The Icebound Land

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, physical abuse, emotional abuse, animal death, addiction, and substance use.

Halt and Horace settle into a vaguely unpleasant rhythm in Montsombre; while they are allowed to exercise a short while each day, they are mostly confined to their tower room unless Deparnieux decides to dine with them. Halt busies himself making a new recurve bow for Will, but Horace has nothing to keep himself busy and grows increasingly frustrated with Deparnieux’s unchecked cruelty and their enforced passivity. Halt explains to Horace that he must put up with Deparnieux’s tests until the warlord has relaxed enough to believe that Halt isn’t a threat before they can deal with him and escape.

After some rain clears, Halt and Horace notice a knight approaching the gates. The knight speaks in Gallican, and Halt translates: The knight is challenging Deparnieux, who killed the knight’s parents to claim their lands while he was away on a quest. Deparnieux and the knight fight each other, but Halt and Horace rapidly realize that Deparnieux is toying with the young, inexperienced knight, making the fight more exciting for the onlooking crowd of castle guards.