"Sara Douglass - The Axis Trilogy 2 - Enchanter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Sara)

there was nothing but warmth. When the five Icarii had escorted him into Talon
Spike she had been the first to step forward. She had said nothing, just folded
him in her strong arms. For long minutes they had stood, each weeping silently,
holding each other as close as they could. Axis recalled how he had summoned
the memory of her struggle to give him birth and fight for his life. For so long
he'd believed that she had cursed him as she died in his birth. Those long
minutes holding each other had been a time of healing for them both.
But things between Rivkah and StarDrifter were not idyllic. That they loved
each other, Axis had no doubt. But their passionate affair atop Sigholt had not
transferred easily to Talon Spike. Perhaps Axis had arrived in their lives only in
time to watch the sad disintegration of their marriage.
"It must be hard to look into the face of your husband and see a man who
looks no older than your son."
Axis' expression hardened a little. His Icarii blood ran much stronger than his
human and, like his sister, he would live the full span of an Icarii lifetime -
perhaps some five hundred years, should he be left in peace to do so. What
would it be like to watch his friends age and die while he still enjoyed youthful
vitality? What would it be like to see the sods thrown on their grandchildren's
coffins before he had reached his middle years?
"Do I like it that in four hundred yean I might still be sitting here watching
the icebears hunt seals on the icebergs, trying desperately to recall the name
and face of a lovely woman who had once sat here with me? Whose bones have
turned to dust in some forgotten tomb? No, Azhure. I do not like it. I find it...
hard."
Azhure reached out and took his hand. Axis stiffened briefly, then he forced
a smile. "But these powers I daily learn as an Icarii Enchanter give me a few
compensations. Such as making the woman who sits here with me a small gift
for the friendship she offers me."
For an instant Azhure thought she caught the hint of a faraway melody in
the wind. Then she was laughing in delight as the soft, velvety blooms of the
violet Moonwild-flower rained down about her. She let Axis' hand go and tried to
catch as many as she could.
"How did you know?" she gasped. She had not seen a Moonwildflower for
over twenty years - when she was a tiny girl her mother had occasionally taken
her on walks during full moon to find the flower.
Axis plucked a flower out of the air and threaded it into her wavy black hair.
He was mildly disturbed, for he had meant to shower her with soft spring roses.
"A lucky guess, Azhure. You sometimes remind me of the Moonwildflower.
Hidden in darkness, desperate not to be found or touched."
Suddenly awkward, Azhure gently cradled a flower in her hands. The
cascade drifted to a halt and she spoke, changing the subject. "EvenSong wants
me to join her at training this afternoon. She says I show aptitude."
EvenSong had been impressed by Azhure's extraordinary fighting ability so
clearly demonstrated during the battle in the Earth Tree Grove at Yuletide. While
the Icarii Strike Force had faltered helplessly, unsure of how to combat the
Skraeling wraiths, Azhure had discovered the Skraelings' vulnerability - their eyes
— and almost single-handedly rallied the Icarii and Avar to fight back. During the
battle she had also saved StarDrifter from certain death.
EvenSong admired Azhure for her cool head and bravery, and for some
weeks she and her Wing-Leader, SpikeFeather TrueSong, had been pressing