Читать книгу Sinbad: Rogue of Mars - John Garavaglia - Страница 48

“Lucky dog,” muttered the guard. Then he and his partner left Sinbad in the care of all those beautiful women.

The girl took Sinbad’s hand and looked at him with kind eyes. “It is all right, outlander. Come, let us take care of you.”

Aella watched from the shadows as the slave girls guided Sinbad into the marble basin filled with steaming water. She allowed her gaze to linger on the outlander’s naked body. Searching his sun-kissed flesh for any bruise or blemish. No imperfection marred the alien’s beauty as he sank into the water and the slaves began to wash him.

On the request of Princess Aella, Kori had clipped a lock of the man’s hair, and sniffed it. Sweat and grime, and even the foul lather of the beasts he had fought in the arena. But beneath that was something more earthy, musky, and strong.

As Sinbad bathed, other slaves brought platters of fruit and viands, delicious from throughout Mars. Sinbad, sedated, ate mechanically, as he was bidden, and sloppily drank wine. The bathers washed spills from him, then took him from the bath and dried him with scarlet towels. Once they dried him off, the handmaidens took him to a couch and then left the room in an orderly fashion.

As soon as the women were out of sight, Sinbad was off the decorative couch and on his feet facing the arched door, all in one instant. He stood ready and took a defensive stance, and then checked the movement.

It was a woman who had entered unannounced; a woman whose gossamer robes did not conceal the rich garments beneath any more than they covered the suppleness and beauty of her tall, slender figure. A filmy veil fell below her breasts, supported by a flowing headdress bound about with a triple gold braid and adorned with a golden crescent. Her dark eyes regarded the astonished Earthman over the veil, and then with an imperious gesture of her green hand, she revealed her face.

SINBAD: ROGUE OF MARS

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