Tested (The Life of Uktesh Book 1) (11 page)

Uktesh kicked out in a vicious unarmed attack meant to break kneecaps, called Sweep the Leg.  With a crunch, the beast fell forward over him.  Uktesh felt something tear into his arm and hoped it was not teeth.  Uktesh tried to stand but his numb leg was now paralyzed and his left leg was going numb, as was his stomach. 
 

I have to finish this!  
He struggled to rise as the wolf spider struggled to push itself towards him.  It wasn’t until Uktesh hit it in the head with his sword and didn’t kill it, that he realized his chest and arms were now numb and that his left leg was paralyzed from his waist to his knee.  He swung with the last of his strength. But before he could hit the wolf spider, it opened its jaws, clamped down on his sword, and tore it from his grasp.  
That’s it. It’s going to bite me.  At least with its dark red skin it’ll be a quick poisonous death. 
It crawled closer toward him. As an eerie intelligence lit its’ eyes, and Uktesh thought he could detect anger.  
I’d be angry too if someone killed my family. 
The thought struck him as an odd final thought for two reasons.  First, because he thought of the Afflicted beast as angry about its family, but second, because he lived in a house with the people whose husband and father had mostly likely attacked his village.

Uktesh smiled, felt something wet drip on his hand, and saw that the wolf spider was poised just above him. The intelligent eyes seemed triumphant.  Uktesh tried to roll away.  He only managed to roll on his side and moved his hand a pace further from the beast, before he became completely paralyzed, from the neck down.  With his back to the beast, he imagined every breeze was created by the breath of the wolf spider.  He expected to feel teeth tear the flesh from his bones at any moment. Which is how he didn’t see Laurilli and five other people leap over his body until the last second. But by then, even his jaw was paralyzed and the rest of his face was numb.  He heard the sound of weapons as they hit flesh, and Uktesh felt himself being dragged away from the beast.  Laurilli came into his view and said, “Don’t worry. We’ve got you. You’re safe.”

He heard a voice he recognized as Tylor the tailors’ shout, “Get the venom pouches!  Make sure not to spill any on your skin!”  He came into Uktesh’s view and leaned toward Laurilli and whispered loud enough for Uktesh to hear, “The venom doesn’t hurt a man unless it gets inside the body.  But I don’t want them to drop any of the venom on the ground, because it’s worth its weight in gold!  Oh the brilliant reds I’ll be able to make! This one will make a royal purple worthy to clothe a king!”

He had a far off look on his face, and Laurilli leaned in towards Uktesh again and said, “Hurry now. Shut your eyes, before they’re paralyzed open.”

He did as she asked and heard her ask Tylor, “How long does the paralysis last?”

“It varies for most men. If he was heavily dosed, then several hours, if he was lightly dosed then the paralysis wears off right after full onset.  My guess is sometime after we get back to Manori.”

“What?  Why are you looking at him that way?” demanded Laurilli.

Uktesh heard Tylor sigh, “Well it’s just that by himself, he ran to White Bridge in less than a day. This fact alone is impressive, but relatively easily done.  That he ran there and back in less than half a day is remarkable. But to do all that, and out race horses, and to still on top of that have enough energy to fight off six armed men, and still after that have the ability and strength to fight a whole pack of wolf spiders, of which one was so old it had turned purple,”  Tylor sighed again, “It causes me great fear.”

“Uktesh wouldn’t hurt anyone!”  There was a pause, “Well, he wouldn’t hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it.”

“I believe you. If he was a vicious killer, there would be six bodies here, as well as at White Bridge, if what those others say is true.  I’m not afraid of
him
, in awe maybe.  But if this boy can do all that he did today, what are the truly blood thirsty warriors from Beletaria capable of?”

“You know he’s from Beletaria?” Laurilli said with panic in her voice.

“Well if his name didn’t already give it away, his fighting skill would have. But don’t worry too much about it. Most people will simply think that he’s Afflicted, which isn’t good either, but they won’t kill him without proof.  As for the name, few have travelled as extensively into Beletarian lands as I have, and I didn’t put it together until now.”

“We’re ready Tylor.” someone said, “We were able to preserve thirteen vials of the venom.”

Uktesh heard Tylor grunt and mutter, “Thirteen’s an ill omen.  Give one to the girl as payment for dispatching the creatures.”

“Right away.” Uktesh heard his footsteps move away.

“Well, it’s not sunset yet, and even carrying the boy, we’ll make it there before then. So I owe you two some golds now that I have my cloth in hand. If you hold onto that vial of wolf spider venom, in a few days, I’ll be willing to buy it from you. The standard price is ten golds per vial.  It’s yours thought, so if you think you can get a better price, it won’t hurt my feelings if you go another direction.  But if you choose to sell it to that hack Terwin, as a courtesy to me since he’s my rival, please charge him double, or as close as you can barter.”

More footsteps approached and Uktesh smelled Laurilli before he heard her say excitedly, “Uktesh we’re rich!  We’re about ready to move you, so don’t worry when it happens.”  Uktesh tried to grunt out a question that even to him was undecipherable, but Laurilli answered, “I ran to the road like you said and found the men that had chased you from White Bridge being questioned by Tylor and his friends.  Tylor and his men had come because Tylor feared that his conversation with us would spread and someone would lay in wait to steal the cloth.  When I arrived they were each arguing about what the others’ intentions were.  Two of the horses were carrying four men, all the thieves from White Bridge, looked fair to near deathly exhausted, so I just knew that they’d been the ones chasing you. So I took the sword you’d given me, assuming that it was one of theirs, and I challenged them, ‘You tried to kill Uktesh! He told me all about the wild chase he gave you. Drop your weapons or he’ll kill you with his bow. He’s just there in the woods waiting to see what you do.’ As soon as I finished, they couldn’t drop their weapons fast enough!”

Uktesh felt himself get lifted up and slung over someone’s shoulder, “So I took the weapons that they dropped and realized that the other group was Tylor. So I told him that you were actually in trouble and fighting a pack of wolf spiders.  I took off running back to you before anyone could say anything, but I knew that they’d follow,” she lowered her voice conspiratorially, “because what man would let a beautiful damsel face danger alone.” Uktesh heard chuckles from the men around that he couldn’t see.

“You’s a lucky ‘on boy.  I be marr’d twelve years come festival o’ the sun time, and I tell ye truly my wife’d not charge a pack o’ wolf spiders alone for the likes o’ me, and wit her cooking I’d t’ink twice about sav’ing ’er too!”  There was laughter and Uktesh wished he could smile. 

“Anyways,” Laurilli said and tried, but failed to sound exasperated, “so since it was you that beat them and I was the one who made them surrender, we get to keep their horses and weapons, and they have to walk home!”  Uktesh tried to speak again to ask if that was all the punishment that they would get for trying to kill him, but again Laurilli seemed to know what he was asking and she replied, “Now don’t you fret. They tried to kill you and we all witnessed their state and that of their horses. So we’re going to make them walk home and most likely whoever hired them will have them killed for failing and losing all their equipment. So probably they’ll be on the run for the rest of their lives, which seems fair to me.” 

Uktesh nodded in agreement, and then realized that he nodded, “I just nodded,” he said.  “I just spoke!  I’m not paralyzed anymore!”  He opened his eyes to see that they’d walked back to the road and he saw no sign of the others who had chased him, but Tylor and his ten, had packed up Uktesh and Laurilli’s horses with the weapons.  The man Uktesh was slung over put him down and Uktesh took a few wobbly steps before Laurilli ducked under his arm and steadied him.  Together they walked to the horses that he had won.  By then he felt much stronger, but he still rode with Laurilli behind him just to make sure he didn’t fall off the horse.  About halfway home he asked the question that had been bothering him for a while, “How did they get you out of the tree, without you killing one of them?”

He felt her arms tighten around his waist as she moved closer to him, “I had fallen asleep.  When I woke up, they had surrounded the tree, and one was already halfway up the tree towards the spot where I was asleep.  I swung my axe and it glanced off the side of his head.  His head hit the tree and there was blood where it had touched the tree, so I must’ve hurt him a little bit.  After that they climbed up by standing on each other’s shoulders.  I tried to fight them off, but they tricked me and took my axe.  I fell out of the tree, but someone caught me.  I tried to fight, but there were too many of them and they dragged me into the woods.  I thought I was going to die!  Then after they tied me to that tree, you came and saved me.”

Uktesh felt her arms tighten around his waist and suddenly wished that the others who were with them were gone so that he could tell her all that she meant to him.  “It was a close call, but you’re safe now.  I was so stupid before!  I should’ve kept you with me!  No amount of gold is worth the risk of losing you.”

“It was a good plan. We didn’t think that anyone would find me in that tree, and from the sounds of it, if I’d stayed with you, we would’ve had to fight the eight that chased you
and
we would’ve been ambushed by the six that attack me.  I can’t always be safe on these jobs. What if the boacat had attacked me instead of hiding in his house.  You can’t be responsible for everything bad that happens to me.”

“The rational side of me understands your logical argument, but that side has no voice when you’re hurt.” 

 They were quiet for a while and one of the men with Tylor said, “Sounds to me like you’re both walking around the bridge to ford the stream.” 

Uktesh didn’t know what that meant and thought that maybe it was a Sinain expression. But there was confirmation that it wasn’t when Laurilli said, “What do you mean?”

“Well seems to me like you both are talking around the subject of what’s really bothering you.”

“And what’s that?” asked Uktesh.

“It’s that you, both of you, were worried about each other, her that you’d be hurt protecting her, and you that you would fail to protect her.”

Uktesh thought that
was
what he and Laurilli had been in the middle of an argument about, but he asked, “So if that’s our problem what’s our solution?”

“I would say you two need to honestly talk about who’s responsible and for what and when.”

Uktesh thought about what he should be responsible for.  At first, due to what the man had said, he thought that they should only be responsible for themselves.  Then he realized that he had to be responsible for Laurilli’s safety, because he was a more experienced and better fighter than she was.

He thought about what he should be in charge of when it came to her safety and said, “I believe that I am responsible for Laurilli’s safety, because I’m the one who’s supposed to know our limitations.  I’m responsible to give her jobs that she can do, and to keep an eye out for her safety if a situation becomes more than she can handle.  Just like she’s responsible for the same if the situation changes, like with the wolf spiders.  Should either of us get hurt, then we should be responsible for our own inaction or bad reaction.”

“So you’re at fault for leaving me,” Laurilli said, “but I’m at fault for getting caught.”

“I would say that in both those cases there is no blame to claim. I did what I thought was best to complete the mission and to keep you safe.  In the tree you did your best to harm your attackers. The fact that six grown men could subdue you isn’t your fault. It just means you need more training.”

Laurilli groaned and said, “Not more training! I hate training!  I can’t even beat mom yet!”

Uktesh had been shocked the first time that Heathyr had come out to spar with Laurilli.  Uktesh had expected Laurilli to do well, maybe not win, but at least score a few hits.  Heathyr used a one handed style that was in a side stance. She even had her own weapon a falchion.  The falchion used quick attacks that wouldn’t cause much damage in a fight, but would start to wear down an opponent.  It could also be used to attack vital parts like the eyes, throat, or heart.  “Well that’s true, but just wait! With more training, you will be able to beat your mom. Then you can start sparring against me.”

“Yay.” She said with no delight.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be training too. I don’t expect you to become an expert, but I do want you to be able to start attacking in imperfect by the time we finish.”

“Boy, I just thought of something. You should travel with us when we go to the harvest festival in Baenok, the capitol of Sinai.  If half of what those would be thieves said was true, you’ll be able to place easily.” Said the tallest one in the group.  He was a shaved bald, six feet, eight inches tall, muscular man.

“Place?  Place what?” Uktesh asked confused.

“Don’t you know boy, there’s a tournament!  Best of the best come from all over Sinai.  Those that win, challenge the other four, well I guess it’ll only be three this year, champions from the other countries.  This year the final championship will take place here in Sinai, in Baenok, one month after our tournament!”

Uktesh felt the familiar fear creep into him just from the thought of a fight against people again. Then he realized that he’d just fought off twelve armed men, and killed four of them.  If he fought one on one with wooden weapons, his fear shouldn’t be a problem. It’d be like he was back in Beletar with a spar, and hopefully Baenok wouldn’t be on fire when the tournament took place.  The man continued, “They have swords, mixed weaponry, which can be any weapon, archery –”

“Archery?” Uktesh asked excitedly.

“Yeah, but don’t you want to compete in the swords competition?”

“Not really. I’m much better with my bow, though I never seem to have time to string it in a real fight.”

The man laughed, “You defeat twelve armed men and a pack of wolf spiders, and then boast that you’re better at archery, maybe you just don’t want to be hit by a wooden sword.”

Uktesh laughed easily, “Well that is certainly true, but I really am better at archery.”

“Prove it,” he said it with a smile, but Uktesh could tell that he was excited to see if Uktesh would be able to back up the boast.  All the people who rode with the companions perked up too.  Uktesh was tempted to accept the challenge, but he didn’t want to waste the time to set up a challenge so he said,

“I’m tired. I just ran for hours. I fought bandits and Afflicted beasts, and I’m recovering from being paralyzed too. I’m sure I’ve raised your hopes too high, to be able to meet them in my condition.”

The men nodded and Uktesh could practically feel Laurilli as she nodded behind him.  “That is true. So we will lower our expectations of you.”

Suddenly, and definitely irrationally Uktesh felt the need to prove himself. So he said, “Fine!”  He stopped his horse and jumped down off it, only to have his legs buckle.
I may have gotten in over my head, but it’s too late now
.  Uktesh straightened up after he pretended to check the laces of his boots.  He pulled the bow out from where it had been carefully packed, pulled a fresh string from his pack, and selected two arrows. While he had done this, the men had begun to wager. 

Uktesh carefully set the string in its groove on the bottom and used his leg to help bend back the bow to string the other end.  “Well,” he called out, “have you decided my target yet?  I figure it’s only fair, since you’re the ones betting, but I want in on this bet. I will, of course, take the bet that I will hit the target, and match anyone’s bet up to seven and a half golds.”

“Fifteen golds,” Laurilli said.

“Are you sure?” asked Uktesh.

“I’ve never been more sure,” she answered.

“See those two trees,” the man pointed and Uktesh followed his finger to see two trees in the distance.
Those are further than master level distance! 
Uktesh closed his jaw as the man continued, “Above halfway up the trunk is a knot, and you have to hit it with both arrows.  I will be a good sport and bet you all fifteen golds that you can’t do it.”

“What are my odds?”

“Fifty, fifty.”

“Seriously!”  Uktesh could’ve kicked himself. He’d been suckered into this bet, and now he was going to lose most of the money they’d just earned. 
The knot is slightly lower than halfway. I may have a chance to hit it, if I miss the branches, but I’ll have to come at the target from a high angle.
  Uktesh knew he couldn’t have any distractions during these two shots.  So he took off his shirt and tossed it over the pommel on the saddle, looked again at his two arrows, and selected one of them. The other he put back, and selected a new arrow that seemed straighter to him.  He drew the arrow to his cheek, aimed up to an angle he knew could hit the knot, and heard some of the men laugh. 

He lowered his bow and glared at them, “Please I need silence to concentrate.”  They smiled and nodded for him to continue.  Uktesh again took his stance. Only this time when he pulled back the string, he released, and in a blink the second arrow followed the first.  Uktesh could tell that the first arrow was perfect, and the second would be nearly perfect. If neither hit a branch, he knew that he would win this bet.  A few seconds later, with two muffled thuds, Uktesh could see that he’d won.  He smiled, did a quick fist pump, and turned to the other six, who all stared and the tree with their mouths open. 

Uktesh calmly walked over to the poleaxed men and casually said, “I believe I won.”

“No, you actually lost.”  Tylor said breathlessly as he still continued to stare at the tree.

“What!  Those are both clearly in the knot halfway up the trunk!”

“But it’s the wrong tree.” Tylor said still clearly shaken.

Uktesh turned and looked at the tree. Then he saw two trees by the side of the road that were only one hundred yards from where they stood.  “You bet me fifteen golds I couldn’t hit that!  Are you rich?  Did you think I was boasting that much?”

“I thought one hundred yards with a target that small, was a challenge. But I guess you weren’t boasting, I’ll pay the money gladly!  You should get your arrows we’ll need to head out soon.  Boy, my name’s Larut and we need to talk about how you did that.  Can I learn it too?” The giant man seemed suddenly afraid of the barely five feet tall Uktesh.