"Don't be any sillier than you can help," Derek grumbled, trudging through snow that reached his knees. "I'd be the first to fall down it if it led to someplace warmer!"
Tasslehoffs face fell only slightly. "I suppose," he mumbled.
Though I vowed to keep to myself and merely guide them as ordered, I could not help but wonder about the others. I had a lot of time to observe them, after all.
My first impressions of Sturm Brightblade never changed; he was a man alone. For some reason, the older knight, Derek, seemed determined to break the younger knight's will, but Sturm never wavered in his loyalty to Laurana. And though provoked enough for ten men, he never raised his voice to the older knight. Some dark secret rode Sturm's shoulder like a black beast, but I never discovered what it was.
Though Elistan was silent most of the time and never complained-or maybe because of those things-I still did not trust him. Every now and then he smiled serenely to himself for no obvious reason as his eyes scanned the bleak horizon. He couldn't be enjoying the trip, I reasoned. Was he laughing at me, at tricking a gullible old cleric who waited for the return of the true faith? The thought made my legs move faster, to hasten the moment when I would leave him behind.
But I must confess that, much as I tried, I could not look forward to the time when I would leave Laurana. When we'd first met, I'd thought it strange that a slight young woman would lead eight men, four of whom were knights. Then I'd believed, as Derek did, that her power over the group came from the bear.
"My quest is to retrieve that orb," the knight growled one night after he'd lost another debate to Laurana. "That bear is no longer here to fight your battles!"
Derek's threat struck me as foolishly hollow, marking in my mind the moment when I first knew Laurana had enchanted me, though not in a romantic way. Each night when we stopped and lit a small fire to warm ourselves and eat our meager rations, Elistan sat whispering to Laurana, advising her, giving her the moral strength to go on. The sight filled me with jealousy. I wanted to be the one whose advice she sought, to receive her grateful smile. Beyond her physical beauty was an inner strength that made me want to follow her even without the bear.
We were all grateful when, on the morning of the fourth day, the sun rose behind the distant silhouette of Icewall Castle, shining upon the jagged promontory of Icewall. Before the Cataclysm, the castle, made of stone, stood upon a rocky island in the seas south of Tarsis. But the Cataclysm turned those seas to ice and snow, as well as the island below the castle, creating Icewall. Wordlessly, our pace quickened, each of us heartened by the sight. Soon I would be free of the strangers…
Within a few hours we stood at the base of Icewall. Forty or so paces to our right, icy remnants of a stairway snaked up the cliff face as far as the eye could see. Perched on the top of Icewall was our goal, Icewall Castle.
"That's it-the mighty Icewall Castle?" the kender's high-pitched voice screeched loudly in the chill air. Terrified, I tried to clap a hand to his mouth, but I was too late. "Why, it's nothing but a big block of ice, not nearly as attractive as other castles I've seen!" he shouted.
As I had feared, a slow groaning sound shook Ice-wall, sending a snowy avalanche thundering down toward us.
"Run!" I shrieked. Pumping as fast as my legs and deep snow would allow, I could only hope that the others followed my lead. When Icewall finally quieted down, only the kender, to his own delight, had been swallowed by snow up to his neck.
"Oh, my, did I cause that?" he asked innocently as Sturm plucked him out by the armpits. "Look!" he gasped abruptly. "The avalanche opened up a cave or something!" He pointed skyward to a dark, shadowy spot halfway up the face of Icewall. "It must be a shortcut into the castle-I'm sure of it! And I found it," he added proudly.
Derek's face twisted into a grim smile. "That's precisely why we should avoid it. To say nothing of the fact that it's foolish to climb toward a dark spot that may or may not be a cave opening-which may or may not lead into the castle." His eyes narrowed as he leaned menacingly toward the kender. "And suppose it is an opening-who do you suppose made it?"
"I'm sure I don't know," said the kender, shrugging. His eyes lit up. "But it would be interesting to find out."
Derek snorted. "'Interesting' isn't a word I would use to describe whatever's guarding a powerful artifact such as this orb!"
Laurana's brow creased with concern. "I hadn't even considered that!" she said, looking chagrined. "I assumed that since it was stuck out here on the glacier, Icewall Castle would be deserted. But Derek's probably right. Raggart, you know this area better than any of us. What do you think? Is there likely to be someone or something inside the castle?"
I hesitated for a moment to determine what I did think. I did not wish to alarm her unnecessarily, but she had to know the truth.
"There have been reports of a white dragon coming and going from the castle," I told her reluctantly. "Any number of other creatures may have taken up residence-you have already met the minotaurs."
"I don't know why I did not think of that before!" She sighed, then squinted up at the icy cliff. "What route should we take?"
I followed her gaze. "I believe the kender is right- that is a cave opening which may lead into the castle. Though we don't know what awaits us inside, we chance the same thing climbing to the top, with half the risk of being spotted from above. Whatever you decide, the climb would be safer if we rope ourselves together."
"The old barbarian doesn't know what he's saying," Derek scoffed, "though his idea about the rope seems reasonable enough. Let's waste no more time-an orb awaits us above!" He tied a length of rope to his waist and held the end to Sturm. "Come, Brightblade, link yourself to me and we'll find the base of that stairway!"
Sturm's brows lifted in question. "Laurana?"
"Raggart is our guide," she said confidently. "We'll climb to the opening."
Suddenly her expression changed to fear. Like a curtain falling, we were engulfed in shadows. Startled, I followed her gaze. There, high above Icewall, I saw the massive underbelly of a white dragon as it soared from the castle's balustrade.
"Get down!" I hissed. Thankfully, everyone dropped to his stomach without question, even the kender. They knew, as did I, what would happen if the dragon spotted us. Ishuddered at the thought and prayed that with our light colored furs, we blended in with the snow.
Without a backward glance, the dragon sped away in the direction we'd just come, pulling its massive shadow along. A sudden fear knotted my stomach. When the dragon was a mere dot in the distant horizon, I stood up and, turning, started heading back.
"Wait, Raggart! Where are you going?" Laurana shouted, stumbling after me to catch hold of my arm.
"Now we know that the reports about a dragon are true. Given its general direction, I'm afraid it's headed for my village. I have to go back immediately!"
Laurana looked sympathetic, but she shook her head. "We cannot abandon our search for the orb, especially when we're this close to it," she said.
"What is this dragon orb? How can it be more important than the lives of my kinsman?" I demanded.
"I understand your concern," Laurana said, "but a lone dragon would scarcely attack an entire village. And IF it wanted to, it would have long before this. Think, Raggart," she commanded, grasping my shoulder. "Even if we left immediately, we would reach your village days behind the creature, too late to help anyone. Then we would neither save your village nor retrieve the orb."
"Then what about our lives? Are they worth nothing?" I shouted. "The presence of the dragon convinces me that Icewall Castle is far more dangerous than any of us imagined." Even to my own ears, I sounded like a frightened old man. That only made me angrier. "I am not an old coward, but neither am I a young fool!"