"Jean Lorrah - Savage Empire 05 - Sorcerers of the Frozen Isles" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lorrah Jean)

Beneath the steep walls created by their work, they had been easing a huge block of granite down an
earthen ramp, controlling it with block and tackle, when the ropes had given way. The stone had trapped
the legs of a young man in his twenties, who now lay helpless while the others tried to remove the rock or
dig him out from under it. Shock had left him unconscious, so Torio no longer had to endure his pain as
he Read beneath the rock.

"Wulfston, his left leg is almost torn offтАФhe's bleeding to death. They'll never get him out alive!"

Indeed, the old man and two strong young men flinging their picks at the ground were making little
progressтАФthe pathway down which they slid the quarried stones had been worn to the living, unyielding
rock.

Another young man, shivering even though his skin was covered with sweat, swore steadily as he tried to
make his shaking hands ravel together the broken ropes to haul the stone offтАж his brother, Torio Read.

Two women, the younger one obviously pregnant, knelt beside the pinned man, wiping his faceтАФbut
there was nothing they could do. His life was slipping away as his mother and his wife watched.

Another woman grabbed a pick and added her unskilled efforts to the task as Wulfston and Torio rode
up. Down the slope, near the house, four children watched with huge eyes, not understanding what was
happening, but too frightened to cry.

The three women looked up as the riders approached, but the men would not leave off their efforts.

"Me lord!" cried the older woman. "Oh, me lordтАФplease help my boy! I'll do anythingтАФ"

These people might never have seen Wulfston before, or perhaps have glimpsed him only at a distance at
some ceremonial or other, but they knew the Lord of the Land at once. He was the only black man Torio
knew of north of what had been the empire's border.

As he and Torio got down from their horses, Wulfston hushed the mother and the rest of the family,
saying, "We'll help. TorioтАФis he alive?"

Gray with shock, the young man lay so still that it was impossible to tell by looking at him, but Torio
Read him. "Yes, but he won't be for long. If he's not out from under there in minutesтАФ"

"Oh, Bevan!" groaned the young man's wife.

"Then there's no choice but to move the rock," said Wulfston. "You menтАФget over on the other side and
haul on the ropes. I'm going to use your strength as well as mine. When I tell you, tilt the block toward
you."

Torio knew moving that huge block, of granite by Adept power aloneтАФworking directly against
gravityтАФwould tax Wulfston's strength close to its limit. He almost started to tell the Lord Adept not to
allow himself to become so vulnerableтАФbut he shook off that thought. There was no question but that
Bevan's life had to be saved! How could such a selfish idea even cross his mind?

He had no time to examine where a thought so unlike his normal Reader's instinct had come from, for
Wulfston was bracing to use his powers, becoming completely unReadable as the strong quarrymen took