Free Tested (The Life of Uktesh Book 1) by Aaron Hicks Page A

to steal you away from me.”
    She smiled her smile that seemed to be brighter than the sun at him and interlaced her fingers in his as they walked to the tailor shop.  “You know I never thought I’d be this happy, or comfortable in this town, because normally, with dad gone, it’s like no one cares about us.”
    “I feel the same, I’ve never felt this happy, even in my home town.” 
    They walked in silence for a while and Uktesh just enjoyed the feel of her hand in his.  They turned around the corner towards the tailors and saw it in the distance, “Do you think I could get something other than black?  Maybe dark green or dark blue?”  She looked up at him with her sapphire eyes and he felt himself nod, with the realization that anything this angelic creature wanted, he would give, “As long as you keep it dark so that it can blend in with shadows if needed.”
    “Well, don’t you two make a lovely couple.” The mocking words came from the shadows under a tree, where Uktesh could see Dekan as he leaned against the tree.
    “Where’s Baloce, Dekan?” asked Uktesh. Laurilli released his hand and took a step behind him, “He’s the one that has any wits about him.  I took you out easily enough the first time we met. Since then, I’ve traded up to fighting saber rabbits and winning.”
    “We heard about that, also heard that you wuz an Afflicted witch too!”
    “See this is exactly why you shouldn’t speak without Baloce.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “He would be able to tell you that there’s no way I’m a witch.”
    “He would, would he?  The way I hear it you sold your soul to kill it, and that’s why you wouldn’t wake up.”
    “Really?  Sold my soul, and how would one go about doing that? And who would buy it? And how would I have done that in the middle of a fight?
    “Don’t think that you’ll be able to trick me!”
    “Logic always seems like trickery to the slow of mind.”  Uktesh made sure that his face had a look that was sure to antagonize him, because he knew that Dekan would just bull rush at him, one of the easiest attacks to beat. 
    “Dekan, calm down,” Baloce’s voice called out from higher in the tree.
    “But he just-” Dekan started but was interrupted.
    “He just picked a fight with you in the middle of the street. What would people say, that you attacked him and he beat the hell out of you defending himself?”  Baloce lightly jumped down out of the tree from the lowest branch, and Uktesh realized that in a fight, Baloce would be much more difficult than Dekan. 
    “Point to you sir,” he tipped an imaginary hat at Uktesh. “Come on Dekan lets leave these two young lovers to their shopping.”  They started to walk away and Dekan said, “I heard about the saber rabbit, I’ve killed one myself, maybe next time I’ll try it with just a sword too.”
    Uktesh shook his head at their stupidity, “Why were you trying to pick a fight with Dekan?”
    “Pretty much for the reasons Baloce mentioned. I feared those two will cause trouble for us, so I planned on beating him enough that he would think twice about trying anything again.”
Laurilli grabbed his hand and forcefully marched him towards the tailors with only a scoff of, “Men!”  Uktesh smiled, glad to be able to hold her hand again.  Outside of the shop, the sign read Triple T’s Tailoring. They entered the shop and were greeted by the six feet two inches tall Tylor Taylor, who happened to be a tailor, “Welcome to Tylor Taylor’s Terribly Terrific Tailoring!  The only thing better than my tailoring is the price!  What can I get for such a lovely couple?”  He was tall and thin, but Uktesh could tell he had strong muscles hidden by his long pants and long sleeved shirt.  His red hair was about two inches long, his smile was genuine and Uktesh felt it safe to leave it up to Laurilli to barter and discuss what she wanted. He walked around the store and looked at the rows of fabric