"Rawn, Melanie - Dragon Star 2 - Dragon Token" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

Hollis shook her head, momentarily amused. "That child! I didn't even notice them get past me. Doubtless she's giving her mother no peace at all, for wanting to continue on. See what you can doЧand try to get some rest yourself, my dear."

The girl nodded, turned, then turned back. "Hollis

"... I know it's not the right time to ask, but when we're safe somewhere, will you tell me what happened to me in the courtyard?"

She kicked herself mentally. JeniЧalong with Jihan, Rislyn, and TobrenЧhad been caught in Sioned's weaving. For children completely untrained as Sunrunners, the shock must have been terrible. "I ought to have asked before how you were feeling."

"Tired, and I've got a bit of a headacheЧbut I'm all right. Mainly it's. ..." She trailed off and shrugged. "I just don't understand, that's all."

"Sioned will be better able to explain it than I."

"HollisЧ" Her voice was hushed now. "They died, didn't they? Morwenna and Lord Walvis' Sunrunner."

"Yes." Hollis pushed away the memory of Meath's knife, ending heartbeats in bodies whose minds had already fled.

"And we could have, too. If not for Sioned."

"Yes."

"No wonder Lord Andry doesn't like her much." Then, abruptly recalling that she spoke to the wife of Lord Andry's brother, her eyes went wide. "I'm sorry, my lady, IЧ"

"It's not important, Jeni. But as it happens, you're right. Go find Princess Meiglan and the girls."

When Chayla had finished her work, Hollis placed a hand on her shoulder. The girl glanced up, startled, squinting by the light of the fingerflame.

"I don't have time to lie down and sleep, Mother," she said before Hollis could draw breath. "There's a head wound I should check again."

Hollis drew her to her feet, alarmed when Chayla swayed a little to catch her balance. "Later. Come with me."

"I can't. I'm needed."

"You're needed strong and well yourself, so that you can help others become so." Hollis readied herself to weave sleep. A useful trick, and one she would use on others once Chayla was resting. A line of the candle and they could start out again, to Skybowl or Feruche or

wherever they could find safety. Part of her worried about feeding and housing so many in either keep; most of her was so weary that she wished she could perform the gentle witchery on herself. She found a clear spot against one wall and coaxed Chayla to sit down, prepared to drape soft threads of sleep around her daughter's thoughts.

"Don'tЧplease! I can feel what you're trying to doЧ" "Chayla! Don't fight me, heartling," she added more softly. "You're exhausted. You've done enough forЧ" "It's never enough." AH at once she was not the accomplished physician but a frightened fifteen-year-old girl. Hollis gathered her close and rocked her, murmuring wordlessly, strangely glad that the grim mask of adulthood had fallen away and she could be a mother to her child again.

"Hollis?" The whisper behind her turned her head. Betheyn stood there, reluctant to interrupt but urgent nonetheless. "Myrdal's asking for you both."

"Is she hurt?" Chayla drew away and raked her hair back from her face.

When there was no answer, Hollis abandoned hope of getting Chayla to rest. "Where is she? Take us to her, Beth."

Myrdal sat with her back against a ragged boulder. There was a tiny Fire before her, called by Tobren to warm ancient bones. Its glow put false color into a withered face that proudly refused to show any pain. But Hollis knew suddenly that something had broken inside the old woman. Something that had always looked out from her eyes was gone.

Tobren knelt at her side, eyes huge and frightened. Hollis touched her hair in a reassuring caress as Chayla crouched by Myrdal.

"Don't bother yourself, my dear," the old woman said, her voice a whisper of Desert breeze across sand. "Although if you can strengthen me so there's time to tell you what you must know, I'd be obliged." Chayla delved into the coffer that had not left her side