"Katherine Kurtz - Heirs 02 - King Javan's Year" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

sickened him still.
The Healer Oriel was most visible of those Deryni still managing to eke out so precarious an existence.
As Javan trailed a hand in the water, watching the patterns of ripples in the moonlight, he wondered how
Oriel continued to tolerate such a state. It helped, of course, that young King Alroy trusted his Deryni
Healer far more than his human physicians, whom he judged to be bumbling incompetents. The former
regents had attempted to undermine that trust, but to no avail. At the great lords┬┤ whim, the Healer still
might be required to turn his Healing talents to betrayal of fellow Deryni at any time, but at least direct
royal patronage gave him some measure of protection.
Fortunately for Javan, it was Oriel alone, of all the men at Rhemuth, whether human or Deryni, who even
guessed a part of what Javan was achieving on his own, as he bided his time and prepared himself,
waiting for the day when he might dare to defy the former regents. It was Oriel who had managed to
smuggle out the occasional letter to Javan, here in the abbey, telling him of his brother┬┤s gradual decline
and the necessity to be ready to take up the crown. Javan had seen his twin just last month, when he was
permitted to return to the capital for their joint birthday celebration. It had been clear even then-though
the lords of state were at pains to assure him otherwise-that barring miracles, Alroy was not going to last
out the summer, never mind the year.
There had been no chance to speak privately with his brother, for the great lords had every hour planned
out, and watched all three princes with a solicitude that passed for utter devotion among those who did
not know better. But Javan did manage a few minutes alone with Oriel, who was able to pass on a more
detailed report in that manner available only to Deryni and those who shared their powers.
Javan was not yet as adept at this as he would like, for his contact and training with his old Deryni
mentors had ceased perforce with his taking of temporary vows and subsequent removal to Custodes
control; but he was far more adept than any human had a right to be-even a Haldane human with
Deryni-like powers, which only the king should have, but which Javan had and Alroy did not. Javan
knew that his powers had something to do with whatever his father had done to him and his brothers the
night he died, but even Joram MacRorie, son of Saint Camber and the only man still alive who had been
present that night, could not account for it.
Regardless of what had been done, its result could only be welcome, for it might be the one thing to keep
Javan alive until he came into his own. He regretted that it had not seemed to help Alroy, whose failing
health was of increasing concern. Tonight, during Matins, he had offered up special prayers for his
brother┬┤s recovery, for throughout the day he had become increasingly aware of a vague uneasiness
somehow centered on his brother. The psychic bonding so often noted between twins seemed further
heightened in Javan, whose perceptions had been strengthening in all areas as his unexpected powers
emerged and matured. Tonight, when most of those around him slept and psychic interference was at its
ebb, that impression of dark foreboding connected with his twin was even stronger.
Closing his eyes, Javan tried to bring the perception into clearer focus, ignoring the faint, tickling sensation
of several carp come to investigate his feet and to mouth gently at his toes. He gained a greater measure
of tranquillity, but no clearer impression of what was amiss. After a while he looked up with a start, his
attention recalled to the present by the sound of horses approaching the gate to the yard on the other side
of the cloister wall, and a somehow familiar voice shouting тАЬPorter!тАЩ
Charlan? The thought came immediately to Javan, as he turned his head to listen more closely and the
voice cried out again.
тАЬPorter? Open the gate, I say. Open in the name of the king! I bear a message for Prince Javan!тАЩ
It was Charlan!
Even as Javan jerked his feet out of the water and set to drying them hastily on the hem of his soutane,
other voices were added to Charlan┬┤s, along with the sounds of bolts being withdrawn and the clatter of
many hooves on cobblestones as a large number of horses entered the yard. The glare of many torches lit
the air above the cloister wall, and Javan estimated that there might be as many as a dozen men with his
former squire. As the voices died down, Javan realized that someone must have been summoned to
speak to Charlan.