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

One of the men began to unlace, and the others followed his example. A moment later the light of five
rings of green fire glowed steadily from their loins.
"Lied... you lied to me!" gasped Watkin.
"Lied, Watkin? I am indeed a physician and breaker of curses, and my faith is the Way of Islam."
"Then who are these men?"
"You may call this man Sir Robert," I said as he brought a coil of rope to tie the tinker's hands. "This
fine, burly warrior is Sir Peter, and Sir Phillip was the sentry who brought you down. Sir Charles is the
blonde man, and Sir Douglas has the black beard and is scowling as if he would cheerfully cut your heart
out. You may call me William."
"Those are not your real names," he said fearfully.
"Those names will suffice for you, false or not. Speaking for myself, I really am an Englishman, and
although I do have an Islamic name now, I was christened William when I was born. I have returned to
England at the request of Sir Peter here."
"A Christian physician could well have had us denounced or burned for demonic possession," Sir
Peter explained. "Some folk afflicted by the green fire have already suffered such a fate. This infidel, who
is also my friend, can be trusted not to do that. On your feet now!"
The nobles tied him spread-eagled in the rain between two trees. "False physician, you betrayed me!"
wailed Watkin.
"And how many women did you betray by passing the green fire on to them?" I asked.
"No, no, I have ceased to spread the green fire," he cried. "Look in my pack."
"You certainly have," I agreed as I rummaged through his goods. "Just look at these knick-knacks. All
manner of little presents as might please a wench and entice her into bed. Aromatic oils and scents, and,
and... less savoury items."
There it was, in his pack, the cursed device. I sat back, and examined the sheath while my companions
cheerily tormented Watkin with what was to come. With such a plague as the green fire to be caught
from casual dalliance it was only a matter of time before these sheaths of sheepgut became very popular.
Still, that was not my concern. Watkin was the man I had been seeking, the Alpha firebrand, the butterfly
king. The plague of green fire was about to end and he would play a role.
I stood up. Sir Douglas had just proposed a crude surgical operation to rid Watkin of his green fire
and the others were roaring their approval. "Stop! Stop!" I shouted, rushing forward to seize Sir Peter's
arm. "My good lords, this one is not to be killed."
"But he's the one who began it all," exclaimed Sir Peter, so hot with anger that the rain steamed from
his face.
"Precisely. Other firebrands may be killed for spreading the green glow, but this one might well be
used for a cure."
Their hard and vengeful glares were at once softened by amazement and hope. Even revenge took
second place to removing the glowing green shackle from their manhood.
***


Watkin was bound, gagged and bagged, then taken to Sir Peter's castle some seventy miles away. The
journey was done in a single stretch, with no sleep, and even meals were had in the saddle. It rained for
most of the way. The castle was no great wonder, it was a mean, low fortification of rammed earth, logs
and stone blocks from ancient Roman ruins. The thatch and log roofs leaked, and it rained most of the
time that I was there.
Although surly at first Watkin became wonderfully co-operative after a single touch of the torturer's
red-hot iron. We wrote down the details of his 105 seductions, and in the weeks that followed
established that only sixty-two of the infected women had survived beatings by their husbands and
attempts at exorcism by religious healers. Ten had escaped ensnarement by the green ring since he had
begun to use his sheepgut armour.