Taken: The Life of Uktesh Book 3

by Hicks, Aaron

  Against all her instincts she sat in a shadow and waited for the appointed time to attack. The last light faded into the mountains and she decided to begin meditating to pass the time. As she did she felt the dragon stir inside her and though they couldn’t communicate with words anymore she felt him try to reassure her.

  She felt someone gently jostle her shoulder and she looked up to see Anan standing before her with a water bottle and some food. “Thanks Anan. Has everyone been fed?”

  He nodded and said, “We knew you’d be distracted.”

  She grinned at him and said, “Good thing I have people to help me.”

  He nodded and walked back to continue to organize the troops. Laurilli rose and joined him, only to find that between Enan, Anan, Basam, Larut, and Tylor everyone had been taken care of, and people were even lying down to sleep before the fight.

  She pulled Anan aside and asked, “Ok now that we have some time, explain the spike dogs.”

  Anan said, “Well, after you left my dad in charge we continued to head toward the exit. Enan told everyone, that you were scouting ahead. Then we walked for about three hours in peace. As the day dragged on it became necessary for Enan to start assuring the group that we were close to the end, as people had started to feel claustrophobic. The cave had just started to lighten as we neared the end when they heard a low growl echo from behind them. Basam asked, ‘Is this cave inhabited?’”

  “Dad explained, ‘I’ve never used it before. I think that there’s a myth about a creature, but people have made it through this cave safely before.’”

  “Tylor said, ‘Well, let’s just pick up the pace. Because I think that myth is going to become fact. And I think it can smell the blood of those that were injured in the fighting.’”

  “We all started to walk faster, until from the darkness behind us a piercing howl roared. It echoed off the walls and instantly froze us as we all turned to see what was behind us. When the sound of the howl let up, Dad and Belial instructed the whole group to run toward the exit. Dad shouted for the group to sprint ahead and waited for me, because I was bringing up the end of the group. After hundreds of people had run ahead Dad saw me and the giant man, Larut, were delayed because we had to run while we dragged someone between us. The man Larut and I helped along had most of his face melted away, and as we approached Dad we had to watch as the rest melted off. Dad said, ‘He’s dead. Leave him and let’s go.’”

  “When we saw light up ahead, we sprinted forward, only to find that the last ten people of the two armies had halted. I stopped and my stomach tightened. I thought, what in the nine hells are they waiting for! As Dad started jogging toward the front, we all listened for the sounds of an animal approaching, to give us some warning, but there was nothing but silence.”

  “As Dad and I made our way to the front the light was gloriously blinding. It brought about feelings of hope, salvation, and above all, safety. We were almost there, it was a little more than one hundred meters away when I saw what had halted the group. A giant dog-like form was blocking the exit. It passed us? I had thought, but then the roar that we had heard before sounded again freezing us in our tracks, and I thought, it’s still behind us. We’re trapped between two monsters. Damn it are they smart and cunning, or are we just unlucky. The sound stopped, and as we turned in the gloom we saw a form jump out of the darkness. I got a good view of what had been chasing us, and felt relief roll over me because it was tiny!”

  “The thing that we’d been running from was, about the size and shape of a baby chick. It was a blond feathered ball that looked like the cutest pet I could imagine and I thought, Laurilli would love a pet like this. Then it opened its tiny beak and again that sound that froze us in our tracks emanated from the tiny animal. Maybe not for Laurilli, I thought as we backed away.

  ‘Which do you want,” I had asked dad, “The wolf thing or the fur ball?”

  “Dad said, ‘Aye’ll take da fur ball. Ya need ta get da rest o’ the group movin’ forward.’ I knew he was right, and drew my sword as Larut, Tylor, and I moved forward. Dad, Sapag, Liam and Jrace from our troops shouted and rushed at the creature, while I took a more cautious approach toward the wolf thing. I could now see that the wolf had giant spikes on its back, and that the spikes were dripping with a think liquid, which I assumed was poison. I crouched forward, and looked back at Dad to see how he was doing, and heard the thing start to keen again, and once again all sixteen of us in the cave were frozen.”

  “Only this time the thing didn’t stop keening, and the tiny, chick’s beak stretch wide open to the size of Jrace’s six-foot-four-inch frame, and as Jrace stood there stunned, it waddled forward and snapped it’s jaws down on Jrace and it swallowed him in one bite!”

  “When the keening stopped, I was still stunned, not by its keening wail, but by the fact that something so small could enlarge its mouth so much and that Jrace was so quickly killed. I turned around to see if the wolf thing was still standing at the entrance, and saw it still crouching there. Its eyes gleamed in the light, and it looked like it was ready to spring. I readied my sword, and saw it lunge forward. It covered the hundred meters in seconds. Stunned by its speed, I never even lifted my sword. This is it, I thought as I felt the beast’s front paws on my chest, and was slammed to the ground. I get to die with my men. Then in a flash it was off me racing at the monster, which I could now see had taken on the appearance of Jrace!”

  “The monster Jrace was still yellow, though not nearly as brightly colored. The wolf crashed into him and bit into Jrace’s arm, which caused it to bleed, but its blood was almost puss yellow and looked poisonous.”

  “With a snap the Jrace monster’s arm broke clean off, and the wolf with a slight shake of its head threw the arm into the light of the cave entrance, and I saw that the arm started melting. It dies in the light! I had thought. I didn’t know if the wolf would attack me or not, but I quickly stood up and with three swings chopped off the other arm, decapitated the beast, and then I spun in a two handed swing with my sword and I sliced through both legs! I quickly picked up the pieces of the monster and threw them into the light, and then quickly cleaned off my sword with a rag. I saw that my rag with the creature’s blood on it was dissolving so I threw it into the sun too.”

  “Breathing hard, I looked at the wolf thing, and realized with a shock that it had saved my life and the lives of those with me. It was lying on its side and I sheathed my sword. If it wants to kill me I’ll fight it, but I won’t walk toward it in a threatening way. It was breathing hard, and so was I, from the work of killing the Jrace monster, and now in heightened anticipation of an attack. When I finally got a good view of the wolf’s, snout, jaws, and teeth, I knew that there was no danger. The front part of the wolf’s head was simply melting. I saw that there was yellow puss on the outside of the melting area, and knew that the blood of the thing she just killed was an acid.”

  “I unsheathed my sword, which caused the wolf to growl, but it didn’t matter. My sword was destroyed. All that was left was a foot of blade and the hilt. I took off the sheath and threw it on the ground. I thought about ending the wolf’s suffering, but I knew that it would be dangerous for me as the wolf was now pumping out clouds of a greenish gas from the spikes on its back.”

  “I walked to the exit with the survivors, as none of us wanted to remain in that cave for any longer. As we approached the mouth of the cave, a slight movement caught I eye, and I looked to my right, into a shadowy crevice, and saw a litter of four of the spiked wolf beasts. They were just cubs and their spikes looked more like messy fur than actual spikes, but I couldn’t just leave them and Dad said I could keep them. I didn’t know if the dead beast was their only protector, so picked up all four of them. They started barking and they secreted a green gas from their spikes that I hoped was not potent enough to hurt me. That it was just a defense mechanism, and they weren’t actually trying to hurt me.”

  “The adult spike wolf lifted its ruined head and starte
d to make a rolling yawl noise, as if it was speaking with the pups. They stopped barking and perked their ears forward. The wolfhound continued, how I won’t ever know because its snout was almost completely melted at that point. It spoke for about thirty seconds before it collapsed, clearly dead. I put the four spike wolves in my pack and after some yips and yelps, they settled down. I left the cave and walked out into the sunshine. I thought as I stared into the blinding light from sun. What was that thing, how did that wolf stop it from keening at me, and what am I going to do with these four pups?”

  “I shrugged away those thoughts as I adjusted my pack and started to walk down a steep incline toward where we knew Manori was located with the rest of the two armies. We walked for about an hour until we met you walking up toward us.”

  Laurilli said, “Wow! You had an adventurous time!”

  Anan asked, “If you don’t mind me asking where did you go?”

  Laurilli said, “I had to take care of something important, but if I told you what it was you wouldn’t understand and may not like that I’d done it. I’ll tell you if you want to know, because I trust you, but I hope you trust me enough to not ask me to.”

  Anan shrugged in an unconcerned manner and said, “If you think it was important and that I shouldn’t know, I’m fine with that, just let me know if whatever it was needs to be taken care of again.”

  She nodded and he walked away. Laurilli yawned and walked back in her shadow to watch the gate. By the time midnight came she was more than ready to get her mother back. The main gate was still open and the two armies raced through it. Five Beletarian archers sped toward the tower entrance. As they ran into the compound, the people in the cages looked up and recognized her. In their eyes she could read hope, confusion, pity, and anger. The anger was mainly coming at her from Bjorn, the mayor of Manori and his brother Scorn. Though they both stopped glaring when Baloce headed their way and, along with most of her Sinain army, started to unlock or smash the locks on the cages.

  One of the Imperial troops came out of one of the houses. My house!

  He paused at the sight of eighteen hundred enemy troops inside the walled perimeter. He turned either to run or shout for help, but at that moment an arrow from the watch tower silenced him forever. The troops continued their work and one house at a time the two armies cleared out the compound. The noise of freeing the prisoners and the startled shouts of Imperial army troops woke up the few enemy in houses away from the entrance. As they made their way toward the last four of the twelve houses they were met by a hail of crossbow bolts. They quickly took cover, but in those first few moments Laurilli saw that dozens of her troops and the Beletarians had been killed or injured. Those that were injured were picked off as they tried to crawl to safety.

  Laurilli shouted, “Tower shields! Block those bolts!” Men with huge tower shields moved in to block those in the houses from being able to shoot the injured. As the injured were dragged away the enemy stopped firing their crossbows. Laurilli directed her forces to surround the houses with tower shields, but the men blocking the houses with their shields were suddenly thrown to the ground. Four dozen Imperial troops crashed through the shield wall and started to fire their deadly crossbows at her army again. She saw Enan go down, and Anan quickly dragged him out of the way. Her troops were caught flat-footed and were picked off by the precision shots of the Imperial troops. As quickly as it had begun it ended and three dozen more of her men and women were injured or killed. Again!

  The Beletarians, however, were not caught flat-footed. They took cover until the cross bows ran out of bolts, and then charged into the fray. They moved with deadly coordination. For every Imperial troop there were four Beletarians bearing down on them. Laurilli grinned as she envisioned what would happen to the Imperial troops as nearly two hundred troops--with training similar to Uktesh’s--crashed into them. She envisioned them being cut down like wheat; which is what happened. Only instead of the Imperials it was the Beletarians that were decimated. These troops are far better than the ones we fought earlier! The Imperials fought toward the open gate and in their wake were hundreds of bodies of both Sinain and Beletarian troops. From the tower arrows rained down into the Imperials, but somehow they were being deflected! Beletarian archers took position on the roofs of the houses and began to fire at the Imperials. With the volume of arrows, slowly the Imperial troops started to die. Laurilli hit the back of the formation with Belial, Tylor, and Basam, while, Larut, the twins. and Repus attacked from their weakened right side. Laurilli fought with rage-enhanced strength, and for the first few minutes that and her skill were the only things that kept her from injury. One of the Imperials had loaded his crossbow and leveled it her face! She dodged to her left and felt the bolt dig into her cheek before it struck someone behind her.

  With a wordless roar she launched herself at the crossbowman and a cut appeared on her arm, from one of the other Imperial troops. Then one appeared above Belial’s eyebrow as he tried to guard her flank. Faster and stronger Laurilli summoned her speed, and Belial, no novice to fighting, grew faster, and started using more tricks to try and keep Laurilli’s blurring blade moving in an attack and not a defense. Basam, to her left put up a tight defense and to her relief she killed the Imperial with the crossbow before her could fire more than one additional shot.

  Laurilli quickly understood that Belial had made a mistake, or maybe she had attacked too single-mindedly. Laurilli, who had until recently never fought a real fight, was an equal to most in skill, but not experience. It happened in a flash; three sharp, piercing rings of sword on sword, then Laurilli spun away from the fight and landed hard on her left side, clutching her stomach. My son! Belial stood, sword fallen to the ground and blood spurting from the gaping hole in his neck. As his hands frantically tried to stop the flow of blood, he collapsed to his knees and the fight moved away from them. His hands fell to his side as he pitched forward onto the dirt; no longer able to summon the strength to try and save himself.

  Laurilli had never been stabbed before, she found that it hurt more than she’d imagined. She lifted her hand from her side, and looked at the wound. Oh thank the gods the cut is to the side, there’s no internal damage, and the bleeding will begin to slow soon. After taking stock of her injuries she pressed her shirt to her side, trying to staunch the flow of blood. Painfully she stood up, and sheathed her sword before she pressed her shirt to her side again.

  The last of the Imperial soldiers were cut down and an angry Belario grabbed her shirt and shouted in her face, “What happened! How did one of my best fighters die when you, a cripple, lived!”

  Before he’d finished his rant six sword tips rested against his skin, two of them drew blood. She calmly said, “Put me down.” He released her shirt and she continued, “Belial was slain like many of both of our soldiers. I had just killed a crossbowman when we both went down, I didn’t see what happened, but I’m certain he wouldn’t want us to fight each other after we defeated the enemy.”

  Belario stomped away and Laurilli gave the order to continue releasing those in cages. The people who’d been caged moved slowly, as if they couldn’t believe their luck. Villagers and soldiers stood around, each unsure what to do next. The villagers’ homes were destroyed, their loved ones dead, and their town in ashes. The soldiers felt like they had been the cause of the villages’ misery. When everyone was freed Laurilli shouted, “We have to return to the battle. You’re more than welcome to come with us, but if you choose not to, know that the Imperial troops most likely won’t return here.”

  The villagers stood in a huddled mass while the soldiers prepared to leave. Bjorn walked up to her and much like Belario shouted in her face, “Just because your mother isn’t here doesn’t mean you can take away our protection!”

  Laurilli swallow back an angry retort and said, “I hadn’t been aware that my mother wasn’t here. If she were I would offer her the same choice, because with or without you, we have to return to the battle. We’re soldi
ers. We left the fight to come back here, and I’m certain we’ll be punished for it, but fortunately there isn’t a mountain between us and Jubay so we’ll be able to get to Jubay with only a few days’ delay.”

  Bjorn puffed out his chest and said, “As mayor of Manori, I hereby order you to stay.”

  Laurilli said, “I suppose you’re willing to take responsibility for why nearly fifteen hundred soldiers didn’t make it to the staging location?”

  Bjorn looked worried about that but said, “I would.”

  Laurilli said, “Good, because as the representative for a destroyed city your testimony will be most appreciated! Men let’s get some rest before we move out in the morning! I want the injured in beds. The rest of us get to enjoy the night sky.”

  Bjorn said, “What do you think you’re doing! I gave you an order!”

  Laurilli patted his arm, walked away, and said over her shoulder, “Do you think you have any authority now that your town has been destroyed? You’re a mayor of rubble. Get some rest. It’ll be a long three days to Jubay.”

  How do we do that

  Seven months apart from Uktesh

  Laurilli wanted to stab the man.

  Scorn continued, “So you understand why we need to take some extra precautions when traveling.” Bjorn no longer willing to risk his own skin after she’d stabbed him, had sent his brother to her to explain, again, why a three-day trip had taken nearly three weeks. The first delays made sense; carts for the wounded; she had agreed to the daylong delay. Then the old demanded carts, and she’d agreed to yet another delay. The Beletarians had been smart. They’d left their injured with Laurilli and had simply jogged away.

  Day after day it’d been one thing or another that caused her troops to become absent from the front lines! Finally when Bjorn informed her that eight of the wagons had broken wheels she’d lost it and stabbed him in the ass as he shrieked and fled from her sight. Today Scorn came to inform her that women weeks less pregnant than Laurilli couldn’t handle the rough pace. Laurilli felt her right eye begin to twitch; something that had only started to happen during this trip, and said, “No more! Troops! We’re leaving! Now! People of Manori listen up! If you want the protection that we provide you will keep up or by the nine hells I swear we’ll leave you behind!”