"L. E. Modesitt - Corean Chronicles 1 - Legacies" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

have enough for one." Lucenda tendered the bottle, and the lamb sucked for a
time, but the amount of milk left in the bottle remained almost the same.
'He doesn't feel good," Alucius said. "He's tired."
'He has to eat, or he won't get well," Lucenda said evenly.
'Will he die?"
'He might."
Alucius sensed the concern in his mother's words, and the darkness behind
them. He looked at the lamb, then sat down on the old horse blanket beside the
animal. Slowly, he reached out and drew the small creature to him, his arms
around the lamb's neck.
 The lamb bleated, then seemed to relax, looking up at Lucenda. Alucius
waited.
She offered the bottle once more.
Alucius held the lamb until the bottle was empty.
Lucenda looked to her son. "How is he?"
'He's tired. He'll be better."
'He made a mess of you," Lucenda said.
'I'll ask Grandma'am how to wash it off." Alucius yawned and lay down on the
blanket next to the lamb. "I'm staying here. He needs me. He'll be better."
'For a while, dear."
'All night. He'll get well. You'll see. He will."
'If you say so, Alucius."
'I just know he'll get stronger." The child's treble voice held absolute
conviction. He yawned again, and then again. Before long, his eyes closed. So
did those of the lamb.
Lucenda looked at the sleeping child and the sleeping lamb. A faint smile
crossed her lips.

The wind of late fall whistled around the dwelling, but the warmth
from the big iron stove in the main room had infused the front parlor as well, as
had the heat from the kitchen, with the associated smells of baking apples,
biscuits, and mutton. Because it was Decdi, when Royalt did not graze the
nightsheep, the older man sat behind the table desk, studying the black
leatherbound ledger. He dipped the iron pen into the inkwell and added several
figures to the column of figures. Then, with a satisfied half-smile, he swished the
pen in the cleaning bowl, wiped it gently with a scrap of cloth and set it in its
stand. After closing the ledger, he stood and put it on the top shelf of the
bookcase. As he lowered his hand, his sleeve slipped back over his herder's
wristguard, a seamless band of silver, with a strip of black crystal in the center.
Alucius watched from the leather hassock by the bookcase, his eyes on the
herders' wristguard for a long moment. While chores still had to be done on
Decdi, the day ending the week seemed special, perhaps because there was time
for the adults to talk, and Alucius could listen, and no one urged him on to the
next chore.
'Could I play a game of leschec with you, Grandfather?" asked Alucius. "A
short one before supper, if you wouldn't mind?"
'You finished your lessons?"
'Yes, sir." Alucius pointed to the lesson book on the one shelf that was his,
and that held his learning books as well. "Do you want to look at them?"
'You say they're done, they're done." Royalt leaned forward and offered a