Tested (The Life of Uktesh Book 1) (33 page)

Uktesh noticed right away that, while the town had a wall that surrounded it for protection, it was clearly a relic of the past, as he saw children played on top of it.  As they made their way through town, Laurilli continued to lean against him and he put his arm around her waist.  They made their way to the docks easily and found that the boat to the Isle de Tramonto was scheduled to leave in an hour, which gave them enough time to store their wagon and get something to eat before it left. 

All the boats were heavily armored with thick slabs of leather, and all had huge harpoons spaced evenly around the rails.  The crow’s nest was more of a crow’s cage because it was completely enclosed and looked like the metal had dents in it.

“Det’s d’ere fer de Wosn, Hines, Wyverns, Blade birds, and a deozen mare like ‘em!” said one of the sailors, who caught Uktesh’s look.  “Yer don have ter be worrien doe, quick trip to Dramto won’t be dat dangrous.”

“Thank you, I was getting worried.” Uktesh said.

“Basam will stay with the cart and guard our possessions.” Basam said.

“Thank you, would you like us to bring you back anything?” asked Heathyr.

“Basam would like meat of any kind.” Basam said.

“I think I’ll stick around too.” said Uktesh, “I don’t want to slow you guys down too much, and I think that after our near robbery, I need to rest. I know my hands do for sure.”

“I’ll stay too then,” said Laurilli

Heathyr nodded and with promises to bring back meat and juice she, Esolc, and Repus headed towards a tavern.  Uktesh lay back in the bed of the cart and Laurilli joined him and rested her head on his chest. His left hand combed through her hair, while she held his right loosely.  Basam tied the horses to the cart and sat on the driver’s bench. They were silent for a few minutes before Uktesh asked, “Basam, did you win enough money to divorce your wife and buy back your kids?”

“Yes, though with Basam’s bad bets at the beginning Basam didn’t make enough to purchase three of the children Basam would like to keep.”

“Then that’s only an extra fifteen gold pieces right?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the process that you would have to go through to get them?  And how many are you able to purchase?”

“Basam has enough to purchase all but three.”

“Oh, so you want all your kids?  Even though you don’t know if they’re yours?” asked Laurilli.

“Yes, Basam has raised them. Basam loves them as Basam’s own, and Basam wouldn’t wish to leave them with the woman Basam’s wife turned out to be.”

“What’s the process to get them?”

“Well Basam would travel to Red lake in Croatoa, which is just west of the capitol, Cratoa, and with the witness of the mayor, pay Marylla and travel back with Basam’s children.  Then Basam needs to find a place to live in Manori and continue to train with you.”

“Why don’t you go now?  They can join us in having fun at the Isle de Tramonto, and it’ll allow them to know a few people before moving to a new place.” 

“Basam doesn’t have the money to get them all, and once Basam has them, Basam doesn’t have the money to travel with them all back here.”

“So you need fifteen more coins to gets all your kids, and probably another fifteen to travel them all back here with several gold coins to spare?  You can have that from me as a payment for the help and security you’ve provided thus far, and once our Hero for Hire picks back up, we’ll split the money three ways.”

“Uktesh we’ll let him have all the money!”

“Well I have no problem with that, but I think he does.”

“Basam wouldn’t want to take charity.”

“I assumed that would be the case, but what do you think of the plan?”

“Basam likes it. Basam will wait until the other three get back and will then hire a boat to Helsbay, the closest port in Croatoa to Red lake.  Basam will be there and back in two months!”

“Be where and back in two months?” asked an overburdened Esolc who carried enough meat for five people, and behind him Repus and Heathyr had six cups and three skins of liquid between them.

“I’ve offered Basam some money to travel to Red River -”

“Red Lake,” Laurilli interrupted.

“What?” Uktesh asked.

“Basam is going to Red Lake, not Red River.” She said.

“Oh, he’d going to Red Lake to get his kids and join us at the Isle de Tramonto, as a thank you for all the help he’s been since I was injured.” 

As they ate, Laurilli discreetly grabbed a handful of gold coins from the chest where they kept some of their money, counted out thirty, and gave them to Basam.  All too soon, their time was up and it was time to travel to their resort destination, while Basam travelled to Red lake.  They bid farewell to Basam and, as they boat started to drift out to sea, they saw him talk to various captains as he looked for a boat to Helsbay.  “I’m going to miss him.” said Laurilli.

“Yeah, he made a great addition to our group, but we’ll see him soon enough.” Uktesh agreed.

They watched Basam shake hands with one of the captains and Basam turned to wave goodbye to them one last time, as he picked up his pack, walked onto the boat, and lead his horse up the ramp.

It was an uneventful boat trip, and, for that, Uktesh was extremely grateful.  When they came in view of the island, it looked like an emerald in a sea of sapphires.  “Wow, does anyone else think that that water is too blue?” Esolc asked.

“Yeah.” Uktesh said.  As they got closer to the island, they could see the sea bed through the clearest water he’d ever seen.  “Wow look at all those lion fish!”

“Look over there!” Laurilli said and pointed, “Dolphins!”

Uktesh stood up and looked in the direction that she had pointed, and he saw one of the dolphins jump out of the water, do a flip, and splash back in head first. “That was amazing!”

They watched the dolphins until they docked and because they had watched the dolphins, Uktesh hadn’t noticed the people and their clothing or lack of it. Everyone walked around in just shorts or skirts, men and women both, it didn’t seem to matter.  But Uktesh could feel heat as it practically radiated off his face, and knew his face must be as red as it had ever been before.  “Hey Heathyr?”  Uktesh asked.

“Yes?” she said and turned away from the dolphins, but towards him and not the shore.

“I think you’re going to find a lot of skirts and pareo’s for the skirts, if I’m using that word right, but I don’t think you’re going to find a lot of shirts that you’ll like.”

“Uktesh what’s wrong with your face, and why?”

“Um, mom,” Laurilli said, “the answer to both questions is on the beach, dock, streets, water, and pretty much everywhere.”

Heathyr turned to see what Uktesh had spotted first and started to turn a shade of pink herself before she said, “Laurilli, I don’t have to tell you, but you’re going to be an obvious tourist for this whole trip right?”

“You don’t need to tell me twice.” Uktesh thought about Laurilli in island clothes and couldn’t help but smile.  “Uktesh I know what you’re thinking about!”

“What?  I’m just smiling cause I’m glad to be here with my fiancée who is more beautiful than anyone else in the world.”

“You liar. I know you were thinking about me in island clothing!”

Uktesh winked at her so that her mom couldn’t see.  Her eyes got big and she glared at him, even though he could tell that she tried to fight back a grin.  He limped forward toward the edge of the cart, while he gave her the “come here” sign with his index finger to meet him at the edge.  When she got there, he knelt down in the bed of the cart, kissed her, and whispered, “You know me too well.”  Then he said louder, “You wouldn’t want me to think of someone else in island clothes, right?”

“I don’t want you to think about anyone like that until we’re even!”

“Well then, I hear and obey. I won’t think,” he paused and again thought about her in just a skirt, “Nope sorry. I can’t do it.”

“What!” she exclaimed in mock protest.

“Sorry I tried my hardest.”

“It was like four seconds!”

“The four longest seconds of my life! You’re too pretty. This is clearly your fault.” he said and nodded sagely.

“My fault?  You’re the one who goes around looking down an innocent girl’s shirt when she’s kissing you.”

“It was after the kiss.”

“So you don’t deny the first part?” she asked and raised an eyebrow.

“Can’t really do that and still consider myself honest.”

“Ha!”

“Ha, what?  You knew what I had seen moments after it happened.  Anyway, get in. We’re ready to off load this cart and find a place to stay.” 

Uktesh lay back in the cart and soon Laurilli joined him, “I’m glad you don’t think of others that way.”

“Me too. I think it’s easier to love one person.” she kissed him and pulled him to sit next to her.  The cart was carefully backed out of the boat and soon their horses were too.  After they hitched their horse to the cart, they were off to look for a place to stay.  Uktesh attempted not to look at the ladies they passed, while Repus and Esolc flirted with most of the women they passed.

“We were told that the best places were on the east side of the island, so we’re heading that way first.” said Heathyr.  When they passed dozens of personal houses, they knew that they were in the right place.  They stopped at the main building and Laurilli went in to check on availability, while Repus and Esolc talked to a group of women that had walked passed them down the road.  She came back out, called Repus and Esolc over, and said, “It’s one gold a day-“

“Just to sleep?” asked Repus outraged.

“Well, it’s that much a night or six gold pieces a week, or twenty four golds a month, and because they’d never had anyone stay for six months, they told me that they would further lower the price to one hundred twenty golds for six months, which is a month free.”

“Before the tournament, I never owned a hundred gold and they get it every four months for every house?”  He looked around at all the houses, “I’m in the wrong business.”

“That also comes with a buffet for breakfast, lunch, and what she called supper which she assured me is another word for dinner.”

“Well that makes it better I guess.” said Esolc.

“How many do they hold?”

“They come in different sizes, from single, which is the price I quoted since I assumed we would all want to sleep alone, up to a family sized house that houses five people for three golds a night and everything else is also tripled.”

“We probably won’t get much of a different price since they all compete against each other.  How much to stable the horses?”

“Three coppers a night.”

“Well at least that’s close, at only triple the normal weekly rate.” complained Esolc.

“I did say three coppers a night, not a week.” said Heathyr, to which Esolc and Repus’s jaws dropped.

“Wow! We.  Are. Millionaires!  We could stay here every day for the rest of our lives and never run out of money!  You two need to change your ideas of ‘normal,’ because this is going to become normal.” said Laurilli.

Esolc and Repus looked at each other, “Sad,” said Esolc.

“Yes, when children believe they know more than their elders.” Repus said deadpan.

“To lecture one’s elders on money means that one must have no appreciation of the value of money.” Esolc continued.

“To think we’ve failed to instill the ideology of ‘save a copper earn a copper.’” added Repus.

“This new generation is so willing to spend, spend, spend. What happened to the quiet moments in life where one contemplated the next meal, and how receiving it would be achieved?” lamented Esolc.

The both turned their sad eyes onto Heathyr and she added in an equally sad and lamented voice, “These two have always seemed to earn more just by going through their day than most people in a week, month, year, or lifetime.  I blame myself.” she pretended to wipe away a tear, “You try your best, but with children such as these, how could I lead them down such a sad path?”

Esolc and Repus each patted a shoulder and consoled, “It isn’t your fault.” said Repus.

“It couldn’t be.” added Esolc.

“For years, she was a ‘normal’” Repus turned his sad eyes on Uktesh, “child.”

“There must be something new in your life, maybe someone new that has taken her, stolen her from the path of righteousness.” added Esolc.

All three of them stared at Uktesh, “The one who stole her from you.” said Repus.

“The one who corrupted her.” added Esolc.

“The one who stole my little girl’s innocence.” continued Heathyr.

“The one who made the three of you millionaires.” Laurilli added dryly.

“Is clearly only misguided.” said Esolc mock thoughtfully.

“Can be redeemed with proper guidance.” added Repus.

“And perhaps she corrupted him more than he corrupted her.” said Heathyr.

All four turned to Uktesh who curled his hand and looked at his nails while he said, “Is able to repeat that feat year after year, but only for friends.”