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

first of all. We may even have to knock down his shields. I don't really want to
do either one. He could have been a big help. We can't have him destroying the
place while I try to work on him, though."
He extracted a green-sealed packet of folded parchment and read the fine
script on the back, then closed the satchel and stood.
"We'll try this first," he said, carefully breaking the wax seal. "I wonder if that
horse could have kicked him in the head? Pour me a small cup of wine to mix
this with, please. The sooner we get it in him, the better."
With a nod, Evaine MacRorie Thuryn, only daughter of the sainted Camber
of Culdi, rose gracefully and went to a low table nearer the fire, laying aside her
cloak as she knelt. Though she was now thirty-five and the mother of three, her
face and form were still those of a very young woman. The wool and leather of
her riding dress clung to every gentle curve, the dove-grey setting off the fine
blue eyes as no other color could. Her hair, shining like burnished gold in the
firelight, had been twisted into a neat coil at the nape of her neck to keep it
tidy for riding, but a strand near her face kept escaping from behind one
delicate ear and added to her youthful image.
Carefully she poured half a cup of wine from a flagon on the table, holding it
out thoughtfully to receive Rhys's powder. As always, when they were together,
they were in a light rapport.
"You're right, I suppose," she said, swirling the contents of the cup and
watching the drug dissolve. "He's certainly making things worse by his
thrashing. And if he starts throwing things around againтАФwell, I don't know
how much more this room can take."
Rhys sniffed the cup delicately, then gave her a wry smile.
"Have you no confidence in my potions, my love?" he chuckled. "I guarantee
this will take the edge off."
"You have to get it into him first," Evaine countered. "Just how do you
propose to do that?"
"Ah, there lies the Healer's secret!" He stripped off his Healer's mantle and
tossed it in a heap on top of hers, then crossed to the door and flung it wide.
"Jesse, would you come in here, please, and bring a couple of your servants
with you? I'm going to have to give him a sleeping draught before he'll let me
touch him. Don't worry, I won't let him do anything dangerous."
Cautiously, a husky, olive-skinned youth peered around the doorjamb and
then eased his way into the room, followed by three blue-and-white-liveried
servants. Jesse, who had sent to Valoret for Rhys, was a quiet but intense
young man whose concernтАФand healthy respectтАФfor his sire's abilities was
evident in every line of his bearing. Neither he nor his men made any effort to
move closer to the great bed where the earl tossed and fretted, though they did
glance surreptitiously in that direction.
Rhys took Jesse's arm and urged him and his men toward the bed with
reassuring words.
"Now, this isn't going to be as difficult as it may seem," he said easily. "He's
going to be all right, and so are you. Nobody is going to get hurt. Now, you
menтАФI want you to pin his legs and his uninjured arm when I give the word.
Sit on them, if you have to, but keep him still. My potion isn't going to do him
any good if it isn't in him. Jesse, I need you to help me hold his head. If you
can keep him from thrashing around, I'll worry about getting his mouth open
so that Evaine can pour the stuff down. Do you all think you can manage that?"