"Jean Lorrah - Savage Empire 04 - Flight To the Savage Empire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lorrah Jean)

The stretcher-bearer's surly question brought Astra back to herself. She glared at him as Zanos swept
into the room like a windstorm, radiating anger. The other men backed wordlessly away from the
examining table as he stalked to it, demanding, "Why is Clavius' body still here?"

Astra stood her ground, but hesitated in her response. Even from the other side of the table, he towered
over her like a giant. "Well, Reader?" he pressed.

"You are the owner of this gladiator?" she asked formally.

"Yes," he said curtly, "and I want his body decently buried before nightfall. What is the delay?"

"This man died from a sword thrust, all right, " she replied, "but he shouldn't have lost that match. I Read
traces of white lotus in hisтАФ"

"White lotus?" he echoed. "The dream drug? That's impossible! I don't let my fighters use drugs! Besides,
white lotus isn't a stimulantтАФit's slow poison!"

"Indeed," Astra nodded. Of all the deadly, habit-forming drugs to be found in the Aventine Empire, white
lotus was the most insidious. She knew some of the idle rich played with this flavorless powder by putting
it in wine and drinking their way to wild, "happy" dreamsтАж and eventually forgot all else in life. The most
severe cases ended up at the Gaeta hospital, where Master Readers used all their skills against the
damage done to minds as well as bodiesтАФ for the substance also made the user highly susceptible to
suggestion. Officially, the drug was illegal, but like many other illegal or unjust things, it flourished in the
empire, especially in Tiberium.

"There is no way Clavius could have obtained white lotus!" Zanos insisted. "Morella's women might give
themselves to a gladiator for the pleasure of it, but no one provides a slave with such an expensive
drugтАФnor a gladiator he plans to bet on with such a dangerous one. I don't know what game you're
playing, Reader, but you'd better forget itтАФand tell the same to your Masters!" This one's just as
corrupt as the others.

Astra turned away from Zanos as he ordered the bearers to remove the body. His thought had struck her
like a physical blow, but it was a kind of assault she'd grown used to. When the young Reader was upset
or frightened, it was impossible for her not to Read the thoughts of others.

Something about this ZanosтАФbesides his angerтАФ frightened her very much. She couldn't argue with
himтАФhe must be very stupid not to realize that a debilitating drug that was very difficult to detect was
exactly what one might give a gladiator one meant to bet against. YesтАФdullness combined with great
strength was a very dangerous and frightening mixture.

Metrius' trainer brought the victorious gladiator in just after Zanos left, and for a time Astra was occupied
with cleaning and bandaging his wound. He would be fineтАФand after today's victory, with the winter to
recover, would probably be a great favorite in the games next spring.

Then Astra was alone in the room again. Alone, as she had been for most of her life. Alone with the
powers too strong for her to control, despite her years of training at the empire's finest Academy. The
teachers had called her their finest pupil, but none of them could show her how to fully stop Reading, to
completely shut out the world as even the least sensitive Reader could do.

She waited until the stadium and nearby streets were nearly empty before starting back to the Academy.