Tested (The Life of Uktesh Book 1) (28 page)

Aftermath

The first thing he noticed was a weight on his chest. He tried to open his eyes and it felt like he needed to lift the weight of the world.  After he succeeded in what felt like a titanic struggle, he squinted against the sudden light and saw the weight on his chest was Laurilli.  He could see that her shoulder was bandaged and he tried to raise his hands to her hair, but he couldn’t move his right arm, not even slightly.  He tried his left arm and found that it too wouldn’t move.
I’m paralyzed!
  He struggled to control his breathing.
I knew it wasn’t smart to attack three times in perfect in a row. But to add a fourth perfect, while attacking in perfect, I guess I’m lucky to be alive. But if I’d known this was the price, I would’ve,
he tried to think of what else he could’ve done differently,
I should’ve killed Riu when I had the chance.

Laurilli stirred on his chest and when she saw him awake, she started to cry and hug him, “I didn’t think you’d wake up again!  Uktesh you’ve been out for weeks!  We didn’t leave Baenok for two weeks, hoping that you’d wake up. But Mother Ayah, the healer of Baenok, said that if you lived after two days, you would most likely survive.  After two weeks, though, Tylor, Larut, and Repus had to get back here, Esolc left after we waited two days, to inform Myrtin’s family of his death.  We had to hire guards to get us back safely due to all the gold we’d won.  Mom was nervous about living here with all that money, but Basam came back with us and has been helping out around the house making defenses and reinforcing the doors and windows.  You were supposed to fight the grand champions of the other countries, but because of your injuries, you had to forfeit, even though it hasn’t happened yet.”  She said it in such a rush that Uktesh was barely able to catch all the information as she gave it. 

“Sounds busy.” Uktesh croaked out.

“I’ll get you some water and let mom and Basam know you’re ok.” 

She ran out of the room and soon she was back with Basam and Heathyr, “Basam never doubted you would survive.” he said smugly.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better.” said Heathyr as she leaned forward and kissed his forehead.  Uktesh blushed as she held out the glass to him. 

“I can’t,” he started, but Heathyr nodded and helped him drink the water.

“This is much easier with you awake. You must be as weak as a day old kitten.”

“Worse! I can’t move my arms, and I only get a wiggle out my legs and feet.”

“Oh no!” cried Laurilli. She jerked the covers off him and he could see for the first time how thin he’d become. “It’s just because we wrapped you in the blanket to stop you from rolling off the bed.” Uktesh could guess the reason behind the fear he saw in her eyes.

Uktesh wiggled his legs and found that he could move them better. But when he tried to move his arms, he only got a wiggle once. He wasn’t sure if it was his ability to move himself or if the bed shifted under him.  “Sorry. I don’t think I can, but I’ll keep trying.” He tried to sit up, but his body screamed at him to stop, so he lay back down.  “I’m taking up your bed again, Laurilli, I’m sorry.”

“Think nothing of it. We’ve moved your belongings in here and, when you’re feeling better, Laurilli can join you. For now, though, it’s safer to have her sleep with me. You never know when an elbow attack will strike.”

“I’m feeling better already. There’s no reason to wait! Laurilli come join me.” he said enthusiastically. 

“You bet I will.” she said and lay next to him and hugged him tightly. 

“Speaking of bets, what happened with the bets anyway?”

“Oh that was some smart planning by Tylor. Once he saw the order, he could easily guess who would forfeit and who would win. The only gamble was your fight with Riu.” said Laurilli.

“I don’t remember how that ended.”
Li’s still alive and isn’t acting like anyone did anything to her, but she is a good liar.

“Well, we don’t know either, not really. We saw you raise your hands in victory, and then Tylor and Larut jumped out of the stands, jumping for joy. Then Riu’s hand blurred, and I felt scared like something bad was going to happen. But then you were right there in between me and him, and three of those knives that he had thrown bounced on the sand.  It’s was a good thing One was there, because he said that Riu threw them at me, but I don’t know for sure.” she paused her story and waited for him.

“He did, and I had to move into a perfect stance, without moving from balanced to imperfect first, to be able to block them in time.”

“Wow, so that’s why you’re so hurt?”

Uktesh was shocked to realize that that wasn’t the reason. He never heard of someone going from nothing to perfect so quickly and then being able to attack again.  “Actually no. After that, I attacked Riu with a second perfect Rising Knee. But he blocked that, and I hurt my legs doing that, so I only had one attack left to end it. So I attacked a third time in perfect Woodsman’s Work, but I saw that he would block that too. So I attacked a fourth time in Woodsman’s Work. While still attacking in Woodsman’s Work, I doubled my strength and speed, but I don’t know what happened after that.”

“After that, he died. You cut through his gauntlets and most of his body.  His apprentice wasn’t very happy with you and threatened to kill you. But he said that in front of One and Lord Youreth, who quickly had the guards arrest him.  They weren’t going let him out until we’d been gone from the city for four days, and he wasn’t going to try something in front of a fighter like One.  We don’t have to worry too much about him, because he probably has to report to his masters about what happened to Riu.  Speaking of One, he said that if you wanted to keep the zero it wouldn’t be too hard to convince the others to let you join the Numbers.” said Heathyr.

“It’s a third eye!” he huffed.

“Sure it is.  Why did Riu want to hurt us?” asked Laurilli.

“I asked him that very question and do you know what he said?” Uktesh asked rhetorically.  “He said pretty much that he was jealous that I was getting more attention than he was and making the dragons look weak.”

“That’s it?  That’s pretty petty.” said Li.

“That’s what I said to him.”

“But he still attacked Laurilli?” asked Heathyr.

“Yep. Basam, how are you enjoying living here?” he asked to change the subject.

“Basam enjoys living here. It is peaceful.  Basam has enjoyed sparing with Laurilli. Basam is much better, but can see what you saw in her when you decided to teach her.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to train you anytime soon Basam, and I would understand if you wanted to go home and come back in a year to see if I’m better able to train you.”

“Basam had a similar thought, but believes that even injured you will be a better teacher than Basam on his own.”

“I thank you for your trust and hope I can teach you lots.” He yawned heavily and Heathyr left with Basam.

Laurilli lingered only to say, “Sleep well and heal, my fiancé.”

Uktesh smiled as he drifted off to sleep. He woke up the next morning with a full bladder and no way to get up to relieve himself, so he waited for someone to wake up so he could get some help.  After a few more minutes, he slowly sat up and tried not to hurt himself.  Once up, he could barely move his legs enough to move them over the bed, so he knew that it was out of the question to stand up on them.  Heathyr walked in while he still hadn’t decide what to do, and asked, “Do you need to relieve your bladder or your bowels?”

I hadn’t thought of that. What do I do when I have to poop?
  “Just bladder right now. Did you have to take care of me that way after the saber rabbit attack?”

“Yes. Laurilli wanted to, but there are some things that can sour the love between two people, and that I’m sure is one of them.  Plus, I think she just wanted to get ‘even’ with you for the morning of the final day.”  Uktesh felt his cheeks warm and thought back to that moment in his life. He came back to reality when Heathyr lifted him off the bed and started to carry him toward the outhouse.  “Can you move your arms yet?”

He tried to move his arms and was rewarded with slight movement. “Yes, it’s getting better, but my fingers don’t close yet.”

“Then I’m going to have to help you further, if you understand what I’m saying.”

At first Uktesh didn’t, but once they left the house, he realized he wouldn’t be able to relieve his bladder without help. “Oh um, I guess you’ve been helping me out this way for a while. So I guess I shouldn’t be embarrassed, but my emotions don’t agree with my head.”

“We’ll muddle through and soon you’ll be able to walk again on your own.”

Uktesh sighed, “Well at least we’re millionaires.” 

She opened the door to the outhouse and started to help him, “About that, we aren’t the millionaires you are probably expecting us to be.”

“What?  But we won so many times.”

“Yes, so did everyone else who still had money to bet on that final day.  The betting house usually makes a fortune because there are more matches that are closer and less where the odds were flipped.  So, they paid out everything that they had, but that was only about fifty percent of what was promised. We decided that Myrtin’s family should get the bulk, so we gave them twenty-five million of it. Then Tylor took another thirty-five million to build a walled community for us to live in, because none of us realized how uncomfortable we would feel with all this money, until after we had it. Seriously, I feel like we have targets on our backs.” 

Uktesh couldn’t pee with her there, since she not only held him up, but also ensured his pants didn’t fall to the ground. So he tried to distract himself, “Sorry I’m trying to go, but I have a shy bladder I guess.”

“Don’t apologize. Thulmann couldn’t relieve himself with me in the same area talking to him for the first year we were married.”

“Oh, then I guess I don’t feel too bad. Hmm, though I did miss my birthday.”

“What?  How?  When was it? I should’ve asked months ago, but I forgot to.”

“Oh, it was four days after the tournament, but that was weeks ago now.” With a sigh of relief he started going. 

Heathyr didn’t say anything until he was done. Then once had finished and Heathyr carried him back into the house she said, “Well we’ll take care of that soon enough.  But with sixty million of the seventy five million that we won gone, we split the rest seven ways, which is slightly more than two million apiece.”

“That’s still more money then we’ll ever be able to spend.”

“I know, but when you’re feeling better, the four of us are going to try our best to make a dent in it by taking a vacation to the Isle de Tramonto.  We’ll see how pampered we can become.  We’re probably going to spend a few months there, so we’ll have a late birthday party for you then, when you’re feeling better.”  She stopped in the kitchen, “What do you think breakfast or bed?”

“Food, I definitely need food first.  Also I totally agree with you and Tylor about needing protection.”  Heathyr sat him at the table and he slumped forward. “So we should probably go now and spend some of the money before I’m better. And before others clue into how much money we made.  With Myrtin’s family coming into wealth, and Tylor building whatever he’s going to build, it’ll quickly become obvious.  Also it’ll give us something to do while I heal, other than wait for me to heal.”

“Good. That’s what we thought too.” said Laurilli as she walked out of her room, “We just wanted to give you space or time if you needed it.”  She kissed him and helped Heathyr painfully settle him in a chair. But he couldn’t balance himself, so Laurilli at next to him and made sure he didn’t fall over while Heathyr made breakfast.  “What did I hear about a birthday?”

“We missed Uktesh’s birthday. It was while he was unconscious,”

“We’ll have to make up for that soon.” Basam came down the ladder from Uktesh’s old room and helped set the table.  Uktesh couldn’t believe how good Laurilli smelled and felt.  Being allowed to lean on her was something he wasn’t going to get used to, and from the way her hand rubbed his arm and hand, he could guess that she didn’t mind it one bit either.

“Basam is glad to hear that we will be leaving. Basam has been getting strange looks from the villagers. Basam believes our jig is up and people are beginning to learn that you have money.  Basam also regrets that Basam didn’t know of your day of birth.” 

“Sorry about the looks Basam.  Again if you want to leave you are free to. And don’t worry about missing my birthday, I did too.”

“Hello in the house!”  someone shouted from outside, and Uktesh quickly realized that it was Larut.

“Come on in Larut!” shouted Li.

“I heard through the grapevine that someone was awake!” he shouted as he stepped into the kitchen.

“I live, if only barely.  I’ve been caught up on some things, the prize money, the walled compound, and the vacation plans, but not what’s going on with you.  My guess is no magical belt needed.” he said with a smile.

“Well, I guess I never had a magical belt, but it’s true I’m suddenly more popular with the ladies.  Truth be told, though, I’ve been too busy for the ladies. I’ve been helping Tylor out and it’s coming along great. We bought the land, hired the help, and the north wall is almost built already. We’ve planned out the grounds. Heathyr your home is going to be built first, so that you can move from here as quickly as possible, because you’re the only person who’s truly isolated.  Myrtin’s family will be moving in next. Also they decided to only keep two million gold and will be giving the rest to the compound being built.  Repus and Esolc will be living there too. But with us being single, we’ll be moving in last.”

“Wow you guys sound like you’ve planned this out really well, and quickly too. I’m impressed.  Do you need my help for anything?”  Uktesh asked.

“Hell yes! We’re lost without a boy unable to move on his own!” but it was said with a smile, “Well, not yet at least.  We’ll want your opinion when we start with the fortifications, but that won’t be for a while. Once you’re better, though, you’ll have to make up for lost manual labor.  I just came to see for my own eyes that you survived that fight.”

“I guess it was a close thing, but here I am.  On a more fun note, we’ve decided to go to the Isle De Tramonto to speed my recovery, or maybe just to relax while I do.”

“That’s a great idea. I’d join you, but Tylor has me playing the role of errand boy, so I can’t. But maybe Esolc or Repus will be able to join you.  When are you leaving?”

Heathyr and Laurilli looked at each other then Basam and then Uktesh and Heathyr said, “Today if possible.”

“Then I’d better hurry and find them. I’ll leave you to your packing, and hopefully when you get back, you’ll be able to move into a safer home.”  He quickly left and the four of them decided that after Uktesh ate some meat, they would start packing for the trip.  Laurilli cut up some of last night’s meal, while Heathyr heated some broth, and they decided to have a quick breakfast.  As Basam joined them at the table, Laurilli fed Uktesh some of the meat she had cut for him.  He chewed mechanically surprised that even his jaw muscles were sore.  “Sorry to make you do this.” Uktesh said to Laurilli between bites.

“I don’t mind. I kind of like being able to take care of you for once.” she gave her mom a flat stare.

“I, for one, am glad that you didn’t take care of me, in that way.  I’m not sure if embarrassment is something you can truly die from, but I know that it would’ve been a close thing.”

She put a larger amount of food on her fork, and said, “Here. Eat this and hush up, while I still enjoy feeding you.”  She sighed and asked rhetorically, “Do you remember the peaceful days when he was unconscious?”

“Basam thinks you just want to get even with him for what he saw on the morning of the final day.” Basam replied.

This made Uktesh remember the heavenly vision he was given the morning of the final day. “Look at his face!” Laurilli exclaimed.  “He has that memory to think back on, but I don’t. It isn’t fair.”

“I tell you what, when I’m feeling better,” started Uktesh.

“You better not finish that sentence in earshot of me,” said Heathyr, “or you’ll find yourself not getting better.”

“I was just going to say that when I’m feeling better we can respect a mother’s wishes for her daughter’s innocence.”

“You better remember that.”

“So, it’s still not fair to me.” Heathyr placed the food in front of everyone else and Uktesh found a second helping in front of himself and realized that he’d already finished with Laurilli’s help.

“Laurilli, I want to whisper something to you, but I can’t move myself. So please put your ear near my mouth.” Uktesh said.

Laurilli moved her head closer and, while he ignored how much closer she was to him and how good she smelled, he whispered, “You know that your mother can’t possibly keep an eye on both of us once we’re at the Isle to Tramonto. So let’s play it cool until then.”

She sat back and said, “You’re right, Uktesh, we can’t do those things in the same house as her anyways. So we’ll have to wait until we’re alone at the resort before we enjoy ourselves.”

Uktesh blushed and felt his jaw drop. He obediently ate the bite that Laurilli offered him and carefully didn’t look at Heathyr.  Once an eternity seemed to pass and he swallowed, he said, “Li, a question if you may?”

“Please proceed.” she said sweetly.

“What demon possesses your mind?”

“One of payback. If you have that memory, I’ll have this one.”

“You know this means we’ll both be grounded while at the resort, right?”

“Nope, because my mother’s smart enough to know to trust us. Cause unless she wants to,” she glanced at Uktesh and fed him a large bite, “stop the Laurilli and Uktesh-”

“Ukmesh nd Orili,” Uktesh tried to say with his mouth full.

“Heroes for hire job,” she grinned and continued, “then she’ll know that she can’t be with us every second of the day.”

“I think that she’s wise enough to know when she’s being manipulated.” Heathyr said dryly.

After they had all eaten, Laurilli helped him to her room,
our room I guess,
and he lay down, while the three able people moved with purpose around the house and collected the things that they would need for the journey as well as their stay. Laurilli stopped by their room often just to smile at him quickly, and move on.
I can’t believe I’m engaged!
  Then he realized that he had something to do. Painfully, he sat up and swung his legs over the bed. He felt much stronger with the breakfast food in his stomach and slowly stood up. His hands were still pretty useless, but with the combined strength of his legs and arms he pushed himself out of the room and towards the kitchen, sweat had already formed on his head.

“What are you doing?” asked Heathyr.

He didn’t look at her, just walked slowly on, “I have something that I must do, a promise to keep.”

“You can keep the promise later. You should be resting. You were barely able to sit and eat with us.