"Rawn, Melanie - Dragon Prince 2 - Star Scroll" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

everyoneЧ"

"There's still the matter of proving this claimant a liar," Lleyn said. "Do you think people like Miyon will support Pol on the strength of his admittedly charming

smile?"

"It's the people of Princemarch he'll win," Chadric

said.

"The people of Princemarch do not attend the Rialla and vote on who and what is the truth. Andrade is the only reliable witness and the evidence will have to come from her in a manner the princes will accept as absolute

truth."

"There's Pandsala," Meath reminded them. I "Oh, yes, Pandsala." Lleyn snorted. "May I remind

you that if this boy is acclaimed, the regent would be out

of a job?" He shook his head. "I don't like this. Not at

all. Meath, before you leave Radzyn for Goddess Keep, make sure you have a long talk with Chay and Tobin."

Much later, in his own chambers, Meath pulled out the case made for the scrolls dug up at the ancient Sunrunner keep. They were written in the old language; though script had not changed much from modern writing, the words meant nothing to him. Yet certain words survived to the present day nearly unchangedЧpersonal names, for instance, were usually chosen with their ancient meanings in mindЧand as he unrolled one of the parchments he bit his lip. The usual sun-and-moons motif was missing from this first page. The sources of light for far-adhi weavings were not depicted here as they were on all the other scrolls. This one had a different pattern, a design of night sky strewn with stars. He stared for a long time at the title that had so shocked him on first seeing it, words he had had no difficulty translating.

On Sorceries.





Chapter Two





Pandsala, Regent of Princemarch and daughter of the late High Prince Roelstra, scowled at the letter on her desk and told herself that life would have been much simpler without sisters. Her father had provided her with seventeen of them. Though ten were dead nowЧsome in the Plague of 701, others sinceЧand good riddance, she was still left with far too many for her peace of mind.

The survivors were a plague in themselves. Letters such as the one now before her arrived constantly here at Castle Crag; petitions for money or favors or a word in High Prince Rohan's ear, and especially requests to be allowed a visit to their childhood home. Pandsala had spent the first five years of her regency removing her sisters from Castle Crag by various methods; she was not about to let any of them come back, not for so much as a day.

But it was the youngest of them, the one who had never even been here, who was the focus of Pandsala's present

irritation. Chiana's letter could not have irked her more had the girl written every word with a calculated eye to insulting her powerful half sister. She presumed an intimacy repugnant to Pandsala; she even styled herself "princess" as if her mother, Lady Palila, had been Roel-stra's wife instead of his whore. Born in Waes and raised in various places, including Goddess Keep for the first six winters of her life, Chiana evidently chose to forget that Pandsala had shared those six winters and knew every detail of her character in excruciating detail. Their rare encounters since and the letters Chiana wrote were ample evidence that maturing had not changed her. At nearly twenty-one, her haughty selfishness had grown worse. In this letter Chiana implied that if Pandsala extended an invitation to Castle Crag for the summer, Chiana might be persuaded to grace it with her presence. But Pandsala had long ago vowed that Chiana would never set foot here so long as she was the keep's mistress.

A few of the other sisters had shared Chiana's rearing after Lady Andrade had flatly refused to have her back at Goddess Keep. Lady Kiele of Waes, wedded to that city's lord, had taken the girl in at first. But she had eventually wearied of Chiana's pretensions and packed her off to Port Adni when Princess Naydra had married Lord Narat. The island of Kierst-Isel had been an excellent place for Chiana, distance being a thing to be cherished insofar as Pandsala was concerned. Yet after a few winters even Naydra's patience had given way. By that time Lady Ra-bia, Chiana's full sister, had married Lord Patwin of Catha Heights, and the pair had invited the homeless girl to live with them. Rabia's death in childbed had ended Chiana's time in Catha Heights, and she had lived in Waes again for a time before Kiele had caught her trying to seduce Lord Lyell. It had been back to Naydra, from whose seaside residence she now wrote.

Pandsala looked sourly at the royal title and thick flourish of ink Chiana used as her signature. She knew very well why the girl wanted to come to Castle CragЧso that at summer's end, she would naturally become part of Padsala's suite at the Rialla, with access to all the princes and their unmarried heirs. Landless though she was, she would yet have a considerable dowry from Rohan, as had

all the sisters who had chosen to marry, and her beauty alone would make her a desirable match. But Pandsala was damned if she'd lend her own countenance to her loathsome little sister.