Taken: The Life of Uktesh Book 3 (7 page)

She sat up, scooted out of bed, and began the tedious process of getting dressed.  Though she complained that the dragon kept asking her to look at her full-length mirror for a little longer, they both knew she was grateful he thought her attractive, because with their minds linked, she wasn’t sure if he could lie to her, and vice versa.  She stepped into loose pants that Tylor had created for her and pulled them up to her waist, and pulled on the string in the front that tightened them around her hips.  Likewise Tylor has invented a bra that she could put on and take off with one hand.  She scrunched up her shirt with her hand until it was basically two holes and then pushed her head through both holes, and after a moment of fighting, she was able to force her hand through the armhole.

She stood in front of the mirror as she brushed her hair. She still had bags under her eyes. She thought she still looked pale, which made sense considering she’d previously seen a tanned version of herself looking back at her in the mirror.  After two months inside--considering it was winter--she’d definitely lost her tan.  She put the brush down and stared at the much more worn Laurilli that looked back at her. Personally, she thought she now looked deformed.

What will Uktesh say when he sees me?
  Really what she feared was that he wouldn’t still find her attractive. She assumed he’d no longer find her beautiful, but she couldn’t bear it if he returned to her only to be repulsed by her. 

She felt tears well up in her eyes, as they seemed to so easily these days. 
Say? He’ll probably say something stupid like, “Oh no!  That was my favorite arm.”
  She burst out into a laughing sob, once again incredibly grateful to the dragon.  The more she thought about it the more she realized the dragon was probably right.  She took a deep breath, but not too deep, and stood up, ready for the day.  The sky had just begun to brighten into day, so she Walked to the top of the watch tower and sat on the roof as the sun rose over the hills to the east.

She much preferred the sunrise to the sunset as the mountains to the west blocked most of the light.  So instead of getting to see the ball of light rise from the horizon,
before it’s too painful to stare directly at,
she was forced to watch the after effects as the sky changed from blue to pink and red.  As the sky brightened and illuminated the world around her, she saw a pack of spider wolves race back to the edge of the forest. 
I can’t even pretend I’d help hunt them down. Without a second arm I’m basically useless.
  She even saw a few lickmutts playing in the mud with a mudhound.  She watched them play for a few minutes before a hand appeared on the edge of the roof, which was followed by her father Thulmann as he pulled himself to the top of the roof to sit next to her.

Although he sat right next to her, there was a distance between them that he’d put there when he had insisted that Uktesh would turn evil.  Now she didn’t know if she could trust him with the knowledge that she too was Afflicted.  He sighed and said, “First that husband of yours, now you, zipping from one place to the next like frenzied humming bees.  How is this old man supposed to keep up with you young’uns?”  Even though he was graying around the temples, she knew that he was one of the most deadly warriors in the Sinian army.  He had even revealed that he was a Number, one of the elite warriors that were the best at their given weapon.  He was Number Four master of swords; they’d previously met a Number who simply went by his moniker: One.  To this day she still didn’t know what weapon he was the best at using.

Laurilli responded to his question and said, “Maybe you’re not meant to, old man.”  He sighed and put his arm around her.  Together they watched the sun rise over the hills. 

They were a small community that consisted of Basam’s family, Myrtin’s family, Repus, Heathyr, Thulmann, Tylor, Larut, Sara, Pamfilo, Pippy, Abrym, and Laurilli. 
Such a small community and we’ve already lost three for sure, four if Uktesh really didn’t make it.
  Myrtin, Leilani, and Esolc’s faces passed through her mind with a pang of regret.

Don’t you worry. It’ll take more than an invading army to kill him.
  Laurilli smiled at the dragon’s thought and watched as Pippy ran out of Repus’s house only to be met halfway by Robyn and Mychael.  The three of them took off running toward the watchtower.  Laurilli saw Fayth and Trysha sneak over the north wall. Where they were coming back from wasn’t really a question.  Upon arriving in Manori they had sought out the wealthiest family with sons their ages.  That meant they were sneaking out to spend the night Dekan and Baloce. 

They’re big girls; they can certainly handle themselves, and if not, I’ve already said my peace, twice!

What would Uktesh do?

Laurilli sighed in disgust.
He’d probably let the girls follow their own path, but put the fear of the gods into Baloce and Dekan.

Then let’s do that!

Do what?

Scare some kids!  Come on; it’ll be fun!

Against her better judgement she felt like doing what the dragon was egging her on to do.  Thulmann must’ve felt the shift in her attitude and said, “There she is, my little ray of sunshine.”

Laurilli smiled, her mind set, and said, “I’m hoping down. Do you want help?”

Below them in the watchtower they heard the three children arrive and immediately start sighting Afflicted animals, people, and monsters.  Thulmann smiled as Mychael shouted, “Mychael sees a giant dragon!  It says it’s come for the girl!”

Pippy shouted back, “No!  Not me?”

Robyn shouted heroically, “Robyn will protect you!”

Mychael added, “Mychael will protect you too!”

Robyn whined, “Huh uh!  Only Robyn can protect her!  You go keep watch for more Afflicted.”

Thulmann nodded as the three started to fight about their roles in their imaginary lives.  Laurilli grabbed his shoulder with her right hand and Walked to the base of the watchtower.  Thulmann hugged her and said, “I don’t know what you’re planning, but have fun and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Laurilli hugged him back before she Walked to her house and got her new sword.  She had decided that Uktesh’s fighting style wouldn’t work for her anymore, so she was learning from Heathyr how to use a rapier.  It wasn’t going well, but she had only started training with Heathyr for a week.  She tried to pull her minotaur jacket on, but found that she couldn’t get it buttoned shut.  She found her mother and had her button it shut.  Or at least she tried.  They soon came to the realization that Laurilli was too big for the jacket!

Am I getting fat?

The dragon didn’t answer for a second, then thought,
No I don’t think so.

You hesitated!

No, I didn’t. I was thinking about it.

You shouldn’t have to think about it!  It should be obvious!

Human proportions have always baffled me.

Liar!

Alright fine!  You’ve gained weight, not just, ‘you’re growing,’ but you’ve put on about five extra pounds.

What!
  She mentally shrieked and collapsed into her mother’s arms sobbing.  “Have I gained five pounds, Mom?”

Heathyr patted her head and said, “No, I think you’re just growing. You got that jacket when you were a child. Now you’re a woman and it makes sense that you’d outgrow it.”

Laurilli asked, “Really?”

Heathyr hugged her again and said, “Of course.”

Laurilli mumbled into Heathyr’s shoulder, “Do you think Uktesh will still love me if I gain a lot of weight?”

Heathyr said, “I know he will.”

That’s how you answer that question!

The dragon replied,
I was being honest!

I like her dishonesty better than your honesty.

Then don’t ask me a question you don’t want the answer to.

Will Uktesh ever return to us?

Are you sure you want to know my thoughts on this subject?

Yes.

The dragon mentally sighed and thought,
no. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he’s dead, but I know the geography of this world and the closest land mass from here in the direction they came from is too far to swim, too cold to walk, and he’s not strong enough to fly or Walk here.  I knew if he got captured it’d most likely be a one-way trip.

Why didn’t you save him?

It was him or you. He has a chance of returning, though it’s slim.  You wouldn’t have survived without my help.

Then if he can’t come to me, I’ll go to him.

I don’t think even you have enough money to tempt a captain to go that far away.
 

Laurilli pulled away from Heathyr and wiped her eyes, “Sorry, I just get emotional these days.”

Heathyr said, “You’ll always have my shoulder to cry on if you need it.”

Laurilli gave up on the jacket and headed to find Dekan and Baloce.  They were usually in the inn lounging around and drinking the day away.  Like most days today was no different.  She stormed into the inn, nicked each of their necks with her rapier and said, “Those two girls may not know who and what you two are, but I do.  If you hurt them those scratches will become profoundly deeper.”  She turned on her heel and strode out of the inn without looking back, though the dragon was keeping a watch on them with his senses. 

She didn’t start to giggle until she was safely back inside the walls of her community. 
Perhaps you’re not so useless after all,
the dragon thought, mocking her earlier fears.

Her stomach growled and even with her fears about gaining weight she went to find some food.  It was times like these that she missed the Isle de Tramonto and its endless buffet of food.  She settled for eating an apple and when she was finished she threw the core over the wall.  She only had time to kill these days, so she practiced her new forms that primarily involved her wrist.  She flowed forward and back trying to adapt Bull Rushes Down into her forward attack pattern, but had a hard time keeping her balance without her left arm.

Heathyr joined her about an hour later and together they fought back and forth each striving to achieve a point or a victory.  Laurilli had learned her lesson about rushing and trying to do something she wasn’t ready for, so instead of trying to Rush an attack, she fought with controlled bursts of speed and strength.  After several minutes she saw an opening and kicked out at her mother’s hand, but it had been a ruse, and now off-balanced Heathyr quickly tapped Laurilli on the head.  Laurilli was breathing hard and trying not to breathe too deeply and hurt her wound.

Heathyr said, “Good job. I thought you were going to try something flashy but foolish to let me win the point.  Instead you were patient and I had to work hard to trick you.”

Laurilli smiled and said, “I still have a long way to go. I got tired after only a few minutes of sparing. I used to be able to fight Repus and,” she paused as she was hit by loss again, “Esolc for hours.”

Heathyr nodded and asked, “Shall we go again?”

Laurilli nodded and stood to begin again when someone shouted over the wall, “Hello the compound!”

Laurilli walked to the gate as a crowd began to form.  She pulled the heavy slide open and swung the gate so that they could see their visitor.  It was a messenger from the lord Marshal, the leader of Sinai.  The man stepped into the courtyard and was flanked by dozens of guards.  “Hear ye!  Hear ye!  By order of the lord Marshal all persons between the ages of eight and sixty are to report to Bainbridge by noon on the midwinter festival for combat training!”  Laurilli felt her jaw drop,
eight year olds?  That’s only two weeks away!
  “Once there they will have the honor of being trained by the esteemed Numbers in hand to hand combat.” 

There was more than a few parents glaring angrily at the messenger, but Laurilli raised her hand for quiet, “It’s not his fault, and it’s not even a bad thing!  If we’re to survive the return of those invaders then we’ll need to know how to defend ourselves.”  She turned to the messenger and said, “Please continue.”

The man was staring at her arm, or lack thereof, but quickly recovered and continued, “This will not be to form an army, or to begin recruitment.  Though it is mandatory, there won’t be a draft at the end. You will all be back in time to begin planting for the harvest.  Are there any questions?”

Basam strode forward and said, “Basam and all Basam’s family are between eight and sixty save for Sy and Mychael.  Who would watch them if all are to be training?”

The messenger said, “For a community this size you may choose one person to stay behind and care for those too young to begin the training.” 

Thulmann marched forward and said, “I am Four.  We have a wet nurse who has to stay behind, but she has no combat training. If my wife were to stay behind we’d all feel much better about leaving. Then we would know the children would be defended”

The messenger took a step back and even the dozens of guards looked nervous.  “I, ah, suppose that if one of the Numbers says his wife is well trained, then she could, ah, be exempt, but just one!”

Thulmann clapped the man on his shoulder and said, “That’s great!  We’ll be there. It sounds like fun!”

The messenger said, “As one of the Numbers you’re expected to arrive the day before training starts.”

Thulmann barked a laugh and said, “Too bad Uktesh isn’t here. We could have all ten Numbers.”

The messenger said, “Uktesh?  The winner of last year’s tournament?  He lives here?  Is he here now?  I need to thank him, I won so much money because of him.”

Thulmann said, “No, alas, he was captured by the invaders after single-handedly destroying most of their ships.”

The messenger puffed out his chest and said, “I’d expect no less from someone of his caliber.  Tell me, was he killed in the fighting or captured like you said?”

Thulmann said, “Captured.”

The man grinned widely and said, “Then we’ll see him again.  I have faith that if it’s possible to get back here, he’ll be the one to do it.  He wants to come back, right?”

Thulmann gestured at Laurilli and said, “His wife is waiting for him.”

The man said, “I knew I recognized you. You also fought in the tournament, and did fairly well if I remember correctly.  What happened to your arm?”

Laurilli said, “The invaders caught me with two crossbow bolts.”

The messenger nodded and said, “Well, if you’re here I’m certain he’ll come back!  Stronger than ever!”  He raised a clenched fist and suddenly realized he was cheering on a person who couldn’t see or hear him.  His cheeks flushed with embarrassment and he said, “Well, I’ll see you guys in two weeks!”  He quickly backed out of the courtyard and shouted, “Take care,” before the gate was shut.

Thulmann said, “Well, we’ve got two weeks to whip everyone into shape!  Abrym how old are you?”

Abrym smiled and said, “Sixty-two.”

Thulmann said, “Good, how good are you with a bow?”

Abrym lost some of his glee, “Poor, I’d say.”

Thulmann said, “Then it’s time to buy you some archery gloves!  Because without them you’re going to cut your fingers down to nubs!” 

Laurilli asked, “I think we should focus more on endurance than actually learning skills.  Being able to fight longer will help more than bursts of skill followed by exhaustion.”

Thulmann nodded and said, “You’re in charge of the endurance training then.  Don’t push yourself too hard and by the time we show up there won’t be a community better prepared, outside of Beletaria that is!”

Everyone shouted and he continued, “Maybe by the end we’ll be better than some of those villages too!”

Everyone cheered again, and Thulmann quickly organized people into weapons training and endurance. Laurilli had a purpose again!  She paced in front of Basam, Fayth, Trysha, Pamfilo, and Sara, and shouted, “Alright maggots!  You think I’m just a kind sweet little girl now, but by the gods, by the end of these two weeks you will know that the devil isn’t in the details, it’s in me!”  She saw humor on their faces and snapped her rapier like a whip against Fayth’s behind and said, “Do you find me funny?  Now run, you weaklings!”  When they didn’t immediately move she lifted her rapier over her head and started circling it around her head.  They all took off at a run, With Basam laughing the whole time.

1. What did I agree to
   

Two months and two weeks apart from Uktesh

When Laurilli woke up, the smell of smoke and the sight of people stumbling around greeted her.  She sat up and realized that for the first time in a long time she had slept soundly.  She yawned, stretched, noticed that there was no tightness in her chest, and jumped up to her feet.  She quickly found a place to relieve her bladder and just as quickly headed back to where she’d slept.  She put her sword belt on the ground and laid on it.  She rolled to her left with the belt buckle in her right hand and carefully and grabbed both ends in her hand and looped the end through the buckle.  She tightened the belt and slowly slid her hand down the belt, keeping the tension tight, found the metal tongue and pushed it through one of the holes in the leather and tucked the rest of the belt to the side. 

She stood up and shook her hips to ensure it was on tight enough.  When she was satisfied she rolled up her bedding, tied it with three strings and picked up her canteen.  She swished some water around in her mouth and spat it out to the side of the road before she drank two deep gulps of the water.  She bunched up a new shirt before she stripped off her dirty shirt and quickly worked her way into the clean shirt.  She looked around, but saw that no one was watching her except for Pamfilo, who Laurilli had learned, wanted to baby her, regardless of how Laurilli felt about it.

She walked down the other side of the road to the stream and filled her canteen with water.  She took another deep gulp of the cool water.  She knew that she, and the rest of her group, had to be in Bainbridge and ready by high noon, and when she glanced at the sun she knew they didn’t have much time to spare.  She roused the twins, who were always the last ones awake.  She helped Basam coral Robyn, Katy, Kayla, and Elysha, who were having a water fight in the stream. After fifteen minutes of battling the twins to get ready and the children to stop playing, they were all finally in a line and everyone had a partner.  She sighed in relief that they could start moving and without a backward glance they started walking toward the town.  At the edge of the camp, she thought about yelling to wake up those that had somehow slept through the chaos of the morning, but decided against it. Those who would be there would be the better recruits, and she didn’t want to upset the system.

With a shrug she walked away from the group of people who’d slept together for safety.  After an hour of walking the group made it into the town.  They crossed underneath a drawbridge gate and found that there were two guards with bored expressions standing around a fire for warmth, their breastplates dull and poorly kept.  Laurilli and her group weren’t even questioned as they walked in--armed as they were--and so she continued forward toward the crowd of people.  She flowed with the crowd and pulled Elysha with her, hoping that everyone would be able to stay together by linking hands.  She saw homes and shops with two stories of space.  She was surprised that a town this small had begun to build up rather than out.  Back in Manori the bigger the house was the more ground it took up, but here it looked like the status symbol was not the biggest house, but the tallest.  Some seemed to end with a loft like she and her mom had had at their old home, but most here had another full floor.  She stared open-mouthed as the buildings got higher and higher. 
They’re even taller than in Baenok!
  Some even seemed to be leaning to one side and she saw two that looked like they’d fallen into each other, and had simply been reinforced and built up from there.
 
She even spotted a building that had the wall facing the street filled with windows going up five stories, though she was sure that the top window must be for a loft area.  She wanted to walk in just to see if the entrance was really that high, or if it was a trick the architect has used.

While she stared at it she was not watching where she was going and walked into someone’s back. After a quick apology she found where the recruits needed to be and got in line behind a group of older men.  A quick head count revealed that none had gotten lost, and neither of the twins had succeeded in sneaking away. 

The other men were talking about the dismal quality of recruits this year.  When Robyn walked up to one of them and pulled on his coat they broke off their conversation to gape at the blue headed boy. One of the men with gray peppering his beard, and a wide-brimmed hat that shaded his eyes and covered more than half his face, said, “You see here, this boy is so under-developed that he doesn’t even look eight years old.”

One of the men made the connection to the meaning of Laurilli’s loose left sleeve and said, “That girl is even missing an arm!”

Laurilli said, “Excuse him, he’s young-looking, but he is eight. You can tell because he constantly forgets his manners.”  She said the last bit to Robyn.

Robyn shook his head and said, “They said Robyn’s father was dismal quality!”

Laurilli said, “Do you know what that means?”

Robyn shook his head and said, “No, but you do and you looked at them like you look at the twins.”

Laurilli smiled and said, “I’m sure I did.”   She turned to the men again and said, “Please excuse us.”

They did a double take at Laurilli, and the gray-bearded man said, “Girl you cannot be serious about taking part in the training!  You’re, well, you’re missing an arm!”

Obviously.

Laurilli said, “I wasn’t aware there were any exceptions.  If you’re saying there are I’d much rather be sleeping in my comfortable bed.”

“Then what are you doing here?”

She sighed, “I’m here to train, sir.”

“Go home girl. We need a cripple to fight our battles for us like we need a swift kick in the ass.”

They really need a swift kick in the ass so…

Laurilli smiled at the dragons’ thoughts and said, “I hate to disagree sir, but the messenger who told us about the mandatory training, knew that I was missing an arm, but he said that I was skilled enough to join this year.”

The gray-bearded man said, “Really?  This I have to see.  How skilled are you?”

“I am good with my rapier, and I am working my way back to being accomplished in unarmed combat.”

“What’s that sword you wear.”

Laurilli sighed, “It’s called a rapier and I’m good enough with it.” She ignored the fact that for the last several days she had been beaten mercilessly by Heathyr as her mom drilled more advanced skills into her through practice.

That’s just because you and your husband both enjoy ignoring my helpful suggestions.

A helpful suggestion is by definition useful.  You’re suggestion that we strip down to our underwear to be able to more clearly see where we were being hit was not.

It would have been useful at relieving me of boredom.

The gray beard said, “Girl, no one your age and limitation could possibly have more than a passing understanding of unarmed fighting.  Your body could not handle it.”

Laurilli shrugged, she looked up and saw that the sun was,
thankfully,
practically at the noon hour, so she smiled and said, “It was a pleasure to meet you sirs, but the reason we are here is about to start.” 

Laurilli turned and started to walk off, with Robyn in tow, when she heard the gray beard ask, “Girl, what is your name?”

She smiled and knew her dimples were showing when she said, “Laurilli. I’d have your name as well, sir.”

His eyebrow twitched as he answered, “I am known by some as Roain.”

Laurilli continued to walk away, pushing her way to join in the group of people at the front of the stage.  Slowly the rest of her group came to stand around her.  A loud trumpet sound echoed throughout the square, all the talking ground to a halt, and everyone turned toward the stage.  Out walked eight men one of whom Laurilli recognized at the messenger who had recruited there group to join in the training.  The announcer asked that those who were recruited by these men to line up in front of them.  Laurilli, and the rest of her group, walked over to stand in front of her messenger, and noticed that their line was far shorter than all the others.  She looked to her right and left and saw that all the other lines were made up of dozens more people. 

She felt a hand slam down on her right shoulder, “Howa!  Lovely Laurilli made it!”  Laurilli turned to see Enan and his son. Behind them were several other people Laurilli recognized from the camp last night.  She was glad to have other people in her line, and even though his face did not give anything away, Laurilli could tell that the messenger was glad, that more people than just Laurilli and her group had shown up.

She whispered to Basam, “I thought for a moment that we were going to be the only ones who made it on time.”