On one of the blizzard days of a student in the first month of winter, fate prepared a new test for her. As soon as the doctor ran into the tower, shaking off the snow from the casing and breathing on her chilled palms, Ichthor stunned her with the news: – Today, we will learn to deprive a person of life. From these terrible words, spoken with ordinary indifference, Eilisha froze. Naughty lips whispered of themselves: - I'm a healer. Not a killer. - And what will you do, healer, with those who cannot be saved, and you will not leave alive? the kref asked dryly. - How do you give an easy death? And to instant, without torment. Will you sing a lullaby?- I do not know. At home, every time I ran away from the yard when a bird or cattle was slaughtered. I was sick for a week afterwards, I could not see the meat. I… I… can't,” the girl backed away. “Everyone was laughing at me. They called it blessed. “They talked about it,” said the guard. But this is not a house. And, pushing the s

- What are you, what are you? – tightly hugging his beloved, the young man asked. She wanted to tell him about her fears, to ask him to be by his side, but inappropriately she completely remembered the animal eyes on a human face, remembered the predatory claws and death rattle, and escaped from her lips:“Tamir, if I were reborn as a walker, would you… be able to… kill me?” He looked surprised, but then laughed. “Stupid, you will never walk, I won’t let you,” he kissed the curly top of her head and began to cradle the girl like a child. This was not the answer Eilish was expecting. And I realized with bitterness: if something goes wrong - like Lesana, Tamir's hand will not tremble ... * * *Since that time, the healer apprentice seemed to have been replaced. The daughter of the Medenich family froze. With cold indifference, she did everything that the mentors ordered. There were no more refusals, questions, tears. They confidently cut the girl's hands of the body, washed the ab

I suppose the quiet woman found out that they drugged her with a decoction so that the child would be overthrown. The girl was already moaning, taking the wrong side of healing, and the act of the mentors completely crushed her. If they didn’t do meanness, you look, I would have remained alive. It was impossible to deprive her child, it is impossible! They thought they would save Dar, but they lost everything. And Mairiko, without taking her eyes off the floor, began to tell how she found out about Eilishina’s indolence, how she made her drunk with a decoction to throw it away, how she charmed ... “Looks like her Gift overcame our efforts... She broke the spell. I remembered. That's why it didn't last. I have no other interpretation. Head blackened face: “Ah, there are no other interpretations?” Why didn't you give her a tincture. AND? Why, when she suffered - did not voluntarily force the broth to drink? Didn't you intimidate more than death, so that she would snatch this jug wit

They left the Citadel by the way by which walkers were delivered to the fortress. The heavy door did not move easily - during the day the wind brought quite a lot of snow to the entrance. Leaning her shoulder against the sash, Lesana thought about how Tamir would go with his burden through loose snowdrifts. “Give it,” Ichthor held the guy by the shoulder. - You'll overstrain, we won't rest her without you. He obeyed. The healer took over the body and confidently stepped forward. The black trees rustled in the darkness, the cold air stabbed into his head as he breathed in, like an icy blade. Tamir was breathing convulsively, realizing that he wanted to burst into tears and... couldn't. Tears stuck in his throat, and the burning cold pushed them back into his chest. Lesana had never been to the quarries before, and didn't even really know where they were. Walked for a long time. The wind beat in the face, threw prickly snowflakes, but the three travelers got wet, pulling their legs o

Tamir got up from the dead room to his resting place. His head hurt as usual, his body was pounding with chills, and it was as if sand had been poured into his eyes. I wanted to fall on a bench, pull everything I had on top - from a blanket to ducks - and fall into oblivion. But the novice knew that he could not sleep until he warmed up. The ice walls of the casemates drew heat from the body, chilled the blood. Yes, and the coldness reigning in the room surrounded from all sides. It would be necessary to heat the hearth, sit with your back to the fire and feel how sweet warmth spreads with languor, reaches out to every bone, caresses every vein. It's all just a scam. After the death of Eilish, his fire did not warm. Neither the one that burned in the oven, nor the one that once warmed in the soul. Tamir has turned into a block of ice that will never melt again, because the longing that wraps around a dead soul in dense rings will never dissolve. Only the body remained alive, and now,