Page 10 of The Laws of Nature (Heirs of the Empire #3)

TOBI

I t takes a little time to make ready to leave. Tobi stands dazed as the circus folk and Riddlestone people come up to him in turn to take his hand or embrace him and thank him for saving them by sacrificing himself.

Baby’s wheeled cage is hitched to two of the Ambolk horses. “Be careful with her,” Tobi calls, “She comes all the way from the jungles south of the Ibian plains.” He doesn’t think they understand him. Lymok is the only one of the Ambolk who seems to know any Artemian.

But Tobi is sure he can face anything if he has Baby with him. Anything. Even this.

Meanwhile Darvo and Myrtle take charge of packing up some of Tobi’s clothes and belongings into a battered trunk which is loaded onto a cart.

Harok sits on his horse, waiting silently besideTobi, a possessive hand on Tobi’s shoulder. Wrists as thick as Tobi’s upper arms.

When all is ready and the Ambolk begin to assemble their horses, ready to leave, Tobi looks up at Harok. His chestnut mount is so huge, Tobi has to crane his neck to speak to him.

“Do you have a horse for me?” he says, wondering if perhaps Harok does speak Artemian and his translator was all for show. Because surely if he wants an Azurian consort he will have some way of communicating.“Your new kushir?”

For a moment Harok just stares down at Tobi.

Tobi points to himself. “Me,” he says. He points to the horses. “A horse.”

Harok narrows his eyes, then says, “ Ei, ” with a shake of his head.

So that, Tobi presumes, is a no.

“Do you expect me to ride in the cart?” Tobi says, waving in its direction. “Cart?” he says again.

Harok shakes his head once again and says, “ Ei. ”

Tobi looks up at Harok. He puts his fists on his hips. “So you expect me to walk? Through the forest. In these heeled boots I had made in Fanost?”

He points down at his boots. They are very old, but beautifully made.

One of his most treasured possessions. The soft black leather hugs his calves from ankle to knee.

The toes have delicate subtle points. They have block heels that lend him a little extra height and give his walk a playful rolling gait.

And they are very helpful when he is climbing the sides of Baby’s cage to perform acrobatic tricks, and they are absolutely not made for traipsing through the Forest of Amber.

Harok smiles slightly. He seems to find this amusing although Tobi is sure now that Harok really cannot understand a word of Artemian.

He says, sudden and sharp, “ Kushir ,” as he leans down, leaning further than Tobi would think it possible to do and not lose his balance.

He grasps Tobi’s waist in two big hands.

His grip is so firm Tobi could not pull free if he tried.

He doesn’t try, but he does cry out in shock, as Harok lifts him easily from the ground.

Tobi quickly realises what is happening and moves his body, swinging his leg across the horse as Harok hauls him up, so he finds himself sitting astride the beast, nestled in front of Harok.

Tobi feels so conscious of the bare skin on Harok’s thighs, wrapped, hot, around Tobi’s body.

His heart is fluttering. He can smell the fresh sweat on Harok’s body, light and woody.

Harok puts his arms around Tobi to take hold of his horse’s reins. “ Ai idi ,” he says, mouth very close to Tobi’s ear.

Tobi takes a breath. “ Ai idi ?” he echoes back, mimicking Harok with no idea what he is saying. He is surprised he has breath in his body to speak at all as he feels Harok’s legs flex, urging his horse forward.

The horse moves. Moves like it is part of Harok, darting forward, sharp and fast, far faster and more suddenly than Tobi expected, thundering towards the trees.

Tobi cries out again, louder this time, shocked to find himself unexpectedly in such motion.

Night air rushes past Tobi’s ears. The ground below is transformed into a blur of dark green.

Tobi can hear the sounds of the rest of the Ambolk behind them, making strange jubilant cries as they follow their king. Their king and his kushir.

They are approaching the river. Fast.

There is a ford over the Ramriddle river less than half a mile away, just before Riddlestone, but Harok clearly is not going to take that detour. He flexes his thighs again and shouts a word of Ambolk. His horse speeds up, faster, faster . But surely the Ramriddle river is too wide here to jump .

Tobi screws his eyes shut as the river bank approaches, nearer, nearer …

He feels the horse leap in the air. His belly drops.

At the same moment, one of Harok’s arms pulls firm around Tobi’s waist, forcing their bodies together, so tight Tobi can barely breathe.

Tobi opens his eyes, curiosity overcoming his fear, just as the horse lands with a bone shaking thud on the muddy bank of the other side of the river.

“Is that meant to impress me?” Tobi says, although his voice sounds weak and shaky.

Harok does not, cannot, reply. He simply says another word of Ambolk, urging his horse deeper in the forest.

Tobi looks over his shoulder, unable to believe what just happened.

Behind him more of the Ambolk follow, some of them leaping the river as Harok had.

Others are already dismounting to wade through leading their mounts.

A few more have turned along the bank, taking the cart — and Baby — down to the ford.

Tobi hopes she isn’t frightened by the night’s strange turn.

Tobi says, “Are you going to tell me where we are going?”

Again, Harok does not reply.

However, Tobi carries on talking, for the sake of it, “So where do you live? In a tree or something? Is that where we are going? To your tree?”

How long will this journey take? The whole of the night? Perhaps longer? Will they have to break their journey in the trees? And if they do, will Harok take him then? Will he cover Tobi on the dirt ground like a beast?

But all that happens, as they rides, Tobi held close and tight on Harok’s lap, swaying on through the forest, is that the night grows ever darker and the moonlight filtering through the trees glitters and the horse trots on and on through winding pathways and hollow ways, worn through the trees and undergrowth.

The movement of the horse is starting to lull Tobi, if not to sleep — he is too concerned about what exactly will happen to him — but definitely into a state of resigned surrender, when he feels Harok move behind him, pressing close.

Tobi feels Harok’s lips as Harok kisses the back of Tobi’s neck. Just once and quite chastely.

Tobi can feel a whisper of dampness on his skin where Harok’s lips touched him.

Tobi feels shivery all over. The hairs on his arms tingle. Tobi wriggles. He can feel something pressing into the back of his ass, where Harok’s thighs are spread around it. A distinct firmness. Harok’s cock.

Dek , Tobi thinks, remembering one of the Ambolk words everyone knows, as they ride on, deeper and deeper into the forest. If he is to survive this, at least until his father sends help, he will have to start trying to learn Ambolk as fast as he can.

Eventually, Tobi must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he knows, he is being jolted awake. He is still pressed to Harok’s body. Aware of the grassy musky scent of it all around him. The night is dark.

He turns his head and looks up at Harok. Blue eyes watch him. In a low tone, Harok says, “ Velik. ”

Harok’s body is tense. He looks over his shoulder.

Tobi looks too. Behind Harok’s horse ride the column of Ambolk warriors, moving through the dark.

A smaller party than the one that took the camp.

Many of the Ambolk must have taken the different route.

Riding with the cart and Baby’s cage by way of the ford, rather than leaping the river.

As Tobi is still turned in the saddle, an arrow zings past Harok’s ear and lands with a heavy thump in a tree trunk right beside them.

Tobi feels Harok’s arms move, grasping tight and pushing Tobi’s head down against the horse’s neck.

Harok makes a jerking motion at his horse’s reins and they stop, Tobi still held firmly in place.

Tobi stays where he is, pressed to horse flesh, breathing hard. He dare not speak or move. Where did that arrow come from? Are they being attacked?

Harok snaps something else in Ambolk. Tobi thinks he is being told not to move. He has no intention of moving. He feels Harok shift. He is pulling a bow from his back and nocking an arrow.

His body moves as he points his weapon into the dark trees. How can he see anything?

They wait. The silence pulls tense and breaks suddenly. Tobi hears the whoosh of another arrow and then a horrible thump of a man falling from a horse. Then another.

Tobi hears more sounds of arrows. He feels Harok lean his body down over Tobi’s, his big shoulders curling around him, shielding him as he fires his arrow then pulls another from the quiver on his horse’s flank.

Is this a rescue? Is this the Imperial Army come to slay the Ambolk for this treachery and take him back? Tobi feels a jolt of excitement.

“ Exceli ,” Harok shouts back at his men.

There are sounds now, cries and screams coming from the trees and being returned by the Ambolk. More arrows fly. Tobi hears more men fall.

Harok shouts, “ Urynwud! ”

Tobi feels Harok’s legs move as he kicks at his horse. The horse bolts forward. Tobi shrieks in terror. The first sound he’s made. The horse begins racing as fast as it did when Harok made it jump the river. They hurtle through the dark forest.

Then, the horse stops and rears up, making a terrible sound. Tobi feels Harok’s arm tighten around him, holding him firm so he does not fall. As the horse drops back onto its forelegs, Tobi looks down and sees it has been hit by an arrow, close to its throat.

The horse staggers. Harok kicks his legs and shouts something, “Elik, elik,” trying to force the horse to pick up speed again.