Heroes at Odds by Moore Moira J

Author:Moore, Moira J. [Moore, Moira J.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: PENGUIN group
Published: 2011-06-09T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

I visited Browne the next day. She was nearly buried under her enormous mass of patients, for while no one had died, many had burns and broken limbs and horrible hacking coughs. Her cottage had survived the fire untouched, but it couldn’t accommodate the number of injured, so she had established a temporary infirmary in the assembly room, a large building the size of a barn where the villagers danced and had public meetings.

Browne wasn’t the only one attending to the injured. A handful of men and women were there to bring water and soup and change bandages. They were all pale and they moved slowly. I was still barely able to put one foot in front of the other, myself. “Do you have someone young and spritely I could send to the manor to fetch Karish?” I asked Browne. “He is excellent with injured people.”

“He has a hand for healing, does he?”

Yes, but not in the way she meant, and I wasn’t going to tell her. “He can put them at their ease. Make them smile. Sometimes he’s able to help them sleep. He’s really very good. If either of us had thought about the injured, he would already be here.”

Browne nodded and sent a six-year-old girl out to the manor.

“What can I do to help?” I asked.

Instead of answering me immediately, she took me out of the building and around the corner for some privacy. “What do you need to say?”

I passed along Radia’s request.

Upon hearing it, Browne looked weary and impatient. “The Wind Watcher feels it’s important to do this now?”

“She didn’t say so, but I would imagine the sooner the better. Given the circumstances.” Something as traumatic as the fire would leave a huge scar in everyone’s memory. Some unexpected good fortune might ease that pain a little. “Can it be done?”

Browne blew a stray lock of blond hair off her face. “I’ve never heard of anyone levitating anything that big before.”

“Does the size matter, if it’s moved with a spell?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it. Even when we heard that it was impossible to hang the rock, no one in the circle suggested there might be something we could do.” She frowned and looked off to the distance. “I’ll have to play with the idea a bit and talk to the others.”

I looked at her for a few moments. “You don’t seem upset that Radia knows about the circle. I promise I didn’t tell her.”

She shrugged. “She is the Wind Watcher. She knows everything.”

I contemplated telling Browne that, according to Radia, everyone knew about the circle of casters.

“Give me a couple of days,” she said.

I nodded. “In the meantime, is there anything I can do here?”

“There are always bandages that need cleaning.”

Ick.

Taro arrived not much later, taking in the rows of injured before kneeling beside the one who had been most badly burned, a young boy. Browne had assured me that she would be able to smooth away the disfiguring scarring in time, but in the meantime he was in some pain and very frightened.

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