Elias watched as the men and a few of their servants were permitted through a gilded gate. They had seen Conrad hasten along the procession of pilgrim knights to catch up, and he was among those who went in. A subdued moan of disappointment went through the procession when, after admitting only about two dozen of their numbers, the gate was closed. Armed men, giants really, with pale hair and pale eyes, stepped in front of the door, holding weapons and ready for an argument.
“The Verangian guards!” Black Beast indicated the guards with a sweep of his hand. “Norsemen. The emperor’s elite personal army. Magnificent, aren’t they?”
Men unarmed but dressed in elaborate garb came forth and started to lead the rest of the party off through an alley that ran along the palace wall. “Those are eunuchs,” Gerhardt told Elias. “Watch out for them. The ones that still have their peckers are usually sodomites.”
“You mean some have their members still?” Elias asked.
“Most of them do. A lot of those who have that chopped off die of fever from infection. Only the ones actually housed with the royal women have their balls and cocks removed.” Gerhardt cringed.
Elias mirrored the men’s protective grab at their own groins. “But can they still, um, function?”
Alain chuckled. “They can. That’s why the warning. Don’t lean over to pick anything up when one is around.”
Albrecht scowled.
A heavily scented eunuch approached their party. He was dressed in robes of sea-green silk with gold embroidery at the neck, sleeves, hem, and open front over a fine white shirt and wore an outlandish hat made of some sort of brocade. “Most gracious, please to accompany me to the palace gardens. My name is Andronikos Komnenos. It is my distinct honor to have you all as guests in my villa.”
The three knights exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. Elias tried not to look at the eunuch’s groin area.
Only Elias met the man’s eye. He saw a tall, well-made man with strong facial features and a short beard with just a hint of gray streaking the black. His dark eyes sparkled as he nodded in return to Elias’s frank inspection.
Andronikos led them down the alley. Elias was appalled to hear Gerhardt whisper to Alain, “But I thought eunuchs couldn’t grow facial hair.”
The eunuch turned with an indulgent smile. “That is usually correct, my lords. It depends on the age of the boy when he is castrated.”
Albrecht smiled triumphantly at the three knights’ backs.
Andronikos, accompanied by two male servants, led them through a small gate into a large garden and bade them rest while he went to his house and arranged for their rooms. As soon as the eunuch’s back could be seen hurrying down the alley, the three knights began to jest about him and eunuchs in general.
Elias quickly called to Albrecht, “Squire, come with me. I need you to help me fix a broken thong on my chain mail.” He led him a short distance, to where a fountain played. “I am sorry, Albrecht. Do you want me to tell them to lay off?”
His squire fiddled with the hem of his mail. There were no broken thongs, but he had to act like he was doing something. From where he knelt, he replied, “No, my lord, it is not necessary. I should be used to that by now. Besides, I think Alain might be hiding something himself.”
“You think he is a sod… a lover of men?”
Albrecht grimaced at his slip. “I don’t know, but I’ve caught him looking at you with that sort of look.”
Elias looked over at the French knight. “Either that, or he knows what I am.”
They drifted back to the three knights after giving them time to get the eunuch jests out of their systems. “You should see that fountain,” he said. “It has more gold on it than an archbishop’s robe.”
All five glanced over as Andronikos came toward them. “Please to come with me, noble sirs.”
As they went out of the garden and down the alley, Alain asked, “Komnenos? That’s the basileus’s surname, is it not?”
The eunuch’s placid smile turned to him. “That is a fact, glorious sir. I am his cousin thrice removed.”
“Why did he remove you?” Gerhardt asked.
“Or what did he remove?” Black Beast inserted.
Elias whirled. “Is that the behavior of a knight of the Cross?” he shot at them both.
“Do not chide the noble knights, my lord, on my account,” the eunuch said gently. “I am not ashamed of what I am. If the good sirs derive entertainment from that, I do not mind. In our golden city, being a eunuch can bring riches, power, and gifts. My mother and father chose this life for me so that I might serve the basileus the better.”
Seeing the three knights look humbled, Elias smirked back at them triumphantly.
The rooms they were given in the palatial house of the emperor’s cousin thrice removed were as large and well-appointed as many of the halls the five had seen in Germany and France. Each was housed with a choice of servants, male or female, though Elias insisted he was content to keep his own squire with him. They were allowed to rest. Andronikos sent a servant to tell them they would be roused from their beds to have baths in time for him to conduct them to the palace for a feast. The three knights instantly regretted asking for male servants, imagining the delights of a woman bathing them.
Rising from the luxuriantly soft bed in his room, Elias saw that fresh clothes had been set out for him. A large metal tub was in the middle of the floor with a screen around three sides of it. A young woman sat on its edge and swirled fragrant oils into the steamy water. Elias stopped short when he saw her, leaving the laces of his linen shirt partly untied.
“Where’s Albrecht? I mean, my squire?” he croaked out.
The woman quickly stood and bowed. “Excellency, your squire has gone to inquire about your animals. If it will be permitted, your humble servant will prepare your bath and bathe you.”
She kept her eyes down, her gaze curtained by thick, long lashes. She was clad in a light silk gown that did little to hide the darker parts of her anatomy. Elias’s eyes strayed to areolae and pubic hair clearly outlined under the thin fabric. He caught himself, embarrassed, but it looked like the woman had not noticed. “That’s not necessary. My squire will take care of that when he returns.”
The woman looked up, dismayed. Before she could lower her gaze, Elias caught sight of honey-colored eyes. Honey! He had never seen eyes that color before. His throat tight, he stammered, “What is your name? Where are you from?”
The woman answered in a servant’s respectful voice. “My name is Maliha, Excellency. I am a Turk. Well, half Turk, half Greek. My mother was Turkish and named me.” She looked troubled, as if she had spoken too much.
“Oh?” Elias responded. “That’s interesting. She raised you alone?” He leaned a hip against a table, crossed one ankle over the other, and stood, trying not to let his glance sink to those fascinating shadows. Without his realizing it, the tip of his tongue slipped out and ran along his lower lip.
Maliha twisted her hands together. “The Excellency is kind to ask about this unworthy servant.”
“No, I am truly interested.” Elias started to chew on a fingernail.
“I do not know who my father was, lord. I only know that he was Greek.”
Elias looked up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to….”
Tilting her head, Maliha looked up at him. “No, Excellency, it is for me to beg your forgiveness. I will leave you alone. Just call for more hot water and towels, should your Excellency need them.”
Elias discovered he didn’t want the woman to leave, in spite of his initial panic. “Can’t you stay until my squire returns?”
Something like trepidation crossed the woman’s face. “Of course, noble sir. Just tell me what… you want me… to do for you.” She appeared to try to hide her confusion. “Do you want me to undress?”
Elias’s face went red. “No! Let’s just talk. I just want you to talk with me,” he assured her quickly. “Until my squire returns. Unless you will be chastise
d for lingering.”
Maliha looked up again, her face full of uncertainty. Then a thought seemed to cross her mind. Her features relaxed. “I am here for your pleasure, Excellency. If you want to talk, I shall talk, and deem it my rare privilege.”
The two stood not speaking, Maliha’s eyes downcast, Elias’s averted, until he ventured, “Can you not look at me, Maliha?”
“I will do whatever you ask, my lord.”
“Then look at my face.” The dark beauty lifted her chin and looked straight into Elias’s face. “What a remarkable color!”
“Excellency?”
“Your eyes. I have never seen honey-colored eyes on anyone.”
Maliha’s face displayed some relief. “A lioness, my lord. They often have honey-colored eyes.”
“They do? I have never seen a real lion. Mayhap I should call you my lioness?”
Maliha peered into his face. “You may call me whatever your Excellency wishes.” She took a step toward him. “Do I please you?”
The door to the chamber opened and Albrecht came in, startled to find his “lord” talking to a young Turkish woman.
Elias was both relieved and regretful. “Here is my squire,” he proclaimed ebulliently. “He’s all I need. You can go now, Maliha.” Seeing her crestfallen look, he assured her, “But you will come back some time, will you not?”
The woman bowed several times as she backed out of the chamber. Albrecht looked at her as she passed him. “Your Excellency need only call for your poor servant,” Maliha said, then turned and dashed out the door.
“What the hell was that all about?” Albrecht asked.
Elias stared at the closed door. “That? That was a honey-eyed lioness.”
Albrecht looked from the door back to his “master.” A smile started to play on his lips. “Did you not want her to bathe you?” he inquired, nodding toward the screen that hid the tub.
Elias looked up with wide eyes. “Oh my God, no! How could I do that? She’d find out!”
THE MORNING after the grand feast, Elias awoke late. The sun streamed through the open, latticed window. He looked over to find a small round table sitting next to the bed with a sweetened drink made of honey, fruit, almonds, and yogurt, some flat bread, and a hot drink that was bitter to the tongue. Somewhere, someone was playing an exotic stringed instrument. The breeze wafting lazily into the chamber was fragrant with the scent of orange blossoms. He sighed deeply with pleasure.
“Why don’t you come in and share this food with me?” he called to Albrecht, who slept on a pallet near the room’s door.
“Are you awake, Excellency?” came a soft voice from the balcony of his chamber. The gauzy window drapes parted and the honey-eyed Maliha looked in.
Elias scrambled to pull up the cover so that his loose shirt, open in the front, would not give away his possession of small but decidedly female breasts. “You?” he cried. “I thought you were Albrecht.” He realized that with the sound of Maliha’s voice, the music had stopped. “Was that you playing?”
“Did it disturb you, my lord?”
“No, of course not. It was delightful. But Maliha, you must stop coming into my room unannounced. It’s… unseemly.” Elias knew he must be scarlet with embarrassment.
Maliha stood framed in the door to the balcony, a shaft of morning light giving her dark hair an aura. Her face was open and unhappy. “But, exalted one, you asked me to come back. If this lowly servant displeases you, I am sure my master will find you one more to your liking.” Her eyelashes dropped to kiss her cheek. She ventured, “Mayhap a young man or boy?”
From the bed, Elias stared at her. “N-no, I mean, you do not disturb me. It’s just, well, in my homeland a young… man… values his… um, privacy. We expect servants to make themselves known by tapping or scratching on the door before entering.”
The darkly lovely young woman looked ready to weep. “But, your Excellency, I did tap on the door. You did not call out, so I came in.”
Openmouthed, Elias shook his head. “No, Maliha, I mean tap on the door, wait, and only come in when you hear Albrecht or me say to come in.”
Maliha nodded, but it was not clear if she understood. She glanced up to peer sideways into the bed. “Is Master Albrecht not here?” She quickly added, “My lord?”
“He must not be, if you came in the door there.” Elias pulled aside the light bed curtain to look to where Albrecht slept. The pallet was cleared away, probably stowed under Elias’s bed. “No, he is not here.”
“I have displeased your Excellency. I hope you will accept an apology from so unworthy a person,” Maliha murmured meekly.
Elias gazed at her, exasperated. “I know you are supposed to talk like that to… well, your master’s guests, but I wish you wouldn’t. I hate that sort of talk from a woman, from anyone.” Elias glared off to the side. He did not therefore see the flash of surprised anger in the woman’s eyes.
Just then, a tap came at the chamber door. “Come,” he called. He was relieved when the person who looked in was not one of the three knights. Nor was it Albrecht. One of the male servants bowed, hardly giving Maliha a glance, and said, “My master would like to have the company of his honor to sup with him this day in the pavilion. May I tell his Excellency to expect the young lord?” He waited silently for an answer.
“What time of day is it now, and when is the supper?” Elias inquired.
With another bow, the man supplied, “The sun is near zenith, your lordship, and supper will be in just over two hours.”
He racked his brain for any sort of commitment. Thinking of none, he nodded. “Tell my gracious host that I should be honored to have supper with him. May I ask who else will attend?”
Now the man glanced at Maliha. Looking back but not quite at the bed, the man replied, “You are to be my master’s especial guest.”
“Oh. Very well. Can you find my squire and send him to me? I wish to dress.”
Again, the man looked over at Maliha. “May this lowly maidservant be of service in that regard, your honor?”
“No. I want Albrecht.”
With raised eyebrows, the man at the door bowed and said, “Very good, your Excellency. Maliha!” He clapped his hands and said something in Greek that Elias could not understand. Whatever it was, it distressed the young woman. She scurried to the door and slipped out behind the manservant.
Elias hurried to assure him, “The maidservant is not at all displeasing to me. I just prefer my squire.”
The man bowed once more, very deeply, and backed out.
“How peculiar,” Elias breathed.
WITH HIS tardy squire’s help, Elias washed and dressed to be ready for the supper.
Albrecht hesitated after speaking the words, “My lord?”
“Yes?”
“It might sound odd coming from me, but remember the other day, what the knights were saying about eunuchs? That you need to watch out that they don’t, well, take advantage?”
Elias stared, dumbfounded, at his squire. “Are you saying that this supper is… a seduction?”
“I—it could be.”
He laughed. “Somehow I don’t think the basileus would think much of even a cousin, albeit three times removed, raping the pilgrim knights he has asked to help him repel the Turks. Men can be raped, can’t they?”
“Indeed they can, my lord. But Andronikos might think you may, well, want to be seduced. He is a fine-looking man. You are too, after a manner of speaking.”
Adjusting his belt to allow for the proper draping of his tunic, Elias protested, “But he sent me a woman to, well, wash me, and do whatever I wanted.” He looked up at Albrecht, realization dawning. “And I keep sending her away. Oh sweet Jesus.”
Albrecht looked away. “Just be aware. That’s all I am saying.”
Elias looked back at Albrecht’s face and saw an impish grin there.
“It would be rather a comedy, wouldn’t it?”
Albrecht started to laugh himself. Through his
amusement, he managed to get out, “It certainly is a situation I never thought I’d witness.”
Chapter Nine
Seductions
ENTERING THE garden from the villa, Elias looked for the pavilion. It was a large tent made of pure white muslin. He crossed to where it stood, right in the middle of the walled inner garden. As he approached, a manservant in pristine white bowed and held the flap open for him to enter.
The interior of the pavilion was cool but bright. He saw why instantly. It had been built over and around a small fountain that kept the heat of the sun that radiated through the white walls from making the space into an oven. The scent of jasmine and some exotic oriental incense met his delighted senses. The floor of the tent was all luxuriant rugs. He saw Andronikos settled comfortably into a pile of opulent, brocaded, and betasseled pillows. He was drawing smoke through some sort of bottle with water in it. He gave Elias a courteous bow.
“Ah, my lord. Welcome to my humble pleasure garden. I hoped you would be able to share my supper with me. Come, come and sit here.” Andronikos was in royal-blue silk with gold thread embroidery in a geometric pattern down the frogged front. It was a color that became his graying hair and beard. Elias went to the pile of cushions and sank into a position with his legs crossed at his ankles. “Will you take wine?”
“Your Excellency, I am flattered at the invitation. We are not expecting any of the other knights?”
Andronikos smiled languidly. “No indeed, we shall be quite alone.”
The man poured wine into a cup from a ewer with a long spout. Elias took the wine cup and drank. “What is that bottle you are smoking from?”
“It is called a hookah. The water takes the bite out of the smoke. The herbs in it are a mix of mild drugs and fragrant leaves. It is harmless,” he added, seeing Elias’s hesitation. He went on, “I shall have the servants bring in the dishes right away, if you please, so we will not be disturbed.”
Elias accepted the pipe’s mouthpiece and sucked as his host clapped his hands and ordered his servant to bring in the food. Elias coughed. “If the water takes out the bite, I’d hate to taste it without the filtering.”
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