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

He found Caelum sitting at the very edge of a cliff that plunged down hundreds of
paces into a foam of rocks and sea spray.
RiverStar sat with him, her arm linked into his, their heads close together as they murmured to each
other.
"Caelum? RiverStar?" DragonStar lifted a leg over Belaguez's withers and slid to the ground. The
Star Stallion snorted, then wandered away a few paces to nose among the flowers.
Caelum and RiverStar turned slightly, and smiled at DragonStar.
DragonStar stared, taken not only with their beauty, but at the peacefulness that they radiated.
Neither had been particularly peaceful in life.
Caelum's smile broadened a little, almost as if he could read DragonStar's thoughts. "Welcome,
brother," he said. "Will you join us?"
RiverStar said no words, but she stood in one graceful, fluid movement, and took DragonStar's
hand. She pulled slightly, encouraging him to sit with Caelum and herself, but DragonStar baulked.
In life RiverStar had loathed him, goaded him, and taken every opportunity to make his life
miserable.
Who was this caring, lovely-spirited woman now standing before him?
RiverStar lifted her free hand and laid it against DragonStar's cheek.
"In life," she said, "I was hateful, jealous, and spiteful. But once I passed the gate into the Field of
Flowers I entered a state of ... of ..."
Her brow creased slightly, as if her mind could not quite find the word to describe her state of
existence.
"We entered," Caelum said, "a state of contentedness. Contentedness not only with our
environment, but with ourselves."
DragonStar nodded slowly, realising the difference in his brother and sister. They were deeply at
peace with themselves, because they were contented — a spiritual state rather than an emotional one.
And suddenly he was content as a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. DragonStar's mind had been
worrying at the fact that so many people appeared bored and irritated with the peace of Sanctuary,
and he'd worried about how they'd cope with the eternal peace of the Field of Flowers.
Now he understood. When people passed into the Field of Flowers they underwent a spiritual
transformation.
And they became content.
Caelum nodded as he understood DragonStar's realisation. "There are only a few who do not
undergo this transformation," he said. "Those who know that they must return to Tencendor, and those
who know they have work unfinished remain impervious to the contentedness of the Field."
"The Strike Force," DragonStar said. "They remain vengeful."
"Aye," Caelum said. "But come, sit down. We are gladdened to see you again."
DragonStar smiled, and sat down beside Caelum. RiverStar let go his hand, and stepped back,
saying that she would leave them to talk.
"There are flowers I have not yet seen," she said, her smile so sweet and gentle it made
DragonStar's breath catch in his throat, "and walks yet to be explored. I will see you again, DragonStar,
in the days when we will all live in peace in the Field."
She bent quickly, kissed DragonStar's cheek, and then she was gone, fading into the weaving,
waving lilies.
For a long while Caelum and DragonStar said nothing, relaxing in each other's company
and the scent of the flowers. Behind them, the Alaunt settled down in haphazard groups, stretching out in
the sun or grooming each other with long, liquid tongues and gentle nips.
"You have the Enchanted Song Book," Caelum said finally, glancing at what DragonStar had under
his arm.
DragonStar looked down the cliff, fighting a wave of dizziness. He missed so much of his
Icarii heritage: the ability to fly, to dance, to sing, and, at the moment, the easy ability to withstand the lure