Today's Reading
It opened shortly to reveal a broad-shouldered man with raven-black hair and a neat beard. He looked more like a soldier than a scholar who had spent his years in the shade of libraries and schoolhouses.
Roxannah snapped to her feet. She expected him to demand payment before accompanying her, but he simply waved at her to join him. "Head injury, my man tells me. Is he conscious?"
She blinked, surprised at this no-nonsense greeting. "Yes."
"That's a good sign." He had a deep voice that seemed at once commanding and oddly soothing, edged by a slight accent that lent his speech an air of mystery.
Walking briskly, he led her to a plain gate at the opposite end of the courtyard, beyond which lay a wide lane. "It will be faster if we ride. My horse is in the stable around the corner. There is a donkey for you." He gave her a sidelong glance. "You needn't worry. It's a biddable creature."
"I can ride."
He walked ahead into a mudbrick stable, whitewashed to match the outside walls. His steps were long and loping, and she found herself half running to keep up. His servant had followed in their wake, his movements so quiet she startled when he appeared at her side to help her mount the donkey. The beast waited placidly as she settled on its broad back.
She caught the servant's eye and whispered, "What's his name?"
He shrugged. "We just call him Donkey."
"Not the beast. I meant the physician."
The servant's white teeth flashed against his salt-and-pepper beard. "Well, now. One might say that same name is not badly suited..."
The physician held up a warning finger. "Don't finish that thought, no matter how great the temptation." Eyes the color of obsidian sparked with humor.
Roxannah looked from one grinning face to the other, marveling at the ease with which the master had allowed his servant's teasing insult to slide. In her father's house, any retainer with half the cheek would have been bleeding by now.
The physician merely smiled. "My name is Adin ben Zerah. And this impudent fellow is Darab."
"I am Roxannah, daughter of Lord Fravartish."
Adin inclined his head. "Let's tend to your father. Darab, my medicine chest, please."
While the servant secured a bulky wooden box to Roxannah's donkey, Adin led a black stallion out of a stall at the rear of the stable. Even the dire circumstances of her visit could not completely dampen her enthusiasm at the sight of the horse. "A Nisaean!"
Nisaeans were the most highly prized horses in the world, some costing more than what a man might earn in a lifetime. This one was a particularly fine specimen, his dark coat so glossy she could almost see her reflection in it. Long, powerful muscles flexed with each elegant stride.
Like most Persians, Roxannah had a deep affection for horses. "What a beauty!"
Adin cast her a short glance. "You know your horseflesh." Without waiting for Darab's help, he adjusted the straps on the stallion's felt saddlecloth and, holding lightly to the beast's withers, mounted with an agile leap.
Roxannah glimpsed a flash of tight trousers hugging muscular legs under his tunic. The practical garments of a military man rather than the finery of a palace healer.
He guided his mount toward the stable door. "Lead the way, Mistress Roxannah."
Feeling torn between the relief of having secured the services of a royal physician for her father and the anxiety of the hefty debt they were sure to owe, Roxannah steered her beast into the narrow lane and set it to a trot as soon as the street widened.
CHAPTER TWO
Adin
Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.
Psalm 4:4
Adin followed the girl to what must have once been an elegant building but was now little more than a ruin, with crumbling walls and an old roof that surely leaked. In such a wealthy neighborhood, surrounded by lush villas of baked and glazed brick, the house's decrepit condition stood out all the more.
...
