"Sara Douglass - The Axis Trilogy 3 - StarMan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Sara)

grow weak. Long-forgotten gods seek to take My place and banish Me from this land.

"Give me another chance and I will try to —"

But Artor did not want to hear empty excuses or useless promises. His judgment was final.

/shall seek out among those remaining to find one who will work My will for me. One who is
still loyal. One who can steer the Plough that you have left to wheel out of control. Die,

Jayme, and prepare to live your eternity within My eternal retribution. Feel My justice, Jayme!Feelit!

As Artor stepped forward, Jayme foiind breath enough for a last, pitiful shriek.

JThe guard standing outside the door thought he heard a cry, and he started to his feet. But the next
moment a burst of fireworks lit the night sky and the guard relaxed, smiling. No doubt the noise had been
the echo of the street celebrations below.

Another burst of fireworks exploded, drowning out the screams from the chamber as Artor exacted
his divine retribution.

Faraday and Embeth, almost a league into the Plains of Tare, paused and looked back as.the faint
bursts of the fireworks reached them.

"He has married her," Faraday said tonelessly, "and now the people celebrate."

She turned the head of the donkey and urged it eastwards.

Later that night, when the guard checked his prisoner, all he discovered was a pile of plaster by the
far wall and a bloodf body lying huddled underneath the locked window.

It looked suspiciously like...well, like it had been ploughed.

The Song for Drying ClothesRestoration of the royal apartments in the ancient palace of Carlon had
been going on since Axis had defeated Borneheld, but the workmen doubled their efforts in the days after
Axis married Azhure. Helping them - else how could so much work have been accomplished in so short
a time? -were twelve of the best Icarii Enchanters who discovered the ancient lines and colours hidden
behind a thousand years of veilings, and who directed the workmen and sewing women in the best and
simplest ways to redecorate the chambers to suit the StarMan and the Enchantress.

The Icarii were amazed by the news that the Enchantress' ring had resurfaced to fit snugly on Azhure's
finger - and yet, they said among themselves, who better to wear both ring and tide than the woman who
already commanded the Wolven and the Alauntand the heart of the StarMan? Those who had seen her
in the past few days had noted how the promise of strange power lay in the shadows of her eyes, and
they wondered whether the ring had placed that power there, or whether the power released during her
ordeal of her wedding day had called the ring to her.

None, whether Icarii or human, doubted that Azhure was a figure who could be as powerful as the
StarMan, a legend in her own right.
 Now Axis, Azhure and StarDrifter sat in their living chamber, Caelum playing quietly in a corner. On
two walls