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Chapter 1
Duncan had written to all of the people that the letter mentioned. Really, following the instructions on a piece of paper! He thought.
Currently, all of them were gathered in a room that was used for meeting with nobles. Duncan took a deep breath and stood up, deciding that the blunt approach was best approach.
"Hello everyone," he said. There was a chorus of replies. "I've asked you to come here today because one week ago, there was a bright flash of light and 11 books appeared. There was a note with them, telling me to call everyone currently in this room and read the books, now on the table. So, here we are. Who wants to read first?"
There was a stunned silence, and then Lady Pauline replied, "I will."
Duncan nodded. He was not surprised that the diplomat had chosen to break the silence. "The note said we could skip some books if we wanted to, or read them out of order, we would still be able to understand the events that are mentioned."
Will grinned. "Let's read it out of order!"
Halt rolled his eyes. "Of course you would want to," he snapped. "You always have to do things the wrong way!"
"But the note said we couldread it out of order! It is just inviting us to do so!"
Alyss slapped him. "Shut up, Will." He complied grumpily.
"How about book 4, The Battle for Skandia? It sounds interesting," Horace said.
"Anyone object?" That was Duncan. No one said anything. "Alright then. If you will, Pauline."
It was a constant tapping sound that roused Will from his deep, untroubled sleep. He had no clear idea at what point he first became aware of it. It seemed to slide unobtrusively into his sleeping mind, magnified and amplified inside his subconscious, until it crossed over into the conscious world and he realized he was awake, and wondering what it might be.
Halt snorted. "Fancy descriptions," he muttered. Will rolled his eyes.
Tap-tap-tap-tap . . . It was still there, but not as loud now that he was awake and aware of other sounds in the small cabin.
From the corner, behind a small curtain of sacking that gave her a modicum of privacy, he could hear Evanlyn's even breathing. Obviously, the tapping hadn't woken her.
Duncan sighed. "Of course it wouldn't have. Cassandra always was a heavy sleeper. That is, until she started joining Halt, Will and Horace and getting into trouble left and right."
Will snickered. "Guilty as charged."
Horace laughed and threw his arm around Cassandra.
There was a muted crackle from the heaped coals in the fireplace at the end of the room and, as he became more fully awake, he heard them settle with a slight rustling sound.
Tap-tap-tap . . .
It seemed to come from nearby. He stretched and yawned, sitting upon the rough couch he'd fashioned from wood and canvas. He shook his head to clear it and, for a moment, the sound was obscured. Then it was back once more and he realized it was coming from outside the window. The oiled cloth panes were translucent – they would admit the gray light of the pre-dawn, but he couldn't see anything more than a blur through them. Will knelt on the couch and unlatched the frame, pushing it up and craning his head through the opening to study the small porch of the cabin.
A gust of chill entered the room and he heard Evanlyn stir as it eddied around, causing the sacking curtain to billow inward and the embers in the fireplace to glow more fiercely, until a small tongue of yellow flame was released from them.
Somewhere in the trees, a bird was greeting the first light of a new day, and the tapping sound was obscured once more.
Then he had it. It was water, dripping from the end of a long icicle that depended from the porch roof
Alyss frowned. "That shouldn't be there," she muttered.
Pauline reread the sentence then sighed. "Looks like it was just a careless mistake."
and falling onto an upturned bucket that had been left on the edge of the porch.
Tap-tap-tap . . . tap-tap-tap.
Will frowned to himself. There was something significant in this, he knew, but his mind, still fuddled with sleep, couldn't quite grasp what it was.
Halt raised an eyebrow. "Not an excuse. And while it isn't quite making snowmen, it's just as bad."
Will looked sheepish.
He stood, still stretching, and shivered slightly as he left the last warmth of his blanket and made his way to the door.
Hoping not to wake Evanlyn, he eased the latch upward and slowly opened the door, holding it up so that the sagging leather hinges wouldn't allow the bottom edge to scrape the floor of the cabin.
Halt nodded in approval and Will lost his sheepish expression.
Closing the door behind him, he stepped out onto the rough boards of the porch, feeling them strike icy cold against his bare feet. He moved to the spot where the water dripped endlessly onto the bucket, realizing as he went that other icicles hanging from the roof were also dripping water. He hadn't seen this before. He was sure they usually didn't do this.
Halt snorted. "Obviously. It's the thaw, you idiot."
"I was sleepy!"
"Not an excuse!"
"It is too!"
"What happens if you are being attacked? Do you think they will wait for you to wake up fully before they attack?"
"…"
The others were trying to hold back their laughter.
He glanced out at the trees, where the first rays of the sun were beginning to filter through.
In the forest, there was a slithering thump as a load of snow finally slid clear of the pine branches that had supported it for months and fell in a heap to the ground below.
And it was then that Will realized the significance of the endless tap-tap-tap that had woken him.
"Finally." Halt muttered quietly. Pauline heard and kicked him under the table without skipping a beat. Halt muttered again, "Ouch!"
Behind him, he heard the door creak and he turned to see Evanlyn, her hair wildly tousled, her blanket wrapped tight around her against the cold.
"What is it?" she asked him. "Is something wrong?"
He hesitated a second, glancing at the growing puddle of water beside the bucket.
"It's the thaw," he said finally.
"And you finally realized that," Halt snapped.
Will, wisely, decided not to say anything.
After their meager breakfast, Will and Evanlyn sat in the early morning sun as it streamed across the porch. Neither of them had wanted to discuss the significance of Will's earlier discovery, although they had since found more signs of the thaw.
Small patches of soaked brown grass were showing through the snow cover on the ground surrounding the cabin, and the sound of wet snow sliding from the trees to hit the ground was becoming increasingly common.
The snow was still thick on the ground and in the trees, of course. But the signs were there that the thaw had begun and that, inexorably, it would continue.
Rodney frowned. "What's the problem with the thaw? I mean, it is probably the worst time of the year, because of the melting snow, but I don't understand why it is so bad now."
"You'll find out soon," Will muttered, still slightly miffed at Halt's comments.
"I suppose we'll have to think about moving on," Will said, finally voicing the thought that had been in both their minds.
"You're not strong enough yet," Evanlyn told him. It had been barely three weeks since he had thrown off the mind-numbing effects of the warmweed given to him as a yard slave in Ragnak's Lodge. Will had been weakened by inadequate food and clothing and a regimen for punishing physical work before they had made their escape. Since then, their meager diet in the cabin had been enough to sustain life, but not to restore his strength or endurance. They had lived on the cornmeal and flour that had been stored in the cabin, along with a small stock of vegetables and the stringy meat from whatever game Evanlyn and he had been able to snare.
Lady Margaret's eyes widened. As a lady of the court, she was used to having sufficient and delicious food. "That must have been hard," she commented to nobody in particular. Rodney wrapped his arm around her slightly awkwardly, still unused to showing emotions, even in private, much less in-front of so many people. Crowley barely managed to contain his "Aww!"
There was little enough of that in winter, and what game they had managed to catch had been in poor condition itself, providing little in the way of nourishment.
Will shrugged. "I'll manage," he said simply. "I'll have to."
The ladies present felt sympathy for Will, who had to deal with things like that at such a young age.
And that, of course, was the heart of the problem. They both knew that once the snow in the high passes had melted, hunters would again begin to visit the high country where they found themselves. Already, Evanlyn had seen one such – the mysterious rider in the forest on the day when Will's senses had returned to him.
Will frowned, he realized that Cassandra hadn't told him about this and he wondered who it had been. Cassandra shuddered at the memory of the second rider who looked much like the first.
Fortunately, since that day, there had been no further sign of him. But it was a warning. Others would come, and before they did, Will and Evanlyn would have to be long gone, heading down the far side of the mountain passes and across the border into Teutlandt.
Evanlyn shook her head doubtfully. For a moment, she said nothing. Then she realized that Will was right. Once the thaw was well and truly under way, they would have to leave whether she felt he was strong enough to travel or not.
Lady Margaret frowned slightly thinking again how nothing seemed to go right for Will.
"Anyway," she said at last, "we have a few weeks yet. The thaw's only just started, and who knows? We may even get another cold snap."
It was possible, she thought. Perhaps not probable, but at least it was possible. Will nodded agreement.
"There's always that," he said.
The silence fell over them once more like a blanket. Abruptly, Evanlyn stood, dusting off her breeches. "I'll go and check the snares," she said, and when Will began to rise to accompany her, she stopped him.
"You stay here," she said gently. "From now on, you're going to have to conserve your strength as much as possible."
Will hesitated, then nodded. He recognized that she was right.
She collected the hessian sack they used as a game bag and sling it over her shoulder. Then, with a small smile in his direction, the girl headed off into the trees.
"Uh oh," Will felt like something was going to go wrong but he couldn't remember what.
Feeling useless and dispirited, Will slowly began to gather up the wooden platters they had used for their meal. All he was good for, he thought bitterly, was washing up.
Alyss squeezed Will tighter. "You know that's not true, don't you?" she asked quietly.
Will smiled. "Now I do."
The ladies decided that they would be seeing and doing a lot of comforting during this book, if not during the others.
The snare line had moved farther and farther from the cabin over the past three weeks. As small animals, rabbits, squirrels and the occasional snow hare had fallen prey to the snares that Will had built, the other animals in that area had become wary. As a consequence, they had been compelled to move the snares into new locations every few days – each one a little farther away from the cabin than the one before.
Evanlyn estimated that she had a good forty minutes' walking on the narrow uphill track before she would reach the first snare. Of course, if she'd been able to move straight to it, the walk would have been considerably shorter. But the track wound and wandered through the trees, more than doubling the distance she had to cover.
Arald made a face. "This is why I hate forests."
"Not all of them are bad, you know. Just some." This was Will.
"You don't say," replied Horace, "I think the only forest that is safe is the forest in Redmont. All the others have given us trouble too many times!"
The signs of the thaw were all around her, now that she was aware of it. The snow no longer squeaked dryly underfoot as she walked. It was heavier, wetter and her steps sank deeply into it. The leather of her boots was already soaked from contact with the melting snow. The last time she had walked this way, she reflected, the now had simply coated her boots as a fine, dry powder. She also began to notice more activity among the wildlife in the area. Birds flitted through the trees in greater numbers than she'd previously seen, and she startled a rabbit on the track, sending it scurrying back into the protection of a snow-covered thicket of blackberries.
At least, she thought, all this extra activity might increase the chances of finding some worthwhile game in the snares.
Evanlyn saw the discreet sign that Will had cut into the bark of a pine and turned off the track to find the spot where she and Will had laid the first of the snares. She recalled how gratefully she had greeted his recovery from the warmweed drug. Her own survival skills were negligible and Will had provided welcome expertise in devising and setting snares to supplement their diet. It was all part of his Ranger training under Halt, he had told her.
She remembered how, when he had mentioned the older Ranger's name, his eyes had misted up for a few moments and his voice had choked slightly. Not for the first time, the two young people had felt very, very far from home.
Horace and Alyss's hands tightened around their spouses.
As she pushed her way through the snow-laden bushes, becoming wetter and wetter in the process, she felt a surge of pleasure. The first snare in the line held the body of a small ground-foraging bird. They had caught a few of these previously and the bird's flesh made excellent eating. About the size of a small chicken, it had carelessly poked its neck through the wire noose of the snare, then became entangled. Evanlyn smiled grimly as she thought how once she might have objected to the cruelty of the bird's death. Now, all she felt was a sense of satisfaction as she realized that they would eat well today.
Amazing how an empty belly could change your perspective, she thought, removing the noose from the bird's neck and stuffing the small carcass in her makeshift game bag. She reset the snare, sprinkling a few seeds of corn on the ground beyond it, then rose to her feet, frowning in annoyance as she realized that the melting snow had left two wet patches on her knees as she'd crouched.
Evanlyn sensed, rather than heard, the movement in the trees behind her and began to turn.
The tension in the room increased.
Before she could move, she felt an iron grip around her throat, and as she gasped in fright, a fur-gloved hand, smelling vilely of smoke, sweat and dirt, clapped over her mouth and nose, cutting off her cry for help.
Everyone was frozen for a few seconds.
Then Lady Sandra broke the silence. "Well, that was eventful."
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