Read Online Isle of Glass by Judith Tarr - Free Book Online

cold, even with a fire; and it had begun
to rain.
    o0o
    Open land gave way to forest, dark and cheerless. More than
ever Alf regretted his refusal of the lord’s hospitality; though Jehan laughed
and said, “Don’t be sorry. If someone had known me there, there’d have been a
huge to-do and we’d never have got away.”
    “Maybe,” Alf said. “But our food is running low, and we
won't find any here. More likely, what we have will be stolen.”
    “Do you want to go around?”
    “It would add two days to our journey. But maybe we’d
better.”
    “Not I!” Jehan cried. “I’m no coward. Come on; I'll race you
to that tree.”
    He was already off. After an instant, Alf sent the mare
after him.
    o0o
    It was quiet under the trees, all sounds muted, lost in the
mist of rain. Leaves lay thick upon the track; the horses’ passing was almost
silent to human ears.
    The travelers rode as swiftly as they might, yet warily, all
their senses alert. Nothing menaced them, though once they started a deer, to
Fara’s dismay. Only the high saddle and Alf’s own skill kept him astride then.
    The farther they rode, the older the forest seemed. The
trees were immense, heavy with the memory of old gods. Elf-country, Alf
thought. But the cross on his breast made him alien.
    Wild beasts moved within the reach of his perception,
numerous small creatures, deer, a boar going about its dark business; even the
flicker of consciousness that was a wolf. Nothing to fear.
    o0o
    Night fell, early and complete. They found a camp, a cluster
of trees by a stream, that afforded water and shelter and fuel for a fire.
    When they had tended the horses and eaten a little, they
huddled together in the circle of light.
    “I wonder how Alun is,” Jehan said after a while.
    Alf glanced at him, a flicker in firelight. “Well enough,”
he answered. “Brother Herbal has had him up and hobbling about a little. And
he’s had Morwin bring him treasures from the library.”
    “You talk to him?”
    “Yes.”
    Jehan tried to laugh. “What’s he wearing? You’ve got his
clothes!”
    “He borrows mine. Though he says he looks a poor excuse for
a monk.”
    “Does he fret?”
    Alf shook his head. “Alun never frets. He simply follows me
with his mind.”
    “Is he watching now?”
    “No. He’s asleep.”
    Jehan glanced about uneasily at the whispering dark. “Are
you sure?”
    “Fairly.” Alf smiled. “Come, lad! He can’t see any secrets.
He’s a man of honor.”
    “But he follows us!”
    “Me, to be more precise. Sometimes he borrows my eyes.”
    Jehan’s had gone wild. When Alf touched him, he started like
a deer. Those were Alf’s eyes upon him: Alf’s own, strange, familiar eyes. No
one else lived behind them.
    They flicked aside before he could drown. He swayed; Alf
held him. “Jehan. Alun is like me. My own kind. As you and I share speech, so
we share our minds. It comforts him. He gave me all he had; should I refuse to
let him be with me?”
    The other battled for control. “It’s not that.
It’s...it’s...I can’t see him!”
    “Would you like me to tell you when he’s here?”
    “Please. I’d rather know.”
    “Then you will. Sleep, Jehan. I’ll keep the first watch.”
    He would have argued, but suddenly he could not keep his
eyes open. Even as suspicion stirred, he slid into oblivion.
    o0o
    The road wound deeper into the forest, growing narrower as
it proceeded, and growing worse, until often the travelers were slowed to a
walk. Jehan rode with hand close to sword hilt; Alf’s every sense was alert,
although he said once, “No robber, unless he’s desperate, will touch us: two
strong men, well mounted, and one big enough for two.”
    Jehan laughed at that, but he did not relax his guard. Nor,
he noticed, did Alf. Even as that disturbed him, it brought comfort.
    The second night under the trees, they camped in a place
they could defend, a clearing that rose into a low hill, and at the top a
standing stone. Jehan