"Sara Douglass - Redemption 1 - Sinner" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Sara)

luminous grey walls.
Almost perfectly centred on the strip of shore between Lakesview and Sigholt
was a substantial stone building. Over five storeys high, most of its large
unglassed windows and permanently open doors faced the lake, as if the
building wished to absorb as much of the breeze, or perhaps as much of the
lake, as it could.
From one of the ground-floor doors two Icarü birdmen emerged. They
walked slowly towards the lake, eventually standing in close conversation as the
waters lapped at their feet. One wore an ivory-coloured uniform with an
embroidered device that resembled a twisted knot of golden braid centred on his
chest. The other birdman had striking red plumage and hair, the skin of his face
and hands so white they seemed to glow in the moonlight.
StarSon Caelum SunSoar, supreme ruler of Tencendor, stood at one of the
windows in the map-room of Sigholt, wondering what they talked about so
quietly. Caelum was one of the most powerful Icarü Enchanters born, a child of
the Star Gods, and even though his keen eyesight could easily pick out the
birdmen so far below, he baulked at using his powers to listen to their actual
words. Caelum was ever polite, and he trusted the two men below as few others.
Still, they were an enigmatic pair. WingRidge CurlClaw, the birdman in the
ivory uniform, was captain of the Lake Guard, a somewhat eccentric force who
had dedicated themselves entirely to the service and protection of the StarSon.
Even so, Caelum sometimes felt they kept themselves at a distance, not only
from the life of Sigholt, but even from himself.
But in itself that distance, and its essential peculiarity, was not surprising -
and had a great deal to do with the birdman WingRidge currently conversed
with, SpikeFeather TrueSong. The Lake Guard was formed exclusively from the
six hundred children SpikeFeather had rescued from Talon Spike many years
ago. Rather than risk the children to possible Gryphon attack on the ice trails of
Talon Spike, SpikeFeather had pleaded with the Ferryman to take the children to
safety via the , waterways. The children had reached Sigholt safely, but they had
been subtly changed by the experiences in the waterways with Orr, and when
they reached their majorities they had formed the Lake Guard. They announced
their complete dedication to the service of the StarSon, and chose as their
uniform breeches and plain ivory tunics with the strange emblem on their chests.
None of the Lake Guard ever explained it.
If no-one quite understood the Lake Guard, then all trusted them. Again and
again the Guard pledged their loyalty to the StarSon. Their lives were dedicated
to his word, their hearts to his cause. They might disappear for days, sometimes
weeks on end, but they claimed their ultimate duty was always to the StarSon.
Caelum, as everyone else, did not doubt it. They were an accepted part of
Sigholt, and as mysterious as the Keep itself.
SpikeFeather was almost as enigmatic. He, too, had been changed by his
contact with Orr the Ferryman. As payment for Orr transporting the children to
Sigholt, SpikeFeather had dedicated his life to the Ferryman, and for the past
twenty years had spent much of his time in the waterways with Orr. What
SpikeFeather did down there, or what Orr did to the birdman, Caelum did not
know.
As Caelum watched, WingRidge and SpikeFeather parted company,
WingRidge rising slowly in the air towards the walls of Sigholt where Caelum
supposed he would inspect the members of the Lake Guard stationed there,