by Hicks, Aaron
He stumbled out of the cell and Uktesh asked, “Luvacious?”
Heathyr said, “I think he was trying to say lascivious, which is wrong cause it’s a behavior or manner I would have that is revealing an obvious sexual desire, which I don’t have.”
Uktesh smiled, “Awe, the homicidal rapist has a crush on you.”
Heathyr frowned, “Not funny.”
Uktesh took a deep breath and said, “I know that’s why I killed his father, and brother.”
Heathyr said, “You said-”
Uktesh interrupted her and said, “I know what I said, but I was lying. I couldn’t be sure they weren’t listening.”
Heathyr said, “And now?”
Uktesh said, “Our fates are tied. He can’t kill me.”
Heathyr said, “Just don’t think that he won’t. I saw madness in his drunken eye.”
Uktesh said, “I know, but don’t worry, I think he’ll stay in his drunken stupor for the next two weeks, and completely forget about us.”
Is this really the plan
Eight months, three weeks, and three days apart from Uktesh
Laurilli didn’t like the plan, but hadn’t come up with anything better so here they were, about to dock, in a port that had probably hostile, and better equipped for fighting than they were. Not to even mention the giant lizards! Some even fly! The town was in an uproar. People and animals were running frantically. She assumed it was because they knew the purpose of her ship. When they finally docked their ship, Laurilli convinced the Numbers not to leap from the boat and attack. She, instead would take her son and asked the young man who’d helped them dock what was happening. What’s less threatening than a one armed woman with her son in that arm?
She walked down the gang plank and the teen came to her in a jog, “Great timing! We were about to head out ourselves. Had you come an hour later you wouldn’t know, and then you have been killed.”
She asked, “Wouldn’t have known what?”
He smiled with great excitement, “An Osiris fight! That’s what! It happened once before when my grandpop was a boy, but now it’s happening again!”
She said, “Wow! That’s incredible!” The teen nodded and she asked, “That’s why everyone is in a panicked hurry?”
The boy said, “Yup, we’ve all gotta get to the capitol in a week and five days, to watch the fight, ya know.”
She said, “A week and five days! That’s cutting it close for some, right?”
The boy nodded, “It takes about two weeks to walk there! If you hurry though you should be fine.”
She said, “Looks like we’ll have to wait until after the Osiris fight to sell our goods.”
The boy said, “I really should get going. Good luck on making it in time. Remember if you don’t Osiris himself will take your soul!” The boy turned and shrunk down into the shape of a bird and flew off! What was that?
Laurilli walked back up the gangplank, and said, “The good news is that this panic isn’t about us. The better news is that from the sounds of it the entire Empire is gathering in the capitol in a week and five days. The bad news is that it’s a two-week walk from here and I don’t know if I can even do a slow-paced walk for a full day.”
Nine lift his mace to his shoulder and said, “I knew we shouldn’t have brought her.”
Six sighed and said, “She just had a baby. I’d like to see how active you’d be if you pushed a kid out of your tiny prick.” As one most of the men in earshot winced, some even brought their legs in closer as if to ward off such a fate.
Laurilli said, “Whether I can or can’t, standing around talking about it won’t do any of us any good.
Thulmann said, “She’s right, let’s get our supplies gathered for a month-long walk and head out. They quickly gathered enough food and water for the trip and set out to the capitol. They followed the long line of people and animals walking and increased their pace to pass the slow walkers. As they passed the giant towers they all stared and Laurilli knew that if anyone had been paying attention to their group their reaction would’ve outed them as foreigners, but fortunately everyone was too busy to take notice of them. By this point, most people who weren’t mounted or in a wagon were avoiding the road as it had more animal excrement on it than clear patches of road.
Laurilli thought, the joys of being last in line. They passed people most of the day and by the end Laurilli was more than ready for sleep, but her son needed to be fed so she held him while he fed and Pamfilo came over while she was feeding and asked, “How are you feeling?”
Laurilli said, “Tired, but not any more pain than normal.”
Pamfilo frowned and said, “If you do start to feel more pain tell me immediately.”
Laurilli nodded and when her son was done she held him out to Pamfilo and said, “Can you hold him for me?”
Pamfilo nodded while Laurilli readjusted her shirt and caught Nine staring at her. She frowned and took her son back from Pamfilo who said, “You still haven’t named him yet?”
Laurilli said, “No, Uktesh and I never talked about names, so I don’t want to name our son something he hates.”
Pamfilo said, “Silly child, what if we don’t get his input for months or years, are you going to keep calling him, ‘Boy,’ or, ‘my son?’”
Laurilli said, “If we don’t find him at this fight then I’ll name him myself and hope for the best.”
She joined the group and slept next to Pippy and her father with her son between her and her father. They woke up when the dew started to rise and after a quick breakfast they were on their way again.
They traveled at a fast pace for five days and on the fifth day saw a tower rising in the distance. The long train of people ignored it, but after some debate the group decided to investigate. It took most of the rest of the day to get to the tower, because once they arrived they found that the tall tower they thought they’d seen in the near distance, was in truth a massive tower that dwarfed even the impressive towers in the port town and much further away than they’d thought.
At the base of the massive tower, that looked to be bigger around than the whole Isle de Tramonto, they found several camps of people who were clearly the Empire’s best fighters, as each and every one of them were decked out in the finest armor and weapons Laurilli had ever seen. They walked to one of the groups, who immediately formed a defensive wall of shields and spears. Laurilli again took the lead with her son and said, “We’re not here to fight. We came to make sure you knew about the Osiris fight that takes place in six days.”
They all looked at each other in surprise and one of the group said, “An Osiris fight? Why weren’t we informed!”
Laurilli said, “I’m not sure. It wasn’t my job, but we saw this tower, and figured we’d make sure you’d been told. I’m glad we did.”
The wall of shields parted to reveal a man that put even Larut’s seven feet, eight inches to shame. And as he grew closer Laurilli saw that he was closer to ten feet tall than nine and had not an inch of flab on his shirtless chest. She almost took a step back from the sheer intimidation he exuded. He tilted his head to the left and said, “I’m Airos. Without your warning, we would have been killed. Give it to her.”
Laurilli looked around suddenly wary, but one of the men in the group asked, “What do you mean, ‘it.’”
Airos said, “You know what I speak of.”
One of the men came forward with a ring and Laurilli said, “Thank you, but you don’t need to-”
Airos interrupted her, “Do you think we value our lives so little that we wouldn’t reward you for them?”
Laurilli didn’t want to insult this giant man so she said, “Thank you,” and awkwardly took the ring from the man while holding her son.
The giant man said, “Let me help you.” He knelt down, which put him at her height, gently took her son in one of his massive hands and with his other put the ring on her index finder. She blinked and looked the ring as it felt warm. The giant stood u
p with her son cradled in his massive arms and said, “That one has an ex-quip activation word, ‘Ruin.’ Go ahead and say ‘ruin’ to ex-quip it.”
Laurilli said, “Ruin,” and the ring melted into a rapier of the highest quality. She said, “It’s a ring, but it’s a rapier! Thank you so much!”
Airos said, “Just say, ‘ruin,’ again to unex-quip it.”
Laurilli said, “Ruin,” and the rapier melted back into the form of a ring. She said, “Thank you, so much! I didn’t know things like this existed.”
Airos said, “It’s clearly a sign from Osiris. Just this morning we find a ring that turns into a weapon that none of us uses, and doesn’t sell for a lot, and then someone who uses that type of weapon saves our lives.” He handed her son back to her carefully, and she held him in her arm.
The man who brought the ring said, “Airos, you know-”
Airos cut him off and said, “I’m aware.”
Laurilli knew from there exchanges that Airos was going to get in trouble for his generosity, but she didn’t know how to make it better. She said, “We’re heading to the fight now, if you’d like to join us.”
Airos looked at the sky and said, “Nonsense. It’ll be full dark in an hour, we’ll camp here and leave in the morning. You and your men are women are more than welcome to join us for the night. We’ll spread the word about the fight, to the other Spelunkers and we’ll all make the journey together.”
Laurilli nodded, and said, “Thank you we’d love to join you, and learn about this magnificent tower. You said this morning you found this ring? Was it in the tower? Are you treasure hunters?”
Airos blinked, smiled, and said, “All will be explained, but you should inform your people that night is going to fall soon and that they should set up their camp. You may invite three others to join our fire this night for food, drink, and story.”
Laurilli smiled and thanked the giant man again before heading back to her group and explained what had happened. She picked Thulmann, Basam, and Enan, to join her at the fire as she assumed they’d have the widest range of stories to tell. Before they left she fed her son and gave him to Pamfilo to watch.
The four walked back to the camp of the Spelunkers, whatever a Spelunker is, and found that they had four seats and portions of food ready for them when they arrived. Airos sat directly across from them and said, “Tell me. Where are you from? You’re clearly not from the Empire if you don’t know that this isn’t a tower.”
Laurilli was taken back but didn’t show it, even as the other three in her group twitched toward their weapons. She’d noticed his shock when she’d called it a tower, but what else was I supposed to think it was? She said, “We’re from a place call Sinai, though now we’re starting to call ourselves the Five Kingdoms. It’s to the east across the ocean from here. If this is not a tower what is it?”
Airos said, “It’s a Dungeon, a place where the best fighters battle monsters for the chance to find treasure, like the one we gave you. Why are you and your scouting party here?”
Laurilli smiled and didn’t try to convince them that the group she was with wasn’t a scouting party, because it really was. She instead said, “We came to get back my mother who was taken from our town by an invading army we tracked back to here. How does fighting monsters get you a chance for magical treasures?”
Airos said, “They’re not all magical. Some are just weapons or armors, and some are actual treasure, like gold, silver, platinum, and jewels, but on rare occasions Spelunkers can fight a monster with a magical item that can be ex-quipped. When they die wearing it, it gives off a brief flash of light that lets us know to look for it. Also sometimes you can find alcoves where other Spelunkers have died or where the Dungeon has created a cache of treasure. Or you go to the bottom and defeat the Dungeon guardian and take his armor.”
“Why did nearly two hundred people agree to follow you to a hostile land to save one woman if not for the chance to steal, kill, and destroy?”
Laurilli sighed and said, “They didn’t. Our original plan was to attack the first place we saw and try to get our answers from the survivors, but with this Osiris arena fight taking place, we adapted our plans to get a lay of the land, and then make our decisions based on what we’ve learned. How often do you find a treasure like the one you gave me?”
Airos said, “Maybe once a month for experienced Spelunkers like ourselves. It’ll take longer if you spend less time in the Dungeon, or if you don’t fight and travel as far down as we do. I’ve heard of a group that was able to come back to the capitol with dozens after only a few months, but it’s widely assumed that they found a cache of dead experienced Spelunkers.”
“What have you learned so far?”
Laurilli said, “That your land is incredible! You’ve tamed giant lizards, which I’ve so far kept from asking about because I’m certain you have a name for them that I don’t know of, and I didn’t want to give away that we weren’t from here. Your warriors are far more skilled than ours, your weapons, and armor are superior too. Your people seem to have the ability to change their form into animals and even the amount of people you have is more, far more, if the trip to your capitol is any indication. Have you heard of a man named Uktesh?”
Airos said, “Uktesh the Unarmed?”
Laurilli couldn’t hold back her excitement, “You’ve heard of my husband?”
Airos leaned back, and for the first time seemed weary of them. He nodded and said, “Most Spelunkers take two breaks throughout the year for about two weeks at a time, the first is during winter when the days begin to be longer than the nights again. There is a festival honoring the birth of Horus, the god of light from the goddess Isis. The second is in the summer; about a month and a half ago, for the Ultimate Rumble. It’s a giant tournament where the Houses send gladiators to fight in a giant melee. It’s basically four hundred gladiators against each other. I’m explaining it this way so that you understand why we were there, because this Ultimate Rumble we saw something we never thought we’d see.”
“First, the Rumble is usually won by failed god forms, like myself, not that I won, mind you, just those like me have. Second, it’s a fight that not only requires skill, but tactics. Third, those who win usually don’t win without permanent injury. Understand that this one day could be considered as dangerous as fighting in the lower levels of a Dungeon.”
Some of the men around the circle made noises of disagreement, so Airos said, “Because you’re all on your own with no support and dozens of skills killers trying to kill you.” The men reluctantly nodded to Airos in acceptance.
Airos continued, “So with that knowledge when a boy of seventeen winters wins it’s going to be memorable. When he wins by taking out all three of the failed god form gladiators himself, it’s going to be memorable. When he chooses not to free himself from slavery, but instead frees a friend he’d made in the ludis, it’s going to be memorable. When a gladiator is or does all three it’s going to live on forever in the minds of those who were there. That’s who Uktesh the Unarmed is. He’s your husband? Have you always been,” he gestured to her arm.
Laurilli said, “A woman? Yes. And, yes, he is my husband. Why’s he called, ‘Uktesh the Unarmed?’”
Airos blushed and said, “No, I meant have you always been a,” he paused and tried to rephrase, “have you always only had one arm?”
She sighed and said, “No, I owe this injury to your people when they first invaded my land and took my husband.”
Airos shook his head and said, “I apologize. We heard that the war ships had left twice recently, but we assumed it was to continue the war against the Formorians.”
Laurilli raised her eyebrow and Airos stuttered, “Oh, yes, he’s called, ‘Uktesh the Unarmed,’ because he goes into all his fights unarmed. I heard he started out armed, but quickly killed his opponents, then went in without a weapon, but one placed somewhere in the arena for him to get to, and now not even that. What can you tell me about him?�
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Laurilli asked, “I guess I just have one last pertinent question before we start swapping stories. Are you still planning to kill us?”
Airos grinned as everyone except the two of them, reached for their weapons. “I see why a warrior of Uktesh’s skill would find a match in you.” He paused as he weighed her question, and said, “No, I like you. I also think you’ll quickly learn that attacking us would be foolish. The Empire stretches from ocean to ocean. All that we see we own.”
Laurilli grinned, as everyone began to relax, and said, “Except for that which the Formorians own.”
Airos laughed loudly and said, “So you say! Let’s eat! Tell me about the boy your husband was?”
Laurilli, Basam, Thulmann, and Enan swapped stories until late in the night, and when the sun rose it rose on Laurilli saying, “… so then he has the gall to say to me that it was to protect me!”
Airos and the few men left awake nodded, and Airos said, “Tis the right of any man to die to protect his woman.”
Laurilli said, “But he didn’t die, and I didn’t need to be protected.”
Airos said, “So says the girl who lost her arm in her first battle.” Laurilli felt her jaw drop open, and she was about to sputter out curses at him, until he said, “I apologize! It’s late.” He looked at the brightening sky and amended, “it appears to be early. My mind is not thinking fast enough to block my idiot tongue from saying the wrong thing. You can’t still be made at him though? It was the better part of a year ago.”
Laurilli said, “You’re right, and you’re right, I did nearly die in my first fight and I’m not still angry at him.” She saw that Thulmann and Enan had stayed with her, though they were both asleep, she sighed and said, “I’m going to regret this night today. I should push myself so soon after having a baby.”