He crosses his arms over his chest. "I thought a show of my might. Uproot the trees from the land itself and make them walk. Wither the crops. Make the animals attack anyone that comes near. Show how angry the very earth is that I have been wronged."
I raise a finger in the air. "Hold up."
Kassam frowns at me. "What?"
"How are you going to make that happen? You're going to squeeze your anchor—that's me, by the way—so hard that when my head pops off from all the magic you're using, you'll be happy? You think a few dancing trees and rabid dogs are going to show them anything?"
His mouth pulls down, slightly sulky. "I…forgot it hurts you."
"Which is why I'm here to remind you," I say gently. "You were sent to the human world to learn a lesson, right?"
"That I am supposed to care more for humans."
Well, that's a lesson that clearly needs a bit of reminding here and there. "Okay, so let's table the whole marching trees and rabid army thing for now. We don't have the resources—as in, the magic. So what can we do to show people that you're back and ready to kick ass and take names?"
Kassam gives me a curious look. "Why would I take their names?"
I wave a hand in the air. "Just a saying. Focus, Kassam. How do we go about showing people that you're back and you mean business without killing me?"
I expect Kassam to think about it for a moment. Instead, he beams at me and moves to my side, offering a hand. I take it and get to my feet, and he cups my face and kisses my forehead. "Do you know, I think I have learned to care about humans a tiny bit? Because you mentioned that my magic might kill you, and I did not like that realization."
He looks proud of himself. "Great?"
"It would make me sad if you were to die." His smile grows wider. "Fascinating. I do not think I have ever felt this before. I wonder what it would feel like if you did die? Would I feel grief?" He looks mystified and intrigued. "I do not think I have ever felt grief before."
I pull his hands away from my face, because he's making me feel a bit like a bug that he can't decide if he wants to squash or not. "You've felt grief," I offer. "When you were trapped in my world and thought you might never make it back here. When you realized you'd been gone for a thousand years and everyone had forgotten you. That feeling is grief."
His expression falls. "It's not a good feeling."
I shake my head. "Not my favorite, no."
Just as quickly, Kassam's face brightens once more. "Which is why I have you as my anchor. So you can guide me."
I don't feel much like a guide right now. I feel completely out of my depth and I know nothing about this world, but I know how to “human” at least. "Okay, so let's focus. We find Seth, yes?"
He nods, antlers bobbing. "Once we gather my army."
"And how is it we manage that?" I pat his chest. "Keeping in mind my limitations?"
Kassam tilts his head toward the trees. "Look upon them." When I glance over, I see deer and squirrels, just like before. "They felt my return and came to me. Others will do the same, from far away. We will wait for the fiercest of creatures to come to my side, and we will ride them into the city that some fool has thought to build near my wildlands.”
I regard the deer, who even now look as if they're waiting for Kassam to put a hand out so they can join him at his side again. Nothing hurts, so maybe he's right and his presence just attracts them. If so, I guess we can build an army easily enough, though I'm a little worried at what's going to come out of the woodwork. "So we wait for a few days? Is that what you're saying?"
He nods.
"I guess we can hang out for a bit. It probably makes sense to bring an army." I glance up at him. "You're sure that army won't eat me, by the way?"
"They will smell me on you and know that you are claimed." His look grows positively feral and he tugs me into his arms again.
I can guess how we're going to spend the time waiting for his army to arrive.
For the next two days, I eat my weight in fruit and raw vegetables, make love with Kassam at least once an hour, and sleep. So much sleeping and eating. It's like now that we're back in his world, the anchor-bond is magnified a dozen times, and I'm always stuffing my face with either food or his cock.
Hedonism is exhausting. Fun, but exhausting.
I think it even wears Kassam out. He says he doesn't need to sleep—and I don't think I've ever seen him do so—but every now and then, he wanders off into the woods by himself and just “breathes in his surroundings.” It might be a form of meditation. It might be him just appreciating being back…or it might be him needing a break from me for an hour or two.
I totally get it. Even though I love having sex with him, sometimes it's nice to take a moment to breathe.
After about four days of waiting, the glade and all its surroundings are teeming with animals of every kind and shape imaginable. There are foxes and badgers and mice, and some other small creatures I don't recognize. The deer that appear grow bigger in size by the day, some with shaggy hides and enormous racks of antlers. Kassam says they're a mountain breed. There's also a creature called a woale, which looks like a cross between a hippo and a rhino with no horns. There are goats, and sheep, and antelope, and a type of horned elk so tall that it can eat the highest branches. There are birds of every kind, from songbirds to enormous eagles that are so large the branches of the trees dip underneath their weight.
There are predators, too. I try to keep my distance from them because I'm skittish and afraid something will eat me, but they lurk at the edges of the clearing. Enormous wildcats with shaggy manes and dangerous fangs approach in entire prides, and wolf packs appear by the dozens. There are snakes and lizards, both big enough that they terrify me on sight. And there are some creatures straight out of a fairy tale that I've never seen before. Flying birds the size of houses that fly overhead and cast obscenely large shadows. Ground-prowling things with eagle-like heads and lionlike bodies. Gigantic worms with multiple heads and feelers that wreck the trees and pick fights with the gargantuan birds. I'm pretty sure I saw a centaur or two, but they keep their distance from me.
No dragons appear, which disappoints Kassam. "This world was once full of dragon-kind," he tells me as he regards his growing army, sprawling through the woods as far as the eye can see. "Perhaps if any live, they are ignoring my presence, like the clans are."
"Clans?" I ask.
"Ogres and goblins. Troll clans. If they yet exist, they are not answering the call." He shrugs. "It is just as well."
I want to tell him to send the gigantic worms and more monstrous things away, too, but I guess if we're making an army, we need the scariest creatures more than the deer. So I do my best to ignore them and they ignore me, too.
"When will we be ready to go?" I ask Kassam at one point.
"Soon," is all he says.
After a week of this, I watch one of the eagles tear apart a songbird that just laid there for them, and decide I need to get away for a bit. The wild is sometimes a bit “much” for me. Shoving my boots on, I glance around for Kassam. I find him near the edge of the pool, his eyes closed as birds rest in his antlers and a fox cradles between his thighs. Rabbits curl up against him, quivering at the sight of me, and I decide not to disturb him. He's having his “me” time and I want some of my own.