The bath beyond was walled in pink-veined marble set with gold. In the center of the room was a sunken tub of steaming water, fragrant with herbs.
Wiz moved toward it, pulling at his shirt.
He had the shirt over his head when soft warm hands touched his bare back.
“Hey!” Wiz tried to turn, but the hands restrained him gently and helped him get the shirt off. With his head free, Wiz turned, but the room was empty.
“What is this?”
The only answer was a very feminine giggle as someone started to undo his belt. He looked down and saw nothing, yet his belt was unhooked and fingers began to unzip his fly. Instinctively he reached down to knock the invisible hands away, but he met only air. Again someone or something giggled.
Oh well,
Wiz thought and submitted.
Once his unseen companion had undressed him, he stepped into the just-too-warm water and sighed luxuriously.
Wiz was expertly soaped, scrubbed and rinsed. The water that came off him was black with dirt, but the water in the tub remained so clear he could see his toes.
Clean and glowing, he was assisted from the tub and rubbed down with towels he could not see. It felt like there were two or three pairs of hands working on him at once. Either there’s a whole harem in here or she doesn’t look anything like what I imagined, Wiz thought.
His clothes were gone, but when he reentered the bedroom new clothes were laid out for him, a shirt with enormous puffed sleeves, a russet doublet several shades darker than the bedspread and a pair of tight buckskin breeches. Soft calf-high boots of ox-blood leather completed the outfit.
This time there were no invisible hands to help him so Wiz dressed himself, struggling with the unfamiliar fastenings.
Not bad,
he thought, surveying the result in a full-length mirror. He looked like a real swashbuckler, lean rather than skinny.
Moira was waiting for him when he emerged. If Wiz looked good in his borrowed clothes, Moira was breathtaking. She wore a gown of emerald green velvet, cut low and caught tight at the waist, with full-length sleeves that flared sharply from elbow to wrist. Her hair was a flaming mane about her face, held in place with silver pins set with opals. Wiz could only stare.
“Do you like it?” she asked somewhat shyly. “I’ve never had a dress like this.”
“It’s gorgeous,” said Wiz when he finally got his lower jaw under control. “You’re gorgeous.”
“Thank you, Sparrow,” she dropped him a mock curtsey. Then she became serious. “Now watch yourself. Be respectful and above all, be courteous. Elves place great store on courtesy and there are very few mortals who have shared Duke Aelric’s table.”
Wiz nodded dumbly and moved toward her. She moved away with fluid grace.
“Shall we go?”
“Is it time?”
Moira only smiled and opened the door. Their guide was waiting for them. He bowed so low his forehead almost touched the floor and led them off.
Again their way took them down empty corridors and magnificent halls, all bathed in the soft dim light. At length the little man brought them down a stair as subtly curved and carefully proportioned as a sea shell, to a great bronze door. The door swung open at their approach. The creature bowed to the floor and motioned them within.
Their host awaited them inside the door.
“My Lady. My Lord.” He had changed his red tunic for a tight-fitting outfit of silver-gray velvet. Silver glinted at his neck and wrists and a silver band set with a fiery blue opal held back his white hair. He was fully as magnificent as he had been when they first saw him, but now the effect was less barbaric, more civilized.
He bowed to them and Wiz bowed back as best he could. Then the duke took Moira’s arm in his and led them to the table.
The odd half-light made it impossible for Wiz to judge the size of the room. The far walls were lost in the dimness, but Wiz didn’t feel dwarfed. The floor was elaborately patterned parquetry and the table was draped in snow-white linen. Softly glowing balls of light hung above the table. They danced gently in an unfelt breeze and the ripple and play of the light was like candlelight on the table and diners.