Kushiel's Scion - Jacqueline Carey [149]
I slapped the Bastard's speckled shoulder. "He's had a long journey."
"Haven't we all?" Lucius said cryptically. He pointed eastward. "The nearest public bath lies yonder, past the forum. I suggest you avail yourself of it."
"We will," I promised. "Thank you for your aid, truly."
Lucius shrugged. "Don't go noising it about. I've a reputation to uphold." He raised a hand in farewell. "Good luck to you, D'Angeline! Perhaps we'll see you in the lecture halls."
"Ass," Gilot muttered as Lucius and his companions departed.
I glanced at him. He was swaying in the saddle, glassy-eyed. "Come on," I said. "Let's see if this Lollia has a room to let."
She did, and we took it. I was glad to have a place to rest, glad to have our horses stabled and content. The Bastard eyed me with reproach, then sank his muzzle into a bucket of oats. We unloaded the pack-horses, staggering under the weight of our baggage, carrying it up several flights of stairs. By the time the transaction was fully concluded, the twilight that had settled over Tiberium was deepening to darkness.
"Baths," Gilot mumbled, his face sunk into his pallet.
I closed my eyes. "Tomorrow."
Behind my eyelids, darkness swirled; an abyss, dragging me downward. This time, I didn't fight it. In the city of Tiberium at last, I let sleep claim me.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-One
I woke hungry.
There wasn't much to be had at the inn, but we broke our fast with bread drizzled with honey and a handful of dried dates. The innkeeper Lollia assured us that the vendors would open ere long. Thus fortified, Gilot and I ventured out in search of the baths.
In the morning light, Tiberium was no less imposing, but one could see that it had fallen from its former glory. The buildings and monuments that marked the height of the empire were in poor repair. Still, if the tiles along the arching colonnades of the Great Forum were chipped and dirty, the space itself was still impossibly vast.
We found our way to the baths without difficulty. It was a huge structure, built to serve the needs of hundreds or mayhap even thousands of citizens. Early though it was, they were already doing a lively trade. The price was surprisingly reasonable.
"Oh yes," the attendant assured me with a pointed sniff. "It is in everyone's interest to make the baths affordable."
"I take your meaning," I said dryly.
After days at sea without a proper bath, it was pure bliss. Gilot and I indulged in the fullest, beginning in the steam room. We sat on benches, sweat streaming, grinning at one another through clouds of steam. Once we had sweated out days' worth of grime, we moved to the caldarium, plunging into scalding baths and sluicing away the sweat. There attendants poured olive oil over our skin and scraped it off with curved metal strigils.
"It's an odd way to bathe," Gilot said. "But not unpleasant."
Suitably scalded and scraped, we soaked in the warm waters of the tepidarium. It was a social place, with dozens of men chatting amiably. Most were Caerdicci, though not all. In the background, we could hear thudding and shouting coming from the palaestra, where others were taking exercise.
We finished in the proper Tiberian style, plunging into the cool waters of the frigidarium. I had to own, it was refreshing. It wasn't half as cold as Montrève's spring-fed lake, but after the warmth that had preceded, it was a shock. Gilot and I whooped, splashing one another like boys. An older gentleman walking past shook his head at us.
"Ah, students," he said indulgently.
I tossed back my wet hair and grinned at him. "Not yet, but I mean to be. Do you know, messire, how one goes about seeking entrance to the University?"
He paused and drew up a stool. "Have you chosen a Master with whom to study?"
"No," I said. "I've only just arrived."
"Well, that's your first step, young D'Angeline. The next is to convince him to accept you. Or her; there are a few women licensed to teach." He smiled at me. "I suspect you might do well in that area."
I flushed. "I have letters of reference, messire."