"Moon, Elizabeth - Deed Of Paksenarrion - 01 - Sheepfarmers Daughter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

"Paks, is all this heaving from being in trouble, or what?"
"I - I think it's from being hit, here — " She gestured at her midriff. "It hurts there."
"I thought you just had a black eye and a bloody nose — let's see, can you sit up straighter?" Stammel moved away from the light to her side. "No, keep looking toward the light. Hmm — that whole side of your face is swollen. I can't even see your eyelashes. Your nose is broken, certainly." He touched the swelling very gently. Paks winced. "That could be from more than one blow. Do your ears ring?"
"Yes, sir — but it comes and goes."
"What's this gash on your shoulder? He didn't have a blade, did he?"
"No. I think that was the belt buckle. My father's used to do that."
"I wish this torchlight was brighter and steadier," grumbled Stammel. "Lift your chin. Looks like your throat is bruised, too. Does it hurt to breathe?"
"Just a little."
"Well, where else are you hurt?"
"In - in front. It all hurts. And my legs."
"Stand up, then. I'll want a look at the damage."
Paksenarrion tried to stand, but her legs had stiffened after hours of sitting on the cold stone. At first she could not move at all, but when Stammel gave her an arm to pull up on, she staggered up, still unable to straighten. She could not repress a short cry of pain.
"Here — lean against the wall if you aren't steady." Stammel swung her around and braced her against the wall opposite the torch. "Tir's bones, I don't see how you could have half-killed him in the shape you're in." Then he paused, glancing down at his arm and then at the stone bench. "It is blood. What did they — "
Paks felt herself slipping down the wall; she could not seem to hold herself up.
"Here, now — don't fall," said Stammel. The warning came too late. Paks lay curled on her side, heaving helplessly.
"I'm - I'm sorry — " she gasped finally.
"Lie still then. Let me look — " Stammel raised her tunic. Even in the flickering torchlight he could see the welts and dried blood on her thighs. Her tunic was ripped in several places. Stammel swore suddenly, words Paks had heard from her cousin. Then his voice softened. "Paks, I'm going to talk to the captain. We'll get this straightened out somehow. You can't be faking these injuries, and their story doesn't hold up when you're too weak to stand." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Now, let's get you back on the bench. I'll try to get the captain to let me have Maia see you, but don't count on it." He half-lifted her. "Come on — help me. You're too big for me to lift alone."
Paks struggled up and finally made it onto the bench with Stammel's help.
"I'll be back to check again tonight, and of course in the morning. You'll be all right, though miserable. Try not to move around — that may help the heaves — and don't panic. We won't forget you." With that Stammel took down the torch, opened the door, and left, taking the light with him. Paks lay in the darkness, not quite sure whether she felt better or worse about her prospects.
Stammel came up from the cells looking, had he known it, as angry as he felt. Bosk waited near the head of the stairs. When he caught sight of Stammel's face, his own seemed to freeze for an instant. Stammel, his mind whirling with what he must do, and quickly, before the captain went to bed, stopped at the head of the stairs and beckoned. "Corporal Bosk," he said, and his voice surprised himself.
"Yes, sir." Bosk was looking at something below his face — at his sleeve, Stammel realized. He felt unreasonably irritated.
"I didn't do it, Bosk; you know better!"
"Yes, sir." Bosk's eyes came back to his.
"We have a problem, Bosk, and little time to solve it. I want you to isolate Korryn, at once. I want to speak to everyone who was in that room from the time Stephi came in until we got there — no matter who, or how long they stayed — everyone. Separately — I'll use the duty room for that. And before I talk to them, I want to know what they've been doing, and what you and Devlin think. But quickly."
"Yes, sir. Do you want me to move Korryn first? And where?"
"Yes. Use that storage chamber down the way, and put a guard with him. He's not to talk to anyone. Is Dev in the duty room?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. I'll be there. You take care of Korryn and come to me when it's done."
"Yes, sir." Bosk left the recruit barracks to find a guard, and Stammel walked to the duty room down the hall. Inside, Devlin was writing up the log of his watch, frowning. Stammel stepped into the room and Devlin looked up.
"Are they quiet?" asked Stammel.
"About what you'd expect. I thought we were going to have more trouble for a bit: Korryn and Saben. But I made 'em shut up."
Stammel realized that Devlin, too, was looking at his blood-stained sleeve. "Dev, I haven't been beating her — someone else did that."
"Sir. I wouldn't have thought she'd brawl like that."
"I don't think she did, Dev." Stammel paused to listen to feet in the passage behind him. Bosk must have found a guard. Devlin looked confused.
"But, sir, they both said the same thing. And Stephi was down."
"Yes. That'll bear thinking on." Stammel heard voices in the barracks; he and Devlin both listened. Korryn, sounding aggrieved; Bosk, sounding grim and certain. Then three sets of footsteps in the passage, going away. Stammel resumed. "Devlin, if I'd asked you this morning whose word to take on something, Korryn's or hers, what would you have said?"
"Well — Paks's, of course. But now — "
"No buts. If it's just Paks against Korryn, we know Paks is more trustworthy. She's never done one underhanded thing yet."
"Yes, but what about Stephi? He's not like Korryn, that I've heard."
"No, that's true, and I've known him as long as you have. But I've seen him in fights — to be as dazed as he was, with no more marks on him — that's not like him. I wish I knew how badly he's hurt."
Bosk edged in the door. "Korryn's safe, sir. And Saben wants to talk to you."
"I'll get to him. You need to hear this too, Bosk. Stephi's story is that Paks jumped him when he hadn't done more than proposition her, right? And that she halfway killed him, except that Korryn dragged her off just before we got there."
The corporals nodded. "He said — or was it Korryn? — that he'd only hit her a couple of times since the fight started, she was so wild," added Devlin.
"Then how is it," asked Stammel, "that Paks is lying down there too weak to stand, covered with bruises and welts?"
"Welts?"
"Yes. Stephi's belt, according to her, and Korryn still had his on, as I recall." Stammel moved restlessly about the little room. "I can't explain Stephi's part in this, but it needs explaining. He's not known as a liar, but—"
"Come to think of it," Devlin interrupted, "most of that story came from Korryn, remember? Stephi hardly said a word — nodded when Korryn said 'isn't that right' — muttered a little, but that's all."
"Still — I've got to come up with answers before the captain goes to bed. We can't spring all this in the morning. Now: Devlin, I'll be using this room to talk to those who were in the room at any time while Stephi was there. I want you to find out, as quietly as possible, whether anyone saw Stephi acting strangely at any time this afternoon or evening. Bosk, you find Maia, Siger, and the afternoon watch commander, and have them meet me in - half a glass. If I'm not through here, come along and I'll step out to meet them in the yard. Got that?"
"Yes, sir."
"I'll speak to Saben first. And remember — keep this quiet."