Princess Academy By Shannon Hale

Chapter 21

Then the mountain shrugged
And the mountain yawned
Its voice was a hiss of steam
That sank into every
Dream, yes, sank deep in each dream

  That night, winter came early. Snowfall slowed the morning's arrival, and the groggy gray light finally filtered out the night some hours past dawn. The view from the window showed a world lost to a storm of snowflakes thick as ash thrown from a bonfire. It was enough to change Dan's mind— they would stay at the academy until the storm broke.

  The bandits allowed the girls to keep the hearth fire burning, but the chill crawled in through the stones, and the girls huddled in cold and fear in the center of the room. Dan had locked Olana and Knut in a separate room so that "the grown ones won't be inciting the young ones." When the bandits paid them little mind, the girls risked whispered conversations.

"I'm sorry now that we sent the soldiers away," said Esa.

  Frid tilted her head, considering. "No, two soldiers wouldn't have stopped this lot and would've gotten killed trying to protect us, I think."

"Esa, your brother was here yesterday." Miri froze at a noise, but it was just the wind whooping and plunging in the chimney. She continued in an even softer voice. "I told him about the prince and staying at the academy until his return in the spring."

"That means no one from the village will be coming anytime soon," Britta whispered.

"My pa will come," said Gerti. "He wouldn't just let Olana keep me another winter."

"Not in that snow he won't," said Katar.

  Esa nodded. "Your pa doesn't know we're in danger, Gerti. Even if he plans to come and get you, he'd wait until the snow stops. They all would. But by the time they get to the academy, the bandits will have us halfway to—"

  Dan rushed across the pallets and lifted Esa from the ground with just one hand around her neck. He spoke so close to her face, she flinched from the spittle flying from his mouth. "You talk again, I make sure you can't talk at all."

  Then he smiled his sick, mock smile and put her down as gently as if she were a newborn baby. Miri sat on her hands and glared at the floor.
After another day of snow, the bandits discovered the academy's winter food storage. More and more of them left the bedchamber and returned with heaping plates of food—roasted pork and liver sausage,- loose salads of turnips, potatoes, carrots, and apples,- jerky stew with onions. The constant smell of roasting meat was agonizing to Miri's rumbling stomach. The bandits gave the girls watery wheat porridge.

  Whenever the men watched the window and the snow that continued to fall, Miri noticed tension tighten their brows, but otherwise they seemed content to stay for the winter, eating all day and playing a game involving little cubes and stones. They talked in hushed tones, glaring at the girls.
Two of the men whispered to each other in voices too low for Miri to hear, but apparently Dan could.

"Speak up!" he shouted, shoving one of the bandits against the wall. "You have a concern, you tell me to my face, not whisper about it like little boys."

  The bandit lowered his head deferentially. "Easy now, Dan. I was just wondering what we were doing holed up in here, like we were just waiting for their pappies to come save them."

Dan let his face set hard before he spoke.

"Nobody's going to walk miles in that snowstorm, and I'm not marching out in it, either. We'll stay here until the weather clears, then we'll march them down to our main camp."

"That's a lot of hostages to feed," said the bandit.
"But it'll be worth it once the king pays ransom for his son's betrothed. Besides, we won't hold them long."