by Aaron Hicks
She sighed to herself, and answered the question Laurilli’s raised eyebrow indicated, “No, not you, or your speed, but that boy! He’s already learned to Shadow Walk! I thought I was fast to learn it after thirty years and he’s zipping around the island like it’s as easy as breathing. Even today I doubt I could Shadow Walk as often or as far as he does.”
Laruilli nodded, unsure if she should respond. Instead she said, “Thank you for today’s lesson.” Ryth smiled and nodded back, before Laurilli hurried to find her father.
Thulmann was sparring with one of the people she’d beaten and he was having a hard time against him. At first Laurilli was surprised, but then she realized that unarmed she might have a chance at beating him. Thulmann was flipped over his opponent’s shoulder and the fight ended. Laurilli tried to smother the glee she felt at his loss and realized, sadly, that her father was hurting their relationship because of his insistence that Uktesh would turn evil.
At the thought of Uktesh she felt her panic rise up again and took a few deep breaths to calm herself.
Thulmann picked himself up, saw Laurilli watching, and asked, “Is it time for lunch?”
She smiled, nodded, put her hands on her hips, and scolded, “You can play with your friends after lunch, but you need to eat something young man.”
Thulmann sigh and said to the air, “Children these days, soon she’ll be asking if I’ve eaten all my vegetables.” His sparring partner smiled at him and Laurilli knew her father had made another instantaneous friend, like only he was able to do.
He walked to her, and she showed him the normal entrance and exit from the dragon’s lair. They walked up to the main path and Thulmann said, “So you beat the guy who just beat me? And you beat him months ago?”
Laurilli nodded and said, “Today was really frustrating, three fights and three losses! I’m really much better than that.”
Thulmann said, “From what I understand you were trying to do things you weren’t ready for. There’s no shame in failure, there’s only shame if you weren’t able to progress. From what I understand, six month ago at the tournament you couldn’t beat or even dream of beating either Repus, Esolc, Larut, or Tylor. But now you’ve beaten three of them, and were upset you didn’t beat the fourth. That’s definite progress. Plus you’ve been splitting your concentration on so many different things, a play, Uktesh’s style of fighting, the dragon’s style, your dances, your wedding, and I’m sure I’m missing a few more things. You’ve done a remarkable job progressing to the stage where you are.”
They turned onto the main path and headed down to the dining area. She said, “I just wish I’d done better. It didn’t reflect well on my husband who’s been training me for a year.”
Thulmann said, “I’m sure he’d be proud to call you his wife if you never were able to learn the balanced forms.”
Laurilli wasn’t so sure, but figured she’d never have to find out. They walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence. She got her food, set it at the table, and got herself two cups of berry drink. She had put both on the table when Uktesh walked in.
XI. An Awakening in the Life of
Two weeks and six days.
Uktesh felt the wind whip at his face as he fell from the cliff. He hit the water in a dive that stung his skin. He shouted into the water as pain wracked his throat. He surfaced for air and gulped deep breaths. As wave after wave of pain coursed through his body, centering on his throat, he tried to float and meditate away the pain. He felt fish swimming around him as he entered a meditative trance on the surface of the water. He didn’t know how long he floated, but his meditation ended when he swallowed and felt his throat clench in pain as if he were sick. He swallowed a few more times to wet his dry throat and tried to orient himself to where he was. He did that he saw was swimming with fish of all types, and he saw dozens of sharks in the water around him.
Don’t panic, they’ve been there for an hour. They are just curious about you.
Uktesh took some comfort in that, but worried about what they would do when he began to swim back to shore. He turned and saw that the island was several hundred, maybe even a few thousand yards away from him. He was incredibly thirsty so he started to swim toward the island.
Do you know what Affliction I have?
No, but that was quite the experience. No wonder most Afflicted people go insane after that. If you didn’t know how to meditate and if I wasn’t here to help you, you might have lost your mind too.
How will we stop it from happening to Laurilli?
She’ll just have to learn to go deeper into her meditation to protect her mind. You’ll have to stress that to her. If her change is anything like yours she will need to practice constantly if she is to have any hope of remaining sane.
Why do you think all these fish and sharks are still following me?
You’re probably some kind of Beast Tamer. It’s bothering me that I’ve never met one of your Affliction before. I don’t like not knowing something.
The two strangers at the bar said I was a Doom Speaker.
Different places have different names for different Afflictions. I believe a Doom Speaker is like what I think of as a Siren.
Have you ever heard of someone having two different types of voice powers before?
No I haven’t, but there’s always a first time for everything. It may be because you have so much of the Light Ones in your blood that you smelled like a pureblood, though that can’t be true.
Who are these Light Ones? You’ve mentioned them before.
They are, or were, beings of light that tried and failed to kill my kind into extinction. They had physical bodies, of course, but their greatest ability was their power over six of the seven elements. Fire, water, earth, air, and spirit you know, but there is also light and darkness. Like fire and water, earth and air, light and darkness are opposite powers. They have the ability to counteract each other. Where a light wielder could use light to illuminate a cave, a darkness user could use darkness to darken a bright day or completely block out the light in an area. My kind are darkness users, where as your kind used light.
That’s it though. I’d have a lamp anywhere I went?
No, their light powers also had other uses. They could heal with them, or make people see something that wasn’t there. Darkness being opposite could poison, or make people not see what was in front of them.
I remember one time I used darkness to cause some knights, who were coming to kill me, to ride off a cliff they couldn’t see. The dragon chuckled to himself at his memory.
Uktesh continued to swim toward the island and thought about what it could mean to be both a Siren and a Beast Tamer and figured that he’d just have to find out. He continued to swim with steady strokes and thought about how worried Laurilli must be. He knew she would put on a good show, and that she’d try to lose herself in some activity, but that she’d be near panicking. He tried to use his water powers to make a current that pushed him toward the island, but it didn’t feel like he’d succeeded. I’ll need to work more on that, and continued swimming. When you leave me, will I still be able to use these powers?
You should be able to. The grand masters can, and I just unlocked it for them like I did for you. Besides, you assume I’m going to leave, but maybe I’ll just stay with you until you die.
You know you’d get bored eventually. Maybe you’ll just move onto someone else, or maybe I’ll kick you out.
Ungrateful brat. Literally minutes after I save your mind you’re thinking about getting rid of me. Uktesh smiled at the dragon’s feigned outrage. It’s not feigned! I’m angry you think my help is so burdensome.
If it wasn’t feigned anger, why didn’t you make me hit myself?
Uktesh could feel the dragons’ shock at his question, I just didn’t think of it.
Fine, you’re very angry with me, and I’m equally sorry for telling you that sooner or later one of us is going to get tired of the other. Though it seems pretty obvio
us to me. Uktesh could feel the dragon sulking.
I’m not sulking!
You’re just thinking that humans aren’t worth the trouble since their lives are so short anyway?
I’m not thinking to you any more if you’re just going to turn everything I think around on me.
Don’t be mad, I’m just saying that probably before I die we’ll want to go our separate ways. I wasn’t thinking it’d be anytime soon, just that it was an eventuality.
No, you’re right. It’s just that we’ve had fun times together, and it’s so much better than being in the lava for months, sometimes years, at a time before anyone comes to speak with me.
I get that. These last few months must’ve been incredibly active to you.
Yeah. There were fights, a wedding, lots of lovely ladies, and there’s only going to be more as we continue together!
Well, you could try being with us as your real self.
No, people are always shouting, “Ahh! A dragon,” moments before they run away screaming.
I get that too. It would take time, but I think you could do it.
Plus if I’m in my own body and not near the ocean how would I eat enough to survive? I can live on an adult leviathan for a few weeks, but do you have any land animals that get that big? Uktesh shook his head as he continued swimming. So you’d either have to move closer to the water or it wouldn’t work.
I hadn’t thought about that. Well we don’t have to worry about that for a while. We do need to worry about is my Affliction. How do I train it?
I would guess by controlling people and animals. Just don’t let it overwhelm you or change you.
Great. I don’t like the idea of making people do something they don’t want to.
You could make the Justicers do their job instead of extorting people.
Uktesh liked that idea and thought, they also don’t seem like they’re the most strong-willed people on the island. He saw people on the beach as he continued to swim toward the island.
You might as well practice on the fish and sharks around you. You don’t want to bring dozens of sharks into the shallows around the island.
Uktesh took a deep breath, stuck he head under the water and said, “Go home.” When nothing changed he tried to access his power and tried again, “Go home.” This time a pulse seemed to flow out of him, and the fish seemed to lose interest all at once. He pulled his head out of the water gasping. That takes more energy than I thought it would.
You did well. Now that you know how to access your powers just keep practicing until using them is second nature.
Uktesh nodded and kept swimming until he made it to the shallows. He stood and trudged out of the water. He went to the dining area and found Laurilli and Thulmann at their table. Laurilli Rushed into his arms and he held her to him, content to just breathe in her smell. Uktesh couldn’t stay comfortable for too long though, when he saw Thulmann approaching with a knife. Uktesh said, “You won’t need that.”
Thulmann pulled Laurilli away from Uktesh warily and said, “I’ll be the judge of that.”
Uktesh pulled up a second table, started arranging chairs around it, and asked, “How?” Uktesh saw Thulmann’s confusion and clarified, “How are you going to be the judge of whether or not I’m safe to be around?”
Thulmann said, “I’ll just know.”
Uktesh finished setting up the chairs, pulled one out, sat in it and asked, “How long will ‘just knowing,’ take?”
Laurilli, however, had had enough. She used the balanced unarmed attack, Look to the Sky, to make her dad take a step away from her, then she used the balanced Colt Springs into the Air to disarm him. “Enough father. We discussed this. He’s clearly fine.”
Uktesh added, “If extremely thirsty.”
Laurilli nodded and handed him both of her cups, which he drank right away.
“Instead of pushing you aside or embarrassing you, he chose to let you have the time to be a fool on your own, while he waited in discomfort.” She held out her hand to Uktesh, who took it, and headed into the food area. Once away from her father she turned and held his face in her hands looking at him intently for any signs of madness.
Uktesh kissed the tip of her nose, “I’m me.” He sighed and said, “I’ll have to teach you how to survive your change too, but for now, know that I’m still me.”
She hugged him again, “I was so worried!”
He held her and said, “I know you were, that’s why I hurried back here as quickly as I could.”
She asked, “Do you know what you are?”
He shook his head and said, “No, but we think I’m a Siren and a Beast Tamer.”
She frowned, “The dragon doesn’t even know what you are? That can’t be good.”
Uktesh shrugged and said, “He’s never heard of someone who has more than one aspect of the power. He thinks it might be because I have Light Ones’ blood in me. What that means, I don’t know, but for now it basically means nothing, except that I might at some point be able to use light powers.”
She let him go and he got his food, then they both got two cups of berry juice and joined Thulmann at the table. Uktesh broke the silence by saying, “You’re right about one thing. Becoming Afflicted changes people. It breaks something in their minds, but I was able to avoid that. If you start training with the dragons you’ll find that they have a meditation technique that if you can master it provides protection for your mind when you change. I was able to do that, but you’re absolutely right that most people become damaged by the change. So you should be aware that there are four necrolans on this island. I’d like your help in dealing with them, but if they were able to protect their minds we can’t just go around killing people.”
Thulmann frowned and said, “Four, that’s too many for us to take out. Uktesh, you may be good, but they could have hundreds of dead under their control.”
Uktesh nodded and said, “We’re not going there to kill them, just to see if they need to be killed. We need to see if their minds were broken. They might know the meditation protection.” Uktesh realized he wasn’t getting through to Thulmann so he said, “Look, I tell you what, I’ll check them out and let you know what’s what.”
Laurilli said, “First you’re going to eat, then you’re going to help me with that thing we’d discussed before your Affliction activated.”
Uktesh smiled and said, “Yes, I can work that into my schedule.”
As they ate, Larut and Sara joined them. Once they got their food and sat down, Larut asked, “Uktesh are you feeling better?”
Uktesh nodded and said, “Nothing some rest couldn’t cure.”
Heathyr, Esolc, Repus, and Tylor all walked in together. Heathyr kissed Thulmann before she continued on to get her food.
Larut asked, “What did you do to that shark?”
Uktesh said, “I’m just figuring out how to use the Beletarian fighting style and some of the dragon techniques to make my attacks more spectacular, which that definitely was. I was thinking about practicing it in the lagoon later if no one’s around to watch. I don’t want to panic the locals again.”
Repus said, “That’s smart. Leilani didn’t do anything, or say anything, but when she found out the whole story she definitely wasn’t happy about it.”
Uktesh said, “It’s strange. I’ve been reading some books on Afflicted.” Laurilli’s glance told him she had caught his lie, but he couldn’t tell them that a real dragon was his source of knowledge. He continued, “And it seems like in the past they weren’t feared; they were looked up to. After they died out though, people must’ve changed their thinking about them, because now we pretty much have a, ‘they need to be destroyed at all costs,’ mindset.”
“My people have been training for the day the Voukidists return and if they do we’ll fight to the last man, woman, or child to kill them.”
Thulmann said, “That’s not really an effective strategy. They’ll use your dead to grow in power.”
Ukt
esh said, “Not ours. If we fight necrolans we take a pill that is not harmful and is excreted when we,” he looked at the people eating, “go to the bathroom. We discovered that when the necrolans bring the dead back, the dead don’t do that. So if we don’t excrete the pill it makes all our bones so brittle that in a few days our own weight would make us unable to move.”
Thulmann’s jaw hung open when he said, “That’s crazy! What if you don’t get the pill out of you?”
Uktesh said, “We die. Beletarians don’t take half measures. Which is why we’re so good at fighting. If we can’t win we’ll retreat, but if we can win, we’ll do that, every time even if it means sacrificing ourselves.”
Repus said, “Wow! That’s impressive commitment.”
Uktesh shrugged and said, “Maybe, but when you expect death and are trained to accept death as a part of life, it makes it hard to get close to or care about people. No, that’s not exactly right.” He thought about how his dad had died the night of the attack and said, “I care about people, I just find it hard to feel sad when they die. No, that’s not right either.” He sighed and shook his head.
Laurilli explained her understanding of what he was trying to say based on their earlier conversation, “You care, you’re sad when someone dies, but it doesn’t cause you to breakdown and fall to pieces when work needs to be done. Is that right?”
Uktesh nodded slowly and said, “Sorta, but I think there’s more to it. I never cried that I lost my father. I realize now that not crying over the death of a father is not normal, but it is what it is.”
Larut said, “But I saw you cry when Myrtin died.”
Uktesh said, “Yeah. I discussed that with Laurilli. I don’t know if I was crying because of sadness or if it was out of a sense of shame or embarrassment that my actions caused his death. That’s not to say I wasn’t sad!” He added quickly when he saw their expressions, “it’s just that things like that should make me weep justifiable tears don’t affect me that way.”