Frozen Prospects

Chapter 2

Jas'per found Va'del within a few hours of his being cleared by Sara to begin walking short distances through some of the dark, unused corridors near her suite of rooms. "Oh, look. The orphan finally stopped hiding behind the old lady."

Va'del fingered the knife he'd concealed in the sling binding his left arm to his side. His victim's silence seemed to unsettle Jas'per for a second, but looking back at the two friends who'd come to see him torment Va'del, the bully quickly recovered his balance. "Maybe if you'd bothered to leave the healer's, you would've had a chance at getting a decent apprenticeship. Now I'll bet they don't even let you stay and carry waste rock up to the surface. You'll be just like a human gurra."

Va'del felt his anger spike at being compared to one of the gentle but stupid creatures that the people used to carry burdens both inside their caves, and also on the infrequent occasions when they traveled the mountain slopes to visit one of the other villages. Jas'per seemed to bask in the younger boy's fury, secure in the knowledge that Va'del would never dare attack him.

"At least whatever position I get will be earned on my own merits."

If Va'del's barb struck home there was no sign of it in Jas'per's eyes. "No, whatever position you get will be because someone felt sorry for you."

Long after Jas'per and his friends had left, Va'del sat alone fingering his knife in the cold darkness near the abandoned mining expansion. Not even his freakishly dark skin managed to hide the veins running mockingly close to the surface.

Va'del tried to convince Sara to let him go back to his own sleeping mat, but the healer wasn't moved by his reasoning that the sooner he was visibly up and about the more likely he'd be to get an appointment as an apprentice.

"The masters aren't as foolish as you think. They know what happened and why you are here."

Whether that means I wouldn't get a position regardless, or whether I'll get one despite my status as an invalid she won't say.

Va'del was unhappily working his way through the readings that Pa'chi had brought him a couple of days before, when his friend came running into the healer's room.

"Actual, real Guadel just arrived. They're demanding to speak with Headman Ma'del. Everyone says there’s going to be a testing."

Va'del felt his head spin, "Why would Guadel be coming now? There hasn't been a visit since before we were born."

Sara looked at Va'del and shook her head. "Guadel come to the village more than most of you realize. As for the testing, it's not the terror of blood and demons you all seem to believe it is."

Pa'chi's expression was every bit as skeptical as Va'del imagined his must be. For a second Va'del thought Sara was going to yell at them, but she took a deep breath and shook her head again. "Think back to the ‘traveling healer’ that gives you a checkup at least once a year youngster. Do you really think that’s something I can't do myself? Va'del at least has the excuse of never being tested before, but you girls should have figured something out by now. You likely would have if the adults hadn't all bought into Ma'del's edict."

Pa'chi shrugged and turned back to Va'del. "Almost everyone is there already. They’re saying the Headman will deny them guest right. People are scared of the Guadel, but they're almost as worried that the Goddess will smite us if we turn them away."

Sara stood suddenly, and pulled Va'del onto his feet. "We'd better go now. If Ma'del denies them guest right the Goddess won't have to smite anyone, the Guadel will do it for her. At least they'll likely stop after killing that pompous oaf."

Sara was one of only three or four people in the entire village that would stand up to the Headman. It was unnerving to see her hurry out of the room, obviously afraid of what was coming. Sara had once thrown a large man into a wall with nothing more than the power of her mind. If she was scared of the Guadel then maybe there was more to the old stories than anyone really believed now.

Pa'chi looked back into the dark corridors and then turned towards Va'del with a trembling lip. "What if she's wrong? For every story where the Guadel save a child from a pack of snow wolves, there are two more about them carrying people off to the Capital to serve as sacrifices."

Va'del faked a reassuring smile. "All of the stories can't be true. It isn't as if they are really twice the size of a normal man and have multiple wives after all."

Pa'chi ventured a tremulous smile in return and then nodded and started after Healer Sara.

The pair joined the stream of people presumably headed towards the Guadel, and shortly found themselves in one of the larger central caverns typically used as a marketplace. Va'del was just tall enough to make out the healer at the edge of the cleared space. If the Guadel snapped and started killing people, standing just behind Sara was probably the safest place to be. Pa'chi followed along behind Va'del as he pushed his way through the crowd.

The first thing Va'del noticed when they made it to Sara was just how large the male Guadel was. There were three of them, but the man was so imposing it was hard to notice the two women until some of the shock had worn off.

The man slowly surveyed the assembled villagers, and Va'del was struck by the sense of controlled menace that rolled off him in waves. He moves like a snow leopard. Like he's the predator and we're nothing more than the next meal.

The multiple light sources placed throughout the large cavern played off the Guadel's face in a way Va'del hadn't ever seen before, leaving strange, disturbing shadows that made him look wholly inhuman.

One of the women placed a hand on the man's arm as if to restrain him, but he shook it off without looking and called out. "Where is the village Headman? We come to claim hospitality right."

Jas'per's father arrived, accompanied by Jas'per and four of the other top weapons students. As the Headman pushed his way to the front of the crowd, Va'del noticed that all six men were armed.

"You will of course be granted provisions and a place to stay according to the code. I will have to ask, though, that you follow more recent precedent and keep to your rooms. I'm afraid your presence here disturbs my people."

The Guadel dropped his heavy over-coat to the hard, gray floor of the cavern, revealing a frame that seemed nearly as wide as he was tall. He was more heavily muscled than even the village blacksmith. "That’s unacceptable. The same laws that grant us hospitality right also demand we move around the village freely. We must ensure there isn't anything that needs reported back to the Council."

Jas'per and the other guards had their hands on the hilts of their weapons, and were nervously spreading out, but the Guadel seemed unconcerned.

More than one of the packed crowd reached towards Ma'del as if they wanted to stop the Headman from forcing the issue with the Guadel, but nobody stirred from their spots. Instead nearly every person gathered in the market square was looking at the Guadel as though they expected them to shed their human skins and begin devouring the villagers.

The male Guadel on the other hand seemed impervious to the raging fear around him. One of the two women at his back crumpled to the ground, apparently overcome by the stress of the situation. The younger woman carefully lowered her fellow to the ground, but her manner was distracted. The sense of tension ratcheted up as Ma'del started to gesture his men forward.

The Guadel shook his head, preempting the motion as he drew his weapon. "Your lack of answer can only be taken as a refusal of our ancient right."

The guards all dropped to a ready stance as they drew their own swords, but if anything, the Guadel was moving with more grace than before. Suddenly no one present had any doubt but that he could kill them all in the blink of an eye.

A moment later, Sara's diminutive form was standing in the middle of it all, glaring at the Headman. "This is foolishness. Of course the village will extend the full hospitality demanded by tradition and law."

The Headman seemed to be calculating the odds that the villagers would join the fight against the Guadel. He frowned at what he saw, and then finally nodded. "Of course. I merely wanted to save our people from any undue alarm."

Gesturing for Sara to see to it, the Headman turned to walk away, only to pull up short as the Guadel's cold voice rang out. "I think it would be best if your men were careful not to bear arms, other than the two guardsmen needed to cover the entrance. We wouldn't want any misunderstandings."

Moving with a sudden rigidity that spoke of towering anger, the Headman motioned for Jas'per and the others to follow him.

The Guadel seemed somehow to deflate. By the time he turned to help the women with their things, the menace radiating off of him was only barely more than human.

Va'del and Pa'chi would have faded away into the corridors with the rest of the village, but Sara ordered them to help carry the Guadel's belongings to the guest rooms. Va'del found himself marveling at how incredibly large the suite was, but he suspected it was nothing less than tradition demanded for the Guadel.

Once everything was settled, Sara hugged the older of the women and then slumped against a wall. "You can't understand how good it is to see you, Betreec, even if you all do look like you haven't aged a day since I last saw you."

The youngest woman laughed, "And to think just the other day I was thinking how old the two of them were getting, especially I'rone."

Sara shook her head, "I swear they must have little dolls hidden away in a closet somewhere that age in their place. I, on the other hand, feel like I've been aging at twice the normal rate. It's this never ending fight with Ma'del."

Mention of the Headman killed the mirth that'd been bubbling up from the two Guadel women, but Va'del had been watching their husband, and the forbidding man hadn't even smiled. Realizing the Guadel was looking at Va'del and Pa'chi with something bordering on suspicion, Sara sighed. "The boy is almost as unloved and distrusted by the rest of the village as I am. The girl has a good heart, and for all that her father is a self-centered fool, there isn't any love lost between him and the Headman. You need not worry about either of them."

Unreadable, gray eyes considered Va'del for a heartbeat longer, and then turned back to Sara.

Betreec placed a gentle hand on I'rone's arm. "I knew Ma'del was becoming more of a problem. That’s part of the reason this village was left to Ja'dir's people for so long. I half thought On'li was jumping at shadows when she demanded we be the ones to stop by. Nobody on the Council seemed to know Ma’del had nearly the entire settlement cowed into defying the Goddess' laws."

Sara shrugged. "I honestly don't know how he was elected Headman. He's definitely gotten worse in the last couple of years though, so maybe he started out reasonable."

The man spoke up for the first time since the confrontation out in the marketplace. "Will we have to worry about attack while we are here?"

Shrugging hesitantly, Sara looked like she wished she knew one way or another. "I don't think so. He’s always been very careful not to violate the letter of the law at least. I suspect he was mostly trying to bluff you into not exercising your full rights like he's done with every Guadel that's stopped by for the last decade or so."

Va'del was suddenly overcome by a spat of dizziness, but Sara and Pa'chi managed to catch him before he hit the ground. The concerned, pale, ice-blue eyes of the youngest Guadel were the last things that Va'del remembered seeing before he slipped into unconsciousness.

The calming darkness awaiting Va'del when he awoke signaled he was once again in the sick bed. Thoughts of Sara, of course, led to questions about the Guadel. Va'del hadn't ever quite believed that the Goddess had chained demons to her service. It’d seemed even more preposterous to think that the bargain allowed the Guadel to carry people off for unspeakable rituals that were the only thing keeping them from turning on the People. Seeing I'rone face down Ma'del had very nearly made him believe, but Sara hadn't seemed especially scared of them.

A nervous rustle behind the divider told Va'del that Pa'chi must be waiting for him to wake up. He wanted nothing more than to stay in bed for a while, but it wasn't fair to make her sit there. Cradling his useless arm in tight against his side, he struggled to his feet and tottered out from behind the privacy divider.

Surprisingly enough, although Pa'chi was indeed seated cross-legged in one of Sara's low chairs, the healer wasn't present. Sensing Va'del's question, his friend hurried to explain. "Sara will be back. She’s with them--she said something about ensuring they had a complete list of the children and youth so that they could test everyone."

I almost forgot about the testing. They'll examine all of the girls between twelve and eight, and all of the unmarried boys older than fifteen, using their strange power. Then they'll take some of them away never to be seen again.

"Are you nervous about being tested?"

Va'del shrugged, but his friend had known him for too long to be put off so easily.

"It's not that bad, at least not if it’s just the annual checkup like Sara indicated. It only takes a few minutes and then you’re done."

"What if they find whatever they are looking for inside me?"

Pa'chi looked uncomfortable. "I don't know. My parents wouldn't tell me anything about what happens to the people they take away, but it won't happen to you. All the stories say that almost nobody is taken away anymore. They can't be as terrible as everyone says."

He showed absolutely no emotion at the prospect of killing the guardsmen. I think you might be surprised at what they are capable of. How many people would you have to kill before it became so commonplace?

Va'del was saved from responding by the healer's return. "Good, you're awake. Let’s go."

It wasn't until the trio turned into the corridor leading to the guest rooms that Va'del realized what must be happening. He stopped walking and thought about running, but Sara turned and looked at him with such terrible majesty and power in her eyes that he knew he wouldn't get very far. "I don't know what garbage your mind has been filled with regarding the testing, but none of that matters; you will come with us and be tested."

Sara told Pa'chi to wait outside the privacy bend to the guest rooms and then pushed Va'del along ahead of her. The Guadel seemed to be expecting them, for all that I'rone didn't look up from the gurra harness he was repairing.

The womken both looked at Va'del as if they'd seen too many scared young men that morning, but their individual reactions were quite different. The older woman's manner suggested a resigned acceptance of a situation she couldn't control, while the younger seemed mad enough to strangle someone with her bare hands.

The way the angry woman pointed to a low chair without saying a word wasn't reassuring in the slightest, but mindful of the fact that her husband could easily back up the command with force, Va'del did as he was told.

"I'm Jasmin. Despite what you’ve heard, we aren’t looking for an excuse to take you out in the cold and eat you, or something equally stupid."

For just a second it looked as though Jasmin was going to say something else, but the man quietly cleared his throat, and her mouth slammed shut with an audible click. "Never mind. There isn't any point fighting decisions made centuries before any of us were born."

Jasmin sat down in the chair positioned directly in front of Va'del and leaned back. "Try to relax. Don't be too alarmed if you feel a strange pressure inside your mind. It probably won't come to that, but don't fight it if it does or you'll just make both of us tired. If you fall asleep that's acceptable."

Jasmin closed her eyes and sat motionless for several minutes. Va'del began to feel restless, but one look at the massive man, now sharpening his sword with a painful casualness, convinced him to remain motionless.

Va'del closed his eyes and tried to relax enough to go to sleep. As the teenager finally started to drift off he felt something alien slowly swimming through his mind.

A bolt of fear shot through Va'del as he reflexively shoved at Jasmin's presence inside his mind. None of the rumors even touched on the idea that they might be able to invade my thoughts.

The panic hammering away at Va'del's rationality spiked as he felt Jasmin strengthen her efforts and force him aside. Sharp knives of pain raked through his head as she sifted through memories and feelings that he'd thought would always be private.

The struggle raged on despite Va'del's realization that he couldn't win. Even the sheer pain involved in fighting wasn't quite enough to overcome the innate desire to maintain the sanctity of his mind.

When Jasmin finally withdrew from his mind, the young man opened his eyes and raised a shaking hand to stem the blood he felt trickling from his nose.

Sara nonchalantly handed Jasmin a cloth to staunch her nosebleed, and then turned to Va'del and offered him one as well.

"Pa'chi, you can come inside the room now. Take Va'del back to my rooms please. Don't let Jas'per or any of his cronies give either of you any problems. Come get me if necessary, or if they won't let you get away make sure they understand that I've had it with their antics and will invoke healer's right to punish them if they push the issue."

Pa'chi's eyes widened in shock, but she curtsied respectfully and helped Va'del to his feet.

After the pair were gone for several minutes, I'rone rose to his feet and walked down the corridor to ensure that the two youngsters had truly left. Once he returned the room, Sara felt her strength leak away like melting snow, and collapsed into a nearby chair.

"Powers! Since you pushed yourself and poor Va'del so hard, am I correct in assuming he has whatever it is you're looking for?"

Betreec, the older of the wives looked as though she were torn between old loyalties and present duty. "You know we can't tell you anything about what we're really looking for in a candidate."

Sara snorted, "Please spare me. I understand why the Council wants such a ridiculous level of secrecy regarding the Guadel in these backwards villages, but I'm from the Capital. Not only that, I trained with you and remember perfectly well when you were moon-eyed over I'rone, and worried he'd snatch up a second wife before the two of you even made it through your first year together. I know exactly the kinds of things that drew you to him, and I think the boy has many of the same qualities."

"I never..." Betreec momentarily looked shocked until I'rone's gentle chuckle seemed to make her realize Sara was joking.

Jasmin pulled the cloth she’d been holding to her face away and checked to make sure the bleeding had stopped. "I don't see why we shouldn't tell Healer Sara; it isn't like most of what we look for isn't an open secret back at the Capital."

As the younger wife looked at Sara, the older woman suddenly got the feeling that beneath the pretty exterior and calm eyes, Jasmin was nearly ready to explode.

"Your boy Va'del was the easiest to link with of any male I've ever tested. Not just slightly easier, vastly easier. That being said, he still may not be a suitable candidate."

Sara started to bristle, "What do you mean he may not be suitable? That child is one of the least-judgmental people I've met. He's much more considerate than some of the potentials I saw come in while I was in training."

Jasmin held her hand up. "I won't argue with you there. You know, I'm sure, that we can't really read someone's thoughts. Another person's mind is too alien for any of us to really know for sure what a given thought means, but we can get a feeling for their emotional state, and their general character."

Sara nodded impatiently, knowing very well she gave off the air of someone who thought she was too old now to be lectured. That was only fair; she hadn't particularly enjoyed being instructed when she was younger, either.

Jasmin started pacing, "He has all of the attributes we normally look for in a candidate, but I think he's suicidal. There's a kind of darkness to him that I'm not completely comfortable with. Every man in our bloodline is more than capable of violence, but I can't tell for sure that he'll keep that capacity chained as tightly as I'rone does."

"Fifteen years ago I might have argued with you over the exact level of I'rone's restraint. I know better now. Fear is the only thing that keeps an ice wolf like Ma'del in line. If anything you dealt too softly with him. Eventually he'll slip his leash and when that happens people are going to be hurt. Doesn't Va'del's darkness have a place? He might have arrived at a more permanent solution to Ma'del than you or the Council."

Jasmin started to respond, but it was I'rone that answered. "Darkness is only valuable in as much as it is demanded by his duty. Otherwise he's no better than the Headman."

The healer finally nodded jerkily, and then put her face in her hands. "I suppose I should have expected as much, I just so hoped when you arrived that it would be possible to get him out of here."

Betreec walked over to the healer and put and hand on her shoulder. "How did it get this bad for him?"

It was I'rone who responded. "It is the Headman and his people. They mistreat him to garner support with the rest."

Pa'chi had reported back with a steady stream of names as the rest of the young men and the girls of the appropriate ages were tested. None of the others seemed really shaken when she saw them, and Va'del was certain his experience had been unusual.

"I think we need to get you out of here for a while, Va'del. Being stuck in here for days on end would make anyone go crazy."

"It's not going to make any difference. We're less than a week away from the decision day and none of the masters have talked to me even once. They can't choose me if they haven't found out anything about me. At this rate I'll end up forced to go to the Capital, the one place I'm guaranteed to be even more of an outcast than here."

Pa'chi shook her head vigerously. "I don't want you to have to leave. I'll...I'll talk to my father. I can convince him to select another apprentice this year. It won't matter that Sara is keeping you sequestered away here."

Jas'per's words from the other day seemed to burn Va'del's mind and it was all he could do to stop himself from yelling at Pa'chi. "I don't want his charity. I want to make it on my own."

The words came out harsher than he'd meant for them to, and Pa'chi looked as though she was fighting tears when Sara came around the privacy turn and nodded at them both.

"You're up. Good, let's go, Va'del."

Va'del felt a surge of anxiety as he remembered the last time she'd dragged him somewhere, but even his slight delay at rising kindled a spark of anger in her stern brown eyes.

Va'del's fears were confirmed as they turned off towards the Guadel's rooms, Jas'per's friends were loitering near the guest rooms and Sara was obviously ready and spoiling for a fight. Va'del decided against protesting her choice in destinations. I won't let them see me dragged into the guest rooms kicking and screaming like a child.

The Guadel seemed to be expecting him once again. Jasmin flashed him a kind smile, Betreec gave him an absent-minded one, and even the man seemed slightly less foreboding than usual. As before, Va'del was directed to a seat, but this time it wasn't Jasmin that sat down opposite him.

"My name is Betreec. Jasmin said you did an excellent job trying not to fight her last time you were here, do you think you can do as well or better for me?"

Va'del's fear of the Guadel hadn't gone away, but Betreec seemed very kind. Besides, one look at Sara's face told him he'd better say yes and mean it. He nodded hesitantly.

It seemed to take Betreec longer to touch his mind than it had Jasmin, but when Va'del felt the first alien tendrils touch his thoughts he found he wasn't as alarmed as he had been previously. Jasmin has obviously told them what she found inside my mind, so in a sense this all doesn't matter anymore. There isn't really anything left to hide from them.

When Betreec finally stirred in her chair, Va'del had the barest beginnings of a headache, but he wasn't shaking this time, and neither he nor the Guadel were suffering from a nosebleed.

The older woman waved Sara away and looked at Jasmin for several seconds before the pair finally nodded at each other.

Jasmin came and kneeled before Va'del. "I'm so very sorry we had to put you through that. I'm told it’s quite painful. I wish there was another way to accomplish the test, but for now, you'll just have to take my word for it that we didn't intend you harm. Luckily it shouldn't be necessary to ever repeat the experience."

"So you won't have to get inside my mind again?" The question slipped out before Va'del had a chance to remember that these weren't the kind of people to suffer questions gracefully.

Jasmin's eyes went wide, and for a second her gaze flickered back to something outside of Va'del's field of vision. Sara, standing against the wall behind Jasmin, looked surprised for a second, and then emphatically shook her head.

A moment later Betreec's frail hand came to rest on Va'del's shoulder. "What do you mean, Va'del?"

It was too late to do anything other than tell the truth. Va'del hadn't ever been a decent liar, so he spared just a moment to curse the evil powers, and then cleared his throat hesitantly. "I'm not sure. It just seemed as though there was something inside my mind that didn't belong there. I thought it was you."

Jasmin recaptured his attention, giving him a surprisingly reassuring smile. "You're a very perceptive young man, Va'del. You're right that part of the test involved us getting an impression of your mind, but you need to know that we can't really read your thoughts, we just get a good feeling for the kind of person you are. Kind of like the things a best friend would know."

Is she telling the truth? How would I ever really know?

Looking at Va'del with earnest blue eyes, the Guadel continued. "If you trust Sara, she can confirm everything I’m telling you and that we’ll never tell anyone else what we learned."

Va'del found himself cautiously nodding, and Jasmin seemed to relax slightly. "You need to make a choice now. You can either stay here, or you can come with us when we leave."

Va'del was amazed at how quickly his body responded to the surge of fear. It was suddenly hard to think over the pounding of his heart. Sara looked at him and shook her head.

"These people aren't the ogres you've made them out to be, child. I can't tell you as much about them as I'd like, they won't permit it in case you decide to stay here, but they aren't evil. What is more, it appears you're right about the masters. That fool Ma'del and his son Jas'per seem to have them all bullied into treating you like a plague victim. This is your chance to be apprenticed. Go with them."

Fingering the knife concealed in its usual place, Va'del realized that there really wasn't anything left for him at Bitter Rocks. Even Pa'chi would be better off without him.

Looking from one Guadel to another, Va'del finally nodded, and was surprised to find it was the man's face which seemed to brighten the most at his decision.

Chapter 3