"Anne Bishop - Black Jewels 00 - The Invisible Ring" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bishop Anne)

them, Jared turned to Thayne. "It's your turn on one of the saddle horses,
isn't it?"
Thayne glanced at the wagon and swallowed hard. "If it's all right with you,
I'll keep Blaed company for a bit."
Meaning even the saddle horses were too close to Thera's temper.
Nodding his permission, Jared moved far enough away from them to discourage
conversation. He took a moment to add a little more power to the Craft
shields on his clothing. They did a fairly good job of waterproofing the
fabric and keeping the mud and water from seeping into the boots. A little
warming spell helped, too. But even with spells and shields, it was
impossible not to feel the damp after a while, and if anyone knew a
shield-spell that would have kept the rain off their heads, no one had
mentioned it. Jared took a deep breath, wishing it would settle his churning
stomach. Sweet Darkness, don't let her be hurt badly. Pointless to hope that
her arms wouldn't have bruises the shape of his hands. Hurting her made him
ache. It shouldn't have. Hadn't he crossed that line when he'd killed the
last Queen who had owned him? It shouldn't have made him ache. But it did.
When the rain started yesterday afternoon, the Lady was the one who had told
them to use whatever Craft was necessary to stay as dry as possible. She was
the one who had put the Craft shields on Tomas's clothes and had kept an eye
on those among them who might not have the power to hold the shields. Even
Garth. She was the one who had put some kind of shield-spell on the wagon's
wheels and the horses' hooves so they wouldn't sink in the mud. And she was
the one who had come up with the rotation. The rotation was fair. More than
fair. Hell's fire, there were thirteen of them, including the Gray Lady, and
four of them were children. She could have let the children ride on the
outer seat or inside and let the adults stumble along. She could have let
the other females stay in the wagon with her-and slave or not, no Blood male
would have argued about it. But she'd worked out this rotation that included
everyone so that they all alternated between walking and riding, and
everyone had a chance to get out of the rain and eat and rest within the
confines of the wagon. Telling himself that he just wanted to check on Tomas
and see if they could start moving again, Jared walked to the back of the
wagon. Tomas wasn't in sight. Jared sighed and raked his wet hair away from
his face. He didn't relish stumbling around in the trees and bushes on
either side of the road in order to find the boy. Well, the Lady's
controlling ring would be able to locate Tomas quickly enough. After giving
the roan mare and bay gelding friendly pats, Jared stood on the bottom step
and knocked once on the wagon's door. Thera opened the door, shifting her
body slightly to block his view of the inside. But he heard Tomas sternly
tell someone to drink up the brew 'cause it wasn't doing any good while it
was still in the cup. Thera looked at Jared and shrugged.
Relieved to see humor instead of temper in her eyes, Jared shrugged in
reply, as if to say, "He's male. What can you expect?"
"How is she?" Jared asked quietly.
"She wrenched her knee," Thera replied just as quietly. Then she added
thoughtfully, as if she were trying to work out a puzzle that still had too
many pieces missing, "I knew she had healing supplies in that private box of
hers-I saw them when she took care of you. But when I suggested that she
open it so that I could see if there was anything that might help her, she