"Douglas Niles - Druidhome 2 - The Coral Kingdom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Niles Douglas)

reaction was anger, and her green eyes flashed with the heat of her emotion. "I follow a pathway to power
without limit, without restrictionтАФa road I've chosen for myself!"
"Without the limits, for example, imposed by a godтАФor goddess?" Robyn asked pointedly.
Deirdre shrugged. "You have your own life, Mother, and the goddess has chosen to favor that life. Once
again you wear the mantle of the Great Druid, but that's not the way for me!"
"Your sister shows a growing awareness of the Earthmother," the queen said. "She wears the bracers of
a druid, and soon she will bear the staff that I'm making for her. I should like to grant you an equal gift, my
daughterтАФbut I don't know what it should be."
"There is something that I desire very much," Deirdre replied, her tone level, her eyes serious.
"If it falls within my powerтАФ"
"It is freedom, MotherтАФfreedom from you, from the goddess! I have to be free to follow my own
course, through the spellbooks and scrolls of wizardry. I need to see the hallowed places of magic in the
Realms, visit the great sages, have the freedom to learn!"
Her impassioned voice rose as she spoke, and when she stopped suddenly, an almost unnatural silence
settled over the room and the world outside, as if the birds and insects, even the wind, paused to see what
happened next.
"No," the queen said, quietly and firmly. "You're one of two royal children. You must be prepared to rule
should it be required of you. Your place is here, in CallidyrrтАФin the Moonshaes."
"But there is so much more in the world!"
 "Your father is dead!" snapped Robyn, and the bluntness of the painful admission was enough to quiet
Deirdre for the moment. "The three of usтАФyou, your sister, and IтАФhold the destiny of the Moonshaes in
our hands. The great peace begun by King Tristan can flourish or fail. Do you believe for one moment that
the Council of Lords will agree to the continuance of the Kendrick reign for old times' sake?"
"Surely they won't try to wrest the crown from you!" exclaimed the princess.
"Who knows what they'll try?" Robyn sighed. "In three days, in Corwell, we shall see. I know we have
alliesтАФthe good Earls of Fairheight and Corwell, to name two. And the Grand Mayor of the Halflings, Lord
Pawldo, will certainly side with us. As to the others, who can say what schemes they've set in motion."
"They wouldn't dare!" There was no fear, just an icy fury, in the younger woman's tone. The queen
looked at her daughter sharply, never doubting the threat in her voice.
"If the three of us are united," Robyn said quietly, "then I'm certain there is little that the lords canтАФor
willтАФdo. But if we go into the council squabbling and bickering, I don't doubt that some challenge is
inevitable."
"I hear you, Mother," said Deirdre softly.
"But do you understand me?" Robyn persisted. "Will you do as I ask?"
The princess stared at her mother, and Robyn saw anger flashing in those dark eyes. She barely heard
the reply.
"I will."
Neither woman averted her gaze for a moment, but finally Deirdre looked away. "May I go now?" she
asked angrily.
With a sigh that was more tired than angry, Robyn nodded, turning back to the window as her daughter
left without another word. Once again she saw the sunlit landscape and the dazzling sea, and it was a scene
that seemed to mock her. With conscious discipline, she forced her mind to turn back to her plans.
The funeral could not be a simple ceremony. It must be a festival worthy of the passing of a great High
King. Yet neither would the normal rites suffice, for they had no body to bury.
Traditionally the great men and women of the Ffolk were put to rest in large barrows, mounds of earth
raised over timber enclosures, where the corpse was laid together with an assortment of weapons,
treasures, food, and drinkтАФall that the deceased would need on his long journey into the afterlife.
For Tristan Kendrick, there would be no place in the barrows mound, no gifts for him to bear into the
realms he now explored. Yet his queen would ensure that his passing was marked with proper ritual and
ceremony. This goal had given her strength during the past weeks, and now that the event drew near, it