by Aaron Hicks
She took his right hand in hers and started to massage it, Uktesh tried to keep the pain off his face, but whenever she pressed too hard, he couldn’t stop a flinch from his face, but also when she didn’t press too hard it felt amazingly good. After several minutes, she switched to his other hand and soon it was her face that showed pain, “If you need to stop you should stop, we can’t afford another injured person on this trip.”
“Uktesh, you said you saw four of them together?” asked Repus, “And you thought they were all dark red?”
“Well in the shade, I didn’t really get a good look, but yeah they were dark colored.”
“I just really hope we don’t run into them again or any other packs like that.”
“I know. If I was right about their color, one bite and it would be over.”
“Have you noticed that more Afflicted animals are grouping together, and the Afflicted that become more deadly with age, seem to be living longer?”
“Not really, but I don’t have the most experience fighting them. It’s only been three, four, or at the most five times.”
Laurilli spoke up, “Well there were the spider wolves before, a swarm of turtledoves, the saber rabbit, the lick mutt, the minotaur, the boacat, the mud hounds, the wosn, and the hine that we had Myrtin kill.”
“So,” Repus said and held the word, “like I said, have you noticed that more of them seem to be grouping together? Even as short as five years ago, hearing about that many Afflicted attacks in that short of time would have been reason enough for a town or village to arm themselves wherever they went. Now you don’t even see people blinking twice about hearing something like that. People seem to have adopted an attitude of, ‘It isn’t affecting me, so I don’t need to worry about it.’ Meanwhile we have children like you two fighting our battles.”
“Hey, we volunteered for that battle, and we kicked butt. Before the tournament, I would have wagered that we had made more money than you had in the past three months. The whole last month we really didn’t charge for our services, we just let the people who needed our help set the price.”
“I’m not saying you didn’t do an amazing job. I’m just saying that as an adult, when I heard what you had done, I felt ashamed that I hadn’t done more like the two of you had.” said Repus, and Esolc nodded his head in agreement. “Of course then I saw you in the tournament and thought, ‘No wonder this kid did all that. He’s amazing!’ even though I know that you had Laurilli do more of the lead roles near the end.”
“What do you think mom?” asked Laurilli.
“I think, had I known how dangerous your Hero for Hire job was going to become, I might have told you that you were not allowed to do it. However, if I had that knowledge, I would also have the knowledge that you would survive the experience fine, and grew into a strong independent woman with an even stronger fiancé by your side. This, however, is not the point that Repus was trying to make. He was trying to tell you that there are more and more attacks of an Afflicted nature happening every day.”
“Now that you mention it,” Uktesh said, “I have to agree, because I’m sure that we aren’t the only ones who have had to fight Afflicted recently. Why do you ask?”
“I think they’re getting smarter. Think about it. If four wolf spiders had the intelligence to not attack a group of people who were able to defend themselves, how long will it be until they have the intelligence to figure out how to attack a group of people who are able to defend themselves?”
“Or,” Uktesh said, “perhaps they will gain enough intelligence to know not to attack anyone, but to try and live peacefully with us.”
“That actually makes me worry even more.” said Esolc.
“Why?”
“Because if they’re smart enough to ally themselves with us, then more than likely they would be smart enough to ally themselves with the ‘us’ that has the greatest chance of winning this war, which most likely would not be us.”
Uktesh thought about that and shook his head, “If, theoretically, these animals had the ability to think that logically, then they would also have to think logically about who was the aggressor in this war, which was not us, it was the Beletarians. That, however, is an extremely unrealistic thought, because if they did have that level of intelligence, somebody somewhere would have figured,” he cut off and thought back on Heathyr’s story about the two wyverns, “I think you’re right. Decades ago, Heathyr heard about two wyverns that had made the decision to protect a young girl, even though they ended up dying for her.”
“So what can we do about it?” asked Laurilli.
“Nothing I guess, just keep a vigilant eye out like Uktesh did today and we should be fine.”
“For now that is.” said Uktesh, and Repus had to nod in agreement. “Perhaps, we should think about that when planning the compound, if humans are not the only thing that we have to worry about, we should probably build it differently. It’s too late to turn back now and it won’t matter until the walls are up anyway, but when we get back, I think we should have at least some idea of how we can help secure the compound from Afflicted attacks.”
Uktesh started to open and close his hands as far as he could. As they continued toward Jubay, they decided that they were going to avoid Baenok until Uktesh healed, so that anyone who remembered them wouldn’t get the idea to “prove” themselves against the injured champion.
They travelled most the day wrapped in their own thoughts until Uktesh asked Laurilli, “What are you most looking forward to at the island?”
“The clothes of course. They have beautiful wraps and pareos. I’ve heard that they dance every night, and that everyone has to dance!”
Heathyr joined in and said, “Oh, the clothes! With the money we made, we don’t even have to bargain! Tylor will be upset that we didn’t shop at his store, but maybe if we bring him back some exotic reams of cloth, he’ll be ok with it.”
“I don’t care about clothes. I care about the lack of clothing that the locals enjoy wearing or not as the case may be.” said Repus.
“What?” asked Uktesh.
“You better reel in that excitement, future husband of mine, unless you want an ex in front of that title.” warned Laurilli.
“Hey! I just asked ‘what?’ Like perhaps I didn’t hear what Repus said.”
“I’m sure that’s what it was.” she said dryly.
“That’s right, Uktesh. Reel in your excitement, because that part of this trip is strictly adults only.”
“Hey, I’m sixteen!”
“What!” shouted Esolc, “In that case, you’re more than welcome to join us. I’ll buy your first alcoholic drink too. Perhaps we’ll have to try something strong but not too strong.”
“You better not get my future husband drunk!”
“We won’t get him drunk,” said Repus joining in, “or at least not very drunk.”
“But the women!” exclaimed Esolc, “I heard that they have a dance that is so sensual that, should a man see it, he would be devoted to the dancer for the rest of his life.”
Both Uktesh and Laurilli looked at each other, both with excitement, “Oh no you two. That’s a dance for adults.” Heathyr said.
“Well I’ll have to learn it while I’m there, otherwise I’ll more than likely never have another chance.” Said Laurilli.
Uktesh could tell that the argument had won her a point with Heathyr, but Heathyr said, “You have to promise to wait until after your wedding to dance it for Uktesh.”
“That’s fine.” she promised.
“We don’t even know if they’ll teach it to anyone who doesn’t live there.” Said Heathyr.
“I’ll find a way, if they don’t,” she said confidently.
“If she can’t find a way, I’ll challenge the island to a duel for her to have the opportunity to learn.” Uktesh’s declaration lost some of its believability when a particularly rough bump caused him to slide down into Laurilli’s lap.
“Nap time?” she
asked.
“I guess it is. I’ll just continue to lay here if you don’t mind.”
She didn’t say anything, but repositioned his head and started to run her fingers through his hair. Even though he hadn’t been tired when he’d fallen, soon he was asleep. The next thing he knew he was being repositioned by Laurilli, “Do you want me to move?” he mumbled.
“No, go back to sleep.” she said and he did.
“… needs it,” he heard Laurilli say, as he woke from his sleep. He enjoyed where he was and noticed that this time, when he woke up at least, he didn’t have to be embarrassed by his body acting on its own. “From what he’s told me, he should’ve died from his attacks. I think he said that, at the end, he attacked four times in a row with perfect.”
“Basam thinks that you are lucky to have one that is so devoted love you.” he said, “Basam doesn’t know if Basam would do for Basam’s wife what Uktesh did for you.”
“That’s horrible!” exclaimed Heathyr, but with humor in her voice.
“Horrible true, but Basam’s wife yells at Basam and sleeps with every man when Basam’s at work. Basam hoped that Basam would make enough money at the tournament to leave her, but keep Basam’s children.”
“Do you have sons or daughters or what’s the mix?” asked Laurilli.
“Basam has four boys and five girls, but only the eldest is certainly Basam’s.”
“Wow, man, why didn’t you leave her sooner?” asked Repus.
“At first, Basam was in the dark. Then when Basam started to hear whispers, Basam beat those whispering. Finally when truth became clear, it was too late. Basam and Basam’s wife had three children. In Croatoa, when a man leaves a woman, if her parents are dead, he must provide five gold coins for her and ten gold coins for each child that stays with her, or fifteen each to take any of the children.”
“Wow! That’s expensive! Even though she wasn’t faithful?”
“If she had been faithful it would be more.”
A silence fell over the group and Uktesh adjusted his head on Laurilli and felt her hand begin to comb through his hair. “Well I guess, in your case, I don’t know if Uktesh would either,” said Laurilli lightly, but quickly added, “not that I’m planning on doing that to him though.”
After a pause, the other four said, “No, he still would.”
“I hear he nearly killed himself protecting you less than twenty four hours after he met you, against a saber rabbit.” said Repus.
“Then there was the day we met you two, when he took on six armed men, and a full pack of wolf spiders to save you, all after running from Manori to White Bridge and back.” added Esolc.
“Basam knew only of this last time, but Basam believes that he would not have killed Riu unless your life was in the balance.”
“He didn’t really want to fight that minotaur either.” said Heathyr. “Don’t look at me like that, you four weren’t there.”
“I was!” exclaimed Laurilli.
“You were with him when he got the mission from the mayor and he forbade you from joining him. But when he came back from the first try and failure, you were out back practicing and didn’t know he’d ever come home. He was scared. I mean try to imagine fighting something that, as skilled as he is, it remained completely uninjured by his best attacks. He told me that he wanted me and Laurilli to leave, because he didn’t think he could win. He’d just seen the sword of his father, and his grandfather do nothing to hurt it and even then he was going to go back to fight it. He stopped home to say goodbye to me, he’d already said his goodbyes to Laurilli and,” but Laurilli cut her off.
“Wait. He told me that the fighting wasn’t dangerous, just tiring! And if he thought he was going to die why’d he do it?”
“You saw his hands when he came back, Li, how could you, of all people, not realize that he was lying to spare your feelings.” There was a pause before Heathyr continued, “His hands, when he came back, were bloody and took weeks to fully heal.” she added for the benefit of the other. “Before he left, I told him it wasn’t his responsibility. I reminded him that there were bands of bounty hunters who hunted at the Isles of Idej for fun.”
“Isles of Idej?” asked Laurilli.
“Lass, forty islands that seem to spawn the Afflicted from their very core.” said Repus.
“Are they near the Isle de Tramonto?”
“They are relatively close to it, but not really.”
“Anyway, he said that unless he could figure out some way to hurt the beast, he most likely would not survive the encounter. Then he sighed and said, ‘But I’m out of ideas. I can’t even walk away, because even though it may kill me, I know it’ll kill some other poor girl if I don’t try.’ I gave him a quick hug and told him that with even the mightiest beasts they always have a weakness. He asked me what a beast that couldn’t be injured had to fear, the despair in his voice made it hard for me to think of a logical answer. I asked, ‘Would you use a sword to cut down a tree? Or would you throw an axe off a wall to stop one hundred raging enemies? Would you shoot arrows at a gate to knock it down? No, you’d use an axe or arrows or a giant stone. There is always a way. You just have to find the weapon.’ Well that sparked something, because he jumped off the couch and ran out the door, and the next time I saw him he was a minotaur slayer.”
“Why didn’t he tell me? Nine times I asked him to repeat that story, and each time he made it seem like it was easy.” asked Laurilli.
“It’s just something we men folk do to ease our fears about you women folk walking around constantly afraid.” said Esolc.
“If that’s the case, why did he tell my mom?”
“Special circumstances. Originally he had gone there to say goodbye before dying. It was only during their conversation that he was able to come up with a battle strategy.”
“Basam is once again glad that Basam chose such a great teacher.”
“Do you think that he’d be willing to teach me?” asked Repus.
“Probably, but you would have to ask him when he wakes up.” said Laurilli.
Uktesh yawned, stretched as much as he could, and while he feigned ignorance asked, “Ask me what?”
“If you wouldn’t mind training Repus and Esolc as well.” Laurilli said.
He lazily hugged her and slowly sat up, “I don’t mind. I don’t know if you two want to begin training while on vacation, but I don’t mind telling you to run.” He leaned against Laurilli and breathed her in deeply and asked, “How long have I been asleep?”
“Maybe four or five hours, which means we have another five or six hours left of travelling today.” she said. They travelled wrapped in their own thoughts for several hours. When they were ready to start to set up camp, Uktesh was able to walk around much better than before, and far more able to help. So he gathered some of the twigs and small branches for the fire. When all three tents were up, the fire was started, and the meal almost done being cooked, they all relaxed around the fire while Laurilli told a story about their Hero for Hire job they’d dubbed, “The Disappearing Pies.”
“So after we got hired by the widow, we were just sitting in her kitchen. She put out four pies, and when nothing happened right away, we got to talking and eating one of the pies. Sure enough, maybe two minutes later, Uktesh noticed a pink thing slithering around the bottom of one of the pies. Then quick as an arrow, the pie was gone! Uktesh dove out of the open window and I went out the front door to find, what I thought was, a bloody Uktesh wrestling with, what looked like, a pink snake with a furry bottom, or something furry stuck to its back side. Uktesh finally coiled the snake around his arm and I saw that the fur was its body and the snake was its tongue!”
She laughed as she obviously remembered her delight, “It was the first time I’d ever heard of a lick mutt much less seen one! It’s whole body was wiggling back and forth and I realized it was having fun! Well once we got Uktesh and it separated, and the widow Glenn got a good look at it, she decided that it was so cu
te she didn’t mind if it ate her pies. I heard that it actually drove away some kids that heard about her lost pies and decided to get some for themselves. Can you imagine!” she acted like she reached into a window and grabbed a pie one handed only to be halted, “Wazz dist ting ‘round me wrist!”
She lurched back like her hand was pulled and Uktesh quickly joined her and pretended to pull on her other arm, “We gots you! Jus lets go of the pie!” Uktesh said as he also pretended to be one of the other boys.
Laurilli laughed and said, “Aye hain’t got the pie no more!” Suddenly she fell back into Uktesh and their act became real as the both fell to the ground, “Aye’s free!” she said and held up her previously trapped hand, “Commun lets get out o’ here!” The adults applauded the act and story as Laurilli helped Uktesh to his feet before they sat together again, right as their food was done. Laurilli only took one bowl and fed both of them. While Uktesh continued to close and open his hands, he wondered again why it was that his hands were more injured than his muscles that tore. It must be the god form I almost used. He’d purposefully tried not to think about it, because if he did, he knew that as a swordsman, he wouldn’t be able to stop at just the thought of it until he attempted it again.
“What are you so happy about Uktesh?” asked Repus, though by his tone he thought he already knew why Uktesh had a smile on his face.
Uktesh was unsure, should he lie or should he tell them that he was on the cusp of the first god form ever learned. He paused for too long in thought about which to tell, because Esolc said in a breathless tone, “Heaven,” and looked off into the distance with a blank look on his face, to which everyone shared a laugh.
“You’d better not be, because we’re still not even!” said Laurilli as she pretended that last night hadn’t happened.
“No, no, I was thinking about the fight with Riu, and I realized that I might’ve surpassed my trainers. I don’t think I could’ve come as far as I did had I stayed in my village and trained. Ever since I met Laurilli and Heathyr, I’ve been pushing myself to move faster, be stronger, and have more endurance. I don’t know if the fights I would’ve had while training would’ve allowed as much growth in as short a time.”
