"Wen Spencer - Wolf Who Rules" - читать интересную книгу автора (Spencer Wen)

Chapter 1: Ghost Lands
There were some mistakes that "Oops" just didn't cover.
Tinker stood on the George Westinghouse Bridge. Behind her was Pittsburgh and its sixty-thousand
humans now permanently stranded on Elfhome. Below her, lay the mystery that at one time had been
Turtle Creek. A blue haze filled the valley; the air shimmered with odd distortions. The land itself was a
kaleidoscope of possibilitiesтАФelfin forest, oni houses, the Westinghouse Air Brake Plant тАУ fractured
pieces of various dimensions all jumbled together. And it was all her fault.
Color had been leached from the valley, except for the faint blue taint, making the features seem
insubstantial. Perhaps the area was too unstable to reflect all spectrums of light тАУ or maybe the full
spectra of light weren't able to pass through тАУ the тАУ the тАУ she lacked a name for it.
Discontinuity?
Tinker decided that was as good a name as any.
"What are these Ghostlands?" asked her elfin bodyguard, Pony. He'd spoken in low Elvish.
"Ghostlands" had been in English, though, meaning a human had coined the term. Certainly the phrase
fit the ghostly look of the valley.
So maybe Discontinuity wasn't the best name for it.
A foot taller, Pony was a comforting wall of heavily-armed and magically-shielded muscle. His real
name in Elvish was Waetata-watarou-tukaenrou-bo-taeli, which meant roughly Galloping Storm Horse
on Wind. His elfin friends and family called him Little Horse, or tukaenrou-tiki, which still was a
mouthful. He'd given her his English nickname to use when they met; it wasn't until recently that she
realized it was his first act of friendship.
"I don't know what's happening here." Tinker ran a hand through her short brown hair, grabbed a handful
and tugged, temptation to pull it out running high. "I set up a resonance between the gate I built and the
one in orbit. They were supposed to shake each other apart. They did."
At least, she was fairly sure that they had. Something had fallen out of the sky that night in a fiery
display. Since there were only a handful of small satellites in Elfhome's orbit, it was fairly safe bet that
she somehow yanked the hyperphase gate out Earth's orbit.
"This was тАУ unexpected." She meant all of it. The orbital gate reduced to so much space debris and burnt
ash on the ground. Turtle Creek turned into Ghostlands. Pittsburgh stuck on Elfhome.
Even "sorry" didn't seem adequate.
And what had happened to the oni army on Onihida, waiting to invade Elfhome through her gate? To the
oni disguised as humans that worked on the gate with her? And Riki, the tengu who had betrayed her?
"Is it going to тАУ get better?" Pony asked.
"I think so." Tinker sighed, releasing her hair. "I can't imagine it staying in this unstable state." At least
she hoped so. "The second law of thermodynamics and all that."
Pony grunted a slight optimistic sound, as if he was full of confidence in her intelligence and problem
solving. Sometimes his trust in her was intimidating.
"I want to get closer." Tinker scanned the neighboring hillsides, looking for a safe way down to the


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 - Chapter 1

valley's floor. In Pittsburgh, nothing was as straightforward as it appeared. This area was mostly
abandoned тАУ probably with help from the oni to keep people away from their secret compound. The
arcing line of the Rim, marking where Pittsburgh ended and Elfhome proper began, was defused by
advancing elfin forest. Ironwood saplings mixed with jagger bushes тАУ elfin trees colliding with earth
weed тАУ to form a dense impenetrable thicket. "Let's find a way down."