"Anthony, Piers - Adept - 06 - Unicorn Point" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Piers)

The shadow of the monster was coming close, and the grif-
fin itself was descending, its front talons reaching down. Stile
readied his spell, but withheld it; he did not want to affront
Neysa by demonstrating a lack of faith in her effort. Now she
had reached the Lattice, and her hot hooves were clattering
on its pattern of little cracks. Those cracks were widening
into crevices, and the crevices to deep clefts, as they pene-
trated to the center of the region.

Soon Neysa was stepping across enlarging gaps, and then
jumping over them. The gaps were now broader than the
landing places, and the ratio continued to shift. That was
the devastating thing about the Lattice; the farther it went, the
worse it got. There was a way across it, but that way was
devious, like a route through a maze, and could not be nav-
igated blindly. The griffin hovered above as if uncertain how
to proceed; perhaps it was not familiar with this network.
Then it folded its wings and dropped down toward them.

Neysa leaped down into a channel, surprising Stile. Now
the walls of it rose up on either side. In a moment the two of
them were below the level of the surface, and the griffin could
not follow, because its wingspan was far too broad. Neysa
had succeeded in avoiding it!

But at a price. Now the demons of this domain showed,
and they were not friendly to man or unicorn. They ducked
into cross-passages to avoid the spearing unicorn point, but
only just far enough to let Neysa pass; then they closed in
behind. She could of course run on through and up and out

UNICORN POINT J7

the far side of the LatticeЧbut the griffin hovered above,
evidently waiting for that. Had they played into its trap?

"Maybe if we go on through, I can throw a spell at the
griffin as we come out," Stile suggested. "There has to be
Adept involvement, soЧ"

She sounded a note of agreement. They both knew that
they could not afford to dally long here in the Lattice, for the
demons would surround them and set up a barrier to stop the
plunging unicorn. Then they would have to deal with the de-
mons, and it would be messy, because this was the demons'
home territory. But this intrusion had caught the demons by
surprise, so they had not yet massed or organized sufficiently,
and would not be able to do so before Neysa galloped on out.