"Recluce - 07 - The Chaos Balance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

аа "What about you?" asked Nylan as he handed his son back to Istril,
disengaging Weryl's fingers from his own index finger.
аа "Antyl will watch him while I eat." Istril smiled warmly and carried
their silver-haired son back to the nursery.
аа Nylan turned, then stopped to avoid running into one of the cooks.
аа "Greetings, ser." Blynnal bowed her head, about all she . dared bow,
as pregnant as she was and carrying the large baskets of fresh-baked
bread up from the kitchen on the lower level of the tower.
аа Nylan had no doubts about the father. Blynnal had worshiped Relyn
before the one-armed man had slipped out of Westwind one step ahead of a
vengeful Ryba. And Relyn had worried a lot about the cook-pretty, but
timid, and one of the few women in Westwind with no desire to lift a
blade against the majority of men in Candar.
аа After following Blynnal past the lower tables, Nylan slipped around
her and into the space at the end of the bench at the first table, the
position that had always been his. The hearth to his right was dark-but
between the warmth that drifted up from the kitchen on the level below
and the residual heat from the wood-fired furnace, the high-ceilinged
room was warm enough.
аа Saryn sat across from Nylan, while Huldran eased onto the bench on
Nylan's left. Ayrlyn, her flame-red hair seemingly glinting with its own
light, slipped onto the bench across from the smith-engineer.
аа Even before Nylan poured the steaming tea in his mug, Ryba sat down at
the end of the table in the only chair in the great hall.
аа "How is the forging coming?" she asked politely.
аа "We're working on two more blades," he answered. "From what I figure,
that will bring us to nearly a hundred of them- about a score more than
two per guard. We've had to go back to starting the forge with wood, and
we'll be out of charcoal in another eight-day."
аа "I'd appreciate it if you'd just work on blades until the charcoal
goes."
аа "More visions?" he asked quietly.
аа "Such as they are." Ryba broke off a chunk of bread.
аа Nylan took a chunk of the dark bread after her and passed the basket
to Huldran, then looked across the table, noting the pallor in Ayrlyn's
face. "Dephnay again?" he asked.
аа "She's getting better, but Tryssa got burned with hot grease. Cold
water helped-except for her eyelids."
аа Nylan winced at the thought of grease across the eyes, and the effort
it must have cost the flame-haired healer. Healing through the order
fields was exhausting, as he knew from experience. He'd collapsed more
than once. "How is she?"
аа "She'll be fine."
аа "How about you?"
аа "I'll need a nap after I eat. A long one." Ayrlyn took a long swallow
of the hot tea.
аа Nylan nodded sympathetically, then took a sip of his own tea while
waiting for the huge crockpot filled with stew to reach him.
аа "You need to eat more," Hryessa badgered Daryn from the foot of the
table.