Hunter's Academy (Veller) (40 page)

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14

“Well, I guess congratulations are in order, at least for those fifteen cadets that passed the survival exam.” Master Adams said as he stepped into the room and walked to the front of the class.

Kile looked around the room at the faces of the cadets, some beamed with pride, and others looked down at their desks. It was either in shame or in anger of having to bail out of the exercise. Eric was the only one that looked in her direction, and there was no denying what he felt when he saw her, and surprisingly it didn’t bother her.

She looked out the window, out at the western wall, and she had mixed feelings, whether she liked it better in here or out there. The wild held so much more freedom, more th
an the stone walls that now surrounded her; of course the bath and the extra change of clothing were a welcome indulgence. Sleeping in her cot, in her cell or sleeping out under the stars, it was a hard choice to make.

“I see that you all managed to survive it well enough.” Master Adams remarked as he took his seat. “Although I am sure that you may have noticed that we’ve lost a few more cadets. Five took the walk.”

“Who?” One of the cadets yelled out from the back row.

“The
ir names are on the notice board if you care to check. I’m sure that you’ve heard by now that an incident occurred during the survival examination. Cadets used their edge against other cadets, this as you know is not tolerated by the guild, as a result two cadets have been forced to leave the academy and there may be more.”

Kile looked around the room again, searching for the faces she knew she should see. The members of her group
were still here. Murphy was sitting next to Alex in the front row. Carter and Daniel were sitting right behind her. Were they the next to go? Were they the ones Master Adams alluded to? They had used their edge against other cadets, namely Eric and his group, but if Eric was still here, they couldn’t very well force her to leave.

“So, you have all made it to your third year.” Master Adam said, leaning back in his chair as he studied the faces of the cadets before him. “If you thought the second year was intense, your third year is only going to get harder. Your training is going to get harder, your studies are going to get harder and of course the academy will be expecting more from you. You may have gotten by the first two years on sheer luck or natural talent, but they will only take you so far, the survival examination should have proven that. It’s why we have it first, a sort of a wake up call to those that think they can coast into the Hunter’s guild.”

He leaned forward and clasped his hands together, looking at each cadet in turn.

“From this point on, you will each be considered individuals. Each one of you has your strong points and your weak points, and that is what the academy is going to focus on. For the next several months until you are either assigned to a hall, or
pass through the gate of Pudora, we will expose your weaknesses and use them against you until they become your strengths. If you can’t ride a horse, you will be on that horse day and night until you can prove otherwise. If you can’t survive the wild, you will be left out there for weeks on end if necessary until you can. If you’re having problems controlling your edge, you will be seeing a lot more of Morgan than anyone actually should. There are no more easy courses. Those courses that you sailed through are gone now, for the next few months, it's going to be all those things you hated the most about the academy.”

There was a fiendish grin on Master Adam’s face that Kile didn’t like.
Where were her weaknesses she wondered? That was a surprisingly easy and frightening answer, combat. That would mean she wouldn’t be let out of Master Boraro’s sight until she mastered the sword… or he killed her.

“
Your assigned location for each day will be posted on the notice board. It is your responsibility to be where you are supposed to be, when you are supposed to be there, and to show that we at the academy are not evil… you may take the rest of the day off to recuperate from your survival exercise. That’s all have a nice day.”

Master Boraro everyday all day she thought as she slumped in her seat. Maybe she should seize this opportunity to reserve herself a bed in the halls of healing; since she had a feeling she was going to be visiting it a lot more frequently in the next few months.

She waited until the classroom emptied, mostly until she was sure Eric had left before she got up from her desk.

“So Kile, it doesn’t look as if I will be seeing much of you in the next few month
s.” Master Adams commented as he followed her to the door.

“Sir?”

“You’ve read just about every book I have in my library, I don’t think there is much more that I can teach you, and you will be happy to know that Master Voreing feels the same.”

“I’d take Master Voreing over Master Boraro any day.”
She mumbled.

“Yes
… a shame about that.” Master Adams replied. “Still, he is a good man, a little hard nosed at times but he knows what he’s doing, you can learn a lot from him.”

“You’ll visit me at the healers?” She asked.

“I don’t think it will be that bad.” Master Adams laughed. “In all my years here, I don’t think I ever heard of Master Boraro actually killing anyone.”

Somehow that wasn’t very comforting
she thought as she followed Master Adams out into the hall. Maybe Master Boraro hadn’t killed anyone yet, since he hadn’t had to instruct anyone he disliked more than her.

“Oh, Kile, I almost forgot, Morgan wanted to see you after class.”

“Morgan?” She asked, now what did he want. He probably had something to say about the incident.

“Master Adams.”
She called out, stopping the Hunter before he reached the stairs.

“What is it cadet?”

“The two boys that were forced to leave the academy.”

“What about them?”

“Did that have anything to do with…?”

“What occurred between Eric’s group and your group out in the wild two days ago?” He finished for her. All she could do was nod. “I’m afraid to say, yes, it had a lot to do with the fight in the field. A Hunter, whether he’s a full fledge Hunter or just a cadet is never allowed to use his edge against another Hunter. It’s right at the top of the Hunter’s code. Both Robert and Stephen knew that, and yet they chose to act against that code.”

“But sir… we all kind of used our edges at that time.”

“I’m sure you did, in your own ways, but to use your edge defensively to protect yourself or others against another is what a hunter
does; to use your edge offensively to attack another hunter is a violation of the code.”

“But just those two, it doesn’t seem fair. What about Anthony… or Eric.”

Master Adams pulled Kile off to one side as he looked around the hall, making sure that they were not overheard.

“I understand what you
are saying Kile, and believe me, I agree with you, but there are certain circumstances that have to be dealt with first. In Anthony’s case, it is not clear if his edge can be used offensively, and he may still find himself out of the academy if a further investigation finds that what he did, acted against the code.”

“And Eric?” She asked.

Master Adams sighed and shook his head. “Sometimes… the code can be paid for.”

“Because his father is Lord Rimes.”

“In Eric Rimes case, the evidence has to be more… substantial.”

“So, not until he does something that can’t be disputed, he can get away with it.”

“I’m afraid that how it goes, even in the guild.” Master Adams replied, and it was clear that he was as upset about it as she was. “Think of it this way Kile, the world is a big place. Once you’re a hunter and out there on your own, you’ll never have to deal with the likes of him again.”

Somehow that little bit of wisdom, wasn’t very encouraging.

She took the back way down the stairs and out the rear of the great hall to the small mystic towers. She knocked on Morgan’s door, and when no one answered, she went in.

Each time she visited Morgan, his room looked cleaner and more organized, and in a way it seemed pointless. In one more year the remaining hunters would be given their
destination papers and be leaving the academy. By the time Morgan had everything where he wanted it; he would be packing it all up again and headed back to the Mystic’s Tower.

The two overstuffed wingback chairs were still sitting before the blue flame that was cooling the room. The shelves were stocked and the books were neatly aligned, even the little curiosities that littered the workspace now appeared to be in order. It was a far cry from the first time she had ventured into his tower that was nearly two years ago.

“There you are Miss Veller.” Morgan said when he entered the room behind her, his familiar yellow robes flowing about him.

“Yes sir.”

Morgan looked at her, studied her for a while and it was always difficult to tell what the old man was thinking. She was waiting to be berated for the misuse of her edge or something that she did during the incident in the field, but instead Morgan laughed.

“Fine work… fine work.” He said shaking his head. “Please, sit down, tell me about the exam.”

“I’m not sure where to start sir.” She said as she took her usual seat by the fire.

“Start… start at the beginning. I want to know how your edge worked in the wild.” He said handing her a cup a rosemary tea, minus the rum.

She still had no fondness for the tea, but she accepted it graciously and quickly set it aside as he sat down.

“Well… I guess the first time I had to use it was when I asked some birds to help us get our bearings… no wait… the first time was when Kaza warned me about the transport spell.”

“Oh, weren’t you aware of the effects of that?”

“No sir, we were never told.”

“Oh, I must have told somebody… I wonder who that must have been. Oh well, it doesn’t matter now anyway, please, how did you ask these birds and how did they help you.”

Kile went on to explain every incident that she could think of that may or may not have been the use of her edge. She even tried to tell him about the others and how effectively they used the
ir edges like Murphy who was able to enter a burning building and Alex who recreated an illusion of the map that they lost, but Morgan would rush her past these points. He knew all too well the limitations of the boy’s skills, these were quite common and in his world, quite mundane. It was with her skills that he was most interested, and would listen carefully to everything she said, and even to things that she hadn’t said, often forcing her to repeat a part of the story once or twice just to make sure he understood.

He wanted to know how it felt when she used her edge and how it made her feel. What she was thinking? What the animals
were thinking? Anything that had anything to do with her edge was fair game.

When she went through the story, at least twice he finally paused for lunch and filled two bowls with a soup that was somehow cooking on the cold fire. She made a mental note to remember which bowl was actually hers in case he wanted to try that little experiment again.

The one part of the story that had interested him the most was the battle in the field and the small army of squirrels that came to her aid. He was sure she had somehow used the Maligar either willingly or unwillingly and when she assured him that she had not, he was a little disappointed at first, but as he listened to the story the realization of what actually happened eclipsed even that.

“So, you are absolutely sure you don’t remember using the Maligar?” He asked again, and again she answered the same way.

“I’m positive I didn’t use it.” She replied.

“Not even by accident, like when you used in on your horse
… Grime.”

“His name is Grim and no, it wasn’t even like that. When I was with Grim I was angry with him, I wanted him to listen to me. Out in the wild I wasn’t even thinking of Tik or the squirrels. All I knew was that I needed to do something to help Vesper, to help my friends.”

“Incredible… are you absolutely…”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you understand the significance of this?” He asked as he got up from his chair and began to pace the floor, tugging at his beard as he walked.

She
hadn’t thought of any significance in any situation, only that the squirrels had come to help, although Daniel had alluded to the fact that it was quite an uncommon occurrence to see squirrels working in unison, but she really hadn’t looked at it that way.

“The squirrel recognized you, and protected you, as if you were one of them
… no, not one of them. Squirrels don’t even go out of their way to help one another. This was something entirely different. They looked at you as if you… were their queen.”

Queen of the squirrels, she hoped that title didn’t get around.

“Don’t you see? We know Bees will go out of their way to protect the queen bee, it’s a hive mentality. Squirrels are more solitary creatures, but for them to go out of their way to protect you, they developed a kind of hive mentality with you as their queen.”