"Sean McMullen - A Ring of Green Fire" - читать интересную книгу автора (McMullen Sean)

"Who is Maimonides?"
"Ah, a great Jewish teacher and man of medicine. He is court physician to the great Saladin."
"Saladin! So... you have Moorish training."
"Why yes. I went to the Holy Land with the Crusade of 1147. I was badly wounded, then captured.
The enemy physicians tended me so well that I resolved to learn their ways."
"You place no faith in torture to rid a man of demons?"
"Oh no, I have been trained in far more civilised means."
"Then I'll show you-- "
"No! Wait, and let me examine you first. I wager that I can tell your affliction in moments."
I felt the glands beneath his jaw, looked into his eyes in the firelight and sniffed his breath. He was in
good health, I could see that at once, yet I had to make a show of skill to gain his trust. He did not realise
that I have acute vision at a distance, and had noticed a faint green glow through the cloth of his trews
before he had wrapped himself in his cloak.
"You have a circlet of green fire about your penis," I announced calmly. "It has been slowly moving
higher, and in its wake your skin has lost all feeling."
He gasped, then looked down to see if his glow was showing, which it was not. "Truly a man of great
medical arts," he said in awe. "What-- what are your fees? I'm but a poor tinker, yet I'd give anything to
be rid of the fire and numbness."
I laughed disarmingly. "I have yet to meet a rich tinker, but do not worry. Your earnings for the week
past will suffice. Open your robes, lower your trews, let me see your affliction."
His ring was brighter than any others that I had seen, and had moved so far up the shaft that it was
almost at the base and glowed through his pubic hair. My companions looked up from their meal in
surprise.
"Can you break this spell?" Watkin babbled eagerly. "Have you seen the like before?"
"Ah yes, and I have had great success where all others have failed."
He sighed with relief. "So, you have secret incantations and philtres, perhaps?"
"I have those, but they are for later. The real mode of breaking a spell is to learn the circumstances of
its casting in the fullest detail possible. An honest, truthful account of the casting weakens the grip of the
devil, who is behind all curses and spells. One lie, one slight deviation from the truth, however, and his
grip is strengthened. How did you acquire your ring, Watkin?"
"It... appeared a month ago, after I bedded my wife, and each time that I enjoy her it moves a little
higher-- "
"Stop, stop," I laughed. "Three lies within one breath! Watkin, you will have to do better than that. The
ring of green fire begins at the tip of one's member and moves higher only when you bed a woman for the
first time. It also becomes brighter as time passes. In women the glow is all internal, yet there is also
numbness and other such effects that increase with time and new lovers. I would say that you acquired it
around May last year, and since then you have mounted eight dozen women. As to being married, no,
not you. Am I wrong?"
He slowly shook his head and stared at his boots. "To my shame, no."
"Then tell the truth, however reproachful your conduct has been."
"It would burn the ears of a good Christian."
"But Watkin, I am not a Christian." He gaped at me. "When I was in the Holy Land I adopted more
than the medical scholarship of Islam. Now tell me of how you were first snared by the ring, and tell the
truth."
"It was in a village called Delmy, to the south, near the coast. I arrived there early one afternoon,
during the May festival. The villagers were celebrating the victory of summer over winter with feasting,
May carols and dancing. Strangers were welcome, especially an honest tinker like myself.
"For a time I sampled the tartlets, manchets, fried figs and ales, then I turned my thoughts to a
companion for a little frolic. I'd been travelling for a long time, I was lonely, it was spring-- "
"I am not too old to know the needs and urgings of the flesh, Watkin. Go on."