"Sara Douglass - Redemption 3 - Crusader" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Sara)

narrow waist holding the entwined arrow and sapling against the womb of her warmth. Her
small feet, clad in elegant red leather slippers, were crossed beneath her chair. Her newly-combed
chestnut hair tumbled in a restrained but joyous manner down her back, save for the single thick strand
which had somehow wound itself over one shoulder and curved against one breast.
She had a tiny and almost secretive smile on her face. The past few hours had been sweeter than any
Faraday had ever experienced previously. All fear had left her, all sense of betrayal had gone. All that
was left was the warmth and memory of DragonStar as she had left him in the bed.
Leagh sat similarly clad and shod, although her distended belly allowed no encumbrance of sash or
belt. Her face was as happy and content as Faraday's, and glowing and relaxed after her days of rest
and good food within Sanctuary. Her thumbs surreptitiously pressed against her belly, feeling
 the tiny movements of her and Zared's child safe within.
An infinite field of flowers, Faraday had told her. She was growing an infinite field of flowers within
her belly.
A tiny tear slipped down Leagh's face, but it was the result of joy, not sadness.
The third female witch, Gwendylyr, sat slightly less gladsome than Faraday and Leagh. Her
lover and husband still throve, as did Leagh's lover and husband, Zared, but Gwendylyr and Theod
shared the sadness of having witnessed the death of their twin sons. Tomas and Cedrian had passed into
the Field of flowers from the Western Ranges and, while Gwendylyr knew they lived and played
among the flowers and paused in awestruck delight atop magical cliffs that thundered down into
foamy seas, she still missed them deeply. She always would, however long she had to live in this
existence before she walked for the final time through the gateway (never opened) into the
Field.
Even if she and Theod conceived and raised other children, nothing would replace the lost laughter
of their twin sons.
She slowly raised a hand and pushed it through her black hair, lifting a heavy wave off her
forehead and pushing it further back over the crown of her head. Like Faraday and Leagh, she wore it
loose, falling down her back in sliding, silken curls.
The fourth in the circle was Master Jannymire Goldman. He had no luxurious hair to tumble down
his back, nor sinuous form to (barely) conceal within heavy folds of white linen. Nevertheless,
his attire — a short tunic of a white linen identical to the material of the women's robes, and feet
in red leather sandals — gave him a sameness with the other three.
The serenity in his warm-cheeked face and bushy grey eyebrows gave him an aura of
astuteness that few people, witch or wizard or Enchanter, ever attained.
Goldman had discovered mystery and strange philosophies when DragonStar had hefted him
through the gateway into the Field of Flowers, and now every hour Goldman found something new to
explore, some strange thought that would lead him to even stranger pastures. He spent
great lengths in every day seeking out those who would consent to spend even a few
moments with him talking of these spiritual puzzlements and intellectual intrigues. Already he had a
reputation within Sanctuary of being a man who might one day make the extravagances of
the spirit knowable to all and the riddles of the unknown as accessible as a plate of bread and cheese.
Goldman sighed happily and closed his eyes, letting the Power of his soul overwhelm his
flesh. He was at home.
The fifth of DragonStar's witches was not sitting in a chair at all, nor was his place part of the circle.
DareWing FullHeart lay on his back in the centre of the circle, making himself its focus.
His chest rose and fell with great bubbling breaths, his body afire with fever.
DareWing was dying: a second death, which made it all the more painful, debilitating and spiritually
draining.
They sat, or lay, under a great crystal dome in a secluded part of Sanctuary. The crystal
dome rested on seventy crystal columns that rose the height of two men from the terracotta-tiled floor.
Beyond the columns stretched a great plain of newly-ploughed earth.