Hunter's Academy (Veller) (42 page)

“I really don’t see what the big deal is.” She said to herself as she got to her feet. She couldn’t practice alone and she had already read the book that Murphy was studying, so she stacked the books on top of one of the crates, set the swords back in their bin and reluctantly followed Murphy down to the fenced in area.

The carriages had pulled in by the time she took her place on the fence next to Daniel, and she watched as the young cadet fell out into the road. No girls among this group she noted, and wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or relieved, as for the boys, there were so many of them, but then there were quite a few in her class to start with, now they were down to a mere twenty eight. How many of these cadets with their dreams and
their hopes would be standing where she was right now in only two years time? In many ways it was kind of sad. She looked at their faces as they stared in awe at their new surroundings and slowly moved to the main field to get their first look at Sir Oblum. The insults and the comments began to fly and that was all she could take. Let them have their little customs and their irrational tradition she thought as she pushed off the fence, she just couldn’t take any part in it. The rest of the boys headed to the field to continue badgering the first years, she headed back to the stables.

The coolness of the stables was a welcome relief f
rom the heat of the summer, and the company was better as she greeted the horses one by one.

“You’re not down with the others?” Luke asked as he appeared from the shadows beside her.

“I don’t see the point.” She replied without looking up. She was getting used to him fading in and fading out, that it no longer fazed her.

“The
point is tradition.”

“Been there, done that.” She said with a wave of her hand. “I’ve seen the orientation when I was on the receiving end, why would I want to listen to it again and again… and again?”

“Some people see it and understand it the first time they hear it, others don’t really understand until they’ve been here long enough.”

“So what you’re saying is that there is some cryptic message in Sir Oblum’s speech.”

“It’s not what he says, but what he means.” Luke replied.

“What he says is boring and what he means is to bore us.”

“Is that really what you think?”

“No… I understand what he’s trying to say but…
it's not real. None of it is. I’ve been here for two years and his ideas about what a hunter is supposed to be… I just don’t see it. Most of the staff seems petty, jealous, vindictive, and those that have any real traits of being a hunter are just…”

“Just what?”

“I don’t know, I want to say meek, but I don’t think that’s the word I want to use. I mean, look at Master Adams. He’s intelligent, he’s eloquent, I don’t know how good he is in combat but in all other ways he appears to be everything a hunter is supposed to be.”

“And yet?”

“And yet if he sees something wrong, he looks the other way. Don’t get me wrong I like the man, I really do, and he’s helped me out quite a bit since I’ve been here but there are things that are just wrong, and to look the other way doesn’t make them look any better.”

“Master Adams was never really a field hunter.” Luke replied. “He preformed his missions adequately, but never really advanced above a class D assignment
level.”

“Class D… I know that one, that’s mostly deliveries, and the occasional escorting of low priority figures.”

“Very good.”

“But if that’s true, how is it that he’s a certified level one hunter?”

“Masters Adams’s skills were better suited to the guild administration, he was advanced for his work there, so you see, he may not be as… confrontational as other level one hunters.”

“Like Master Boraro.”
She concluded.

“Yes, like Master Boraro.”

“But I don’t see Master Boraro as… well… what a hunter should be. He seems too proud, too... full of himself. He doesn’t see people as people, he sees them as occupations as positions. To him the higher you are up on the social ladder the more important you are.”

“And you don’t think
that's right?” Luke asked.

“No.”
She replied. “In many ways he’s kind of like my father, they would get along great… then again maybe not. My father’s a farmer and Master Boraro has a tendency to look down on farmers, but they do think alike. My father wanted to marry me off to a troll of a boy in the hopes of getting bottom land. That’s where I would be right now if I hadn’t gotten into the academy. I would be married to Pordist Tallon, I’d be Kile Tallon.” She said with a grimace which made Luke laugh.

“But you did pass the entry examination and you did get into the academy, you made it this far.”

“I guess. I just don’t know if I can go the rest of the way, and then what? What if I don’t pass? What if I don’t graduate? I can’t go back home, I can’t go back to Riverport. I’m not welcome there anymore.”

“I’m sure you’ll always be welcome back home.” Luke assured her.

“You don’t know my father, he was not pleased with me wanted to become a hunter, told me so on numerous occasion. Nearly convinced me that I was just too incompetent to do anything; that I was useless, and now I’m here. I’ve been away for too long, I know it wasn’t me, I’m sure of it now.”

“What wasn’t you?” Luke asked.

“What… nothing, nothing. The point is that I still have to get through my third year here and I know Master Boraro will do everything and anything he can to prevent me from passing.”

“And what make you think that?”

“Simple, he’s already told me so.”

“When?”

“Oh… just every chance he’s gotten. ‘I won’t rest until you’re out of here.’, ‘why don’t you save yourself the trouble and go home now.’, ‘I’ll see you gone if it’s the last thing I do.” Kile mimicked in her best Boraro voice.

“He said all that.”

“Oh yeah, that and more… actually the last one about seeing me gone, I think that was Sir Oblum, I don’t remember. I should probably be getting back to my cell, it’s getting late” Kile said as she got to her feet. “Look, about what I said… you know about the staff and all… you’re not going to… to tell anyone are you, I mean…”

Luke smiled.

“There isn’t anyone here but us and the horse and I don’t plan to tell anyone.”

“You don’t know how unreassuring that is.”
Kile replied. “I trust you. It’s the horses I’m not too sure about. Just keep an eye on Grim; he’s liable to tell anyone.” She said as she headed out the door.

***~~~***

15

“Kile, one moment please.” Master Adams called out as Kile was walking out of the dining hall.

She was on her way to the training field with the rest of the boys. On the first day of each week it was required that everyone show up for training, even those that are so gifted in combat like Carter who, otherwise, wouldn’t have to bother. On this day Master Boraro introduced a new weapon to torment the cadets with. The reasoning was simple, if unrealistic. The Guild believed that every cadet should be skilled in every weapon possible so that as a hunter, they would not find themselves lacking in time of need. The Academy was a little more practical, by introducing so many different weapons
in the training process; each cadet should be able to find at least one that they could handle with enough skill to pass combat training. The problem was, with Kile, it would be just another weapon on a long list of weapons that she wouldn’t be any good with, so when Master Adams called out to her, she was actually grateful for the delay.

“What is it sir?”

As the Hunter approached, he looked first at the boys waiting with her before looking at her, and she could tell that she wasn’t going to like what it was he wanted to say.

“Sir Oblum wishes to see you in his office.”

The words were rather solemn and just hung in the air like a signpost pointing to the eastern gate. The first thing that she thought of was the incident during the survival exercise. Master Adams had alluded to the fact that other might be forced to pay for their actions that day, but that was almost three months ago. Did it take the council that long to figure out what had happened?

“What’s wrong sir,
what's this about?” Daniel asked.

“Sir Oblum wishes to see Kile in his office, that’s… all I know.” Master Adams replied.

He was lying, she knew he was lying. There was something he wasn’t saying, something more that he knew and he wasn’t telling her, at least not here in front of the boys.

“Okay sir, I’ll… head
right over.”

“Wait a moment.” Carter said, grabbing her wrist before she could turn. He looked at Master Adams. “Is she in trouble, if she is then maybe we should all go.”

“No.” Master Adams replied. “Just her.”

“It’s alright.” She said pulling Carter’s hand off her arm. “I’ll see you guys during training. I shouldn’t be
too long, you go on without me.” She told them, and watched them as they reluctantly obeyed.

It was an ominous building, or that’s the way she saw it. Tall, dark, forbidding, the place that cadets go into, but they don’t come out. She had seen the inside of it on only one occasion and that was from a yarrow’s point of view, she assumed it would look a bit different from her vantage point.

She headed up the short flight of stairs, and
passed under the archway of the open doors. The foyer was as dark and as gloomy as the exterior of the build promised. Stairs off to the right lead to the second floor where Oblum’s quarters would be, the door off to the left lead into his office.

She
removed her hat, clutching it in both hands as she hesitated before she finally knocked on the door that was already ajar. The face that opened it was not Oblum’s, but Erin Silvia’s. She smiled, but it was a forced smile, a sad smile as she pulled the door open and stepped aside. Kile knew she was in trouble when Sir Oblum rose from his seat.

“Cadet Veller.” He acknowledged and then directed her to a chair opposite his desk. “Please, be seated.”

She didn’t really feel like sitting down, but knew he wouldn’t start until she did. The chair was low and hard, and she felt as though she had to look up to see the underside of his desk. Was this some psychological thing she wondered, a way to make him look more in command?

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble.”
Erin said as she sat on the corner of the headmaster’s desk.

The office door opened again and Kile dared to steal a glance as Master Adams approached. He didn’t look at
her; he looked first at Oblum, then at Erin. Something passed between them and Kile wished that they were horses; at least she could understand horses.

“We have just received news that… your father has passed away late last week.” Sir Oblum said, gripping his hands together and placing them on the desk. “I am sorry.”

She sat there in silence unsure of how to take the news. She knew how she was suppose to feel, she was supposed to feel sad, she was supposed to cry for her father. That was why Erin was there. Sir Oblum may have been able to console a sad young boy who had just lost his father, but he knew he would be out of his league with a sad young girl, and the fact that she wasn’t crying confused him even more.

“May I ask how he died sir?”

“Well.” He said looking at Erin wondering what he was supposed to do next. This clearly didn’t turn out how he had pictured it. “It would appear that he took ill some time during the winter and never really recovered.”

“I see sir.”
She replied.

He was always a strong man, a stubborn man. For as long as she could recall she had never seen her father sick or if he was, he would never let it stop him, and now he was gone, and she wasn’t sad. He was never like a father, not like Daniel’s father, or Alex’s father, or even Murphy’s father who had given up everything to give his son a better life. Her father was a stranger, a man that lived in the same house she grew up in, a man who worked the fields from sun up to sun down, a man that never missed an opportunity to remind her of how useless she was, how much of a disappointment she was.

“If that is all sir, I better get back to class.” She said, rising from her chair.

“The Guild has authorized a leave of absence so that you can return to Riverport, for your… father’s funeral.”

“That won’t be necessary sir.” She replied.

“You’ll still be able to return.” Master Adams explains. “It’s only a temporary leave you understand. We would expect you to come back and finish your training to become a hunter… when you’re ready.”

“I’m not really needed there Sir.”

“Kile, it’s not a sign of weakness to grieve for a loved one.”
Erin added.

If that were only the case
she thought as she turned to face Oblum.

“Am I being ordered to go Sir?”

“No, no one is ordering you to go.”