Legends of the Riftwar (28 page)

‘I'm not. The war is spreading this way. Things in the north are stirring. It would have only been a matter of time before they came here. I think it a blessing. I know my girls will be safe, the other women and children as well. That was what I have been worried
about ever since the men of this place disappeared.' Wolfgar patted him on the shoulder. ‘That's why I ask you to protect my girls. I know what happens with girls who march with soldiers. I want better for them than that.'

He looked over at Asayaga.

‘No offence meant.'

‘And none taken. You speak as any father would and I swear my oath to you that I shall protect their honour with my sword and life.'

As he spoke, Asayaga drew his hunting dagger and turned it so that the hilt was pointed towards the old man, thus showing his pledge-bond. Wolfgar smiled and bowed formally from the saddle, revealing for a moment the training and breeding of old when he had performed in the courts of kings.

‘I know what the two of you intend to do once you're free of pursuit: to take up your old war again. If the two of you are fate doomed to do that, I ask that you pledge before each other now that whoever survives will see my girls to safety, to somewhere beyond the wars.'

Dennis's eyes which had softened for a moment, now glazed over again into hardness.

‘I pledge it,' Dennis said without enthusiasm and Asayaga did likewise.

Wolfgar noisily cleared his throat and wiped his eyes. ‘Foolish tears of an old man,' he said huskily.

He reined his mount around and motioned for the two to fall in by his side. Together they started down the slope to the stockade walking in silence.

The afternoon was getting late, the sun starting to slip behind the western mountains, the long shadows of the peaks spreading out across the valley. Off to his left Asayaga could see another hunting party coming in, several Kingdom archers followed by half a dozen Tsurani, a couple of his men armed with bows as well.

The gates of the stockade were open and the bath-house constructed by Asayaga's men within days after their arrival was a hive of activity, smoke billowing from the chimney, a swarm of naked men spilling out of the doorway, laughing, jumping into the slushy snow
–Gregory, who looked almost bear like in their midst, bellowing from the shock. The Kingdom men were all from the north and the ritual of a snow roll after a midwinter's bath had caught on with the Tsurani. The Kingdom men seemed to be on the verge of addiction to the Tsurani tubs. Unlike Kingdom bathing, where you'd sit in a tub while someone else poured water over your head–often cold–the Tsurani had built large round wooden tubs, large enough to hold half a dozen people each. The water was warmed ingeniously, by heating up large rocks and lowering them into the water in a metal cage, over and over, until the water seemed to be on the verge of scalding. Dennis had almost ordered the project halted when a few of the rocks had exploded upon heating, but Asayaga had insisted it was a common problem on his homeworld and that no one would be in danger once the rock had survived the first heating.

Dennis felt no pleasure at the sight of the cavorting men. The Tsurani had no shame, he had come to learn, and bathed openly in front of others, men or women, and his Marauders were becoming equally uninhibited. He did not consider this a good thing.

Other men piled into the bath-house, hanging up their tunics on pegs hammered into the outside wall, then sitting on the steps to pull off their foot-wrappings or boots before venturing in.

‘I still say it's dangerous,' Wolfgar grumbled. ‘All that hot water opens up the skin so evil vapours can get in and make you sick.'

‘How many of your men have boils?' Asayaga asked, looking over at Dennis.

‘I don't know. A dozen or so.'

‘Diseases of the skin, you Kingdom soldiers are riddled with it. You're the filthiest people I've ever laid eyes on. How often do you bathe? Once a year whether you need it or not?'

‘Like Wolfgar said, it's unhealthy. It's fine for women but they're different.'

Asayaga laughed and shook his head. ‘Try it with me.'

‘What?'

‘The bath. Yes, you, Hartraft: or are you afraid?'

Wolfgar threw back his head and laughed. ‘He's got you.'

‘We don't have much time before evening parade, so will you?'

‘Getting the dirt off you might make Alyssa notice you,' Wolfgar interjected with a grin, ‘or even Roxanne.'

As if the mention of their names was a summons, the two daughters, along with several of the women of the stockade, came out of the gate wrapped in heavy towels, laughing and pointing at the men cavorting in the slush. The sight of them caused the Kingdom soldiers to scramble, running up to grab their tunics and pull them on, a sight which made Asayaga burst into laughter since the short jackets barely covered their backsides. Gregory, grinning, took his time, waving casually to the girls. The Tsurani nodded politely, but made no attempt to hide their nakedness.

Wolfgar urged his mount forward and rode up to his daughters, but it was obvious within seconds that whatever his objections the women were going into the sauna.

‘If it wasn't his daughters going in there,' Asayaga ventured, ‘I dare say that old man would go in as well, and it wouldn't be so he could get clean.'

Dennis actually smiled.

‘Well, Hartraft,' Asayaga asked, ‘are you going in?'

‘What? Now?' He looked over at Alyssa who was sitting on the steps, pulling off her boots.

‘Yes, now. Back home men and women bathe together all the time.'

‘I don't know. These are respectable girls, they're my friend's daughters.'

‘The others aren't?' Asayaga laughed at Dennis's discomfort.

‘The women here have been doing this since we built the bath. They understand the customs.'

‘Still.'

The serving-girls led the group in, Roxanne and Alyssa following, and as the door closed again Alyssa gave him that backward glance.

‘Well, if you aren't, I am,' Asayaga announced, and heading over to the rough-hewn platform in front of the sauna he casually started to disrobe.

Dennis slowly walked over.

‘If I hear of anything going on in there–' Wolfgar announced.

‘It won't be your daughters,' Asayaga replied. ‘I made my pledge. But as for the others, old man, think of all that you are missing.'

Wolfgar grinned slyly. ‘Oh, you don't know if I've missed it or not!' Laughing, he reined his horse around and rode back into the stockade.

Stripping naked, Asayaga hung up his tunic, trousers and foot-wrappings and leaned his bow and quiver against the log wall. Even as he did so he had a sudden sharp memory of home, of the bath-house in his village, a beautiful place for the baths were the centre of any town and as such a place of pride for the villagers. It was built of the best stone, fine grained marble offset with lovely blue tiles, with hot and cold baths, hot-air rooms and steam, then afterwards you could lounge on the deck overlooking the sea and sip warm tea. His father's estate had large bathing tubs, of course, but as a boy Asayaga had preferred bathing in the village. Men and women might bathe without modesty, but a adolescent boy was an adolescent boy, he remembered with mild amusement. He had met his first lover at the bath, a girl who regarded him boldly, even though he was the son of a noble.

He looked around, aware again of just how alien this world was: the forest, snow-capped mountains; the marble and tiles replaced by logs with the bark still on them, the cracks between them chinked with dried mud and straw.

And yet, if given a choice at this moment, he wondered if he could return. In spite of all that he knew would transpire in the days ahead, at this moment he felt completely free. The Great Game, at least for now, was far away. Granted there was still his lieutenant Sugama to contend with, but ever since their arrival in Wolfgar's valley, Sugama had been relatively quiet, his embarrassment on the first night's feast having silenced him. There was no commander above him, no one from another clan manoeuvring to get him killed or humiliated. He was free.

He looked over at Dennis who was slowly, and none too eagerly, removing his jacket to reveal a sweat-stained undershirt that was ragged and grey with filth. Yes, Hartraft was the enemy, and in the ways of war and killing with stealth he was indeed frightful and unrelenting. But he was also straightforward and without guile in
his dealings. He would find the Great Game inconceivable. There was no hidden meaning within meanings, no subtlety within him; if he planned to kill someone he said so, then did it. He did it remorselessly, and without feeling, but he did it while looking his opponent in the eye.

As Dennis pulled off his shirt Asayaga was surprised by the scars that laced Hartraft's slender frame. A pink knot just below his left collarbone, from either an arrow or a rapier wound looked barely healed. As he pulled off his trousers Asayaga could see where his left calf had been sliced nearly in half, most likely a blow from someone down on the ground, and there was another wound on the thigh, a bolt apparently having gone clear through his leg.

‘You've been cut up as well,' Dennis said, as if reading Asayaga's thoughts, and pointed to the white knot of a scar on the Tsurani's chest.

Asayaga nodded. ‘An arrow at the Battle of Walinor. Went clean through me,' and he half-turned to show the exit wound.

‘Better when they do, digging an arrow out of the chest, it usually kills a man. You're lucky to have survived it.'

‘We have some good healers, better than the priest even.'

‘Corwin? He's all right, or at least I think he is.'

Asayaga sensed something. ‘You think he is?'

‘Nothing, at least not for now.'

Asayaga nodded. From inside the bath-house laughter echoed.

‘Ready for this, Hartraft?'

Dennis seemed unsure of himself and Asayaga felt a momentary pleasure in that. It was good to see the legendary Hartraft off balance, even if it was over nothing more than walking naked into a steamy room with women present.

‘Don't worry,' he offered finally. ‘The custom when women are present is for everyone to keep a small towel on for modesty. You'll find them inside the door. So let's go.'

Leading the way, Asayaga stepped inside and then broke into a grin. His men had constructed this bath-house, and had introduced the locals to the custom…but they had obviously not instructed anyone on the finer points of etiquette.

This should be interesting,
he thought with a grin as he found
a bench close to the steaming rocks then settled back to watch Hartraft's reaction. It was obvious, the moment the Kingdom soldier came through the door and reached for the small towel that wasn't there that Dennis would have been far more comfortable in the middle of a battle.

Sitting back, all Asayaga could do was to shake his head in amusement. He motioned to a corner where towels and clothes had been piled, and Hartraft hurriedly grabbed one and covered himself.

Dennis's discomfort had allowed the Tsurani Force Commander a momentary distraction. Now as he settled down to bathe himself, Asayaga had to fight to maintain his composure. Alyssa sat back in the nearest tub, her arms resting on the sides of the wooden tub, regarding Asayaga with a clear gaze and a slight smile on her lips. Struggling to remember his pledge, he used a bucket and tepid water to soap up and clean himself off.

To Dennis, Asayaga said, ‘It is easier when someone else scrubs your back. I will show you.' He made Dennis turn around, and he rubbed at the man's back, appalled at the dirt that was washed away. When he was done, he handed Dennis a clean cloth. Dennis returned the courtesy, though Asayaga thought Dennis's prior experience in giving a bath must have been to his favourite hound or a horse. Still, Tsurani impassivity prevented complaint.

When they were both clean, Asayaga said, ‘It is best to enter the water quickly. It will seem hotter than it is, because we have been cold so long.'

With that, he dropped his towel, and boldly climbed into the tub to settle in with a deep sigh of contentment opposite Alyssa. He had seen naked women many times before, and the lure of a woman had not struck him with such force since he had been a very young man. Her breasts were neither small nor large, but rather they seemed in balance for her size, and he had a great deal of trouble not staring at them.

He was saved from disgracing himself when Dennis entered the water. Then, with a yelp like a scalded dog, he leapt out of the tub. ‘Are you mad? That water's near to boiling!'

Roxanne looked at Dennis with open amusement. ‘Yes, hero. We are all being finely boiled.'

Alyssa laughed. ‘You're too hard on the man, sister.'

‘Oh, I like a hard man, well enough, but I don't think our captain is quite what I had in mind.' She stared openly at Dennis's crotch while her sister covered her mouth and tried to hide her laughter.

Dennis's pride was injured. He realized that if these two girls and the other women of the compound could endure the heat, so could he. He ignored Roxanne's barb and moved to the edge of the tub. With jaws clenched he stepped back into the tub and for a moment it seemed he would leap out again. Beads of perspiration appeared on his brow, then ran down his face as he sat back next to the Tsurani.

He felt tense at first, but as the minutes passed he seemed to gradually relax, stretching his legs out, and letting the heat sink into his bones. The two sisters had their heads together, whispering, and Asayaga seemed to be looking everywhere in the room except at Alyssa. Dennis let his mind wander and after a moment found himself startled by the rattle of metal. He looked around in surprise to find one of Asayaga's men loading red-hot stones into a basket. He watched as the soldier pulled out a basket on a chain, then lowered the fresh one in, the red rocks filling the room with yet more steam.