Tainted: The Life of Uktesh Book 2

by Aaron Hicks

  He woke up again to the sound of Laurilli moving to the bathroom. When she started the shower, he went in too, and relieved his bladder. He noticed the blood then and saw he had some on his manhood. Uktesh was still naked so he joined Laurilli in the shower.

  He pointed out the blood to Laurilli and said, “I think I was bleeding from some cut.”

  She shook her head and said, “Mom told be to expect this and not to worry. It’s what happens a lot of the time when it’s the girl’s first time.”

  Uktesh didn’t like the sound of that, “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

  She wrapped a leg around him and kissed him before she said, “I’m great, and you didn’t hurt me. You were great.”

  She released him and put shampoo in her hair and handed the bottle back to him. He put some in his hair and felt like he was scrubbing it deep into his skull. He grabbed the soap and started washing Laurilli’s whole body, something they’d never allowed themselves to do when they’d showered together previously. She turned in his embrace and soon they made love again. He continued to wash her after they’d finished and she, in turn, washed him next, which led to their second love-making that morning.

  They’d somehow ended on the floor of the shower and Laurilli said, “If we keep this up, we’ll never leave the shower!”

  Uktesh kissed her before she stood up and said, “I can think of worse fates.”

  He traced kisses up her body as he stood up. She sighed with pleasure, then left the shower, and he finished cleaning the shampoo out of his hair. She threw him a towel and had one wrapped around herself. “With all the preparation for the wedding, I don’t have any clean clothes. I just have my kiekie.”

  Uktesh grinned, “I wish I could say I planned it this way to keep you here and naked as long as possible, but I didn’t. Hey, I didn’t get to see you dance the Mujra.”

  She stretched alluringly, “I’m saving that for a special occasion.” He put on his swimming shorts, left their house, and headed to Heathyr’s and Thulmann’s. I hope I don’t interrupt anything. Uktesh listened for a few seconds before he knocked on their door.

  Thulmann answered the door without a shirt on and handed Uktesh a pile of clothes. “Heathyr thought you’d be coming for these soon.”

  Uktesh said, “We’re hungry and heading to breakfast if you want to join us.”

  Thulman said, “I’ll ask Heathyr and we’ll see,” and then he shut the door.

  Uktesh walked back to his and Laurilli’s house. After he went inside and shut the door, he handed Laurilli the pile of clothes. While he was gone she had gathered up all their bedding and sheets and they were sticking out of the hamper. Uktesh looked at the bed then the hamper and shrugged. Laurilli threw her clothes on the bed and started sorting through them. She pulled out a clean pair of panties and a bra and put them on. Which Uktesh found almost as enthralling as when he’d taken them off last night.

  Uktesh took the pitchers off the chair and sat in it as he poured drinks for Laurilli and himself. He sipped his drink as he watched her get dressed. She changed her mind and stripped out of her underwear and into her swimsuit. She wrapped a pareo around her waist while she said without looking at him, “You’re lucky I just got done watching you get dressed, because you know this isn’t a spectator sport.”

  She walked over to him and he handed her one of the cups of juice. She sat in his lap, and he said, “You just do it so well, it’s hard not to watch.”

  She kissed him, leaned into him, and drank her juice. “We need to get new blankets and sheets before tonight, there was blood on them too.”

  Uktesh said, “Ooooh. That makes sense. I had wondered why you’d done that.”

  Laurilli asked, “Did you think I’d lost my mind?”

  Uktesh said, “Honestly I won’t disagree with anything you want to do after your present last night. I just thought we’d sweated too much for your liking.”

  Laurilli rubbed her back against his chest, “Well, there is that too.”

  Uktesh said, “I’ll ask at the main office after breakfast.”

  Laurilli sighed, and stood up, “Okay, let’s get something to eat.”

  Uktesh pick up the leftover meat while Laurilli took the empty pitchers and cups. They left their house and Uktesh locked the door after them. They walked down the main path to get breakfast and when they got to the dining area they dropped off the dirty dishes in the dirty dishes bin, before they continued in to get food.

  Uktesh piled ham, eggs, and, sausages on his plate. They put their plates down and each got two drinks before they returned to their table. While they ate, Repus and Leilani wandered in with Esolc and Pamfilo less than a minute behind them. They looked more tired than Uktesh felt. “Morning. Did you two stay up too late last night? Or really this morning?”

  Esolc said, “Pamfilo had to deliver a baby with Mother Anjali. I helped out as much as I could.”

  Pamfilo said, “That is code for passed out.”

  Esolc was clearly too tired to be embarrassed cause he just nodded.

  Tylor walked in on light steps and said, “It’s about time you sleepers got up. I got here two hours ago and have already left, gone swimming, showered clean, and returned.”

  Uktesh said, “You weren’t just married. There are lots of demands on a young couple during their wedding day.”

  Laurilli grinned and added, “And during their wedding night.”

  Larut and Sara arrived and they pulled more chairs around the table. They were all eating when Heathyr and Thulmann also arrived. Repus said, “We went from five, sometimes seven, to eleven. We may have to either get a bigger table or start using two.”

  Uktesh said, “Or we could bring two together and make a table like the number eight.”

  Esloc said, “Or we could do that.” They all stood up and pushed another table into their table and everyone had plenty of room.

  They ate in exhausted silence while Tylor kept up a running commentary on all that he’d seen so far. “We got off the boat and I noticed all the lovely ladies and the shops by the pier.” Smooth avoidance of the island garb, Uktesh thought to himself. “Then, we headed straight to the wedding and you were all there for that, but on the way to main house I ran across a man with a feathered cap! He looked like a law enforcer, he just had that look, and I nodded to him. I got my room, keys, and put all my stuff in the room before I headed to the party with Larut and Sara. They got a room at the same time I had. What a party! There had to have been a thousand people there! It lasted all night too! After you two somehow slipped passed the group that was waiting to cheer you as you consummated your marriage, it got wild! Women were pulling me in to dance with them by removing half their shirts! It was a little bit of a blur after that, but I woke up with three in my bed! I couldn’t believe my luck and that I couldn’t remember any of it!”

  “When I disentangled myself from them and relieved my bladder they woke up, and headed to, I assume, their jobs. Then I found this place, ate some, left, swam, showered, and came back here. Did you know they have leviathans in these waters? That’s crazy! Sometimes they even come onto land and terrorize the locals and the vacationers. Have you guys seen a leviathan?”

  Uktesh and Laurilli nodded, “A baby one made the lagoon its home for a few hours.”

  Tylor said, “That’s wild. Leviathans are like super dangerous!”

  Uktesh nodded, and then yawned widely. He looked at Repus and Esolc, and then Laurilli. “I think today’s a rest and relax day, unless you guys really want to train.”

  Both Repus and Esolc perked up, “Yeah, we want to train!”

  Uktesh yawned again, shrugged, and said, “Okay, why so much enthusiasm?”

  Tylor said, “After they both beat Larut they want to beat me.”

  Uktesh smiled, nodded, and said, “That makes more sense than that they actually want to train after being awake all night.”

  Repus said, “Hey,” as if he needed to defend himself, but added, “
No, you’re right. If they weren’t here we’d take you up on a day off.”

  Tylor said, “I don’t think it’ll be as easy as you expect. When Larut came back and told how much better you two had become we both stepped up our own training.”

  Thulmann said, “I want to get in on this too!”

  Laurilli said, “Okay, mini tournament after breakfast! I want in too. Only one category, mixed!”

  Uktesh grinned and tried to not glance at Thulmann, the only one he wasn’t sure he could beat. Heathyr said, “Since Uktesh is the champion of Sinai it isn’t fair for him to fight someone before they can test their strength against a closer matched person. So I suggest we have it be double elimination, with the winner fighting Uktesh.”

  Uktesh shrugged and said, “Sounds fine to me, I’m still tired from all the-” he blinked looked at Thulmann and said, “Partying. I’m tired from all the partying last night.”

  Repus said, “Not even close to a good save.”

  Uktesh said, “That’s just proof of how tired I am.”

  Uktesh got himself another full plate of food and another berry drink. When he sat back down, Repus was saying, “… half of the people bet on Uktesh and the other, foolish half, bet on Riu. A more epic fight I doubt the tournament will see. They both just seemed to blur for a few minutes. Then Uktesh threw up his arms in victory, but Riu attacked him again. The announcer stopped the fight and explained that Uktesh hadn’t won; that he was down a point and had two warnings for illegal use of fists or feet. Then they fought again and after Riu threw knives into Laurilli, Uktesh cut him in half, lengthwise.” He shook he head, “I thought Uktesh was dead. We all did, because he hit the sand and didn’t move at all.”

  Larut added, “When we got to his side we saw that only a little bit of the blood was his.”

  Tylor said, “Then when he didn’t wake up for two weeks we headed back to Manori and he woke up about a week or two after we got back.”

  Uktesh smiled and said, “Well, Riu threatened Laurilli, and I knew if I didn’t end him permanently he’d make good on his promise.”

  Thulmann said, “Good for you, boy! Although I can say for certain the Beletarians I’ve been fighting couldn’t blur!”

  Repus asked, “We know how good Uktesh is. How good are they?”

  Thulmann said, “Their worst is a step or two above our average. Fortunately our best are about the same as their best, their Beleshians.”

  Uktesh asked, “How do you rank yourself in that hierarchy?”

  Thulmann said, “Well, without sounding too conceited, I’m one of the best of our best! I was given the title of Four, after all! Master of swords!” He made sword swishing through the air noises while he stabbed the air with invisible swords.

  Esloc rubbed his hands together and said, “I say we just have two tournaments. One between us lesser beings, then have those two fight their own match once we’re finished. Let’s face it, none of us are even close to the best of Sinai. We’re good, maybe even great, but not the best.”

  Everyone liked that idea better than including Thulmann in their fights, except Laurilli, who wanted to fight her dad. “I’m just saying if he’s so good, he’ll get to Uktesh eventually, so why not test our skills against our betters. If you don’t fight people better than you, or push your skills, how will you get better? Or at least better quickly, which we all want to do.”

  Thulmann said, “I’ll fight you anytime, we have weeks left before I have to be back.”

  She threw up her hands in disgust and said, “Fine! If I’m the only one, then I want to spar with him first. Then we can start our tournament.”

  They finished their breakfast, put their dishes in the dirty dishes bin, and headed to their houses to get their weapons. Laurilli, however, had set theirs by their door, so Uktesh just unlocked their door and grabbed their weapons before locking up again. He handed Laurilli her sword and strapped his father’s sword on his back. He stifled a yawn as they walked down to the beach where they trained. When they arrived Larut, Tylor, and Sara were already on the beach warming up.

  Uktesh sat on the sand and started stretching out his muscles and was quickly joined by Laurilli, Repus, and Esolc. Tylor and Heathyr decided to warm up in the more traditional way of swinging their weapons and running up and down the beach a few times. By the time Uktesh’s group was done, the other group was waiting for them. Laurilli jumped up and headed toward her father. Uktesh had to guess that Thulmann would either go easy on Laurilli or he would end it quickly and try not to give anything away to Uktesh.

  Thulmann nodded to her and asked, “Are you ready, girl?”

  She nodded and attacked with two quick balanced attacks, first Moth to the Flame to get his guard high, then the unarmed Colt Springs into the Air. Thulmann easily blocked her sword and brought his knee up to deflect her kick. He then extended his foot and kicked her lightly in the side. Laurilli didn’t pause though and brought her foot back toward his head with a Crescent Kick. He swayed backwards and brought his sword forward, she deflected this with the balanced Shield of Air. She tried the balanced Subtle Twist, knee to his side, but he blocked with his arm. She tried the imperfect Wooden Post front kick, and failed to execute it, only to be hit lightly on the head with the flat of Thulmann’s blade.

  She sighed and backed away.

  “You’re very good, girl. You’re far superior to our average warrior. I’d say you’re almost as good as a Beletarian fighter.”

  She said, “Thanks. I’d hoped I be better than that.”

  Before Thulmann could say anything Uktesh said, “If you had lifted your leg faster and waited longer before snapping your foot, you would’ve been. As it is you lost, but had this been a real fight it would have been over. Don’t get cocky. As good as you are, there is always someone better than you.”

  She frowned at him, “You can say that cause it isn’t true for you.”

  Uktesh cocked his head to the side, and her smile widened when she realized what she’d said.

  “I don’t think that. I’m certain the grand masters could beat me. And I don’t assume that they’re the only people in the world who could. We’ll let it go at that. You know you’re wrong, but you need to get ready for your tournament.”

  They drew lots one through seven as both Heathyr and Sara wanted to join. The first fight was Heathyr against Laurilli. Laurilli started a balanced attack only to find she’d been struck already. Heathyr smiled and backed up. Laurilli started to attack again only to be hit again, ending the fight.

  Repus got to fight Tylor and won quite handedly. He perfectly attacked and defended in balanced until he landed two hits. Larut had to fight his fiancée in the third round, which left Esolc with the bi. Just like Thulmann against Laurilli, Larut won quickly but gently. Heathyr next had to fight Repus and beat him in much the same way as she had Laurilli. Larut lost to Esolc, who lost to Heathyr, which made her the winner of the “winner” bracket.

  In the, “loser,” bracket Laurilli fought against Tylor and got the first point by hitting him with balanced kick, but he got his own first point, when she tripped. She got impatient after that and tried an imperfect attack, only to fail again which allowed Tylor to quickly finish the fight.

  Then Sara fought and lost to Repus. She was quickly joined by her fiancée Larut when he lost to Esolc. Everyone agreed that since Esolc got the bi in the first round that he couldn’t get it in the second, so Tylor and Repus guessed odd or even on the number of fingers Uktesh had behind his back, and Repus won. Esolc beat Tylor, which was really all he and Repus wanted out of the tournament, but when he fought against Repus he won again. The final round was Heathyr against Esolc. Esolc had to win twice against her to win the whole tournament, but he didn’t win the first round and Heathyr was declared the overall winner. Uktesh thought that if Heathyr used a thicker blade her attack would kill, instead of wound, which was all her thin blade would do. He was also impressed by how fast she’d gotten. She was using a combinati
on of a Rush, or maybe even a Soar and an imperfect attack at the same time. It was quite an impressive first attack, and she was able to follow up with an equally fast second attack.

  You need to win this or I’m lending my skills to Laurilli.

  Uktesh ignored the dragon as Thulmann stood, entered the circle of watchers, Uktesh joined him. Uktesh said, “Should we use wooden swords? I think we could find some for you.”

  Thulmann shook his head, “I think we’re skilled enough to pull our attacks.”

  Uktesh nodded, and said, “Whenever you’re ready go, I’ll let you start it off.”

  Thulmann frowned and said, “You’ll want to unsheathe your sword.”

  Uktesh said, “For now, I’ll use my gauntlets to block if I need to. Plus it’s the best two of three. If you get the first point, I’ll use me sword then.”

  Thulmann nodded, then attacked with a quick slash that Uktesh dodged by swaying backwards. Thulmann attacked in a flurry of moves that Uktesh was able to completely dodge.

  Thulmann added kicks and punches into his combo of attacks and still Uktesh was able to dodge. Uktesh Stepped behind Thulmann and tapped him on his shoulder, then Stepped away from Thulmann’s spinning kick. Thulman looked confused at how Uktesh could do what he’d done.

  Thulmann squared his shoulders and Uktesh could tell he was about to begin a fake all-out attack. Uktesh could tell it was close to Thulmann’s best, because Uktesh could no longer just dodge. He had to start using his gauntlets to block or parry attacks, even though Thulmann was holding back. Uktesh Stepped to his side again, but he assumed that Thulmann would be ready for it this time, so he immediately Stepped to his other side. As Thulmann turned and kicked where Uktesh had been, Uktesh tapped his other side and Stepped away again.

  Well and easily done! I’ll stick with you a bit longer!

  Uktesh thought, thanks.

  Thulmann stopped his attack and stared at Uktesh breathing hard. “How?”

  Uktesh Stepped to the side, then paused, and Stepped back in front of Thulmann. Uktesh said, “I’ve learned the Shadow Step from the dragons. If you train with them, you may be able to learn it before you leave. To train with them you have to pass their test, which I think you could.”