Taken: The Life of Uktesh Book 3 (11 page)

Laurilli’s troops quickly got bogged down again, and those around Laurilli near the front had to fight passed, “dead,” people who were trying to get out of the fight mingling with those trying to fight on.  At the same time, the troops Laurilli had originally been running from, had finally caught up with them from behind.  Laurilli turned the group as well as she could to angle them out of the fight.  As they fought their way free Laurilli saw whole sections of her force cut off and killed.  She put it out of her mind and fought her way free. Straggling out behind her were no more than fifteen of her troops. 

Basam had been lost as some point, as had one of the twins, but somehow Trysha and Kayla had made it out with Laurilli.  She sighed and rallied her troops. They’d taken out far more than they’d lost, but she was pretty sure that they weren’t going to survive to the end of the fight.  They sprinted away from the mob of enemies, and it was at that point, when most of the allied forced arrayed against Laurilli’s troops were busy trying to finish off Laurilli, that the third part of her plan was put into motion.  Enan, Anan, and Sapag were to split the remaining forces in thirds and rush out to battle the now only slightly superior-numbered troops.

They caught the enemy completely by surprise and the first few moments were all in the blue team’s favor. In confusion those chasing Laurilli and her remaining half-squad turned around to go back and help their teammates.  She saw an opening caused by the confusion of a battlefield.  Laurilli turned her men around and crashed into the backs of those who had been pursuing them.  They flowed over the now out-of-the-battle recruits and like a quick knife to the kidneys speared into the enemy from behind. The red and brown groups were so intermingled that Laurilli was sure that they considered themselves one united group.  As they fought in deeper and deeper Laurilli saw first one, then quickly four of her remaining troops fall. 

The wind started to pick up and almost in tempo with it, Laurilli battled into the sea of brown and red, and tried to kill everyone before they could get to her men and women.  She saw that she had eight, then four, of her troops left, until there was just herself and Trysha, who was better as an archer than a fighter. Soon she too was down.  Then a circle formed around Laurilli as Baloce and Liam walked forward. Her men who had just been killed looked at Laurilli. Some were fighting real injuries, some were being lifted over shoulders unconscious, but all who could looked at Laurilli and willed her the strength to fight on and win.

Liam and Baloce grinned at Laurilli, “Where are your troops now?”

She rotated her shoulder and said, “They’re around here somewhere.”

Baloce spat, “How mighty are you without your men to protect you?” 

Liam curled his lip into a sneer, “This day will be the day you lose.”

She grinned at them in a way she knew would provoke them and said, “If this is to be the day I lose, it will not be to the likes of you two. Come at me separate or together I will beat you both.”

With a wordless battle cry they rushed forward, unable to contain the fury that had been building in them every time they lost, every time Laurilli was praised, every time their own troops looked to her troops with envy.  They worked in unison, as if they’d practiced for this very moment, their rage adding strength to their swings.  Even letting the blades slide off of her own blade, after so long fighting her hands were starting to hurt, and her arms had been growing heavier for the past several minutes.  Still she blocked and parried all their attacks away from her body.  Panting from exertion Laurilli leapt forward and focused solely on Baloce, then, when she saw an opening, she dropped her sword, grabbed Baloce’s hilt, spun around Baloce’s outstretched arms, and pushed his sword forward, then wrenched it away from his grasp. 

With a smile, Laurilli tapped him on the head.  She faced Liam with an unfamiliar sword. She had practiced with different type of swords against her shadow, but somehow only the rapier now felt right.  Now, after all the physical training she’d gone through, her muscles were much better developed, and it felt natural.  She remembered all the balanced sword stances as she ran at Liam and in a quick, almost too-fast-to-see blur, Liam was holding his wrist with Laurilli’s sword resting against his neck.  After they saw both of their leaders go down so quickly the rest of the brown, and red troops rushed forward.  Stepping--nearly constantly Stepping--Laurilli cut a swath through them, until she was simply by herself once again encircled by the enemy, only this time with no one willing to face her blade.  Someone rushed at her back. Sensing him with the dragon’s help she spun past it, parrying it out of the way with her sword down, and after she completed her spin finished the man with her upward slash. 

She quickly Stepped twice and two more were dead.  The remaining red and brown soldiers collectively took a step back from her.  Laurilli could feel her body becoming stronger and her fatigue fading away. 
Are you pumping my body with spirit?

No, you’re doing something with air and water.

You don’t know what I’m doing?

I’m not a mage, I just bend one element to my will at a time.
 
The wind picked up and started howling around them. Into the gale she sprinted at the other recruits, and so intimidated were they that they actually ran from her.  Laurilli laughed as she chased them down individually or grouped together.  She was chasing after a group of six mixed brown and red troops when they were hit from the side by a group of nearly two hundred blue troops.  Anan was leading this group and when he saw Laurilli he saluted and yelled over the sound of the wind, “Once the wind picked up we saw that a whole group of them--nearly three hundred--were breaking and running. That caused the rest to run, and it’s now a complete rout.

Laurilli shouted over the wind, “We may have won, but I’m the only one left of my two hundred fifty. In a real fight that would be too many of our friends slain.”

Anan nodded, then grinned, “That’s true. I guess next time we’ll just let only you out then.”

Laurilli allowed herself a small grin to let Anan know she caught the joke.  Surveying the field, she said, “We should finish this before they regroup and we have a fight on our hands again.”  They jogged into the closest group of enemies.  Gradually they were finding more pockets of blue troops than brown or red, until the brown and red disappeared altogether.

Three was walking among the troops congratulating the victors and sympathizing with those who had been killed.  When he reached Laurilli he shook his head and said, “Who would have thought that the only crippled one here would be the highest rank.  We had originally thought to make the ranks attained here, simply for show. Those who rose higher would be given more responsibilities if the militia was ever called upon to fight.  However, after he saw you marshal your troops and how you handled the tactics of a fight against twice as many men as you had we are convinced--or those of us who matter--to make the positions permanent.  I’ll be announcing this at graduation, but congratulations are in order, Major Laurilli.”

Laurilli said, “I thought this was just training.”

Three said, “It is, but when you train you will be forced to take on the role more and more.” 

She thought of the implications of keeping their ranks, and how would she be able to keep her troops training. She asked, “Does that mean that the trainees will be part of the a militia?”

Three shrugged and said, “Maybe as a substitute only, but maybe.”

Laurilli asked, “Do you feel that we will be needed in the upcoming fight?”

Three said, “I wouldn’t have trained you if I didn’t.”

Just then his golden trident tattoo seemed to glow in the afternoon light, and she asked, “How soon?”

Three said, “Who knows when the invaders will return, but I would expect only a few weeks of downtime.  I think the main reason for this break is just so that the recruits don’t riot that they can’t participate in two week at the tournament. Then I’d guess back to training for another month.”

Laurilli hadn’t even thought about the tournament.  She had no desire to take part in it without Uktesh. She shook her head, “Why the rush?”

Three growled at her, “Girl, if we didn’t need you we wouldn’t have trained you.”

Laurilli asked, “In your honest opinion, do you think we have a shot of winning?”

Three said, “Hells, girl we have more than a shot!”

Laurilli said, “I meant do you think that we, the recruits, have a shot at helping, more than being fodder for the archers.”

Three said, “When you arrived for training I would have said no, but now I think there’s a core group of a squad or so that would make fine soldiers, and outside of those probably nine or ten who would excel.  Well, I should keep on moving, but that was a very impressive battle you won.  Once again, congratulations Major.”

An arm slammed down around her shoulder, “Ah knew dat you would be de firs’ one ta be a Major.  Jus’ as ah knew dat sticking wit you would be betta den figh’n against ya.”  Enan steered her toward the rest of her officers, the majority of whom she’d just beaten
.  This will be an interesting job
.

1. An Ultimate Rumble in the Life of
   

Five months and a day apart from Laurilli

“… The slayer of Tulxa, the master of movement, we present to you: Uktesh the unarmed!”  Uktesh walked onto the sand for the fourteenth time since his first fight.  Across from him were three people worth one, “kill,” each.  It wasn’t their fault that they were wastes of Uktesh’s time; it was simply that no one was willing to fight him anymore. 
Hell, this fight wouldn’t have happened if I were allowed to be armed.
  After his spectacular first fight the Storm ludis had been flooded with requests from other Domini to have the champion of their ludis fight Uktesh.  His second fight had added seven, “kills,” to his total.  The next was worth seven.  The eleven after those had been worth six, seven, six, five, five, five, four, three, one, two, and two. 

That brought him to his current fight against the three first time gladiators who cowered before him. 
If I win I’ll have seventy-two, “kills.”  Really it’s more like when I win. 
They circled him and he let them.  Uktesh hadn’t been allowed to begin a fight with a weapon since his sixth fight, and after his tenth fight, they’d stopped leaving a weapon somewhere in the sand for him.  Without a weapon he didn’t want to be cocky and get injured foolishly.  He Stepped to his left and used a true form palm strike to kill the first gladiator.  The remaining two sprinted at his unprotected back.  He waited for them to close in, before he Stepped between them and lashed out with two spirit-enhanced true form Palm Strikes, one with each hand, that dented both helmets in and caused blood to freely flow.  He turned to the Storm lord and saluted to the roar of the crowd, which had started to love him.  He saw that sitting next to the Storm lord was Astiau, who was whispering in his father’s ear and glaring at Uktesh.

He walked out of the sandpit before the second body had been dragged away.  Destus punched his shoulder and said, “Good attacks, honored champion.”  Uktesh was glad that Destus had survived as long as he had, because their agreement still held true and Destus made sure that while he fought no one touched Talia.  Uktesh felt Talia slide next to him and put her arm around his waist.  He slid his arm around her shoulders and with the other surviving Storm ludis gladiators headed back to the Storm ludis with their dozens of guards.

Uktesh and the rest of the gladiators went to the kitchens and ate their fill.  The only day they were fed what the Storm lord and his family ate was on the day of their victory in the coliseum.  There was a fire and a spit of some animal roasting over it. As the champion Uktesh got first pick, so he grabbed a leg and ripped it off the creature.  As they were eating, dozens of guards filed in and Astiau walked in after them.  He wore a red cloak that billowed out behind him.  He stood before Uktesh and those eating at the same table and said, “Move.”  Everyone stood to move, but Astiau grabbled Uktesh and said, “No, you.”

Uktesh sat back down and continued to eat.  He watched the nobilis and noticed that on his left shoulder he wore a pin of a mounted dinosaur and said, “Congratulations on your promotion, Equestrian.”

Astiau’s face turned red and he shouted, “I neither need nor want your congratulations!  Thanks to you it took months longer than it should have!”  Uktesh didn’t respond except to take another bite of the leg of meat he held.  Astiau tried to slap the food away from Uktesh, but Uktesh moved his hand, causing Astiau said, “Slave, drop the food onto the sand.”

Uktesh did so.  Astiau stood and used his food to roll the meat around in the sand.  He grinned wickedly at Uktesh and said, “Now pick it up.”  Uktesh did so and Astiau said, “Aren’t you hungry?  Go ahead and eat it.”

Uktesh said, “This sand is disgusting, I will simply get another one later if I find myself hungry.”

Astiau said, “I order you to eat that piece of meat!”

Uktesh blinked and said, “My father once told me that a true leader knows to never give an order he knows won’t be followed.”

Astiau glared at Uktesh and said, “I still haven’t.”  Uktesh stood and Astiau quickly stood too.  Uktesh headed toward the exit and Astiau said, “I didn’t give you permission to leave!  Guards!”