Chapter 16

"You take the white one!" Azrel walked up to him leading two horses, a sorrel one and smaller white one and handed him the reins of the smaller horse. Seka stared but then took them and mounted the horse. Azrel did the same and lead the way over the estate and out towards the village. He wondered about it of course, Azrel had never taken him outside the boundaries of the estate before but it would be far from his mind to question it. He was far too happy about sitting on a horse at all. In fact, he was happy he could sit. This horse was nothing like that sleek black mare had been. He had had dreams about riding that fantastic horse, but the white was a nice animal too, really it was. Seka bet he was quite fast on a short distant. Not that he expected to be able to test his speed. Azrel rode quietly and Seka held the reins tight and rode as quietly a few paces behind, just as he would have walked if they had been on their feet. He bet he could have won a race against Azrel even though he had the bigger horse, the little one was more eager, Seka could feel how much he wanted to pass the bigger horse, and Azrel was much heavier than he was, he could win… He kicked himself mentally for even thinking such thoughts. His backside had just healed enough for him to be able to walk and sit like a normal person again, though there were still bruising; he did not want to go through that ever again. After a while he started to wonder where they were going. He had thought they were going to the village, that Azrel maybe had some errand there and brought him for assistance. But they kept going on the village main road and passed it. They crossed some fields on the other side of it and started, it seemed, toward the woods. He had to ask then. Azrel in a good mood usually didn’t bite his head off for initiating a conversation and Azrel seemed indeed to be in a good mood today. "May I ask where we are going Master," he said carefully. Always best to start talking as humbly as possible. It would show pretty soon on Azrel’s face if Seka could lighten up on the formal a bit or if he had better act as much according to conduct as possible…or if it would be best to just shut up completely. Azrel turned and smiled slyly. "Wait and you’ll see!" Seka didn’t push it then. He thought they had got quite deep into the forest when the rather thick foliage suddenly opened up into a rather big glade. Or really, it had been someone’s yard once Seka realized as he saw the crumpled down old building at the far end. There were only three walls standing and the roof had long since caved in. Azrel stopped and jumped off the horse and so Seka did the same. Azrel told him to tend to the horses and fetter them farther off. Azrel went behind one of those rotten walls in the meantime and rummaged about for something. When Seka returned, really very curious now, he saw that it was a bow that Azrel had fetched from the ruins, a bow and a quiver full of arrows and a round target made of wood and painted with circles in bright colors. Seka stared at this; he didn’t understand a thing. Azrel laughed at his puzzled look. "I thought you might like to try this." He simply said and smiled even wider as Seka’s look changed from slightly puzzled to astonished, and suspicious. But then he turned serious. "I am not making fun of you Seka." Astonishment took over. "But… but you said, you warned me of…" Azrel waved him silent. "I know what I said. Forget what I said. Look, you know that bastard Shin? He and his cronies have challenged me, it’s a bet and there’s a lot of money at stake here and honor. I just can’t… I won’t lose to them. But I must confess I am not quite as good with the bow as I led them to believe so… You show me! You said you could shoot a bird in its flight, then teach me how, or did you lie?" Seka shook his head at that and looked more worried than astonished now. "But… slaves are not supposed to… I can’t touch it, it’s a weapon!" Azrel sighed, irritably. "Yes, of course but who’s to know? There’s no one here and no one ever comes here. Don’t worry. I chose this place carefully. Do you think I would want someone to know I’d let a simple slave tutor me in such things? And a mere catamite to boot…" Azrel threw his hands in the air in a sort of melodramatic gesture of resignation. Clearly indicating that the loss of pride in asking a slave such a thing was only slightly less then losing against that ragged crowd of village thugs and that he had had to chose the lesser of two evils here. Seka kept shaking his head though, scared. "Are you as good as you say you are or not? Because if you are I need your help, there, are you happy now you little misfit? I’m asking you. I’ve stooped to that," Azrel grinned and held out the bow to him, "come on, I know you want to try it." Seka took a few steps backwards. "No," he said carefully but stubbornly, "I… I won’t." Azrel looked baffled. Baffled enough to not get mad… at first. "Say what?" Azrel shook his head as if there was some dirt in his ears making him not getting that quite right. "Say what?" He repeated, roaring this time. Seka took a few more steps backwards and he was scared enough, it was hardly bravery that made him flat out refuse like that, but he kept on refusing. "No, I won’t, it’s forbidden and I don’t want to die and you risk my life just for a silly bet…" Azrel went furious. He dropped the bow and jumped Seka, tackling him. He had no chance against the assault and fell heavily on his back with the bigger boy on top. Azrel pressed him to the ground with one hand on his chest and raised the other in a fist. "You risk your life now you stupid slave. You make me angry and you’re ten times more likely to die than if you touch that bow when there’s no one to see… You idiot!" Azrel let the fist fall but beat it into the grass beside Seka’s face. Seka flinched and blinked and yelped in fright; he couldn’t help it. Azrel beat his anger out with a few more thuds in the ground beside him before calming himself down and rising, pulling the now shaking slave on his feet at the same time. "Don’t provoke me Seka, I’m warning you!" >>> * <<< Azrel turned away from him and muttered under his breath. That damn slave was right of course and it angered him more than his open refusal. He forced himself to calm down and turned towards Seka again. He couldn’t force him he realized. He couldn’t, and didn’t want to beat him, how explain that to his father? No, his father must not know of this. And besides, if he beat him he would be in no shape to help him anyway. "Look," he said as amiably as he could. "I’m sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. But it’s not just a silly bet, it’s… well, you wouldn’t understand, you’re a…" A slave, he had meant to say but – I’ve been free for more years than you have lived – was always lurking somewhere at the back of his mind. "You are not from here, you don’t know how important such things are here, in this country… And I’m not risking your life. That’s unfair. You’d think I would risk papa’s anger like that? Do you think I think you are that worthless? Well I don’t. I’m telling you, no one ever comes here. No one will ever know. And if anyone should ever find out, which is very unlikely, then I’ll take the blame. I’ll tell them I forced you, which I am, right? You’re a slave, what have you to oppose to my commands? It’s not like you have sneaked away to steal a bow, It’s me letting you, commanding you. It will not be your fault. Come on, I know you’re dying to try it. I’ll give you something for it, what do you want? Wait, I know. I’ll talk papa into giving you a horse. What do you say about that ha? A horse Seka, your own horse…" Azrel could see that the slave started to warm up to the idea. The promise of the horse seemed to have done the trick. But he hesitated still; looking down and shaking a little, his lips quivering but he still opened his mouth. "I…I’ll do it… for a horse and… and… no sucking…" It was said in a faint whisper and he backed away already while talking surely knowing how much that would anger Azrel. It did. "No sucking? Why you little… You dare set conditions? Making demands? I’ll, I’ll…" Azrel was all purple in the face with repressed anger. "You weasel, damn tricky little whore, good for nothing cunt…" Azrel cursed and ranted for a while longer but then he just gave in. "All right, I tell you what, you’ll get the horse, and I won’t ask you to suck me until we get back to the city. You hear that? That’s several months. And that’s an offer I strongly advice you to take because I am out of patience here. And you had better be good or you’ll regret having annoyed me this much and," he added with passionate emphasis, "no sucking? Be damn sure I’ll fuck you twice as hard!" Luckily for the slave he nodded to this, agreeing. He took the bow then as Azrel presented it to him again and looked on while Azrel hung the target on the mossy wall still standing. He reached for the quiver and looked closely at the arrows, looking down the shafts of them to find a straight and good one. Seka looked very nervous as he chose an arrow and turned his back on the target to find a good spot to shot at it from Azrel watched him walk away. He had watched him choose the arrow with a bit of curiosity; it did look like he knew what he was doing. Seka went almost all the way over to the other side of the glade. Wasn’t that very far from the target? Azrel had never been shooting from such a distant. He looked on with interest, as Seka seemed to try to gather himself. Azrel moved away from the target to stand a little to the side and for a second he actually felt a chill creep up his back and he wondered what the hell he was doing? If Seka shot him… took the horses and… They weren’t that far from the border, were they? Did Seka even know how close his country was? But he pushed that feeling away. He wouldn’t dare… Seka seemed to test the strength of the bow a bit, pulling a little on the bowstring, the arrow between his teeth. "It’s not a children’s toy, " Azrel shouted, "you’re sure you have strength enough to draw that bow?" He actually doubted he had. It was a hard drawn bow and Seka was not that strong. "You should never waste strength on a bow Master," he took the arrow between his fingers, put it on the string and gently raising the bow over his head he drew it in one graceful movement, "It’s all technique…" Azrel never saw him aiming, Seka just let go the second after those words and the next moment he heard a thud and the feathers of the arrow quivered in front his nose. He went in front the target board to look and his eyes widened. The arrow was in the third ring from the ox’s eye. Azrel had never got that close to the center and Seka had been standing much farther away from the target than he had ever done. Damn, the longhaired slave had not even been aiming, not in any way that he had been able to detect. Seka stole up behind him carefully and looked too. "Oh…" he said and looked a bit worried, "I’m sorry, I can do better than that I swear, but it was such a long time ago that I used a bow. Besides this is not a good bow." Azrel turned and stared, mouth open. Seka looked even more worried and shrugged apologetically. "That… that is to a good bow, " Azrel said unable to show how utterly impressed he was at the moment, "it’s new, it’s a damn good bow, it cost a fortune." "It… it’s not … It’s a nice bow, it’s very pretty but it was not made by a good bowmaker and it’s too big, you’d make do much better with a smaller one and…. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…" Seka silenced at the dark look in Azrel’s face but then Azrel sighed and the scowl disappeared. "All right… if you say so. How do you know, I mean how can you tell?" Seka shrugged. "I don’t know, I mean I can’t tell. It’s just something you feel when you used bows long enough." Azrel seemed to think hard about it. "All right, I’ll get a new bow, but how do I know then if the next one is a good one? You can’t very well come with me and try them out." Seka hesitated for a while but then spoke up. "I could… make you one," he said slowly. Azrel grinned. "So now you’re a bowmaker too?" "No but I know how to make one Master. How else could I have got one to hunt with? I had never any money to buy one." Azrel still looked suspicious. "Are you telling me you learned all by yourself how to make a good bow?" "No, of course not, I learned from the pelt-traders. They used to have their summer camp not far from the village. I visited them often, they taught me a lot, what they don’t know of hunting… it’s not worth to know." Azrel raised an eyebrow at him. "All right, I believe you. So, you can make a good bow, but why would you?" >>> * <<< Seka looked up with a puzzled look. He didn’t know how to answer that. Yes, why would he go through such trouble and risk so much for a boy that looked down on him, who used him? He didn’t know. Maybe because Azrel asking him to do this made him feel almost human again. Azrel needed him, Azrel acknowledged, although reluctantly, that he had knowledge and skills outside of the bed. That he was human, that he was some kind of person, that he was some kind of man. That was worth a whole lot to him, he realized, because those were things that he himself much too often forgot nowadays. >>> * <<< Seka really wondered what the hell he had let himself in for. Azrel had told him the contest was to be in a month and Seka doubted very much that he could make a good bow and teach Azrel how to use it properly in such a short time. They would need to practice several hours every day to make that happen and wouldn’t Lord Medora be suspicious if they were gone that much? And what if Azrel lost that silly bet? What would he do to him? Azrel would make him regret his little attempt at blackmailing for sure. Seka didn’t think he would beat him up, he would have to explain that to his father then and it was clear he wanted to keep this a secret but there were other ways. Azrel would probably fuck his throat days on end if he didn’t live up to his expectations. He was amazed on the whole that Azrel had agreed to it all so easily and that he had let him get away with things like that. He tried not to worry though. Azrel had promised he would take care of things and take the blame if they were discovered and Seka had no choice than to trust him. A week later Seka had finally finished the bow enduring a very curious Azrel looking over his shoulder at every step of its creation and they could start with the actual training. Seka didn’t know how to go about it. He’d never taught anyone anything. And yes, he was good with the bow but that was not the same thing as to be able to show someone else how to do it. And how does a slave teach his master anyway? Especially if the master was as impatient and proud as this one? To teach Azrel they needed to change roles a little bit, how would Azrel take that? Not very well it seemed. Azrel was very soon driving him nuts. Azrel really tried to let Seka tutor him, that was not it but his pride kept getting in the way. Azrel gave him a stinging slap to the cheek already at the first day. Azrel yelled and cursed at him when it was he himself that failed. Azrel snapped and roared at him to shut up if he tried to correct what he did wrong. Azrel angrily pushed Seka to his back in the high grass of the glade and looked like he was about to kick his ribs in for daring to insinuate he wasn’t trying enough. Seka just wanted to cry and beg on his knees that Azrel would please let him off this impossible assignment but he didn’t. He pretended indifference to Azrel’s hard words and his anger and did his best to apologize to make him less angry with him before he again tried to show him how to do it. He didn’t know himself why he tried so hard. Maybe he just hoped that he would hear a simple ‘Thank you’ from Azrel when all this was over. It got better, because Azrel got better, him hitting the bull’s eye one afternoon made him in a really good mood and he didn’t yell at Seka for the rest of that day. Seka supposed Azrel was not so much angry really, as embarrassed about a slave being so much better at something then he was. Seka guessed he could understand that. It had got to be pretty humiliating really. But Azrel learned fast and really did his best to try and control his impatience; he practiced for hours. And so one morning as they snuck out of the house to ride to the glade where they practiced Seka found himself looking forward to it. It was not like Azrel had not been kind and nice to him before, he had. Just like his father Azrel had his moments. But neither Azrel nor his father ever for a second ceased to look at him like property. No matter how nice they were when they were in that mood Seka was still just a talking and moving object in their eyes. But as the hours and days passed out in that glade it felt like things changed a little. Seka could not really pinpoint it but there were short moments when the social rift between them ceased to exist or was at least forgotten for a moment and they were just two boys practicing target shooting and having a good time doing it. At those moments Seka was almost… happy… Azrel would help him set things right in his mind again. >>> * <<< They had been taking a break from the training and eaten a little from the food they had brought. Azrel finished before Seka and watched him eat with an intensity that made Seka quite nervous. Suddenly Azrel rose from where he sat on a fallen tree trunk and took the bread from out of his hand and simply threw it away. "Undress!" he said, nothing more than that. Seka looked up in surprise. He was used to the order in itself well enough but it seemed he could never really get used to it being given in the strangest of places and in the seemingly most inappropriate situations. He knew better by now than to question it though. With a cold lump in his lower abdomen he did as he was told and at Azrel’s order he also undid his tight braid and shook out the black locks over his shoulders. Azrel wasted no more words but twirled his big hands in his hair and pulled him close to kiss him fiercely. Seka tried to follow and thought that at least it wasn’t cold outside. At least there was no risk of anyone walking by to see them. At least Azrel wasn’t tying him up… Not yet in any case. Azrel pressed Seka to his knees in front of him and started fumbled with the strings of his trousers, the lump in Seka’s stomach grew. He couldn’t… he just couldn’t… he had promised. But he knew he would not dare to remind Azrel of what he had promised and he supposed breaking a promise to a slave wasn’t exactly a great injury on a free man’s honor. Azrel grabbed at his hair to make him look up and held his already throbbing erection in his face, Seka opened his mouth more or less automatically but then Azrel let go. "Ah… shit… almost forgot. But I did promise, didn’t I? All right I won’t make you but you had better get on all fours real quick, before I change my mind…" Azrel did not have to tell him twice. The second after those words Seka rested his forehead on the soft grass while he pulled his knees up under him, opening his legs to Azrel, raising up his ass to give him easy access. He shivered doing it and it was not because of the light breeze against his naked skin. Azrel had promised him something else too, hadn’t he? He couldn’t help the frightened start and the likewise frightened sound he omitted as Azrel grabbed at his hips but surprisingly enough it wasn’t followed by a forceful shove. Azrel leaned over his back and pulled his hair out of his face. "What?" he said, "What is it? You’re scared? Why? I’m not angry…" "You… you said you were going to… if you could not… not…" "What? Oh…" Azrel chuckled but then got off Seka’s back and started to laugh. He was still laughing as he flipped Seka to his back and lifted his legs up on his shoulders. "Oh yes I remember now. Thanks for reminding me. I said I was going to fuck you really hard, didn’t I? I really should too, and I think I know how I can make it really, really bad for you without tearing you or anything. Papa wouldn’t like that, you know?" Azrel lifted Seka’s ass off the ground by pulling at his legs and then he pressed his knees to the ground on each side of his head. "You’re agile as a cat Seka but it’s not very comfortable, is it? Imagine I fucked you like this, really… really hard?" Oh he was going to pay now; he was so going to pay… Seka closed his eyes tight, bit his lower lip and tried to find some tufts of grass to claw at. He would have to try and endure it, Azrel would not tear him, he had said he would not tear him. Why had he been so stupid as to make Azrel promise he would not have to suck him? He berated himself for his stupidity while he were trying to breathe in the awkward and painfully folded position… while he was trying not to cry. But there was no painful assault directed at his ass this time either. Azrel let go of his legs and lied down on top of him resting on one elbow as he caressed Seka’s hair out of his eyes with the other hand. "Come on Seka, don’t be silly. Why would I do that? It was just something I blurted out because you made me angry. You can be so very annoying, you know? But I didn’t mean it, I never fuck you so it hurts, do I? Now just turn a little so I can get to… yes, just like that, that’s good…" Seka felt himself being slowly filled up while Azrel was spooning him, kissing his neck and folding his fingers around his cock to get him hard too. And Seka let Azrel manipulate him as he fancied and was being grateful enough that Azrel was being gentle. But that feeling… that feeling of almost equality, of almost friendship that he had felt glimpses of now and then during their sessions with the practice shooting was completely gone. How could he have let himself forget, even for a second, that he was a fuck toy and nothing else? >>> * <<< He didn’t get to ride a horse on his own this time but Azrel had him in front of him in the saddle as they neared the field where the contest was going to take place. The village boys, eight of them, stared enough so if Azrel had wanted to make some sort of impression it seemed he had succeeded. Azrel lifted him down first before he dismounted his horse and greeted his friends. They waved back nonchalantly but seemed for the moment more interested in Seka who shyly drew back. The leader of the pack, Shin, grinned widely and pointed straight at Seka. "Hey Azrel, what on earth is that?" One of the others stepped up. "We don’t want any girls looking on today Azrel," he grinned and as they all started to laugh it was quite evident that they had all seen he was not a girl. They just wanted to mock him. Seka felt his ears getting hot and wished that Lord Medora had not forced him to dress quite this girlie today. "No, seriously," Shin said silencing his subjects with a wave, "Who’s that?" Azrel had smiled at the joke but he had not laughed and now he pulled Seka in front of him and put his hands on his shoulders. "This? This would be my father’s catamite." Seka looked down in shame. He could never get used to hearing people calling him that. Damn Azrel, couldn’t he just have told them he was a slave? They all crowded up on them now, curious it seemed, and scattered comments were heard. "So that’s what they look like?" "Never seen one here before." "Hey Azrel, do you get to use him too?" "Why use a boy if he looks like a girl anyway?" "Is he tighter?" "Could we try him out?" The comments were bad enough but as they started to touch him he really almost panicked. Azrel wasn’t going to stand for it though. He yelled at them to back off and shoved one of them who ignored him and tried to touch Seka’s hair. "You all keep your dirty paws off of him, you hear? You think a lord shares his bedslave? He certainly doesn’t with the likes of you I can tell you that. Just you try and touch him and dad will cut your fucking hands off." For a few seconds there was silent tension in the air as Azrel glared at the village boys and they glared back at him grimly. Seka swallowed nervously, there wasn’t going to be a fight, was there, because of him? But then they all started to laugh and joke about it again. No doubt realizing the truth of those words. "So why did you bring him, is he a good luck charm or what?" Shin asked grinning as wide as ever. "Well, I thought I would let him shoot for me in the contest," Azrel said sounding dead serious, "He will win over you all as easily as if you were a bunch of blind cripples." For a few seconds there was stunned silence but then they all burst out laughing wildly, slapping their knees having to wipe at their eyes and catch their breaths. Seka got even more embarrassed. Why was it so funny to taunt him and humiliate him? Why couldn’t people just leave him alone? Azrel didn’t join in the laughter but leaned down and put his lips to Seka’s ear as his hands slipped down to give him a short hug. "Hey, you and me both know it’s completely true, don’t we?" he whispered softly, "Let them laugh Seka, I know you could beat them all in your sleep." Seka hardly registered what went on around him for several minutes as the boys prepared to compete. He couldn’t believe Azrel had said that. >>> * <<< Seka dared not say a single word as they rode back home. In fact he hardly dared breathing too loud. Azrel had not been shooting bad in the contest but some of the village boys had been really good and maybe it had not been a good day for Azrel, he had done better in practice many times. Be that as it may, he had not won. Among the nine he had ended up fourth, which had cost him quite a lot of money and a whole lot of mocking from the others. Seka knew Azrel that well by now that he could tell that he was pretty pissed. And he didn’t doubt for a second that he would have to pay for it. Seka would not get the horse now for sure, he could probably forget about not having to suck Azrel too and Azrel would just be angry with him and he didn’t like that. It was damn unpleasant and felt utterly unsafe having Lord Medora or his son being angry with him because no matter how scared he might be of them both they were the only ones who could protect him from things ever scarier. He froze as Azrel started talking. "Well, all that practice was a fucking waste of time, wasn’t it?" he muttered in Seka’s ear. A threat it seemed like to him, he shook. "I… I’m so sorry Master Azrel… please… I…" he silenced, didn’t know what to say to make it better. Azrel said nothing for the longest time. "It wasn’t your fault Seka," Azrel seemed to press those words out with some difficulty, "I know… know that you did your best. Don’t worry I won’t go back on my word. I’ll talk to papa about the horse as soon as we get back and I will not go back on my word concerning the other… deal we made either. But do me a favor Seka, don’t mention this, ever, or I will probably smack you real damn hard, get it?" Seka nodded, he understood.

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