Ranger's Apprentice 3 & 4 Bindup Read Online Free PDF Page B

escape – for he already had an idea forming in that direction.
    He was puzzled and hurt by her attitude. It was unlike the Evanlyn he remembered from the bridge – the brave, resolute partner who had run across the narrow beams of the bridge to help him without any thought for her personal safety, then tried to fight off the Skandians as they closed in on them.
    This new Evanlyn was strangely dispirited. Her negative attitude surprised him. He would never have picked her as someone who would quit when the going got tough.
    Maybe that’s how girls were, he told himself. But he didn’t believe it. He sensed there was something else, something she hadn’t told him. Shrugging away the thoughts, he started down the cliff once more.
    The downhill run was easier than uphill, but not by too much. The slippery, treacherous surface beneath his feet meant that he had to continually run faster and faster to maintain his balance, setting off miniature landslides as he went. Where the uphill course had burned his thigh muscles, now he felt it in his calves and ankles. He reached the bottom of the slope, breathing hard, and dropped to the shingle to do a series of rapid pushups.
    His shoulders were burning after a few minutes but he kept at it, forcing himself past the point of pain, blinded by the perspiration that was running into his eyes until, eventually, he could continue no longer. Exhausted, he collapsed, his arms unable to bear his weight, and lay face down on the shingle, panting for breath.
    He hadn’t heard Evanlyn approaching as he was doing the pushups. Now he was startled by the sound of her voice.
    â€˜Will, it’s a waste of time.’
    Her voice didn’t have the argumentative tone that had been so much in evidence in the last few days. She sounded almost conciliatory, he thought. With a slight groan of pain, he pushed himself up from the shingle, then rolled over and sat, dusting the wet sand from his hands.
    He smiled at her and she smiled in return, then moved to sit beside him on the beach.
    â€˜What’s a waste of time?’ he asked. She made a vague gesture that included the beach where he had just been doing pushups and the cliff he had climbed and descended.
    â€˜All this running and exercising. And all this talk of escape.’
    He frowned slightly. He didn’t want to start an argument with her, so he was careful not to react too vehemently to her words. He tried to keep a reasonable, neutral tone.
    â€˜It’s never a waste of time to stay in shape,’ he said.
    She nodded, conceding that point. ‘Perhaps not. But escaping? From here? What chance would we have?’
    He knew he would have to be careful now. If it seemed he was lecturing her, she might well retreat into her shell again. But he knew how important it was to keep hope alive in a situation like this and he wanted to impress that fact on her.
    â€˜I’ll admit it doesn’t look too promising,’ he said. ‘But you never know what tomorrow may bring. The important thing is to stay positive. We mustn’t give up. Halt taught me that. Never give up because, if an opportunity arises, you have to be ready to take it. Don’t give up, Evanlyn, please.’
    She was shaking her head again but not in argument.
    â€˜You’re missing my point. I haven’t given up. I’m just saying this is a waste of time because it’s not necessary. We don’t need to escape. There’s another way out of this.’
    Will made a show of looking around, as if he might see this other way she was talking about.
    â€˜There is?’ he said. ‘I don’t see it, I’m afraid.’
    â€˜We can be ransomed,’ she said and he laughed out loud – not scornfully but in genuine amusement at her naivety.
    â€˜I very much doubt it. Who’s going to ransom an apprentice Ranger and a lady’s maid? I mean, I know Halt would if he could but he doesn’t have