"Julian May - Trillium 3 - Sky Trillium" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

The Three-Lobed Burning Eye, created ages ago by the Vanished Ones for their
own mysterious purposes, had been capable of dread magic, for it was one of
three parts making up the great Sceptre of Power.

Once that talisman had been bonded to Kadiya's very soul, and the three lobes
had opened at her command to reveal living counterparts of the eyes emblazoned
upon her armor. She had commanded its power, and anyone who dared touch the
sword without her permission died on the spot.

But four years ago the sorcerer Orogastus, last heir to the Star Men, stole
Kadiya's talisman and acquired through extortion a second one belonging to
Queen Anigel. He bonded both devices to himself and dared hope that the
Archimage Haramis would give up the third talisman for love of him. Instead,
Orogastus lost Anigel's talisman by misadventure; and later, in a climactic battle,
he was destroyed by the magic of the three sisters.

The ownerless sword was then restored to Kadiya. But the talisman would no
longer unite with her magical amulet of trillium-amber as it had done before,
binding itself to her will. The Three-Lobed Burning Eye was apparently as dead
as Orogastus.

Nevertheless, Kadiya had continued to wear it.

"I have never deliberately lied to the Folk about my talisman's function," she
said now to Jagun. "Its symbolic value remains, even if it is now magically
useless. You saw the good it did tonight. Without its threat, the Skritek would
surely have fought us to the death. With it, I was able to spare them and prevent
a great loss of Nyssomu life."

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Trillium 03 - Sky Trillium by Julian May (v1.0) (html).html




"That is true," Jagun admitted.

"The Drowners will return to the Southern Morass and tell others of their tribe
how they were conquered and granted mercy by the Lady of the Eyes and her
talisman." She gave a little shrug. "Thus the Truce of the Mire will hold until the
next crisis comes along… And there is always a chance that Haramis will
eventually discover how to rebond the talisman to me, restoring its potency."

The little man shook his head, still uneasy. Like others of his race he was
superficially human in appearance, having tiny slitted nostrils, a broad mouth
with small sharp teeth at the fore, and narrow upstanding ears rising on either
side of his hunter's cap. Many years ago he had been Royal Huntsman to King
Krain of Ruwenda, Kadiya's late father. When she was but a tiny girl, Jagun had
taken her into the Mazy Mire that comprised so much of the little plateau
kingdom, teaching her many of its secrets and giving her the mire-name Farseer