Tainted: The Life of Uktesh Book 2 Read online

  “That’s fine, as long as you beat me there!” Uktesh took off at a fast run, and felt Laurilli grab his swim trucks and pull down. He stopped and pulled them back up, tied them tighter, and chased after Laurilli as she laughed and sprinted away. As they neared the house Uktesh Rushed forward, which Laurilli copied. That she was able to use an adaptation of a balanced form already was something that still amazed Uktesh. He had assumed it was months, if not years, too early for her to succeed with an imperfect form, but as he Soared toward their door and saw Laurilli try to as well. She failed the imperfect form and tripped forward, Uktesh halted his momentum and caught her in his arms.

  She gasped for breath and said, “You cheater!”

  “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Uktesh said and feigned innocence.

  Laurilli pouted and said, “You know I can’t use Hawk Soars yet!”

  Uktesh replied, “Oh, you can’t? Well, we’ll just have to fix that, but not soon. It’s still too early. I don’t want you to get hurt, though you seem to be a natural.”

  “Well, you did win, so you can go first,” Laurilli said grudgingly.

  “No I’ll wait, I did cheat and you did call first shower,” Uktesh said. He realized that he’d been holding her for quite a few seconds and lifted her to her feet.

  Laurilli said, “You won, go ahead, I need to catch my breath anyway.”

  He shrugged as she unlocked their door and walked inside. She went to lie on the bed, but clearly thought better of it, and stood in the center of the room while Uktesh went into the bathroom. He stepped in the shower, shut the curtain, and turned on the water with his clothes on. The curtain only covered half the rectangle that was used as either bath or shower, so he placed it forward to avoid too much water spreading out to the rest of the floor. The water was warm to begin with, but he turned it on hot and quickly steam began to spread out from the hot water. He stripped out of his trunks and washed them before he lifted them over the curtain rail and began to scrub his hair. He felt two hands slide around his chest, and almost used the balanced backward head slam called, Look to the Sky, but realized it must be Laurilli.

  Then he realized three things that not only had Laurilli joined him in the shower, she had done it with great stealth, but also, as she pressed herself into his back, that she wasn’t wearing her top. “Did you need me to wash your back?” she asked, her sultry voice caused him to shudder.

  Uktesh said, “I guess since you’re already in here,” and felt her hands glide along his back and arms.

  She pinched his behind and said, “Now it’s my turn.”

  He turned around to see the beauty in front of him, before she quickly slid around him into the stream of hot water. He took a deep swallow, tried to calm down. When he turned back to her she had removed the bottom of her swimsuit and was already cleaning it. He tentatively started to rub her back, but found that his control on his body had begun to slip so he started to wash more earnestly, while she hung her suit over the curtain railing. She started to wash her hair with the shampoo they’d bought that they were told would strengthen and clean the ocean out of their hair. Though he was tempted to let his hands roam, he stuck to her back. When she had rinsed out her hair, he couldn’t help it as he spanked her lightly twice and said, “You know you’re mother’s going to check on us soon, so you should head out, and I’ll try to calm myself, before she arrives.”

  Laurilli said, “Okay,” and slid around him again, this time she let her hand trail around him.

  “Not helping,” Uktesh said, which earned him a laugh.

  Laurilli asked, “Hey, Tesh where are the towels?”

  He thought about it, “I guess they’re still at the beach, but we should have more under the,” he paused when he remembered last night. “No wait. We used those yesterday after our failure.” Uktesh pulled the curtain aside with a grin and said, “I guess you’ll just have to air dry.”

  “Okay,” Laurilli put her hand on the door handle as he closed the curtain but she said, “Shut your eyes.”

  “Huh?” Uktesh asked, a glob of shampoo in his hand. “The curtain’s closed. I can’t even see you.”

  Laurilli huffed and said, “Just do it, please.” He shrugged and shut his eyes. She asked, “Are they shut?”

  “Yeah,” Uktesh said as he spread the shampoo over his hair, and he heard her open the door to their bedroom. He kept his eyes shut while he washed his hair. He heard someone knock on the door and realized that Laurilli hadn’t shut the door to their bathroom.

  “One second! Is that you mom?”

  He heard Laurilli ask her mother, “Do you have the towels?” Heathyr must have said “yes” because Laurilli said “Hand me one.” The door shut, and seconds later, opened again, “Thanks. We didn’t realize they were missing until I was out of the shower, but don’t worry I made Uktesh close his eyes before I left the bathroom and he didn’t look at me when he walked into the bathroom, but hold on one second.”

  Uktesh fell his jaw drop, and thought, she’s a lying genius! He was truly impressed by the fact that she’d planned it out so well in advance that she didn’t have to say anything untrue, but to give the impression that something happened that was completely different from what actually happened.

  She called out, “Uktesh I’m leaving a towel on the sink for you.”

  “Okay,” he replied.

  “I just got out, so he’ll be in there for a while,” he heard her say before she shut the door.

  That’s amazing. I wonder if her mom assumes that she’s lying, leaving out some details, or if she actually believes Laurilli.

  Uktesh changed the shower temperature to cold and was able to quickly calm down. Once he was both calm and cold, he shut off the water, pulled the curtain all the way open, and dried himself with his towel. He tied it around his waist and opened the door to find that Heathyr had left and Laurilli lying on the bed fully dressed. She watched him as he moved to his closet and once he’d pulled out the clothes he wanted to wear he mentally shrugged, dropped his towel, and put on his clothes. He made sure not to give Laurilli the satisfaction of seeing him squirm so he took his time.

  When he was dressed, he held out his arm for Laurilli. She bounced off the bed and hugged him close. She had chosen to wear a bright orange swimming suit, with a pareo that matched it.

  Heathyr had brought their sandals too, which they slipped their feet into before they left their house. Uktesh locked the door and they went back to the beach at a leisurely pace. They saw Heathyr not too far ahead of them. She turned out of their vision and Uktesh assumed that she had joined Esolc. He glanced at Laurilli and she smiled at him before she kissed him. “I could get used to this,” he said contently.

  She let go of his arm and jumped on his back. He stumbled for a step before he hooked his arms under her legs and moved her higher. She leaned forward, pressed her cheek against his, and laughed as he wiggled his fingers under her legs. She hopped down and jostled his hair. It was still moist so he shook his head back and forth until it was back to normal. She growled and attacked his hair again, but he easily spun away, turned, and began to walk backwards away from her as he said, “I’m sorry. Did you want something?”

  She Rushed at him, which he had not expected. Without thinking, he Rushed backwards. When it worked he was so shocked that he tripped, and the Rushing Laurilli tripped over him and saw that she was going to hit the stone road. He grabbed her rear with both hands and pulled until her knees were pressed against his stomach. Once their slide was over and their breath had returned to normal he noticed that they’d slid all the way down to the jetty wall. Thanks to the look on Heathyr’s face he realized his hands still cupped Laurilli’s posterior.

  He let go of her as if his hands were burning and cried, “Hey Mom, we decided to try sledding. It didn’t work out so well.”

  He could tell as Laurilli dismounted that Heathyr was struggling to pretend she was upset. Once Laurilli was off him she held out
her hand to help him up.

  “What was that?” she asked. “I know you should have been able to dodge my Rush.”

  “I could’ve if I’d tried something different. I wasn’t prepared for what I tried to succeed. What I did was I Rushed backwards.”

  “Is that possible?”

  “Until a few seconds ago I would have said no, but clearly it is, and now I have something I need to start practicing.”

  Esolc, who had just joined them, said, “Oh good, I’m tired of trying to Rush for hours on end.”

  Uktesh replied, “You asked for training, and you still can’t Rush properly at all. And I don’t think I could Rush for hours,” depending on how many, he mused as he thought about his run to White Bridge. “It would be a quicker practice for you if you could Rush, because then we could move on. Even your jogging needs work.”

  “Hey, I’ve only been doing this for two months, I’m pretty good for two months right?”

  “Oh yeah. You and Repus are both learning, but it takes months to learn balanced, unless you’re Laurilli, whose natural skill is scary high. You’re both doing far better than I did when I started.”

  “But not better than when I started?” Laurilli asked sweetly.

  “Well, maybe if they applied themselves to the training as much as they’ve seemed to had applied themselves to the arts--or at least one particular play. How much time do we have before the noon boat arrives?”

  Esolc teased, “Why do you want to go canoodle with Laurilli again; this time perhaps while not sliding down a hill?”

  “Yes,” he said, which caused the two adults to blink rapidly and Laurilli to blush. He waited until someone opened their mouth to say something before he added, “but right now I want to get something to drink and sit in the shade and relax. Perhaps canoodling with commence then.”

  Laurilli grabbed his arm and while she dragged him toward Leilani’s bar said, “Sounds good to me. You guys want anything to drink?”

  “I want an ale,” Esolc said.

  “I would like a glass of chilled apple cider,” Heathyr added.

  “Okay,” Laurilli said as she continued to drag Uktesh toward the bar.

  “We’re not coming back soon are we Li?” Uktesh asked.

  Laurilli grinned, “Nope, but we never said when we would get them their drinks and we have hours before the boat arrives. I want to do something fun!”

  “Okay, but I have an idea. Let’s stop and Leilani’s first.”

  The bar was mostly empty. Leilani was behind the bar, washing some glasses. Uktesh ordered two more bottles of berry juice, and Esolc and Heathyr’s drinks. He took the two drinks he had gotten for Laurilli and himself, and headed up the mountain.

  “Do you know where we’re going?” Laurilli asked coyly.

  Uktesh said, “Nope, but I hope it’s the forbidden cave.”

  “You got it in one,” Laurilli said.

  Uktesh knew that they probably shouldn’t go inside a cave that was forbidden, but he also guessed that they were just going to go to the entrance this first time.

  The second day they were on the island they had taken the grand tour, all the way to the top of the mountain, what the locals called a volcano, and to all the different spots the island had to offer. There were dozens of waterfalls, seven places to climb up cliffs, rope bridges, underwater caves, dozens of above-ground caves, and caves that started above ground and ended with a drop into the sea. But only one cave was forbidden.

  The guide had warned them sternly when they had passed a cave with a rope across the entrance and a written warning not to enter. By the time they’d climbed to the cave they only had half an hour before they had to turn back and head to the docks. They walked right up to the rope and Laurilli was about to step under when Uktesh grabbed her shirt and pulled her back hard. Damn it! I should’ve brought weapons! Three daggers whizzed by and imbedded themselves in the rock where Laurilli had been.

  Uktesh quickly scanned the interior of the cave with more attention to detail and didin’t see anyone, or any traps that she could have sprung. He said, “Stay here,” and used the balanced Glide Under the Fence to quickly enter the cave. Another balanced Shield of Air blocked four daggers in front of him, and he grabbed the last one, as he defended with the offensive imperfect Rainbow Kick, which knocked out of the air two more daggers. There was a quick pause then he heard twelve distinct snaps, and knew it was a trap of some sort, before he instinctively dodged with the perfect Cat Landing on Fence. The daggers all flashed underneath him. As he landed he heard dozens of clicks, so he used a second perfect and used Serpent Strikes to get out of the cave. Laurilli grabbed him as he passed to stop him from sliding down too much of the mountain. “Nice catch, could your eyes keep up with me?”

  Laurilli said, “Not really. At the end I saw you and I reacted fast enough to help, but only because you were coming toward me.”

  “It was very well done.” Uktesh took a deep breath and looked at the cave again. “Definitely not for today, if ever.” He held her hand and noticed that the path back to the main road was blocked by ten masked people. I really should’ve brought some weapons! “If they attack, try to take out two of them,” he said as he handed her the dagger he’d caught.

  “Okay.” She took a step behind and to his left as he’d taught her.

  They walked cautiously toward the masked people. Uktesh called out, “State your peace, or let us be on our way.”

  A man shouted back, “You trespassed.”

  A woman added, “You entered that which is forbidden.”

  Another man said, “All who do so are to be punished.”

  Another woman countered, “You survived the punishment.”

  Another man said, “Duty states it is for the ten to divine your punishment.”

  A woman argued, “But you survived to the end of the challenge.”

  Uktesh was no longer sure if the voices were different or if the same two people were talking. Their voices were similar and they didn’t have island accents.

  Another man said, “But you fled, and didn’t meet the last challenge.”

  A woman said, “So this, we decree, is your punishment.”

  A man said, “You are to either challenge again.”

  A woman continued, “Or you are to leave this island immediately and never return.”

  Uktesh responded, “I choose to challenge again!” He made sure to say it in a clear voice before walking past them, with Laurilli on his heels.

  One of the men asked, “Whare do ya t’ink ya’re goin’?”

  Interesting. One’s an islander for sure. Or he’s pretending now or was pretending then. Uktesh answered, “To the docks. A friend may be arriving soon.”

  The same man bellowed, “Ya’re not goin’ anywhere till ya do da challenge!”

  Uktesh calmly stated, “That wasn’t our agreement. You gave two choices. One of the choices had a time limit, ‘immediately,’ which implies that the other choice can be done at any time I deem fit. I don’t feel like challenging again today. So I will give you two choices. You can try to stop me, immediately, but you will most likely fail, or you can be patient, immediately. I give you my word that at some point in the near future I will beat your challenge.”

  A man’s voice with an accent Uktesh could not recognize said, “You will not be allowed to leave the island until you meet the challenge. Know that until you do, you will be watched. Should you sneak off the island without our knowledge, your fiancé’s life will be for-”

  Uktesh’s elbow hit the man in the mask and shattered it, “Never threaten her. That’s your only warning. Know and understand this, if she gets hurt because of you-”

  He Stopped suddenly as he recognized the person whose mask he’d smashed, “Charis, is that you?”

  Charis smiled ruefully, “You’ve gotten better since our last fight. I should’ve remembered what happened to Riu when he threatened her.”

  “Is this where the order of the dragon
is based?” Uktesh asked and set his feet for a fight.

  “Woah! No need for that!” Charis said.

  “Fifty percent of the people I’ve met from your order have been working for Voukidists. I’m not convinced that you aren’t either. So is this the base for the order of the dragon?”

  Charis lifted his hands in surrender and said, “I can’t answer that for you, but if you survive the challenge, whenever you take it, you’ll get some of your questions answered. Before then, don’t you have some place to be?”

  Uktesh said, “We have some time before the boat arrives. Can you answer any of my questions now?”

  Charis said, “I’m afraid I can’t, but we will see each other soon enough. Until then, good luck and keep safe.”

  With that the masked people faded into the brush that surrounded the path. Uktesh looked back at Laurilli and saw that she was still in a fighting stance. She asked sheepishly, “I should probably relax now, shouldn’t I?”

  Uktesh smiled and said, “We should hurry. We don’t want to be late for the boat, in case Basam is on it, and as it is we’ll be pushing it to get there on time.” As they jogged back Uktesh had a moment to consider all possibilities that their mysterious strangers presented. The first possibility was that this group would be a beneficial one. The second was that they would not be. The third was that even if he passed their test he would have to keep an eye on them to ensure that they kept their word and that their intentions were trustworthy. The fact that Charis was in the group prompted Uktesh to suspect the second option, but only because Charis didn’t seem to have any necrolan powers.

  The began to slow down when they saw the boat still had a few minutes before in would dock. Uktesh went to Leilani’s bar and asked if Heathyr of Esolc had come to get their drinks.

  Leilani said, “No not yet.”

  “Good. In that case we will take the drinks to them, if you don’t mind preparing the chilled apple cider, the beer, and two more of the tart berry drinks,” Uktes said.