“Oh that’s right, you wear long sleeves. You don’t want people to see those marks on your arms. I can’t imagine why – they’re beautiful,” she commented casually, as she pulled down a different robe and threw it back at him.
Alec pulled the acceptable clothing over his head, and stood to pull it down around his knees, then climbed back in bed. “Are you ready?” Rief asked expectantly, then opened the door and motioned for someone to come in.
Reast, the clan leader of the Indige clan entered his room, and stood by the window. “You’ll have to heal soon so that we can move you upstairs to your new suite with the clan members,” he told Alec. “You certainly earned it yesterday! The emperor can have no choice but to award the invasion to us now. The way you fought against all those odds is an epic story, Tarnum,” he said. “I want you to know,” he added in a more serious tone, “that I will make good on every promise and more, for all the glory you have given us this week.”
Alec appreciated the support, but longed to ask Reast about the sabotage to his blade, as he suddenly remembered the cause for his difficulty yesterday. Instead, he simply nodded farewell as the clan leader left the room. As Reast left, Marjet entered the room to say a few words of congratulations, as did several other clan members, many of whom Alec did not even know. “There are slaves who wish to congratulate you as well, healer, but they shouldn’t be seen coming up here. Do you feel like seeing them down in their own area where the clan won’t see them?” Rief told him afterwards.
Alec felt his stomach rumble, and Rief heard it at the same time. “But maybe you’d like some breakfast first?” she smiled as she rose. “I’ll bring a tray back in just a few minutes.”
Alec lay alone in bed, and thought about how quickly he had come to rely on Rief for his domestic comfort and needs. He had not had such a sense of comfort in a home since he had shared his Goldenfields shop with Bethany a long, long time ago. What was the golden-haired water ingenaire doing now, he wondered? She was perhaps already married to Tritos, living in Oyster Bay. She had managed to move on with her life after ending her relationship with him, while he had stumbled away, then tried unsuccessfully to transfer his affections to Imelda.
When Rief returned with the tray she brought it directly to the bedroom. “Are you awake?” she asked softly from the door, seeing Alec lying with his eyes closed. He waved his hand without opening his eyes, and she brought the tray into the room, laying it in the center of the bed, then sitting down on the far side.
Alec opened his eyes as he sat up, and began to eat from the tray. “Today is the extra day of festivities the emperor called for after you saved the princess Waines, so the house will be empty soon. All the clan members want to go to the fair, especially since Gessen won the archery and you won the fencing for Indige. Would you like to go out as well?”
Alec shook his head no. He wanted a quiet day. His injuries really did need some rest and time to heal, and he wanted to have time to think about the restorers that were carrying the invasion force to the Dominion. And he wanted to avoid another incident of possible exposure to Mooreen.
“Is there anything you want?” Rief asked. “Is there anything else you want me to bring you – more food, drink, books, clothes, women?”
Alec looked at her with raised eyebrows, and shook his head. He lay back on the pillows and closed his eyes for several moments. Reaching out, he placed his hand on Rief’s back, and healed the marks from her whipping the rest of the way
“Oh, thank you, healer. I’d gotten so used to that little bit of discomfort I’d forgotten about that, but it does feel better,” she told him.
Alec sat up. He pulled on his gown. “What? You want to get dressed?” Rief accurately interpreted. “I’ll get a set of robes for you,” she said as she pulled something from the closet and tossed it to him. He motioned for her to turn around, and then he changed his clothes. “Where do you want to go?” she asked moments later.
Alec motioned as if fencing with his sword again. “You want to do some fencing?” Rief checked, and Alec shook his head negatively. “You want to go to the armory?”she tried. He shook her off again, wondering how to explain that he wanted to see his sabotaged weapon. He resorted to pantomime again, pretending to take a sword and break it over his knee. “Oh, the broken sword. You want it?” she asked, and he nodded. She looked baffled.
“I’m not sure where it is. Let’s go to the armory and ask there,” she suggested, then led the way out of the room and into the mansion halls. Alec followed her through the nearly empty home until they came to the armory, where they found Blades the armorer polishing blades.
“Well, look who’s here!” he said brightly as Alec entered the room, raising his voice over the sound of blade sharpening in a back room. “I didn’t get to see you in action yesterday, but they say you did things with that blade that no one could do!” the man exclaimed, putting down his tools. “You’ll have to come down here and give lessons and such!” he laughed at the thought.
“Master, we wondered if you could tell where the healer’s blade has gone, the one he used yesterday to win the tournament,” Rief spoke up.
“Why it’s right back there,” he motioned towards a door. “That’s it making all the noise. Cander came down and offered to try to take the jagged edge off for you.” He said.
Alec removed the glove from his left hand, then stepped quickly into the room, and seeing Cander, walked over to him. Cander removed the blunt end of the blade from the sharpening stone as he saw who it was. “I thought you’d like for this to have a smoother edge,” he said, clearly nervous. Alec reached down and placed his hand on the hilt, pulling it away from Cander, despite his unwillingness to let go. Alec pulled more firmly and Cander yielded, as Rief and the armorer joined him in the room. Alec let his left hand rest on Cander’s hand for a moment, and he felt a wave of fear, jealousy, guilt and loathing sweep across him. He knew that Cander was the saboteur.
Cander had smoothed away half the jagged edge, Alec noticed, but half was still intact. Alec lifted the blade to the armorer and pointed at the incisions that remained, the evidence that the blade had been tampered with the day before.
“Lad, what happened here? Why is the blade like this? It’s no wonder it broke in combat yesterday,” he responded as he examined the metal.
Alec looked at Cander, and pointed. “I don’t know what happened. I saw how you won with just half a blade yesterday, but I have no reason to damage your blade. Why would I? We all need you to win for the clan.” The accused stood up in a huff. “You may think that because of your success you can do whatever you want, but you can’t. I was born into this clan, and you can’t just top me overnight.” He pushed hurriedly past the group and left the armory.
Rief looked at Alec. “Healer, do you really think he tried to make your sword break in the tournament?” Alec nodded. “That’s a serious accusation. Do you want to formally lodge it?” she asked. He looked at her quizzically. “You know what that means, don’t you?” she asked, and he shook his head.
“You can make an official complaint to the clan leader, if you have someone else to second your claim,” the armorer butted in. “And then the clan leader has to appoint two clan members and someone from outside the house to find out all the facts and make a report to him.”
“And then the clan leader makes a decision about what happens, who gets punished, and so on,” Rief finished. “And Cander is the clan leader’s son.”
“I’d be careful, and think about it for a while, if I were you,” the armorer cautioned. “And I agree the blade was tampered with to make it break. Did you see Cander do it?” Alec shook his head. “Neither did I, or anyone else, I’m sure.”
Alec lifted the blade and looked at it closely, then handed it to Rief. He walked around the room, and picked up another blade. “You want that one?” the armorer asked. Alec nodded affirmatively as he tested the weight and balance of the blade, flipping it from one hand to the other. “You can
have it then; you’ve earned a great deal more than that.”
Alec shook his hand in thanks, placed the blade in a scabbard that he belted on, and left the armory. Once out in the hallway, he made motions like he was pulling on reins, asking her to take him to the stables so they could go for another ride.
“What are you doing? trying to lift something?”she couldn’t interpret his motion. He tried again, making a trotting motion. “Oh, I see, you want to ride horses again?” she asked, as he nodded. “But I thought you wanted to just stay quiet and calm today?” she followed up, but he shrugged, then shook his head no.
“The stables it is,” she tugged his hand and led the way towards their destination. “Do you really believe Cander did that to your sword? What made you think so?”
He took the broken sword from her hand, and pointed to the scoring that had weakened the metal. “That made the metal break when it struck another sword?” she asked. “That’s awful. Why would Cander do that to you?” Alec had no way to communicate the jealousy he suspected Cander felt – jealousy over Alec’s quick success in the clan, his quick success in gaining fame, or his quick success in removing Rief herself from Cander’s reach.
“Are you going to be safe? He seems like the type who could hold a grudge for a long time,” she cautioned him. Alec held up his hands to show no concern. He expected to leave the Michian empire sometime soon, before any plot could be hatched against him. An inkling of an idea had begun to form in his mind, a way to prevent any more invading armies from entering the Dominion. And if it worked, he would then be able to return to his own land himself.
They soon reached the stables, and Alec indicated the same horse they had ridden the day before. Together he and Rief mounted, and Alec started in the same direction they had gone before. “Where are we going, healer?” Rief asked curiously. He nodded his head forward. “Thanks for the brilliant clue,” she muttered, and threw a soft punch into his kidney. He turned and smiled, then continued forward. After they made the first turn she asked. “Are we going back where we were before?” and he nodded.
“There’s absolutely no good reason for the best swordsman in the empire to be shopping for weeds in a farmers market!” she insisted. “At least stop at a nice restaurant where we can have a decent lunch. You’ve earned it with all you’ve been through, and I’ve earned it for putting up with you! Come on, you’ll stop for lunch, won’t you?” Alec nodded agreement, and within five minutes Rief was pointing at a street side cafe. “This is Mulberry Street. There! I’ve wanted to eat there since I was a little girl! Stop the horse and help me down,” she insisted.
Short moments later they were sitting at a table under the shade of an umbrella, watching the people walk or ride by, some on horses, some in carriages, some in plain working wagons hauling goods. A waiter arrived. “I’ll order for both of us,” Rief said authoritatively. “Bring us a bottle of sweet wine, and a bottle of berry juice,” she sneered at Alec’s abstentious habits, “then bring a loaf of the pine nut bread, and some venison and noodles.” The waiter nodded and left. “That’s good for lunch, but what I really want are the desserts. My mother used to tell me about what the Canare ladies ate when they came here!”
“Oh healer, am I bad to drink wine at mid-day? My mother told me the Canare ladies would do it all the time,” Rief recollected. “And then sometimes, after they drank a bottle of wine, they’d go home and do something else. Why healer, you’re blushing!” she laughed.
“Here, try this bread!” she offered as the waiter placed a loaf on their table. Alec enjoyed the savory taste and the dense texture. Rief was silent as she too chewed on a chunk of bread and sipped her wine, looking contemplative. Alec leaned back and looked at the way the bright sun reflected off the pastel colors of the buildings along the road, as architectural features projected shadows that rested in dark, stark relief to the brightly painted stucco of the buildings. He had grown used to the heat of this city quickly, Alec realized, as he sat languidly.
He’d fought, and rode and rested in the heat, and suddenly he wanted nothing so much as a bath. Could he stand to wait until after visiting the market to return back to the mansion to bathe? In Bondell he remembered hearing mention of public baths, where men had gone to buildings with large pools of warm water to soak, and socialize or carry out business. Would there be something like that around here?
Their food was served as he sat and thought. “Uhm, this is good healer, but don’t eat too much. You want to save room for dessert!” She ate several bites. “Is there something particular you want at the market?” she looked at him as he placed a bite of food in his mouth. He nodded, then wiggled his hand to indicate some uncertainty. “You maybe want something?”
Alec wondered how to make her understand his interest in bathing. He tried rubbing himself under his arms and on his chest, then made motions with his arm like he was swimming and splashing water. “You want to go to the baths?” she asked, and he nodded vigorous agreement, pleased with both his luck that there were such facilities, and her quick comprehension.
“We can skip the dessert if you want to go to the baths quickly, as long as you promise you’ll bring me back here sometime,” Rief said, taking a bite, her eyes narrowed as she studied his face.
“Will you take me with you on the invasion?” she asked in a dramatic change of topic. “You’ll have to, or else no one will know what you want or need. What will it be like do you suppose, traveling with an army? How strange is that other land?” she asked questions with little pause for answers or consideration, seeming to be suddenly nervous.
As the waiter arrived, she pulled out Alec’s pouch of coins, still mostly full of gold from the niece of the emperor. She handed one to the waiter, then drank the last of her wine, and stood up. “Oh, I drink that to try to feel like an adult, and I’m not sure it’s the best idea,” she said. “You’re going to think I’m a lush, when I’ve only drank wine three times, and twice have been with you.”
When they got on their horse, Rief directed him to turn the horse in a new direction, and they rode along a street with tropical trees planted between the road and the setback buildings. “Here, stop,” Rief told him in front of a square building with small windows up high, near the roof. They left the horse with a stable boy and went inside. “Two for the baths, please,” Rief told the woman behind a desk, as she kept her head down. The woman took her coin, gave her change, and handed over two robes and two towels, plus a key connected to a small wooden pad.
“We’ve got Room 4,” Rief said, leading Alec down the hall. “Here it is,” she used the key to open the door, then walked in with Alec behind her. The room made it clear that Alec had not really communicated what he had in mind. The was a single large pool in the floor of the room, large enough for three or four people to submerge in, and the rest of the floor was covered in pillows, pads, and cushions. There was a click as Rief locked the door closed.
“Shall we?” Rief asked, dropping her towel and robe, and pulling her robe over her head. Alec looked at her in disbelief, even as a fleeting thought raced through his mind, telling him that her body was more like Imelda’s than Bethany’s, slender and lithe, though not quite as muscular as the Goldenfields cavalry rider.
“What?” she said, standing in her undergarments, blushing. “Are you going to change your mind? I didn’t expect you’d want to go to a bath house, but you said you did!” She reached over and undid his sword belt, causing it to fall to a muffled landing on a pad of carpet. Alec stepped back, trying to figure out how to salvage the situation. Obviously, they did have bathhouses here, but the intended activities they held were much different from what Alec had envisioned.
The water looked very inviting though, and it made him feel itchy all the more as he stood there and stared. After a moment of perplexity, he stepped back from Rief and calmly dropped his robe and towel, unloaded his bag of supplies, and pulled his own robe over his head. He still wore his undercloth, and went to kneel down be
side the water with the brief garment’s slight covering to protect his modesty. It felt cool, and he slipped his legs over the edge, then carefully lowered the rest of his body. There was a ledge around the edge, and he sat in water up to his shoulders.
Turning, he looked at Rief, and as she approached, he splashed a little water on her, causing a soft shriek. “Is this what you wanted, was to take a bath?” she asked, provoking a nod from him. “I see. Just a bath,” she said with a note of relief in her voice. “Well, I am going to join you, but I won’t get my underthings wet so that they show through my robes. You can look or not as you wish,” she warned him as her hands went to the drawstring, and he turned his head away.
Seconds later he heard her enter the water and small waves lapped against him. He turned around and she was sitting on the ledge across from him, water up to her neck, with her head thrown back and her eyes closed. She looked relaxed and serene, and Alec stared at her face, noticing how there were no lines, no wrinkles to show thought or worry or concern at this moment. He was glad she could feel so unshackled.
Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian Page 20
