by Hicks, Aaron
Royn said, “We’re only two days away. You could probably Walk half the distance if you tried and try swimming the rest of the way. I heard you’d started working on elemental magic. Just push the current toward Jubay.”
Uktesh said, “I can’t, I don’t have the strength right now. I used everything I had to stop Astiau. I still feel empty. I haven’t recharged even a hundredth of the power I had when I fought Astiau.”
Royn said, “Wow, are you going to be able to recover? Or did you permanently burn away some of your ability?”
Uktesh felt his eyebrows raise and asked, “That’s possible?”
Royn said, “Yeah. That’s why only fifth flame dragons can learn it. It could kill you if you fuel your power with your life force.”
Uktesh felt his eyebrows climb higher and asked, “You can fuel magic with life force?”
Royn said, “Obviously I don’t know how, but that’s what I’ve heard.” Royn sighed loudly again, “I wonder how far away this, ‘Empire,’ is.”
Uktesh said, “Hopefully months away.”
Royn twisted his head quickly to look at Uktesh in shock, “Months? You want to be chained to a wall for months?”
Uktesh shook his head and said, “I doubt I’ll be chained for much longer, because where is there to run at sea? I’ll still be in a cage and Astiau knows how to track the use of Shadow Walk though he called it a Split Step. If he can track it I’m sure the Destroyer can. The more we have to travel the further they are from home and that means it’ll be harder for them to gather the needed supplies to attack us again. That will give our people enough time to ready ourselves for their return.”
Royn asked, “Do you think we can stop them?”
Uktesh shrugged and said, “If the grand masters had known about the attack they wouldn’t have wasted their power with the magical display the used as a sendoff for me. They would have attacked the ships much further out. They might not even have had to fight if they took out all the ships far from the shore. I know that we probably won’t see their like again in our time, but while we mainlanders may not be as skilled in fighting or magic, we have canons and I’m sure we’ll find a few of their crossbows to reverse engineer to have our own to use against them.”
Royn said, “Those crossbows! They fire four times before they need to be reloaded and they punch through walls!” Uktesh raised an eyebrow at Royn, who said, “Well they have a lot of speed.”
Uktesh nodded and didn’t argue about the walls comment because most of the dock side stores had straw walls to let in a breeze. Uktesh asked, “Do you know how many people they captured?”
Royn replied, “Thanks to you and the grand masters they didn’t have enough ships to carry very many prisoners along with their surviving soldiers. At night the soldiers sleep in those cages over there,” he nodded at the empty cages.
Uktesh had to smile at that thought. At least we stopped them from getting too many people, he thought to the dragon, before he remembered that the dragon was gone. Royn rolled back over and soon Uktesh heard him sobbing. Uktesh again felt that he was somehow emotionally broken, Esolc and Leilani both died, but he only felt anger at the thought. He knew that when he had a chance he was going to avenge their deaths, but guessed that that day was future.
Especially if Astiau and the Destroyer’s dad, the Storm lord, is more powerful than they are.
Royn finally fell asleep and left Uktesh to review his fight with Astiau. Uktesh shook his head and couldn’t imagine how his attack had been blocked. He had poured everything into that one attack, only to have it deflected or what seemed more likely, destroyed. Uktesh suddenly realized that when the dragon Walked away the dragon could have picked him up and then Walked both of them away. Why didn’t I think of that then? Why didn’t he think of it? Maybe he couldn’t, maybe he didn’t have enough strength to Walk both of us away. Uktesh assumed that it was because the dragon couldn’t, and not that they’d both overlooked such an easy solution, though the thought did leave him disconcerted.
After a few hours a man came, unlocked the cage, set a plate of food in the corner, and left after relocking the cage. Royn woke up, began to eat, and handed Uktesh half the bread. Uktesh found that the shackles had enough chain length that he could feed himself, if not easily. When Uktesh was finished Royn handed him a cup of water and Uktesh gratefully gulped it down. When he finished he tossed the cup to Royn with a flick of his wrist. He then leaned against the wall and wished for a chair of some sort to sit on. Uktesh thought about the shackles and wondered if he could unlock or break them with his powers.
Uktesh closed his eyes and tried to meditate on his right shackle as if it were a part of his body. First he pictured the lock, and then he imagined a key and tried to solidify the air inside the lock and twist. Although it failed, he could tell that he was using his power the way he wanted. Next, he tried to break the hinge, with the thought that if he did that he could try to force open the rest of the shackle. When that failed he tried to break the lock by filling it with air, solidifying it, and then expanding it, but it was like trying to bend steel by blowing on it. With a huff he gave up. If I had my sword a perfect attack would cut through the chains. Uktesh looked at the wooden wall the shackles were attached to and realized that he could punch through the wood, or at least damage it enough to pull the chain from the wall.
He lifted his hands, spun around and realized that the chains were now wrapped around each other and he could barely move. So much for that thought, he sighed and spun around the other way to untangle himself. He leaned against the wall and meditated on the chain and shackles to see if there was a weak point. He felt the whole length of his right shackle and chain, and when he didn’t find any weak points, he moved to his left shackle and chain. He was halfway through the chain when he heard someone enter their area. Three guards appeared, along with the man who’d brought them food. They unlock the cage and then entered it.
The key holder said, “I’m going to release you, now that we’re far enough away from land, but I don’t want any trouble. You may be a hot hand with a sword, but Lord Astiau already beat you once, an’ he’s itching for you to break out so he can do it again, maybe permanently.” The man cautiously moved to unlock Uktesh’s manacles and even though Uktesh man no movement the man jerked back several times before he got both shackles unlocked. The four men exited the cage and the key holder locked it up again, before all four made a hasty exit from the prison. Uktesh rotated his wrists and sat down with a sigh of relief.
When night fell a man entered the prison and Uktesh couldn’t help but try to get some information. The man was short with well-defined muscles and a full beard. Uktesh asked the man, “Hey, how many prisoners did you get?”
The man stepped into a cage, started moving straw around to make a bed, and said in a bored tone, “Shut up.”
Uktesh said, “It must’ve been a lot, but you probably couldn’t bring them all.”
The man sighed, lay down, and said, “Shut up.”
Uktesh said, “I’m Uktesh and this is Royn. What’s your name?”
The man started at the ceiling and said, “Shut up.”
Uktesh shrugged, wanted to sarcastically pretend he thought the guy’s name was “Shut Up,” but instead asked, “How’d you get the short straw and have to sleep down here? You’re pretty old to not have seniority. Are you bad at soldiering?”
The man glanced at Uktesh for the first time and deliberately said, “Shut up.”
More people came in and Uktesh said, “Thanks for the information. I didn’t know that.”
The man didn’t respond, but Uktesh could see by his face that he was confused. One of the newcomers a bald overweight tall man with a bronze lip ring said, “Cavavos, are you telling him things you shouldn’t?”
Cavavos said nothing and Uktesh took the opportunity to say, “He really hasn’t told us much, just how much longer it will be until we get to your homeland.”
The overweight man s
aid, “That’s it?”
Uktesh guessed, “Yup. Just another twenty some days unless the weather changes that.”
The man laughed and said, “That’s optimistic. It took us twice that long, but we did hit two different storms, so maybe.”
Uktesh nodded like he knew that and said, “Back home I’m pretty good at fighting, but all of you seem to be as good as I am. Lord Astiau was even better than I am, and it sounds like his brother is even better.”
The man puffed out his chest, which as puffed out his stomach, and said, “Yup. Lord Neftalix is a Dungeon master.”
Uktesh tried not to seem too eager when he said, “Yeah. Even in our small corner of the world we’ve heard of Neftalix and his mastery of a Dungeon,” he said, not sure if he was using the right wording. He decided it didn’t matter and continued, “We obviously have Dungeons where we come from, like you guys, but until we heard about him, we didn’t know they could be mastered.”
The man was going to say something when Cavavos said, “You realize he’s pumping you for information, right?”
The man’s jaw dropped and he said, “You tricked me?”
Uktesh shrugged and said, “You didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know or isn’t common knowledge, so don’t worry about it.”
The man looked doubtful, but nodded. One of the other men, who also had a bronze lip ring, slapped him on the back of his head, “Idiot, just don’t talk to them at all.”
The overweight man shot Uktesh an angry glance before he started making up a bed in the now extremely crowded space. Uktesh said, “One thing Cavavos didn’t tell me was why you guys drew the short straw and have to sleep down here with us.”
The overweight man said, “Short straw? We won. The rest have to freeze their asses off up on the deck. I would have stayed behind if I had been one of them.”
Cavavos said, “Shut up and go to bed.”
Uktesh felt like grinning as he waited a few minutes before asking, “I guess I’m going to become a gladiator. We don’t have those in the Five Kingdoms. Any advice?”
Uktesh was sure no one was going to answer, but surprisingly it was Cavavos who did, “If you win one hundred times you go free. To do this you will need to sacrifice friends. Once you step into the ring either you both fight and one lives or you both die. It truly doesn’t matter to the crowds. If you can make the crowds love you, you might be saved from death once, but never twice, and never ever enter the Ultimate Rumble.”
The fat man’s voice rose from out of the dark, “I’d listen to Cavavos. He’s one of only two people to ever be released from the games from the Storm ludis. You boy, will have the honor of fighting and dying for the greatest House in the Empire. House Storm!”
The men shouted, “Hoo!”
Someone shouted from outside the prison, “Stop gabbing like a buncha girls and get to sleep, ‘fore I decide some of these shivering people deserve your spot more.”
Uktesh didn’t ask any more questions that night; he had much to think about. As the days turned to weeks and the weeks to a month Uktesh learned as much as he could, whenever he could. That included when the crew was sick, there was a storm, or if someone got injured. He didn’t waste any opportunities. He still didn’t know what a Dungeon was, but he now knew that Houses would sponsor people who would fight in them to get magical items. The House kept thirty percent of what you earned and if you got a magical armor piece or weapon the Dungeon Diver would get the option to buy the thirty percent the House owned. Most chose to sell it to the House and live for the rest of their lives on the earnings. Uktesh just wished he knew what they fought that would result in receiving magical items.
It was on the thirty-fifth day that he heard someone shout, “Land ho!”
A New Land in the Life of
A month and a week apart from Laurilli
Lord Astiau deemed it acceptable that for the first time since he’d been captured Uktesh was to be allowed on the deck of the ship. Uktesh needed to blink back tears as his eyes adjusted to the stark blinding brightness of the rising sun. Once his vision cleared he saw details again he felt his jaw drop. The port town of Jubay had seemed impressive, if worn down, to him when he’d first visited. This port town was nothing like the declining town back in the Five Kingdoms.
The first thing he noticed were the ten or twelve giant ships that made even the one he was currently on seem small in comparison. Besides the twelve massive ships Uktesh noticed dozens of smaller ships that seemed to be about the size of the one carrying him.
The buildings in the town were quite different from the buildings in the Five Kingdoms. By the docks there were the type Uktesh had expected small wooden, or stone buildings that were square or rectangular in shape. Further away from the docks were three massive cylindrical buildings that seemed to reach toward the sky, and one equally massive triangular building beyond them. Each of the four massive buildings seemed to be at least four hundred feet tall. Uktesh could only guess how big around they were, but thought they were probably another four hundred feet in diameter.
What captured and held his attention most were the giant, creatures, monsters, what would I even call them? That were travelling through the town. As they traveled closer to the shore Uktesh began to be able to make out details. The creatures were scaly like lizards, or less armored dragons! Does this land have dragons? Uktesh could see two on the road by the dock from head to tail, and while one was bigger it wasn’t by much. Both had to be nearly sixty feet tall and twice that from tail to head. They each had long necks and long tails. Both were a graying brown color and had white snouts. Uktesh could see twelve of the other creatures’ heads rising above the buildings. All the creatures had white snouts, even though some were a darker brown and others were greenish. Uktesh could see people riding on top of the lizards in boxlike seats. Sometimes they were just plain wooden seats, but most of the time they were elaborate tarp-covered, windowed, wheel-less carriages. What are those?
Uktesh was startled by Lord Astiau’s answer. “Those are dinosaurs.” Uktesh hadn’t realized he’d spoken out loud.
Uktesh shook his head, “Why don’t they try to escape?”
Astiau laughed mockingly at Uktesh’s question, “They have learned their place, as you will as well. We raise them from birth to understand that disobedience is not tolerated.” Uktesh suddenly realized that the white on each of the massive creatures snouts wasn’t a genetic coloring, it was scaring left over from youthful disobedience. “Just wait. If you think those are impressive, you’re going to love the ones with teeth and claws.”
Uktesh asked, “Those don’t have teeth? How do they eat?”
Astiau looked annoyed at the question, but he answered with a huff, “Sharp teeth and sharp claws, they both have teeth and technically both have claws, but like dogs, they’re more like fingernails.”
Uktesh asked, “Is this where I will be fighting?”
Astiau said, “Do you see a coliseum? Our fighters are too good for a fighting pit.” He spat out the word, “Don’t get me wrong, they have their place, but a pit champion wouldn’t stand a chance against our fighters, much less our champion.” He grinned and gave Uktesh a sidelong glance, “You’ll like him. Like you, he didn’t know his limits. Though he’s now earned his place at the head of the ludis he needed to be broken first.”
Uktesh didn’t know what that meant, but figured he’d find out, so he didn’t give Astiau the satisfaction of asking what he meant. Instead Uktesh asked, “Why do you have normal buildings by the docks, but only massive buildings further away?”
Astiau said, “Those buildings on the docks are shops and an inn or two. The towers are our homes and our stores.”
Uktesh asked, “Why would anyone want to live at the top?” All those stairs!
Astiau said, “My family lives at the top of the Notxir pyramid in Enixidem, our capitol. It is a great honor. All those below us must come to us if they wish to have business with us.”
; Uktesh thought it unpractical and asked, “But what about food? You’d have to travel down for minutes, if not hours, to get to the market.”
Astiau shook his head, clearly confused, and said, “The slaves bring our food.”
Uktesh tried another tact, “What if the whole building was falling, with enough warning to get out, but because you were on the top you couldn’t because you had to travel so far down before you could get away?”
Astiau said, “That’s stupid, the towers can’t fall, but even if they would, we’d just ride a coatlus down.”
Uktesh couldn’t help himself when he asked, “What’s a coatlus?”
Astiau glared at Uktesh with his remaining eye and then walked away. Uktesh watched him go in confusion. “Quetzalcoatlus, coatlus for short, are flying dinosaurs that are big enough to carry people. The biggest can carry five average sized adult males. Most, though are used for personal flying.” Uktesh turned to see Cavavos leaning against the railing.
Uktesh couldn’t think of any more questions so he asked, “Why now? You only answered my questions about being a gladiator for over a month, but now you answer a non-gladiatorial question?”
Cavavos too walked a short distance away, but not before he asked, “What makes you think I’m not informing you about the Games?”
Uktesh continued to stare as the ship docked. When it had settled he didn’t try to run. He knew he was being watched, and knew he wouldn’t get far. Maybe Astiau is waiting for me to try so he can pay me back for his eye. Uktesh watched as the other three ships started to offload their cargo--the other dragons. They shuffled in a line, chained at both the wrists and ankles with a third chain linking the wrists and ankle chains, and a fourth chain connected to the belt of the person in front of them. Royn was brought out and chained to the back of the line.
Uktesh had gotten so used to the armored clothing that the soldiers wore that he had expected all the people of the Empire to wear something similar, but most of the people he saw wore form fitting clothes that revealed everything they covered. Uktesh saw one of the dock workers had a circular hole on the backside of his pants. Uktesh was about to laugh and comment when he saw two other men had holes as well. They look to be done on purpose!