Camber the Heretic by Katherine Kurtz Read Free Book Online Page A

stand along the near side of the bed.
    â€œYou’re sure he’s all right now?” Camber asked in a low voice.
    â€œPerfectly normal. I only have him in forced sleep because I wanted to be able to talk freely with you. I know that I can duplicate the effect, though. We won’t even have to wake him. I don’t think he’ll remember anything out of the ordinary, either. He was only conscious for a few seconds, and he was still in a bit of shock. Do you want me to show you what I did?”
    â€œNot just yet. Are his shields malleable?”
    â€œTo the four of us, yes. Do you want to read him?”
    â€œI think so.”
    Moving closer to the bed, Camber unclasped the heavy riding cloak he had been wearing against the outside cold and shrugged it into Joram’s waiting hands, then blew on his fingertips and rubbed them together briskly to warm them before touching Gregory’s temples. As he let his fingers slip easily back into the thin reddish hair and took control, Gregory gave a little sigh and seemed to relax even more.
    Deeply Camber delved, exploring the traditional pathways through which the Deryni potential was usually carried, appreciating the discipline of this particular Deryni mind and marvelling that anything could have neutralized it, even briefly. Then he withdrew both mental and physical contact and turned to Rhys.
    â€œHe seems fine to me. Perfectly normal, other than being open to the controls you’ve placed upon him for Healing. Now, what did you do to him before?”
    With an indrawn breath of apprehension and resolve, Rhys moved in closer and laid his hands on Gregory’s head. “You’d best not come with me while I do it, at least the first time. Just stand by for a moment.”
    â€œVery well.”
    As Rhys closed his eyes and went into his deep Deryni trancing, Camber watched neutrally, aching to follow what the Healer was doing, but respecting his opinion that it were better not to do so. After a moment, Rhys opened his eyes and drew back a little.
    â€œTake a look now,” he said, a twisted little smile on his lips. “Even knowing something of what to expect, I think you’re going to be surprised.”
    â€œIndeed?”
    With the arching of one bushy Alister eyebrow in skepticism, Camber laid his hands on Gregory’s head once again and extended his senses—and encountered no shields, no resistance, nothing—nothing at all which gave hint that the being beneath his hands was Deryni! Despite himself, he looked up quickly at Rhys, at Evaine, noted both their hesitant, slightly troubled little smiles. Without taking his attention from Gregory further, he motioned for Joram to move in and read with him, felt the increased potential as Joram’s familiar presence bolstered his own awareness of the mind they read.
    Backed by Joram’s steady touch of mind and hand, he let himself sink into his own deep trancing, reaching out at successively lower levels for the telltale signs of Deryni potential which were no longer there in Gregory. He could feel Joram’s incredulity in tandem with his own, felt a slight twinge of dread as the thought simultaneously crossed his and Joram’s minds that use of this particular technique could be a threat to any Deryni; thanked God that the Healers were bound by so rigid a code of ethics. What a weapon for Deryni to use against Deryni!
    But he dared not dwell on that further. Surfacing enough to function on a physical plane as well as a mental one again, he signed for Rhys to join them in the deep rapport, to work his Healing magic and restore what he had taken away, while he and Joram observed. He felt Rhys join the linkage and withdrew enough for Rhys to take control, felt the Healer slip deep into union and reach out.
    A twist, a psychic wrenching, gentle but persistent—and suddenly Gregory’s mind was as it had been, sleeping and controlled still, but completely