Frozen Prospects (26 page)

Va'del
wanted to travel faster, but his body was simply too exhausted to
muster a better speed. Judging by the trouble Cindi was having
keeping up even with his slow amble, she was in as bad or worse
shape than he was right now.

Jasmin
always said that the first rule of outside travel is to make sure
that you have plenty of safety margin. Plenty of reserves, plenty
of food. Always stop with plenty of light left to the day so a
freak storm doesn't catch you too far away from shelter. We're
running on the ragged edge now. If anything even remotely serious
goes wrong, we're dead. In another day or so we won't even have the
food we'll need to keep up what little strength we have left.

Va'del
tried to push the doubts away. He refused to even consider that
once they found the bandits they were still going to face some very
long odds.

The
trail curled around to the shelter of a pair of rock outcroppings,
and Va'del took the opportunity to stop and dig some food and water
out of the packs. The teenager was halfway through his portion when
Cindi caught up and took her share.

"We're
running low, aren't we?"

The
Guadel shrugged at Va'del's nod and kept eating. "It doesn't
really matter. We have to eat to keep moving, so rationing it won't
do any good. We'll just have to hope that they picked Black Rock
Village to raid because it was close to their base. If we somehow
survive getting Jain out, maybe we can capture enough food to get us
back to a village before we all starve."

The break was over all too soon, and then Va'del was once again
trudging through the cold with legs that ached from the exertion of
walking with his heavy snow spikes.

The
snow had very nearly filled in the tracks, but there was just enough
of an impression left to follow. Va'del had been walking for
another cycle, mind continuing to shut down from cold and
exhaustion, when a loud hiss split the air and a lance of fire slammed into him.

Crossbow.

Va'del
looked around frantically for the source of the shot, afraid that
the bandit would have time for a second, more lethal attempt before
he could close, but a shabby form rose up from behind a snow drift
and threw itself towards him with a howl.

It
was all that the teenager could do to get his weapons drawn before
the larger man was upon him, slashing and stabbing with a slightly
curved blade.

Va'del
dodged the first blow, and turned the second with his dagger,
thereby buying himself enough time to go on the offensive.

The
bandit was strong and fairly skilled, but his blows came slightly
too slow, and were a little awkward.

Va'del
forced himself to ignore the slight trickle of blood from the
quarrel still embedded in his side, and parried another blow,
bringing it up enough to pass over his head with less than an inch
to spare.

I
have to finish the fight soon. Going to bleed out and weaken unless
I can kill him in the next few passes.

On
the next exchange, the teenager put his full strength into a blow
and was astonished to see his opponent's feet shift slightly.
Va'del would have dismissed the movement as nothing more than his
imagination except for the fact that the bandit's next few blows had
the frantic quality of someone who was trying to regain his balance.

One
of the stabs was a little too quick for Va'del to parry completely,
and he paid for his discovery with a shallow wound to his arm, but
he forced the pain away and upped the tempo of the fight as much as
he was able.

A
heartbeat or two later, the bandit slipped while trying to dodge one
of Va'del's attacks. Va'del never gave him a chance to recover.

Va'del
collapsed into the bloody snow next to the corpse, and seemed to
lose a few minutes. It wasn't until Cindi made it to him and gasped
in surprise that the teenager started thinking again.

"What
happened?"

"Bandit
attacked me. Must not have seen you. Thought I was a lone scout.
Got hit with a crossbow."

Cindi
swore as she saw the quarrel sticking out of Va'del's side, and then
looked around. "There's a snow cave over here. Can you make
it? I can't chance you dying from exposure before I can get it out
of you."

Va'del
nodded, and staggered to his feet with Cindi's help. Crawling into
the snow cave was almost more than the teenager could handle. There
was barely enough room for him in the entrance, and several times he
accidentally brushed the quarrel against the floor of the tunnel.

Having
somehow made it into the snow cave without passing out from pain,
Va'del collapsed onto a pile of blankets and lay motionless while
Cindi made her slow, laborious way into the larger-than-expected
enclosure.

The
Guadel looked at the quarrel one more time and then shook her head.
"This is going to hurt, and I don't have energy to waste on
dulling your pain."

Va'del
started to nod, only to pass out from the agony as Cindi reached
over and began removing the projectile.

##

Va'del
finally regained consciousness partway through the night. There were
makeshift bandages around his stomach and arm. He was light
headed as well, but he was in much better shape than he'd expected.

She
must be a fairly skilled healer. I don't think Jasmin could have
taken care of so many aftereffects of a wound like that. Not
after two days of grueling travel, anyway.

Cindi
had placed a glow sphere on a little shelf in the snow, so there was
just enough light for Va'del to tell that she wasn't sleeping.

"How
do you feel?"

"Better
than I'd hoped. Thank you."

The
Guadel waved away his thanks. "One of your parents was a
lowlander, weren't they?"

Va'del
nodded cautiously.

"Don't
worry, boy. For all of my other faults, I try not to judge someone
solely based on where their parents may have hailed from."

The
pair sat in darkness for a while before Cindi continued. "How
did they feel about your being sponsored by Jasmin and Betreec?"

It
had been so long since Va'del had thought about his parents that
he'd started to think maybe he was beginning to heal from the loss.
He found, though, that the few memories of his time with them were
strangely raw.
Or maybe
not so strangely considering all of the other people I've lost
recently. Considering the fact that I may never see Jain again.

"They
died a long time ago. I was a ward of the village. Nobody was
really sorry to see me go. The Headman put up a token fight, but he
seemed more interested in chipping away at the Guadel's authority
than in really keeping me in the village."

Cindi
shrugged, but when she spoke there was a curious catch in her voice.
"It's always tough being an orphan. It makes you an easier
target than the kids with parents."

Va'del
felt surprising amounts of interest. Almost as if despite himself
he wanted to learn about what made the older woman the way she was.
"You were an orphan too, then?"

"That
I was. My mother died in childbirth, and my father in a mine
collapse. Of course being a girl, I showed the ability to work the
power fairly early, so I didn't spend as long as an orphan as you
probably did. I do remember it being a hard time though. I suppose
that's part of why I'm so rock-headed. Everyone was so determined
to prove I was worthless that I had to be confident in myself or I
would have just given up and died."

Neither of the pair said anything for several minutes. Va'del was uncertain if it
was appropriate for him to ask questions, and Cindi seemed lost in
thought.

Finally
the Guadel continued almost despite herself. "As old as I am,
I should know better, but sometimes you end up at the wrong
conclusion based on things that you thought were important. Based
on the opinion of people you respect. I guess what I'm saying is
I'm sorry. I should have given you a chance to prove yourself one
way or the other instead of just setting out to make sure that you
weren't allowed back in those classes once we returned to the
Capital."

Va'del
found himself unable to speak. The apology meant more than he'd
expected it to. It was surprisingly sincere coming from a woman he
hadn't thought capable of admitting to even minor mistakes.

There
was a part of Va'del that wanted to forgive Cindi, but he couldn't
bring himself to just forget everything she'd put him through. Her
recognizing she'd made a mistake was a good start, but she was still
essentially the same person she'd always been.

Cindi
looked at Va'del expectantly for several seconds and then nodded at
his silence. "I don't suppose as I can blame you for not being
prompt to forget everything between us. Knowing myself, I don't
think I could do it if I were in your place. I guess I was just
hoping that you're a better person than I am."

Va'del
suddenly realized that the Guadel had been stalling, that she hadn't
wanted to tell him something. "What are you holding back?"

"I
don't know that you had time to think things through, but the bandit
you killed wasn't just sitting out here by chance. He was a sentry.
We're only about a cycle or so from their base at most. Close
enough that I can barely feel where they are and that there are more
people there than we'd feared."

The
despair that had been hammering away at Va'del's resolve for the
last two days seemed to drain him dry at the news, and he found
himself slumping back down into his blankets. "How many of
them are there?"

"More
than ten, fewer than twenty. From so far away it isn't possible to
tell exactly how many."

"Then
we don't have any chance? Our efforts were doomed before they even
started."

Cindi
nodded. "It looks that way. Not many candidates of much less
than a year could have defeated a brigand one on one like that.
Your family did an admirable job when they selected you based on
your raw ability, but odds like that are too deep even for a full
Guadel to face."

Va'del
felt like the Goddess had brought them this far only to abandon them
at the last second. "That isn't why they picked me. I'rone
was always pleased with my progress when it came to weapons play,
but On'li seemed to think it was something about my ability to link
that made Jasmin and Betreec decide on me."

Cindi
nodded, and began speaking as though agreeing with something
other than what Va'del was saying. "You linked with On'li
after arriving at the Capital?"

The
teenager shook his head in confusion. "No, she went inside my
mind to see what kind of person I was, just like Jasmin and Betreec
did before sponsoring me. It was Jasmin who I linked with. Before
they were all killed."

Cindi's
mouth gaped open in surprise. "You mean you linked with Guadel
Jasmin after only a few weeks? Effectively linked, to where you
were faster and stronger? Do you understand how exceptional that
makes you?"

Va'del
shook his head once more, but the older woman hardly seemed to
notice. "Most men aren't really able to link until they've
spent years practicing lowering their mental barriers. Even then,
the link isn't really all that effective until they're married.
Nothing else gives them the ability to trust anyone enough to stop
fighting the link."

Even
the despair washing through him wasn't enough to make Va'del
completely oblivious to the hope that had started to permeate
Cindi's voice.

"We've
found their base, there is a little food here, but not enough to see
us back to a village. Our only chance would be to fight our way in
and take from their food stores. We'll have to kill them all, or at
least enough of them to make sure that we aren't followed."

Va'del
shook his head. "You said so yourself. I can't possibly beat
two or three of them at the same time, yet alone more than a dozen
of them. We have no chance!"

Cindi's
smile held more than a little regret in it. "No, Va'del. We
do have a chance, but one which depends more on you than on anything
else. We can link. I'm one of the more powerful Guadel currently
living. On a good day, all by myself I could make Oh'scir strong
and fast enough to defeat six men."

"Isn't...isn't
that forbidden?"

The
Guadel snorted. "Of course it is. Only married partners, or
sponsors are allowed to do something like that, but it's more a
matter of trust that enforces the policy than anything else. Few
men can allow others into their minds uncontested. That very fight
to protect their minds in turn burns up the power of whichever woman
is trying to augment them."

Va'del's
head seemed to be spinning, but the belief in Cindi's tone was
unmistakable and he suddenly started to share in that hope.

"It
all depends on you, youngster. If you can suppress your natural
desire to fling me from your mind, if you can trust me with the
knowledge of who you are, we may have a chance. The odds are still
long, but at the very least we'll sell ourselves more dearly than we
would have otherwise."

Va'del
found himself unable to respond for several minutes. By the end it
hadn't really bothered him to think of Jasmin being inside his mind.
She'd been his friend first and foremost.

Cindi,
on the other hand, was someone whom he hadn't trusted from the
moment they'd met. There was no little amount of hate that had
grown in his feelings towards her since then, and he found that he
was incredibly scared to let her see who he really was.

What
will she do if she can tell I hate her? What if she sees things
that confirm her old belief that I wasn't worthy to be a candidate?

Rationally
speaking, Va'del knew Cindi would see the link through despite any
hate he felt towards her; to do otherwise would result in her death
too. Somehow, that wasn't enough to calm his worries.