"Simon R. Green - Nightside 1 - Drinking Midnight Wine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

sure any more. But absolutely no one was prepared to risk setting the Thing free, even if they
knew how.
Leo padded on after the dead man, all through the town and out the other side. As buildings gave
way more and more to open countryside, Leo began to get a really bad feeling about where they were
going. And soon enough, all too soon, the open fields butted up against the silent, dead trees of
Blackacre. Reed walked unhesitatingly into the dead thickets, but Leo paused for a moment,
wondering if he really was that determined to avenge his friend. Nothing good ever came out of
Blackacre.
Even Leo Morn had enough sense to be scared of Blackacre.
But in the end, he plunged on into the thicket of dark, lifeless trees, if only because he didn't
want to. Leo had his pride. As he entered the woods he dropped suddenly out of the real and into
Mysterie, with a sharp shock that for a moment took his breath away. He'd never known a place so
strongly magical as to rip him out of one world and into the next, against his will. His senses
became sharper, more focused, as using his father's legacy he adapted to the magical world, and
with a slow sense of horror he realised that Blackacre no longer existed in the real world. Only
its shell remained in Veritie, an empty vision of what had once been as real as earth and rock.
Something, or more likely someone, had torn the guts out of Blackacre and pinned them firmly in
Mysterie. Blackacre was a wholly magical place now, where dark, bad, magical things could be done.
Leo's pace slowed, almost despite himself. As his father's son, he was a powerful presence himself
in Mysterie; but he'd never cared for that. Legacies and destinies were for other people. He
preferred the simpler, subtler, more real pleasures of being just a man.
'Are you still with me, Brother?'
Of course. His Brother's voice was clear and sharp, with a much stronger sense of presence, now
that they were both in Mysterie. This is bad, Leo, really bad. Whoever gutted Blackacre to make it
his own has to be one of the Powers and Dominations. In which case, we are both well out of our
depth and sinking fast. It disturbs me that I sensed nothing of such a presence operating
recently. Or that I knew nothing of Blackacre's destruction in the real world. I should have
known. Proceed cautiously, Leo. These are deep, dark waters we find ourselves in.
Leo didn't need telling. Just walking through the dead woods was enough to put all his hair on
end. Blackacre felt like long fingernails scraping down his soul. The blackened trees bore no
leaves or blossom, and never would again. Thick black boles and stark black branches were held
utterly still, undisturbed by any trace of a breeze. Nothing moved in Blackacre, not even the air.
Nothing but Leo Morn, and a dead man. The ground was inches deep in ashes, and Leo's every
footstep made loud crunching sounds, for all his stealth, announcing his presence. He let himself
fall farther back, still keeping Reed in sight, as he glanced warily about him. There were no


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animals, no insects, no birds. This was a dead place, where perhaps even time stood still.
It was like walking on the moon. Life had come and gone, and nothing would ever thrive in
Blackacre again. Once, there had been a great fire here, some awful heat that had scoured all life
away and left only dead things behind. Which rather raised the question of where the dead man was
going, and who or what was waiting to receive him. Like the rest of the town, Leo had heard
rumours of a new owner of Blackacre Farm and its surrounding land, but he'd assumed that was only
in Veritie. Reed seemed to be heading straight for the deserted farmhouse, and whatever occupied
it now - something so powerful it could even hide itself from The Brother Under The Hill.
Leo was breathing hard now, cold beads of sweat standing out on his forehead, but he didn't slow
his pace any further. He'd come this far. He wanted, needed, to know.