Thawed Fortunes (The Guadel Chronicles Book 2)

by Murray, Dean

As Va'del came back around to where Tim'i was practicing, the smaller boy lowered his weapons.

  "I'm done, can I go now?"

  Va'del suppressed a smile. Tim'i was trying so hard to fit in--it wouldn't do for the younger boy to think one of his teachers was laughing at him. If any of the other students had told Va'del they were done so quickly he would have told them to do another twenty repetitions, but Tim'i was so painfully honest that Va'del believed he'd actually done the full hundred.

  Va'del nodded. "That you may, I'll see you here bright and early tomorrow."

  Tim'i smiled. "No questions for me tonight?"

  "No, I haven't had time to finish the last assignment you gave me out of Teachings, but I'll get to it tonight, and then you can pay me back for all of the mean things I make you do out here on the practice floor."

  The younger boy rolled his eyes, but it was obvious he was thinking about something else already.

  "Va'del, were you scared when you faced off against the bandits?"

  For a second he was tempted to dismiss the question, but Va'del stopped himself as he realized there was something more than just glory-seeking motivating Tim'i.

  "Not when I was actually fighting them. Things were happening so fast there wasn't time to be scared. I was terrified before though. The whole time we were following the trail I was scared. Scared I'd die, scared Jain would die, or that I'd be too late to stop them from doing terrible things to her. I was even scared Cindi would die because I'd convinced her to follow me."

  "You didn't like her very much, did you?"

  "No, she had been very mean to me up to that point."

  Tim'i seemed to process that idea for several seconds.

  "Why did she help you then?"

  Va'del remembered a time just a few months previously where he'd likewise been too inexperienced to wrap his mind around the idea of someone he didn't like doing the right thing just because it was the right thing. It did seem to be human nature to assume that the people you liked were good and the people you hated were bad. Getting older seemed to help a little, but Va'del was starting to suspect that the tendency never really entirely disappeared.

  "Because she knew it was the right thing to do. That's why we both went. Not because it was right in the sense that the Teachings necessarily talk about, but because Jain was our friend and trying to save her was the right thing to do."

  "Was it hard?"

  Va'del wasn't quite sure where Tim'i was going, but he somehow knew that the boy wasn't talking about the actual fighting. "Yes, it was hard. People didn't like me much when I got back, but I should have expected that. Doing the right thing is usually hard, otherwise we'd all just do the right thing all the time and we wouldn't need the Teachings to tell us what to do."

  Instead of laughing at Va'del's attempted joke, Tim'i nodded absently and then walked away looking even more grave than usual.

  Over the next half cycle, the other boys trickled by, either singly or in pairs, to ask for permission to leave. Va'del politely released them, all the while trying to figure out the cause for Tim'i's questions.

  As Va'del racked his practice blade, Mich'a walked over. "Fi'lin asked me to let you know that he had to leave early. He's already left word with the blade smiths though, so you can just go down there by yourself and even if he ends up not being able to meet you Master Arnold will start the fitting process."

  After thanking the young Guadel for passing on the message, Va'del picked up his sword and headed out of the practice room using the same exit that Tim'i had taken.

  There was no question but that Fi'lin was right; Va'del was quickly outgrowing his old weapon. Still, he was going to miss the sword that had seen him through so much. It was a little sad to think of it going back to the armory, one more anonymous blade with no indication it had been part of something so ludicrous as a half-trained boy and the Guadel he'd come to hate cutting down half a dozen bandits to save the girl he loved.

  Va'del hadn't ever been down to the blacksmith levels, and had only a vague idea how to get there, but everyone was hurrying off to lunch, so he was reluctant to ask for directions until he saw Jain walking by herself.

  The modifications to Va'del's bones were essentially done, and he wasn't straining his muscles as severely now that the testing was through, so Ah'bi had ordered Jain to cut back how frequently they saw each other. These days they were lucky if she could sneak away once a week to see him.

  Jain's eyes lit up just like Va'del was sure his did when he caught sight of her.

  "What are you doing here? I've never seen you this far from your room."

  "I'm trying to get down to the blacksmiths, but I suspect that I'll end up more than a little lost."

  After checking to make sure nobody else was around Jain wrapped her arms around him. "I'm so glad to see you."

  "Rough day?"

  "The worst, but we can talk about that later tonight. Let's see if we can get you down to the blacksmiths."

  "I could always take the long way down the central corridor, but there's supposed to be a shortcut here that will save me a half cycle of walking."

  Jain nodded as she looked around. "I know. It's stupid that they leave so many of the corridors around here unmarked. They claim it's because nobody uses them, but I think it's because the Guadel want to have quick access to places like the blacksmiths without having to worry about us all wandering around and getting into trouble. Not like it stops us, it just makes it into a game for the candidates and Daughters to try and figure out what goes where."

  "I don't want to get you in trouble."

  "It's okay, nobody will see us. I'd take you the whole way, but I can't afford to miss lunch, so I'll just get you partway and give you directions from there. I can never remember whether I turn right or left at the second juncture though. Both routes look the same, but one leads you to the blacksmith's area and the other takes you past an endless parade of storage rooms."

  Jain grabbed a pair of tiny glow stones from a nearby shelf and then set off at a sedate pace. The pair walked in companionable silence past a number of narrow service tunnels. Va'del was just reflecting on how nice it was to see Jain during the day, when a crash and a muffled scream burst from one of the tunnels to their left.

  Worried someone was hurt, Va'del lunged into the tunnel. He expected to find a cook's assistant or maybe some other apprentice trapped beneath fallen supplies.

  I didn't expect to find this.

  The storeroom was surprisingly big, and completely empty save for the three people in the far corner. As Va'del and Jain entered the room, Be'ter looked up from where he had pinned Tim'i to the ground, his hand around the smaller boy's throat, while Mali watched.

  The fear in Tim'i's light-green eyes told Va'del all he needed to know and he lashed out with a kick to Be'ter's ribs, knocking him off of Tim'i before anyone else could move.

  Tim'i scrambled to his feet sobbing incoherently, but Va'del made out just enough to understand that the younger boy had refused to do Mali's homework for her.

  Jain suddenly screamed and Va'del looked back just in time to see Be'ter get to his feet and draw the sword that he was allowed to wear about the Capital now that he was a sub-Guadel.

  Va'del was just able to raise his cloth-wrapped sword in time to block the blow before Be'ter's sword would have taken off his head.

  Be'ter's eyes were so full of hate and anger that Va'del took an involuntary step backward as he shook his sword free of its cloth wrappings and clawed at I'rone's dagger on his right hip.

  The fight that ensued was vicious and by the second exchange Va'del knew Be'ter wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than killing him.

  Mali was huddled in a corner screaming each time it looked as though Va'del might penetrate Be'ter's guard, but Be'ter seemed completely unable to hear her cries as he relentlessly attacked Va'del with combinations that the younger boy had never seen before.

  Va'del improvised responses that managed to keep Be'ter
's blade from his vitals, but his quickness wasn't quite enough to keep him unmarked and he soon bled from a pair of slashes on his chest.

  It wasn't until Be'ter had tried to drive him to the right a second time that Va'del realized the older boy was trying to get past him. He wants Tim'i or Jain.

  The thought of Jain dead or Tim'i lying in a pool of his own blood filled Va'del with a cold fury that gave his limbs renewed strength and he managed to start pushing Be'ter back away from the entrance to the storage room.

  Be'ter's heavier weapon flashed towards his opponent again, scoring a deep cut on Va'del's leg, but although Va'del couldn't twist entirely away from the blow, his own sword bit into Be'ter's left arm, rendering it useless.

  Va'del couldn't dodge anymore, there was too much chance his wounded leg would collapse under him, and for a second he worried that Be'ter would go around him to get at Jain and Tim'i, but the enraged sub-Guadel instead screamed in pain and renewed his attack.

  Va'del's lack of mobility turned out to be slightly less hampering than the loss of his dagger was to Be'ter, and for a few seconds the fight tilted towards the younger boy.

  A brief glimpse of Mali between blows showed Va'del that she'd stopped screaming. Instead, the beautiful, symmetrical features that were the envy of nearly all her peers were twisted with hate so strong it defied comprehension. Va'del had a split second to wonder what he'd ever done to the tear-streaked Daughter, and then she closed her eyes and Be'ter suddenly attacked with a speed and strength that wasn't human.

  For a heartbeat Va'del's mind refused to believe Mali had linked with Be'ter. That disbelief nearly cost him his life as his dagger didn't make it up in time to completely parry the bigger boy's strike. A rod of agony tore through Va'del as Be'ter ripped his sword free of Va'del's chest.

  Can't breathe, must be a collapsed lung.

  Be'ter drew back for what both of them knew would be a killing blow, and suddenly Va'del felt a warm, familiar presence inside his mind as new strength flowed out to his limbs.

  There was no doubt but that Jain was doing her best to save him, but Be'ter's blow was still too fast for Va'del to bat it completely out of the way, so he didn't even try.

  Va'del's dagger, the one that had originally belonged to I'rone, slipped out and brought the point of Be'ter's sword down just enough for it to pierce his stomach instead of his heart, and then his own sword whipped through the air towards Be'ter's head.

  Be'ter's momentum carried both of them to the ground, and Va'del's last thoughts were to wonder why he'd twisted his sword at the last second so that flat would impact instead of the blade. I guess I wasn't ready to kill him yet.

  Chapter 10

  On'li tried to pay attention to the Council meeting, but her mind kept wandering back to what Va'del had said. Javin had kept an eye on Va'del and reported that he seemed to be settling into his role as one of Fi'lin's assistants quite well, but On'li couldn't get past the fact that everything that the boy had been forced to suffer through really was poor thanks for what he'd done for the People.

  The Council was currently taking a report from Vi'en, the wife of the last Guadel casualty they'd taken cleaning out what was left of the bandits. After all that they'd been through it felt like things should have stabilized, but the bag'lig problem was actually getting worse. Whatever had been driving the creatures up the mountain hadn't stopped, or even slowed in the slightest that On'li could tell.

  On'li forced her thoughts back to what Vi'en was saying and was struck by how much the newly-widowed woman reminded her of Cindi. Both were so absolutely positive they were always right. On'li was pretty sure Cindi had started out that way, but Vi'en probably had been pushed in that direction after marrying. The men of her bloodline all tended towards forceful personalities, the women all had to develop something similar or spend their years supremely unhappy.

  Vi'en finished her report and before leaving bowed stiffly, first to Va'ma and then to the rest of the Council. More than any other, Va'ma ran his bloodline like the Guard. On'li couldn't remember even a single instance where one of his people had broken from the official stance. She'd heard stories of some of them carrying out orders that would have led to some kind of coup in most other bloodlines, but Va'ma's people just nodded and did what they were told.

  A'vril stood, and had just opened the floor to a discussion on what to do about the increasing numbers of bag'ligs making their way into the higher elevation areas claimed by the People, when a loud disturbance in the antechamber interrupted her.

  On'li took one look at the anger on Fi'lin's face as he strode into the Council chamber, and found herself reaching out to link with Javin so that they could fight off what had all the indications of a coup. From the way Va'ma leaped to his feet, it was obvious he and his wife were fully linked, but A'vril's booming command caused everyone to stop before blood could be spilled.

  She's right, he isn't moving quickly enough to be augmented, but I can't imagine what he's thinking barging into a Council meeting looking like he's about to cut someone's throat.

  Before anyone could speak, Fi'lin reached into the antechamber and pulled a bloody, bound form into sight. It took only a heartbeat for On'li to realize she was looking at Be'ter.

  "This piece of trash just assaulted another candidate, and then linked with one of the Daughters in an attempt to kill the trainee who tried to stop him from further hurting Tim'i. You've all proven yourselves unwilling to interfere with his sponsors' choice, but last I checked the Council still had final say on whether or not someone was raised to the status of full Guadel. You still have a chance to stop him from further tainting all our honor."

  Fi'lin met the eyes of every single member of the Council before continuing. "You've consistently failed to do right by someone I personally would be proud to call my brother, so you may be likewise unwilling to see justice done here, but if that's the case then I will resign my teaching position. I won't stay to see what I've taught used against the innocent."

  There was silence in the room for several seconds after Fi'lin turned and walked away, leaving Be'ter bloody and unconscious on the floor of the chamber. Ja'dir opened his mouth to speak only to be shouted down by nearly everyone else around the table.

  While the various Councilors yelled at each other, On'li felt her thoughts crystallize. He was talking about Va'del. Be'ter had nearly killed him because they…no, she had pitted the two boys against each other instead of just forcing Be'ter's sponsors to remove him from the candidacy pool.

  A'vril was calling for order, but obviously not making any progress. The complete look of surprise on A'vril's face as she met On'li's eyes seemed absurdly out of place until On'li suddenly realized that she hadn't joined in any of the chaos around her. Instead, she'd calmly risen to her feet, taken the stance of a Councilor requesting permission to speak, and waited while the Goddess' Heart tried to regain control of the Council.

  A'vril finally slammed her delicate hand down on the table, using a trace of power to amplify the sound, startling everyone into silence. Once every eye was looking at her, the leader of the Council shook her head at her peers. "You should be ashamed of yourselves. I recognize On'li, who was the only one not to behave like a child."

  For the first time in years, On'li hadn't prepared what she was about to say before standing to speak, but words seemed to flow from her without conscious effort. "She's right, we should all be ashamed of ourselves, if not for the reason she meant. It is the job of the Guadel to do what needs done regardless of the personal cost to us. Well guess what, we've been pushing off all our dirty work onto Va'del for months now. We couldn't find the bandits. He did that for us, and then we wrung our hands in fear that someone could be so ruthless as to cut down all those poor hardened killers."

  A murmur of disagreement rippled around the Council chamber but On'li stopped any of them from standing with pure force of will, and then pointed at Be'ter. "You don't believe that, what about this monster? Every single instru
ctor who had any contact with the boy, and a number who didn't, all complained about him and we did nothing because we didn't want to violate the rights of the fools who sponsored him, to be fools."

  On'li found her voice dropping as she too finally realized just how far they had all gone astray. "It would have been bad enough if that was where it stopped, but we let him intimidate the rest of the candidates and make them over in his twisted image. So we shifted responsibility for limiting Be'ter's predations to that same boy we thought wasn't good enough to enter our ranks."

  Per'ce and his wife's looks of fury were gradually being replaced with something much more thoughtful.

  "We gave him our dirty work and never even bothered to thank him. And now that the situation we've put him in led him to defending Tim'i, half of you will no doubt want to exile him for not showing more restraint while fighting for his life."

  On'li swept the room again, and there was more than one Councilor who wouldn't meet her gaze. "I never thought I'd say it, but I'm ashamed of being a Guadel. If this is how we treat someone better than any of us, then I'm ashamed. You say he is too violent? Fine, then you don't need the Stephens bloodline anymore. Just like Va'del, we're tired of doing your dirty work. We've done it for hundreds of years, and we're tired of bleeding and dying for you all."

  Chapter 11

  Va'del's universe seemed to be comprised solely of pain. Even worse, the closer he came to true awareness, the greater the pain became. Some thought process operating on a near-instinctual level seemed to know he was better off remaining unconscious, but eventually he ran out of hiding places. He opened his eyes and found he could move just enough to look around the unfamiliar, plain room.

  On'li and Jain were both curled up asleep in a pair of low chairs, and Va'del found tension he hadn't even realized he was carrying begin to dissipate as he saw that Jain was okay, that Be'ter hadn't somehow managed to hurt her despite a blow to the head that should have left the older boy unconscious for at least a day.