"Melanie Rawn - Dragon Star 3 - Skybowl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rawn Melanie)

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PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE


She appeared without warning, balanced exquisitely on a carpet of sunlight, crowned in stars. When
she smiled at him, all the sweetness and serenity that ever were shone from her face. Beautiful,
of courseтАФthough he could not have defined the color of her eyes, or her hair, or her skin. She
was all he had ever dreamed, many things he had never dared imagine, and she was here, with him,
smiling. He reached out a reverent hand, hoping he would be allowed to touch her.
"No," she murmured, her voice softly throaty, "not yet, my dear. All things in time."
Her starry crown brightened, pulsing in rhythm with his quick heartbeats, dazzling his eyes. He
drew back slightly, frightened of power for the first time in his life. But he could not look
away, for from that arc of brilliant light shot clear, fiery sparks, each expanding to a
crystalline sphere. She juggled them easily, almost whimsically, all twelve in turn caught and
then tossed high by elegant fingers.
Within each was a castle. Stronghold, Radzyn, Tiglath, Skybowl, Remagev, Swalekeep, Castle Crag,
Balarat, Tuath, Goddess KeepтАФhe knew those well, but two were strange to his eyes. He tried to
follow their movements, tried to discern the patterns of wall and tower and court.
"Too fast?" she asked. Suddenly the spheres were suspended in midair, the two unfamiliar castles
resting delicately on her fingertips. She held one iridescent globe out to him.
"The Feruche that was, before it was taken by Fire."
Yes, he recognized it now, from drawings. Not half so beautiful as the Feruche Sorin had created,
and very much older.
She extended her right hand, and he saw a strong, soaring tower, surrounded by a trim village of
wooden houses glowing with stained-glass windows, unprotected by walls.
"This was mine, before the building of the place you now 'hold."
And when he saw the crystal dome that was oratory and calendar and mathematical triumph, he knew
that he looked upon the ancient Sunrunner keep on Dorval.
More. He looked upon the Goddess.
She was toying with the castle-spheres again. They rose and fell at the flick of her fingers. All
at once she gestured, and they hovered in a straight line before her.
Stronghold fell and shattered.
And Tuath.
Feruche.
Remagev.
The castle on Dorval that no one living had ever seen.
"Wait!" he cried. "Not Radzyn! Please!"
"No. You have already paid for your home. But one other will fall."
Which one? SwalekeepтАФwhere Ostvel was, making Alasen a widow? TiglathтАФto further break Sionell's
heart? Castle Crag? Skybowl? Balarat?
Goddess Keep?
"I can't choose!"
"Have 1 asked you to?" Her laughter was sunlight on diamonds. She began to juggle the remaining
castles once more, swifter than his eyes could follow.
"Then whyтАФ?"
"Because they are still in danger."