Thawed Fortunes (24 page)

Thinking quickly, Va'del shook his head. He'd
never actually even thought of going for help. Considering it now,
he couldn't escape the feeling that it was the wrong course of
action.

"No, without all of the proper gear, none of
which we have, we'd never make it back up to the Capital. Even if
we did, who would they send? As tightly stretched as we were when
the bandits were attacking, the guardsmen and Guadel who were just
captured have to pretty much represent everyone they would have
normally been able to spare for a rescue mission. No, we have to
free them ourselves, or they'll never get out."

Vi'en's laughter held an edge of panic. "I
have heat stones, and we can get warmer clothing at the village.
Even if there aren't people to send down for a rescue, surely we
can come to some kind of deal with Vladir. You're just thinking
about how badly you want to be the hero again. How everyone,
especially Jain, will look at you if by some miracle you manage to
pull this off. That's a stupid reason to throw away our lives and
any real chance of freeing them. This is exactly the kind of
foolish thing Bob'ae always wanted to do, but he at least was smart
enough not to get everyone he cared about killed in an attempt to
cover himself in glory."

The words stung more than
Va'del had expected, but he knew very well just how scared he'd
been when he'd saved Jain from the bandits. "That's where you're
wrong. I'm just doing what's necessary to keep the people I love
alive. Go back up the mountain if you want, you don't need me for
that, and I won't run away from
my
fears."

Vi'en looked at Va'del with hatred in her
eyes, and then turned and walked away. For several moments, the
young man wondered if he should go after her. There was no denying
that a part of him had wanted to drive her away, but there was
simply no way Vi'en would ever make it back to the Capital by
herself. Even together they'd have had almost no chance, alone she
was as good as dead.

Is that what I secretly wanted?

The questions pulled at Va'del with a
persistence that surprised him considering how much he disliked
Vi'en, but finally, after half a cycle of waiting for the sun to go
down, he shrugged and mentally set them aside. Whatever else he had
or hadn't done, this was Jain's only chance for rescue.

The moon was very nearly full, so there was
an unusual amount of light, but Va'del set off towards the castle
and just tried to keep to the shadows whenever he could.

Progress was slow, but sensing that speed was
more likely to be his undoing than almost anything else, Va'del
forced himself to be patient as he steadily worked his way closer
to the castle.

When Va'del finally found himself at the edge
of the open space he'd noticed before the sun set, he felt his
heart sink. He'd somehow thought that at least a few of the houses
would butt up against the castle walls. Instead it was as if the
village just ended, leaving a cleared area that would have to be
crossed to get into the castle.

Va'del hadn't expected sneaking into the
Baron's home to be easy, but looking at the naked expanse of grass,
he started to get a true feeling of just how impossible a task he'd
set for himself.

Maybe Vi'en was right. How can I possibly
accomplish anything other than getting myself captured or
killed?

As Va'del started to scoot further back into
the shadows, a loud yipping sound started up to his left. Turning
to run, the sub-Guadel made it only a few steps before the night,
and its protective shadows, were ripped away by a massive ball of
harsh, white light that turned, floating towards him as he ran.

The noise was closer to him now, and it had
been joined by a deep thrumming sound that seemed to come from
multiple directions. Va'del caught movement out of the corner of
his eye and turned his head to see a pair of what the villagers had
called dogs rapidly closing in.

Va'del didn't have time to wonder at the
difference between the friendly beasts he'd seen at Crimson Rocks,
and the savage things pursuing him now. His heart beating
erratically, the sub-Guadel jumped a low, stone fence and drew his
weapons as he spun and confronted the first of the dogs. Unsure of
the beast's anatomy, he guessed it was roughly similar to that of a
snow leopard, and drove his sword into its body just behind the
front legs, hoping to find something vital.

The second dog was on him before he could
pull his sword from its companion, and it was all Va'del could do
to get his dagger around as it leapt at his throat. The beast was
nearly as heavy as he was, and the impact sent Va'del sprawling,
but the fact that Va'del was still breathing instead of lying with
his throat ripped out told him his desperate, half-blind stab had
miraculously managed to kill it.

Drenched in blood, and slightly dazed from
the blow he'd taken to his head when he fell, Va'del pulled himself
back to his feet and started to run again, only to find that the
light was still following him, and that mounted men were
approaching from all directions.

Va'del tightened his grip on his sword and
was preparing to sell himself as dearly as he could when a shadowy
figure suddenly slipped between the horsemen. The deadly grace of
the newcomer's movements let Va'del know that the other man was
linked, and for a split second, expecting a rescue, he looked
around for the rest of the Guadel.

The black-clad swordsman pulled back the hood
on his cloak, and Va'del felt his heart sink as he took in the
too-bright eyes and the gaunt features from which fanaticism seemed
to have burned away all excess. Be'ter laughed mockingly as he
paced back and forth. "Oh, Va'del. The People's next great hope,
the child whose potential that witch On'li went on and on about.
All that promise and you were brought to bay by a couple of hounds
as you predictably tried to play the hero once again."

Footsteps approached from the direction of
the castle, but Va'del ignored them. It wouldn't be anyone coming
to help, and the men arrayed against him already represented
overwhelming odds.

"Did you really think we didn't know you were
out here somewhere? We did a very careful count while you were all
still at the village. When we came up a couple short after our
little ambush at the canyon, Vladir sent a squad of horsemen to the
village with instructions to then come back this way. They didn't
even have to look for you. The first group of peasants they ran
into couldn't stop talking about the strangely-dressed man and
woman they'd just run into. Really, I'm just surprised it's taken
you so long to get here, we've all been waiting for cycles."

Be'ter chuckled again, and the sound sent
chills running down Va'del's back as he realized that Be'ter wasn't
entirely sane.

Still moving with the eerie fluidity of
someone linked and augmented, Be'ter moved around the inside of the
ring of horsemen until he was close enough to whisper. "The Baron,
of course, wants all of your party alive to increase the size of
his ransom, but I think a small exception can be made for you."

Va'del briefly considered trying to kill
Be'ter, but it felt like it would be a futile gesture. Be'ter was
just too fast. He'd easily dodge whatever attack Va'del could
launch and then just slap Va'del down like a petulant child.

"Go ahead, attack me. I'd like nothing more
than to report that you'd been killed resisting capture."

The footsteps had arrived, and now one of the
horsemen brought his mount forward. "Be'ter, please step away from
him."

Be'ter looked up at the man with hatred in
his eyes, and for a second Va'del thought the renegade would attack
the apparent leader of the rest of the men, but his eyes then
flickered over to where two dozen archers had assembled. It was a
wise decision. Not even Be'ter would be crazy enough to think he
could kill that many archers before they could bring him down.

Be'ter nodded savagely, and then stalked away
as the horsemen commanded Va'del to lay down his weapons.

Va'del looked at the forces arrayed against
him one last time, desperately fighting the desire to attack them
and die rather than be captured. In the end all he could do was
follow their commands and allow himself to be tied up.

Va'del hadn't planned on struggling,
especially not after he was bound and completely helpless, but that
very helplessness had hammered away at the knowledge that
resistance was useless until it finally destroyed his
self-control.

The guardsmen had apparently been waiting for
him to do something. The closest had deftly avoided his kick, and
then the one on the left shrugged and hit him over the head with
some kind of weighted club.

When Va'del opened his eyes, the first thing
he saw was the metal bars of a jail cell. Memories of being jailed,
cold and hungry fought their way to the front of his mind, but the
panic started to subside once he realized he wasn't alone this
time.

Javin looked over, and seeing he was awake,
tapped Si'mon on the shoulder, and then walked over to Va'del's
improvised bed.

Si'mon handed Va'del a dented tin cup full of
water. "How do you feel, lad?"

"About like someone hit me over the head
before throwing me in a cell."

Both of the other men smiled, but the attempt
at humor didn't achieve anything more, and Si'mon continued as
Va'del handed back the cup.

"Once they see you're awake they'll take you
to see their mage. He can touch the power like the healers or the
female Guadel, and he seems to be incredibly strong, but he doesn't
know some of the things they do. He'll ask about the worked stones.
There'll probably be a fair amount of other questions, but that's
what he is most curious about. Nobody has broken yet, lad, don't be
the first."

Va'del had just enough time to nod, and then
a trio of burly guardsmen in blood-red cloaks were at the door to
the cell.

"You there, the new, scrawny one. Time for
you to meet the Baron's advisor."

Va'del complied with their orders to come to
the front of the cell, while Javin and Si'mon remained at the back,
and soon found himself bound and walking through the keep.

The sub-Guadel had expected to be led to some
kind of dark torture room deeper in the dungeon, and was quite
surprised when their destination instead turned out to be a
luxuriously-appointed apartment with thick rugs that put anything
he'd seen among his people to complete and utter shame.

One end of the room had a heavy wooden desk
in the corner, facing a rough, poorly-made chair to which Va'del
was led.

The man behind the desk looked up, and Va'del
found himself looking into brilliant emerald eyes that would have
looked at home among the People.

Dark hair, pale skin and a very slight
build, is he another exile like Be'ter?

The man sprinkled some sand on whatever he'd
just finished writing, and considered Va'del for several
seconds.

"Good morning, my name is Kra'ven. Despite
the fact that we have not previously met, I happen to know that you
are Va'del."

Va'del did his best to keep any trace of the
surprise he felt from his face, but must not have entirely
succeeded.

"Be'ter has been oddly obsessed with
capturing you. In fact, his constant mutterings were enough of an
annoyance that I finally agreed to help make sure you didn't escape
his grasp. Illumination globes are really quite useful in one's
everyday life, but that's the first time I've ever had need for one
of that magnitude."

While he'd been speaking, the mage had been
straightening up the already-tidy desk, and now that he was
finished, he smoothed out an imaginary wrinkle in the curiously
shimmery material of his shirt.

"Now that we have the proper pleasantries out
of the way, I have to inform you that I'll need you to answer a
rather tiresomely large number of questions for me. Some of them I
ask on behalf of the good Baron, some of them are of course my
own."

Kra'ven waited, as if expecting Va'del to
spit in his direction, or swear that he wouldn't ever
cooperate.

"Ah, the strong, silent type. Very good, I'm
going to ask my first question in a few seconds, at which point
you'll have essentially three options. You can tell me the truth,
lie, or remain silent. I suspect that you'll choose the last
option, at which point I'll have to order you beaten. And here we
go. How old are you?"

The first question seemed
so simple and innocent, but Va'del had already resolved that he
wasn't going to answer any of Kra'ven's questions.
If I answer the ones that aren't a betrayal of my
duty, he'll slip others in that are ever closer to that line until
finally I'll be faced with the same choice. Answer, lie, or remain
silent.

The mage was silent for several seconds, and
then he nodded at the two guards who'd remained in the room.

"Please strike him several times, but do try
not to get blood everywhere, and don't break anything quite
yet."

Before Va'del could steel himself for the
blow, the guard on his left hit him in the kidney.

After Va'del had been hit several times,
Kra'ven waved off the guards. "Now that we have that out of the
way, what is your age?"

##

More than two cycles later, the guards dumped
Va'del back in his cell, where he lay quivering on the floor.
Nearly every part of his body hurt, but he did his best not to cry
out as Javin and Si'mon helped him over to the pile of rags that
served as his bed.

"Hopefully they didn't break any of your
bones, if that's the case, then you'll feel much better
tomorrow."

"I didn't talk. I didn't tell them
anything."

Javin nodded. "We know you didn't. After all
that you've done, we knew you wouldn't talk."