"Springer, Nancy - Book Of The Isle 2 - Silver Sun" - читать интересную книгу автора (Springer Nancy)

"How did you come to be in such a pass?" Hal broke
the silence. "Were you robbed?"

"Ay." Alan was still too weak for much speech.

Hal phrased his next question with diplomacy. In those
days, when men could be outlawed for stealing a loaf of
bread, it was not wise to pry. "Were you going anywhere
in particular when you were robbed?"

Alan shook his head. Like Hal, he was a homeless
wanderer. It was odd that two such youthful outcasts
should meet.

"Will you travel with me, then, when you are better?"
Hal poked at the fire, and Alan could not see his lowered
eyes. "My horse is as good as a man in many ways,"
Hal added, "but rather quiet. Sometimes it is lonely. . . ."

"Certainly I will travel with you," replied Alan
promptly. For Alan was brave, and inclined to deal gen-
erously with life. He saw a shy smile touch Hal's face,
and then he went to sleep on his bed of moss without a
doubt or a fear. He never afterward questioned his an-
swer.

Alan felt much stronger when he awoke the next morn-
ing. He put on the patched tunic Hal gave him, and ate
some leftover stew. He put a pinch on the ground, first,
for the god.

Hal glanced at him curiously. "Whom do you serve,
Alan?"

"No one!" Alan smiled sheepishly. "I am not bound
by any god of grove or cave or temple. But a lifelong habit
is hard to break. . . . My fathers worshiped the Star Son."

"Ah." Hal's face was unreadable. "He is not too de-
manding, this Star Son?"

"Nay," Alan answered grimly. "Not like the Sacred
Son of the Easterners, who inflicts suffering worse than
his own." He spoke harshly, for he was remembering
someone he had once known. He could not tell that, be-
hind the cloudy sheen of his gray eyes, Hal remembered
as well.

After breakfast they scrubbed the pot in the stream,