by Hicks, Aaron
Duktesh chose that moment to gloat. I was right! To think if you had just banged her like we both wanted to from the beginning last night wouldn’t have been so rough for her.
The Storm lord smiled, made a gesture, and Uktesh felt himself slam into the wall behind him. How’d he do that? The Storm Dominus asked, “Cat got your tongue?”
Uktesh had seen Wyde the grand master of earth pull great slabs of earth out of the ground to form stairs. He tried to use earth to pull a handful of the broken wall from the ground to his hand hidden behind his back. That small amount of power use caused sweat to begin to bead on his forehead. He used fire and earth to compress it. The Storm lord said, “I might be willing to send her to you tonight if you apologize for trying to outsmart me.”
Uktesh continued to compress until it was one very solid, very dense, and very small ball. Uktesh half knelt, half fell, on his, “injured,” leg, his vision was beginning to blur from the use of so much power. He bowed his head, and said, “I apologize, Storm lord that you felt I was trying to outsmart you. I know that I could never do so as you are much smarter and much more cleaver than I am. Please let her come to me this night.”
The Dominus clearly hadn’t expected that and said, “Looks like you can learn. Very well, she satisfied me and my boys enough last night, you can have her this night.”
Uktesh said, “Thank you, Dominus.” He turned back to Ceftin’s body and while he was folding the naga’s arms he used the rest of his remaining power to throw the compressed ball into and through the Storm lord’s head. Uktesh looked up at the sound of a crash from the balcony, but as he couldn’t see what had happened, he pretended he didn’t know. Uktesh rested his hand on the naga’s shoulder and asked a guard, “What do we do with his body? Where should we bury it?”
The man shook his head, and indicated that he didn’t know. Uktesh grunted as he lifted the naga off the ground and staggered inside to the only place he knew the dead would be disposed of. He was in the ludis when the first screams sounded from above. As drained as Uktesh felt he couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he walked into the medic’s room. Fortunately no one was there to see his smile.
Wait, I’m what
Five months and a few days apart from Uktesh
Laurilli would have thought that the few months that she’d been gone would have changed nothing, but somehow Abrym, Lana, and Heathyr, while they also kept the children safe, had fortified their little community. There were wooden stakes in the ground that looked like they covered every part of the walls. On every roof there was a chair, which Laurilli could only guess was for guard duty. But the watch tower is several stories taller than the houses? Maybe the chairs are for archer who need to shoot down at enemies inside the walls?
Anan and Enan had left the company of the group hours earlier. As the rest walked into the community they were swarmed by the five left behind, who came out to make sure that everyone had returned safe and sound. Laurilli made eye contact with as many of her men as she could, and nodded a farewell as they continued down the road to their homes.
Heathyr was sitting on one of the roofs, and had seen them in the distance. She stood up and jumped from the roof to a pile of hay stacked nearly as tall as Larut. Laurilli could tell even from this distance that her mother had changed. She had a bow and a quiver of arrows at her hip, along with a rapier and a long dagger on the other hip. As Laurilli walked closer she noticed that Heathyr was also thinner than she remembered. Not that she’s ever been fat, or even chubby. But her outline had changed.
In a different house Laurilli saw Lana stick her head out the second-story window. Moments later she was out of the house running toward Basam, with Heathyr following at a more modest pace.
Laurilli was about to say something to Lana, when Lana slammed into Basam with a bone-jarring flying tackle. She landed on top of him, and Laurilli saw Basam wince as Lana’s dagger hilt jammed into his ribs. Basam wheezed for breath and Laurilli saw that Lana’s knee had come dangerously close to unmanning him. Laurilli’s jumbled mind, couldn’t figure out whether to be happy that Lana cared so much for Basam; angry that she was physically assaulting one of her soldiers; or embarrassed that Lana seem content to kill Basam through mouth on mouth strangulation. Basam came up for breath, but then he kissed Lana and one new emotion swept all the others out of the way; a crushing depression that Uktesh wasn’t there to treat her the same way.
Basam stroked Lana’s long hair. When she broke off from the kiss she said, “Lana has missed you too.” Her azure eyes sparkled with unshed tears and he reached up and hugged her to his chest. “Lana doesn’t want to live without you anymore. You can’t leave Lana again.”
Laurilli felt her heart pounding wildly at the intimate confession. She started to turn away to let their conversation play out as it would, but in a slightly less watched setting. That was, at least until Basam said, “But Basam has to go back to Basam’s soldiers in two weeks.”
Lana lifted herself above him, but still straddling his hips and said, “Then you need to marry Lana!”
By this time Heathyr had walked up and heard Lana’s declaration, and cried out, “You two need to wait the year and a day before you can get married.”
Lana twisted on top of Basam and glared at Heathyr, while Basam, freed from Lana’s gaze, silently thanked Heathyr for her interruption. Lana said, “What do you mean we have to wait a year and a day. No one who has been married recently has waited that long. Basam is in the army, and Lana has been,” she glanced at Basam, and said, “you know what’ing by Lana’s self for years.” Laurilli suddenly wondered what Lana’d been doing by herself for years, and why that would mean she’s ready for marriage. But all the things she could think of were things that Lana wouldn’t do. At least Laurilli thought so, but she assumed that Lana must be talking about something else. Except that when Lana rolled off of Basam his face was beet red, as if he knew what, the,“what’ing,” was that Lana was doing. In fact, all the adults were blushing furiously.
Heathyr emerged from her embarrassment and said, “Just what do you think you’re doing? Talking about something like that in front of children!” Heathyr stood above them with her hands on her hips, in what Laurilli knew as her “thunder clouds on the horizon” expression.
Lana, however, didn’t know how dangerous a situation she’d stumbled into and said, “Lana is trying to get Lana some. Now Basam, what say you? Will you marry Lana?”
One of the twins mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear, “Or at the very least bang her?”
Heathyr said, “I think that this is a private conversation for your home. Basam, kindly escort your wet nurse home and discuss what you need to among yourselves.”
As they walked away, Laurilli said to Heathyr, “I noticed that you were up on the roof, in what I assumed was a lookout area or an archer nest. Why didn’t you set up chairs in the watch tower?”
She was still trying to figure out what the “what’ing” was that Lana was doing. Laurilli tried not to grin, a little confused about why she was so determined to find out what the “what’ing” was that Lana had spoken of.
Heathyr said, “Oh those are archer perches. I’d just finished nailing that chair in, and I needed a break. That’s why I was sitting up there. Where’s Thulmann?”
Laurilli said, “He had to stay back for a few more days and he will have to leave here earlier than in two weeks like the rest of us.”
Heathyr asked, “What about you?”
Laurilli asked, “What do you mean, ‘what about me?’”
Heathyr said, “Look at you,” and she gestured at Laurilli.
Laurilli felt her jaw drop, “You mean the weight I put on?”
Heathyr smiled and said, “Yeah, the, ‘weight,’ you put on.”
With that Laurilli turned, her hair whipping around her head, and stalked toward her house stomping with every step. “What did I say?” Laurilli heard Heathyr ask.
Laurilli silently thought abou
t what her mother had said as she stomped into her house. Laurilli knew that she had thought about her continuous weight gain more than she should have. She had thought about it during the long runs, while eating, first thing in the morning, the last thing at night, and throughout the day, but she had never thought that she needed to worry that when she came home she’d be so obviously a changed person.
She left her house to check on her horse in the barn. When she got there she nuzzled her head against the bridge of his nose, cleaned him, checked his shoes, then got him some water and hay and thought about doing some chores instead of going over to her mother’s to eat, but with a deep breath decided to head inside. She walked inside and followed the aromas into the kitchen where she sat down and watched Heathyr work. Heathyr efficiently sliced a carrot and added it to the pot of stew she was making. She took a spoon, tasted the mixture, and added some more spices. It was then that Laurilli noticed that her mother was crying and she mentally kicked herself for being an idiot.
Laurilli walked over to her, rested her head on her mother’s shoulder, and knew she didn’t need to say anything. Her mother put her arm around Laurilli and she melted onto her shoulder to have a good cry. Laurilli didn’t know exactly why her mother was crying so she rubbed her shoulders and back. Laurilli stood there and just let her mother release all the sadness that she’d been holding in. Heathyr slowly started to calm down, and said, “Oh, sorry, I just get sad at times. With everyone gone it was so lonely here. I had hoped for more time with Thulmann before they started to pull him back into army business. I guess that’s just something I’ll have to get used to.”
Heathyr laughed, gently patted Laurilli on the shoulder, and kissed her on her forehead.
“Supper’s almost ready, go get the bowls and spoons from the cupboard.”
Laurilli found two bowls and spoons and set them on the table while Heathyr set the pot on the table. Heathyr ladled them both two ladle’s worth of stew and sat down across from Laurilli. Heathyr asked, “So how did the training go?”
Laurilli said, “I was trained by Six, the only female Number. She uses a rapier too, so with my previous training with Uktesh and then you, I was able to excel, and got promoted pretty quickly. During the first month we would wake up, have breakfast, and then we had a solid six-hour block of weapon skill training. After lunch, we had mock battles for about four hours, though usually we’d only fight one mock battle and watch a lot of others. After the first month we’d have mock battles once a day and sometimes twice a day. We’d have to take an objective, or defend one. Sometimes we’d be ambushed and sometimes we’d, well…” she paused, we never actually got to be the ambushers, “sometimes we wouldn’t be ambushed.”
Laurilli paused and Heathyr said, “It sounds like you did pretty well. Were Basam and Repus helpful?”
Laurilli nodded and said, “They were, but two new people were really good too, so I made sure to keep them around as our group didn’t really care about rank. I just kept promoting those two whenever I got a promotion. Then after about a month of the mock battles we had a giant mock war and my team ended up winning that too.”
Heathyr sighed and said, “Wow! All that while being pregnant! You are a special kid, you know that.”
Laurilli felt her face drain of blood, “I’m what?”
Heathyr took a drink of her tea before she said, “Pregnant.”
Laurilli felt stunned, “I can’t be pregnant!”
Heathyr said, “You and Uktesh were married, did you two ever make love?”
Laurilli nodded and said, “Of course.”
Heathyr nodded, “Pregnant.”
Laurilli said, “Stop saying that like it’s a fact.”
Heathyr said, “You’ve been running around fighting and training for two months, instead of losing weight, or gaining muscles, you gained a stomach.”
Laurilli said, “Why didn’t anyone…” she trailed off as she imagined if Enan had tried to talk to her about her added weight.
Heathyr completed her thought for her, “Told you, that you were pregnant?”
You knew didn’t you!
The dragon--who she just realized--had been silent for long stretches of time she realized thought, of course I knew. I tried to bring it up several times, but you didn’t want to hear it.
You could’ve tried harder.
I’ve been busy insulating yours and Uktesh’s kid from the fact that both of his parents are Afflicted. Also I don’t mean to alarm you unduly, but you’re about to reach your six thousandth day of life.
Already? I thought I had about three weeks!
The dragon sighed and thought, yes about three weeks. It’s not like it’s always exactly six thousand days. It can be a few more or a few less.
I’ve been keeping up with my meditation for this purpose! I’m ready.
You’ll have to be. I’ll have to devote all my attention to your son’s health while you change.
That’s the second time you’ve called my baby a boy. Are you certain?
She felt him mentally nod at her, fully certain.
Heathyr’s voice cut into their conversation, “You’ve been quiet.
Laurilli said, “I’m Afflicted! I’m going to change in a few weeks! If I’m pregnant there’s a high chance of my kid coming out evil. If I change while I’m pregnant who knows what’ll happen! And my pants are too tight! I’m going home to change!”
She fled from her mother’s house to her own. The one I should be sharing with Uktesh! She slowly stripped out of her clothes and looked at herself in her full-length mirror. Now that she knew, it was obvious. She rotated her hips and looked at her stomach from several different angles. She changed as slowly as she could, which with one arm was truly slow, as she tried to think of a plan to bring back with her to her mother.
Other than continue as planned and hope for best she couldn’t really think of one. She swallowed, trying to moisten her suddenly dry throat, and tried not to feel the sudden cold sweat on her forehead. She walked back to Heathyr and Thulmann’s house and went right in. She walked to where she always sat on the loveseat. She faced Heathyr and said, “So, here’s the plan. Become Afflicted. Have the kid. Wait to see what happens. Don’t panic until then.”
Heathyr smiled and said, “That sounds like a fine plan. I’d add to it stop doing these silly war games.”
Laurilli nodded and said, “I’m sure Dad can get me out of it.”
They stayed up late into the night talking about names, getting a nursery set up, and how Laurilli would handle the Affliction change. It wasn’t until they were both yawning widely that Laurilli called a halt to the conversation and said, “There will be enough time later to continue this discussion.”
Laurilli walked warily back to her house, fell face first onto her bed, and rolled over in a panic. I can’t do that anymore! I have to be more cautious.
When she woke up she Walked to the top of the watchtower and even though the sun was already up she spent about an hour meditating before her day began. When she was done she sat on the roof and thought about Uktesh and tried to ignore how much she missed him. She also realized that his birthday was coming up soon, and that she’d miss it. I wonder if he’ll miss my next birthday too, or even the birth of his son. She cried, then; for how long she didn’t know. She felt much better when she’d finished. She Walked to Heathyr’s to find that a plate of food was laid out for her. Laurilli ate, washed the plate and fork, and put the clean dishes away. The first thing that those who’d returned from the Isle de Tramonto had insisted on, and fortunately Larut had visited early and had started the process, was running water inside the house, and in door bathrooms.
Laurilli did something that she hadn’t done in over three months. She watched Pippy chase the boys around the compound. It was apparently common knowledge that she was pregnant as all the adults stopped by to congratulate her and talk about it for a few minutes. Laurilli didn’t really mind. It helped the day pass quickly. Now that she
knew she was nearly six months pregnant, she didn’t really think training or running around was a good idea. The two-week rest passed almost too quickly and Thulmann never returned so Laurilli packed her sword, knives, and joined the rest of her fellow trainees as they headed back to Bainbridge to finish their training, this time against other countries.
An Accusation in the Life of
Five months and a week apart from Laurilli
Uktesh woke up with a start when Talia burst into the cell he shared with six others. He’d been downgraded from champion to the lowest possible rank and therefore no longer had Talia, his own cell, or his comfortable bed, pillow, or blanket. That knowledge made the fact that Talia was in his cell startling. She shouted, “Uktesh wake up! It’s Ceftin! Follow me!” She turned, shuffled away, and Uktesh Walked out of the room as the others in the cell woke up and followed at a slower pace. Talia was already halfway down the hall so he Walked to her and continued with her. Her pace was as quick as she could go after she had recovered from her night at the hands of the Storm lord and his sons. Duktesh thought, it’s your fault. You had to be noble and spurn her for months, then you basically slapped the Storm lord in the face by freeing Ceftin.
Uktesh thought back to himself, I didn’t know that was going to happen! If I had I would’ve tried to do things differently. I would’ve freed myself and then bought Ceftin and Talia!
Duktesh thought, why save a girl only to spurn her affections for the rest of her life?
Uktesh thought, shut up.
Uktesh asked, “What’s going on?”
She took a turn, bounced off the opposite wall and then took another turn at the same speed. Uktesh followed her, but just Stepped around the corners to avoid an injury. Which reminds me! I’m supposed to still be recovering from my injury! Uktesh began to do a limping run as he followed her. She lurched into the medical room and said, “This is what’s going on!”
