"Clayton Emery - Robin & Marian - Floating Bread and Quicksilver" - читать интересную книгу автора (Emery Clayton)

would happen some day. I'm just surprised it took
this long."
"What?" asked Robin and Marian together.
The fisherfolk looked at them, still unsure of their
status. These were the famous outlaws of Sherwood
Forest, they knew, and supposedly lords. They'd
descended on Wigby unexpectedly, seeking lodging
and paying in silver. Their hosts were unsure how to
address them, but fishermen were a hard-headed lot
who feared only God and storms. Husband and wife
let the silence drag to underline their independence.
Robin added, "Please. We're strangers hereabouts.
Why are you not surprised?"
Peter remained silent, let his wife talk for both.
"Well... The good Lord knows we lose enough men
to plain accidents. There's more ways to die on the
swan's road. Strike a rock, or a whale, a rogue
wave, a sea serpent. But if anyone went hunting
grief it was Gunther and Yorg. They were brothers
and forever fighting. They even fought over who
owned that boat when both helped build it. So
squabbling's been the death of them, I'd say."
The outlaw nodded absently. "`Most of our troubles
we bring on ourselves.'"
The family stamped up the shingle. Marian lagged
behind. "You're pensive, Rob. What's your guess?"
Robin turned and scanned the sea. "I'm a simple
man given to simple explanations. There's no sign
the boat struck anything: no planks stove in, no
barnacles scraped off, the moss intact all over. The
boat might've pitched them overside, but the nets
are still folded neat. And there's that boot."
"Yes?.."
"I don't know... It's rare that ghosts or selkies or
serpents pluck a man into the sea. Men bear enough
evil we needn't blame the fays for murder."
"And?.."
"Perhaps nothing." Robin shrugged. "I don't wish to
speak ill of the dead, especially newly dead. I don't
need ghosts wafting over the waves for me."
Marian stared at the gray roiling sea. The breeze
blew dark hair around her face and she combed it
back. "Yes, let's curb our tongues."
&&&&&-----&&&&&
After a subdued Mass and blessing of the fleet and
passing each boat through a rope circle, Wigby went
fishing. And Robin Hood went with them.
He worked with Peter, who'd lost his eldest son in a
storm the year before. Next eldest, too young to be
married, was a squint-eyed serious-faced girl of