Stone of Tears Read Online Free PDF

the full dose!”
    “Very well.” Zedd glanced up at the healer. “Administer her the full dose. Three cubes. Shredded, not whole.”
    The healers eyes opened a little wider, and she incredulously mouthed the word “shredded?”. Zedd squinted and nodded his insistence. The corners of her mouth curled up in a tightly controlled smile.
    Wattle root would take away the pain of the minor injuries, but it needed only be swallowed whole. One small cube was all that was needed. Shredded, and that much of it, would set Lady Ordith’s plumbing afire. The good Lady was going to be spending the better part of the next week in her privy.
    “What is your name, my dear?” he asked the healer.
    “Kelley Hallick.”
    Zedd gave a tired sigh. “Kelley, are there any others that are beyond your considerable talents?”
    “No, Sir. Middea and Annalee are finishing with the last of them.”
    “Then will you please take Lady Ordith somewhere where she will not … where she will be more comfortable while you tend to her.”
    Kelley glanced down at the woman Zedd had a comforting hand to, to the rip across her abdomen, and back up to his eyes. “Of course, Wizard Zorander. You look to be very tired. If you would come to me later, I will fix you a stenadine tea.” The small smile touched the corners of her mouth again.
    Zedd couldn’t keep a grin from his own face. Besides restoring alertness, stenadine tea was also used to give lovers stamina. By the glint in her eye, he judged her to be a fine brewer of stenadine tea.
    He gave Kelley a wink. “Perhaps I will.” Any other time he might have given it serious consideration, Kelley was a handsome woman, but right now, that was just about the furthest thing from his mind.
    “Lady Ordith, what is your body servant’s name?”
    “Jebra Bevinvier. And a worthless girl she is, too. Lazy and impudent.”
    “Well, you will not be burdened with her inadequate service any longer. She is going to need a long time to recover, and you are shortly going to be leaving the Palace.”
    “Leaving? What do you mean leaving?” She put her nose in the air. “I have no intention of leaving.”
    “The Palace is no longer safe for a Lady of your importance. You will have to leave for your own protection. As you said yourself, the guards are asleep half the time. You will have to be on your way.”
    “Well, I simply have no intention of …”
    “Kelley,” he gave her a firm look, “please help Lady Ordith to a place where you can tend to her.”
    Kelley was dragging the Lady Ordith off like a load of wash before she had a chance to cause any more trouble. Zedd turned a warm smile to Jebra and brushed some of her short, sandy hair back off her face. She held one arm across her grievous wound. Zedd had managed to halt most of the bleeding, but that wasn’t going to save her; what was outside had to be put back to its place inside.
    “Thank you, Sir. I’m feeling much better now. If you could help me to my feet, I will be out of your way.”
    “Lie still child,” he said softly. “We must talk.”
    With a hard glance, he moved onlookers back. Soldiers of the First File had only to see that one brief look and they were already pushing people away.
    Her lip trembled as her breast rose and fell quicker. She gave a little nod. Her eyes blinked. “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”
    “I won’t lie to you, child. Your wound is at the limit of my talents were I well rested. You don’t have the time for me to rest. If I don’t do something, you will die. If I try, I might hasten the end.”
    “How long?”
    “If I do nothing, maybe hours. Maybe the night. I could ease the pain enough to at least make the last of it tolerable.”
    She closed her eyes as tears seeped from the corners. “I never thought I cared to live.”
    “Because of the Seer’s Stone you wear?”
    Her eyes snapped open. “You know? You recognize the Stone? You know what I am?”
    “I do. The time is long past when people