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

Pol stood over her, cold and implacable because he had to be. "Father would never have let you get away with such a lie."

Sioned's face crumpled for an instant before she glanced away. "Don't ever use his name against me again."

Kneeling swiftly, he took one of her hands. "Mother, please. You're right, I can't rely on Meggie. It's not her fault. She's never had to be strong like this. The othersЧ they do all they can, more than I could ever ask of them. But there's no one else like you."

She choked softly and he pressed his lips to her clenched fist. "No," she breathed. "No, Pol ... I don't have anything leftЧ"

"I can't do this alone. Father couldn't. You were his

strength for forty years. I'm asking for some of what you gave him. Mama, I need you."

When she spoke, her voice shook and the great emerald trembled on her hand. "If ... if I was his strength ... he was mine. And he's gone. All the Fire is gone. I've got nothing left, Pol. Not even for you. I can't, not now. Perhaps later, when IЧwhen I can think past the sight of his eyes. ..."

Pol stood and let go of her hand. He smoothed the tousled curls at her nape, as if he was the parent and she his child.

"I'm sorry. You're tired and I shouldn't have said any of this." Bending to press his lips to her cheek, he murmured, "Forgive me."

Sioned caught at his arm with both hands. "I'm frightenedЧand everything that used to chase away the fear is lost to me now."

"I know." He gazed down into her face that was white and strained and lost, and touched the crescent scar on her cheek. "Try to get some rest."

CHAPTER EIGHT



Those who had never seen the Desert thought it to be nothing but sand from the foothills of the Veresch to the Sunrise Water. And mostly they were right. But in the north there rose from the dunes tall spires of stone that wind had not eroded away. Some were grouped into massive fortresses, bastions of rust-colored rock where the Father of Storms was said to take his ease of an evening. Some were spindle-thin, and some were jagged as dragon claws, and some had been worn away to the last stubborn shaft of bedrock. They were called Goddess' Needlebasket and Stony Thorns and Zagroy's Pillar, where Rohan's great-grandfather had won a decisive victory over the Merida. And it was there, on the southern side of a tremendous column that could have balanced Feruche on its flat top, that Tallain and Riyan hid their army.

But not quite all of it. Eighty soldiers were about a half measure away, creating a camp that appeared to hold the entirety of the Northern Desert army. Blankets had been cut in half to double the numbers of bedrolls; fires enough to cook for an army were lit. The problem was horses, which could not be spared from the main host. Tallain worried about that, but Riyan only shrugged.

"They'll see what they expect to see. And that's what we're snowing them. Besides, no moons tonight."

"But they won't hear what they'll expect to hear. Horses and their tack make noise."

"Know any good songs? Failing that, any loud songs?"

Tallain rolled his eyes skyward in mute appeal for pa-

tienceЧand sent two of his Tiglathi over to the false encampment.

Well past midnight, they were still singing.

"Don't they ever get tired?" Riyan complained in a whisper. Sound carried in the cold, clean winter airЧ from the camp to Zagroy's Pillar and from the stone out to the Desert. The Merida and Cunaxans were five measures off, camped just beyond a sand-rippled hill. But with the decoy troops still warbling away, Riyan knew that the sentries suspected scouts were nearby.

Their original schemeЧleading the Merida and Cunaxans to Stony Thorns for an ambushЧhad been discarded. Stony Thorns was on the road to Feruche, where Pol had taken refuge, and Feruche must not become a temptation. So they lured the enemy with the planned argument instead, split up while shouting invectives at the top of their lungs, and met by night behind Zagroy's Pillar.

Riyan and Tallain were hunched beside a boulder that sheltered them on two sides. But the Storm God sent wind swirling through the spaces between the stones, and both men were shivering.

"They're the son and daughter of my favorite tavern keeper," Tallain murmured. "I've heard them go on until the sun comes up."