Hunter's Academy (Veller) (13 page)

“What did they say?” Daniel asked, jumping up from th
is seat just outside the door as she walked by.

“Bruised, but still attached.” She said, waving her hand.

“It was a low blow.”

“No it wasn’t, it was a fair shot
. I just couldn’t keep my guard up.”

“Still, he knew you were having trouble, he shouldn’t have been so hard on you.”

Kile stopped and looked at Daniel. She knew he meant well, but sometimes, some of the things he said really annoyed her.

“Why, because I’m a girl?” She asked.

“Well… no… it’s not that… it was just that you were having… you know… trouble. You couldn’t…”

“I couldn’t use a sword,
that's what I couldn’t do.” She finished for him.

“That’s not what I was going to say.”

“But that was what you were thinking. Do you think that if I was out in the wild on an assignment, that my enemy would go easy on me because I was having trouble?”

“No, but
you're not out in the wild.”

“No, and I won’t be if I can’t defend myself.”
She replied.

It was as simple as that, before she could graduate the academy, she had to show she could defend herself by some means, of course that usually meant being able to wield a sword effectively.

“I better get going, Luke will be wondering where I got off to.” She said. “Same time, behind the stables?”

“I wouldn’t have thought you’d be up to it.”

“Don’t have much of a choice do I?” She replied. “As Carter is want to say, I need all the practice I can get.”

“You also need to let that wrist heal.”

“Yes mother.” She said as she waved goodbye to him with her good arm.

Kile stepped out into the compound and headed up toward the stables. She knew Luke wouldn’t worry if she was
late; he hardly seemed to care if she showed up at all.

She had gone over the list of available chores and when she found one opening for help in the stable
s, she jumped at the chance. It was far better than anything else they were offering and she enjoyed talking to the horses better than talking to the other cadets, of course she could only do that when Luke wasn’t around. She wasn’t sure what the stable hand would say if he caught her conversing with a few of the mounts.

Joe Spence was waiting by the kitchen door as she passed by.

“You’re late.” He told her.

“It took a little longer at the hall
this time.” She said, holding up her bandaged wrist for him to see. The Cook just shook his head and sighed as he handed her the carrots.

“One of these days you are not going to leave that field in one piece young lady.”

“You’re probably right.” She replied as she tried to hurry away. She knew what was coming next. The speech about how young ladies shouldn’t do such reckless things, how she should take up knitting or sewing, learn to cook and settled down with a nice boy. That was not what she wanted to hear as she quickly ducked around the corner of the kitchen before he could get started.

Luke wasn’t around when she entered the stables so she greeted the horse one by one. By now she knew each of the
ir names, both their real names and the silly labels that their owners had given them. Some of the horses actually liked their new names or their vir names as they came to call them. Alex’s horse, whose real name was Ralo, preferred to be called by his new vir name, Illusion. Where as Carter’s horse Sabal who he called Dirk, couldn’t care one way or the other. She had spent most of yesterday evening, after Luke had left, writing the horse’s true names on their plaques just below there vir names in the hopes that some of the cadets would actually use them, although she had her doubts whether they would even notice them.

“Hello Grim.” She said as she held out the carrot. “How about today? Will you at least say something to me today?”

Grim turned his nose up at the offering and ignored her by looking the other way as he had done the last three days she had tried to give him one of the carrots.

“Come on Grim. I said I was sorry, what more can I do?” She asked as she moved
to stand in front of him, but the pony refused to look at her.

“Fine, maybe tomorrow.”
She said reluctantly as she set the carrot on the gate as she did each night, and each night Grim knocked it off.

She
picked up the two empty buckets and set about her chores. Working in the stables was actually a lot easier than she had thought and not much different than the work she had done back in Riverport. The horses were the responsibility of the cadets. As for the staff, for the most part, they looked after their own, so it was really only the spare horses that she had to care for. Beyond that, there wasn’t much for her to do. Luke had most of the tasks done by the time she arrived and was hardly ever there, not that he gave her much to do when he was there. She spent most of her time sitting and talking to the horses. They were not as articulate as Kaza, but they were more vocal than the yarrow.

One horse, that she did enjoy speaking with, was an old stallion that went by the name of Watersaber.
He had received his vir name so long ago that he had forgotten his true name. He was raised and owned by Garrett Boraro, and while the Weapon’s Master had little use for Kile, Watersaber was eager to tell her every story that he knew and a few he must have made up.

She had learned quite a bit about the Weapons Master, and the deeds that he did in the service of the Hunter’s guild and almost felt guilty for disliking the man. She had learned that Boraro actually did, single
handedly, capture the captain of the black water pirates, and that he had been honored by the king for his part in bringing in Prince
Jonland’s assassin, but then most of the stories were from a loyal horse’s perspective, so she had to take them from where they came, which, ironically, was straight from the horse’s mouth.

As she took the two buckets to the well to get them filled, she hadn’t seen the stable hand standing in the shadows watching her.

“I just don’t get you.” He said as she passed him. His sudden presence startled her as she dropped both buckets and spun around, preparing to defend herself. When she saw it was just Luke, she scolded herself for being so jumpy.

“Nice stance.” He said as he emerged from the shadows to
retrieve one of the fallen buckets.

“Sorry sir, I didn’t see you there.” She replied as she retrieved the other.

Luke walked with her down to the well, something that actually made her a little nervous. He usually didn’t hang around when she was working, he usually made himself scarce.

“For three days I have watched you ask that Mountain pony for forgiveness, what is it that you expect him to do? What is it that you did that you require his forgiveness for?”

Okay, maybe he wasn’t so scarce. Had he been watching her for the last three days? Had he actually seen her talking to Grim, or the other horses for that matter?

“I’m not sure what you mean sir.” She said as she filled one of the
buckets and took the second one from him.

“Don’t you?” He asked. “I’ve also seen the cadet’s plaques, new names
were written on them. You wouldn’t know anything about that would you?”

“Names sir? I don’t think I understand what you mean.” She said as she filled the second bucket. She didn’t really like lying to
Luke; she just didn’t really know how to explain everything to him without looking like a fool. Picking up both buckets, and ignoring the pain in her wrist, she made for the stables.

“Did you know those names are
similar to the names the alverie gave their horses?”

That little bit of information had stopped Kile in her tracks. That was something she hadn’t known, but then why would she. She didn’t make up the
names; they were the names that the horses told her.

Luke took the bucket from her right hand and proceeded ahead of her to the stable. She had to run to catch up.

“You see, back when the alva lived on this land, they had, what some would call, a horse mistress or a Lamai. She was a wise woman, whose job it was to watch and care for the horses. When an alverie rider selected a mount, they would take it to the Lamai and she would tell the rider the horse’s true name. Strangely enough, those names were similar to the ones written upon the plaques.”

“How did she know their names?” Kile dared to ask. The last thing she really wanted was to prolong this line of conversation, but she had to know the answers.

“It was said that she ask them, and they told her.” Luke replied as he emptied the bucket into a large trough that supplied water to several stalls. It usually took six or seven trips to the well to completely fill it up.

“Do you believe that’s possible?” She asked.

“The alverie considered the horse to be one of the sacred animals, blessed by the goddess Thaladona. The Lamai was, in some ways, a priestess of Thaladona. Whether she spoke with the goddess or the horses themselves was known only to her.  She would only pass this knowledge down to the next Lamai.”

“Are there any Lamai left?”

Luke fell silent for a moment, and then took the second bucket from Kile. He didn’t say anything, he just poured the water into the trough, and although he stood beside her, he seemed miles away.

“I don’t know.”
He finally answered. “There are none in this land. The alverie left Aru… centuries ago, when they could no longer live side by side with the vir. Whether they still exist somewhere out there is anyone’s guess.”

There was a sad, far away look in the man’s eyes, one that suggested to Kile not to ask anymore questions about the
alverie.

“Why don’t you call it a
day?” He told her as he took the empty water bucket from her. “You should rest that wrist.”

“But there are things that need to be done.”

“I’ve been doing fine for years without any help; I think I can manage one day, besides, if you’re planning to practice with your friends tonight, you’ll need all the rest you can get.” He said as he walked off.

She
stared after the man that knew a lot more about what was going on than he led anyone to believe.

Kile never went back to her cell. She went out behind the stables and sat in the secret little place that she had hidden in for the beginning part of the first year. There was a cool breeze blowing in from the north which heralded the coming of winter once again. Where had the time gone she wondered as she ate the carrots that Grim had refused. She was actually acquiring a taste for them, which would have made her mother laugh. She had the hardest time trying to get Kile to eat her vegetable, now it was pretty much all she did eat.

Between thinking of home and wondering what the Weapon Master had in store for her tomorrow, she must have dozed off, because she was suddenly awakened by a hyperactive chipmunk.

“Hey Kile Girl. See guys, I told you she would be here.”

Kile blinked her eyes opened to see Alex standing in front of her, pointing as he called out to the other
s. He could be really annoying sometimes she thought, and if she had a little bit more energy, she would show him just how annoying he could be.

“What time is it?” She asked as she looked up
at the sky. The blue had given away to gray as there was a bit of overcast. It looked as if they would be treated to rain tomorrow. She loved the rainy days, she just didn’t like training in them.

“You missed supper, if that’s what you’re asking.” Carter told her as he shoved the two practice swords into
the ground and began to pull on his gloves.

“I ate already.” She replied.

“You can’t live off vegetables. That’s why you can’t hold a sword, you’re too weak.”

Spoken like a true carnivore she thought.

“How’s the wrist?” Daniel asked as he took her arm and felt the bandages.

“It’s still there.” She told him, pulling her hand away.

“Hey, did you hear the news? Somebody broke into one of the exhibits in the Great Hall.” Alex exclaimed. “They’re saying that a couple of artifacts went missing.”

“What exhibit?”
She asked, although she was afraid she already knew.

“Oh yeah, I heard about that. It was that dragon slayer guy.” Carter replied, waving it off. “What was his name? Quinton Nash wasn’t it?”

“No, it was Qualon Nissa… or was that Nassa, something like that.” Alex added. “He slew the Gattor dragon.”

“
Quaineess Nyn, the slayer of Gator the Ash Creator.” Kile corrected as she returned to her seat

“Yeah… that's him, the Quinessa dude.”

“What was missing?” She asked.

“Oh… they said a set of scales, but I don’t remember seeing any scales in the great hall.”

“Not scales that you weigh with stupid, scales like in… fish scales.” Carter replied.

“Oh… I don’t remember seeing any fish scales either.”

“That’s because they were supposed to be Dragon scales.” Daniel corrected.