Frozen Prospects (The Guadel Chronicles Volume 1)

Chapter 19

Jasmin had nodded. "Some of them die because they leave their mouths open to scream and instead find it filled with snow. Others are broken against the rocks before the snow stops moving."

The whole conversation had been little more than an abstract exercise at the time. The trails used by the Guadel to move from village to village had long since been mapped out to minimize exposing travelers to avalanches, and it was now mostly just a concern for those specialized Guadel used to scout for new village possibilities.

Only now it's an eventuality that has suddenly become real. Maybe Jain or Cindi were sheltered by the rock. If not, I don't think Jain is strong enough to free herself. Cindi might be, but she is the last person I would trust to keep her head under a stressful situation.

Va'del realized that his thoughts were still tinged with panic, and tried to get a grip on himself. The more frightened I am, the faster I'll use up my air.

The thought suddenly didn't hold as much fear for Va'del as it had a second ago. Dying in an avalanche would be a kind of release. It was failure, but a failure that wasn't Va'del's fault. It was likely the closest he would have ever come to actually succeeding.

Va'del tried counting heartbeats as a way of measuring the passage of time, but soon abandoned the effort. As the minutes passed, the cold gradually started to seep into his limbs. It was a steady process that seemed to mirror a rising inability to think. Air must be going bad already.

Va'del lost consciousness never expecting to awaken.

At some point the welcoming blackness turned hard and cold as it pushed him away, back to a world of light and chilling wind. Cindi slapped him, and then made as if to repeat the blow.

"I'm awake."

"You have to get up and start moving around or you'll freeze to death."

Va'del stared stupidly at the Guadel for several seconds before the words finally penetrated and he struggled to his feet with her help.

"Walk in circles while I dig out one of the gurra."

Questions of how Cindi had freed herself seemed strangely unimportant, and the teenager set about walking back and forth across the broken surface of the snow while the old woman walked several steps and then knelt down.

Va'del was too far away to see what the Guadel set down before her, but within a few seconds the snow started to sink, forming a cone-shaped depression. Cindi paused and glared at the snow before reaching down and picking something up and then depositing it a foot away from the depression.

The procedure was repeated four more times, and each time the new depression was deeper than the last, so that taken as a group they formed a kind of ramp down into the snow.

As Cindi picked up what Va'del had to assume was a heat sphere for the last time, she waved him over and pointed at a spot just beyond the end of the ramp.

"One of the gurra is here. You're going to have to dig it out. If I use the stone, we'll soak all of the supplies and render them useless."

Va'del started trying to dig away at the snow with his gloved hands, but Cindi shook her head. "Use your knife or you'll never get it out."

The teenager started to protest that he didn't want to risk hurting the animal, but his thoughts must have been written plainly on his face. The older woman shook her head once more, this time with a gentleness that was completely at odds with what Va'del knew of her.

"Use the hilt to avoid damaging any of the supplies, but you don't have to worry about hurting the animal. It died before I could get you out. They aren't smart enough to form air pockets like you did."