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

start.” 
    Laurilli turned and started to walk off, with Robyn in tow, when she heard the gray beard ask, “Girl, what is your name?”
    She smiled and knew her dimples were showing when she said, “Laurilli. I’d have your name as well, sir.”
    His eyebrow twitched as he answered, “I am known by some as Roain.”
    Laurilli continued to walk away, pushing her way to join in the group of people at the front of the stage.  Slowly the rest of her group came to stand around her.  A loud trumpet sound echoed throughout the square, all the talking ground to a halt, and everyone turned toward the stage.  Out walked eight men one of whom Laurilli recognized at the messenger who had recruited there group to join in the training.  The announcer asked that those who were recruited by these men to line up in front of them.  Laurilli, and the rest of her group, walked over to stand in front of her messenger, and noticed that their line was far shorter than all the others.  She looked to her right and left and saw that all the other lines were made up of dozens more people. 
    She felt a hand slam down on her right shoulder, “Howa!  Lovely Laurilli made it!”  Laurilli turned to see Enan and his son. Behind them were several other people Laurilli recognized from the camp last night.  She was glad to have other people in her line, and even though his face did not give anything away, Laurilli could tell that the messenger was glad, that more people than just Laurilli and her group had shown up.
    She whispered to Basam, “I thought for a moment that we were going to be the only ones who made it on time.”
    Enan spat to the side, ignored the angry, “hey,” and said, “Ack, me an’ me boy ‘ould o’ been ‘ere ferst, sept’n that we done stayed behind ‘an woke this sorry lot up.” He threw his thumb over his shoulder and gestured to include those behind himself.  “Speak’in o’ tha’, why’d’n’ you wake us up?”
    Laurilli said, “I figured that getting here on time was part of the test, to see if we have what it takes to be in trained in the first place. Also, I think that anyone who slept through the ruckus we made getting ready deserves the punishment of being late.”
    Enan scratched his chin and said, “Well, I don’ know ‘bout tha’, but I’m still glad tha’ I helped out these boyz.”
    By then a man had been talking about the honor of being in the first training class and that the safety of the whole was more important that the safety of the few.  Laurilli grinned and thought, that was not well received!
    No it wasn’t. He’s basically telling the people that they are forced to be here and that they’re already considered an, ‘acceptable loss.’
    That’s what he meant?  I missed that.
    “To wrap this up, I’d like to introduce you to one of the men-” a woman coughed loudly.  The speaker said, “One of the men and women, who will be training you. One of the Numbers--the hero, named Three!”  The whole square burst into cheers and applause. 
    Enan put his arm around her and pulled her to his side in glee, “This is why me an’ me boy decided to come fo’ this, we had heard so much about this man, some say tha’ h’’s the best o’ all the Numbers.” Laurilli stretched on her toes and craned her neck to get a glance at this man.  She saw the man with the wide brimmed hat and the graying beard—who had told her to go home--walk on stage and remove his hat.  There, tattooed on his forehead, was a golden tattoo of a trident. It clearly depicted the number three.  His eyes scanned the crowd, and for an instant his eyes met Laurilli’s. She shivered as Three’s glance moved on to the next person.  Laurilli had been in the presence of men who could kill other men as easily as regular men killed bugs, but Three’s presence sent a chill down her spine.  Laurilli swallowed and wondered if she wanted to learn what Three could teach her.
    “During this martial