Free Taken: The Life of Uktesh Book 3 by Aaron Hicks

most here had another full floor.  She stared open-mouthed as the buildings got higher and higher.  They’re even taller than in Baenok!   Some even seemed to be leaning to one side and she saw two that looked like they’d fallen into each other, and had simply been reinforced and built up from there.   She even spotted a building that had the wall facing the street filled with windows going up five stories, though she was sure that the top window must be for a loft area.  She wanted to walk in just to see if the entrance was really that high, or if it was a trick the architect has used.
    While she stared at it she was not watching where she was going and walked into someone’s back. After a quick apology she found where the recruits needed to be and got in line behind a group of older men.  A quick head count revealed that none had gotten lost, and neither of the twins had succeeded in sneaking away. 
    The other men were talking about the dismal quality of recruits this year.  When Robyn walked up to one of them and pulled on his coat they broke off their conversation to gape at the blue headed boy. One of the men with gray peppering his beard, and a wide-brimmed hat that shaded his eyes and covered more than half his face, said, “You see here, this boy is so under-developed that he doesn’t even look eight years old.”
    One of the men made the connection to the meaning of Laurilli’s loose left sleeve and said, “That girl is even missing an arm!”
    Laurilli said, “Excuse him, he’s young-looking, but he is eight. You can tell because he constantly forgets his manners.”  She said the last bit to Robyn.
    Robyn shook his head and said, “They said Robyn’s father was dismal quality!”
    Laurilli said, “Do you know what that means?”
    Robyn shook his head and said, “No, but you do and you looked at them like you look at the twins.”
    Laurilli smiled and said, “I’m sure I did.”   She turned to the men again and said, “Please excuse us.”
    They did a double take at Laurilli, and the gray-bearded man said, “Girl you cannot be serious about taking part in the training!  You’re, well, you’re missing an arm!”
    Obviously.
    Laurilli said, “I wasn’t aware there were any exceptions.  If you’re saying there are I’d much rather be sleeping in my comfortable bed.”
    “Then what are you doing here?”
    She sighed, “I’m here to train, sir.”
    “Go home girl. We need a cripple to fight our battles for us like we need a swift kick in the ass.”
    They really need a swift kick in the ass so…
    Laurilli smiled at the dragons’ thoughts and said, “I hate to disagree sir, but the messenger who told us about the mandatory training, knew that I was missing an arm, but he said that I was skilled enough to join this year.”
    The gray-bearded man said, “Really?  This I have to see.  How skilled are you?”
    “I am good with my rapier, and I am working my way back to being accomplished in unarmed combat.”
    “What’s that sword you wear.”
    Laurilli sighed, “It’s called a rapier and I’m good enough with it.” She ignored the fact that for the last several days she had been beaten mercilessly by Heathyr as her mom drilled more advanced skills into her through practice.
    That’s just because you and your husband both enjoy ignoring my helpful suggestions.
    A helpful suggestion is by definition useful.  You’re suggestion that we strip down to our underwear to be able to more clearly see where we were being hit was not.
    It would have been useful at relieving me of boredom.
    The gray beard said, “Girl, no one your age and limitation could possibly have more than a passing understanding of unarmed fighting.  Your body could not handle it.”
    Laurilli shrugged, she looked up and saw that the sun was, thankfully, practically at the noon hour, so she smiled and said, “It was a pleasure to meet you sirs, but the reason we are here is about to