Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow - Jessica Day George [75]
“What are you doing?” A female troll’s voice rang out.
“I saw something,” grunted a thick, male voice. “There’s someone out here.”
“There’s no one out there, you old fool,” the female insisted. “Close that window; it’s cold!”
This was greeted by a roar of laughter from a number of trolls. Even the lass had to admit that the female was either being very stupid or very witty: here at the top of the world, how could it not be cold?
The window swung closed, and the lass heard the latch click. Still she held her breath and prayed. When she did open her eyes, she didn’t dare move her head.
When she had counted to fifty, she looked down at Rollo. He was still huddled close to the side of the palace directly below the window. His golden eyes were wide and staring, the white showing all around. The lass slithered down until she was kneeling in the snow, and put out one hand to touch his head. He jumped at the contact, then relaxed.
“We’ve already spoken to one troll,” she reminded him in a whisper, “who was not entirely unkind.”
“There’s a world of difference between that bored sentry out there and the fish-eyed courtiers in there,” Rollo said.
He was right. The faces of the trolls within the palace were vastly different from Skarp-Heðin’s. The lass nodded. Dragging her pack by one strap, she crawled along the foundation of the palace. Rollo came behind, listening with his superior hearing as they passed each window. He hissed for her to stop only once, and they spent a terrified moment crouched beneath one of the ballroom’s other windows while a troll female, shrieking with laughter, leaned out the window to “catch a breath of air.”
After an interminable amount of time, they came to the back corner of the palace and huddled in a blue shadow. Rollo could hear no sounds coming through the wall, and there were no windows for several paces, so they thought themselves safe. Together they dug a snow cave, and the lass made a nest out of her clothes. They snuggled in to sleep, blocking the entrance with the knapsack.
Despite their strange surroundings, and the danger that lay all about them, they were both soon snoring. It had been a long day, after a series of long days, and tomorrow promised to be even longer.
Chapter 29
The next morning the sun woke them, turning the roof of the cave pale yellow. It was far away and strange here, but it was still the sun, and it brought a little warmth. It took an effort for the lass to crawl out of her nest and stretch her limbs. She felt old and cold and worn thin. Rollo grunted but didn’t wake, even when she pulled the skirts and shifts right out from under him and repacked them.
She pulled off the topmost of the skirts she wore, since it was filthy, and put a slightly cleaner one on. She had four more skirts underneath, and still she was cold. The white parka gleamed, though, without a stain or a smudge to mar its beauty. Pushing back the hood and taking off her mittens, the lass scrubbed her face and hands with snow. She combed her hair and braided it. It made her feel slightly better, and eating breakfast even more so. Of course, it was only bread, but even Rollo got up to have some, and it raised his spirits as well.
“Now what?” Rollo rolled briefly in the snow, then shook with a will. This did wonders for his fur, which was full of sand and pine needles from their journey.
“Now we have to attract the troll princess’s attention,” the lass replied.
They made their way along the west side of the palace. It was early, and the windows were still shielded by draperies. They couldn’t be sure where the princess’s rooms were, unless they ran all the way along that side.
“There’s no telling which floor they’re on, either,” the lass fretted. She counted eight levels, and thought that she saw one or two beyond that, but standing so close to the massive building made it difficult to judge.
“It’s not