"Holly Lisle - World Gates 03 - Gods Old and Dark" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lisle Holly)

truck and jogged to the two closest saplings that could be formed into an arch—two
pliable young white oaks that grew directly across the road from each other, with single
trunks and few side branches.

Heyr pulled the flexible tops together and bound them with a knot that would untie with
one hard tug of the string. He eased the arch he’d formed out of his hands and watched it
for a moment. It held, though the trees strained against the twine.

Then he studied the long tail of string now dragging on the ground and realized he’d still
left it a bit too short, so he pulled the truck up until its front bumper rested only a couple
of feet from the arch. He tied the string to the back bumper. Patted the hood of the truck as
he walked by and said, “Going on a little trip, boys.”

And then he stood before the tree arch. He stared into it, letting his eyes unfocus, so that
the shadowed greens and browns of the woods beyond seemed to form a flat, mottled
canvas for the arch. He let the image of a surface grow in his mind, and did not stare
directly at the little green lights that began to zip and streak across that surface. They
began to connect, and then, like spilled ink spreading out across a blank page, radiant
green fire filled in the arch, making a doorway big enough for Heyr and the truck. Heyr
stared into that sheet of light that hummed with life and promise and energy. In it, he
sought the source of the tender, sweet scent that had first caught his attention—and when
he located the scent, he found a deceptive web, one that wandered from world to world,
universe to universe, that popped up in unexpected places from seemingly random
connections in other universes. He found, in short, an intentionally tangled, confusing
mess. That was good. But the mess had a center, a strong core to which every single thread
could eventually be traced. And that was bad, because if he could find that center, others
could, too.

That core was a single house in a small southern town. He marked the house with a tiny
magical tracer and set his vision roaming. A sign outside the town, with badges for the
Lions, the Rotarians, the Masons, and the Jaycees, said, “Welcome to Cat Creek, North
Carolina, Home of the Fighting Tigers.”

He directed his vision out of town, keeping careful watch on the road. He hated being lost,
or wandering around looking for things. Just comfortably distant from the town he found a
good patch of woods that bordered on fields white with cotton, with a dirt road running


file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Lisle,%20Holly%20-%20[Wo...tes%2003]%20-%20Gods%20Old%20and%20Dark%20(v1).htm (9 of 292)23-7-2007 19:24:41
 file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Lisle,%20Holly%20-%20[World%20Gates%...0[World%20Gates%2003]%20-%20Gods%20Old%20and%20Dark%20(v1).htm


straight out to the road that would carry him back to town. That would do.

He turned to the truck. “Let’s go.”

The door opened for him as he approached, and the motor growled.

He jumped in and put his hands on the steering wheel, but it was shifting beneath his
fingers, becoming hard leather reins. The truck changed as it slid into the green light, and