Frozen Prospects (27 page)

The
fears chasing each other around the teenager's mind seemed to grow,
multiplying until they swallowed all his strength.

Va'del
was almost ready to tell Cindi no, to announce that he'd attack
unaided and die rather than let her inside his mind. As he opened
his mouth, he suddenly remembered the look on Jain's face when he'd
awoke after saving her from Vin'i and the other two guardsmen.

She
trusts me. She'd do anything she possibly could to help me, in a
large part because she believes that I'd do anything I could to
protect and help her. Dying here in a failed attempt to save her
isn't the betrayal that simply turning and walking away would be,
but it's still a form of selfishness. All I have to do is let Cindi
inside my mind, and we may be able to save Jain. She'd do that or
more for me—how can I do less for her?

Va'del's
throat seemed to have closed in. He could barely breathe. Talking
was completely out of the question, so he simply nodded.

Cindi
sighed, and her expression seemed to say she had a very good idea
what the agreement had cost him. "We should move while it's
still dark. If you can catch some still in their beds it will
improve our chances."

##

The
pair ate what was left of their food and water and set out.
Va'del's fears still gnawed at his resolve to go through with the
linking, but having agreed to it already, it became easier to force
the doubts back into a corner of his mind.

The
first part of the journey went by quickly, but Va'del started moving
slower and slower as they got closer to where Cindi had indicated
the bandits were holed up.

She
can't continue to use her power to look for them. Have to watch for
ambushes.

Straining
his eyes in the light from the now-waning moon, Va'del finally
detected a slight motion ahead of him in the darkness.

The
teenager drew his weapons and waited for Cindi to catch up, praying
the whole time that she could stay quiet enough not to alert the
sentries.

Va'del
pointed out the location of the sentries and then started off
towards them. As previously agreed, Cindi didn't follow, instead
settling down in the new-fallen snow and closing her eyes in
concentration.

When
the link started to form, Va'del nearly tripped.
No,
don't fight it. Let her in. It's the price you have to pay for
saving Jain.

The
shadowy, alien presence slowly invading Va'del's mind continually
tripped his defenses, but he suppressed the reflexive desire to push
her away, forcing himself to continue creeping towards the sentry as
strength poured into his tired limbs.

The
augmentation Cindi was providing went beyond what Jasmin had done
for him, and in addition to the strength and altered time sense,
Va'del found that his movements were somehow becoming more graceful,
his senses more acute.

A
muffled oath in the darkness was the only sign that he'd been seen,
but Va'del acted on that information without hesitation. The
brigand was still falling backwards, desperately trying to draw his
sword, when Va'del exploded over the top of the snow drift between
them and struck him down.

The
noise brought a second guard up from where he'd been relaxing
against a snow bank, but he had made even less progress towards
getting his weapon out and in action before Va'del tore his life
away with a lightning-fast slash.

A
few yards away the sound of someone yelling established beyond a
doubt where the mouth of the brigands' cave was, and Va'del sprinted
towards it with a speed that he would have found unbelievable if
he'd had time to stop and consider how fast his limbs were moving.

The
entrance to the cave was closed off with hanging furs, but as Va'del
swept past them, he found that the cavern inside was much larger
than he would have expected.

The
slim form of a man dressed in furs was kicking the brigands awake
when Va'del appeared inside the cave as if by magic. The first two
bandits fell to the teenager's blades before they could finish
rolling out of their blankets, and then the fight began in earnest.

Va'del's
two blades raced back and forth, weaving a nearly impenetrable wall
before him. He seemed to have plenty of time to parry or dodge each
attack aimed at him, as often as not scoring a blow on one of the
bandits. Three more of his opponents fell in short order before the
remaining six were able to close ranks.

His
back to a wall, the teenager quickly realized that parrying each and
every blow wasn't leaving him any chance to attack, so he started
trading his blood for the chance to kill his opponents. A weak
slash opened up the front of Va'del's leg, but earned him a
decapitating stroke on the man who'd delivered it.

The
remaining five men renewed their onslaught at the sight of Va'del's
blood, and he had to trade two more fairly deep wounds to dispatch
the next two swordsmen. Cindi's augmentation seemed to be
weakening, and the teenager had a split second to wonder how long
he'd been fighting before the fight once again took all of his
concentration.

His
wounds seemed to be taking their toll as well. Va'del found himself
slowing further so that it was all he could do to avoid being struck
down by the remaining three swordsmen.

One
of the bandits, bare feet numb from the cold, suddenly slipped and
Va'del's sword licked out and reduced his opposition to two.

A
hissing sound was Va'del's only warning, and then a crossbow quarrel
was streaking through the air towards him. For all that time was
still moving slower than normal, his augmentation was starting to
fade, and Va'del's attempt at knocking the projectile out of the
air with his dagger was only partially successful.

A
line of agony tore into Va'del's side as the slightly-deflected
quarrel struck him, and then his breathing become labored as one
lung started filling with fluid.

Va'del
forced the pain from his mind and used his snow spikes in a kick
that was even more lethal than normal, to dispatch another of the
men, in return for a long cut on his right arm from the sole
survivor.

As
Va'del finally cut down the last bandit with a complicated pass that
Fi'lin had taught him just weeks ago, the skinny, fur-clad man
reappeared from the darkness where he'd taken the shot with the
crossbow.

The
man's face was full of hatred as he raised his arm and let a bolt of
fire fly towards his young opponent.

Va'del
just managed to throw himself out of the way as he felt Cindi's
presence fall away from his mind.
Please,
help me save Jain.
Va'del hadn't realized that the plea was a prayer until it had
already formed inside his mind.

The
sudden sense of another alien presence inside his mind made the
teenager assume that the Goddess had answered the prayer, somehow
granting Cindi enough strength to augment him for a few more
seconds. Va'del reached inside to suppress mental defenses once
again, only to find that they weren't triggering, that the presence,
while still undoubtedly alien and different, was somehow familiar,
somehow one he instinctively trusted.
Jain.

As
fresh strength poured into his limbs, Va'del clumsily rolled away
from another ball of fire. His speed wasn't even a tenth as great
as it was with Cindi, and Va'del heard himself scream in pain as the
passage of super-heated air burned the right side of his body.

Seeing
his opponent stumble, the furred mage smiled and raised his hand
once again to strike Va'del down, only to blink in amazement as
I'rone's knife came spinning through the air to embed itself in his
throat.

The
blow wasn't one that killed instantly, and for a second Va'del was
worried he'd be consumed by flame before the other man could die,
but the mage seemed unable to wield his power through the pain.

Shivering
from exhaustion and coughing up blood, Va'del limped around the
cavern, desperate to find Jain. He found her on the far end of the
cavern floor, bound and gagged, but alive and sobbing with joy.

Va'del
just managed to cut through Jain's bonds with his sword and tell her
that Cindi was outside somewhere, exhausted and in danger of
freezing, and then he collapsed into unconsciousness.

##

Once
again Va'del found himself in darkness, a friendly blackness that
drew him down further and further inside himself. After a time
though, the darkness gradually turned cold and hard, pushing him
back to consciousness and life.

Jain
started crying when she saw he was awake. The cuts and bruises
Va'del had missed seeing in his exhaustion the night before were
very much evident on her face now, and the teenager realized that
she and Cindi must have used all of their healing on him, leaving
none to speed her recovery from whatever the bandits had done to
her.

"I
thought you were dead. All that snow, it was terrible. And then
you were here, and I could feel Cindi working the power."

Va'del
stroked Jain's hair. "It's okay. You should have known she
could augment me enough to face off those bandits."

"No,
it wasn't enough. I kept waiting for the working to stop because
they'd cut you down. Then it did stop. Only I reached out, and you
were there."

Cindi
tottered into view. For once she didn't seem disapproving of their
clasped hands, or the fact that Jain was crying into Va'del's chest.

It
was several minutes before Jain calmed down enough to finish telling
her story. "It was the worked stones he wanted. He was a
mage, but apparently the lowland mages don't know how to work
gemstones. Somehow he learned of our ability and set out to steal
the knowledge of making them from the People."

Cindi
patted Jain on the arm and nodded. "It looks like he recruited
someone from lands further north who knew enough to keep most of his
men alive in the cold and snow, but once he secured some worked
stones he wasn't skilled enough to decipher the means of their
construction."

Jain
wiped away her tears and picked up where the Guadel had left off.
"So he set out to capture a Guadel. Only he got me, who
couldn't really tell him how to do it. Luckily he didn't figure
that out or he would have just killed me."

Cindi
rose to her feet and turned to walk away. "You're a good man,
Va'del. You have a capacity for violence and darkness I don't think
you're fully aware of. That scares me more than you could possibly
understand, but you're a good man all the same, and I'm in a better
position to know that than most. I'll do what I can for you when we
get back to the Capital."

Va'del
found that his voice worked with only a little more than usual
effort. "Will we get back?"

Jain
nodded. "There are plenty of supplies, and even a couple of
captured gurra. We can stay here until you've healed, and then make
the trip back."

Cindi
smiled. "Who would have thought we'd not only kill off all of
those beasts, but also survive to return home?"

Va'del
found himself returning the smile, for the first time feeling no
hatred towards Cindi. "It was because of you. I never would
have believed I could do something like that; you really are
powerful."

Cindi
shook her head, seemingly disturbed by something. "No, I did
my part, but you've got far more potential than you know."

The
Guadel turned to Jain and wagged her finger in admonition. "I
know that the two of you have a bond now that goes beyond the
friendship you might have had before, but please spare an old
woman's blushes and remember that you're not wedded yet."

Va'del
had a split second to wonder what Cindi meant about a bond, before
he remembered that Jain had been inside his mind while she was
augmenting him at the very end of the battle.

The
sudden fear that she would be repulsed by what she had seen was so
powerful as to nearly sweep away Va'del's ability to think, until he
looked up at her and saw the tender concern that hadn't left her
eyes from the moment he'd awoke.

She
knows. She knows exactly who I am and loves me anyway.

The
contentment that filled Va'del was as strong as his fears from a
moment before.

—The Story Continues in
I'rone
&
Thawed Fortunes
—

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Acknowledgments:

Thanks
needs to go out to a number of people who've served as advanced
readers for this book. Cassy, Monika, Mark, Matthew, Natalie, and Larry.
Additional thanks to Nate, Vaughn and Brian for reasons
they'll understand.

Finally
thanks to my wife, Katie, who is my most dependable reader, and who
puts up with me being locked away behind my keyboard more than is
healthy.

If you enjoyed
Frozen Prospects
please help spread the word.
Forums, reviews-either on the big sites like Amazon and Barnes and Noble or
on your blog, all help. The question of how many of the stories currently
rattling around in my head get written in the next few years depends in no
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writing.

About the Author:

Dean Murray is a prolific author with more than 27 titles across multiple pen names and more than 470,000 copies of his work currently in circulation.