I didn’t risk another nod but stood there feebly, wondering what he was going to do with me. He marched me forcibly to the courtyard. I thought he was taking me to the gate, but we veered to one side, and before I knew it, I was being dunked into the horse trough. The freezing water drove the blood from my head. I came up gasping, streaming. He dunked me again. I was outraged beyond words, which was rather redundant, as I couldn’t speak anyway. Finally he dropped me onto the ground, and I lay shivering and retching, praying for death.
I heard his footsteps approach once more and cowered away, only to see him holding Aleksey under his arm. The prince didn’t even look conscious. He became so, after his first dunking. He hoarsely shouted a stream of vile curses that I suspected he had picked up in these very barracks. Colonel Johan completely ignored him and dunked him, time and time again, until he held up a weak hand and whispered that he was now able to stand unaided. I struggled to my feet as well. The colonel inspected us and straightened one or two things, which seemed quite foolish to me, as we were filthy, soaking wet, and swaying alarmingly. Or at least, I was; I hoped Aleksey was too, or my balance was worse than I feared.
“Your horses have been saddled. Can you ride?” Aleksey made a faint sound. Johan appeared to understand that this indicated we could, and he waved us in the direction of the stables.
I was quite proud of the fact that we made it back to the castle without falling off our horses or being sick. In fact, I was beginning to recover and was wondering where I could get some food. I had not actually eaten anything at the official party and did not remember eating anything at the later, unofficial one. As soon as I reached my rooms, therefore, I summoned Stephen and told him to have some food brought up. His eyes were wide as he took his orders. He kept glancing between us. I nodded sagely and said in a whisper, “We have been poisoned.” He jumped back and crossed himself, then ran off, hopefully to find my food.
Aleksey lowered himself onto my bed and rasped, amused, “You should not have said that.”
I lowered myself gingerly down as well. “It’s true.” I felt worse if I lay flat, so I stayed sitting up, propped against the headboard. Aleksey was very, very pale. He was lying on his belly, his face turned to one side so he could breathe. He muttered that Faelan, who had been left in his rooms all night, thank God, would be missing him, that he ought to go. He did not actually stir, however. I noticed a dark bruise on his neck and eased the collar of his shirt away. “Bloody hell.” His whole back was black with yellow splodges.
He nodded sadly. “I wrestled on the cobbles, I think.” He began to laugh quietly. “Theyhad to get up and do a forced march at dawn. Full equipment. Ten miles, I believe.”
“My God! What bastard ordered that?”
He chuckled. “I did. That’s why Johan was so cross.”
“I thought he disapproved of you drinking with the men. Or just drinking.”
“Hardly. He’d have been there himself, but Mark was—” He stopped abruptly and turned over with an exaggerated groan of pain. “Why have you not produced something to make us feel better, Niko? You are a doctor, or have you forgot?”
I closed my eyes and nodded. “We need a sweat lodge.”
He sat up. “We have a sweat lodge.”
I blinked. “Go to the House of Lust?”
He gave me what he thought was a lecherous look. It looked more as if he was going to vomit again, and I told him so. I was intrigued by the idea of returning to my hut, though. Why should we not? He was watching me. I nodded, and he grinned, suddenly flinging himself off the bed and appearing far more vital and well than he had only a few moments before. It must have been nice to be twenty-three.
CHAPTER 13
HADIforgotten that we would sit in the sweat lodge naked? If put to torture, I might have admitted that I had not, but Itoldmyself it had merely been an oversight in my planning. I had only intended for us to sweat out the alcohol and bruising and stiffness. But there we were, a few hours later, naked on either side of the fire pit, watching the glowing embers and drinking water. I had not had time to prepare any healing foods, but nothing would have persuaded me to eat raw liver anyway that day. Fortunately for my modesty, it was very dark in the lodge, which had no windows, and was consequently smoky, for it was extremely cold outside, and it had taken a while for the heat in the pit to rise enough to drive the smoke up and out of the hole in the roof. It was a pleasant smoke, though, redolent of fires of my youth.
I lay down and turned onto my belly, cradling my aching head on folded arms. Aleksey copied me after a moment, and we faced each other across the soft light. I felt drowsy, content. Although I had nearly died (an exaggeration, but who does not think of death after such a night?), I remembered it as an almost perfect night. I had not enjoyed such brotherly companionship since I left the Powponi. There, brothers of the flesh had constantly surrounded me: warriors, in whose number I was counted. We had fought, played, and loved together. My return to England had been very hard. I had been wholly unprepared for the life I would be required to live there. But last night I had found once more a tiny slice of that old life. I had fought and played and… well, I had not loved.
I pursed my lips, thinking what an unfortunate train of thought I had just begun (being naked), when Aleksey said out of the blue, “We were taking Mark to the village that night.”
“What?”
“The man you saw executed? He and Mark were lovers.”
My mind whirled, trying to catch up. That explained the looks between the friends when we had arrived at the inn and Mark’s abrupt departure: he was too scared to show himself. I asked if this were so.
Aleksey sighed, annoyed. “Mark wasn’t the one that stupid fool was caught with! So not only does Mark know of that terrible death, he knows he was betrayed in love. He grieves and raves bitterly at the same time.”
“Ack, he is young.”
“What is that supposed to mean? Do the young feel things less strongly?”
“Yes. Of course! Not initially, I grant you. Life’s blows sting the young as if they were the only ones in the world to feel such pain. The sting quickly fades, though, as the natural spirits of youth enable them to recover. Only as we age do we keep pain and grief in our hearts until they kill us.”
“Oh, listen to yourself. You spout so much rubbish it’s a wonder you are not taken for a king’s fool sometimes.”
I shrugged. The young never like to have their fickleness pointed out to them. He was pouting again, thinking. If he’d been dressed, he would have been peering at his boots, no doubt. “You are Mark’s friend—despite what you know him to be? That is… unusual.”
It was his turn to shrug, and he replied cryptically, “We are all soldiers. And Gregory has Pia to set him right. There are places in this world where such things are… normal, you know.”
If he thought he was being wise and impressing me with his knowledge, he was not. I replied simply, “I know. I used to live in such a place.”
