Frozen Prospects (The Guadel Chronicles Volume 1)

Chapter 19

Va'del didn't really feel any better about his future when he awoke, but he'd achieved some measure of catharsis the night before as he'd realized he couldn't possibly appease Cindi. All he could hope to do was avoid giving her additional reasons to push for his dismissal and then pray that Javin and On'li could manage to convince the Council to leave him in the candidate classes.

As a result, the normal spattering of critical remarks didn't strike as deeply, and Va'del was even able to catch Jain's eye at one point during breakfast and mouth his thanks to her.

Cindi was in a particularly foul mood, seemingly disappointed that they hadn't covered more distance. "We'll press on hard today, and should be able to rejoin the caravan a half cycle or so after dark."

Even Oh'scir seemed to doubt the wisdom of traveling after dark, but his wife quelled him with a look. "There should be a full moon tonight. Assuming there aren't any clouds, we'll have plenty of light to travel by. If not, we'll go ahead and make camp as normal, but I'd rather not spend another night out in the cold."

Once camp had been broken, the pace that Cindi demanded was even more punishing than normal. Jain had led Hungry herself without complaint the last two days, but it was evident to Va'del that she was tiring too quickly to make it through the entire day, so at their first water break he'd slipped up and tied Sleepy's lead rope to Hungry's pack and then relieved Jain of her lead rope with a wink.

Cindi saw the change before they set back out, but didn't say anything, apparently having come to the same conclusion. Jain simply hadn't had enough time to develop the endurance needed to cover the kinds of distances they were traveling each day.

Sometime after their second break for food and water, Va'del noticed an odd rock outcropping above the trail they were following. It's a wonder the wind keeps it bare of snow. Especially considering how deeply drifted everything is on this side of it.

As the party came even with the slender finger of stone, Oh'scir seemed to sense something unusual. Va'del was craning his neck in an effort to try and determine what had caused the Guadel to signal a halt, when a sudden rumble brought him spinning around just in time to see a wall of white crash into him.

The teenager tried to remember what he'd been told by Jasmin about surviving avalanches, but fear and panic were tearing at his sanity. Va'del remembered something about a curious motion Jasmin had showed him, one that was supposed to help him rise to the surface of the churning snow, but he'd felt silly practicing it, and actually trying it while being swept down the slope was nearly impossible.

After what seemed to be forever, but which probably was little more than a couple of seconds, the blinding rush of snow seemed to lose momentum, and Va'del brought both hands to his face, pushing out to create a breathing space.

Jasmin had been right, there was only a heartbeat or two between when the snow stopped moving, and when it hardened to a stone-like consistency. Va'del's efforts to increase the size of his breathing space proved futile, his arms were unable to make any impression in the snow.

I'm probably going to die. Jasmin and Betreec said that one in two families caught in a snow slide don't survive.

Betreec had shrugged when Va'del had asked why more families didn't survive. "Any number of reasons. It's actually surprising that so many survive. It hinges on one or more of the wives being strong enough to use her power to dig herself out of the snow. There are countless scenarios where that isn't possible. The wife may not be strong enough to tunnel out with her abilities, or may end up buried so deeply that even one with strong abilities may not be able to reach the surface. Alternatively, they may suffer some injury while being carried by the snow."