"Stan Nicholls - The Dreamtime 03 - The Diamond Isle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Nicholls Stan)

deprive the entity of the masses to hide in.

Battling her unresolved feelings about the death of her daughter, and taken aback by a temple prophecy,
Serrah attempts suicide.

Resistance activity brings down ever greater repression. The paladins are given their head and exploit the
leeway with brutal excess.

The location of the planned rebel state is chosen, and at first seems bizarre to many. Batariss, universally
known as the Diamond Isle, is a run-down pleasure island. Its owner is one-time pirate Zahgadiah
Darrok, who travels on a magically impelled flying dish, having lost his legs to a piratical rival. Darrok
agrees to sell the island for a large quantity of government gold, which the Resistance has to steal.

Tanalvah persuades Kinsel to stage a free concert for the poor. But during the event Devlor Bastorran,
accompanied by newly recruited aide Lahon Meakin, arrests the singer. Accused of treason, Kinsel will
face trial.

As part of his personal campaign against Caldason, Devlor employs assassin Aphri Kordenza to kill him.
The female symbiote, also known as a meld, carries her own male twin, a glamour called Aphrim, inside
herself. But Aphrim is capable of emerging and having an independent existence.

The waters around the Diamond Isle are infested with pirates, including the infamous Kingdom Vance,
the man who deprived Darrok of his legs. It falls to the Resistance to combat this new menace.

As Kinsel goes on trial, Tanalvah discovers sheтАЩs pregnant. And Serrah is horrified to learn that
Commissioner Laffon, head of the Council for Internal Security, and the man who tortured her, has come
to Bhealfa to attend the hearing. The trial is a propaganda circus, and Kinsel is inevitably found guilty.
HeтАЩs consigned to the galleys, as a slave rower. In effect, itтАЩs a sentence of death.

As the warlord Zerreiss increases his sphere of influence, both empires begin to pay serious attention to
him. A concern they share is that he could unite with the Resistance against them, bringing into play his
still mysterious power.

Having failed in his plot to have the meld Aphri Kordenza kill Caldason, Devlor Bastorran comes up with
another scheme. Under his direction, Kordenza murders his uncle Ivak. Devlor inherits the Clan
leadership and Caldason is blamed for the assassination, making him even more of a wanted man. And
under DevlorтАЩs rule, the paladins are set to become more draconian.

Caldason sets out for the Diamond Isle to deliver the gold Darrok has demanded. En route to the island
his visions take on a new character. They now feature Zerreiss. The warlord, in turn, finds himself
dreaming of Caldason.

Serrah, her feelings for Reeth growing, decides to travel to the Diamond Isle to join him, along with
Kutch. In any event, the secret exodus of Resistance members is due to take place in a matter of weeks.

At the height of his suffering, KinselтАЩs galley is attacked by pirates and he falls into the hands of Kingdom
Vance. Kinsel is only spared because Vance recognises him. The pirate requires Kinsel to entertain him
with his singing.

Bastorran has a highly placed spy who feeds him information about the Resistance. On the basis of this,