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“Very well, Suskara.” Harok swings up into Embox’s saddle, then leans down and grasps Tobi with a big hand on each side of his waist. Harok lifts Tobi into the air to set him on the horse’s back, just as he had done the night he took Tobi from Azuria. The memory of that makes the hairs on Tobi’s skin bristle. Tobi yelps as he is lifted, which makes Harok purr softly. Perhaps he is remembering that moment too. When Tobi is properly seated, Harok leans forward, resting his chin on Tobi’s shoulder and growls, “I hope that Suskara’s ass is not still sore from fucking and spanking. Or this ride will give you more problems than impure thoughts.”

Tobi’s body is pressed close to Harok in the short alit that barely covers his body and he can feel that Harok is already roused. Tobi slides backwards, so Harok’s hard cock presses against him. Harok groans and says, “Suskara, you do that and I may send Embox galloping off a cliff’s edge.”

Tobi laughs as, with a click of his tongue, Harok sets Embox trotting towards the iron gates of the zhilvar.

It feels sweet to be outside Urynwud, riding through the forest, so different to hiding beneath sackcloth on Lymok’s cart. It’s a cool day, but the sun is shining and the forest looks quite beautiful in shades of red and gold and the amber that give the forest its name. Tobi enjoys the feeling of Harok’s body wrapped around him, holding him with one arm tight around his waist. He is spending the day with Irgo Harok, his Irgorye, his Ereyek, his lover. The greatest lover Tobi has ever had.

After what feels like half a day of riding they emerge from the trees onto a shoreline. It feels like a shock to discover that the forest has an end. They must have reached the Starlight Sea. Across the grey-blue water Tobi can see the Isle of Varia on the horizon.

It’s beautiful. So calm and peaceful. It feels like a long time since Tobi has seen so much big, wide, open sky. Everything seems to sparkle. But there is a cold wind off the sea. Tobi shivers. Harok presses close behind him and wraps him in a huge fur from the pack on Embox’s back.

Tobi snuggles into it as Harok kisses him on the temple.

“Are we in Ismagaar?” he says.

“We are close. This is still part of the lands of the Solwen. But Feildal is a short ride from here.”

“Have you been there? I have heard Ismagaar is a strange place.”

“It is a place like any other,” says Harok, simply.

“Are there fae folk there?” says Tobi, turning his head to look at Harok.

“I believe so. The fae mostly stay on their isles. Most do not care for humans after what happened a thousand thousand years ago. They live on Ulla and Oria. And Varia, of course.” He points at the isle across the sea. “They have a city on Ulla called Vylenor. A great court of ice. My father told me most fae lived there. But some of them end up in Ismagaar, especially those who wish to do things in secrecy from the fae court.”

Tobi smiles. “What things?”

Harok shrugs a big shoulder. “I do not know what things the fae do. But, Suskara, let me build you a fire. I do not wish you to grow cold.”

Tobi sits on the soft grey sand, wrapped in the fur as Harok makes short, practical work of collecting driftwood, piling it up and lighting it with a tinder. Tobi draws close to the pleasant heat.

Harok looks over at Embox. He looks a little wistful. Tobi sees something in his eyes and says, “You miss riding Tamello?”

“Sho,” Harok replies. “Embox is a fine horse, but Tamello was me.”

Tobi wonders for a moment if he has misunderstood. “He was you?”

“Sho.” Harok nods. “Tamello could be ridden by no man but me. He would throw any other that tried. He was bound to me. Embox is not the same. Now she is tame, she will let any man ride her. Tamello never did.”

Tobi smirks. “You are possessive.”

Harok raises an eyebrow. “Of some things, Suskara.” He looks into Tobi’s eyes. “But kushir is man and not possession.”

“Do you blame me? For what happened to Tamello? If you hadn’t gone to fetch me he would never have been hurt.”

Harok shakes his head. He looks amused. “I did not fetch you, Suskara. I took you. You did not choose it.”

“I thought you were hurting him,” Tobi says. “In the forest, when you were trying to make him run from the Exceli.”

“I was hurting him.” Harok says bluntly. Then pauses before he says, “It is wrong to bring animals into the schemes of men. The Exceli had no quarrel with Tamello, only with me. When animals join men’s quarrels they get hurt. I said you should train Baby to be warrior. You said no. You are wise. I am not so wise. When I was a boy, I had a dog called Arax. I trained him to growl at my uncle. I thought it was funny. Until my uncle had one of his guards cut the dog’s throat.”

Tobi gasps. It takes him a moment to realise the horror of what Harok has just said, “Zai’s teeth,” he says in Artemian. Then switches to Ambolk, “Only for growling at him.”

“He knew it was my way of insulting him. And it was. And it got my dog killed.”

“Your uncle was a cruel man,” Tobi says. “Mereli told me all of what he did to you and where those marks on your back came from.”

Harok grunts. “He was Irgo. An Irgo must be strong. He was cruel to me. He made me strong.”