by Dean Murray
Taking both lead ropes in his left hand, Va'del wrapped his other arm around Jain's tiny waist and helped her stagger past a pair of Guadel busy setting out glow spheres, heat spheres and the other worked gemstones that would help make the cave habitable for the night.
Va'del lowered Jain to the floor and looked up to see Cindi glaring at him. Jain followed his gaze and patted his hand. "I'll be fine, go take care of the gurra."
Va'del didn't like leaving Jain, but she gave him a weak smile, so he nodded and led Hungry and Sleepy over to the part of the cave that had been marked off for the beasts. It took Va'del nearly a cycle to unburden and wipe down the gurra while Oh'scir set about making food and Cindi paced their little corner of the cave and complained under her breath.
It wasn't until the beasts of burden were seen to and the various caravan members had sat down to consume simple dinners that Va'del realized that Jain was still sitting completely motionless in the corner where he'd left her.
When Jain didn't respond to her name, Va'del ran to her. She's asleep. No, her breathing isn't right for that. It is too rough.
Cindi saw Va'del's sudden motion and stalked over. "I'll not have you bothering that poor girl. Oh. Why didn't you say something? Her lungs are filling up. Stupid boy, if I hadn't caught this, we'd have found her dead in the morning."
Angry words of reproach died behind Va'del's lips as he realized pointing out that he had been rubbing down the gurra wouldn't make any difference to the older woman. "Can you do anything for her? Jasmin did something to my lungs the first time out. She cleared out the fluid and made them so that they could handle the thin air better."
"That's Guadel Jasmin to you. I'll not have you dishonoring her memory boy."
Va'del bit his lip to remain silent, and was rewarded a second later when Cindi nodded to herself. "We should be able to have her back to normal by tomorrow if I can get some help. Boy, go get the Caravan Master and tell him I'll need his wife to thicken up the air in here and then come help me."
The Caravan Master's wife, Sophie, proved to be a thin, plain woman who smiled easily and proved incredibly adept at countering Cindi's attempts to place blame. The pair had hustled Jain off to a corner where they could work on her undisturbed, and Va'del found himself unsuccessfully trying to eavesdrop in an effort to find out whether or not Jain was going to be ok.
The Caravan Master saw Va'del's apparent stress, and took a few moments to come speak with him. "She'll be just fine boy. It's my fault really. All of us old hands tend to forget that the only reason we can survive out in the thin air is the modifications someone did to us decades ago. I should have thought to check and make sure all of you youngsters had been taken care of. We've got four other cases. None of them quite as bad, but don't you worry. The ladies will have your friend and all the rest of them fixed up and ready to go by the time morning rolls around."
A quarter cycle later, while Va'del was fingering a narrow package that Javin had dropped off for him the night before, Oh'scir ambled over to tell him that Cindi wanted them both to go to sleep so that they weren't tired in the morning. The younger man nodded and wrapped himself up in blankets, but closed his eyes sure that sleep would be a long time arriving. Javin said to leave it wrapped up until things got their worst. Does Jain's illness count as something terrible enough to unwrap his gift?
When Va'del finally awakened, it was to glares from Cindi, who seemed to have been waiting for him to stir. "What are you doing with worked stones? Did you steal them?"
Still somewhat confused from having so recently been asleep, it took Va'del several seconds to understand that the Guadel was talking about Betreec's and Jasmin's gemstones. The teenager's hands darted to his chest to make sure that the pouch containing the two stones was still there.
"Yes, those two. Did you really think that I wouldn't sense them? It doesn't matter. I'll have them now."
The action seemed to tear at Va'del's heart, but On'li's warning that he needed to be very careful not to defy Cindi and Oh'scir pounded away at his thoughts. The teenager had worked the pouch free from his shirt by the time he realized that the weak movement behind Cindi was Jain, and that she was shaking her head emphatically.
"No," he said. "They were the lifeworks of Ja...Guadel Jasmin and Guadel Betreec. Guadel On'li gave them to me for safekeeping. I have to keep them until she asks for them back."
The expression of surprise on Cindi's face at Va'del's refusal was almost an exact mirror of what he felt himself at having stood up to her. For a moment Va'del worried that he'd done the wrong thing, but his trust in Jain was absolute. He could only hope that she knew something he didn't about what was happening.
Guadel Cindi's face instantly flushed with anger. She glared for several seconds and then stalked off muttering about disrespect and the unworthy state of the current generation of youth.
Once they were as alone as was possible in a roughly-circular cave filled with people, Va'del crept over to Jain. "Are you ok?"
Wrapped in more blankets than Va'del had suspected could be found in the caravan's baggage, Jain nodded. "I'll be fine. They patched me up, and did the alterations that make you all able to breathe out there without having your lungs fill up with fluid."
"I'm sorry. I should have remembered and said something."
Jain quietly laughed, but as always there was nothing of mocking in it. "Please. I should have remembered it. We learn how to do the procedure for Powers sake. With all of the excitement, I guess we all just forgot."
Va'del shrugged, still somehow feeling like he'd failed Jain.
"It's ok. You don't have anything to be sorry about. You all but carried me up the last few steps into the cave last night."
Va'del wished he could lean in and give Jain a kiss, but Oh'scir was up now and looking their direction. "I'll get Hungry packed and take care of any of the chores that would otherwise fall to you. See if you can't go back to sleep for a while. You'll need all of your strength if they're really going to make us travel today."
##
The Caravan Master had indeed been unwavering in his desire to move out, and although Va'del understood that Black Rock Village was probably only a week away from starvation, he had bitterly wished they could wait for even one day while Jain and the others recovered.
He'd been sore enough when they'd started out in the morning that he'd known each step must have been sheer torture for her. Unable to do anything other than lighten her burden, Va'del had tied Hungry's lead rope to Sleepy's pack, and led both gurra to save Jain from having to fight one of the sometimes stubborn beasts.
Yesterday's relatively good weather had disappeared, replaced by a wind that was bitterly cold, if not overly strong. For the first time Va'del could remember, Jain was obviously shivering just as badly as he was. The fine, stinging particles of ice that the wind was propelling into the openings in everyone's clothing despite their best efforts to stop it, left Va'del feeling as though his skin had been abraded against a rock wall.
At least the wind is at our backs, so Jain and the others don't have to fight it as well as their own aching muscles.
Each time the Caravan Master stopped in the temporary shelter of a rock outcropping, Va'del handed Jain a water skin and tried to ignore the fact that she was obviously closer to total exhaustion with every passing cycle.
Somehow they all made it through the day. Of almost equal amazement to Va'del was the fact that he'd managed to continue to bite his tongue in the face of Cindi's repeated attempts to find fault with everything he did.
The next day promised to be even worse. Everyone's muscles were in the worst shape of the journey so far. Jain had started the morning pointing out, with something very nearly like her usual cheer, that at least the gurra all would have an easier time of things since their loads had been lightened by two day's provisions.
The statement had managed to draw a smile out of Va'del despite his worry about her, but as the day wore on, Jain once again retreated in
to herself, as if simply putting one foot before the other was all that she could possibly handle.
Jain collapsed into her blankets as soon as she finished dinner that night, and Va'del was forced to endure Cindi's endless remonstrations alone. He understood the need to avoid further straining relations with the villagers, but it hardly mattered next to his worry that Jain wasn't going to make it to the village.
The next day went much better for everyone, whether because they were starting to accustom themselves to the journey, or possibly because they knew the warm sanctuary of the village awaited them at the day's end.
Whatever the reason, the caravan made excellent time, and Va'del saw the dark smudge that signaled they'd arrived at the village at least a cycle sooner than he'd expected.
The subtle straightening of the backs of each member of the party as they entered the village seemed to signal that they, like Va'del, had been carrying tension and stress they hadn't known about, but which evaporated as they finally made it safely to the village.
For all that we spent most of our time and energy worrying about fighting off the cold, I don't think that most of use ever forgot that there was a very real chance that we'd be ambushed by the bandits along the way.
The Guadel tasked the rest of the party with taking care of the animals, and getting their gear to the guest rooms and then left with the headman.
Va'del tried to convince Jain to leave the care of Sleepy, Hungry, and the other two gurra to him, but she gamely insisted on helping despite not knowing very much about caring for the animals.
The two of them managed to finish up with all four beasts about the same time as the rest of their party, and then tiredly picked up their own things and followed the others to their rooms. Jain was recovering more slowly than the rest of the daughters. Va'del had shouldered more than half of her things, but they were still moving so slowly that they almost lost sight of their quickly moving companions several times.
Once they finally reached the guest rooms that had been reserved for them, Va'del wanted nothing quite so much as to lay down and go to sleep, but he forced himself to leave his things in a more or less orderly pile, and head back for Oh'scir and Cindi's things.
Seeing Jain turn to follow him, Va'del shook his head. "You should stay here and rest. For all we know we'll be on the road again tomorrow."
Jain looked around, and seeing that nobody was looking their direction, squeezed Va'del's arm. "Don't be silly. You're even worse with directions than I am. Besides, if you stand here and argue with me we'll just end up even further behind everyone else. I'll come help, otherwise we'll still be looking for you tomorrow when her highness is ready to get back on the trail."
Va'del chuckled a little at the image of Cindi stomping around, quite put out because he'd had the gall to go off and get lost, and then nodded. "You're probably right."
Once the pair was out of sight of the guest rooms, Jain broached the subject that he'd wanted to ask her about, but hadn't yet had the opportunity. "Jasmin and Betreec's stones properly belong to their bloodline. Since On'li and Javin are the head of that bloodline, if they gave them to you, there is nothing Cindi can do to take them away."
Va'del nodded, finally understanding why Cindi had backed down. "Thank you for hinting that I should stand up to her."
"You don't need to thank me for that. I know how much they mean to you. Besides, I hate watching her pick at you all the time. She's completely unfair."
Va'del shrugged uncomfortably. "She's the Guadel though. I have to keep her happy or I'll never have a chance to be a real candidate."
"That doesn't make what she's doing right."
Even with Jain picking their direction of travel the pair made two false turns. It wasn't until they heard the rest of the caravan headed back from the stables that they found the correct corridor and made it to the stables. Anxious to try and catch back up to the others, Va'del quickly loaded himself up with as much of the Guadel's baggage as he could carry.
None of the symbols at the cross tunnels looked even remotely familiar. The clatter of their party was so faint as to be all but useless, so after several seconds Jain shrugged and pointed down the left passage. "I suppose one way is as good as the other. We can't stand around and wait for Cindi to come find us."
Va'del hadn't ever noticed just how similar tunnels could look when you didn't know the meaning of the sigils at the crossroads. Still, after several minutes they realized that they'd unsurprisingly taken the wrong tunnel. What did catch Va'del off guard was the fact that right before he decided to turn around, they somehow ended up in a dead end containing three off-duty guardsmen who were passing around some kind of dust.
"It's the bloody kids from the Capital."
"Right; we get overrun by those powers-blasted bandits, left out here to starve for two weeks, and then when help finally comes it turns out to be a few old people and some kids to help defend the whole bloody village."
All of the men's eyes were somehow wrong--too bright, and not tracking quite right--but one of them seemed less affected by whatever they were taking than the other two.
"Lay off, Vin'i. They're just kids, they don't have any more say about what happens than we do. Besides, the Council has to have a good reason for not sending more help. This must be all there was that could be spared."
"Shut up Dom'niv. My father was born in the Capital. He told me all kinds of stories about how big the Guard was there. There are plenty of people to spare; they just didn't want to send us any help. They sit there and get fat on our work just like they always have."
Va'del tried to pull Jain back, hoping that if they left the guardsmen would turn on each other, but the slight motion brought all three to their feet.
"You think you can just leave? Why haven't you answered us?"
Va'del stepped around Jain, placing himself between her and the guardsmen. "We're sorry about what happened. We've brought food, and will do everything we can to help protect your village."
The guardsmen were all fairly tall men but the largest one, apparently named Vin'i, swore at Va'del and pushed him. "Shut up you skinny punk. You shouldn't even be breathing our air."
Va'del saw the shove coming. His unarmed training had given him three or four responses ranging from things that would leave the attacker howling in pain, to ones that would leave nothing more than a corpse at his feet, but Cindi's voice had merged with On'li's now in telling him that he wasn't to do anything to worsen the situation, so he didn't use any of them.
There wasn't room for Va'del to dodge the shove, not in the close quarters of the tunnel, not without tripping over Jain, so he absorbed the full force of the attack, and careened into the dark stone wall, hitting his head before somehow ending up on the ground with a sharp pain in his chest.
Va'del lost a few seconds as he tried to recover from the dizziness that seemed determined to chain him to the floor. When the teenager was finally able to open his eyes without wanting to vomit, he saw one of the guardsmen grab Jain and then recoil as she slapped him.
Va'del pulled himself to his feet as another of the guardsmen grabbed Jain from behind to restrain her.
All thoughts of trying to smooth over any differences with the villagers had been subordinated by the need to protect Jain, and Va'del threw himself towards the guards.
Va'del's first kick took the nearest attacker in the right knee, causing him to drop to the ground clutching the destroyed joint, as the teenager slipped past and hit the next man in the small of his back.
The flurry of blows that followed was brief and relatively one-sided as Fi'lin's teaching proved true, and Va'del landed a punch to the base of his opponent's throat. It wasn't a killing blow, not like an attack to the top of the man's throat would have been, but it stunned him and allowed Va'del to render him unconscious a few seconds later.
A scream from Jain brought Va'del around in time to barely deflect a knife blow that would have otherwise taken him in the kidney.
Custom forbid all but full Guadel or candidates to wear swords inside the village, but Va'del had absentmindedly buckled his dagger back on before leaving their rooms, and he scrambled to draw it now, all the while trying to evade or deflect a variety of attacks that left him bleeding from half a dozen small wounds.
Fighting solely with daggers was a more advanced course, one that Fi'lin hadn't covered extensively yet, but Va'del knew he had to protect his weapon until he'd immobilized his opponent's knife.
The brutal journey they'd just completed left Va'del without his normal reserves of strength, and now he felt what little strength remained him slowly draining out of the wounds he'd already taken.
The silence from where Jain had fallen also served as a goad, but Va'del forced himself to be patient and allow the fight to develop naturally instead of rushing in like Bi'li and getting himself killed.
He's a more skilled knife fighter than I am, but whatever they were passing around has affected him oddly. His movements are jerky, faster, but less coordinated than they should be.
A wise fighter would have let Va'del weaken from his wounds, but Vin'i apparently didn't have that kind of patience, instead rushing his smaller opponent with a howl of rage.
Everything happened so quickly that Va'del's conscious mind couldn't follow and he instead reacted with the reflexes developed by long hours of training as Vin'i bore him to the ground.
It wasn't until the larger man stopped moving that Va'del knew that he'd succeeded in burying his dagger in Vin'i's chest.
Rolling the dead guardsman off of him, Va'del stumbled to Jain. Taking in the large bump on her head, Va'del picked Jain up and carried her, taking random turns until he finally found people and collapsed at their feet.
##
When Va'del finally regained consciousness, he was in a strange room replete with the familiar scents he'd grown to associate with Healer Sara. As Va'del's sluggish mind cast about for a reason why he would be in a sick room, he remembered Jain's injuries.