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Blaine grinned. "Then what were you staring at?" His grin was the crooked one
he wore when he was determined to tease.
"There is something different about the elf this morning, but I can't figure
out what it is."
Blaine glanced across the fire. Averil caught him looking and smiled. He
grinned back, not upset in the least to have been caught looking at a pretty
girl.
"You two look a fine pair, whispering before the fire." The voice made her
whirl. The wizard was behind them. He had come quiet as a cat, unheard through
the snow.
He smiled. "I didn't mean to frighten you."
Elaine wanted to say he hadn't, but her heart was beating in her throat, and
she didn't trust herself to speak.
"I've never heard a man move like that. Silent as a spy," Blaine said.
The wizard shrugged. "Live long enough and you learn a few useful tricks."
"That was no trick," Elaine said softly.
"Nor was it magic," the wizard said.
She frowned at him. She didn't believe him.
"We all have inborn abilities, Elaine. I was called Gersalius Catpaw in my
youth. I once thought of being a thief, but my mother said she'd cut off my
ears if I disgraced the family." He laughed. "She was always threatening such
dire things. I don't think she ever took a switch to any of us."
The wizard sat down next to them. Thordin handed him food. "I hope your old
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bones find this traveling easier than mine," the fighter said.
The wizard nodded. "It isn't only age, Thordin. I have hidden away in my own
cottage for years. I
haven't gone on a long journey for over a decade."
"You don't complain much," Thordin said.
"Complaining about hardship doesn't drive it away, though it does drive away
one's companions."
"True."
Elaine leaned close to the wizard and whispered. "Is there something different
about the elf? I think there is, but I can't quite see it."
Gersalius nodded, mouth too full to speak. He swallowed and said, "Observant
girl. His arm's longer."
She sat very still, looking at him. "What do you mean, his arm's longer?"
"The wounded arm is growing back." He ate more sandwich, smiling and happy as
if what he had just said were perfectly possible.
"But the arm was torn off, completely. It's gone."
The wizard finished his sandwich, wiping his hands on his robe. "You saw him
call the dead back from the beyond. Why shouldn't the arm grow back?"
"I... don't know, but... but. . ." She just stared at him. She wanted to
sputter and say it was impossible.
She had half convinced herself that the two men hadn't really been dead, just
gravely injured, and he had healed them. That was miracle enough. But the
elf's arm was longer. The arm had been missing above the elbow, now there was
almost a whole joint there. It was a hand-span longer.
Was the skin still smooth and thick with flesh? Elaine had an almost
overwhelming urge to unwrap the arm, to see it bare. Was bone poking through
the skin? Did it bud like a flower?
Silvanus met her gaze. "Do you have a question for me, Elaine?" His
liquid-gold eyes were calm and smiling. There was about him an aura of peace
that Elaine found intriguing.
"I didn't mean to stare."
"It is all right to stare when your intentions are to learn. I see a question
in your eyes. Ask it."
She took a deep breath and asked the question quickly, as if it would sound
less strange if she rushed through the words. "Is your arm truly growing
back?" No, even fast, the question seemed ridiculous. And yet. . . she could
see for herself that the arm was longer.
He smiled. "Yes, it is growing back."
"Does it hurt?"
"No, but it does itch abominably." He gave a small laugh like the distant
ringing of bells. Human throats did not sound like that.
"How does it grow back? I mean ..." Elaine tried to think how to phrase the
question.
"Elaine, just ask, the perfect words for such questions are never found,"
Gersalius said.
"Is the arm growing back in stages? Is the bone growing first, then the flesh
covering it, or does it grow all at once like a tree limb?" It sounded a very
personal question, but she wanted to know. Her hands itched to touch the
growing stump.
Elaine looked down at the ground, afraid he would see the eagerness in her
eyes and mistake it for something else.
"Would you like to see it?" Silvanus asked.
She looked up at him, studying his face. Was he teasing her? No. His face was
pleasant, but serious.
"Yes, very much." Elaine was surprised by the eagerness in her own voice. She
had to learn magic, for it would control her otherwise, but healing . . . she
wanted to learn healing, too.
Blaine was looking at her strangely. She had not told him she might be a
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healer, like Silvanus. It wasn't that she had tried to keep it from him. It
was more that she herself didn't believe it yet. It was both too wonderful and
too frightening to share, even with Blaine. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]