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

"my horses are being well seen to. We left people to guard them, and as soon as this rain lets up a little they'll be herded to a safe place."
"After which we'll herd the Vellant'im to an wnsafe place," she finished with determination. "If you'll come with us, your grace. We've already had your people seen to, and now the most important thing is to get you dry and warm."
Saumer mounted the steps to get out of the water, wishing he could upend both boots; he was fairly sloshing his way up that daunting staircase. "Wet and warm would be better," he smiled at her. "I stink of your moat and need a bath. By the way, Lord Mirsath, when I was going through the tunnel, IЧ"
A rumbling from the black mouth of that very tunnel presaged a crash that shook the foundation stones. Havadi dropped the priceless goblet and raced up the steps, arms spread wide to shove the other three ahead of him. Karanaya stumbled against Saumer; he held her upright and dragged her with him as they fled the gush of rainwater and moat mud and shattered rock.
Saumer went to his knees on a riser, cursing, and looked over his shoulder. Debris-laden water surged eight steps below him, seven, sixЧthen seemed to pause and consider, lapping flirtatiously at the next step. He caught his breath and sat down to watch, earning amazed looks from his companions.
"What are youЧ"
"My lord, we really mustЧ"
"Prince Saumer, there's still danger fromЧ"
"Just wait," he said, and closed his eyes.
Ah. There it was. He fixed it in his mind and scooted down the steps, heedless of his bootsЧfull to the knees anywayЧand the leaden drag of his cloak. Standing on the bottom step, chest-deep in smelly muck, he plunged a gloved hand into the gently rocking waves.
A few moments later he climbed back up to the others and opened his fist. In the stained and sopping leather rested a tear-shaped lump of filth. Saumer scraped the mud from it as best he could so they could see it. But he knew that Havadi, Mirsath, and Karanaya (who gasped in delighted recognition) saw only a black pearl, not its magical sheen of rainbows.
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"What I don't understand," said Mirsath to Johlarian a little while later, "is why you didn't see it before."
The Sunrunner gave a shrug. "Perhaps it's in the way of childrenЧwhich Prince Saumer is when it comes to faradhi things. They see what's there, not what education and experience tell them to see. And I was concentrating on the fingerflame, my lord, while I was down there. That might have something to do with it."
Mirsath peered into the gaping hole in his hall floor, wrinkled his nose, and strode over to push the Dragon's Eye that closed it. "Well, that's lost to use, anyway. Ours or theirs." He watched the stone slide shut. "You know, it bothers me a little that Saumer was so smug. Totally unsurprised that the Tear should snuggle right into his hand."
"Again, my lord, like a child. Why shouldn't it happen that way? Reason and logic tell us it's absurd. Impossible. But it's the privilege of the young to believe that even if they leap into a midden, they'll come out holding a rose. Or a pearl." He smiled. "Perhaps the hand of the Goddess was in it."
"Don't start sounding like Lord Andry," Mirsath warned as they climbed the stairs. "Reason and logic tell me that the collapse of the moat had an even chance of washing the pearl either direction down the tunnel. It was luck."
"As you say, my lord. Good night, and sleep well."
The next morning they met in a room Mirsath's grandfather had rather pompously termed the Hall of Petitions. Because most consultations were done out in the fields or in the village, and rarely through so formal a method as a petition, everyone at Lowland simply called it "the office." They ignored the ranks of chairs posted along the walls and gathered around the fruitwood table that old Lord Baisal had fondly pictured awash in respectfully worded parchments pleading for his favor.
Saumer was bright-eyed and refreshed after half a night's sleep in a real bedЧand a second hot bath before breakfast this morning. At Mirsath's request he explained the logistics of the Battle of Catha Heights while they waited for Karanaya. Eventually she arrived, dressed in a plain, high-necked gown of bright red wool. The Tears of the Dragon,
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Melanie Rawn
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all six of them bound in silver wire, hung from a short chain around her throat.
Johlarian watched Saumer carefully for reaction. The young man didn't even blink. He complimented Karanaya on the jewels; she thanked him prettily for retrieving the missing one; they settled down to business.
Or would have, if Mirsath hadn't asked, "Your grace, do you see anything now when you look at the pearls?"
"Certainly," was the ready reply. "Don't you, Johlarian?"
The Sunrunner concentrated. Then he stopped concentrating. He pushed all his education and logic aside, opening himself as he had not willingly done since the night some unknown woman had come in the guise of the Goddess to make a man of him.
The pearls began to shine.
Not as the single one had when he searched for it by Sunrunner means in the moat. Then, the lost gem had worn an angry greenish shimmer. Now all six were strangely serene, luminous, darkly iridescent.
"Gentle Goddess," he murmured. "The High Prince showed me what to look for, and the one of them aloneЧbut all of them togetherЧ"
"It looks like you're wearing a black rainbow, Lady Karanaya," Saumer told her. "It spreads in a sort of burst over your head. Too bad you can't see it."
She fingered the pearls. "They're beautiful just as they are. Thank you again, Prince Saumer."
"No trouble," he answered with a grin. "As you saw. Now, let's see what kind of support we can give Prince Tilal when he arrives. The flood wasn't such a disaster after all, you knowЧI heard about the bath the Vellant'im took in the moat. Mud will keep them out as surely as water. I'm worried about that causeway, though. Can you show me the plans of the castle, please?"
The childhood accident that had crippled Prince Elsen of Grib made walking painful and riding a torment. This had not prevented him from climbing into a saddle for the journey to Goddess Keep when the call went out for help. Now, within sight of the great seaside castle on this fifty-ninth day
of Winter and the fourteenth of his journey, his long agony finally caught up with him.
He had been thinking of it as comparable to childbirth. Weak as his wife Selante was after two days of an exhausting and dangerous labor, she had found that final reserve of strength that allowed their son to be born. Surely, Elsen thought, surely if she could endure such wracking pain through her entire body, he could outlast one knee.
It mortified him that the first glimpse of Goddess Keep nearly toppled him from the saddle. He would dredge up a last determination, he would endure the pain, he would ride into the courtyard as a prince and not a crippleЧ
Whatever his mind's resolve, his body knew that respite was close. His body wanted that surcease now.
"Your grace!"
When he fell, it was very slowly. His bad leg, foot twisting in the stirrup, gave a sickening crack. Oddly, it didn't hurt at all. He didn't remember hitting the ground.
Elsen woke in darkness. He turned his head and then turned it away from a sharp rectangle of light.
"Mama? He moved. I think he's awake."
He didn't recognize the young voice, nor the one that answered. "Hush now, Ondiar. We mustn't startle him. Your grace? Prince Elsen? It's all right, you're with friends. My name is Jayachin, and you're in my tent just outside Goddess Keep. No, don't try to move. I've splinted your leg and your shoulder. You took a nasty fall."
He opened his eyes and squinted up at her. She was white-skinned and black-haired, and very beautifuL "How longЧ?"
"It's just gone noon. They'll be here from Goddess Keep in a little while with a litter to carry you in."
"My people? Where are they?"
"Within the keep, your grace, and made more than welcome." She settled on a low stool beside the cot. "I had them bring you here to rest and recover yourself before you meet Lord Torien. A few of your guards are outside." She hesitated. "Before I call them in, your grace, I must thank you for your goodness in coming to our aid. I speak for thousands driven from their homes who came to Goddess Keep seeking Lord Andry's protection. But he is gone, and Lord Torien refuses to do the necessary Sunrunner things