"Jean Lorrah - Empire 03 - Captives of the Savage Empire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lorrah Jean)

was pain and suffering hereтАФpain she shared with the patients when she Read themтАФbut Reading the
easing of that pain because of' something she had done was the most satisfying use she had ever made of
her talent.

Her primary teacher was Magister Jason. They never met face to face, of courseтАФno male and female
Reader could unless one or both wore the Sign of the Dark Moon. Celibacy was the rule and the
necessity for the upper ranks and those still in training; temptation was to be a voided.
But the touch of Jason's mind was an inspiration to Melissa. Disciplined yet vibrant, he Read with her as
she examined patients and learned to interpret the data she gleaned. Medicines, bonesetting,
manipulations of joint and muscleтАФthese she learned from the other healers. Jason taught her to look
deep within the human body and, when no other means would suffice, to cut into it and make repairs.
She quickly progressed from sitting entranced while her mind looked through Jason's eyes, her hands
feeling what his were doing, to the day when she herself held the knife, and Jason's mind guided her.

She never wanted to give up the experience of his mental touch. There was only one way to manage that:
She must become such an expert healer that she would be invited to stay at Gaeta for the rest of her
days, as Jason did. She dreamed of their spending hours each day in deep rapport, healing the sick and
injured together. Her skills improved rapidly under his tutelage. She was happy.

And she remained happyтАж until the first time she had a patient neither medicines nor surgery could cure.
They had had no choiceтАФnone of their medicines, no applications of herbal packs, nothing would reduce
the ulcerating tumor blocking the girl's intestine. All the surgeons hated abdominal surgery, for more than
half the time they could not prevent an infection that killed the patient within a few days of gruesome
agony.

Melissa had administered the herbalist's latest concoction to the girl. For the next few hours her patient's
body temperature would rise dramaticallyтАФpossibly enough to kill the organisms introduced by surgery.
But such high temperatures often caused convulsions that killed the patient more efficiently than the
infection.

That was the first time Melissa faced the possible death of a patient. She was still in training; the teachers
examined her patient hourly, but none of them offered any advice beyond what she had already tried. She
had done everything rightтАФand still her patient would probably die. It was the first time she questioned
her desire to spend her life as a healerтАж and that day brought the reunion that would soon make her
question it again.

The girl had drunk the new medicine in total trust, then, in exhaustion and hope, fallen asleep. Melissa left
her sleeping, not knowing where she was going, but having to get out of that sickroom for at least a few
minutes.

"Melissa, there's a visitor for you in the family room," one of the aides told her.

Melissa cringed. Probably the girl's father again. She gritted her teeth and prepared to face him.

But it was not a man waiting for her. It was a young womanтАФa very pregnant and obviously happy
young woman who wore on her cloak the Sign of the Dark Moon.

"Alethia!" Melissa cried, running to embrace her friend. "Oh, how good to see you again! What are you
doing here? There's nothing wrongтАФ?" Automatically she Read Alethia, finding to her relief nothing but a
perfectly normal pregnancy, advanced approximately seven months.