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"Ah-" For a moment, Jenner was quite speechless, and it was Amelia
who spoke up a bit sharply.
"Just where would this be, my lord?" she asked.
"The Almsley estate for now; Heartwood House. Between here and
Oxford-just past Hatfield," Almsley replied, looking not at all
surprised that it was Amelia who had posed the question. "Newport
Pagnell, to be precise. A journey, but not a very long one, as rail
journeys go; it wouldn't be a bad thing, I think, to get Master
Jenner out of physical reach of Simon Parkening for a bit. In fact,
when the time comes, if you would be willing to accompany him there
as a sort of private physician and see him settled, I'd be obliged to
you."
"Would you be wanting me to personally deal with some of the more
outre matters that might involve you, my lord?" Jenner said at last,
looking distinctly uneasy again. "Because-well, I'd really rather
not. I'm not certain I've got the stomach for it."
"Nor do I blame you!" Almsley responded, as a trick of the light and
the way he held his head made his hair shine, creating a kind of halo
about it for a moment. "Jenner, I can't promise you that you wouldn't
ever be called in to help me with such things, because that would be
a lie. I'm not much good at foretelling the future, don't you know.
I'd as soon tell you that sort of thing didn't happen, I really
would, but it's a kind of nasty little war that Scott and I are
engaged in, and war is no respecter of persons or promises."
Jenner nodded solemnly.
"So I shan't make a promise that I might have.to break," Almsley
continued, "But I can promise that if such a need should arise, I
wouldn't spring it on you as a surprise, and you'd have at least one
chance to tell me to take myself and my interests somewhere a great
deal hotter than here!"
Jenner actually laughed weakly at that, much to Maya's relief. "In
that case, Lord Peter, I would be honored to serve you," he said,
holding out his hand, which Almsley shook firmly.
Maya let out the breath she had been holding in; two problems off her
hands at once-three, if you counted Lord Peter's promise of support
for the clinic. The whole atmosphere seemed to lighten, even though
nothing had outwardly changed. Then Paul Jenner sagged a little, and
Amelia moved into the circle of light cast by the shaded lamp.
"Lord Peter, Mr. Scott, if you are finished, P-my patient needs his
rest," she said firmly. And neither Maya nor the other two missed how
she'd almost called Jenner by his Christian name, nor how her fingers
had reached for his, and his for hers, for just a moment.
"I quite agree," Lord Peter said, standing. "I'm sure we've fatigued
him no end, and he could probably do with something to help him rest.
We'll take our leave, Jenner-but I'll be checking on your progress,
and the moment you're fit to take a rail journey, we'll get that
organized and you can take up your position."
"Thank you again, Lord Peter," the injured man replied feelingly,
before Amelia shooed them all out of the alcove. She busied herself
with "her patient" as Maya beckoned them aside into the clinic's tiny
office.
"Protections?" she whispered, in order not to wake sleeping patients
or excite the curiosity of the night staff.
The two Peters nodded, oddly in unison, as if they were twins. "That
was next," Peter Scott said. "Maya, could you help us with this?
There isn't a great deal of water around here for us to draw on-would
you be willing to supply us with the energy?"
She made a face; the Fleet was hardly a "cleansed" place, but she
nodded anyway.
"It will be easier than you think," Scott said by way of
encouragement, as Lord Peter straightened his back and braced his
feet a little apart, closing his eyes as he did so, and tilting his
head back a trifle. "You've been working here for some time, and
you'll have actually done some cleansing without realizing it."
Maya closed her own eyes for a moment to orient herself, and "saw"
that Peter Scott was right; in the immediate area of the Fleet Clinic
the general "feeling" of the earth was nothing like as polluted as it
was outside the walls. Encouraged, she plunged her spirit deep into
the earth beneath the Fleet and pulled up strength from the enormous
source she found there. Then, as if she poured what she found into a
waiting vessel, she passed that energy to her two companions, who
received it and transmuted it instantly.
It didn't take very long; the Peters worked with a unity she could
only marvel at and envy, and in the time between one breath and the
next, there was a shell of power standing between the Fleet and the
rest of the world, a shining barrier of protection that swirled with
opalescent color and light. When they no longer needed her, Maya
relinquished her hold on the Earth Magic she'd called, and opened her
eyes on the real world.
Almsley opened his eyes, grinned, then settled his collar and cuffs
quite as if he did this sort of thing every day, as Peter Scott ran
his fingers through his hair in a gesture that betrayed his nerves.
"That was a good day's work, I think," Almsley said cheerfully. "Now,
is there any chance of a cab out here at this time of night, or must
I see if my abilities to defend myself against footpads are up to the
task?"
He looked so absurdly eager, as if he actually hoped for a chance to
try his self-defense skills against the thieves and drunks outside,
that Maya had to stifle a laugh behind her hands. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]