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

The muscles of Corani's throat tightened visibly as he fought for control. Amberdrake sensed tears
being forced down. Corani was on the verge of more than tears; he was on the verge of a breakdown.
This would accomplish nothing, worse than nothing. The man needed rest, and with Amberdrake's hand
resting on his forehead, he was open to Amberdrake's will.
"You must sleep," kestra'chern Amberdrake said, imposing a mental command on top of the drugs.
Corani closed his eyes, and this time he did not reawaken when Amberdrake rose to go.

Gesten would be where he had been since dawn; at the landing field, waiting for Skandranon to
return. Amberdrake left the keep, slipping unobtrusively out into the scarlet of a spectacular sunset. The
landing field was not far away, and Amberdrake decided to head there, rather than going straight back to
his tent.
Depression weighed heavily on his heart, a depression that was not relieved at the sight of Gesten
alone on the field, patiently making preparations to wait out the night-watch.
Amberdrake held his peace for a moment, then spoke.
"He's not coming back this time," Amberdrake said quietly.
His hertasi companion, Gesten, looked up at him with his expressive eyes and exhaled through his
nostrils. He held his pebble-scaled snout shut for a long minute. "He'll come. He always does," Gesten
finally said. "Somehow."
Amberdrake wished with all his heart that the little hertasi would be right this time. Skandranon had
flown from the Tower two days before, and Stelvi Pass was less than a day away, flying; he had never
been delayed by so much before. Gesten was going about the task of building a watch-fire for their
friend, laying out colored smoke-pots amidst the kindling. It might be a useless gesture, but it was all he
could really do right now, with dawn so far away. Light up a pattern of blue and white to welcome the
flyer home, let him know from afar that safety was close... Amberdrake tried to help, but he was
awkward, and his heart wasn't in it. How odd, that one so graceful in his calling could be so clumsy
outside it.
"Urtho has called a council." That much was common knowledge; no harm in telling the hertasi now.
"Two gryphons came streaking in from Laisfaar straight to the Tower, and two hours after that, Urtho
sent a message ordering me to tend General Corani."
Gesten nodded, apparently taking Amberdrake's meaning—that Corani needed the peculiar skills of
a kestra'chern. The general had been permanently assigned to the Pass, until Urtho needed him more than
his home district did. For the last week he'd been at the Tower, pleading with Urtho for some special
protection for Stelvi Pass and the town. That much was common knowledge, too.
"What can you tell me?" Gesten knew very well that there was only so much Amberdrake could
reveal to him. "What did Corani need?"
Amberdrake paused, searching for the right word.
"He needed sympathy, Gesten," he said as he laid down a stack of oily fire fuel logs. "Something
happened in the Tower that he didn't want to talk about; and I can only assume that from the way he
acted, the news was the worst. Kept talking about blind spots—he was near to a breakdown. That's not
like him. And now... Skandranon is late." Amberdrake smoothed his silk caftan, brushing the wood chips
away. He felt worry lines creasing a face even his enemies called handsome, but he was too depressed to
care.
Absently, he pulled his long hair back from where it had fallen astray. "I don't think he's coming back
this time. I can feel it in my gut...."
Gesten picked up a small log and pointed it up at Amberdrake. "He will be back, I feel it in my gut,
Drake, and I won't put up with your whining about 'poor Skan.' He always comes back. Always.
Understand? And I'll be here, with this watch-fire, until either he comes back or this army runs out of
firelogs."
Amberdrake stepped back, thoroughly chastised, and more than a little surprised at the vehemence
of the normally quiet lizard's speech. Gesten stood pointing the stick at him for a moment more, then spit