Tested (The Life of Uktesh Book 1) (7 page)

“Is that how you were hurt?  Did you do it wrong?”

“Yes and no.” He knew that the grin he felt on his face was a prideful one, “I don’t do it wrong anymore.  What I did was I skipped balanced, and attacked in imperfect. Without the balanced buffer, I was hurt doing it.  What really hurt was that I amplified myself up from there to perfect form.”

“Why would you do that?” asked Heathyr.

Again Uktesh glanced at Laurilli, but answered Heathyr, “It would’ve killed you, or Laurilli, or maybe both of you.  I couldn’t let that happen.”

“From what you’ve been telling us though you put yourself at great risk attacking in this ‘perfect’ form without properly buffering yourself.”

Uktesh was impressed with Heathyr’s’ ability to understand what he’d told them, “Actually, I didn’t expect to live.  Imperfect only allows you to be twice as fast and twice as strong, but perfect makes you ten times.” Laurilli gasped.  “The stress on your body is equally increased, which is why only masters are trained to use it, and grand masters can use it with little effect to their bodies.”

“Then,” Laurilli asked, “are you a grand master?”

Uktesh smiled, even though it hurt to do so, “No, I’m not able to-” he stopped talking.
I should be dead, doing what I did.  I have been able to recently use perfect form without many consequences, if any. 
Uktesh continued, “I don’t know. Maybe I am or maybe I’m lucky, or maybe my body’s more resilient to the damaging effects of the backlash.”

“So that’s why you were able to move faster than a saber rabbit?” asked Laurilli.

“Yeah, I guess, though I’ve never heard of a master or grand master using perfect to see who was faster.  I always thought that nothing moved as fast as a saber rabbit.”

“And you want to teach my daughter to use these dangerous techniques?”

The sudden switch in conversational direction threw Uktesh off for a moment, then he shrugged and said, “Yeah.”

“Why do you think I would allow that?”

“Why wouldn’t you?  The techniques in and of themselves don’t hurt to learn. It’s doing them incorrectly, or out of order, that hurts a person.  I was only injured because I chose to do so.”

“And do you truly believe that if my daughter had been in the same situation she wouldn’t have done what you did resulting in her getting herself hurt or killed?”

“I would like to believe that, if in my situation, everyone would do what I did.”

“So you would teach my daughter the techniques to be able to kill herself doing the right thing?”

“Yes. Better that, than not having the ability to do anything, and possibly dying because of it.”

“You have given me much to think on, and I will leave you to the care of my daughter.” She left the room and gently shut the door after her.

“You were willing to die for me?” she asked as she moved to where Heathyr had stood by his head, her hair hid her face from Uktesh.

“Of course. You’re my ‘best friend.’”

“You won’t let that go will you?” she looked him in the eyes and he saw unshed tears cloud the normally radiant blue of her eyes.

Taken aback Uktesh said, “Only if it means keeping you.”

“Fine, I understand that you want to marry me, but I’ve only known you for five days, and you’ve been unconscious for four of them.  So for us ‘best friend’ will mean that we get to be together long enough to know if we’re right for each other. Is that alright with you?”

“So then you’re my girlfriend?”

“Oh my,” she huffed out a breath and laughed, “is best friends not good enough for you?”

“Not if you’re willing to be more.”

“Fine, we’re dating. But that’s it for now, and if you keep this up, we won’t be dating for long!” she said it with a smile that dazzled him, and he found that the moment was missing one important element.

“This feels like a moment that I should kiss you, but I can’t move without pain.”

“You’re so useless.” She said as her smile grew wider, but she said it while she moved closer.

“As long as I’m-” her lips touched his and he lost track of whatever he was going to say.  She left him slightly light headed and soon after that and he drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

The next morning he was able to move on his own without pain, which was good because he had a very full bladder to take care of.  He could smell the aroma of breakfast and realized that he was in Laurilli’s room!  He decided not to ask if he’d wet the bed or worse during his four day rest, but he assumed that after four days he had, and he felt ashamed, even though mentally he knew he wasn’t at fault.  

By the door he found his sword in its sheath. He left the house barefoot, but armed with his sword and limped to the outhouse.  Once he was finished he limped back into the house and washed his dirty feet before going back into the house.  He dried his feet on the mat by the door and sat at the kitchen table thankful that he could do two chores in one trip, relieve himself, and feed himself. 

Already, both Heathyr and Laurilli looked better, and he guessed that after he woke up last night they’d been able to get a full night’s sleep.  “Morning.” Heathyr said to him as she put a plate of eggs and saber rabbit meat in front of him.  He suddenly realized just how hungry he was! He tried to eat slowly, to make sure he didn’t eat too quickly and get sick, but even though he tried that, he was finished as Heathyr and Laurilli set their own plates down.  Laurilli picked up his plate with a smile and then brought it back with more eggs and meat on it.

“Morning Heathyr. Sorry, I’m not sure if I said it back to you earlier.”

“You didn’t.” Said Laurilli with a smug grin.

“You had other things on your mind.”

“Still, I apologize for my rudeness, but the food was simply too alluring for me to ignore.”  They ate in silence, and though he was still hungry after his second helping, he knew that any type of meat doesn’t come cheap. So he pushed his plate towards the center to give himself some elbow room on the table, “I’m sorry Laurilli to have taken your room over for these past days.”

“It’s ok. We couldn’t move you. I didn’t mind sleeping with mom, her bed’s bigger anyway.  It fit the two of us just fine.”

“Plus,” Heathyr said, “if it hadn’t been for you we would be dead right now.  You’ve more than earned a place in our home for as long as you would like.”  Uktesh couldn’t hide the pleasure he felt at finally being accepted. It was different from the way that his father had accepted him.  Here, though, after finally being able to harness the skill that he had honed for years, the women were able to accept him as “Uktesh, interested in Laurilli, great hunter, and family.”

“I wish that I had more to give you than the training I’d already promised Laurilli, but that’s all that I can give right now.

“If you can make me half as good as you are, I’ll be more than happy.”

“I’m even better with the bow than with the sword. I’m the youngest grand master archer ever.  The way we tested archery was: n an expert can accurately hit a target at one hundred, a master at two hundred, and a grand master at three hundred yards.  The day that I took my grand master test was a windy day too.  Most of the grandmasters were shocked that I could shoot an arrow that far in the wind, much less with any accuracy. But even with that, I wasn’t accepted because people were unsure if, like with hand to hand, I would freeze up in real combat. I wasn’t really sure either, but I also figured that I wouldn’t need to worry about that because we would never be at war with anyone. But I guess I was wrong about that on both counts.”

“As children we always look at the people in our lives, and we believe the best of people.  It’s only after we grow up that we no longer assume that there is inherent good in every person.  That’s when you start to pick and choose who you will trust implicitly.  The older you get the smaller that number becomes, as more and more people don’t honor the trust you’ve given them.”

“Mom!  I didn’t know you felt that way!  Is that because of how the villagers here treat you whenever dad’s gone?”

“Basically. But even if they treated me like one of the people who have lived here their whole life, I wouldn’t trust everyone, just like you don’t trust Dekan and Baloce.  In my case there are fewer people because I have had less people who wanted to try to get to know me.”  They were silent for a while and during that time Heathyr and Laurilli finished their food. “Enough about my woes, though, Uktesh you should get some more rest, and Laurilli will you help me clear away these dishes?”

They moved in concert and together they quickly cleaned the dishes while Uktesh put on one of Thulmann’s pair of socks and stomped his feet into his boots.

“Why are you putting your boots on?” asked Heathyr.

“Laurilli and I have to start training.”

“But you’re injured. You can barely walk. How are you going to train me?” asked Laurilli.

“You’re the one who’s going to be working the hardest, my ‘work’ will be walking to the training spot.”

“Where’s that?”

“Out back where the wood is chopped. That way I’ll have a nice place to site and instruct, and Heathyr will be able to check up on us.”

“I don’t know if this is a good idea. You’ve been badly injured and should be resting,” said Heathyr.

“I’ve rested long enough.  Now, I need Laurilli to change into something she can move in without showing me her delicates.  While you change I’m going to look for a stick I can use as a practice axe.  Thankfully my bow was not broken when I threw it at the saber rabbit, so we can practice with that as well soon, but today will be about axe forms.”

“Axe?  What won’t I be trained in, the sword forms?”

“Do you own a sword?”

“No,” she said and pouted prettily.

“So if you get attacked while I’m gone you need to know how to defend yourself with the only weapon available.”

“You could leave with the axe,” she said quickly.

“Laurilli!  You apologize!  Uktesh is helping you.  Don’t be rude.  It’s his sword he gets to use it.”

“It’s true, though, Heathyr.  I could leave with the axe.” Uktesh said, “however Laurilli you’ve lived here for thirteen years without an attack, on my trip here I witnessed three attacks, four if you count my village.  Plus my sword is about three times as heavy as the axe outside.  Besides as a woman who will not be joining an army, the thing we’re going to train the most with is hand to hand combat and daggers.  That’ll be for another day, though, because today we’re going to start conditioning your bod-” he paused and looked at Heathyr, “start conditioning you to be able to fight against men.”

“Were you going to talk about my body?” Laurilli asked as she played with her hair coyly and looked at him through her eyelashes in a mock demure.

“We need to start training,” Uktesh said as he tried to ignore the heat as it spread across his face.

“So you can start conditioning my body?”

“So you don’t get killed.”

“So that my body isn’t harmed?”

“You’re in danger of injury right now.”

“So you wish to lay hands upon my body?”

“I wish you to stop talking.”

“So that you may-” but thankfully Heathyr laughingly cut her off.

“Laurilli, behave or I’ll spank your body.”

“I’m fifteen now!  I’m way too old for spankings!”

“What? You were fourteen last time we talked, before the saber rabbit.” said Uktesh.

“Yeah, you missed my birthday, so you owe me a present.” she said happily.

“Saving your life doesn’t count?”

“I guess that’s a good present, but you owe me!”

“With that speech, if you don’t want spankings, then get changed and do whatever Uktesh says.” She must’ve seen Uktesh’s brief grin because she added, “Unless it has to do with you and your body.”

Uktesh groaned and threw his hands up in the air, “I’m leaving. Come get me when you’re ready.”  As the back door closed, he heard the two women,
two girls really,
 burst into laughter. 

They trained for most of the day every day, and, as the days passed, soon Uktesh was able to join in the practices.  After three weeks, Uktesh decided that she was ready to help out the people of Manori.

The Pursuit of Money

“You’ve got to help me!  My poor baby’s stuck in the tree!” Kylli said and pointed into the tree. 

Uktesh and Laurilli turned away from the old woman and looked into the tree that she continued to point at, and they saw that her “baby” was a three feet long boacat.  Its bright red eyes gleamed from the lowest branch, its forked tongue licked the air in front of it, and it had wrapped its equally three feet long tail around the tree.  It was clear to the two would-be-heroes that the boacat was more than comfortable where it was, and that to attempt to move it would be hazardous to one’s health. 

Laurilli moved next to him, and muttered under her breath, “Uktesh the reward for this is only two silver pieces. We could just walk away. It’ll get down when it gets cold or hungry, and the way it’s looking at me I don’t think hunger is going to be a long wait.”  She was dressed in one of her training outfits which consisted of black pants, this pair was not as tight as most that she owned as she “hadn’t worn pants since she was a child.” Which in her opinion was thirteen which was only two years ago for her. But she had grown a lot in that time.  She also wore a black shirt loose enough to allow movement, but hugged her body enough to not get easily caught on anything, and her golden hair was tied in a tight braid.