"Elliott,.Kate.-.Crown.Of.Stars.3.-.Burning.Stone" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elliott Kate)

KATE ELLIOT



**VOLUME Three of CROWN OF STARS**



The Burning Stone









PROLOGUE



HE had ran this far without being caught, but he knew his
Quman master still followed him. Convulsive shudders shook
him where he huddled in the brush that crowded a stream. His
robes were still damp. Yesterday he had eluded them by
swimming a river, but they hadn't given up. Prince Bulkezu
would never allow a slave to taunt him publicly and then run
free..

At last he calmed himself enough to listen to the lazy flow of
water and to the wind rustling through leaves. Across the
stream a pair of thrushes with spotted breasts stepped into
view, plump and assertive. Ai, God he was starving.

The birds fluttered away as if they had gleaned his thoughts
instead of insects. He dipped a hand in the water, sipped;
then, seduced by its cold bite, he gulped down handfuls of it
until his skin ached. By his knee a mat of dead leaves made a
hummock. He turned it up and with the economy of long
practice scooped up a mass of grubs and popped them in his
mouth. Briefly he felt their writhing, but he had learned to