Not wanting any further drama, I decided to keep my peace with an awkward silence until they finished removing my harness. I left them, once I was down to my gambeson, but I reminded them to scrub and oil my plate, and gave them each a bronze coin.
Taking my leave of them, I had a complaining Larynda take my package to my room and went to the male baths. The heavy weight of it would be good training for her, I rationalized. Before entering, I made sure to leave my foul-smelling gambeson in a laundry basket to be cleaned later.
In the baths, I finally had a moment of privacy. Scrubbing myself thoroughly with a coarse block of soap, I was intent on washing away the day's travails. There was no pleasure in it; it was a task that simply had to be done. I attacked my skin again and again until the water I used to rinse myself ran clear. Lost in this ritual of purification, I was almost completely caught off guard when someone entered.
A step on a wet stone tile was the only thing that gave away their presence. Vulnerable in my nakedness, I found myself automatically in a fighting pose on the balls of my feet. It was Zariyah, wearing nothing more than a thin slip of cloth that suggested more than it hid. An enigmatic smile played on her face, and her crimson eyes were filled with an odd intensity.
Closing the door behind her, she delicately stepped toward me with open invitation. Despite being truly at a loss, I noticed something odd about her movements, like a poor actress following a hastily written script or a puppet being forced. Her loose shift fell to the floor and there was a hint of whimsy and madness echoed in her footsteps.
No words were exchanged, for none could be given, and none were needed, as she placed a delicate finger on my chest, tracing a line down to my navel.
*****
She was the first to leave. It had been an odd affair, as I was the only one who could give voice to their pleasure. Our coupling bore the grim shadow of an almost masturbatory act. Zariyah, for her part, offered no sign save for the subtle tightening of her eyes and a faint parting of her lips, scant evidence that she had felt anything at all during our copulation. What should have sated left only a hollow echo in its wake and barren satisfaction once we were finally done.
There had been no joy to it.
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I was at a loss as to why she had done what she had done. The timing was strange to say the least, almost as if planned or forced. And, it just seemed so random and out of the blue.
Mistrustful of some hidden purpose, I went over the flow of events. Concluding with myself that she had given herself to me freely, I felt a moment’s relief that soon evaporated like spit on a hot kiln. Though there had been almost no choice on my part, as it would have been downright rude to refuse her, there was still the matter of the fact that we were currently enjoying her mother’s hospitality.
No matter what tale I spun, I saw that the blame would lie squarely on my shoulders. I was in a slight bind as relations outside of marriage with women of quality were generally frowned upon. But was she a woman of quality? That was indeed the question, for she had been, in the not-so-distant past, a de facto body slave of two masters…
It had been a conundrum I had not taken into consideration until after the fact, when clarity of thought returned. Still, it was better to regret doing a thing than to regret not doing it.
Strangely, I thought of Elenora. I had not seen her for a while, and I found my imagination superimposing her face over the recent memories of my time with Zariyah. Shaking my head, I washed off the last of my sweat and bodily fluids. Drying myself, I threw the towels into a basket before I left the baths, in borrowed robes, only in an ever so slightly better mood than when I had entered them.
Looking around the first floor, there was no sign of Zariyah, nor Elenora for that matter, which was a small mercy. I did however find Kidu and Elwin enthusiastically enjoying a repast of skewered meat and vegetables. My stomach rumbled at the inviting smell, but I still had other things to attend to first. I asked them both to join me in my room at their leisure, to which I received a few mumbled replies, between mouthfuls, that I concluded to be assent.
The heavy package I had received from Vincenzio lay on the bed, an ominous reminder of our accord. I undid the knots of the leather coverings to reveal a thing of most brutal purpose, which brought a grin to my face. It was a quest reward.
About two paces long, the polearm rested against a backdrop of shadowed leather. Its lengthy, dark shaft was banded with ferrules of an even darker metal, providing strength and a hint of menace. A third of the way down was a simple crossguard to protect the wielder's grip or to enhance it for forceful thrusts. At the lethal end, a short-bladed spearhead gleamed dully. Below it, a sinister spike jutted out on one side, while on the other, a heavy hammerhead awaited, designed to crush the armor of any foe unfortunate enough to cross its path.
My initial guess had been correct. It was a poleaxe, a Lucerne hammer if I was not mistaken. Delighted and almost jumping for joy, I cast a spell to confirm its properties.
Shocksteel Lucerne ‘Bellringer’ - [Lesser Magical Weapon]
Durability 600/600