Read Online Children of the Gates by Andre Norton - Free Book Online

scarlet, lined with green, and his cap was of the same shade. Fair hair fell to his shoulder. And the hair held a light of its own, surrounding his head with a gleaming mist. He had well-cut, handsome features, only Nick saw, where the locks of hair were swung back behind his ears, that those were large out of proportion, rising to very discernible points.
    There was a short sword, or long knife, sheathed at his belt, and he carried a second spear, twin to the one lying by the jeep. His expression was one of malicious amusement. But he did not speak. Instead he pursed his lips to whistle. And there was movement behind him, shadows detached themselves from the tree boles to flit forward.
    Humanoid the little man might be, but the force he captained was not. There was a shambling bear that sat up on its haunches, its forepaws dangling, its red tongue lolling between only too-evident teeth. Beside that crouched a spotted cat—but what was a leopard doing in these woods? Those two of the company Nick could readily identify—but there were others—
    What name did you give a creature with a catlike, spotted body, but with four limbs ending in hooves, a canine-inclined head, bearing great upstanding twin fangs in its lower jaw and double horns sprouting at the beginning of a horse mane just above its wide, fierce eyes? There was a second beast beside it that might be very remotely related to a wolf, save that it had a more foxlike head, a very slender body, the talons of a giant bird in place of forepaws; the hind paws and bushy tail normal enough, if anything might be termed normal in such a mixture.
    The four creatures sat at ease, their glowing eyes, for even the bear’s eyes glowed red, intent upon the three by the jeep.
    “You see,” the small man with a graceful wave of his hand had indicated his hoofed and clawed and pawed companions, “our strength. Now we ask of you your absence. This is our domain and you have not asked our permission to enter it.”
    To his own surprise Nick found himself answering:
    “We did not want entrance. We came without it being our will.” He pointed to the jeep. “One minute that was on a road in my own world—the next it was here.”
    The small man lost the smile that was close to a taunt. In fact all expression faded from his face. He held out his hand and the spear he had flung earlier arose in the air, went to him, fitting its haft neatly into his grasp. If he made some sign to his company Nick did not catch it. But the four oddly assorted animals arose and faded away into the gloom, where they were instantly lost as if they had turned into nothingness.
    “You are, being what you are,” the stranger said slowly, “not for our governing. But I say to you, get you hence, for this is a forest under rule and not a wild wood open to wanderers.”
    He lifted the spear once again as if about to cast it. But it would appear that was only to underline his order. For a moment he held it so, then the blaze of his cloak, the mist about his hair billowed out like smoke from a fire, clouding his body to hide it utterly. The vapor drew back again on a center core, then vanished. They were alone. Nick turned to his companions.
    “Who—what—?”
    Stroud reached back into the jeep and jerked out the bundle of tools, hurrying so fast to unwrap it again that he almost dropped it. He drew out a small wrench and a screwdriver. Crocker grabbed the latter, holding it at chest level as if it were a weapon or shield. Stroud thrust the wrench at Nick who accepted it with surprise.
    “Hold that in plain sight,” the Warden ordered.
    “Why? What—what was that?”
    “Why—because it’s iron. An’ iron is out an’ out poison as far as the People are concerned. If we’d had this in sight he wouldn’t have dared even sling that toothpicker at us. As to who or what he is—you’d better ask the Vicar. We’ve seen his like a couple of times before. People of the Hills, the Vicar calls ’em—the