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

"EasyЧright back around to the place . . . where . . . I. ..." He faltered to a stop. "Oh."

"Exactly. If you start out on sunlight, what happens when you get to the line of dusk between day and night? At the very least, you'd have to try switching sources of light from sun to moonsЧnot something I'd care to try, myself."

"You could go the other way aroundЧfollow the sunrise instead of the sunset."

"And just how long do you think a Sunrunner can work without getting tired, anyway?"

"Not that long, I guess. WaitЧyou could use the moons! If it was a day when they rise while the sun's still

up, you could follow them and use the same light the whole time!"

"Interesting thought. Of course, there's also the slight problem of your thoughts being in one place and your body in another while the sun sets."

Pol gulped. "Everybody's already thought of all this, haven't they?" he asked, subdued now.

"If you mean that you're not as brilliantly innovative as you thought you wereЧ" Meath laughed. "A revelation common to all of us, not just princes. Feeling stupid after you realize it is very good for you."

"But following light all the way around the worldЧit's been tried, hasn't it?" "Once."

The ships of the coastal princedoms stayed within sight of land, except for those that sailed Brochwell Bay. But that didn't signify, for in order to get out of the bay, one must pass between Einar and Isel in the north or Kierst and Goddess Keep in the south. It was impossible to get lost, even when land vanished over the horizon. Hugging the shoreline obviously didn't figure in Vellanti seamanship. How in Hells did they do it?

Sunrunners would make great navigatorsЧif they could stomach being on water. We're limited to the continent, Pol thought, and a few measures beyond. Then, his gaze focusing once more on the Desert sky: But they're limited to the ground. The sunlight and the moonlight belong to us.

Or were the Vellant'im so limited? If there were sorcerers in their ranks . . . diarmadh'im didn't get seasick. Was that how they did it? Were some of them able to use the sun and moons and stars in guiding the ships? It was not an answer that satisfied him. If sorcery was part of their armament, why had no spells been tried?

Who were these people? Where had they come from? What did they want?

He gave a start at a soft caress on his neck. "Your hair's gotten so long," Meiglan said behind him as she unknotted the scrap of leather thong that bound it at his

nape. "And the sun's turned it almost the same color as mine. Does it get in your way? Shall I trim it?"

"I'll have Kierun or Dannar take care of it tomorrow. Where are the girls?"

"Getting dressed." She finger-combed his hair, gently teasing the snarls from it with her nails.

"Do they seem all right to you?"

Her fingers stilled, resting on his shoulders. "Rislyn's been quiet, but she usually is. Jihan's been noisyЧalso as usual."

He shrugged; misunderstanding the gesture, she removed her hands. He missed the gentle warmth. Turning in the window seat, he began, "After what happened at Stronghold. . . ." Her eyes, liquid-dark and innocent as a fawn's, changed what he had been about to say. "The battle, Father's deathЧjust keep an eye on them, Meg-gie. If they seem upset or worried, that kind of thing."

She nodded, once more brushing strands of lank, dirty hair from his brow.

Maara, Riyan and Ruala's daughter, came by then to collect the twins. There was to be a children's dinner in her rooms, mimicking the grown-up meal down below in the hall.

"You'll have much more fun than we will in a stuffy old banquet packed in with hundreds of people," Pol said as he relied Jihan's sash. "Can I join you?"

"This is just for us, Papa," Jihan replied, every bit the princess guesting in an athri's holding. Maara, he noted with an inner smile, was equally the lady of the castle. At eight winters oldЧbarely two seasons older than the twinsЧbrown-eyed Maara had shown herself her grandmother Camigwen's worthy heir. She had taken charge of the children from Graypearl, organizing games, settling quarrels, and reporting to her mother on their needs and doings. Now she escorted the two princesses to her own special banquet with all the graciousness of someone thrice her age. Maara was in complete and elegant control of her little world.