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

You, the voice accused, you are not of the Old Blood. You are afraid. Go. Return when you understand.
The Fire died. The face that was all faces and none faded into the broken ice. The stones were only stones. Wind whispered in the pines, finding lonely echo in Andry's soul. He slid his hands from the water and stared at them as if unsure
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they were his. The skin was stung scarlet with cold, the nails blue.
It was a long time before his fingers warmed enough to use. He fumbled with his gloves, drew his sodden cloak back .up around him, and pushed himself stiffly to his feet.
Evarin was nodding over steaming taze. He glanced up when Andry trudged from the wood with his branches and his pockets full of wolfpaw.
"I was beginning to worry, my Lord. It's getting dark."
"Yes," Andry agreed. "Very."
"... hundreds and thousands of them, more than anyone could ever count. But even with all those stars, people were frightened by the night. So they learned how to make torches, and candles, and lamps, but it wasn't enough."
The sound of Pol's soft voice stopped Sionell just outside the half-open bedchamber door. She waited, listening as he told an old, old legend; it had been one of her own favorites as a child.
"Now, as it happened, there were three sisters who had very special gifts. The eldest of them could speak with trees, and the second one could speak with clouds, and the youngest could speak with dragons."
"Like you," Jihan's voice said smugly.
"Well, not quite. Anyway, the sisters thought for a long time about the night's darkness and finally decided on a plan. The first asked the trees in the forest to fashion three boats. The second asked the clouds to spin themselves into sails. The third asked a few dragons to carry them on their backs far up into the sky, until the starry wind caught their sails. Soon everything was ready. Trees had built themselves into boats, and clouds were hung from the masts, and dragons hunkered down to take the boats on their backs, and the three sisters stood at the prows. Up they went, into the dark sky without sunlight, until the wind caught their sails. The dragons flew back home.
"Then the sisters called Fire to their boats, beautiful silver and gold that shone from the curving hulls and billowing sails. And just the way a candle makes a circle on a window-pane, the light glowing from the ships made great circles in the sky.
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Melanin Rawit
"Down below, the night was not so dark as it had been. The three sisters sailed their boats across the sky, and looked down from the prows onto the land, where people took heart that there was light in the darkness.
"But after a while they realized that they'd forgotten something. With the clouds as their sails, there was nothing for the rain and snow to fall from. Fields withered, and rivers dried up, and only the places where water came directly from the ground could stillЧ"
"Like at Stronghold," Jihan interrupted.
"Yes, like the spring at Stronghold. But one or two springs, or even a hundred, couldn't water the whole world. So the sisters decided that part of the time, they'd have to do without their sails, so that the clouds could give the water a place to live before it came back down as rain. And that's why tonight the sisters are drifting through the sky in their curving boats, for their cloudy sails are somewhere making a home for the rain."
"And that's also why there's a lady at the front of every -hip. isn't that right. Papa?"
"Absolutely right. Sailors and shipmasters call them the vsary watchers' because, like the three sisters, they're always keeping an eye out for clouds."
"The sisters must have been Sunrunners," said a new voiceЧTobren's. A predictable remark, considering who her father was, Sionell thought, then berated herself for the injustice.
"Or sorcerers," contributed Jihan.
"No, they weren't," Tobren stated. "They use the stars, not the moons."
"But Sunrunners get sick when they sail," said Antalya, and Sionell nearly marched into the room to demand the reason why her daughter wasn't in her own bed. Though recovering and no longer contagious, she was barely over her fever.
"So it can't be Sunrunners," Jihan said triumphantly.
"It's not Water up in the sky, it's Air," was Tobren's superior reply.
"Well ... so what," Jihan muttered. "Papa, it could have been sorcerers, couldn't it?"
"Not being in a position to ask the three ladies, I really couldn't say. And I think it's time you settled down for the
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night. It's late and I thought we were only going to have one story, not four."
Once again Sionell took a step, intending to enter the room. Once again the conversation inside stopped her.
"I'm going to be a Sunrunner when I grow up," Jihan announced. "So is Rislyn. And so is Talya, and Meig, and MaaraЧand you, too, Tobren," she added.
SionelFs knees went a little weak. She'd known about her daughter, butЧMeig? And how did Jihan know, anyway?
Pol's voice was even and easy as he said, "If so, you'd better follow Meig's example and get some sleep. Being a Sunrunner is hard work."
"No, it's not," Jihan said, encouragedЧAs if that child needed any encouragement, Sionell musedЧby her father's acceptance of her statements. "See what I can do already, Papa?"
Pol gave a startled exclamation. Tobren cried out. Goddess, what has she done? Sionell thought frantically, and flung open the door.
The room was brilliant with light. A branch of candles over by the windows was ablazeЧnot just the wicks but the wax and the iron stand as well, perilously near a tapestry curtain.
Sionell sidestepped a chair and snagged the cloak draped carelessly over its back. The heavy, soft wool was enough to smother the flames.
Catching her breath, she turned around. Pol was struggling to untangle himself from children and coverlet on the bed. Tobren's face was white with shock; Antalya seemed only thoughtful and curious. Meig, bless him, was curled at the foot of the bed like a kitten, sound asleep.
Jihan perched on a pillow, hands folded demurely in her lap. "You didn't have to do that, Lady Sionell. I would have put it out myself."
"But not before you burned up half the room," Sionell responded. "It got away from you, didn't it?"
"Well, some," she admitted unwillingly.
Pol was on his feet now, looking down at his daughter with eyes of solid stone. "Jihan."
"Yes, Papa?"
That innocent little face, those sweet blue eyes beneath tangled golden hair.... Sionell knew precisely what was going through Pol's mind. Jihan needed a good scold and a bad
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