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But Tobi can see it clearly now. Someone stands watching, leaning against a thick tree trunk. “I can see a man there,” Tobi says.

“Not a man.” Harok shakes his head as if this is an important distinction. “A banalil.”

Tobi frowns. He has never heard that word before. Is it some kind of forest creature? Another piece of Solwen folklore? “What is banalil?”

“Criminal,” says Harok. “A man who must die for his crimes.”

“Oh,” Tobi looks again. Now he knows what he sees he can make out clearer details. The man is not leaning against the tree. His position is not comfortable ease. He is bound to it. And his head is a strange shape, covered with some kind of sacking.

“Solwen justice this way,” says Harok. “Those who have committed crimes for which they must die are tied to a tree and left for the wolves. So that the Triple God may decide their fate.”

Tobi shudders. “Wolves?”

“Yes. Or perhaps simply starvation and thirst if the wolves do not attack. It cannot be survived, but the forest will decide if death is quick or slow.”

“So he is alive? And left to die?”

Harok nods, curtly. “Sho. It is Solwen.”

“Who is he? Did you order this?”

“I have never ordered such a thing. It is not a tradition in Urynwud since my father decreed an end to it. Even Vahul did not bring back banalil. He preferred other cruelties. But the Solwen who live in other places in the forest still practice banalil justice.”

Tobi looks at the figure in the trees. “We can’t just leave him like that to die.”

“I do not know his crimes. I cannot interfere in the ways of Solwen who live outside Urynwud. I am their Irgo but these matters are for their individual leaders to decide.”

“Irgorye,” Tobi says quietly. “Could the Exceli have done this?”

“Perhaps,” says Harok. He clicks his tongue to set Embox walking again, declaring an end to the matter.

But Tobi is not done. He cannot leave a man to die like this. He moves fast, slithering out of Harok’s arms to drop off the moving Embox, landing steady, and racing into the trees as Harok bellows out, “Suskara!”

Tobi runs over to the tree. The figure tied to it is tall, but not as tall as a typical Solwen. He wears a rough tunic of coarse fabric. Clearly a garment meant for a condemned man. Ropes hold him to the tree at waist, thighs and neck. His wrists are pulled back and lashed to the ropes. The sacking that covers his face is secured by the ropes at his neck.

There is something precise about the way he is bound. As if this is a designated ritual, each rope in a particular place. Tobi swallows. There are worse punishments in Azuria. Tobi has seen terrible, elaborate, cruel things done in the Punishment Squares in Ceruleum and Attar, but there is something about the simplicity of this method of execution that makes Tobi’s belly turn over. The man’s bare skin is grey and looks icy cold. The snow is starting to fall more heavily and it settles on the ropes that bind him and the sack that covers his face. He will not survive a night like this even if no beasts attack him.

Tobi reaches out and touches the sack. The man flinches, then grunts, only now realising someone is standing before him. “Hold on,” Tobi says in Ambolk.

He works his fingers under the ropes at the man’s neck until he can free the sack enough to pull it away. He does and the man is revealed. A bruised face. Another rope gags his mouth, threading between his teeth and tied tight around the tree trunk.

Tobi swallows in shock.

The man is Lymok.

“Replace the sack, Suskara,” Harok says behind Tobi, placing a firm hand on Tobi’s waist.

Tobi looks back at Harok and shakes his head. “We can’t leave him here.”

Harok looks at Tobi then at Lymok who is staring at them both in horror. He moans something into the rope gag. “The sack,” Harok says, plucking it from Tobi’s fingers.

Lymok makes another desperate sound. He jerks in the ropes that hold him, as Harok moves to replace the sack over Lymok’s head.

Tobi puts a hand on Harok’s wrist. “The Exceli have done this.”

“Yes,” says Harok. “Perhaps he turned traitor on them too.”

“He is your blood,” Tobi says. “And if the Exceli have done this to him perhaps he is loyal to you.”