"L. Warren Douglas - The Veil of Years 3 - Isle Beyond Time" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglas L Warren)

A Baen Books Original

Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com

ISBN: 0-7434-3598-2

Cover art by Dominic Harman

First printing, March 2003

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Production by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH
Printed in the United States of America

MIND YOUR MA!
Like soaring gulls, the goddessMa and the girl Pierrette hovered high above the black, jutting crags of an
island. "Follow me,"Ma commanded in a gull's shrill voice. She tilted her wings and dropped swiftly.

Pierrette knew where she wasтАФthe kingdom known as the Fortunate Isles, pulled from the realm of
time's passage by the sorcerer-king Minho more than two thousand years before, when the empire of the
Cretan Bull was buried in flaming ash and flowing lava. Her hard-working seagull's heart lightened.Ma 's
task could not be too terrible: Minho was handsome and charming. "Marry me!" he had begged her twice
before. "Rule with me, and never grow old."

They glided down on silent wings. She glimpsed a crowd in the outer court, all kneeling. Before them
stood a man with the head of a great horned bull. The Bull of Minos, the high priest.

Now the taurine man emerged in the smaller courtyard, letting the bronze door swing shut behind him.
He tossed his white robe aside with a relieved sigh, and lifted the hollow horned head from his shoulders.
 Minho. Pierrette's seagull heart altered its rhythm. An anxious rustle ofMa 's feathers warned her not to
reveal herself. "Come," said the goddess.

Pierrette opened deep blue, altogether human eyes, and saw the cool shadows of beech branches
reflected in the sacred pool.

"Will you remember everything you have seen?" asked the goddess, again a crone in worn, frayed wool.
"You must remember, because your task is to find that place, and that man. You must set foot on
Minho's soil in the real world, and you in the flesh. Find the Isles and their king, and then . . ."

"Yes? And then?"

"Then," said the goddess, "you must destroy his kingdom and he must die."