Tested (The Life of Uktesh Book 1) (29 page)

Uktesh nodded and painfully continued toward the kitchen. Then at the ladder that used to lead to his loft, he paused to catch his breath and slowly started to climb to the loft.  He noticed halfway up that the three of them had stopped packing and were staring at him, worry clear in their eyes. With a grunt, he pulled himself up to the top and rolled into the loft.  While he caught his breath, Basam came up the ladder and said, “Basam is sure that nothing of Uktesh’s is still in this room, and Basam does not understand why it is so important for you to be here now.”

“I have something that I must do before we leave.” Uktesh said still on the floor trying to catch his breath, “But if you would like to help, please open up the window.”  Basam moved to the window and silently opened it up for Uktesh. Once he had caught his breath, Uktesh painfully climbed to his feet. He used the wall to stabilize himself as he walked to the window. Once there, he shouted as loud as he could, “Laurilli agreed to marry me!”

Basam smiled as he realized what Uktesh had needed to do.  Uktesh slowly made his way back to the ladder, and this time allowed Basam to help him down as he didn’t trust himself fully yet.  Once his feet were back on the ground floor, he turned to find Laurilli had waited for him.  She rushed into his arms and kissed him with more heat than Uktesh was ready for, and soon they had sunk to the floor when Laurilli was unable or not ready to support his weight.  She continued to kiss him and he had no willpower to do anything but join her until a “hem hem!” cough pulled them out of their fog. 

Laurilli’s face was already red, but quickly became even more crimson.  She raced into another room and Uktesh was left to deal with Heathyr’s unreadable stare alone, “I know what you’re going to say.” Uktesh said carefully, “But before you do, you should know that,” he paused and felt a grin spread across his face, “I don’t regret anything.” He could tell that his smile was like that of a madman, which caused Heathyr to roll her eyes and Basam to laugh.  They both walked into another room and continued to pack for the trip, which left Uktesh on his own to try and stand.  He used the ladder to help himself back to his feet and slowly made his way back to his room. 

Uktesh lay on the bed and waited for his breath to return to normal, but before it had, there was a shout from outside, “Hello the house!” and Uktesh recognized Esolc’s voice.

Li shouted, “Come on in! We are just about to finish up getting packed for the trip.”

Uktesh heard two separate sets of feet walk into the house and knew that Repus had decided to join in on the fun at the Isle de Tramonto. They pitched in and helped pack the cart and soon it was time for Uktesh to make his way to the cart as well.  To speed up the process, he allowed Repus and Laurilli to help him along the way.  Soon he was lifted into the cart and once everyone else was settled, Heathyr and Laurilli on the bench of the cart, the three men on their horses, their journey began.

They had taken all of their money and all of their expensive possessions, except their furniture, because for one, they had assumed that people would assume that they were moving forever and second, that they didn’t want anything of value to be stolen.  As they made their way through town, they were greeted by the stares of everyone they passed.  Repus and Esolc pointed out where the compound was being built and Larut hadn’t been lying when he said only the north wall was up. But the place still looked familiar to Uktesh, so he asked Li, “Hey Li, why does this field looked familiar to me?”

It was Repus who answered, “From what I understand, this is where you fought the minotaur.” and suddenly he knew that that was where he remembered it from. 

They stopped to say goodbye to Tylor, and they explained where they were going, to which he replied, “Larut already explained everything to me, and I have to agree that this is the best plan.”

Heathyr asked, “Would you mind picking up our furniture from the house so that it doesn’t get stolen while we’re gone?”

“That won’t be a problem. I’ll store it until your house in the compound is ready, and then we’ll move it in for you.”

“Thank you, you’re too kind.”

“Think nothing of it. I’m more than happy to help the lady that helped make it so that I never have to work another day, if I don’t wish it.”

“I’m just glad that most of us made it home safely.”

“I’ll miss him until the day I die, but Myrtin’s family is great. And even though they miss their father, his kids know that he loved them, and that’s a rare thing in too many families.  Soon, that is to say whenever you get back, you’ll get to meet them as well.”

“I look forward to it.” Heathyr said.

Tylor walked around to Laurilli and said, “You take care. Keep an eye out for Uktesh and make sure he doesn’t do anything too foolish again.”

“I’ll try my best.” she said as she jumped down out of the cart to hug him.

“You two, continue doing what you’re doing.” he said to Repus and Esolc, “Shirking your responsibilities to go have fun on a resort island, where you’ll laze away the days, eat until your heart’s content, and hit on all the hot island girls.”

“You know it.” they both said in unison, and everyone had a laugh at that.

“Basam, I just met you and already I will miss you being around.” they shook hands and Tylor lifted himself so that he could see into the cart where Uktesh was lying.  After only a quick look of worry, he said, “And you, Uktesh, you need to heal, so that when you come back, we’ll be able to count on your sword if we need to defend our homes.  On a more serious note, though, you should probably stay for at least half a year, because we won’t have the compound ready until then.”  Uktesh lifted his hand and Tylor took it with a nod.

“Half a year away, this place will probably be completely different.” said Uktesh.

Tylor laughed, “Here for sure, but I think you mean Manori itself.”

Uktesh nodded, “A sudden influx of money will bring many looking for work and this little town may become a lot bigger.”

“You always look at things from an odd perspective, but I’m glad one of us does.”

Uktesh smiled and nodded again, “One suggestion before it gets too far along. The wall is ten feet high, right? I’d double that and double the thickness. When I’m better, I’ll show how easy it is to get over something ten feet tall.” he nodded.

“This is why I wish you would take better care of yourself. I thought that ten feet was plenty.” Laurilli got back in the cart and, with one more wave of goodbye, they once again began to travel south towards the Isle de Tramonto. 

They were each silent for a time, wrapped in their own thoughts, but soon Basam broke the silence with a question, “Does anyone know how to get to the Isle de Tramonto?”

When nobody spoke up, Heathyr said, “Since we’re heading south, we can just ask for directions when we get to Jubay on the coast, or we can ask at Baenok, if we went out of the way, by an hour.”

Everyone agreed that that was a good idea and as the cart continued to move south at a leisurely pace, Uktesh tried to ignore the pain that each bump caused. Laurilli switched places carefully, so that she would be able to lay with him in the space that they had made for him. She didn’t say anything and didn’t have to, but soon having her near him and with the exertions of the morning, he fell asleep.

Uktesh woke up to a full bladder. Laurilli was asleep and she had rolled so that half her body was on him. Both of them were under a cover and he saw that it was night out.  He couldn’t believe that an entire day had passed and that he had slept through it. He knew that he had to wake Laurilli up, so he kissed her tenderly on the lips, only to be head butted into a wooden crate.  Slightly dizzy, he saw that Laurilli was awake and he saw her rub her head, as she tried to massage away the pain.  “Do you think that you could get off me for just one moment?” Uktesh asked her once she was done massaging her head.

“Why?”

“Well I have to relieve myself and if you could help me out of the cart, I would appreciate that.”

“Oh sure. Now that I’m the only one awake to help you, you’re conveniently able to take care of yourself.”

“Look,” he said with a grin, “if you hadn’t gotten even this morning, I’d be more than happy to let you help me now. But you had to allow a demon of payback to corrupt your words.”

Laurilli’s eyes turned cold and, for a moment, Uktesh feared for his safety. “Fine.” she said in a way that told him that it wasn’t fine at all.  She got off of him and jumped out of the cart. When she didn’t return, Uktesh painfully propped himself up.  He sat up and looked over the edge of the cart and saw that she was nowhere in sight. He slowly and carefully got to his knees, and then crawled over the side of the cart.  Before he used the wheel as a step to help him down, he grabbed a knife with a weak grip.  As he walked towards the tree line, he couldn’t help but think that perhaps Laurilli really was upset with him, even though they both knew that what he had seen had been an accident, and both knew that until they were married he shouldn’t let her get even. 

I don’t really know why I have the knife. I’m probably more likely to hurt myself than anything.
He felt more safe with it in his possession than he would if he walked toward the trees with no protection.  He put the knife in his teeth, as he leaned against a tree to help steady himself.  With an extreme amount of pain in his hands, he fumbled with his belt and finally was able to lower his pants enough to relieve himself. There was a rustle from the bushes near him and Laurilli’s voice came from inside them, “That’s it?  What’s the big deal about that?”

His stream cut off, as he turned away from the voice. He quickly finished, as Laurilli untangled herself from the bush.  He spat out the knife and said, “You realize that I’m going to need you to change your wording in regards to my manhood.”

“What?” she said as she walked towards him. He pulled his pants all the way up and tried to belt it securely to his waist. “Oh, that was fine, but I don’t see what the big deal is.”

Unable to see his face, he knew she didn’t see it scrunch up with annoyance.
That still wasn’t very complimentary.
  “Still not good enough.”

“Fine!” she exclaimed and threw her hands up, “Oh my,” she said and placed the back of her hand to her forehead as she pretended to swoon, “that was the greatest thing I’ve seen in my lifetime! If the heavens opened up and took me, I would die knowing that my life had finally been fulfilled.”

“You know that I probably should also be upset with you for hiding and waiting for me.”

“What,” she said with mock indignation, “maybe I’m the one who should be upset, because I had to do my business and you’re the one who followed me. It’s not my fault you didn’t look around.”

“Clever.” he said and knew that she had planned that in advance, and would even bet that she really had done her business to give her that excuse.  “Well, if you’re not too upset with me, do you mind helping me buckle this up and walk back to the cart?”

“Of course not, future husband of mine.” she said sweetly, and suddenly in his mind everything was once again even.  She ducked under his right arm, cinched his belt tight, picked up the knife, and together they walked back to the cart.  Once again, he used the wheel as a step. Once over the edge, he rolled back into the space that had been set out for him and struggled to get under the cover that he was partially on top of.  He lay there and needed to catch his breath for a moment, as Laurilli once again joined him in the cart and made herself comfortable next to him.

“You know,” he said softly, “we’re going to have to come up with a way for me to wake you up without me getting injured.”

“You and me both.” she said as she kissed him.

“Sorry. Are you happy being even with me now?” he asked innocently.

Sleepily she replied, “Yes, yes I am.”

He pretended to think it over for a bit before he asked, “Perhaps we should become uneven again, so that we can become even after that?” He swallowed, his throat suddenly dry.

“Whatever do you mean fiancée of mine?”

“I mean that perhaps you could let me have just one more glimpse of heaven?”

“An intriguing idea,” she said thoughtfully, “but it seems like an unfair trade off, since you seem to care far more than I do about this trade off. So what do you have to offer me to make it truly even?”

“Well,” he said as if deep in thought, “I am rich you know.”

“Not appealing to me since I’m rich as well.” she said mischievously.

“I feel as if you have something in mind,” he said, even though he knew that she did.

“Well,” she drew out the word and trailed a finger down his chest, “you’ve already agreed to train me, you’ve already agreed to marry me, you’ve even already agreed to never leave me, so perhaps the thing that I want is something that you can do for me that no one else can.”  Her finger circled around his belly button before it started to travel up again.

“I have to say I don’t mind the sound of that.” Uktesh said, and swallowed hard.

“I didn’t think that you would. So here’s my suggestion: if we happen to,” then she got a look in her eyes that he’d seen only once before, he’d last seen it that morning right after he had shouted that they were engaged. “Oh forget it, happy late birthday!” she said before she threw off her shirt and then quickly joined him under the covers.