The Icebound Land

Will tries to smile at a nervous Evanlyn to give her courage, but Tirak, the supervisor of the yard, hits him for daring to do so. He quickly learns that life in the yard is brutal and violent; nobody cares for the enslaved people, who often nearly freeze to death and fight over scraps of blanket. The enslaved people are managed by the Committee, several long-term enslaved people who abuse their minimal power to give the worst jobs to those who go against them. Will quickly comes into conflict with the Committee when he sees two enslaved people—a young boy named Ulrich and a 20-year-old named Egon, one of the older enslaved people in the yard—fighting, with Egon beating Ulrich with a rope for “stealing” something. Will interferes with the fight to save Ulrich, but Ulrich retaliates by assigning him to the paddles.

The paddles are the most debilitating job possible, involving four-hour shifts using giant cranks to keep the well water from freezing over. Will is whipped for not working fast enough and gets sprayed with icy water when he digs the paddles deeper. When he returns to his bed, he despairs to find that someone has taken his blanket. An older enslaved person covers him with a blanket that night, introducing himself as Handel, a friend of Ulrich’s. As Will shudders, Handel gives him a bundle of herbs to put in his mouth, explaining that it is warmweed; Will immediately feels relief as warmth spreads throughout his body. Egon watches from the corner, satisfied with Handel’s work in getting Will on the path of drug dependency and compliance.

Deparnieux curses and looks for the archer, identifying Halt after a moment and quickly realizing that the older man is a significant threat. He gets himself under control as Halt explains that Horace’s injury makes him unable to answer a challenge. He and Halt exchange a battle of wits, with Deparnieux trying to goad Halt into making a mistake and Halt subtly recognizing and refusing to rise to each attempt. Horace moves away at Halt’s gentle suggestion, and then Halt quietly tells Deparnieux not to try anything; Deparnieux is frustrated but accepts that Halt would win a battle at that moment. A man laughs during their exchange, drawing Deparnieux’s attention. He leaves, promising Halt with a look that their fight isn’t over. Horace is confused by the exchange, and Halt explains that Deparnieux wanted to kill Horace to reestablish control over the region since he views Horace as a threat to his power. Horace is dismayed at the clear breach of chivalry, but Halt tells him that this is just the way of the world.

Erak returns to Hallasholm after several weeks, satisfied with a job well done; he has just persuaded (through intimidation) a jarl down the coast to pay the right amount of taxes to the Oberjarl on Borsa’s command. As he walks back, he sees Will, gaunt and lifeless from maltreatment and addiction to warmweed; Will doesn’t even recognize Erak and only waits to receive orders in a dazed state. Erak feels a rush of pain and guilt but walks away, no longer happy.

Erak summons Evanlyn to his quarters later, inciting interest from the other enslaved people. She goes to his quarters, which are simple but nicely decorated, and he tells her to pour wine for them both. She is surprised that wine is good, and Erak is surprised that she can tell the difference between good and bad wine. Erak finally asks her if she has seen Will, and Evanlyn says she has; to her surprise, Erak vehemently explains that he had nothing to do with Will’s addiction. Erak explains that he tried to keep them together and can’t stand that Borsa isn’t treating Will, an honorable enemy, with respect. To Evanlyn’s surprise, Erak then says that he’s going to help the two of them escape so that Will can survive.

Halt and Horace keep watch throughout the night, but there is no sign of Deparnieux or any of his lackeys. As they leave the next morning, the innkeeper expresses his dislike for Deparnieux in secret, explaining that none of the tradesmen can stand up to him since he has a small army. Before they leave, Halt asks the innkeeper for directions to a ferry in the opposite direction of their travel, hoping to throw Deparnieux off his trail. 

As they travel, they run once more into a comically shabby, underprepared knight guarding a bridge. Halt prepares to shoot him, tired of the charade, but Horace convinces him to let the young knight try and scare him off. As Horace gallops to the man, however, Halt realizes too late that the setup is a trap; a net descends on Horace and drags him off his horse. Halt draws an arrow to shoot the shabby knight, but Deparnieux’s voice stops him, and Halt realizes that he is surrounded by men in the bushes aiming crossbows at him. Halt lowers his bow, and Deparnieux mockingly says that he will have them be guests at Chateau Montsombre.

To throw off suspicions about her connection to Erak, Evanlyn spends the next five days complaining to anyone who can hear about being assigned to serve him personally—after she finishes her week in the kitchens, at least. This annoys the other enslaved people, who distance themselves from her. One night, she opens her pillowcase and finds a note from Erak, telling her that their escape will be tonight. She pretends to fall asleep and waits until roughly an hour after the midnight signal horn, although she runs late because she has no way of telling the time and nearly falls asleep twice. She finds Erak hiding in the shadows of the building; he gives her silver to bribe the Committeeman into letting Will go and a dagger to make sure the bribe works. Erak has left a pony and supplies, including warmweed to wean Will off the drug, outside the town. He instructs Evanlyn to go to a hunting hut in the mountains to wait for the thaw, when they can safely travel south. Evanlyn kisses his cheek in thanks.

Evanlyn heads to the barracks for the enslaved people and rouses Will—eventually having to slap him to wake him up. He follows her unquestioningly. As they leave, Egon stops her; she lies and says that she is fetching Will to get firewood for Erak’s quarters. When Egon hesitates and recognizes her as Will’s friend, she pays him off, but when he tries to get more money from her, she stabs him lightly in warning, and he backs down, promising to make Will pay for her actions. Evanlyn and Will leave, and Erak disappears into Hallasholm to leave a false trail and aid their escape.

Deparnieux escorts Halt and Horace under heavy guard toward his castle to the north, although they are allowed to keep their weapons. Halt sizes up the situation and decides that it is best to go along with the warlord’s wishes for their own safety. Deparnieux explains that he is puzzled by Halt; he looks like a retainer but is the leader and is clearly skilled and dangerous. Deparnieux is no longer interested in Horace except to control Halt since Halt knows that he can escape himself but cannot escape with Horace in tow. Halt decides to make the situation work as best as they can since the winter snows mean that he can’t travel to Skandia by land for several months anyway.

Chateau Montsombre is a squat, defensible castle on a narrow plateau, surrounded by horrifying cages with bodies of “criminals” in varying states of decay. One of the criminals, Horace realizes, is still alive, begging for mercy, and Deparnieux points out that he was the man who laughed at him in the tavern. Horace, horrified, looks to Halt for comfort, but Halt can only nod in acknowledgement of Deparnieux’s cruelty.

Evanlyn finds the pony and supplies but does not take any time to put Will in warmer clothes or let him ride the pony; instead, she pushes them through the snow and forces them to travel as far from the town as they can get. After half an hour, it begins to snow, and she notices that Will is stumbling and shivering. She puts him into warmer clothes, and he responds only numbly; Evanlyn prays that she can help him recover when they reach the hut. Evanlyn continues walking for hours, the path growing increasingly steep and difficult to navigate. The cold and dehydration wear her out, but she forces them all onward regardless, determined to go as far as possible before they hide themselves at dawn. She dons mittens to keep her hands from freezing and counts her steps to 400 before starting the cycle over again, just in an effort to keep herself moving.

Erak watches the two teenagers leave and then quietly goes to the harbor, avoiding the watch. Erak goes to the skiff moored alongside his ship, removes the bung and one oar, cuts the rope, and lets the tide carry it away. He suspects that when it is found, half sunk and with an oar missing, everyone will believe that the two enslaved teenagers were claimed by the sea.

Deparnieux puts Halt and Horace up in a tower room that is quite comfortable and well-furnished but has no interior door handle, clearly marking them as prisoners. Halt and Horace settle in. Horace wonders why the horses Tug and Abelard didn’t warn them about the ambush, and Halt explains the varying conditions that affected the horses’ abilities—the wind’s direction, the sound of their claimed horses and armor, and the normalcy of challenging a knight on the bridge. They discuss Deparnieux’s goal; while Halt doubts that he knows anything serious about the Rangers, he suspects that Deparnieux wants to figure out how to use Halt’s abilities for his own gain regardless. Horace and Halt agree that, before they leave, Deparnieux will have to answer for his cruelty in putting people into the cages.

Halt and Horace eat a reasonably good dinner with the warlord that night in a gigantic hall surrounded by terrified servants. Deparnieux dismisses Horace rudely afterward, and Horace leaves at Halt’s nod. Deparnieux assesses Halt, noticing his small stature but intense, commanding gaze, and tries to get information out of him, which largely fails. Deparnieux is not entirely sure that Halt is not a sorcerer due to his cloak and wants to treat him fairly just in case. He decides to assess Halt and has the cook summoned; he tells her that the vegetables were cold and demands that the steward punish her. Halt tries to intervene but cannot without showing too much of his hand. Deparnieux announces that the cook will be caged and the steward flogged, and Halt, furious, announces that he’s had enough and leaves the table.

Evanlyn eventually runs out of energy and directs the pony carrying Will into the waist-deep snowbanks off the path to look for shelter. She finds a large pine tree with a carved-out hollow to shelter in. Using blankets and the pony’s body heat, they take shelter. Will is still basically unresponsive due to the effects of warmweed withdrawal, but they both fall asleep anyway as the falling snow erases their footprints.

Back in Skandia, Borsa informs Erak that Evanlyn has gone missing, and Erak pretends to be annoyed, using his rank to order Borsa to find her. Borsa follows a hunch and learns that Will has also gone missing; he orders Egon to be flogged for letting Evanlyn take Will. Later, the Skandians find evidence of the missing skiff and recall the search parties in the mountains, comforting Erak, who knows that the two Araluens now just need to reach the cabin without freezing to death.