The Icebound Land- Character Reaction

30

Will handed the book to Alyss, who scanned the first few words before beginning to read.

LIFE IN CHÂTEAU MONTSOMBRE HAD TAKEN ON A PATTERN. Their host, the warlord Deparnieux, saw his two unwilling guests only when he chose to, which was usually over the evening meal, once or twice a week. It also generally coincided with those occasions when he had thought of some new way of baiting Halt, to try to draw him out.

Crowley snorted. "Like that's ever a good idea," he said. Gilan raised an eyebrow.

"I take it you speak from experience?" The Commandant scowled, while the tall Ranger grinned.

At other times, the two Araluens were confined mainly to their tower room, although each day they were allowed a short time for exercise in the castle courtyard, under the suspicious gaze of the dozen or so men-at-arms who stood sentry over them in the tower. They had asked several times if they might venture outside the castle walls, and perhaps explore the plateau a little.

They expected no more than the answer they received, which was a stony silence from the sergeant of the men set to guard them, but it was still extremely frustrating.

"That's putting it mildly," Horace grumped.

Now Horace paced up and down the terrace, high in the central tower of Château Montsombre.

Inside, Halt was sitting cross-legged on his bed as he put the finishing touches to a new bow he was making for Will. He had been working on the project since they had landed in Gallica. He had carefully selected strips of wood and glued and bound them tightly together, so that their different grains and natural shapes were opposed to one another and bent the composite piece into a smooth curve. Then he had attached two similar, but shorter, composites to either end, so that their curve opposed the main shape of the bow. This formed the recurve shape that he wanted.

When they had first arrived at Montsombre, Deparnieux had seen the pieces in Halt's pack, but he had seen no reason to confiscate them. Without arrows, a half-made bow constituted no threat to him.

"But Halt does," Gilan said, all too obviously hiding a grin. The grizzled Ranger rolled his eyes.

The wind curled around the turrets of the castle, keening its way among the figures of gargoyles carved in the stone. Below the terrace, a family of rooks soared and planed on the wind, coming and going from their nest, set in a cranny in the hard granite wall. Horace always felt slightly queasy to find himself looking down on birds flying. Will chuckled. He moved back from the balustrade, pulling his cloak more tightly around him to keep out the wind. The air carried the threat of rain with it and, in the north, there were banks of heavy cloud driving toward them on the wind. It was midafternoon on another wintry day in Montsombre. The forest that spread out below them was dull and featureless—from this height it looked like a rough carpet.

"What are we going to do, Halt?" Horace asked, and his companion hesitated before answering. Not because he was uncertain of the answer itself; rather, because he was unsure how his young friend's temperament would greet it.

Cassandra raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know Horace even had a temper."

Will and Halt both exchanged an obvious glance, and then they both looked away. Horace rolled his eyes at them.

"We wait," he said simply, and immediately saw the frustration in Horace's eyes. He knew the boy was expecting something to precipitate matters with Deparnieux.

"A bit hard to do if we're at his mercy," Halt said lightly.

"But Deparnieux is torturing and killing people! And we're just sitting back watching him do it!" the boy said angrily. He expected more from the resourceful ex-Ranger than the simple injunction to wait. Gilan snorted. Will raised an eyebrow, while Halt sighed.