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

king well and with distinction. And then the ostracism would begin, and the
persecutions, and finally the bloodshed. It had happened before, in other
lands, in other times. Perhaps it was happening already.
And so Camber hurried along the Valoret road to the summons of his king,
himself still young for his seventy years, in the guise of a man ten years
younger still, and by appearance and action no more than fifty or so, to meet
his children and his king and try to accomplish the goal they had set when
they began this road, now fourteen years before. Then they had made a former
priest a king and given him powers equal to any DeryniтАФthough the king had
always been reluctant to use those powers. Now that king must pass on his
power, or at least its potential, to his young sons, in hopes that they would
learn to use it more wisely and with less fear than he had shown.
Camber did not know whether or not they could succeed, for time was
running out; but he knew they had to try.


chapter one


For of the Most High cometh healing, and he shall receive honour of the king.
тАФEcclesiasticus 38:2


Rhys Thuryn, perhaps the most highly respected Healer in all the Eleven
Kingdoms, paced back and forth in the Earl of Ebor's sleeping chamber and
tried to decide what to do next. On the bed beside him, the earl tossed and
writhed in unrelieved agony, perspiration drenching his high forehead and
dampening the reddish-blond hair and beard, even though the room was chill
on this last day of January, in the year 917.
Cinhil himself had sent Rhys to Ebor. When word of the earl's accident
reached the king, he had nearly worked himself into a coughing fit in his
anxiety, barely able to gasp out the words when Rhys appeared in answer to his
summons. Nothing would appease him but that Rhys go to Ebor at once. No
other Healer would do. What if the earl were dying?
Despite Cinhil's agitationтАФand perhaps a little because of it, though
another part of him was chilled at the news тАФRhys had demurred at first. Even
though the king was somewhat improved now that Camber had returned from
Grecotha, Rhys still did not like the idea of being several hours away when
Cinhil might need him. The king was not going to get well this time. At best,
Rhys might be able to ease his discomfort in these last days or weeks. The
sickness in Cinhil's lungs was beyond the ability of Rhys or any other Healer to
cure. Neither he nor Cinhil harbored any illusions about the eventual outcome
of his illness,
But neither did the king harbor any hesitation about the urgency of
assistance for his injured earl. Gregory of Ebor, though a full Deryni adept of
remarkable ability, had nonetheless won Cinhil's great respect and friendship
in this past decade on the throne; he had been appointed Warden of the
Western Marches only two years before. Rhys would goтАФand go, he did.
But now that Rhys was here with Gregory, he had to admit that he was
uncertain how to proceed. He knew Gregory very well, as Gregory knew him.