Frozen Prospects (11 page)

Va'del
was reading through Betreec's law book again when Javin's clap
announced his desire to enter the teenager's room.

The
old man seemed curiously formal, and Va'del prepared himself for the
worst.
It's nothing less
than I deserve.

"After
much consideration, it has been decided that your actions were not
the true cause of death for I'rone and his family. There will be no
punishment as there is no fault."

Just
before Javin left, Va'del called out. "Master, what will
happen to me?"

"Uncertain.
For now you'll work the gurra. Someone will come by tomorrow to
guide you."

##

The
apprentice who arrived to guide Va'del back to the gurra pens was a
plump, acne-scarred boy who never offered his name. He didn't wait
to be invited into Va'del's room, almost as if he was hoping to catch
Va'del in one of the blasphemous rituals all of the lowlanders were
said to perform.

It
was just more evidence that his parentage was going to lead to the
same kind of rejection here as back home. Va'del wasn't even
surprised at the way the other boy's gaze lingered on Va'del's
darker-hued skin.

As
the pair left Va'del's room, the older boy finally spoke for the
first and only time. "I won't be back to pick you up tomorrow,
so pay attention or you'll get lost."

The
master of the stables, a scarred and grizzled man with a pronounced
limp, looked Va'del over with obvious distaste, but at least offered
his name. "I am Master Callan. I don't suppose you've any
experience with gurra?"

"A
little. I helped take care of Sleepy and Hungry while we were on
the trail."

The
older man shook his head as he looked around the surprisingly-clean
stables, seemingly at a loss for what to do with Va'del. "Very
well, you can start by packing feed up to the animals. Once that is
done, you'll help clean the wool after the gurra have been sheared."

The
provender for the gurra proved to be an amazing variety of scraps
that weren't needed elsewhere, combined with just enough grain to
keep the animals healthy and thriving. Carrying the heavy metal
buckets from the mixing container to the pens, so that one of the
other apprentices could measure out the proper amount of feed for
each animal, took the better part of two cycles. Va'del had only a
few moments to try and stretch his aching back before Callan came by
and told him to begin carrying water from the large,
centrally-located storage cistern to each of the animal pens.

"I
suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that you're a bit simple, not
considering what you're responsible for. I guess I just always
assumed that I'rone wouldn't be taken in like that."

Everyone
knows by now. The ones who aren't repulsed by my skin hate me
because I got I'rone, Betreec and Jasmin killed.

Va'del
carried the water, but on the return trips he found himself patting
his little knife to make sure he hadn't lost it.
Still,
much as I may deserve
death, I'm not ready to take that escape quite yet. There is still
a chance that I can become a Guadel.

As
soon as Va'del had finished filling the stone water containers in
each pen, he asked one of the other apprentices how to find the
shearing area, and despite the near-uselessness of the answer,
somehow still managed to find the right place. The circular room
was an enormous space dominated by large stone basins, with pens all
along the outside edge, and a number of oddly-constructed racks
filled with drying gurra wool.

The
senior apprentice in charge of shearing the gurra was much older
than Va'del, and although he didn't make any overtures of
friendship, he didn't seem to notice the color of Va'del's skin. He
even seemed to understand that it wasn't fair to get mad at his new
charge until
after
he'd actually explained a given task.

Any
hopes of actually working with the gurra were quickly dashed.
Instead, Va'del was tasked with washing the raw wool in a
foul-smelling solution that removed the oil and dirt that invariably
made it onto the gurras' coats despite their generally fastidious
nature.

For
several cycles Va'del was able to lose himself in the work, swirling
the raw wool with a thin metal wand, and then moving it to other
massive stone basins filled with progressively cleaner water.

There
was a steady trickle of apprentices from the weavers' guild who
arrived as each large batch finished dripping dry. The sheer amount
of wool that they carried away for carding stretched the limits of
Va'del's imagination, but cycle after cycle they continued to show
up without interruption. By the end of the shift, the weavers'
apprentices finally stopped coming, replaced instead by girls in
uniform gray clothes rather than the common brown of the
apprentices.

Although
Va'del caught several of the girls stealing glances at him, none of
them bothered trying to talk to him. He started ignoring them after the
first few had come and left.

Once
the last batch of wool was safely drying on the racks, Callan came
by and found Va'del, who'd started hauling feed to the gurra once
again. "Enough of that. You're to leave a couple of cycles
early. I can't imagine why, but those are my instructions. Be back
here tomorrow morning again ready to work."

Nodding
silently, the teenager removed his heavy apron and stowed it with
those of the other apprentices. As Va'del walked past the corridor
leading to the shearing area, he heard a muffled thump and something
that sounded suspiciously like muttered swearing.

Worry
that someone had been hurt momentarily overcame his melancholy, and
Va'del hurried towards the noise.

The
muttering grew louder until he turned a corner and found one of the
oddly-dressed girls trying to lift an oversized bale of wool.
Without thinking Va'del picked up her burden. "Are you okay? I
heard a crash."

The
girl pulled her short blond hair away from where it had been hanging
in front of her face and nodded sheepishly. "Thanks, I
accidentally dropped it, and then couldn't pick it back up from the
floor."

She's
beautiful
.

Va'del
suddenly realized that the girl was looking at his face, and turned
to hide a brief flare of anger.
Beautiful,
but just like the rest of them.

"My
name is Jain. I haven't seen you around before; did you come from a
different part of the Capital?"

Looking
back at the girl with her slender build, and blue eyes just a shade
darker than Jasmin's had been, Va'del found that his anger quickly
evaporated.

"My
name is Va'del, I just arrived a few days ago."

One
of Jain's eyebrows rose slightly at his name, which obviously placed
him as coming from one of the outer villages, but she didn't press
at his obvious reluctance to provide details.

Va'del
shifted the wool around to a more comfortable position and pointed
up the corridor. Jain seemed to understand that he was offering to
carry it the rest of the way, and unlike most girls,
also seemed able to sense that he wasn't in the mood to talk.

Va'del
didn't particularly like working at the stables. The rare occasions
when he got to work with one of the gentle gurra were actually quite
enjoyable, but Callan mostly just assigned him whatever menial task
the stable master thought would tire the teenager out the quickest.
As a result Va'del ended each day so exhausted that it took an
incredible act of will to make himself practice with his sword and
dagger.

The
one offsetting advantage to the menial labor was that Va'del
continued to bulk up at a prodigious rate. Even that was cheapened
by the knowledge that it was in large part due to the forbidden
changes Jasmin had worked on his body. As much as possible he was
trying to avoid the notice of the few adults in his life.
Can't have Jasmin's memory
tainted even further.

Va'del
was just about to put down the law book he'd just finished reading
through for the second time, when a quiet clap announced someone
seeking entrance to his room.

Javin
and On'li had been the only people to ever visit Va'del, so maybe it
shouldn't have surprised him when after more than two weeks of
absence On'li was the one to slowly walk around the privacy corner
to his room.

The
slender old woman waved Va'del back down before he could fully stand
to greet her. "I see you've been reading. What do you think?"

The
question caught Va'del by surprised, and he looked at On'li in an
effort to understand what she was getting at, but he didn't know her
well enough to read her expression.

"I
like it, I suppose. I mean, I don't understand everything I read,
and it can be pretty dry, but Jasmin told me to look at it as a way
for the rights of the villagers to be protected. I like that there
is a way for people to appeal to someone other than the village
Headman for justice in those cases when the Headman is wrong."

There
was a flicker of something in On'li's eyes as she nodded.

Pity?
Is that how she stops herself from hating me?

Obviously
unaware of his thoughts, On'li pointed to Va'del's weapons. "Do
you still practice with those as well?"

Va'del
had no sooner answered in the affirmative than On'li instructed him
to follow her along a set of corridors he hadn't been down before.
A few minutes' journey brought the pair to a large, roughly finished
cavern filled with men, both young and old, engaged in weapons
training.

On'li
walked over to one of the knots of figures without stopping.
"Master Branar, I've another trainee for you."

The
man who turned in response to On'li's voice was one of the most
unprepossessing men Va'del had ever seen. The weapons master was
only of average height, well-muscled, but so lean it looked like
I'rone or Javin could have broken him in half.

"The
next beginner class doesn't start for a month, Councilor. He'll
have to wait until then."

On'li
shook her head. "He isn't a beginner, I believe you'll find
that he can keep up fairly well with your more experienced students.
I'm afraid this isn't just a simple request."

It
looked for a moment as if Branar would still refuse, but there was
steel in the Guadel's manner that apparently had him unwilling to
match wills with the tiny woman.

"Very
well, I'll throw him in with the second-years and see how he
manages." The arms master pointed to a group along one edge of
the cavern, and then turned back to the students he'd been
haranguing when they'd arrived.

On'li
looked at Va'del for a moment before sighing the way one does when
considering an especially unwanted burden. "Well, there isn't
anything for it but to jump in and give it your best. You'll find
that there are a number of Guadel candidates at the Capital
currently, and they train here as well. For all practical purposes,
they and the guardsmen trainees all outrank you, so make sure you're
polite and don't cause trouble."

The
Guadel gave Va'del a smile that was still tinged with something he
couldn't identify, and then turned and left.

##

It
wouldn't have mattered if I was polite or not. They were determined
to hate me from the start.

The
second-year students had stared openly at the newcomer's skin before
returning to their practice bouts. If that had been the worst of
it, Va'del could have dealt with things, but Alir, the senior
apprentice in charge of the second-year students, seemed to be set
on making things difficult for him.

Alir
had directed Va'del to a rack containing practice swords of various
weights and sizes, and then mocked him when he'd asked for a
practice dagger as well.

"What
do you think you are, a Guadel? You'll learn how to fight properly
with one weapon before I hear any talk about you needing a second
one."

The
other students had then proceeded to square off against Va'del one
at a time, attacking with force that in many cases would have been
more than enough to break bones. Alir was scoring the matches, and
was obviously favoring the other boys by failing to recognize about
half of Va'del's points.

Despite
the unfairness, Va'del had managed to win the first three bouts
before fatigue began slowing his movements.

I
keep getting more tired, while they come in fresh, one after
another.

Va'del
wasn't fighting to win anymore, not when the other boys were so
obviously out to make sure he wouldn't be able to come back and
train with them in the future. Instead, Va'del was trying to make
sure that the blows landing on him wouldn't be incapacitating.

The
sixth opponent came in with an overhead blow that would've broken
Va'del's neck. He only just managed to bring his sword up and
deflect the strike away. It still glanced off his left shoulder
with enough force to make the arm tingle and add to an already
impressive collection of bruises.

Alir
yawned. "Point. That was a very sloppy block, I've seen better
out of children who've never held a sword before."

Va'del's
opponent redoubled his efforts, launching attacks with such speed
that it was all Va'del could do to dodge and parry the first few
before a straight thrust took him in the chest with enough force to
make his ribs creak.

A
number of young men and women drifted over to watch the next bout,
which went much the same way as the previous one. Va'del dodged a
number of blows, before exhaustion caused him to bungle a parry and
take a blow to the stomach that knocked the wind out of him.

A
number of the watchers laughed as Va'del was once again knocked to
the ground, and he blushed.