"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 04 - Dragonspell" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

of very little, until a soft knock at his chamber door roused him. With a muttered apology, Elaeno slipped
in, shutting the door softly behind him. It always amazed Nevyn that the enormous Bardekian moved as
gracefully and quietly as a cat.

тАШI was just taking a look at our prisoner,тАЩ Elaeno said. тАШHe seems much better today. It looks like heтАЩs
mending cursed fast. That fever he had should have killed an ordinary man . . . well, not that IтАЩm any sort
of a chirurgeon.тАЩ

тАШOh, I agree with your diagnosis well enough. Did you look at his aura?тАЩ

тАШI did, and it seems a good bit stronger. I canтАЩt get over that peculiar colour, a mucky sort of green it
is, with those odd purplish stripes and specks.тАЩ

тАШIтАЩve never seen one like it before, truly. Well, letтАЩs go down and have a look at him. If heтАЩs well
enough, weтАЩll try a working. Let me just put together the herbs and things I need.тАЩ

The prisoner in question was housed in a small chamber in one of the half-towers that clustered round
the main broch. Outside his door stood an armed guard, because Lord Perryn of Alobry had been until
his recent capture one of the worst horse-thieves in the kingdom, an offence punishable by a public
hanging after a public flogging. He had committed another, more serious crime as well, but Nevyn was
keeping that a secret for several good reasons. The summer before, Perryn had abducted and raped
Cullyn of CerrmorтАЩs only daughter, Jill, but heтАЩd done it by a muddled dweomer in circumstances so
unusual that Nevyn had no idea of whether or not he were a criminal or a victim of some peculiar spell.
Although the matter would require more study before he reached his conclusions, if Cullyn found out,
Perryn wouldnтАЩt live long enough to be studied. As it was, heтАЩd nearly died already from a consumption
of the lungs brought on by his misuse of his instinctive magical powers.

That evening, though, he did seem much recovered, a peculiarity in itself. As Elaeno had said, that
consumption was severe enough to have killed an ordinary human being. Nevyn was beginning to suspect
that Perryn was far from ordinary, and, in fact, perhaps not truly human at all. On the tall side, Perryn
was a skinny, nondescript sort of young man, with dull red hair and blue eyes, a flattish nose, and an
overly generous mouth. At the moment he was also deathly pale, his eyes still rheumy as he sat up in bed
and coughed into an old rag. When the two dweomermen came in, he looked up, whimpered under his
breath, and shrank back against the heap of pillows behind him.

тАШStill coughing up blood?тАЩ Nevyn said.

тАШNone, my lord. Er, ah, well, is that all right?тАЩ

тАШItтАЩs a very good sign, actually. Will you stop cowering and snivelling like a wretched field mouse? IтАЩm
not going to hurt you.тАЩ

тАШBut when are they going to come to... er, you know. . . hang me?тАЩ

тАШNot until I tell them to, and if you do exactly as I say, they may not hang you at all.тАЩ

Perryn arranged a totally unconvinced smile.

тАШI see you ate a good dinner. Do you feel like getting up and getting dressed?тАЩ