Halonar

Duel

Hooves pounded the path below him as Jack sped through grass and tree. The horse leaped over logs and stumps until there were none left. His shovel clanked against his back, his bow slung on his shoulder, and his knife concealed.

The towns streets were eerily quiet. Usually bustling with people and carts moving. The air was clear for once, due to the inactive factories, allowing a majestic view of the castle that laid in the heart of the city. Perhaps some sort of lock-down or curfew?

Jack surveyed left and right, searching for any sign of danger. He found none. Not a single soldier or guard in sight. All had apparently been called to scope the area near the forest.

Bel was right, he really did send his entire army.

Bel. He needed to find her. At some point at least. Some part of him feared that she might have already been executed. But he comforted himself with the idea that the king would have been occupied with dealing with him rather than killing her.

He felt comfortable enough to slow the horse to a trot. Now he was right at the gates of the castle.

He dismounted the horse and inspected the giant gate, which was closed. There was no way of getting over, around, or under it, as the wall around the gate was smooth and too tall to climb, and the ground was cobblestone.

He looked back at the gate again.

I wonder...

He gave it a push. To his surprise, it wasn't locked and glided open with no resistance.

Something is wrong here...

He felt unsettled by the fact that the door was, while not exactly "wide open," was not locked at all, on top of being completely defenseless.

He entered the cool interior of the castle. Cool because it was noticeably colder inside, somehow, than it was outside, despite the fact it was almost freezing outside, with icicles forming on the roofs of houses, and the Keywark lake the bridge went over having chunks of ice in some areas.

He kept walking. His knife heated itself, surprisingly without burning him.

Perhaps this is what Hoover meant by connecting with my knife...

If Jack felt unsettled outside, he felt more afraid indoors.

Everything about his environment screamed trap. The halls were completely empty, not a single servant, soldier, scout, cook, or any person in the halls. None of the torches were lit either. His logical side refused to believe that the king had really sent his entire army to just the forest to capture him, despite Bel's reassurance. But the more he walked the empty corridors, the more he began to doubt this.

Also, he realized he did not know where he was even going. But nevertheless, he pressed on, as it would do him no good to backtrack and try to remap the castle from the outside view.

He opened another door that seemed to lead outside. When Jack passed through it, he experienced another drop in temperature. There was some snow starting to form on the terrace he walked upon.

Since there was a lot of ice forming, Jack could deduce that it was below freezing. A normal person would have to wear several layers of clothing, as wool could be quite expensive, or they would freeze to death. But for Jack, it was little more than cool temperature. The cloak he wore seemed to be shielding him from becoming an ice cube.

The terrace looked down upon a courtyard. But not your average courtyard. What seemed like a small pond, which had no water, sat in the middle. The inside seemed to be filled with dirt, but the bricks were still there, suggesting that only recently, was the pond decommissioned.