Frozen Flame

Chapter 41: Bob's Solitude

Ice Kingdom

Bob's feet thudded against one another as he sat on the bed in Jared's room, once again, bored. The silvery-white sheen covering every wall of the room, including the roof, glimmered as a soft light streaked through it and glinted off Bob's eyes. His legs, drawing circular patterns on the floor beneath him, seemed to be a consistent, unconscious entity of their own will as his brain flew through options upon options.

It had been several days now that Bob had remained trapped inside this icy prison and yet, he had not managed to discover an exit out of there. He had applied pressure to multiple points of the ice already, causing it to break, but unfortunately this had achieved nothing as, as quickly as the ice had broken, another layer had replaced it. So, he had calculated, there must be people outside the room continuously replenishing the ice should anything go astray.

And, he sat. And he walked. And he practiced and he trained. And he racked his brain for some way, any way he could escape this disgusting room – because, of course, with time he had learned to hate this ice prison. And he thought about why Jared had done this to him.

What reason would the ruler of Ice have to barricade his most trusted advisor and best friend inside a room impossible to escape from?

Of course, Bob wasn't starving. Occasionally, a slit would be placed at a random point in the room and objects would be pushed through. Sometimes it was water, sometimes food, sometimes different types of mind puzzles – but there was only so many times you could win those before it started getting boring.

However, perhaps the worst thing, Bob would have to admit, about being in this place, was the toilet. See, that was the problem: there was none. And, after a while, this little issue became exceedingly uncomfortable. So, after about a day, with his bladder about to burst, Bob created a crater of ice at the side of the room and peed in it. Sadly, he later concluded that that was one of the worst things he could have possibly done, as now the whole room reeked of internal fluids. He had covered up the hole with a mound of broken ice (always easily at hand) but after days with each toilet break creating a mound on the floor, his working space got smaller and smaller.

With a great sigh, Bob drew his legs under him and heaved himself up, slowly trotting to one of the ice walls. Raising a heavy hand, he waved and pressed his fingers at odd points of the wall, allowing them their own freedom to move in whichever way they pleased. His mind wandered as his fingers drew, searching and sifting through any possible reason Jared would have had for enclosing him in the room.

I know he truly values me and cares for me as a great friend, so he wouldn't lock me up for spite... In fact, perhaps the only reason he would lock me up is to keep me safe... keep me safe... From what? It's not as if a whole heap of people are looking out to kill me. I mean, Jared has several people who want to kill him, I'm sure, because he's the Ice ruler and everything but...

His eyes crinkled in confusion as he looked without seeing. His tongue flicked out, brushing across his lips as he shook his head roughly. No, no! I need to think from an outside perspective, I need to become my enemy... He smiled softly; Jared was always good at this part. And, he did always say that was one of my only weaknesses... Closing his eyelids, his face creased into one of concentration.

I was the one who got him into power, so people could try to hurt me because of that... Or, they could hurt me to get to him... Either way, Jared would never have taken the chance. Of course, this is where he was stumped. Why would Jared feel the need to protect me? I can protect myself, there are guards to protect me, and of course Jared could always protect-