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

ready. Trees had built themselves into boats, and clouds were hung from the masts, and dragons
hunkered down to take the boats on their backs, and the three sisters stood at the prows. Up they
went, into the dark sky without sunlight, until the wind caught their sails. The dragons flew back
home.
"Then the sisters called Fire to their boats, beautiful silver and gold that shone from the
curving hulls and billowing sails. And just the way a candle makes a circle on a window-pane, the
light glowing from the ships made great circles in the sky.
"Down below, the night was not so dark as it had been. The three sisters sailed their boats across
the sky, and looked down from the prows onto the land, where people took heart that there was
light in the darkness.


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"But after a while they realized that they'd forgotten something. With the clouds as their sails,
there was nothing for the rain and snow to fall from. Fields withered, and rivers dried up, and
only the places where water came directly from the ground could stillтАФ"
"Like at Stronghold," Jihan interrupted.
"Yes, like the spring at Stronghold. But one or two springs, or even a hundred, couldn't water the
whole world. So the sisters decided that part of the time, they'd have to do without their sails,
so that the clouds could give the water a place to live before it came back down as rain. And
that's why tonight the sisters are drifting through the sky in their curving boats, for their
cloudy sails are somewhere making a home for the rain."
"And that's also why there's a lady at the front of every -hip. isn't that right. Papa?"
"Absolutely right. Sailors and shipmasters call them the vsary watchers' because, like the three
sisters, they're always keeping an eye out for clouds."
"The sisters must have been Sunrunners," said a new voiceтАФTobren's. A predictable remark,
considering who her father was, Sionell thought, then berated herself for the injustice.
"Or sorcerers," contributed Jihan.
"No, they weren't," Tobren stated. "They use the stars, not the moons."
"But Sunrunners get sick when they sail," said Antalya, and Sionell nearly marched into the room
to demand the reason why her daughter wasn't in her own bed. Though recovering and no longer
contagious, she was barely over her fever.
"So it can't be Sunrunners," Jihan said triumphantly.
"It's not Water up in the sky, it's Air," was Tobren's superior reply.
"Well ... so what," Jihan muttered. "Papa, it could have been sorcerers, couldn't it?"
"Not being in a position to ask the three ladies, I really couldn't say. And I think it's time you
settled down for the
night. It's late and I thought we were only going to have one story, not four."
Once again Sionell took a step, intending to enter the room. Once again the conversation inside
stopped her.
"I'm going to be a Sunrunner when I grow up," Jihan announced. "So is Rislyn. And so is Talya, and
Meig, and MaaraтАФand you, too, Tobren," she added.
SionelFs knees went a little weak. She'd known about her daughter, butтАФMeig? And how did Jihan
know, anyway?
Pol's voice was even and easy as he said, "If so, you'd better follow Meig's example and get some
sleep. Being a Sunrunner is hard work."
"No, it's not," Jihan said, encouragedтАФAs if that child needed any encouragement, Sionell musedтАФby
her father's acceptance of her statements. "See what I can do already, Papa?"