"Jennifer Fallon - Demon Child 03 - Harshini" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fallon Jennifer)

interested in the comings and goings of the human population than he. With the demon child abroad, and
the whole world affected by her presence, Shananara was anxious to know what was happening.
Slipping her arm companionably through his, she walked with him back to his quarters, waiting until the
doors swung silently shut behind them before she spoke.

"Let me help, Koran."

The King sighed, letting his shoulders slump and his fa├Г┬зade of vitality crumble in her presence. He
looked haggard.

"No. You cannot help, Shanan," he told her, lowering his tall frame into a delicately carved chair near
the open doors that led to the balcony. The tinkling sound of the waterfall drifted through the open
windows. The evening, as usual, was balmy and clear. "I need your strength for other matters."

"There won't be any other matters if you falter," she warned. "Let me carry some of the load. Or do you
enjoy being a martyr?"

He smiled at her wearily. She had been out visiting the humans again. Her manner of speech always
reflected her journeys among the mortals. "No, I do not enjoy being a martyr, sister. But if I fail, our
people will need you to guide them. If you help me now, you will certainly ease my burden, but it will
weaken you at a time when one of us needs to be strong. Only the demon child can lift the burden from
my shoulders completely."

Shananara flung herself into one of the chairs opposite the window. "The demon child? That unreliable,
spoilt, half-human atheist brat? If that's who you're relying on to save us, brother, we are doomed."

"You shouldn't speak of her so harshly, my dear. R'shiel will do what she must."

"She will do what suits her, Koran, and not a damned thing more. I doubt if even the gods know if it will
be what she was destined for."

"Yet it is on her we must rely."

"Then let me bring her back."

"Here? To Sanctuary? For what purpose?"

"If you won't let me ease your burden, then let R'shiel do it. The gods know she's strong enough. Let me
bring her back, Koran. Let her carry the load for a time, enough to let you recover, at least. Then you can
take up the burden again and R'shiel can do what she has to."

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Fallon,%20Jennifer%20-%20[Demon%20Child%2003]%20-%20Harshini.htm (5 of 431)28-12-2006 12:44:46
 Harshini




The King shook his head. "Events unfold as they should, Shananara. We cannot interfere."

"What events?" she scoffed. "Where is it written that you should destroy yourself holding Sanctuary out