"Rawn, Melanie - Dragon Star 03 - Skybowl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

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Me la Hie Htwm
"It's part of what made me remember. She visited the Desert onceЧand only once, she hated the heatЧand was entertained at Stronghold by a distant ancestor of ours. It was a Dragon Year. That's what she said she came for. She'd never seen a dragon, so they rode out to Rivenrock to watch the hatchlings claw out of the caves."
"But you think she had some other purpose for the visit?"
"She always did." He snorted. "Hells, she could have given Andrade lessons. But I don't know what she had in mind this time. She didn't say, and I can't connect anything that happened later to the Stronghold visit. Anyway, that night she wore the pearl earrings and necklet."
"So they were hers," Pol mused.
"And you're wondering why I didn't claim them myself, for Goddess Keep."
Pol laughed softly. "Oh, cousin, this feels much more natural, doesn't it? You've just repaid me for what I said about Andrev. No, I don't wonder any such thing. First, the pearls are useful. You've as tidy a mind as anyone I've ever known, and if they gain us a castle's safety and a few hundred captive Vellant'im, then they'll have done their work. Second, it seems to me that Lady Merisel herself would be pleased by the trick. And thirdЧ" He grinned. "ЧTilal will get them back, you know. We can argue about who owns them then."
The Lord of Goddess Keep offered brief laughter like a man paying a tax. "I wonder how much luck I'll have prying them out of Lady Karanaya's clutches."
"It'll be fun to watch you try." Pol rose. "Let's go see what's keeping Chay and Maarken. If I can't do anything myself, then I might as well exercise my privileges as High Prince and tell everybody else what to do."
CHAPTER ~1
FIVE /I
- ~^41\
Pol was huddled over maps with Maarken, Chay, and Andry when the Attic door burst open, propelled so hard that it rattled the cabinet crammed in behind it
"Papa, Papa!"
Jihan raced across the room and grabbed his arm with both fists. The pen in that hand dragged a thick black line across a map of the Veresch spread on the table.
"Papa, it's Linnie, she's hurt!"
The four men exchanged quick glances. Pol dropped the pen and took his daughter's shoulders. Her blue eyes were huge and wild, her cheeks so sickly pale that the freckles stood out greenish-yellow like bruises. "What is it, sweetheart? What's the matter?"
The two other twins in the room came to her at once, kneeling on either side of her. Maarken spared a glance for Pol, but Andry wasted no time on someone who could never understand. In a soft voice he asked, "What does it feel like, Jihan? Something you can't quite see from the corner of your eye?"
She shook her head violently. "No! I felt itЧall hot and achy and scared, and they won't let her sleepЧthey just keep riding and riding, and it's cold and hot all at onceЧ"
"Jihan," Andry said firmly. "Tell me what you're feeling right now."
She froze in Pol's gentle grasp. After a moment she shook her head again, frustrated, tears welling. "Papa, she's not there anymore!"
"Of course she is, darling," he said, gathering her in his
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arms. Her head burrowed into his shoulder. "It's just the feeling that's gone. Rislyn is still there." But his gaze met Andry's, begging for reassurance.
"She'd know," Maarken mouthed silently. Andry nodded confirmation. They rose to their feet, looking only at each other now, twins who knew what it was to lose a twin. Pol rocked Jihan, trying to soothe her, watching his cousins. All at once Chay spoke behind them,
"Rislyn's a Sunrunner, too."
Pol frowned his confusion. But Andry was nodding, and Maarken bit his lip before nodding, too. Then he understood: neither Sorin nor Jahni had been gifted. Both Rislyn and Jihan were. .
"So the connection is stronger?" he asked, finishing the thought aloud.
"Probably." Maarken hesitated, then went on, "Andry, do you thinkЧ?"
"Could be."
Pol was following them nowЧa bit belatedly, most of his concentration on the shivering child in his arms. He walked over to the windows to give Maarken and Andry freedom for a whispered consultation.
"Shh, it's all right," he crooned. "You and Rislyn are very special, did you know that? You're twins, like Chayla and Rohannon are twins, and both Sunrunners just like them, too. That means you have a special bond with each other. You've felt it before, haven't you?"
She nodded against his shoulder, sniffling. "Little bit. More since Granda Sioned and all the light at Stronghold."
He could feel his cousins listening even as they spoke to each other in low voices. "And you can tell when Linnie's happy, or upsetЧ"
"Or cold, like in the stone house." She raised her head, sniffling, no longer crying. "I can see colors, too, if I try really hard in the sunshine."
"Can you see mine now?" He moved into the wedge of light coming through the window. She smiled slightly, touching his hair.
"You're all kinds of colors, Papa. More than Princess AlasenЧand all swirling around through each other." She wriggled around in his arms and looked at Andry. "I saw him, too, just before MamaЧand LinnieЧ" She trembled again and he held her closer.
"Shh. It's all right, sweetheart. We'll find them." He paused, meeting Maarken's eyes. The older man nodded. "In fact, I think you might be able to help us."
Jihan came up with the obvious very quickly. "I don't know how to go Sunrunning. Are you going to teach me?"
"Not just yet," said the Lord of Goddess Keep, with an easy smile. "But you know what, Jihan? I think I'd like to see your colors on sunlight. May I?"
She nodded shyly, clinging a little tighter to Pol. Andry came to them, standing with them in the sunshine. After a moment Jihan gasped softly in wonder. Andry caught his breath, too. Pol was tempted to enter the weaving, but did not. Not just yet.
"My lady," Andry said at last, "you will make a fine, strong Sunrunner one of these days."
"I know," Jihan agreed proudly, and Pol hid a smile.
"But you have much to learn, and I'll enjoy teaching you some of it," Andry went on. "For now, if you can, I'd like you to think about your sister for me."
"You mean find her on sunlight?"
"No. Just think about her."