"Mercedes Lackey - Brightly Burning" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

again, insistently. Should I get up and go downstairs? he wondered. But Mother wanted me to stay
in bed so I wouldnтАЩt spread this to the rest of the family. . . .
He didnтАЩt have to make that decision, for a bump at his door made him open his eyes again. The
maid stood there with a tray; she grinned when she saw his eyes open. And now he finally remembered
her name. Kelsie.
тАЬGood morninтАЩ sirrah,тАЭ she said brightly. тАЬI brung up some supper last night, but you couldnтАЩt
have been budged with a team of horses!тАЭ
She brought over her tray and placed it on a stool next to his bed. He sat up, and managed a
weak smile. тАЬI guess that medicine was as strong as you said.тАЭ
тАЬThey say heтАЩs Healer-trained, is Master Veth, so I suppose he knows his medicines.тАЭ Kelsie
dismissed the herbalist and his remedies with a shrug. тАЬI brought a bell on the tray there; you need
something, you ring it and IтАЩll come up.тАЭ
тАЬThank you,тАЭ was all he had a chance to say. She just grinned again, and was gone. Then again,
given the housekeeperтАЩs firm hand on the household reins, lingering might get her in trouble.
On the tray was typical invalid fare: tea and buttered toast, soft-boiled eggs. No ham, no bacon,
no jam or jelly. He sighed, but tackled the food anyway. Hungry as he was, it all tasted good.
Only then did he take a second dose-slightly smaller this time-of the medicine, and it wasnтАЩt long
before he was dreaming again.
 This time he woke, it was some time in the afternoon, and his headache was measurably better,
though still with him. More persistent was his hunger.
He rang the bell, and within moments, Kelsie was at his door with another tray, brown eyes
dancing merrily at him from beneath her frilled cap. тАЬCookтАЩs figured youтАЩd be ready for this,тАЭ she said,
putting it down beside him.
He eyed the contents. Bread and broth, more tea. тАЬI am, but I could eat a whole loaf of bread,
not just a couple of slices,тАЭ he said ruefully. His stomach made an audible growl, and he blushed as she
laughed.
тАЬWell, the sayinтАЩ is to feed a fever, and you got a fever. You eat that up, IтАЩll run down and tell
Cook and see what she figures is good for you.тАЭ She turned in a swirl of gray-and-cream woolen skirts
and linen apron, and vanished, while he made short work of the invalidтАЩs lunch theyтАЩd given him.
It only just took the edge off his hunger. When Kelsie labored back to his door under the weight
of a heavier tray, heтАЩd already eaten every crumb.
тАЬHere,тАЭ she laughed, setting down the heavier tray, then tucking a stray curl of brown hair back
under her cap. тАЬ тАШFever, Cook,тАЩ I told her. тАШNot stomach troubles. I should think you could hear his
stomach grumbling down here.тАЩ So she laughs, and fixes you this.тАЭ Kelsie dusted off her hands. тАЬNow, I
got sweeping to do, so IтАЩll hear you if you need aught else.тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩll be fine,тАЭ he replied, but she was already gone.
This is more like it! he thought; it was real food, not invalidтАЩs food, and not the leftovers from
everyone elseтАЩs lunch, either. It was twice what he normally ate, but he devoured every bite before he
finally felt satisfied.
As he turned away from the tray, his eye fell on his book bag. He weighed the ache in his head
against the promise to study.
If I keep up, maybe I can get a bad headache again. No one would be angry at him for being
sick, and Tyron and his gang of bullies couldnтАЩt touch him here. He didnтАЩt know what had caused the
headache and fever, but it could happen again.
And if it happens often enough, maybe theyтАЩll think thereтАЩs something at school thatтАЩs
making me sick, he thought, with a tinge of hope.
In a sense, perhaps that was the cause. I didnтАЩt get that headache until I got so angry. . . .
If rage was the cause, heтАЩd be getting headaches and fevers as long as he went to school.
Well, the only way IтАЩll be able to stay home is to prove I can keep up without actually
being in the classes. With a sigh, he pulled his book bag onto the bed, and took out the textbook for his