"John DeChancie - Castle 04 - Castle War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dechancie John)

тАЬRight,тАЭ Thaxton said. тАЬCarry on.тАЭ

Bloody hell, he said to himself.


Four


Keep тАФ Earth Aspect
Gene stood before the castle doorway that led to Earth and home.

тАЬWhat the hell тАж ?тАЭ

What he should have been looking at was the interior of a spacious country manor. Located in
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, тАЬHalfway HouseтАЭ served as a way station between the castle and
Earth. But all that appeared beyond the outline of the portal was an expanse of empty meadow fringed
by a line of trees.

He looked up and down the hallway in the castle. No one was about. The guards would have been on the
other side of the portal, stationed in the house.

тАЬDamn thing must have moved again.тАЭ

The portal did sometimes shift, and usually Sheila Jankowski or Incarnadine would have to be

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 Castle War

summoned to nudge it back again.

Gene picked up his luggage again and stepped through. He looked around. The terrain looked familiar.
He guessed that he was on the other side of the hill to the rear of the house. No problem. HeтАЩd just hike
to the house and tell the guards where the portal had drifted to. One of them would have to step back
into the castle and fetch Sheila, who would try to anchor the doorway back at the house again. It
happened all the time. Very annoying.

Stepping briskly over dewy grass, Gene made his way up the knoll. The sun was low and the air was
cool, conveying a hint of autumn.

Reaching the crest, he experienced a moment of disorientation until he realized that the meadow was on
the house side of the hill. But the house was gone. Moreover, the ground looked as though the house had
never been there.

This might be Earth, but it was one where Halfway House did not exist, had never existed. Everything
else looked the same, but Gene knew he was not in the world where he belonged.

He checked the portal, a barely visible rectangle, one-dimensional and anomalous, standing in the
hayfield below. It seemed to shimmer a bit, but looked stable enough.