Mystery in the Tundra (Book 3)

Cover of Mystery in the Tundra

## Description

The Corrupt Lord of the Ice has been rejected. King Uthar is seeking to kill him once and for all. But Darthor has retreated to the Frozen Continent with his forces.

Lasgol and his friends are making every effort to pass their third year of instruction, where the tests change from practical competitions to real missions where they risk their lives. Conflicts, rivalries and love will emerge more strongly than ever.

Egil and Lasgol will discover the truth about the King's Secret and the identity of the real enemy. They will choose sides and try to persuade their teammates. Will they manage to?

King Uthar will invade the Frozen Continent with his hosts to put an end to Darthor. The Rangers, including Lasgol and his friends, will find themselves involved in the campaign of war. They will discover the Mystery of the Tundra in the Frozen Continent and take part in the great battle for the North.

Will Lasgol and his friends survive the third year of instruction? Will they survive the war in the North, the treachery and double-crossing?

## Plot

Lasgol returns home to Skad for a brief time off. Martha tells him that Chief Gondar and Ulf have gone missing. Lasgol goes out in search of them after Limus tells him they were likely captured by a bandit group in the area. He manages to rescue them and bring in several of the bandits for trial. Then as he is in his house Mayra and Muladin arrive there. Mayra takes him on a trip to a meeting of the People of the Ice and tells him she left him as a child because Uthar was trying to kill her and anyone connected with her. At the meeting, there are the leaders of the different races of the People of the Ice and the nobles of the Western League. Darthor attempts to persuade them to form an alliance, but the People of the Ice refuse. Afterwards Lasgol returns to the meeting-place near the Camp to get on the boat, but it has already left. Egil arrives at the same time and they decide to wait for the boat that will carry the second year Ranger candidates to the Camp and get on it. They manage to get on the boat, though Captain Astol, who is the commander, is furious.

At the Camp Oden is angry as well and makes them run ten laps around the lake. Later during a feast Lasgol sees Astrid and Luca kissing. Isgord confronts Lasgol about Camu, saying that he saw Camu on Lasgol's shoulder during the parade at the end of the second year. Egil and Lasgol talk with the rest of their team about their discovery that Uthar is really a Shifter, the potential alliance between the Western League and the People of the Ice, and the Shifter's plans to conquer the world. Gerd, Nilsa and Viggo don't really believe them, but Ingrid is somewhat more convinced since she saw Camu unmask the Shifter for a moment during the parade at the end of the second year. In Nature class the contenders learn how to make Elemental Arrows, which is a very popular subject. In Wildlife training they are given hawks, which they have to train to hunt people. In the Spring Test they are sent out into the wild with Mirta, a Ranger Specialist, to hunt a group of outlaws led by Gostensen.

During the test Viggo gets separated from the others and is captured. They track the outlaws to a cabin and find Armand, a trader captured by the outlaws, there. Lasgol and Egil search the cabin and find a trapdoor leading to a tunnel. Gerd and Nilsa are assigned to watch several captured outlaws, and the others follow the tunnel to the outlaws' lair. There they manage to rescue Viggo, though the outlaws have been torturing him, and capture Gostensen. After they return to the Camp, the Snow Panthers are awarded two leaves in each school, one of their best results. Sometime later, Dolbarar calls the contenders to meet in the Sacred Oakwood to tell them about the tradition and history of the schools. In Wildlife training they learn how to make a tent that will fit six people and stand up to the winter winds.

In the Summer Test, the contenders take the Test of Schools, designed to test which School each contender will belong to. In order to take the test, they first take a special potion. The test itself takes place in their imaginations, assisted by the potion. Lasgol manages to pass all four Schools, though this puts an immense strain on his mind and he is unconscious in the infirmary for several days afterward. This is so rare that nothing like it has happened in 10 years. A week after the test Dolbarar and the Master Rangers announce the results. All of the Snow Panthers manage to get into the Schools, though Egil is selected as a librarian as part of the School of Nature.

Isgord, with Marta's help, tricks the Snow Panthers and has Oden inspect their cabin to search for any animals, since he is obsessed with getting Lasgol in trouble for having Camu with him. Oden only finds a squirrel, which Viggo had brought into the cabin in case of this exact thing happening; Viggo was hiding on the roof with Camu during Oden's inspection. For the Autumn Test, the Contenders are sent to carry out maneuvers with the royal army on the Frozen Continent. They travel northeast to a port city and while waiting to board the ships to go to the Frozen Continent, Egil's father sneaks him away to have a brief private conference. Uthar has taken Austin and Arnold hostage, as well as some of the children of the other western nobles, and in this way is forcing them to support him in the campaign into the Frozen Continent.

Once the army arrives on the Frozen Continent, the Ranger contender teams are sent out to scout the area. The Snow Panthers are sent to scout southeast towards the sea. They stop to rest in a cave, where Camu activates a magical rune, causing the floor of the cave to fall apart and send them into a huge cavern. This cavern is the home of Asrael, an Ice Shaman, and his familiar, a dragon named Misha. Asrael at first tries to kill the Snow Panthers, but Camu saves them, and Lasgol convinces Asrael to let them live by calling Camu to him. When they return to the Norghanian camp, Uthar asks Lasgol if he would like to become a Royal Ranger; Lasgol, seeing that this could be a trap, declines, and Gatik also tells the King that Lasgol isn't ready yet to become a Royal Ranger. Later on Egil, Lasgol and Viggo visit Austin and Arnold, who are being held prisoner in the camp.

Later a massive winter storm comes, and everyone in the camp has to go inside their tents and huddle together to keep from freezing to death. Lasgol and Astrid sort out their differences and kiss. Then Uthar orders the army to advance to the Blue Glaciers, where they will confront Darthor's army. He orders the forces of the Western League to the front of the lines so that more of them will be killed. At the beginning of the battle Darthor tries to challenge Uthar to single combat, but Uthar refuses and orders his army to attack. The wild animals that Darthor brought to battle destroy the Blizzard Army and cause Duke Olafstone's Western League forces to flee. Through magic, Darthor manages to Dominate two of the four Ice Mages with Uthar; Olthar manages to kill them both, but they kill a third Ice Mage before dying. The Semi-Giants and other People of the Ice kill almost half of Uthar's troops, but they lose over half their forces as well. At the end Ażur and Asrael with their familiars join the battle and cover for Darthor's retreat. Uthar orders six Mage Hunters to kill Darthor. Lasgol throws a flask filled with a sleeping potion that breaks on the ground near them, but it lands just too late. Muladin takes the last arrow for Darthor and the other five are absorbed by Darthor's magic shield. An Ice Elemental golem summoned by Olthar is about to kill Darthor when Camu and Misha stop it.

At the last moment, the forces of the Western League return to attack Uthar's army. Uthar orders Gatik to kill Egil, who is standing near Duke Olafstone, but Duke Olafstone moves and is hit by the arrow instead and dies. Several weeks later, Darthor calls another meeting between the People of the Ice and the nobles of the Western League. They decide to form an alliance and start a civil war in Norghana to overthrow Uthar and place Austin, the rightful king, on the throne. Lasgol and Egil decide to go back to the Camp and spy for the Western League. At the Ceremony of Acceptance, all the Ranger candidates are required to swear an oath of loyalty to Uthar, and all of them swear, despite the offer from Sven that they will be free to leave if they don't (no one believes this, since it seems as though he and the royal guards have come to execute anyone who doesn't swear the oath). In the end, all of the candidates pass.