"Mary Stewart - The Arthurian Saga 01 - The Crystal Cave2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stewart Mary)

I saw it, and it is a true tale.

It was dark, and the place was cold, but he had lit a small fire of
wood, which smoked sullenly but gave a little warmth.

It had been raining all day, and from the branches near the mouth of the
cave water still dripped, and a steady trickle overflowed the lip of the
well, soaking the ground below.

Several times, restless, he had left the cave, and now he walked out
below the cliff to the grove where his horse stood tethered.

With the coming of dusk the rain had stopped, but a mist had risen,
creeping knee high through the trees so that they stood like ghosts, and
the grazing horse floated like a swan.

It was a grey, and more than ever ghostly because it grazed so quietly;
he had torn up a scarf and wound fragments of doth round a bit so that
no jingle should betray him.

The bit was gilded, and the torn strips were of silk, for he was a
king's son.

If they had caught him, they would have killed him.

He was just eighteen.

He heard the hoofbeats coming softly up the valley.

His head moved, and his breathing quickened.

His sword flicked with light as he lifted it.
The grey horse paused in its grazing and lifted its head dear of the
mist Its nostrils flickered, but no sound came.
The man smiled.

The hoofbeats came doser, and then, shoulder deep in mist, a brown pony
trotted out of the dusk.

Its rider, small and slight, was wrapped in a dark cloak, muffled from
the night air.

The pony pulled to a halt, threw up its head, and gave a long, pealing
whinny.

The rider, with an exclamation of dismay, slipped from its back and
grabbed for the bridle to muffle the sound against her cloak.

She was a girl, very young, who looked round her anxiously until she saw