Page 12 of The Laws of Nature (Heirs of the Empire #3)

TOBI

U rynwud .

Tobi is not sure if that is the name of the place. But for now, he assumes that it is. It feels like it is. It feels like a name.

He still feels shaky from the attack and the frantic escape that followed it, although the wine Harok gave him has stilled his clattering heart a little.

And now, finally, they have arrived. Home. Harok’s home.

As they get closer, they pass through a gate into an area of the forest that is walled off like an Azurian city.

Inside the mossy wall they are still in the forest, trees surround them but there are buildings too.

The first that they reach, just inside the wall, are new-looking and seem quite roughly made, but as Harok’s horse carries them further into what seems to be a kind of town, Tobi sees huts that are finely built of carefully chosen and assembled stone and are clearly ancient, with elegant carvings on the window frames and doorways.

Although, amongst these older buildings are some mean shacks in need of repair, jostling for space beside other wildly extravagant dwellings built into trees, using the support of trunks and broad branches to hold upper floors, platforms in the air, joined with bridges of rope and wood.

As they see the party riding into the town people rush to greet them, calling out and assembling in a wobbly line along the track that cuts through the trees and buildings, heads bowed.

Harok leans down from his saddle and offers his hand to them as he passes.

On the middle finger of his right hand he wears a large gold ring with a dark purple stone set into it.

The Ambolk men and women take it in turn, kissing Harok’s ring or his knuckles or anything they can reach and bowing low.

Tobi looks up, past the line of Harok’s subjects and the wooden buildings to what lies beyond.

A far greater building, something like a fort or a citadel, enclosed by another set of high wooden walls, thick and well built, ancient and reinforced with iron.

Above the walls, Tobi can see towers rising.

He cannot tell if they are wood or stone as they are densely covered in moss and leaves.

With the trees of the forest all around them, the towers of Urynwud almost look as if they could be part of it.

As if the building is somehow a living thing itself.

As Harok guides his mount closer, gates in the wooden walls begin to slowly swing open, revealing a courtyard beyond. Harok guides horses through with the rest of his party following behind.

Inside the wooden walls, Tobi can see Urynwud is even larger than it seemed when they were outside.

Its facade rises above them, a mass of great turrets and towers.

Tobi is close enough now to see that it is built of a grey stone.

But very little of that stone is visible under the green.

Climbing plants and vines wind their way over the facade, hanging down in great fecund masses, drooping heavily with flowers and berries, making it seem like Urynwud is hewn from the forest itself.

It looks ancient. In parts it is crumbling. One entire wing seems to lack a roof. Other places seem to have been recently repaired or rebuilt. This only adds to the sense that Urynwud is a growing thing. Something alive.

Harok takes his pair of horses around the huge building, where an even larger courtyard opens up.

There is a vast stable block before them.

Harok stills his mount and swings down, lifting Tobi after him with his big hands firm and warm around Tobi’s waist. He sets Tobi on his feet, keeping a firm hand on him, holding him like a prize.

Tobi’s legs wobble under him, feeling achy and strange from being so long ahorse.

He looks around. The rest of Harok’s party of Ambolk are behind them, also swinging down from their horses.

Tobi turns to look at the injury on the chestnut stallion, still standing behind the black mare.

The arrow shaft is sunk deep, only an inch or so still sticks out where Harok snapped away the rest. The wound is bloody.

It missed the animal’s throat by the span of one of Tobi’s hands.

Tobi looks up at the great horse’s eyes. This brave beast saved their lives.

Harok walks around in front of the animal and Tobi is surprised to see him fall to his knees before it. He looks up at the horse with his hand on his heart and says something in low, slow Ambolk, then presses his head to the ground.

He is a king and he is supplicating himself before a beast. Tobi does not understand what Harok is saying, but he understands what it means.

Harok is thanking this animal for what it did for them.

He is apologising for his harsh treatment.

Positioning himself before the animal in such a way where his horse could easily harm or even kill him if it wished.

Harok did what he had to do to get them out of there. If he had stopped to attend to his horse they would have likely all three been pierced by arrows and died in that forest. And now he is showing the horse his gratitude.

Tobi comes up behind Harok and nods his head to the horse, “Thank you,” he says.

And then, because he feels like he ought to thank the beast as wholly as Harok is doing, he gets down on the stones of the courtyard too, kneeling beside Harok.

He places his own hand on his heart and says, “Thank you,” again, then presses his forehead onto the cold stone too.

After several moments of bowing before his beast, Harok stands.

He throws his arms around the animals neck and presses his face close, murmuring more words.

Tobi scrambles to his feet. Harok gives Tobi a brief look with his eyes narrowed, before he turns and shouts something across the yard.

Three stablehands rush to his call, hurrying over to attend to the horse.

More of the Ambolk who rode with them are dismounting all around the courtyard. Servants rush to them. Tobi notices there are healers too. Did they know there would be injured men amongst the party? Is it normal for Ambolk to return from the woods having been struck by hostile arrows?

Tobi looks around at the place in which he finds himself. The courtyard is surrounded on three sides by the towering walls of Urynwud. The fourth side is open to a forest grove, thick with trees.

Some distance across the courtyard is a strange circular structure. High wooden walls enclose some kind of pit. Perhaps it is an arena for fighting and sparring.

On the widest wall of Urynwud, a wooden door stands open and Harok leads Tobi towards it with a big hand on his waist.

On the other side of the doors, Tobi finds himself in an enormous hall with stone walls and a high ceiling.

Candles glitter from every nook and crevice, lighting up a quite extraordinary place.

Like no room Tobi has ever seen. The interior walls are not as heavily covered in plant life as the ones outside, but there are still plenty of vines and leaves growing on the walls.

Some living bright green or red, and some dying, crumbling grey and brown.

The room is crowded with people and a few dogs and small children running around excitedly.

High in the rafters, there are birds. It is truly like still being in the forest, excepting that the room is well-warmed by dancing twin fires burning in opposite hearths, along with several braziers and a large fire pit behind a canopied dais.

But the most striking thing about the hall is the tree.

Right in the centre, growing out of a wide hole in the flagstoned floor.

It is ancient and larger than any tree Tobi saw in the forest. Its branches wind into the high eaves.

Above there are walkways of knotted rope leading into and around the tree.

Lower down, candles burn amongst the branches of the huge tree and around its twisted roots that stretch out and shape the chamber’s floor.

These wide lower branches are also hung with strips of bright silk, coloured wooden beads and strings of metal discs.

The effect makes Tobi’s breath catch. He feels, quite clearly, that he is in the presence of something ancient. Something revered.

He looks up at Harok, who is looking at him with a satisfied smile on his face. “The tree. It’s beautiful,” Tobi says.

“ Susal-ur-Bellan ,” Harok says, gesturing to the tree with an outstretched arm .

Tobi looks into Harok’s eyes. “Is that the name of the tree?”

Harok smiles slowly. Tobi does not think Harok understood, but he leans in and says, “ Sho, Suskara. ” He keeps his face close.

Tobi thinks for a moment that Harok will kiss him.

Harok slides a hand down the side of Tobi’s body and lower still, over the band of his breeches to stroke his hip and then around over his cock covered in tight leather.

Tobi cannot help it. He makes a soft sound in response. This huge man, who took him from his home, whether he was willing or not, now has him in the depths of the forest, owns him wholly, intends to make him his consort.

His kushir.

Tobi looks at Harok’s sensuous mouth. He parts his own lips a breath, in hope of the kiss their proximity promises, but Harok simply makes a low throaty chuckling sound and when he closes the gap between them all he does is drop a simple peck on Tobi’s nose, pinching him on the thigh as he does so.

Tobi yelps in shock, but heat floods him. His skin prickles. Harok turns away from Tobi with a sharp dismissive noise. He sounds almost cruel. Several pages bring Harok platters of meat and fruit and flagons of ale. Harok takes a cup and hands one to Tobi.