2: Servants of the Crossed Arrows

2: Servants of the Crossed Arrows Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: 2: Servants of the Crossed Arrows Read Online Free PDF
Author: Ginn Hale
Tags: Science-Fiction, Novella
clothes away had left the tray of shining tools along with towels.
    John picked up a long silvery one. It looked like a very sharp butter knife or perhaps a scalpel. There were also several things that looked like shaving brushes. Why there was more than one, he didn’t know. An assortment of nasty looking little picks and tweezers lay along side several round, flat tins.
    John unscrewed the lids of two of the metal tins. One contained a white powder. The other brimmer with what looked like wood shavings.
    “So, what do you think they did with our clothes?” Bill was working soap into his hair. The white lather slowly darkened to brown as he massaged it through. A mass of leaves, mulch and twigs had rinsed out of John’s hair. He’d had to use a bristled brush to get all the dried blood and mud off of his body. His skin still felt slightly raw and tight from the experience.
    “Burned them,” John replied.
    “You think?” Bill asked.
    “I hope.” John unscrewed the other two tins. One was filled with a rough dark red powder. The other was full of clear goo. John sniffed it. It had no scent.
    “So, what’s all that?” Bill asked after he’d rinsed his head a third time.
    “I don’t know,” John said.
    “Any guesses?” Bill leaned back against the marble and caught his breath. It took a lot out of him to go without air, even for the short time it’d taken to rinse his hair. John waited until Bill’s breathing slowed to normal.
    “Most of the men I’ve seen here are clean-shaven so I’m thinking that some of these have to be for that. This blade, probably.” John held up the silver knife. Its razor edge caught the soft light and gleamed.
    “What about shaving cream?” Bill frowned. “I’m not all over the idea of shaving with some knife and a bar of soap.”
    John set the knife back down and inspected the rest of the brushes, picks, tweezers and tins. He wondered how inexplicable the contents of his own bathroom would have been if he hadn’t known what they were meant for.
    “So?” Bill prompted from the water.
    “I don’t know,” John said.
    “Try one,” Bill suggested.
    “Try one how?”
    “I don’t know.” Bill shrugged. “Taste one, maybe?”
    “They’re not food.”
    “How do you know?” Bill asked.
    “Because the boy who brought them in said they were for our bath. And that we’ll be having the honor of eating in the Lady Bousim’s company after our baths,” John said.
    “You understood all that?” Bill looked impressed. “I kind of got the idea that we were supposed to use them to eat some woman in the bath.”
    “Eat a woman in the bath?” John asked.
    “Yeah, well, your version does sound a lot less weird, but mine’s much more sexy.” Bill pulled himself weakly from the water and sat on the edge of the marble tub. John tossed a towel to him.
    “The kid didn’t say what any of this is supposed to be for?” Bill poked one of the long curved picks.
    “I guess anyone from Basawar would know.” John picked up one of the fine brushes. He ran it across the palm of his hand. The bristles were far too soft for brushing hair. He put it back down.
    “I wonder how Laurie’s doing?” Bill pondered.
    “Better than us, I hope.” John shrugged.
    “I bet she got her stuff figured out in a few seconds,” Bill said. “She always knows what all the stuff is in those baskets of soaps and crap. Maybe it’s a woman thing.”
    John guessed that Laurie was doing the same thing they were. Hesitantly, he poked his finger into the tin of clear goo. It felt slick and almost oily. Some kind of pomade, he wondered. Or maybe it was a skin cream or possibly an ointment? It could be anything. John wiped his finger off on a towel.
    “Salad dressing?” Bill suggested.
    “You’re just hungry, aren’t you?” John asked.
    “Starving,” Bill admitted. “I haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon.”
    “Well, I’m pretty sure this isn’t a salad dressing.” John screwed the
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