’ve already shared so much with me,” Adoric replied, leaning his head closer. “I’ll share all I can with you.”
* * *
Can’t wait a whole week for the next chapter? Skip ahead: download the whole book from Amazon or from Circlet Press!
About the author: From an early age, Hushicho held a special passion for storytelling. Throughout his life, he has worked in numerous media and various places in the world. He is the author of the long-running Incubus Tales webcomic, upon which this serial is based.
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