by Aaron Hicks
“… tell you when he said, ‘stop,’ I couldn’t move.”
“… can’t be … Doom Speakers are only in the Empire.”
“… they have necrolans … ‘Afflicted,’ beasts, why not the other types of …”
“Still … odd they call ‘em ‘Afflicted,’”
“… can’t call ‘em Talented, not with amount of fear …”
“Shut up, I think he’s listening.”
Uktesh could feel that they both turned to look at him, but he made no outward change in expression as he continued to take drink orders. Unfortunately the two didn’t speak again. Nearly an hour passed as people ran to tell friends that there were free drinks at Leilani’s bar. Uktesh was sure people got back in line, but as Laurilli pointed out, they had more money than they could ever spend.
When it was over he had run up a surprisingly high forty gold piece tab and told Leilani that he would get the money and return in ten minutes. Laurilli was unwilling to let him go anywhere alone. Just before they left Heathyr threw Laurilli her pareo and Laurilli wrapped it around her waist. They walked the whole way in silence, and it wasn’t until after he had unlocked their door and shut it behind them that she said, “Hold me.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. He held her as her body shook with tears he knew she’d barely held inside. He lifted her and laid her on the bed and just held her. He rubbed her back and after her tears had stopped for a time, she crawled up his body and started to kiss him, more passionately than ever before. He returned her fervor with zeal of his own. He felt her begin to move against him, he grabbed her hips, and lost track of time. She started to untie his trunks and he stopped her, “Wait.”
“I don’t want to wait anymore. I almost lost you today, and my mom will just have to wait for her pareo back.”
She started to tug his trunks down, but again he stopped her. “I will continue if you want to after you hear what I have to say.” She nodded for him to continue. “I’m Afflicted, we already know that. Almost certainly there was no bomb, it was just me. I think the situation with the shark activated my Affliction.”
“You idiot, I knew that! Before you blew up the shark you threw me forty feet! So with that out of the way I still want to continue. So keep your promise.”
He nodded and kissed her while he untied the straps that held her top on. He could feel it now his Affliction, now that he knew what it was, like a tightly wound ball. As his passion for Laurilli increased, the ball began to unwind.
She had played with his ability to control his excitement for the whole vacation and knew how to get him excited. She continued to move against him, and when she broke off their kiss it was only to moan before she kissed him again.
She tugged at his trunks and before she could get them off his Afflicted powers began to fully unravel. He didn’t know what would happen once it unraveled completely, but knew that he didn’t want Laurilli around when it did.
You need to get away from her. You didn’t activate earlier, but you’re about to now!
He lifted her off him, and she groaned in protest, as she opened her unfocused eyes. Uktesh held her away from him until she was able to focus on him again and he said, “Take the gold to Leilani. I’m losing control of my power and I need to run. Away from you. I will return if I can.”
Run you fool!
He could feel his power begin to come forth as he said, “Don’t be mad at me. I’m doing this to protect you.”
He dimly heard her frustrated, “What?” as he pulled his trunks up and rolled off the bed. Once he’d opened the door he felt he only had seconds left so he Rushed, then Soared, then Charged toward the ocean. He could feel the ball fully unravel as he dove off the cliff into the ocean.
X. You’ve got to be kidding me
He left me! She felt her anger drain away. He’s only doing it to protect me. Her groan was far more than the frustration, need, or desire. It was as if all the teases, all the touches, all the kisses he’d ever done to her had slowly grown to this moment, and then he left! Now she felt like her whole body was pulsing to her heartbeat. She turned over and screamed into a pillow and once she had calmed down, she began to think about the past few months.
Now that he’s done it to me, I feel sorry for making Uktesh excited every day, usually a few times each day. She put her top on and counted out forty two gold pieces, shut and locked the door, and headed back to Leilani’s. She didn’t even see the road, the people, or anything else. All she could see was a vision of what had almost just happened. This must be what it’s like to be Uktesh, constantly frustrated and only able to think about one thing. She pictured his hard abs as they glistened with sweat, the feel of him underneath her, and his hands on her skin. She walked into Leilani’s and Heathyr asked, “Where’s Uktesh?”
Larut, Esolc, Sara, and Tylor had left already while Repus looked like he was set to spend some time at the bar.
I haven’t thought up a good lie yet! “He’s asleep, he said that he was tired.”
“Okay, are you okay? You’re flushed,” she asked.
“I’m fine. Here Leilani, I added two extra for you as thanks,” Laurilli said and handed her the bag of coins.
I can’t think of anything else! Where is he! “I think I’m going to go sit by the docks and see if Basam comes in today.”
“I’ll wait with you if you would like,” said Heathyr.
“Sure, I’d like that,” replied Laurilli. They said their goodbyes to Leilani. Thulmann joined them as they walked to the docks.
“I know you, and you’re not okay. Did Uktesh’s miraculous recovery worry you? Or was it his sudden injury while protecting you that upset you?”
Heathyr had clearly thought about this more than Laurilli had. Now that she thought about it, Laurilli realized that she was upset that he’d been hurt again because he’d protected her. Then she realized that his abrupt recovery, while it had shocked her, hadn’t worried her. But maybe it should have. How do I know that he’s fully healed?
Then she remembered his passion, the fire in his eyes, the feel of his tongue on hers, and felt a shudder run through her body again. Her mother still waited for an answer so she swallowed and said, “Now that I think about it I’m more angry with myself for Rushing along the pier into the deeper water. If I hadn’t done that, he might have been able to run out of the water without any injury. I think I’ve become resigned to him hurting himself to protect me, and I think that he normally recovers faster than others. I guess I just assumed that instead of an actual injury it was more like he got his bell rung.”
She sat on the sand and felt its warmth infuse her whole body.
But now that I know he activated his Affliction I have to hope that it doesn’t change him physically or mentally. She sighed and told the truth, “He told me that he activated his Affliction just now. He isn’t sleeping in our house, he ran and dove off the cliff by our house into the ocean to keep me safe from his change.”
Thulmann said, “He’s Afflicted? For real?” His voice had taken a dangerous edge. “You should have considered that before you married him.”
Laurilli said, “I did! That’s why we got married early. So that we could possibly avoid this! Heightened emotions activate Afflictions.”
Thulmann said, “No, I’m saying if he’s Afflicted you shouldn’t have married him; you should’ve killed him. There’s no such thing as a good Afflicted person or good Affliction. They’re all about controlling things.” She could practically see him running calculations on how he might kill someone as skilled as Uktesh.
Heathyr said, “You’d feel differently if it was our Laurilli who was Afflicted, so please understand why she feels differently when it’s her love that is Afflicted.”
Thulmann looked at her with confusion, “If Laurilli was Afflicted I would kill her too. You don’t understand. It’s like if there were a poisonous snake in your bed and instead of killing it you decided to go to sleep instead. Maybe the snake wouldn’t bi
te you that night, maybe not that week or even month, but sooner or later you know you’re going to be bit. That’s what an Afflicted person is like. They can’t control themselves. They just take what they want. They have a need to use their powers. Necrolans are bad, but at least those controlled are already dead. I ran into a Mind Flayer that had bewitched a whole village. He ran it like he was a god! All the women in the town had been impregnated by him, as well as most of the girls. He tried to seize control my group too, when we were sent to kill him. Fortunately we realized what was happening and killed him before he converted more than one of our group. That one person had to be put down because he wouldn’t stop trying to kill us. You see the Afflicted’s last command is the last voice the controlled ever hear, so they follow those instructions even beyond the death of the Afflicted person.”
“The three hundred people of the village were basically lifeless husks. The Triumvirate decided to kill the men. They let the women live until they had their children, who we assume won’t be under the Mind Flayer’s control. Then they killed the women too and found people to take in the children. But to be honest I don’t know who would want the children of an Afflicted monster. It would hurt me beyond words if I had to kill Laurilli, but I would, because stories like that aren’t the exception to the rule, they are the rule.”
Heathyr said, “But that means there should be an exception to the rule too. If for every ten or a hundred bad Afflicted there has to be one or two good ones. I know Uktesh and if he’s Afflicted then he’s one of the good ones. All he’s ever done is protect this family.”
Thulmann sighed, shook his head, and said, “That was before he activated his Affliction. He’s a different person now.”
Laurilli said, “What if his Affliction is controlling plants, or animals. That’s not bad.”
Thulmann said, “Until he uses that control to hurt others, which he will.”
Laurilli argued, “He doesn’t need to use powers to hurt others, he could just simply hurt them. He doesn’t think that way. He just wants to help people. Look at what he did in Manori and here with his Heroes for Hire idea. He didn’t have to do that. Sure it started as a way to get money, but after a while we didn’t do it for the money.”
Thulmann said, “If it were you I’d wait until you abused your powers. Once you did, I would blame myself for every death you caused, but I would still wait. I suppose I have no choice but to do the same for your husband. And that’s only because, in his case, I’m not skilled enough to stop him if I tried.”
Heathyr said, “Enough of this talk. Uktesh will be the same as he was before. We’ll be one big happy family and live happily ever after.”
Laurilli smiled a thank you at her mom, though she wondered what Uktesh was doing at that moment.
“You’ll both soon have more to worry about than if Uktesh is Afflicted or not, because, with any luck, you’ll both soon be Pop Pop and Mop Mop.”
Heathyr mock glared at her daughter, “Mop Mop?”
Laurilli said, “Yeah, if dad’s Pop Pop what would you be? It can’t be grandma. That would be confusing for the kids if we called dad Pop Pop.”
Heathyr said, “Now there’s more than one child?” Laurilli nodded and Heathyr said, “Well, if I have to be something other than grandma I suppose I wouldn’t mind being called Oma. It means grandma where I’m from in Granger.”
Laurilli shook her head, “Nope, too different.”
Heathyr sighed and said, “I suppose I wouldn’t mind Me Maw.”
Laurilli laughed and said, “Nope, that sounds like a noise a donkey makes!”
Heathyr glared at her daughter and said, “You choose then.”
Laurilli nodded and said, “Okay it’s settled Mop Mop.”
Heathyr sighed and said, “What about Maw Maw and Pop Mop?”
Laurilli smiled, nodded, and said, “That works for me.”
Laurilli could feel her panic about Uktesh rising and knew she needed a distraction, so she said, “Pop Pop and Maw Maw. Alright, now that that’s settled, Dad would you like to try to pass the test to train with the dragons? I can take you there if you’d like. It’s not like I have anything else planned for today now that Uktesh is gone.”
Thulman said, “Sure. I suppose if Afflicted are learning these skills I need to too if I’m going to be able to battle them later.”
Laurilli glared at him and said, “Dad, Uktesh may believe that the grand masters are better than he is, but since I’ve known him he’s never lost a fight. In the two months since he got his tattoo he’s been training solely with them, and recently they’ve been meditating before and after each spar. Sure, he’s lost a round or two, but in the end he always finds a way. I truly believe that if they tried to kill him, he’d find a way to win. I say this because I don’t want my husband to kill my father in self-defense. If you push the issue he will. He’ll try to just wound you for the sake of me and Mom, but we all know in a life or death fight that’s not always an option. Don’t be a fool. Get to know him, after his Affliction activated. Before you do anything talk to me or Mom, and we’ll all talk to him, if we need to. Which I don’t think we will.”
Thulmann sighed and looked at Heathyr and said, “I promise I will never attack him in a one on one, or even a one on more than one fight, without first exhausting every other option. That’s the best I can offer.”
Laurilli hugged his arm and said, “Thank you Daddy.” Though she knew from her own truthful lies that he hadn’t actually said he wouldn’t try to kill Uktesh, just that he would resort to a fair fight only after trying other methods.
Thulmann frowned at her and Laurilli knew he was acting like he knew she’d just played him, but also that he didn’t really care. Sadly, and happily, I’m not fooled, Father.
Heathyr said, “You have a pile of gifts to open, and thank you cards to write. Ordinarily Uktesh would help you with that, but he’s not here. The sooner you get it done the better, so you need to decide your plans for today quickly.”
Laurilli said, “I’ll show Dad to the dragon training test site, then train for an hour or two, before lunch. I’ll eat and if Uktesh isn’t back by then I’ll start opening presents. Mom, will you help me, or us if Uktesh is back?”
Heathyr said, “Sure, but I’m not doing everything. I’ll help out, but that’s it.”
Laurilli nodded and said, “Okay, but not until after lunch. Dad, are you ready to see if you can train with the dragons?”
Thulmann said, “Sure, let’s go.”
He kissed Heathyr and Laurilli led him up the path to the Forbidden Cave. There he triggered the trap and was able to pass the test. Laurilli and the eight hooded, masked people, took him into the training area and he was assigned a teacher. Laurilli left him to his training while she headed to train with Ryth, who, in the last two months taken had over her training. Ryth was meditating and Laurilli sat to join her. She positioned herself comfortably with her legs crossed and her arms on her knees, with her back straight. She’d recently started to master it, and had begun training in spirit manipulation. She breathed in three deep breaths and each time she exhaled she imagined all her worry, fear, and doubt releasing away from her in a dark cloud. True peace evade her as she continued to worry about Uktesh. Is he safe? Is he alive? She felt her fledgling meditative trance falter and fail at that thought.
She tried again to enter a meditative trance. She exhaled her worries about Uktesh and her father. She still felt sore from both last night and that morning so she meditated her spirit to ease the pain. She lost track of time and felt Ryth’s hand on her shoulder. She blinked a few times and said, “What is it, grand master?”
Ryth said, “You are progressing faster than I expected, almost as fast as that husband of yours. Where is he today?”
Laurilli unfolded her legs, stood, and lied, “He’s a boy and therefore unused to the rigors of life as we women are. He ate breakfast and went back to sleep.”
Ryth gaze sharpened when she stated, �
��I heard there was a commotion at the pier.”
Laurilli nodded, “Before he took his nap we went swimming. There was a shark that he killed with a Palm Strike, but people thought he was Afflicted because the shark exploded, so we had to make up a lie about someone using a bomb to kill the shark. Then we paid for drinks for everyone who was there and that took a while.”
Ryth said, “I thought it would be something like that. Your husband has mastered spirit manipulation and is able to enhance his attacks with it. It’s quite amazing! We five grand masters spent our whole lives learning to master something you two seem born to learn. That’s why I took you under my wing. When you started surpassing people who, days or weeks before were your betters, it began to breed dark emotions in the disciples.”
Laurilli said, “Sorry.”
Ryth replied, “It is not something you need to be sorry for. Each of us learns at our own pace. You and your husband may be learning so quickly because you’re so much younger than our average disciple. The fact that you are progressing so quickly has made us rethink letting children train with us. We’re nervous that their bodies won’t be able to take the current beginner training, so we’re trying to come up with beginner training for children. Would you be willing to help us with that?”
Laurilli nodded, thought of Pippy and her boundless energy, and said, “Yeah. I even know a child who we can try it with.”
Ryth nodded and said, “But that is for another day. Today let’s continue your training in the Shadow Step.”
Ryth instructed Laurilli for the next hour in Shadow Stepping, but by the end Laurilli wasn’t any closer to doing it correcly. “I can’t do it! Uktesh learned it in two weeks! I should know it after three months!”
Ryth said, “We all learn at our own pace. This is a skill that not all can learn. It takes years for most to learn it. That Uktesh was able to learn it so quickly is a boon to him, not a mark against you. I personally took four years. Besides your husband, only Dayho was faster, and he took two years to learn it. If we judged everyone on how quickly they learned compared to that boy, even we grand masters wouldn’t match up well. Patience. You’re close to learning it, even if you don’t feel like you are.”
