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The man with the bloodied arm is crouching on the ground, sobbing.

Tobi screws his eyes shut, waiting for arrows to pierce his flesh.

“Stop,” Salizi shouts. Tobi hears the Ambolk words in a jumble, but he picks out some of them. “No. Leave beast. Beast fetch good price. Bring kushir back.”

While the big man stays sobbing on the ground, Tobi is dragged down from the cart by more Exceli. He looks back at Baby, still growling and snarling with a blooded mouth, but trapped in her cage. At least she is unharmed.

Tobi is dragged back before Salizi and Lymok. The man behind Tobi pulls him around, spinning him so they are face to face. He is stout and bearded. He grins at Tobi with blackened teeth. “What special about kushir? Why no other man get to touch?” he says in Ambolk and darts forward, pushing his lips against Tobi’s as he forces their bodies together.

The man tastes sour. Tobi fights back from the kiss and tries to struggle but there are more hands on him. Behind him, Lymok says, “Behave, kushir. Imagine you are back in Azuria, selling yourself to all.”

There are hands on Tobi’s skin, tugging at his alit, snaking under it to stroke his ass.

Tobi cries out as a finger finds his hole, but someone puts a hand over his mouth. He bites it and hears a yelp of pain as the hand is pulled away.

Tobi snarls. He fights and struggles, slithering out of the grip of the men who hold him, once or twice, only to be grabbed again, but a moment later he is on the ground. On his back. His legs are being pulled apart. He kicks out, getting someone in the face. He rolls onto his belly and starts to crawl along the ground. Hands find his legs and haul him back, with laughs and sneers. He is rolled onto his back again and someone puts their hands around his throat. Tobi struggles, but the hands squeeze tighter and tighter until Tobi sees stars. He cannot breathe.

Tobi grunts. He’s losing consciousness when someone growls. “Ei rill, kushir.” And the grip on his throat releases. Tobi gasps for air. As he is rolled over again and hauled up, put on all fours on the ground. A roused cock is inches from his lips. “Dekuna ga?,”a voice says. The cock thrusts forward, towards Tobi’s open mouth. He turns his head to the side.

His eyes flick to the archers. They are distracted. No longer watching Baby. He glances at her. She is in her cage. She looks wary. She is looking at something. He follows her gaze beyond the light of the Exceli’s torches.

And he sees eyes in the dark. Eyes he’d know anywhere. Harok.

Tobi blinks. For a moment he thinks he imagines it. That he is simply dreaming that Harok will come and save him from this. A hand takes Tobi’s chin and forces his head back into place. Tobi shuts his mouth tight and the head of an Exceli cock bumps against his lips.

“Open mouth,” someone growls.

But Harok cannot be here. Harok is not here. No one ever comes to help Tobi. No one cares enough to come. Even his own mother, who swore she’d always take care of him, retreated into madness and left him all alone. Tobi has always had to fight his own battles to fight for himself.

He had one year, one year as a prince in the Rose Palace before he was cast out to fend for himself.

Someone shoves a finger into Tobi’s mouth, trying to lever it open. He bites down on it, hard. Skin breaks under his teeth. There is blood in his mouth. He hears a scream, as the finger is pulled back. Tobi splutters, spitting out blood. And then, someone hits him hard on the side of his face with a closed fist.

As his head is knocked to one side he looks out into the forest again. And, again, he sees Harok there. It’s definitely him. Tobi would know the shape of him anywhere. Like no one else.

Harok is there watching. Sitting on Embox. Silent and still in the dark forest. Hidden in the trees.

There is a small warm feeling growing inside Tobi. Harok has come. Harok has come to rescue him.

But there is another voice too. Another voice, saying Harok is alone. There are so many Exceli. And Harok is only watching. He has come for Tobi, but perhaps he has decided there is nothing he can do.

Tobi lifts his head and looks out into the dark at Harok again. And this time, Harok’s eyes meet Tobi’s. Harok gives Tobi a single, solemn nod.

Tobi flicks his eyes to Baby’s cage.

Harok nods again.

Tobi knows exactly what Harok is trying to tell him. They have spent so many moons finding ways to communicate without words. It only takes a single gesture. And Tobi simply knows.

Harok is waiting for a moment to release Baby and attack.

Tobi needs to help him.

He needs to distract them, make a moment for Harok to take them all by surprise.

He puts everything he has into one last attempt to fight. He pulls his arms free from the men holding them in a fast and sudden move, presses down against the earth beneath him and flips his body up, hard. His acrobatic strength shocks the Exceli that hold him. He wrenches his legs forward, under his body and forces himself up, onto his feet. All around him there are cries of surprise. He is being grabbed again immediately by arms that intend to force him back down. But before they can, he lashes out. He hits the man nearest to him, hard in the face with a balled fist. It hurts Tobi’s hand more than he expected, but the blow lands true. The man falls back, crying out in pain.

All the Exceli around him shout in surprise. Someone hits him hard in the shoulder with the hilt of a sword. It knocks him back down and he falls onto the ground right at Lymok’s feet. But out of the corner of his eye, he sees Harok, moving fast. He slips down from Embox and races to Baby’s cage, drawing back the bolts, in one quick movement. The door of the cage flies open.