"Briggs, Patricia - Sianim 2 - Steal the Dragon.text" - читать интересную книгу автора (Briggs Patricia)

The elders accepted her story. Trenna was getting too frail to carry out the duties
of healer, and there was no one skilled enough to take her place. They accepted Tris
gratefully; in their desperation they were willing to overlook his foreignness.

Tris wasn't sure Trenna understood what he was, but she knew that he would
cause no harm to the people of Tallonwood, and that was all that mattered to her.
His year was long over, but he remained in Tallonwood. He had nowhere else to go.

"Lady." He greeted Trenna in his peculiarly accented Darranian. He took the
swollen hand that she extended over the counter and kissed it gently in true courtier
style.

"Sir," she smiled up at his gentle flirting; he was taller than any man in the village,
and she was a small woman. "How are you this fine spring morning?"

"Remarkably well. I just got back from wandering in the woods and I discovered
another patch of thyme; the old one was getting picked over. Can I mix a powder
for your rheumatism? I found some tharmud root last week that should make this
batch more potent."

"If you please," she answered. When he turned to his work, she flexed her hands
carefully. They were noticeably less swollen than they had been before he'd touched
her.

Tris was usually careful that the villagers saw nothing that they wouldn't expect to
see. For Trenna, though, he could be as theatrical as he likedЧshe enjoyed it almost
as much as he did. So his ingredients were mixed with flashes of light and strange
noises, and the end result had an eerie green glow when he put it into the leather bag.

"Now," he said handing it to her, "remember to take this in the morning and at
night. You can take one other dose during the day if you must. If you need it more
often than that, come back and see me. Steep the powder in hot water for as long as
you can hold your breath before you drink it."

She smiled at him, giving him a glimpse of the beauty she had once been, and
started to take the bag. When their hands touched, she let the pouch fall unheeded to
the floor and clutched him with a strength that belied her swollen joints. He felt the
pulse of her magic under his fingers.

Her body hummed with tension as she spoke in a strained voice. "Two come
from SianimЕ a man andЕ the dancer. You must aid them stem the tide of the cat


godЕ Beware the creatures he calls from the Swamp." She swallowed and gasped
for air, like a fish on land. Sweat glistened on her forehead and she shifted her urgent
grip to his forearms, her tongue twisting around a few phrases of his native
language.

The magic released her, and she shook as if she'd been out in a blizzard. Before
she could fall, Tris rolled across the counter, heedless of the small planter he sent