Then they chatted by another evening's fire and slept an- other night, and in the morning started gently northward.

Robin was strong enough to sit on a horse, though he bad

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to let his feet dangle below the stirrups. And still there had been no news of any pursuit. It seemed that Iscovar was having trouble in Nemeton-

Hal did not know that he had paralyzed the whole court city with a night of terror that would be made leg- end, and written into the lore books of the sorcerer scribes. No kingsmen would be able to ride from Nemeton for days to come. And Iscovar himself was roaring with rage to hide his own cold fear. No one knew how he had shrieked in the spirit-laden chill of that night, sensing an omen of his own approaching death.

Chapter Three.

A few days later, in the shelter of the Forest, the fugitives paused to hold a council. Hal made his birth and his quest known, and Roran found hope in his words. It was decided that Roran and his retainers would speed north- ward to prepare Firth for siege, since surely Iscovar would be eager for revenge on him. Trigg would guide them to Craig, and Craig would help them on the way. Hal and Robin, riding more slowly because of Robin's wound, would travel to lay plans with Ket, Margerie and the Gypsies. Alan and Corin would journey to Alan's relatives in the north, though he did not expect to win much help from them. By midsummer, Hal and Alan hoped, they would be back together. Hal would warn Ket to keep an eye on Nabon of Lee in the meantime. If Nabon marched against Celydon, Ket must cut him off before he reached Pelys's domain, and send a messenger to warn the castle.

The company faced a sad leavetaking. Roran, knowing that he would soon face the King's armies, bade farewell to his only son. Cory felt the wrench of leaving Robin, though he was glad to ride at Alan's side. And Hal felt strangely reluctant to be parted from Alaa, though he saw no other way to make his bid ready in time. He watched his brother ride away until Alan was only a

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flash of gold through the summer leaves, and he won- dered at the heaviness of his heart. At last, he turned northward with a sigh. The young heir of Firth patiently awaited him.

Hal and Robin made their way through the Forest as fast as Robin's strength would allow, looking for Ket the Red. Craig already knew that the King's army marched toward Firth, and he would harry it to the top of his bent.

But Hal needed to enlist Ket's support. Still, when they had located his camp, Hal would not approach him be- fore his men. Robin wondered why, for Hal had said they were friends.

When Ket walked off at dusk into the shadowy Forest, a cloud-gray horse drifted through the thick-woven trees to meet him, soundlessly, like an apparition. Ket paled and swayed where he stood, the more so when he saw Hal's face beneath his silver helm.

"Liege!" Ket whispered, trembling.

Hal was off of Arundel in an instant, taking him by the shoulders, restraining him, for he had started to kneel. "None of that, I beg you," he told him. "Ket, why are you afraid?"

"My Prince. . . ." Quaking, Ket turned away his face;

he could not go on.

"How does he know that?" Robin blurted.

"He just knows. He knows my Lady, be knows me.

Ket, look at mel" Hal almost shook him.

The tall outlaw raised anguished eyes. "I had not thought to rival ye," he faltered.

"Of course not. I would know it if you had. How could you see her truly, and not love her? Ket, why are you so afraid?"

"Ye-ye're so changed." Still, his trembling had calmed, as Hal did not fail to note.

"I am the same man you knew before. Perhaps you see me better. I think it is you who have changed, more than I." Hal released Ket and settled himself on a twisted root, and as he had hoped, Ket sat by his side. They both kept silence a while, letting their words trickle through the mesh of their emotions, until Robin awkwardly turned and rode away. Hal put bis head back against a thick old tree.

"How did ye know?" Ket murmured at last.

Hal shrugged. "What matter? I want no accounting

204 THE SILVER SUN.

from you, Ket; I want help. But can you tell, now, what I want from you even more?"

"The greeting of a friend." Ket turned, his brown eyes dark with remorse. "But I have failed ye, Hal."

"Not entirely." Hal quirked a smile at him. "You have just called me by my name."

Ket gulped out a laugh mat was half a sob, and they hugged each other, bursting into eager talk. Ket wanted to know where was Alan, who was Robin? And Hal asked plaintively about his lady; he would not see her yet awhile.

The next day he and Robin, with Ket and all his band, started east. For a month or more the two travelers spent their time helping the outlaws, and later the Gypsies, slow the advance of the King's army. It was a difficult time of hard riding and long waits in ambush, snatched sleep and nighttime raids. Hal did not dare to show his face near Whitewater town, so with many misgivings he sent Robin as his messenger to Margerie. The youth re- turned triumphant-cocky, indeed. Robin loved the ex- citement and danger of his new life. But the pace, and worry for his family, wore him more than he cared to ad- mit. And, though he would not complain, his legs still pained him, making him feel weak and sick. Some days he thought he could not have kept OD if it were not for Hal's unfailing kindness. He never guessed how lost and lonely Hal felt without Alan.

After they had seen Iscovar's army to the Marches, they turned southward again, hurrying toward Celydon, for Ket had said that Nabon's preparations were far ad- vanced. It was late in July when they reached him at last.

"Alan?" Hal demanded.

"Not yet."

"And Nabon; when will he move?"

"Any day." Ket raised his eyebrows as a panting mes- senger ran into camp. "By my beard, I believe it is now!"

Rosemary was crossing Celydon courtyard when a warrior cantered in at the gate, and she stopped in her tracks. "Hal!" she breathed. Yet she felt as if she stared at someone she had never seen before, someone in shin- ing helm and mail, with straight lines to his arms and

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back and a hard set to his jaw. He sped toward her like an arrow, and leaped down while Arundel was still in stride.

"Lady!" he exclaimed. "Rosemary. . . ." It was the first time he had called her by her given name, and she believed he had almost called her Love; his eyes on her had gone soft as evening mist, his face breathless and still. His hand had stopped in midair. She moved her own; fingertips just touched, but warmth sprang through them.

The other rider trotted up, and Hal tore himself away from her with a rending like the parting of flesh. They both felt that pang. "Lady," said Hal hurriedly, "I must go to your father at once; Lee is on the march. Will you keep this for me? I will be back for it, after the fighting."

He slipped off his plinset and handed it to her. How odd it had looked, slung over his warlike mail.

She watched after him as he strode into the keep, and silently watched as he rode away, a few minutes later.

He turned to her once, met her gaze mutely, then gal- loped toward the Forest. Within the hour, Pelys's garrison marched out to battle. Near their fore rode Rafe on a giant black charger. He was lieutenant of guards now, and Will was his captain, but this was their first fray.

Alan had found his mother's kinsfolk in the north to be of even less help than he had feared. Determined to bring some good news to Hal, he led Cory into the depths of the Westwood, where they encountered outlaws, as they hoped they would. After eavesdropping on some sentries, Alan allowed himself to be captured by a band under the leadership of a spearlike man called Blain the Lean. Within a few hours, Blain was feasting him like a longtime friend, and Alan was glad of it, for the word of the wilds was that Blain commanded nearly a thousand bows.

"I serve a certain Prince," Alan remarked obliquely over his meat-

"A Prince who is imprisoned, you mean?" Blain shot him a sharp glance. "He and the King do not agree, it seems, which is all to his favor."

"Nay, he roams, as I do," Alan answered cautiously.

"The peasants call him Silver Sun."

Biain had seen Alan's own shield, of the golden sun

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