The Deceiver's Path - Chapter 123 - A Cold Soak and a Dead Face (Patreon)

Piper paused at an intersection and looked both ways. In one direction, she noted several shops with signs hanging outside depicting their wares. In the other, she saw a mixture of impressive homes and inns. Neither appeared to be the right way to the baths.

“Are you sure the woman said it was in this direction?” Piper asked. “I don’t see anything resembling a bathhouse.”

“I’m sure.” Ophelia gathered up her flaxen hair in one hand and pulled it behind her head. “It must be around here somewhere.”

Piper reached into her money purse and touched the silver piece to reassure herself it was still there. After paying for their ice cream, it was all the money she had left on her. She really hoped the cost of a bath and clothes laundering would be less than what she had.

Otherwise, they’d have to go dunk themselves in the nearby lake. And that water was almost certain to be freezing cold. No, she’d much rather luxuriate in a hot bath than a frozen mountain lake.

“There it is!” Ophelia said, bouncing on her heels. “Right over there next to the inn.”

Piper pressed her lips together and switched her gaze to the other side of the street as she tried to spot the bathhouse. After a few seconds of scanning, she noticed a tiny sign with a painting of a person bathing in a tub nearly overflowing with bubbles.

Smiling broadly, she raced down the street, weaving between two donkey-drawn carts. She couldn’t wait to get to the bathhouse and scrub off the layers of grime from the day. More than anything, she wanted to douse herself in floral perfumes to banish the scent of rotting corpses from her nostrils.

Ophelia slowed to a stop in front of the bathhouse. She looked troubled before she spoke. “Any idea what you want to do about Zenos yet?”

“Let’s stop talking about it,” Piper said. “I just want to relax and enjoy my bath.”

“Good idea.” Ophelia nodded. “Just so you know, I’m so going to splash you in the pool.”

Piper sighed and rolled her eyes. “We don’t even know if this place has a pool. And if you start splashing people, you might get us kicked out. Can you just behave for once?”

“I’ll do my best.” Ophelia gave her a mischievous grin, indicating that she had no intention of behaving.

With another sigh, Piper pushed open the front door. She strode into the entryway, marvelling at the mosaics on the walls. Some of them depicted a muscular man wrestling with a many-headed creature that could only be a hydra, while another showed the same man slaying a lion with his bare hands.

She was sure there was a story behind these wonderful artworks crafted from tiny tiles, and she’d have to remember to ask one of the girls who worked here. Right after she’d had a nice long soak.

“Greetings,” a young woman said as she emerged from a doorway. She had brutally straight black hair and high cheekbones that caught the flickering lamplight. She wore loose fighting robes with stitched flowers on the front. “What may I do for you?”

Ophelia stepped forward, bouncing up and down. “We want a bath!”

“Hold on,” Piper said, pulling her friend back. Then she turned to the young woman. “How much for a bath and cloth laundering?”

The woman’s gaze flicked down to their Aspirant badges. “Thanks to the order of the benevolent lord-mayor, aspirants only pay one copper piece for each.” Her forehead wrinkled slightly as she regarded them. “No matter the wretched state of their clothes.”

Piper glanced down to see her padded armor stained with patches of blood and dark ichor. Still, it was nowhere near as bad as the time she’d had to claw her way out of a mound of zombies. This girl was just being dramatic.

“Deal!” Ophelia called out, already stripping off her padded vest.

The woman looked horrified and threw up her arms. “There are private rooms for getting undressed. Please do not do that here.”

“Oh, right.” Ophelia gave her a lopsided grin. “I should have known that.”

Piper rolled her eyes but said nothing. Her friend would never change, though to be honest, she didn’t want her to. She liked her friend just the way that she was. Even if she could occasionally be a pain in the bum.

The woman muttered something under her breath as she led them through a doorway with an image of a woman above the lintel. Beyond was a pool, much smaller than the one in the bathhouse in Kalmyros, and it was completely roofed with fireplaces dotting the outside walls. For now, the hearths were dormant, but as winter arrived, she was sure they would be kept blazing.

They veered off from the main pool and entered a narrow side room containing four bronze tubs. An older woman was pouring a bucket of water into one of them as they arrived, but she quickly hurried off.

The dark-haired woman returned her attention to them. “These are the pre-soaking tubs. Please remove all of your clothing and we will send it off for laundering. Before moving on to the main pool, I beseech you to scrub off as much grime as possible.”

Ophelia was already getting undressed, and she kicked off her pants as she hurried to the closest pool. Without slowing, she tossed aside her tunic and jumped into the water. The resulting splash almost struck both of them, making the attendant look even more horrified.

The moment her friend hit the water, she cried out in shock and scrambled over to the side. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head, and she gripped the sides until her knuckles turned white. “It’s freezing!”

“Oh yes,” the attendant said with a smile. “We find a brisk soak in a tub of cold water most revitalizing before entering the pool.”

“Are you insane!” Ophelia cried out. “I’m pretty sure there’s some ice floating in here.” She looked as if she was going to say more, but her chattering teeth silenced her.

Piper grinned and walked over to another tub. She stuck her finger in the water, recoiling at the frigid temperature. There was no way she was going to spend a second longer than required in the tub.

She waited until the attendant had left before shedding her own clothes and armor. Placing them in a neat pile next to the tub, she settled down on the rim. She lifted her toe and touched the surface lightly. The water felt even colder now, if that was even possible.

Bracing herself, she slipped into the water, her entire body going rigid. She forced herself to slide over to the side and grab a brush. As she did, she saw that Ophelia had re-entered the tub and was scrubbing herself furiously.

Piper decided to follow suit. Her teeth began to chatter as she practically scrubbed her skin raw. She lifted her leg, repeating the process to remove dirt from her calves and feet. Then she held her breath as she dunked her head. When she emerged, she spluttered and wrung out her hair.

While she might not have scrubbed all the dirt away, she decided she’d had enough of this nonsense. Before her skin turned blue, she needed to get out of this freezing bath.

Standing up, she practically jumped out of the tub. She stood there naked, looking around for anything to use as a towel. Her face flushed as she realized she’d have to walk all the way to the pool undressed.

Ophelia joined her a second later, and with both of them shivering, they hurried out of the room toward the pool. While they’d been in the tubs, a handful of women had appeared in the room. Two of them were languidly swimming across the pool, while another with incredibly pale skin and wearing a floppy hat sat dipping her toes into the water.

Who wore a hat like that inside? Piper thought the woman looked ridiculous. Most likely, she was some noblewoman who was a slave to fashion. If floppy hats were in, then she was going to wear them indoors like an idiot.

Piper tore her gaze away from the woman and slipped into the pool. The warm water enveloped her like a mother’s hug, immediately banishing the chill. She held on tightly to the side until her feet touched the bottom. Thankfully, the water only reached her shoulders.

She still needed to find someone to teach her how to swim. Until she did, she would remain forever terrified of bridges or large bodies of water. And who knew when she’d be forced to swim in some life-or-death situation.

The thought of swimming soured her mood, as she always thought of Selene afterward. She still blamed herself for her group mate’s deaths. But it had steeled her resolve to make sure no one ever shared the same fate as her friend.

A wave of water crashing over her interrupted her thoughts, and she turned around with her mouth open. As she did, she watched Ophelia wade away in the shallow water. She raised her arm to splash her back when she realized two of the nearby women were scowling at her. She immediately dropped her hand as her face flushed red.

Instead of chasing after Ophelia, she held onto the side and lifted her feet until she was floating on her back. While it wasn’t quite swimming, at least she wasn’t sinking like a stone.

A moment later, her friend loomed back into her view. “This is no fun if you’re not going to fight back.”

Piper shrugged before realizing the gesture meant nothing in the water. “I just really don’t want to get kicked out.”

Her friend pouted before assuming the same position beside her. She turned her head to the side and sucked in a mouthful of water before blowing it out like a whale. She descended into giggles afterwards.

“You know people bathe in that water.”

“Who cares?”

“You could catch something!” Piper said in an exasperated tone.

“The healer at the villa would just fix me if I did.”

Piper returned to concentrating on floating in the water. She even tried to kick her feet a couple of times. But as she did, she started to sink, which immediately made panic flood her veins until she managed to touch bottom again.

Sighing with frustration, she righted herself and hurried toward the pool’s edge. When she reached it, she found herself staring directly at a woman’s feet. While she’d been lying on her back, someone had made their way over to them.

Glancing up, she realized it was the woman with the floppy hat. She fought down the urge to roll her eyes. Most likely, the noblewoman wanted to scold them for acting like children.

Regardless, she’d paid the same price as everyone else to get in here. Well, not quite, since she had the aspirant’s discount. But the principle was the same, and she could enjoy the pool in any way that she wanted, no matter what a snooty noblewoman thought.

Piper decided to try ignoring her to see if she would go away. However, after a few seconds, the woman hadn’t budged from her position. She continued to look down at Piper like a stylish statue.

With a drawn-out sigh, she looked up to meet the woman’s gaze. The second their eyes locked, her heart skipped a beat. An impossible sight greeted her: she was staring at the face of a dead woman.

Before she could react, Ophelia screamed and pushed herself back from the wall.

“Zombie!” her friend cried out, making the other women shriek in terror. “There’s a zombie in here!”