"Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon - Mage Wars 01 - The Black Gryphon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

dreams last night."
Gesten ducked his head in a shrug. "Some magical weapon Urtho sent him after," the hertasi said
indifferently. "There was a big fuss over it after I got you to bed—half the mages in the Tower came
looking for it when Himself found out Skan had been carried in. One of 'em woke Tamsin and tried to
dress him down for not reporting it right away."
Amberdrake noticed the careful use of the word "tried." "I take it that Tamsin gave him an earful?"
Gesten chuckled happily and bobbed his head. "It was a pleasure and a privilege to hear," he said
with satisfaction. "It was almost as good as you do when someone gets to you."
"Hmm." Amberdrake shook his head. "So, it was some kind of mage-weapon. Well, I suppose we'll
never know the whole truth of the matter." It occurred to him that this "weapon," whatever it was, may
have been the reason that Laisfaar had been taken. Or it might have been the single factor that made its
loss possible, which made it imperative for Skan to have found one and gotten it back so that Urtho's
mages could create a counteragent.
If Skan knew that, he wouldn't reveal it. The less anyone knew, the better, really. It was terribly
easy for a spy to move through Urtho's camp—precisely because Urtho's people as a whole were far
less ruthless than their counterparts on Ma'ar's side of the conflict. And camp gossip, as he had seen last
night, spread as quickly as flame in oil-soaked tinder.
Amberdrake had long since resigned himself to the fact that he was going to overhear and
accidentally see a million tantalizing details that would never make sense. That, too, was in the nature of
his profession.
"Anyway, if you can get His Grumpiness—"
"I heard that," came a low growl from the patient behind the tent flap.
"—His Contrariness to eat something, I can get the place ready for your next client," Gesten
concluded smoothly.
Amberdrake chuckled. "I think I can manage. For one thing, now that I know his throat is irritated, I
can do something about that."
"Don't strain yourself," Gesten warned, as he pulled back the tent flap to go inside. "He isn't your
only charge. And he isn't even paying.'"
That last had to have been added for Skandranon's benefit. The gryphon only raised his chin off his
bandaged forearms a moment, and said with immense dignity and a touch of ill temper, "I ssshould think
thisss sssort of thing came underrr the heading of 'jussst rewarrrd for a missssion sssatisssfactorilly
completed.'"
"I would agree with you," Amberdrake said absently, noting that Skandranon was pointedly rolling
his sibilants for "emphasssisss." Skandranon's diction was as crisp as any human's, when he wanted it to
be. Amberdrake extended his finely-honed senses and found nothing more amiss than healing bones,
healing wounds, and—yes, a healing concussion.
"How's the head?" he asked conversationally, letting his awareness sink into the area of Skan's
throat and crop, soothing the irritation caused by the foreign object Skan had (inadvertently?) swallowed.
It was something of a truism that a gryphon could not store anything in the crop that was bigger than he
could successfully swallow, but that did not mean that the object in question would be a comfortable
thing to store. Particularly if it was angular and unyielding as Amberdrake thought he remembered.
"The head isss missserable, thank you," the gryphon replied with irritation. "I ssshould think you
could do ssssomething about it."
"Sorry, Skan," Amberdrake replied apologetically. "I wish I could—but I'm not a specialist in that
kind of injury. I could do more harm than good by messing about with your head."
He exerted a touch of Healing energy—being careful not to overextend himself; he hadn't needed
Gesten's warning on that score. He'd run himself into the ground once already; if he did it again, he was
asking for trouble, and it generally took two or more Healers to fix what a stupid Healer did to himself. In
a moment, the heat that meant "soreness and irritation" to Amberdrake faded and died from Skan's
throat, and the gryphon swallowed experimentally.