"Linnea Sinclair - Wintertide 01 - Wintertide" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sinclair Linnea)

Traakhal-Armin

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

EpilogueFirst Thaw

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

About the Author

About the Publisher

Prologue

Cirrus Cove
It was well past midwinter. The deep snows had thinned, their ice-crusted shells sparkling in the bright
morning sun. Already a few green shoots poked brazenly through the ground. Yet, the Healer felt a chill
in her bones as she walked down the rutted path into the village. She drew the embroidered shawl more
tightly around her shoulders, scanned the familiar horizon for the baneful shape of a black crow. She saw
nothing. Only smoke rising hopefully from chimneys into a clear blue sky.
 Just my old bones, she chided herself. Old bones, weary from winters spent in the damp cold of Cirrus
Cove. Ninety winters of tending to minor ills and life passings, and ninety summers of harvest blessings
and plague wardings. Healer’s work. But watching, ever cautious, for things beyond the ken of an
ordinary Healer.

In the small square that was the center of the coveside village, cart ponies plodded steadily, hauling their
burdens for the first time without their woolen blankets. She touched their essences as passed. Dark
magic wore many disguises. But all seemed to be as it should.

Miles to the south, hooves pounded. The ominous thunder of their approach was still distant and the
Healer heard nothing but the shrill cry of sea-fowl.

She followed the wheeling birds towards the pier. The Covemen were out in their square-rigged boats
seeking the first harvest. Tradition demanded the Healer greet their return, sprinkle their catch with herbs
specially chosen for the First Harvest Blessing. She had a few hours yet. The Healer drew in a deep
breath of the pungent sea air and felt, as always, the presence of Merkara, God of the Sea. It was his
blessing she would seek, though not without a prayer of thanks to the Sky Goddess, Ixari, for a mild and