Thawed Fortunes (25 page)

Va'del sighed, strangely content considering
how much pain he was in, and then gave into the darkness that had
been pulling at him. Unconsciousness was a relief.

##

When Va'del finally woke again he didn't
particularly feel better, but as he carefully took stock of his
body he was relieved to find that none of his bones had been
broken. Everything still hurt, but it was mostly the dull hurt of
bruises rather than the sharp pain of broken ribs.

Javin came over with a hunk of stale bread
and some more water. "You okay?"

Va'del nodded as he sat up. "I'll live. Good
thing my ribs are reinforced though or they'd be broken."

Si'mon sat down next to his cell mates.
"Sounds like you got pretty much the standard treatment. Let me
fill you in on what little we know."

Va'del didn't really want to listen, but sat
up and did his best to pay attention despite that.

"Vladir says he wants a ransom. He set two of
the guardsmen free and sent them back home with instructions to
carry his demands to what is left of the Council up there."

"Does he really think they'll be able to make
it?"

Si'mon shrugged. "I don't honestly know. He
probably doesn't have a good idea of what it takes to make a trip
like that, but maybe he does. I've spent as much time with the
lowlanders as anyone, and I still don't understand how they think
sometimes, and that goes doubly for those in positions of power. I
can't say for sure he isn't sending them off to die for some
twisted purpose that makes no sense to us."

Javin nodded. "Maybe going through the
motions of making a ransom demand would placate the gem
merchants?"

"Could be. We've been giving them a pretty
favorable deal for several years now in an attempt to bind them to
us. For all that we're almost impossible to invade, we're still
incredibly small compared to some of the lowlander kingdoms I've
heard about. All someone would have to do is cut off the food
shipments up the mountain and we'd face a very real risk of
starvation, so we've tried to do what we could to make as many
lowlanders depend on us as possible."

The half fog that being beaten had left
covering his mind started to lift, and Va'del suddenly realized
that he hadn't seen any of the women around. "What about Jain and
the others?"

Si'mon held up a calming hand. "They are all
fine, as nearly as we can tell. They drugged them when we were
captured. That neutralizes their ability to link with us, and makes
escaping essentially impossible. I expect that Be'ter or Mali had
some part in helping them figure that out, but there isn't anything
we can do about it now."

"What
can
we do?"

Si'mon looked away for a moment and then
turned back with something very near defeat written across his
features. "None of us have been able to come up with an answer to
that question yet. It just may be that there isn't anything we can
do. Even worse, the Baron just sent out his army to subdue Crimson
Rocks. It might not be too long before we're joined by quite a bit
more in the way of company."

"Assuming he leaves any of them alive?"

"Yes, assuming that."

Va'del paced back and forth inside his cell.
The bars were rusting through in several places, but they were
still too strong for even three or four men to force their way out.
The only hope Va'del could see remaining them was the chance that
the guards might overfill the cell. With enough men, there was a
chance they could force their way out and then make it to the
guardroom before the guards could shut and bar the door.

The mage, Kra'ven, had left with the Baron,
so the most recent beatings at least had the virtue of being less
organized, but Va'del had been spared even the casual cruelty of
the guards, and now that he'd had another night to recover, his
mind continued to futilely chip away at the problem of how they
might be able to get out.

There were so many questions he didn't have
answers to. Had there been locks on any of the other doors between
the cell block and Kra'ven's room? How many soldiers had Vladir
left? Where were the remaining men stationed and were there central
points that the soldiers or the Guadel could use to hold off a
larger force? Were there enough weapons around to arm even a
fraction of the Guadel even assuming they managed to free
themselves somehow?

Va'del didn't have nearly enough information
to begin to form plans and he knew it, but he couldn't stop his
thoughts from whirling from one question to the next. Each passing
moment seemed to decrease the chances that he'd ever see Jain
again, and despair was slowly worming its cold tendrils into his
being.

Powers, Jain, I hope you're okay!

The thought had all of Va'del's anguish, pain
and anger powering it, and in some uncomfortable way seemed to pull
at his mind, stretching it as if it were an arrow pulling at a
string.

For one heart-wrenching second, his expanded
thoughts seemed to flutter back and forth, on the verge of
collapsing into something smaller again, but then another presence
crashed into his mind, the force painful and unbalancing at the
same time that it shored up his teetering awareness.

Before Va'del could understand what was going
on, the other mind started trying to push itself into his.
Instinctive defenses threw themselves into place, and Va'del
knocked the presence back, but stopped a hair short from breaking
contact completely.

Vi'en, it had to be Vi'en. Not only was she
the only person still free, the presence felt like her. Va'del
rejoiced that she hadn't returned to the mountains, but something
inside him alternately cringed and raged at the thought of letting
her inside his mind. More than just whether he lived or died was
being decided now, the very survival of the People was threatened,
so he really had no choice at all.

Suppressing the need to
become physically ill, Va'del drew upon countless cycles of
meditation, and began trying to bring down his mental
barriers.
A wall of ice melting in the
heat, a thick curtain being pulled back to let the light
in.

On'li had told him several times that he did
a better job lowering the mental walls protecting him from invasion
than anyone else she'd ever seen, but that very control was working
against him now. His subconscious knew that he didn't really want
her inside his mind and was fighting his conscious efforts.

With an effort of will he wouldn't have
thought he was capable of, Va'del lowered his defenses just enough
to allow Vi'en the tiniest of openings.

His wife took the opportunity and began
worming her mind inside his. There was nothing of acceptance in
those thoughts. Va'del could feel Vi'en passing judgment over all
she saw, and he nearly pushed her back out of his mind as the
experience surpassed even his worst fears.

Jain, I have to do this for Jain.

The last of his mental strength blazed away
as he finally managed to bring his barriers down the rest of the
way, and then Vi'en was fully inside his mind, had made all of the
judgments she was going to make, and there was no longer a need to
fight.

The presence at the back of his mind still
made him want to be violently ill, but the need was less now, and
Va'del found himself standing before the door to his cell without
any knowledge of how he'd gotten there.

Calling for help, the sub-Guadel grasped the
door with hands that suddenly vibrated with strength and vitality.
Time had slowed as Vi'en augmented him, so that it seemed to take
long minutes for Javin and Si'mon to reach his side.

The surprised looks on their faces were all
the confirmation needed to know that they'd noticed his sudden
grace and were aware he was somehow linked.

All three men pulled at the
cold metal of their cage, and Va'del felt something give and start
to bend, but it wasn't enough.
More
strength, I need more strength, Powers curse you.

Va'del had never before been able to
communicate mind to mind while in a link, but Vi'en somehow
understood or anticipated his need, and the surge of strength
flowing to his aching arms suddenly surpassed anything he'd ever
before experienced.

The universe seemed to speed up, and Va'del
suddenly felt incredibly clumsy as all of Vi'en's strength was fed
into one area of augmentation, but he let out a hiss of
satisfaction and placed his feet against the wall as he pulled at
the cell door.

With an ear-splitting squeal, the lock gave
way, and Va'del fell to the ground.

His hands were bleeding where skin had torn
when exposed to pressures that it had never been meant to bear, his
bones creaked as if to warn that they'd been on the verge of
collapse, but Va'del didn't care. The subtle weave of augmentation
Jain and Ah'bi had created not so long ago had held, and he pulled
himself to his feet, absently noting that his insides felt like
they were on fire as he lurched out the door.

Somehow Vi'en must have known he was free,
either because of the elation that had surged through him or for
some other reason. How she knew didn't matter as much as the fact
that she modified the link. As Va'del took a second, stumbling
step, the nature of his augmentation changed again and time seemed
to slow back down as superhuman grace returned to his limbs.

The shriek of tearing metal brought a pair of
guards out of the fortified room where they spent their time, but
Va'del was moving so quickly neither man had the chance to do more
than fumble at their belts for the heavy clubs that they used to
intimidate and quell the prisoners, before he reached them.

A heartbeat later, both men were down, one
unconscious from a knee to the face, the other with a crushed
throat. Va'del reached down in one smooth motion and picked up both
clubs.

The remaining guards were just getting to
their feet, one with a pair of dice still in his hands, when Va'del
burst into the room.

The fact that there were so many of them
slowed the sub-Guadel more than their clumsy efforts to defend
themselves. Moving faster than they could follow, casually wielding
the clubs with bone-crushing force, Va'del weaved between them with
an ease he'd never before experienced.

Si'mon and Javin reached the door as the last
guard collapsed, but Va'del only noted that fact in passing, much
like he observed that his insides still felt like they were
burning.

Va'del saw Si'mon reach down and take a key
ring from one of the bodies, and then the younger man was out the
door and headed up the stairs to the main floor of the castle.

The heavy footsteps behind him could only
belong to Javin, so Va'del ignored them and plunged into the first
knot of soldiers he found.

Once again bodies tumbled away from Va'del,
but he was starting to slow now. It was only Javin's arrival that
saved him from taking several serious wounds. Vi'en was tiring out.
Va'del was tiring too, but it wasn't just the normal fatigue of
muscles worked too hard, something deeper inside of him was
stretched to the point of failure.

The two men discarded their clubs and armed
themselves with the weapons of their fallen opponents, before
pressing on into a group of servants who attacked them with kitchen
knives and cleavers.

Instead of completely dropping out of link
like he'd expected, Vi'en stayed with him, augmenting him at a much
reduced level. Va'del only moved slightly faster than his opponents
now, but the link was still just enough of an edge for him and
Javin to continue rampaging through the castle. Va'del took no joy
in killing the overmatched guardsmen singly or in pairs, but knew
it was imperative to kill them now, before they could congeal into
a stronger force.

Va'del led the way around a corner, and then
some half-seen motion made him pull back just in time to avoid
being skewered by a trio of wickedly barbed arrows that hissed
through the air and then ricocheted off the corridor wall. Their
efforts hadn't been equal to the task. The Baron's men were
grouping up too quickly. Possibly Va'del and Javin could have still
carried the day but for the archers ahead of them. Even assuming
they were able to cut down the bowmen, they'd be in no shape to
continue their rout of the guards.

Heavy footsteps behind them brought Va'del
and Javin around with their swords raised, but instead of more
enemies, Va'ma came running around the corner, leading a dozen
reinforcements.

We have a chance still. If we can get past
the archers.

There wasn't any more time for thought. With
a nod to Javin, Va'del exploded into motion, turning the corner and
charging the archers with all of his augmented speed.

For all that his time sense wasn't nearly as
augmented as it had been a few minutes before, things were still
moving slowly enough for Va'del to see the closest archer's
eyebrows shoot up in surprise as he saw Va'del. They hadn't
expected an attack and paused for the barest moment, but it wasn't
enough of a pause to allow Va'del to cover more than a step or
two.

Almost as one, the three men released their
arrows, which sped towards Va'del in a blur.

Va'del tried to judge their flight, bringing
his sword around in an attempt to parry the first as his dagger
came up to intercept the second. It wasn't until the third arrow
pierced his stomach that he realized despite incredible odds, he'd
been successful parrying the first two missiles.

##

It was so cold when Va'del woke up that it
took him several minutes to remember that he was in the lowlands
rather than the mountains. The fact that he was alive seemed to
indicate that the remaining Guadel and guardsmen must have been
successful in storming the castle, but he found it hard to care
very much.