"Sara Douglass - Redemption 2 - Pilgrim" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Sara)

means whereby this land now stands decimated. Trust him?"
Faraday looked at him, then turned to StarDrifter standing beside her. "StarDrifter? I тАФ"
"And I," Zenith put in fiercely from where she knelt by Drago's side.
"We both," Faraday corrected herself, "believe Drago deserves a chance to prove his worth, and his loyalty.
He did not murder RiverStar, and if he fled with the Sceptre, then that was at the Sceptre's doing, not his. It
needed to go to the Demons and so it manipulated Drago's mind to get there. Drago has done regrettable
things in the past, but he deserves a chance to redeem himself."
"Redeem himself?" Axis said. "Stars, Faraday! How can you stand there, protecting this misbegotten evil?
No doubt he has regained his Icarii powers in return for aiding the Demons тАФ how else could he have
manipulated Sicarius into defending him? Does he now covet the Throne of the Stars itself? Has he
promised you a place beside him? Is that why you aid him?"
"Believe me, father," Drago said, his voice a little stronger now, "all my Icarii power has been burned
completely away. I have nothing left save my need to help right the wrongs I have done."
Axis ignored him. He stepped forward to stand belligerently in front of Faraday. "How can you aid him?"
he repeated. Sicarius shifted forward slightly, and noticeably tensed.
┬л39┬╗
"You go too far, Axis!" StarDrifter put his hand on his son's shoulder, and wrenched him back a pace.
Faraday had suffered too much violence in her life to have more visited upon her now.
"How can you accuse this woman, of all people, of aligning herself with the Demons?" StarDrifter
continued. "Must I remind you that she died for you?"
He whipped about and stared now at Azhure, her face as cold as Axis'. "And you, Azhure. Have you
forgotten?"
StarDrifter turned back and looked at Drago. "If Faraday walked in here with Qeteb himself and said that a
spark of goodness rested in his breast, and that she would support him, then that would be enough for me.
Drago, do you truly repent for what you did to Caelum?"
"Yes." Drago's eyes were on Caelum standing rigid eight or nine paces away, not StarDrifter. "I am not the
hunter you fear, Caelum," he said. "I come here to offer you my aid in whatever you have to do to defeat
the Demons as some recompense for my actions against you so many years ago."
"And why should I believe that?" asked Caelum.
"None of us believe that," Axis said.
Azhure opened her mouth to speak, but was forestalled by Zared.
"I believe Drago deserves the chance," he said. "Axis, have you or Caelum even thought of the fact that
Drago is the only one among us who has had any firsthand experience of these Demons? Dammit, why kill
that knowledge and potential help?"
"I think Zared speaks some sense," DareWing FullHeart said, finally braving his say. "Faraday, you ask a
great deal of everyone here. I do not think," his mouth quirked and he gestured about the gathering, "that
many here are ready to place their trust in Drago. Most of us have troublesome doubts. But most of us are
prepared to trust you. Of everyone within this clearing, you are the one who deserves our full trust."
Axis' mouth hardened, and he turned his face away.
40
"If you say you will stand responsible for Drago's actions," DareWing finished, "and that he deserves the
chance to finally help instead of hinder, then I will trust you and I will give Drago that chance."
"And I," StarDrifter said quietly, looking Faraday directly in the eye. Then he dropped his gaze to Drago.
"Don't fail her."
Be his trust, the Survivor had said, be his trust. Suddenly Faraday knew what he had meant.
Axis started to say something, stopped himself, then stared at the ground for several moments, battling his
fury.
Finally he raised his eyes. "Where is the Sceptre?" he said flatly. "If Drago hands the Sceptre to Caelum,
then I will give him his chance. "
"I do not know the Sceptre's will, nor do I know its location," Faraday said. "I'm sorry."