by Aaron Hicks
“Won it all?”
“Didn’t you know if you win your fighting group you fight in a final tournament to see who the best fighter is this year? Then they do that with the best from all the other countries’ tournaments too one month later?”
“I can’t wait to get started! Let’s drop off this guy and get to the coliseum quickly.” They asked where the magistrate was so that they could drop off the thief with the personal items they’d found. As they entered the building, they heard a man shout, “Find my daughter! She was last seen leaving the city seven days ago with her friend, her friend has told you they were attacked, and where they were attacked, but you haven’t done anything yet! I know my daughter’s dead, but I want the bastards responsible killed! She was wearing a big golden necklace and whoever kills them can have it! I just need to see it to know the job’s been done.” The man who matched the voice was tall, Uktesh guessed six feet six inches, he was broad in shoulder and chest due to muscle that hadn’t left him after forty plus years, if Uktesh had to guess. He wore clearly expensive clothes and had an air of someone who got their way more often than not.
“Sir, as I’ve told you,” started the man behind the desk, but was interrupted.
“I don’t want to hear that you don’t have the men to chase after living missing people, much less a dead one. I’ll pay for a bounty hunter, just tell me where one is!”
“Sir, they are all being paid as extra security for the games.”
Uktesh tapped the man on his shoulder, “Um excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation.”
“Boy, men are talking, be quiet or leave!” he interrupted.
Uktesh tried again, “Sir, about your daughter,” but again was cut off.
“If you interrupt me again, I’m going to get physical, child, do not talk to me again.”
The man turned back and continued shouting at the person behind the desk. What should I do in order to talk to him again and physically stop him if he attacks me? I should just leave, or just turn over the thief and the stuff we found. Curiosity got the better of him, “Sir, I think I have your daughter’s necklace!”
The man spun and lashed out with a back hand that Uktesh simply leaned back away from. Uktesh thought that would be the end of it, but the man rushed at him as if to grab him, and bear hug him. Uktesh’s foot flashed up once, twice, and a third time into the big man’s face, until he fell flat on his behind. Uktesh dug into the belongings they’d found and easily saw the necklace, “Is this your daughter’s necklace?”
Tears had formed in the man’s eyes from the kicks to the face, but at the site of the necklace he broke down and cried while he hugged it to his chest, “No! Sara, I warned you not to go riding without me. How could this happen? You!” he focused on Uktesh, “How’d you get this?”
“We were attacked. We killed or subdued our attackers then forced them to take us to their camp, where we found some clothing, some money, and that.”
“I assume you’re keeping the money.” it wasn’t a question.
Uktesh answered it anyway, “We planned on giving the money to the family members of the deceased, but we were going to let the magistrate handle that.”
“You subdued some of the murderous thieves? Where are they? I’ll finish the job!”
“No,” said Uktesh, “it’s just one guy and he’s going to get processed through the system, and punished in the manner they deem fitting.”
“Boy, you got the drop on me once, it won’t happen again, let me end him.”
Uktesh put the pack with the belongings on the counter and set his feet for a fight, until Heathyr came forward and in a voice that compelled reason said, “I can understand your anger. I have a daughter myself and the thought of her loss would cripple me. But if you’ll look at the wretch, and the sorry state he’s in. you’ll see that letting him live in pain will be better than ending his pain.”
She gestured to the thief, who was still tied up, but being held up by Esolc, and Repus, his broken bones dangled. The big man’s eyebrows shot up practically into his hairline and said, “Yeah that actually works for me. Here,” he handed Heathyr the necklace, “I said that I’d pay the person who solved this for me with this gold necklace.”
“I couldn’t take this from you, it means so much to you.”
“All it means to me now is that the only bright point in my life is gone.” He dropped the necklace to the ground and left dejected.
“Thank you,” said the man behind the desk, “that guy’s an ass! I don’t care why he’s here or that he’s one of the Triumvirates, the laws they created still apply to them.”
“Shut up.” said Uktesh.
“How dare you talk to me that way, I’m the magistrate of Baenok!”
“Do you realize you just said that you didn’t care that a man lost his daughter.” he said it quietly but the sound carried in the suddenly silent building.
The magistrate turned white, “I, of course, didn’t mean it that way! It was just that I was,” flustered he stumbled to find something to get him out of this, but didn’t find it.
Uktesh picked up the necklace and put it in his pocket, “Hey what are you doing with that?” said the magistrate.
“I’m going to return it to its rightful owner. We’ve found other possessions robbed from people. I don’t know how or if you’ll be able to find who they go to, but we’ll leave the belongings and the money in your care. We’re also dropping off this man who was the leader of the thieves.” Larut untied the man and gave the rope back to Esolc who looked at it with sudden revulsion, but looped it around his arm a few times, and coiled it into a manageable bundle before he held it in his right hand. The magistrate gave the pile of stuff dumped on his desk an equally revolted look until Uktesh placed several silver and copper coins on the counter until nearly two golds worth was placed there, “Please find the owners of this money if possible.”
They left in silence and quickly made their way to the barracks that the fighters would stay in and stabled their horses along the way. Once they arrived, they were told by a short balding man that they were short on room, “on account that they had more participants this year than any two combined.”
He leaned on a halberd, a spear-like weapon, like he needed it to help him stand, but Uktesh could tell that the man was dangerous, so he tried the cautious route, “Sir, we were told that one family member would be allowed per fighter. We have six fighters and only one person needing a spare bed.”
“I can’t do it sonny, I let you pass, I’ll have to let the next sob story pass, then where are we?”
“I see your predicament,” Uktesh said and tried to quell the anger that grew inside, “What if we didn’t need an extra bed, just the promised meals? And two of us could share our bed,” which for some reason made Heathyr and Laurilli blush, though he was sure they knew it was they who would be sharing a bed. Then he remembered last night, and felt his cheeks heat as well.
“I can see your ladies are lovely and either one would make a fine nightly companion, but as of two days ago only fighters are allowed past this guard station. We even had soldiers go in and take out those who wouldn’t leave peacefully.” He laughed bitterly to himself, “That was a right sight, considering that every man in here be a fighter and that they outnumber us guards by nearly two to one. They even ‘unretired’ my old bones, for this thing.”
“Do you know of any inns with space for three?”
“Nope and all those renting rooms in their houses that I know of are full too.”
“Fine! What would you suggest then?” Uktesh yelled as his anger got the better of him.
“Watch your tone boy.” his voice turned cold.
Uktesh nodded, “I apologize, but what options are there for us? Camp in the woods again, only to fight the crowds to be able to get in, and possibly miss our matches?”
“Well you could have her camp alone.”
“Never.” Uktesh interrupted.
“Or,” the guard continued as if he hadn’t heard Uktesh’s interruption, “she could go back to your home by herself, or with some of you, or she could fight, or she could bat her eyes and make her way into a willing man’s bed.” Uktesh moved forward at the suggestion that Heathyr sell herself for a bed, two hands caught him right as he stopped himself, and the halberd was positioned to hit him in the head with the wooden end. “I ain’t telling you to do that final option, boy, just saying that it’s an option.”
“Heathyr did you bring your falchion sword?”
She shook her head, “I didn’t think I’d need it,”
Uktesh frowned, “Could we buy one by tomorrow?” he asked the guard.
“Sure you could, but everyone here’s selling things at four or five times their regular prices.”
Tylor spoke up, “Four or five! If this doesn’t pay off, then next time the tournament’s here, I’m going to have to come early and sell some clothes. However, it doesn’t matter if she brought a weapon, fighters only use wooden ones, until the later rounds.”
“Really? Well that works fine! If Heathyr makes it that far we’ll buy her another one. She’s competing,” he said to the guard, then sheepishly turned to her, “that is if you want to. I don’t see much of a choice, but it’s up to you, we can find a place to sleep without being in the barracks, food won’t be a problem.”
“No this solution works for everyone, put me down for sword.” Heathyr said.
“What about the rest of you?”
Uktesh said, “Sword, archery, mixed, and unarmed.”
“You sure you don’t want more?”
Uktesh nodded while Laurilli said, “Sword.”
Tylor said, “Sword, axe, and pole weapon.”
Larut said, “Axe, pole weapons, and unarmed.”
Repus said, “Sword, mixed, pole weapon, and axe.”
Esolc said, “Sword, and mixed.”
Larut said, “Add sword and mixed to mine too.”
Myrtin said, “Sword, archery, and mixed.”
“You’re all in the last barracks left, but you’re also the first in it so to stay together shouldn’t be hard. However take everything with you when you leave. We only let participants in, but that doesn’t mean your fellow fighters are honorable.”
“Thanks,” they moved down the center of the barracks. Everywhere there were men in individual fights against each other, some in practice, and some Uktesh couldn’t tell if it was practice or worse, but always there was a crowd.
“Hey women!” someone in the group yelled, “You ain’t allowed in here, if my woman has to whore herself out for a bed!”
The voice quickly pushed its way forward until the giant of a man it belonged to stood in front of Larut, the biggest member of the group. Larut smiled, “Are you saying that the guard is taking favors?”
The man paled a bit, and Uktesh wondered again who the guard really was, “I ain’t talking to him, I’m talking to you.”
“Indeed you are, and I’m not inclined to answer your question without a ‘please’ somewhere in the sentence.”
Heathyr sighed and moved to speak, but Uktesh grabbed her arm and shook his head. If we show that we’re intimidated we might be harmed in our sleep. The man telegraphed his punch so much that Uktesh thought it had to be a feint. But he wasn’t faking. Though he aimed his fist to hit Larut in the jaw, he instead, hit with a bone breaking sound, the top of Larut’s head, where the skull is thickest. The man staggered back with one or two bones broken in his right hand. He looked at it with shock, “You broke my hand!”
“And you gave me a headache! I should rip your ears from your head and stuff them down your throat! Let us pass or we’ll get angry!” Uktesh saw Larut in a new light. He’d known the man was talented, though angry, he was an impressive man. When the crowd recognized it, they backed away from him in fear. The group continued forward, but only made it a step before Laurilli screamed as one of the shorter men that circled them grabbed her hair and started to paw at her chest. Uktesh again adapted an imperfect fighting form to suit his needs. He completely forgot to go through balanced and he Soared past Laurilli into the man. His right foot connected in the man’s gut and doubled him over. Next his left knee connected with the man’s face and broke his nose. Then third, still before his feet had landed he brought both hands down on the man’s shoulders at the same time and both broke his collar bone and dislocated both arms.
Laurilli ran to her mother and held her as they both wept. Uktesh unsheathed his sword and said, “I will swear to whatever god you believe in, that the next person to touch any of my friends outside of the tournament will die seconds after.” Uktesh heard the hollow sound of his own voice and got chills, I mean it, and the sudden revolution shocked him. The sudden and abrupt violence lent credence to his words, enough so that the crowd quickly dispersed back to whatever they’d been doing.
“Tylor, will you think less of me if I drop out of unarmed if I get paired against Uktesh?” asked Larut.
“Heck no, I’m thinking of dropping out of sword just cause he’s in it!”
Their banter had the needed effect as Laurilli laughed and angrily wiped her eyes dry, “I shouldn’t have screamed, what kind of fighter did I look like screaming?”
Tylor grinned and said, “A very cute one?”
Uktesh laughed and sheathed his sword, “Hey that’s my line!” He ignored the unconscious man on the ground, but Laurilli moved to the man and rolled him on his stomach, “If he is still participating and if he’s in the sword competition, I want a chance to hurt him. So I can’t let him choke on his own blood now can I?”
Uktesh shrugged and said to Tylor, “I believe you mean a very cute engaged one?”
“You’re engaged!”
“Since the beginning of this trip? Yes.”
“Oh man, and here I’d found a lovely golden necklace to give you as an engagement gift. Now where’d it go?” he started to pat his pockets.
“Did you mean this one?” Uktesh said and held up the necklace they had found.
“Well it does look like that, but,” he patted a pocket in his vest again, “ah here it is!” He pulled out a thin golden necklace with a sapphire at the end of it. “I had meant to give it to Laurilli to congratulate her on her first victory, but I think I should congratulate her now.”
“For what, surviving my first groping?”
“That was your first?”
“Well,” she paused and thought about it, “yeah.”
“Either your father is more fierce than I gave him credit for, or you don’t get out much, maybe both.” he shook his head in shock. “No, the reason you should get it is because you’re probably the only person in the world who can be groped and still help the person who did the groping, no matter what the reason.”
She smiled and pulled her hair up and allowed Tylor to put it on her. They continued to walk to their barracks. Once inside, they set up their beds. The two women had the beds furthest from the door so that anyone who tried to get to them had to go through the six men who, each as chivalrous and brave as they were, would fight to the death to save them. They had plenty of time before night fell and the festivities started that marked the start of the tournament the night before it began. Larut, Esolc, and Myrtin said that they just wanted to rest before the fight tomorrow so they’d stay with the gear, which left the rest of them free to do whatever they wanted. Uktesh grabbed Laurilli’s hand a said, “Come on let go explore!”
Her eyes lit up and they made a dash for the door, when Heathyr said, “Wait! We need to pick a time and place to meet up again!”
They halted and looked at each other and shrugged, when Tylor said, “How about we meet at the water fountain in the market place? It’s a great place to shop and a better place to watch the fireworks. It’s easily found and the fountain is in the center. We can meet during the fireworks.”
“Sounds good.” Laurilli yelled as she grabbed Uktesh’s hand and pulled him out the doo
r with an infectious laugh. They ran past the guard shack and the old man nodded to Uktesh. Somehow he knew that the guard had been able to watch the whole fight take place. They slowed to a walk soon after, but Laurilli didn’t let go of his hand and he interlaced his fingers with hers. “So where should we go?”
He shrugged, “I’ve never been here. Let’s ask someone what the best thing to do is.”
They walked up to a group of kids that looked three or four years younger than them and asked. One of the girls said, “You should see the jugglers down the street!”
“No,” said one of the boys, “the fire breather next to them.”
“No,” said another of the girls, who had a tattoo under her right eye that extended around her cheek to curl up toward her temple, “you should get a henna tattoo. They aren’t even permanent! She’s right by the jeweler, two streets down from the jugglers.”
“Or you could go to see the wyvern trainer!” The shocked silence met that statement, “I swear I saw a man riding a wyvern or a small dragon around outside the gates. He must’ve been part of an act.”
“Wow,” Uktesh said, “thanks! There seems to be a lot of things to do. Thanks for the suggestions.”
“Have you heard about the war?” asked one of the boys.
“No, what about it?” asked Laurilli anxiously.
“We just took over the whole southern half of Beletaria.”
“Wow, that seems like a lot.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking those Beletarians have inflated reps,” said the same boy.
They started to walk away when Uktesh felt a tug on his pants and turned to see who had tried to get his attention, only to see a fast form sprint away from them. My money! He patted where his money pouch should’ve been, but found only cut strings, “Stay with them.” Uktesh said to Laurilli, “I’ll be right back!”
He Rushed after the thief, and quickly upgraded his dash to Hawk Soars, because he knew if he lost sight of the thief his money was as good as gone. He saw the person shoot around a carriage and into an alley. Uktesh flowed into the perfect Rising Knee and took one hop onto the drivers bench, then leapt through the air, landed, then rolled right behind the thief. Without a thought he flowed into Leaf Falls and swept the man’s legs out from under him. In full sprint the man tumbled forward and skidded to a stop a few feet away. Uktesh saw that he still held his money purse. Uktesh planted his knee on the thief’s back, grabbed his money, quickly counted it, saw that it was all there, and stood up.
