Frozen Prospects by Dean Murray Page B

containing practice swords of various
weights and sizes, and then mocked him when he'd asked for a
practice dagger as well.
    "What
do you think you are, a Guadel? You'll learn how to fight properly
with one weapon before I hear any talk about you needing a second
one."
    The
other students had then proceeded to square off against Va'del one
at a time, attacking with force that in many cases would have been
more than enough to break bones. Alir was scoring the matches, and
was obviously favoring the other boys by failing to recognize about
half of Va'del's points.
    Despite
the unfairness, Va'del had managed to win the first three bouts
before fatigue began slowing his movements.
    I
keep getting more tired, while they come in fresh, one after
another.
    Va'del
wasn't fighting to win anymore, not when the other boys were so
obviously out to make sure he wouldn't be able to come back and
train with them in the future. Instead, Va'del was trying to make
sure that the blows landing on him wouldn't be incapacitating.
    The
sixth opponent came in with an overhead blow that would've broken
Va'del's neck. He only just managed to bring his sword up and
deflect the strike away. It still glanced off his left shoulder
with enough force to make the arm tingle and add to an already
impressive collection of bruises.
    Alir
yawned. "Point. That was a very sloppy block, I've seen better
out of children who've never held a sword before."
    Va'del's
opponent redoubled his efforts, launching attacks with such speed
that it was all Va'del could do to dodge and parry the first few
before a straight thrust took him in the chest with enough force to
make his ribs creak.
    A
number of young men and women drifted over to watch the next bout,
which went much the same way as the previous one. Va'del dodged a
number of blows, before exhaustion caused him to bungle a parry and
take a blow to the stomach that knocked the wind out of him.
    A
number of the watchers laughed as Va'del was once again knocked to
the ground, and he blushed.
    Alir
waved the victorious boy away and shook his head at Va'del. "Go
get some water and then come back and we'll see if your technique is
really as bad as it looks."
    Va'del
pulled himself to his feet and was walking around the gray-clothed
observers when one of them, a tall, handsome boy, snickered. "He's
a bloody coward, won't even attack. I'rone sure screwed up picking
that one. I guess the bloodline shows through. An inept candidate
for a stupid ogre of a Guadel. Looks like he managed to get himself
killed off none too soon."
    It
had become reflex for Va'del to ignore slights against himself, but
somehow the same kind of insults directed against his adoptive
family bypassed his carefully crafted controls. Hot rage poured
through him and before anyone else could respond, he turned and
knocked the older boy to the ground with a punch that left his hand
tingling.
    For
a split second nobody moved, and then as one, the other boys turned
on him with a hail of blows aimed at driving him to the ground.
    A
deep voice suddenly rang out, and the blows stopped almost as
quickly as they'd started. "Enough."
    The
crowd surrounding Va'del parted and he saw a thin, but heavily
muscled, man with the paired blades of a Guadel approaching. "There
will be punishments handed out left and right for this, I assure
you."
    Pointing
to one of the gray-clothed girls, the man continued. "What
happened here to make these Guadel candidates think it was
acceptable to turn on one boy like a pack of starved snow wolves?"
    The
girl looked supremely uncomfortable, as if trying to weigh the
displeasure of an adult against the displeasure of her peers. The
instructor opened his mouth, but before he could say anything one of
the other girls stepped forward.
    "Be'ter
insulted the trainee, and then insulted Guadel I'rone. The trainee
struck Be'ter, knocking him to the ground, after which the rest of
the candidates attacked the trainee."
    The
girl turned to look back at