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

But he was awake, and that meantтАФ

"How much strength would it have taken to stop their hearts?" Torio demanded. "Why did you let them
die so horribly?"

Wulfston turned weary eyes to Torio. "Are there any more?"

Torio Read. No new attackers lurked anywhere around, nor was anyone fleeing. All were deadтАФ even
the ones down by the house, he Read sickly. Wulfston hadn't chanced just putting them to sleep, lest they
waken after he had exhausted his powers. "No. You killed them all," he said flatly.

"Are you hurt?" asked the Lord Adept.

"No, butтАФ"

"But you might have required healing," explained Wulfston.

Torio knew, intellectually, why the Adept was trained to save the last of his strength in a situation such as
they had just gone throughтАФa last-resort means of escape or healing.

But his heart still protested the agony Wulfston had allowed.

"Torio, can you get me to the stonecutter's cottage?" Wulfston asked.
"Yes, if you can walk. Lean on me."

The needs of a Lord Adept who had expended his powers for them was something the stonecutter's
family understoodтАФand Torio was glad to see that it was no hardship for them to meet even the appetite
of a Lord Adept. They were welcomed joyfully into the house, where the main room served as kitchen,
dining hall, and family gathering place. There was meat aplenty, just what an Adept required to restore
energy quickly after using his powers.

At the gratitude of the innocent people the bandits had used so cruelly, Torio accepted that they had
done what they had toтАФReader and Adept working together, to protect those without their powers.
Feeling better by the moment, he ate tasty brown bread with butter, the ubiquitous cooked vegetables,
fresh berries, and a rich tart served with creamтАФa meal designed to give strength to men who worked
the quarry.

He had to explain that Readers did not eat meat, and discovered that everyone had thought him an
apprentice Adept, since Readers were still scarce in this part of the savage lands.

Bevan's family put Wulfston to bed in the loft where the married couples slept, and were astonished to
find that Torio was wide awakeтАФand full of questions about where their attackers had come from. If
only they had left one of them alive!

"I dinna understand," said Morgone, the old stonecutter who headed the family. "We've had naught o'
trouble wi' bandits. People herebouts, they like what Lord Wulfston's done. We got homes, foodтАФwho
needs turn bandit?"

"I don't know," Torio told him, "but we're going to find out."