This book is complete and free on both Fictionpress and Archive of Our Own.
Summary:
Raheed is bhanak, a “slave soldier” bought, educated, and trained to fight for the Mulli Empire. When stationed in a rural town, he finds a strange beggar boy who lacks the ability to speak. After a few scuffles, Raheed realizes why— he’s deaf. Shunned by the other villagers, the boy Raheed names Asan seeks a human connection, one a bored Raheed is willing to provide. Together they teach one another a language of their own, one that speaks using hands instead of words.
Yet their friendship is not to last. Raheed is called away to war, and shaped by his experiences there, he returns to Asan years later as a changed man, one who visits strange women at night and who expects Asan to learn his place in highly hierarchical Mulli society. Once Asan becomes a servant for Asan’s old teacher Elder Hassad, Asan learns all the ways he doesn’t fit into Raheed’s world, even though he’d like that more than anything.
Rating: M
T/W: Prostitution, slavery
This book is complete and free on both Fictionpress and Archive of Our Own.
Summary:
Captain Raheed and his deaf servant Asan might have considered one another friends once, but times have changed. Embittered by war and heartbreak, Captain Raheed now finds solace in commanding troops by day and drinking too much at night. Meanwhile, Asan keeps his head down, hoping that his silent obedience will keep him safe. When it doesn’t, he and Raheed flee into the desert, exiled from the army and forced deep within the territory of the Mulli Empire’s enemies— the Hahnars. It is here they are taken prisoner by the most notorious “savages” in the land. To win Raheed’s freedom, Asan promises to stay in Khamal in his captain’s place. Surprised by the Hahnars’ hospitality and the kind treatment from Khamal’s leader, Sumas Darim Dasaf, Asan begins to lose sight of who is his enemy and who is his friend. Yet the shadow of the Mulli Empire looms, and it’s up to Asan and Raheed to figure out who— and what— they want to fight for.
Rating: M
T/W: Violence
Artwork:
Wanda Walker 