Frozen Prospects (28 page)

Dean started reading seriously in the second grade due to a competition and has spent most of the subsequent three decades lost in other people's worlds.

Things worsened, or improved depending on your point of view, when he first started experimenting with writing while finishing up his accounting degree. These days Dean has a wonderful wife and two lovely daughters to keep him rather more grounded, but the idea of bringing others along with him as he meets interesting new people in universes nobody else has ever seen tends to drag him back to his computer on a fairly regular basis.

Keep up to speed on Dean's latest
projects at
deanwrites.com
.

Va'del kept expecting
the cold to stop bothering him, but if anything the closer they got
to the Capital, the more it bit at his extremities. He'd come to
realize that truly untiring viciousness could only be found in
nature.

The teenager slowed
for a moment and looked back to make sure Jain and Cindi were still
following him. Jain's face was hidden by the elongated hood of her
coat, but Va'del had learned to read more into her posture over the
last two weeks than he would have thought possible.

While Va'del was
watching, Jain went from a state of obvious exhaustion to walking
with the perky little bounce she used when trying to convince him
that she'd be fine. Va'del shook his head in amazement. Physically
Jain had been through more than he and Cindi put together, but she
hadn't complained even once.

Satisfied that Jain
was exhausted but not on the verge of collapse, Va'del's gaze strayed
to Cindi. If the trip had been the hardest physically for Jain,
Cindi had been the one to suffer the most emotionally.

The older woman had
been a member of the Guadel, the elite group responsible for
protecting the People and serving as a court of last resort, for more
years than the younger pair had been alive. She was one of the most
stubborn, opinionated people he knew, but all those years of service
still deserved better than she'd received.

Losing a spouse to an
avalanche, and then being forced to leave their body buried under tons of snow,
was about the worst way to lose someone. Cindi hadn't complained, not
really, but Va'del had noticed that Jain practically had to force the
older woman to eat. Va'del hadn't stopped worrying about Cindi any
more than he'd stopped worrying about Jain, but he'd finally decided
there was nothing to be done but get her home. Hopefully her friends
would be able to do more for her than he or Jain had managed so far.

When Va'del had first
met Cindi, he would have flatly refused to believe he'd ever feel
anything but hatred and resentment for the older woman. He'd had his
heart set on becoming a candidate, and then eventually a full Guadel.
Cindi had been determined to ensure that neither event ever
happened, and done her best to build a case for why he couldn't ever
be allowed to achieve that dream.

When Jain's life had
been on the line Cindi had come through despite Va'del's doubts.
Rather than insisting that she and Va'del return to the nearest
village, she'd helped him follow the bandits back to their cave.
She'd then proceeded to augment Va'del enough for him to fight his way
in and rescue Jain.

The ability to use
magic to strengthen their husbands beyond the limits imposed on
normal men, was a key part of what allowed a woman to become a
Guadel. Similarly, being able to trust someone enough not to fight
the mental invasion augmentation required, was necessary for a man to
become a member of that privileged group.

For all that the
ability to augment or be augmented was a vital requirement, it wasn't
the only one, and the Guadel seemed to operate under many rules that
Va'del didn't know about in addition to the ones he had figured out.

One of the chief laws
seemed to be that the link, and the augmentation that flowed from it,
was only to be shared between husband and wives. There were
occasional exceptions allowed for those women who had chosen to
sponsor a young man as a candidate, but even that was rare.

Worry over what kind
of punishment might be awaiting them once they returned to the
Capital had resulted in several fitful nights, but he'd been unable
to get a straight response from Cindi. Each time he'd attempted to
talk to her, she'd looked at him with pain-filled eyes, and he'd
choked the words back down.

The woolly pack gurra
behind Va'del, bumped him with its head as the wind picked back up,
reminding him they needed to get moving again. Gently tugging on the
pack animal's lead rope, Va'del set off down the winding trail.

The little party
traveled for another color cycle before the dark smudge on the
horizon grew enough to be identifiable as one of the two main
entrances to the Capital.

Jain and Cindi,
obviously on the last dregs of their strength, stumbled into the cave
entrance and Va'del followed with a sigh of relief. This had been
the worst trip he'd been on yet. Hunger had played a factor as the
provisions they'd taken from the bandits had been less than expected,
but he suspected it had more to do with the fact that he'd been in
charge on this trip.

He'd always known that
constantly battling the environment took a lot out of a person, but
adding in the recurring worry that some mishap was going to result in
one of them being seriously injured had been more depleting than he'd
expected. Making it to the Capital meant he'd finally be able to wake
up and not still be hungry and exhausted from the day before.

The guards, who
emerged from the near darkness at the first bend in the tunnel,
weren't the smiling, friendly pair Va'del expected. Instead, there
were no less than five heavily-armed men, all of whom looked like
they expected a dozen bandits to come swarming into the caves at any
moment.

Va'del felt himself
tense up until he remembered that nobody at the Capital knew the trio
had destroyed the bandit threat. Increased security was just a side
effect of the attacks and not anything for Va'del or the others to
worry about.

The teenager continued
to think that until Alir, a guardsman trainee who'd never liked
Va'del, realized who was approaching.

"Sir, that's
trainee Va'del."

The large, stocky
guardsman who seemed to be in command of the contingent wasn't anyone
Va'del recognized, but the older man had his weapon out and pointed
towards Va'del almost before the teenager knew what was going on.

"Please keep your
hands away from your weapons, trainee. Under the authority of the
Council, I hereby place you under arrest until the Council members
can question you regarding the events reported by Guadel Cindi."

Va'del felt a lifetime
of respect for authority war against the habit of command he'd picked
up over the last few days, and the inherent injustice of what was
happening. With both Jain and Cindi between him and the guards,
there was nothing they could do to stop him from drawing his weapons,
but challenging five to one odds when he was unaugmented was nothing
less than suicide.

Cindi broke the
monetary standoff, shaking herself as if to force her mind back from
somewhere distant. "You will ignore that arrest order. There
have been further developments since my last written report to the
Council. You'll treat this young man with all due respect until I
get things straightened out."

Alir laughed before
his commander could respond. "On whose authority?"

The commander shot his
impetuous trainee a look that said words would be exchanged later,
but let the comment stand.

Cindi seemed
momentarily confuse. "On my authority as a Guadel, obviously."

The guards all shook
their heads. "No disrespect intended mistress, but I know all
the Guadel by sight, and you aren't one of them. You're most
assuredly not Guadel Cindi as you tried to imply. In fact I can't
think of a Guadel that you look less like. Even if you were who you
claim to be, the orders couldn't be overridden by anyone less than someone from the Council."

Cindi looked back at
Va'del, obviously unable to believe what was going on, and then the
same realization flashed in her eyes that had just occurred to him.
The woman who'd left the Capital nearly a month ago had looked very
little like the woman standing before the guardsmen now. She'd lost
so much weight that her clothes hung around a frame that was only
slightly more than half as big as it'd been previously. Even more
drastic was the way she'd aged since Oh'scir had died. Try as he
might, Va'del couldn't blame the captain for not recognizing
her.

Something changed in
Cindi's expression, and for the first time since they'd saved Jain,
some of her old fire was back. "Fine, send one of your men for
a Councilor and we'll clear the record right now."

The Captain shook his
head again, and movement behind him revealed the presence of
newly-arrived guards with crossbows. His expression seemed to say
that he wasn't going to back down, and he was even less likely to
send for one of the Guadel to come running like some kind of errand
boy. Not based on nothing more than the say so of an old woman and a
couple of kids.

Va'del placed a hand
on Cindi's arm and shrugged as she looked at him. "We aren't
getting anywhere. There isn't anything left but to let them take me
while you get everything straightened out."

Jain's sharp intake of
breath eloquently stated how she felt about the idea, but after
meeting Va'del's gaze for several seconds, Cindi finally nodded.
"I'll get you out of there as quickly as I'm able."

As the guards roughly
disarmed Va'del and then closed ranks around him, Cindi shot the
Captain a look that should have frozen his blood. "Treat him
with as much respect as your orders allow, or by the Powers you'll be
sorry before I'm done with you. My word on it as a Guadel."

There was a small
chance the threat would be enough to encourage the guardsmen to be
gentler than they otherwise would, but Alir's spiteful gaze seemed to
indicate otherwise.

Meet Charles Tucker, he has spent nearly 30 years living in
denial, trying desperately to hide from his past and the events
that shattered his heart beyond any possibility of healing. He
can’t let anyone close, for doing so would open him up to being
hurt again, and there’s no way he could survive another wounding.

Meet the Saunders family, new to the neighborhood and
teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Mark, the father, talks
a good story but is that all he is? His plan could hold the key
to reversing his family’s financial misfortunes, or it could
wipe out everyone involved.

Meet Chet, a battered old ‘64 Chevy pickup that was there on
the night Charles’ life imploded. For nearly three decades,
he has been locked away in an old barn, safely out of sight
if not completely out of mind. For 29 years Charles has
blamed the old pickup for the destruction of his life,
now he’s about to find that the vehicle that destroyed his
life might be the key to his healing and a journey of
unexpected miracles.

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