Harshini

Jennifer Fallon Harshini The Demon Child Trilogy Book 3

US edition cover

For Harshini Bhoola

and, as always, Adele Robinson

Acknowledgments

Once again, I have quite a few people I'd like to thank for their help and support. Lyn Tranter from Australian Literary Management, Stephanie and everyone at HarperCollins Publishers Australia, Sarah Endacott from Edit or Die for editing and advice and patience.

I would also like to thank Debra Rae-Smith and Fiona McLennan, the whiz-kids of cyberspace at HarperCollins and Voyager Online, who have given me a great deal of support, and quite a few emailed suggestions, particularly in relation to Tarja's fate, all of which I happily ignored...

I must again thank the awesomely talented Stephanie Pui-Mun Law for her wonderful covers, and the remarkable character sketches that she has provided for this series.

A special thank you, too, must go to Elle, Stephanie, Woody, Alison and Ryan, the gang from Whitley College, for their input, their friendship and their all-night proofreading session.

To my children, Amanda, Tracey (TJ) and David, my thanks for their support, their faith, the inspiration they have provided, and for making me feel that I haven't completely failed as a mother.

And finally, to my good friend Harshini Bhoola: it's been a long time coming, but this one's for you.

PART 1 RETREAT INTO DANGER

CHAPTER 1

Korandellan te Ortyn, the last King of the Harshini, waited until the end of the concert before he left the natural amphitheatre in the centre of Sanctuary to return to his apartment. But first, he congratulated the performers. He admired the clever scenery they had devised, which used a mixture of magic and everyday objects, and graciously thanked them for their efforts. He moved among them, smiling and waving, as the glimmering twilight, that was as close to night as it came in this magical place, descended over the valley. Sanctuary's tall, elegant white spires towered over the hidden city, touched with silver as evening closed in. The people were trying so desperately hard to be happy. He did his best to seem happy for them in return.

There was a brittle edge to the serenity of Sanctuary these days. An edge that Korandellan, more than any other Harshini, could feel. The happiness here was fragile; the cheerfulness an illusion. The Harshini were running out of time. Quite literally. Only Korandellan knew how close they were to the end.

Perhaps Shananara suspected. She fell in beside him, dressed in the long loose robes that most of the Harshini favoured, which surprised him a little. Shananara had been in and out of Sanctuary a great deal of late, and he was more used to seeing her in Dragon Rider's leathers. His sister had always been more interested in the comings and goings of the human population than he. With the demon child abroad, and the whole world affected by her presence, Shananara was anxious to know what was happening. Slipping her arm companionably through his, she walked with him back to his quarters, waiting until the doors swung silently shut behind them before she spoke.

“Let me help, Koran.”

The King sighed, letting his shoulders slump and his facade of vitality crumble in her presence. He looked haggard.

“No. You cannot help, Shanan,” he told her, lowering his tall frame into a delicately carved chair near the open doors that led to the balcony. The tinkling sound of the waterfall drifted through the open windows. The evening, as usual, was balmy and clear. “I need your strength for other matters.”

“There won't be any other matters if you falter,” she warned. “Let me carry some of the load. Or do you enjoy being a martyr?”

He smiled at her wearily. She had been out visiting the humans again. Her manner of speech always reflected her journeys among the mortals. “No, I do not enjoy being a martyr, sister. But if I fail, our people will need you to guide them. If you help me now, you will certainly ease my burden, but it will weaken you at a time when one of us needs to be strong. Only the demon child can lift the burden from my shoulders completely.”

Shananara flung herself into one of the chairs opposite the window. “The demon child? That unreliable, spoilt, half-human atheist brat? If that's who you're relying on to save us, brother, we are doomed.”

“You shouldn't speak of her so harshly, my dear. R'shiel will do what she must.”

“She will do what suits her, Koran, and not a damned thing more. I doubt if even the gods know if it will be what she was destined for.”

“Yet it is on her we must rely.”