"Pierce, Tamora - Circle Of Magic 04 - Briar's Book" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pierce Tamora)

Briar found the new clothes Rosethorn had mentioned. The chief item was a loose garment like a robe secured by a cloth belt. He also found a fresh belly-wrap, a pair of gloves, and a cloth mask. Holding gloves and mask, he went into the main room and made a happy discovery: while they were washing, someone had slid food trays through the big lower flap on the door.
He carried the trays to a table. There were warm flatbreads, hardboiled eggs, and a pot of lentils stewed with onions and bay leaves. There was also a pitcher of fruit juice. Plates and eating utensils he found in a cupboard beside the table. He was just serving the food when Rosethorn and Flick emerged from the washroom, dressed as he was. They already wore their gloves, and their masks were tied around their necks.
"We got to wear this stuff?" Briar asked Rosethorn, pointing to his mask and gloves. "If we're to get these spots, we already got 'em, right?"
"Wrong. You wear them unless you're eating or drinking," Rosethorn told him firmly as Flick took a seat. "No arguments. And please stop talking as if we just dragged you out of jail."
Briar grinned at her and began to eat.
Flick ate a little and drank as much juice as Rosethorn could get into her. Then the sick girl went to bed. Already bored, Briar washed and dried the dishes. Rosethorn made willowbark tea. When it was ready, she woke Flick again. The girl protested drinking the bitter liquid but didn't have the energy to stand up to Rosethorn at her most insistent. Once Flick had sagged back onto her mattress, Rosethorn covered her, stood, and stretched.
Someone rapped on the door to the outer stair. The screened grate at adult-eye level slid open. "Rosethorn?" It was Niko.
Briar followed his teacher to the door. Standing close, the boy heard her quietly tell Niko, "You knew. You knew a plague was coming."
Niko's reply was a tart, "I didn't know much."
"You knew something. Green Man keep us, every minute healers get to prepare-"
"When you experience the absolute welter of bits and fragments that are the picture of time to come, you may scold. I only knew after midnight yesterday what we might face. Might." The sharp tone in his voice grew sharper. "I also saw fire and riot that may or may not happen, here or elsewhere around the Pebbled Sea-street fights and a rebellion against a king. Shall I take ship and warn every port that something bad will happen this spring?" His voice had risen. He caught himself and fell silent. Taking a breath, he added, "I got most of the things you requested here in the city. Your healer's oil must come from Winding Circle-why did you not have it with you?"
"I thought all I would be facing was winter colds and pains and a shortage of chilblain salve!" hissed Rosethorn. "Not a brand-new disease! I should be working on a cure at Winding Circle right now!"
"That's enough," ordered Niko softly. "I am sorry I questioned you." He fell silent for a moment. When he spoke again, he did so in a whisper. "My dear, I admit that you will be needed desperately for your ability to unravel an illness and find its cure. Unfortunately, the gods placed you here. I know you dislike nursing above all things-but there is nothing we could have done to prevent it. Which do you think is more important: immediately isolating the few who were exposed to this child, or letting you go, possibly to bring infection to others?"
"Don't lecture me on the need for quarantine, Niko," Rosethorn snapped. "In case you've forgotten, I wrote the quarantine instructions for Summersea! I know I have to stay here!"
Niko sighed. "Have courage. There are other experts in this kind of work. I am sure that Dedicate Crane will find a way to identify the ailment and its cure."
"Yours is a happy nature," retorted the woman. "Crane will need help. With that lordly manner of his, I doubt he'll manage to keep anyone else for more than a day."
Niko shook his head. "You can't be that worried, if you can take the time to insult your colleagues. I'll come back with these things as soon as I can."
Frowning, Briar stepped back as Niko closed the grating and Rosethorn turned away from the door.
Somehow the boy had always known his teacher was uncomfortable with others. She seemed to like him well enough; she adored Lark, and enjoyed the company of Niko, Frostpine, and the duke. He even suspected she'd come to like the girls, but when it came to outsiders, she hid her softer nature and showed only thorns. Watching her handle Flick, he'd been surprised at how gentle she was. To hear she disliked working with people was no surprise. But Rosethorn was frightened?
That frightened him.
When the duke and his escort came to a halt at the gate of Discipline Cottage, a curly-haired dog two and a half feet tall at the shoulder burst out of the open door, barking wildly. Sandry and Tris dismounted with a splash, hurrying to get to their pet before he could terrify the horses. The soldiers grinned as the big dog raced around both girls, shrieking at the top of his lungs. Behind him came a tall, broad-shouldered girl with mahogany-colored skin-Daja Kisubo, another of Briar's housemates. Rather than go to tea with the duke or visit the market that day, she had chosen to stay home and assist her teacher Frostpine with a particularly complex piece of metalwork.
"How did it go?" Sandry called over the dog's noise.
"Fine," Daja shouted. She bore no sign of time spent in the forge, but wore a clean russet tunic and dark leggings. "The shield will be grand, once it's cleaned and polished." Her dozen braids were still wet from the bath; her round face was freshly scrubbed.
Out of patience at last, a scarlet-faced Tris yelled, "Little Bear, down}"
The dog Little Bear dropped to the ground and rolled onto his back, pawing the air.
"I'm not washing him this time," Daja informed Tris calmly.
"Young ladies," said the duke. The girls looked up at him. "Tell only Dedicate Lark what Rosethorn said-no one else. Once rumors get started .. ."
"We understand, Uncle," replied Sandry. Tris dipped a small curtsey. Daja looked from them to the duke, frowning.
"Aren't you coming in, your grace?" asked Lark from the cottage door. Like Rosethorn, she wore a green habit to show she served the gods of the earth. Unlike Rosethorn, Lark was tall and willowy, graceful rather than crisp. Her dark bronze face was catlike, with its small chin and wide cheekbones, and was framed with short-cropped black curls. The girls saw worry in her dark eyes as she glanced from them to their escort.
The duke shook his head. "I need to speak with Honored Moonstream on a matter of some importance. Good day to you, Dedicate." He bowed slightly in the saddle, then urged his horse forward. His guards followed.
"You're getting soaked, all of you," Lark said, watching the duke go. "Come inside. Where are Briar and Rosethorn and Niko?"
"In Summersea," replied Tris shortly as the girls passed Lark. Little Bear would have followed, but Lark shook her head at him.
"You stay and get wet some more," she told him firmly. "Rinse that mud out before you come in!" She closed the door in his face.
Once Sandry and Tris had shed their rain gear, they sat at the table with Lark and Daja. Sandry told them what she knew of the day's events. Tris watched Lark, not liking what she saw. The laugh lines around the woman's eyes and mouth had deepened; her lips were tight. She looked weary.
"I don't like this," Daja said quietly when Sandry had finished. "Not at all." Getting up, she went to the cottage's shrine in the corner by the front door. With a hand that trembled, she lit the candles for health and luck and set a pinch of incense to burn.
"I knew they had read omens for an epidemic," Lark commented, watching Daja. "Moonstream summoned the full temple council and all the healers while you were gone and told us. Ah, I was being silly." She scrubbed her face with her hands.
"Silly how?" asked Sandry, putting an arm around her teacher.
"It's been three years since our last epidemic. I'd hoped it might stay that way forever. I don't know how Crane's going to manage without Rosethorn," Lark said, getting up to make tea. "He'll say she got herself thrown into quarantine on purpose."
"What has Crane to do with anything?" Tris inquired. None of the young people at Discipline Cottage liked Crane, the mage who was also first, or head, dedicate of Winding Circle's Air Temple.
"He and Rosethorn are always set to finding the nature of any new illness and creating a remedy," explained Lark.
"He and Rosethorn work together?" asked Daja, shocked. "They hate each other."
"I didn't say they liked it," replied Lark with a tiny smile.
Little Bear crept in the back door, looking as meek as a thoroughly soaked large dog could look. His ears were down; his tail gave the tiniest of wags. Since the mud had been rinsed from his coat, no one told him to go. As Lark poured out tea, the dog trotted over to them. Something made him rock back on his haunches and whine deep in his throat.
"What?" Tris demanded, wiping her lenses with her handkerchief.
Little Bear circled the table, sniffing each girl. He whined again.
"You don't get fed until this evening," Daja said curtly.
The dog trotted into Briar's room; a moment later they heard him whimper. Coming to the door of the main room, Little Bear barked sharply.
"Briar's not coming," Sandry told him, her mouth quivering. "Now stop it."
"I don't see how he can know Briar's not coming back," remarked Daja impatiently. Frightened by the other meaning of what she'd just said, she added hurriedly, "Not right away. He's not coming back right away."
Sandry and Lark made the gods-circle on their chests.