"Robin McKinley - The Outlaws of Sherwood" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinley Robin)

shaft appear as if by magic in TomтАЩs broad chest, as he heard the manтАЩs hoarse cry
of pain and terror. Tom looked down a moment, and clutched at the great spreading
red stain around the thing that grew now so abruptly from his breast; and then his
knees buckled, and he fell forward on his face and lay still. The snap of the shaft as
TomтАЩs weight crushed it was very loud in the stillness; and then, like a long echo of
that sharp, final sound, a squirrel appeared on a branch of the oak tree, and shrilly
protested the invasion of his peace.


CHAPTER TWO
┬л^┬╗
Robin had no memory later of taking to his heels. He ran, his traitorous bow still
clenched in one hand, till he could run no more; and then he walked till he caught his
breath, and ran on. Once or twice he fell. He did not know where he went or where
he was going; as he lay on the ground the second time, the wind knocked out of him,
the ragged ends of the broken arrow in his belt digging into his flesh, his foot aching
from the root that had tripped him, he thought, I will run till it kills me, for I have
killed a man, and my death is demanded by the kingтАЩs law. And he got up, limping a
little, and ran on. He ran till he was blind with running, till he thought he had lived his
entire life running, one foot pounding down in front of the other endlessly, till his
bones were on fire with it, and every time either foot struck the ground his whole
body cried out against the jolt. He set his teeth and ran on.
But his body betrayed him at the last, and the next time he fell he could not get up
but lay, face down, in the leaf-mould, stirring only faintly, like a baby first learning to
crawl. And then even that movement ceased, and he turned his cheek to the earth
and gave up; and after a little while an uneasy sleep took him. He drifted in and out
of sleep, vaguely conscious that the sound of water was very near and that he was
more and more thirsty; and he noticed also that the light was growing dim, and at
first he thought that in truth he had run himself blind. But he realised that it was only
twilight, as happens every evening, whatever the events of the day past have been.
And he sighed, and turned his other cheek to the earth, and shut his eyes.
But then he came wide awake, more alert than he had been since Tom Moody
first stepped up beside him that day and seized his arm. For he heard, faintly, careful
footsteps coming through the treesтАФcoming toward the place where he lay. He
rolled overтАФand his cold exhausted muscles groaned with the effort, and he gasped,
and moved more slowly. With numb swollen fingers he snatched up his bow, and
scuttled, stumbling, to stoop painfully behind the boulder to his one side. Behind
him, now, as he waited to see what was before him, was the stream; and the sound
of the water made his mouth suddenly ache, and he turned away from what he
expected was his last doom to scoop up the cold water in the hand that did not hold
the bow.
The taste of it on his tongue shocked him to full consciousness, and he realised
what his actions meant: that he wanted to live. Even with Tom MoodyтАЩs blood on
his head, and the kingтАЩs men looking for him as a murdererтАФhe wanted to keep his
life.
He was too tired to run any more; either luck was with him and the footsteps
would go away, or he would try to give himself up with dignity. He had several good
arrows left; but even if he had the strength to draw his bowтАФand he was not at all
sure he didтАФhe would not seek to take any more life. Even his own.
The mercurial luck that had played with him all this day seemed to turn its face