"Rawn, Melanie - Dragon Star 03 - Skybowl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

53
butЧI don't know, gentleness, perhaps. Compassion. And a determination to heal, polished by knowledge. . . ." He trailed off, embarrassed.
"The things Chayla feels when she uses it? Yes, I see."
Gingerly he dipped thumb and forefinger into the bowl, lifting the knife by its handle. "If that's what's in her mind and heart when she works, I wonder she can't cure people by just touching them. Evarin will either be ecstatic to find another bred-in-the-bone physician, or else insanely jealous."
"He'll get over it," she said impatiently. "Are you sure you're all right?"
He nodded, turning the knife this way and that to watch Fire play on steel. "Remind me to gloss this spell in the margin of the Star Scroll. 'Never, ever use anything with an edge or a point.' You'd better note it in your copy."
"It's at Stronghold."
Andry frowned. "Burned?"
"No. But they won't find it. The Star Scroll isn't something one keeps out on a shelf. Besides," she added with a shrug, bending to retrieve the bowl, "what could they do with it? They can't use it. There's no danger to us if it's found. Not like Feylin's dragon book."
"Actually, they're rather the same. You obviously meant them to use her book or you wouldn't have been so artistic at RemagevЧoh, of course I heard about that!" He smiled briefly. "You burned what you didn't want them to seeЧthe truth. For all its vagaries, there's truth in the Star Scroll, too. And your copy is a clear one, without Lady Merisel's little confusions."
"What's your point?" she asked curiously. "There's not a spark of power in the lot of them. They can't use the Star Scroll."
"Let's say that there's a field bare one day and covered in grass the next. You don't find it remarkable because you know that seeds in the ground sprouted overnight. But if you knew nothing about seeds or the way things grow, the sudden appearance of grass would be magic."
Sioned frowned into the bowl on her knees. "Well ... yes, I see what you mean. Finding out that there are spells and recipes and so forth behind what we do, that it isn't the hand of the Goddess working through usЧ"
54
Melanie Rawn
"Never explain a mystery when keeping it a mystery is to your benefit."
She nodded agreement, disliking it on principle but admitting she'd put it into practice quite a few times. "Andrade would appreciate that. And she'd probably blister my ears for not thinking this through better. I'm sorry, Andry. When I tried to find something Chayla uses that's the essence of her, I naturally chose one of her instruments."
"The stronger the association, the more powerful the pull."
"Then you saw her?" she asked eagerly. "You found her?"
'The pain shook me up for a moment. Evarin will tell you I got a good knock on the head in the battle and I admit it scrambled my wits for a time. But what I saw is coming back." He closed his eyes, fist clenched around the handle of Chayla's knife as he concentrated. Voice soft, almost muffled, he began, "Dark. Thin starlight. Walking beneath trees, off the road, under cover. Hands free. Head bent, starshine on her hair...." He paused, frowning. "Men watching her. One in particularЧtwice her size, something in his face I don't like...."
"What about the terrain? Give me something I can use."
"Curve of the road around a gigantic pine ... sheer drop just beyond where it clings to the cliff ... cave half-hidden in the trees on the slope above. Faint light there. Horses tethered nearby. FourЧno, five." He was silent a moment; Sioned held her breath. Then he opened his eyes. "That's all. Just the cave and the tree. I'm sorry."
"That might be enough," she mused. "Ruala and Riyan know this part of the VereschЧand if they can't identify it, their hunt master might." Leaning back, she cradled the bowl in her hands and considered for a time. "They haven't tied her up. They let her out for fresh air and exercise. They're not monsters."
Andry reached for the winecup, saying bitterly, "They want her alive and healthy to hold for ransom."
Something else to worry about when it happened. "Let's think about when they can travel. Not by sunlight, not by moonlightЧwhy not by starlight? If they know about Sunrunners, they know we don't use it."
"Most of us, anyway."
"Most of us. But back to the point. When can they move? Only when there are clouds that blot out any kind of light."
SKYBOWL
55
Andry nodded slowly. "I've good reason to know the weather's been miserable. How much looking have you been able to do, and can you calculate how far they might have gotten during the time you haven't been looking?"
"Always assuming they need to eat and sleep like the rest of us, and which direction they're goingЧ"
Andry's brows arched. "South, of course,"
"Would they?" she challenged. "That's the first place we'd search."
"Where else would they go except to their High Warlord?"
"Oh, I don't doubt that. The question is how they'll get to him...." She gnawed her lip. "Someone here must be able to recognize that tree and cave combination."
"And then?" he asked softly. "How do we get her back without risking her life?"
She decided not to tell him about Kazander. "That's for military minds."
"Which lets me out." Andry sipped at his wine. "I wish I'd paid more attention to your brother when I was his squire."
"Davvi? Good Goddess, he was no more a warrior than you are. Oh, Kostas did very well in the field, but not because his father taught him much beyond what happened in 704." She shook her head sadly. "Rohan hoped none of you would have to study war."
"Maybe if we had, we'd be doing better now. Speaking of study, I hear you and Meath are holding classes."
With perfect calm, Sioned replied, "Yes, we are."
His lips quivered with amusement. "Did you think I'd come roaring in here to forbid it? Sioned! Why should I make a fool of myself condemning something that's not only a practical necessity, but that you'd go on doing with or without my permission? It's much wiser to condone it. And I trust you won't mind if I give my official approval by doing some teaching myself ?"
"I wish you would," she said honestly. "But watch out for Jihan. I think we've convinced her to hush up and listen, but that child's silences make me nervous. You never know what's going on behind them."
"I'll bear that in mind." Rising, he placed the knife and winecup on the side table and stretched from toes to fingertips. "That bath did me a lot of goodЧnothing cracks when
56
Melanie Rawn
I move," he observed, though he rubbed at his sore shoulder as he spoke. "Shall I go talk to Pol now, or wait for tomorrow? Frankly, I've got the grandsire dragon of all headaches."
"That's one reason this sort of thing isn't done too often. Go to bed. Your Master Physician won't thank me for giving you a strain like this when you've had a bad bump on the head."
"I really ought to go see Pol," he said, his eyes solemn.
"He can wait until you're feeling up to it." She paused. "It was you who killed Miyon, wasn't it ... Master Sorindal?"