"03 - Sunrunner's Fire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rawn Melanie)

Gesturing her annoyance, Alasen said, "When Lady Andrade had control over the faradh'im, the princes could at least be assured of her discipline. But the break between Andry and the Desert is obvious, now that Pol is old enough but isn't at Goddess Keep."

"You've forgotten a fourth faction," Riyan reminded her. "Sorcerers."

She got to her feet, pacing, her hands wrapped around the steaming cup. "That's the worst of all! After hundreds of years they appear out of nowhere, then vanish again. Who can say where they are, what they think, what they're planning? How will they next challenge Pol and Andry? Because it will be both of them, Riyan. They'll have to stand together as faradh'im against the threat. And I'm so afraid their pride won't allow it."

"Surely it won't get as bad as all that," he said, trying to soothe her. "After all, these sorcerers may not emerge again at all."

Alasen's lips curled bitterly. "No? You felt their power, Riyan, just as I did, at Lady Andrade's death and at the combat. Do you think something like that will be content to stay in hiding another few hundred years? If Pol and Andry can't oppose them together, these sorcerers might win."

"Yes, I felt their power," he said quietly. "More so than almost anyone. I'm of their blood, Alasen."

"And no more like them than your father is," she

emphasized. "Ah, but do we really know what they want?" Ostvel

mused.

Alasen leaned against the arm of a chair. "Faradh'im defeated .them. They'll want their revenge. But why now? What is it about now that makes them think they can succeed?"

"They failed with Masul," Riyan pointed out.

"They weren't half trying," she scoffed. "I think he was a means of getting Andrade out of the way."

"Well, if it ever comes down to finding out who is and who isn't of the Old Blood, then quite frankly I trust Pol's protection more than Andry's."

"Riyan!" Alasen stared at him. "You're shadow-fearing, Sunrunner," she said more calmly.

"Am I? What about it, Father? What's the easiest way to unite various factions? Give them a mutual enemyЧor someone they perceive as an enemy."

"Alasen's right," Ostvel snapped. "You're starting at shadows."

"Andry would never even think anything like that!" she added. "Riyan, you've known him all your life!"

He had heard things recently to make him wonder if he had ever known Ar dry at all. He forced an apologetic smile and hid what was in his heart. "Sorry. I'm no politician, and all this playing one side against another confuses me."

Ostvel's brows arched in eloquent doubt at this avowal of incomprehension, but he said nothing. While Alasen made a calming little ritual of refilling their cups, Riyan deliberately turned the conversation to Sorin's plans for Feruche.

But alone in his own chambers that night, he looked pensively at his rings. One way to tell faradhi from diarmadhi was miserable sickness when crossing water. Riyan, like purebred Sunrunners, had that problemЧand knew that he also had the Old Blood in his veins, part of his mother's legacy. His protection was her other heritage as a Sunrunner that gave him the reaction. But what about trained faradh'im whose power came solely from their sorcerer blood? Pandsala had been one of them. Crossing water had never troubled her.

The only sure method of discerning one from the other was response to sorcery, when faradhi rings became fiery circles of pain around the fingers of anyone with diarmadhi blood. He wondered if Andry knew about thatЧand, if so, whether he would ever use that knowledge in ways that would make Pol's protection necessary. Riyan thanked the Goddess that Pol was not of the Old Blood. At least Andry would never be able to threaten him on that score.

Chapter Four



723: Stronghold