"Mercedes Lackey - Owl Mage 1 - Owlflight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

and stitched the vest, and those two articles of clothing were all he had left of them.
Why? he asked them again and again, until there was nothing left in the world but sorrow and
guilt. Why did you leave me alone?
Finally, his body trembling in every fiber, he collapsed in on himself, curled into a ball, and
sobbed, muffling the sound of his weeping in his arms and the bark of the tree. He wept himself dry and
exhausted, until there was no more strength left, even for a single tear.
Before Justyn was satisfied that KyleтАЩs injury was no longer life-threatening and was as clean as
one herbalist could make it, there was a great deal of blood spilled on the stone floor of his cottage. It
wasnтАЩt the worst wound heтАЩd ever tended, but it was definitely one of the messiest. Justyn had finally
stopped the bleeding with a compression bandage, and after liberally dosing the woodcutter with brandy
and poppy-powder, began stitching the wound closed with a curved needle and fine silk thread. Kyle
was a stolid enough fellow, and in a way it was a blessing for both of them that he was so very insensitive
(and, one might as well say it, stupid), for he didnтАЩt seem to mind the ugly wound and the stitching half so
much as the two farmers whoтАЩd brought him in. Vere and Harris grimaced every time Justyn put a stitch
in, and Harris, who had no livestock at all but a few chickens, relying on the loan of his brotherтАЩs oxen to
plow his own land, was looking a bit green about the face. Kyle had just sat quietly, as if he were a good
plowhorse waiting for a new shoe to be fitted. The brandy and poppy concoction made the muscles of
his face go slack and relaxed, and he leaned back in his chair, propped up by Harris and Vere, blinking
sleepily whenever the needle went in.
I could be generous, Justyn thought. I could suppose that heтАЩs in shock by now. Except that
he hasnтАЩt any of the symptoms of being in shock.
Such stolidity in the face of serious injury had been the hallmark of some of the mercenary
soldiers Justyn had tended in the past - the long gone past, so removed from what he was now that it
might be the past of another person altogether. There were just some men who never felt much of
anything, either physical or emotional. In general, they got along well with their fellows, and they made
good enough soldiers, for although they never displayed the least bit of incentive, they always obeyed
orders without question. And, if a woman didnтАЩt mind being the one to make all the decisions, they made
perfectly amiable husbands and fathers. Certainly their phlegmatic temperament never led to beatings or
other abuse. There had been times when he envied them that easy acceptance.
Virtually everyone in the village was cast from the same mold, and it wasnтАЩt at all difficult to tell
that Vere and Harris were KyleтАЩs cousins. All three of them were husky, light-haired, and brown-eyed,
but Harris and Vere were darker than Kyle, and Kyle had features that were much more square. Justyn
sometimes wondered if the reason he and Darian had never quite been accepted by the villagers was a
simple matter of appearance; both he and Darian were thin and dark, in stark contrast to everyone else
here. Or at least, he amended mentally, I was dark until my hair started going gray.
тАЬHeтАЩs gonna be laid up a couple of days,тАЭ Vere said with irritation, his thick brows furrowing in a
decided frown. тАЬThat means weтАЩll have to spare someone from field work to keep an eye on him so he
doesnтАЩt get into trouble, all juiced up with that poppy like he is. CanтАЩt you magic him, тАШstead of sewing
him up like usual?тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩve told you before,тАЭ Justyn said patiently, manipulating the needle through a particularly tough
patch of skin, тАЬIтАЩm not a Healer, IтАЩm an herbalist, a surgeon, and a bone-setter. I would have to use a
complicated magic spell to do what you suggest. Whatever it was that the Heralds did to end the
mage-storms fractured all the magic, and left it scattered around like a broken mirror. It takes a long time
to gather up enough shards of power to work any spells. ItтАЩs very tiring, it exhausts all the magic thatтАЩs
nearby, and then, if you really needed some magic to be done in the case of an emergency, I wouldnтАЩt be
able to do it. What if something bad came out of the Pelagiris, and I couldnтАЩt protect the village? You
wouldnтАЩt want that now, would you?тАЭ
The farmers both shook their square, shaggy heads, but they also looked skeptical and cynical,
and Justyn could hardly blame them. After all, no one in ErroldтАЩs Grove had ever seen him work anything
involving powerful magic, and they had no reason to think he could do anything much.