"Katherine Kurtz - Camber 3 - Camber the Heretic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

full report."
Smiling broadly, Rhys Michael took the seat offered and began rattling off a
list of the things he had been learning since he and the royal Healer had last
visited. In the next room, Rhys could hear the sounds of the supper being laid,
the voices of the servants setting the table and laying out the food. After a few
minutes, a servant finally announced that supper was ready. The two boys
immediately scampered into the other room, followed shortly by an
annoyed-looking Javan, who eyed the elder Healer suspiciously as he passed.
When the boys had said grace and begun eating, Rhys drew back into the
common room and turned toward Tavis. The younger Healer had not moved
from his seat in the window.
"Is Javan ill?" Rhys murmured.
Tavis shook his head cautiously. "No, not ill. He is not strong, though. I try to
give him energy each day."
"That is admirable," Rhys replied, "but is it in the boy's best interests? He
will not always have you there to help him."
"I know that." Tavis looked away, trying to hide the pain in his pale eyes.
"Tavis," Rhys asked softly, "are you aware of what must be the destiny of
these boys? Cinhil is dying, and Alroy will succeed him, almost certainly as a
minor."
"Alroy is the eldest. That is his right."
"He is also the weakest," Rhys continued. "I hesitate to say it, but we Healers
must face realities, even if others will not. Alroy may not live long enough to get
an heir. And if he does not, then the crown falls to Javan. If you make him
dependent upon you, how will he bear that weight when you are gone?"
Tavis' head shot up in challenge.
"I shall never leave him!" he whispered fiercely. "No one else cares for him.
They think that because his body is flawed, his mind is likewise unfit. But he
will show them, some day. I want that for him, Rhys."
 "If God wills that he someday may be king, then I want it for him, too," Rhys
replied. "But you must not shelter him so much that you stifle his growth."
"It will not be I who stifle him," Tavis retorted, a little defiantly, though he
did not raise his voice.
With that, the younger Healer picked up a scroll from the seat beside him
and began reading intently, not looking at Rhys any more. Rhys stood there for
several seconds, then went back into the room to glance through some of the
boys' lessons lying on a table near the fireplace. He and Tavis had never been
able to communicate very well.
Young Gavin returned with the wine just as the boys had finished their
supper and were beginning to drift back into the room with the other two
squires. All six boys watched with varied interest as Rhys pulled the folded
packet of parchment from his belt pouch and tossed it onto the table.
"So, we have the grand physick against colds, to be taken in some of the
finest Fianna wine ever to grace your father's cellar." With an exaggerated
flourish, he unstoppered the green glass flagon and sniffed the contents,
rolling his eyes appreciatively as the bouquet reached his nostrils. "Ah,
marvelous! And let me tell you, I had a devil of a time convincing the King's
Grace that this would not be wasted on the untried palates of a gaggle of
schoolboys. You'd better not make a liar of me, now."
As they laughed, except for Javan, who merely grimaced, he took up the