Free The Silver Sun by Nancy Springer

pulled up behind a ridge of rock.
    “Some time after we left this morning,” he explained, “strangers came to the Gypsy camp, describing us and offering gold for news of us. Ten rough-looking men, mounted, with bows. Likely they are close by us, right now. The Gypsies told them nothing, of course, but if they are not fools they will have followed our friend. I hope he comes to no harm."
    “Bounty hunters,” muttered Alan. He felt suddenly quite uncomfortable. He was used to thinking of sword-fighting as an unavoidable part of life in these hard times, but he did not relish the thought of ducking arrows.
    “We must get to more open ground,” continued Hal, “where they cannot stalk us."
    They moved gently off, glancing over their shoulders. “I fled before,” Hal added, “to draw the chase on us. But it's no use running now; we could blunder straight into them. We must make them show themselves and then outrun them, if we like."
    Threading their way cautiously among the rocks and thickets, they proceeded in what they hoped was the direction of a clearing. At last they came to a windswept space, which they carefully surveyed. Then they touched heels to the horses’ sides and sped across the barren expanse, heading for a lonely clump of trees near the center. To their relief, they reached it without incident.
    “There!” Hal exclaimed. “We might as well spend the afternoon here as anywhere else. Only to the south can they come near being within bowshot. They will set an ambush to the north, but they will see that we do not intend to move, and they will be forced to rush us from the south."
    “They could split up,” grumbled Alan. He was not nearly as well pleased as Hal with their situation.
    “I think they will not. They fear our swords, and probably they do not trust each other. We might as well sit down."
    Arundel lifted his head and snorted at the distant thickets to the north.
    “ Allo ,” Hal told him. “Very well, Arundel. I know they are there."
    Letting the horses graze, Hal and Alan sat in the shade, leaning against the tree trunks, facing away from each other so as to watch the largest portion of ground. The afternoon crept slowly by, and the sun grew low.
    Alan broke the long silence. “What will they do when dark comes?"
    Hal shook his head. “They cannot afford to wait. They might surprise us, but we might also slip away from them. They will make their move soon."
    Even as he spoke the distant brush stirred. The two vaulted to their saddles. But instead of rushing away as Alan expected him to, Hal tarried, dancing Arundel slowly northward, until the last of the hunters had broken cover. Then he grunted in satisfaction. “All ten of them,” he said. “Let's go."
    They sprang into a gallop. But the foremost men were now within bowshot, and stopped to take aim. Alan whistled and cursed Hal's boldness as an arrow grazed his ear with its honed metal head; warm blood trickled down his neck. They were almost out of range when Hal gave a moan. A lucky shot had hit Arundel in the foreleg. The arrow passed neatly between the bones, then stuck.
    Even though wounded, Arundel still ran faster than the ponylike beasts behind them. But Hal knew that every step added to his injury. They burst into the wall of thickets at the edge of the clearing, and plunged through a labyrinth of rocks, copses and undergrowth. Hal sighed with relief when they came to another clearing. A gentle rise faced them. Halfway up was a long outcropping of rock screened with bushes and stunted trees. At the crown of the rise was one of the ancient barrows or cairns, a large one, ringed by upright stones.
    “This will do,” called Hal as they pulled up behind the natural stone barrier. “Keep the horses behind the tallest cover, Alan, and see what you can do for Arun."
    He grabbed his bow and arrows from his blanketroll, and ran to a position behind the stone ledge just as their pursuers broke into the open and sent a shower of