Hunter's Academy (Veller) (48 page)

“To settle my mind.” She replied.

They crossed the compound and rounded the stables, heading for the great hall when she felt, heard, or maybe even smelled something approaching. This time she was ready when Hunar came stalking up behind her.

“I thought I heard you.” She said turning to the dog.

-It’s been a while.-

Hunar replied as she stepped from the shadows and advanced toward Kile. Even though Kile considered Hunar a friend, she was still a
little intimidated by the large black dog.

“Sorry about that, but it’s hard to get out these days with so many people around.”

-Is that a snack?-

The dog asked, and at first Kile wasn’t sure what Hunar
was referring to, but she was looking up at Kile’s shoulder and at Vesper who was trying to make himself as small as possible.

“Very funny.” She told the dog, although she wasn’t really sure Hunar was joking. “Where’s Gorum?”

-Where else, sleeping up by the bushes.-

Gorum wasn’t very active these days, especially in the colder weather, all he wanted to do was stay warm and sleep. She couldn’t really blame him, he had been patrolling these grounds for nearly fourteen years,
or at least that was what she figured from talking to the older dog.

“I don’t want to disturb him. Just let him know I’m heading up to the Great Hall.”
Kile said as she walked a little ways with Hunar. She wouldn’t want the old dog to pick up on her scent and sound the alarm before realizing who it was.

-What’s up there?-

Hunar asked.

“Peace of mind… I hope.” Kile replied. “You haven’t seen or heard anyone in that area… after dark before?”

-Your talking about the thief… Gorum patrolled that area, but claims he never saw or heard anything but a few ravens.-

“Ravens? I don’t think I’ve seen ravens around here before.”

Ravens were basically the same a crows, maybe it was a raven she saw flying around.

-
That's because there aren’t any, but Gorum said there were so… I have to believe him.-

There was a definite sadness in the dog’s tone, and for all their talk about the cycle of life and accepting the inevitability of death, she could tell that Hunar wasn’t ready to let go of her mentor.

Kile left Hunar and headed up past the Dinning hall until the Great Hall was in sight.

-She scares me.-

Vesper said when she was sure that Hunar was far enough away.

“Yeah, I can understand that.” Kile remarked. Even thought she knew and liked Hunar, she was always a little leery around the
Shinar mastiff. Hunar had the rip you apart first, ask questions latter attitude about her, the complete opposite to old Gorum. When Gorum passes, will Hunar change her attitude?

Kile tried the doors to the great hall, and was kind of shocked to find them open.
After two accounts of vandalism to the displays and the theft of artifacts, they were still leaving the doors unlocked, of course that could be due to the fact that there were no locks on the doors to begin with, but she was sure someone could have thought of something.

She pushed the doors open and stepped into the great hall which held an entirely different atmosphere in the dead of night. The painting loomed over her like ghostly specters in the
moonlight, watching her, judging her, but she had not come to see them, she had come to see someone else. Pulling the key from her pocket she unlocked the door beneath the stairs, slipped into the room beyond and closed herself in. The small room came to life and the portrait of Risa Ta’re was unharmed. It was a relief to see the portrait as well as the pair of Lann that rested undisturbed below it. She had a new respect for the weapon, now that she had been practicing with them, well, not with those particular ones, but with a practice pair. She placed her hand upon the well worn hilt, the stories these things could tell she thought, but that was as far as she would dare go.

She pulled out one of the boxes from under the shelf and sat down,
staring at the portrait of Risa Ta’re. It was the first real picture she had seen of an alva. Her father had always led them to believe that there was no such thing, that the alva were but a myth, just a part of an old story long forgotten, but then he didn’t believe in much outside his own fields. The world ended at his front gate.

“I wonder what he thinks of
valrik?” She asked herself, and then realized he didn’t think of anything, anymore.

Kile wasn’t sure how long she sat there, staring at the portrait, but she could remember every feature, every line, and every brush stroke that went into the subject. The artist was long gone, the man who carved the frame, the man who weaved the canvas it was painted on, everybody associated with the painting was long gone, and yet the painting remained. It was a testimony to a long forgotten Hunter. Would somebody paint a portrait of her some day? Would it stand the test of time? Would there by a young girl sitting where she was sitting now, staring up at it and wondering just who Kile Veller was, and what was behind the sadness in her eyes. Not that her eyes were sad, but Risa’s were. There was a sorrow behind that smile, hidden in those eyes. Was it really there or was it just something the artist created? Questions she will never know the answers to keep filling her head.

A noise in the great hall caught her attention, the sound of something hitting the floor pulled her away from the portrait and from
her thoughts of Risa Ta’re.

“What is he getting himself into now?” She said as
she slid the box back under the shelf. Vesper had gotten board, which wasn’t a big surprise for the yarrow, but he had decided to go exploring the Great hall, and exploring to the yarrow usually meant a search for food, and a search for food usually meant nothing would get in his way.

She took one last look at
Risa Ta’re before the lights went out.

“What are you doing Vesper?” She called in a harsh whisper as she stepped out into the gallery, unfortunately Vesper wasn’t there, but Eric was.

He was as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

“You? What are you doing here?” He asked with a startled look on his face.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?” She replied, although she really wasn’t sure why she should be asking him anything.

He was looking around the room nervously and Kile realized that what had surprised him the most wasn’t who was there, but who wasn’t. He was expecting somebody else. She moved slowly toward the door, if things got
worse, if someone else does show up, she wanted to have a clear shot for the exit.

Looking past him, she could see that he had already destroyed another display case, this one belonging to the Hunter known as Jameson Flint.
Whatever was in the case was now clutched in Eric’s hand. She was trying to remember what artifacts Flint had on display when Eric suddenly turned to the window as a shadow fluttered outside.

“Don’t move you’re….”

She stopped in mid sentence, what was he? Was he under arrest, could she really say that without it sounding stupid? What do Hunter’s say when they apprehend a felon?

“I don’t have time for this.” Eric shouted, and his free hand
burst into a flame that lit up the gallery. Without warning he threw the ball of fire at her. He had no intention of giving her a chance to defend herself and she had to throw herself to one side, diving across the floor as the flaming ball exploded onto the wall behind her, showering her with embers.

“Don’t do this Eric.” She said, but he wasn’t listening as another ball of fired was hurled in her direction. She tried to move out of the way but wasn’t fast enough this time
. It exploded beside her, shattering the marble tile and throwing her back against one of the armored displays.

He started to move
towards her, whether he was going for the door or planning to finish her off, she wasn’t sure and she really wasn’t ready to find out. Looking for something to protect herself with she grabbed one of the shields on display, the one bearing the image of a red dragon. Dragons were of the sphere of fire, so it should be fire proof she reasoned as she held the shield up before her.

“You’ve ruined everything.”
He shouted, his voice echoing off the rafters and sounded louder than it should. He hurled another fiery missile at her. It struck the shield with such force that it slid her across the smooth marble floor. It was a shame that the boots that the guild issued didn’t provide much traction on marble floors. Another fiery impact drove her even further back as the shield began to heat up. It wasn’t going to last much longer, or she wasn’t going to be able to hold onto it much longer.

She braced for another impact, but instead she heard
Eric cry out in pain. Kile dared to look around the edge of the shield and was amazed to see a yarrow clamped down on his other hand. Whatever he was holding went scattering across the floor. She knew whatever artifact he was willing to throw his chances of become a hunter away for, not to mention killing her for, wasn’t something that she could let him have. Discarding the shield she ran then dove across the floor, sliding past Eric as she grabbed for the stolen artifacts; unfortunately she was only able to get one. Eric quickly snatched the second one up and flung a ball of fire at the fleeing yarrow. Vesper ducked through a small opening in the base molding as the ball exploded behind him and ignited the tapestry that was hanging on the wall.

Old dusty pieces of cloth burn real fast , Kile realized, as the fire quickly spread from the tapestry to the paintings then to the beams overhead.
Within seconds the entire eastern wall of the gallery was on fire, and the larger than life hunters that loomed over her shriveled into ash, their silent screams masked by the roar of the flames.

“Give it to me.”
He shouted.

“We have to get out of here you idiot, this whole place is coming down.” Kile replied, although calling him an idiot was not very productive.

“You think I care?”

Of course he didn’t care, he could probably withstand the flames, he was influenced by fire, she wasn’t so lucky, she didn’t have the protection of a mystic sphere, her edge was of the natural
world and it wasn’t going to help her here.

Kile tightening her grip on the artifact.

“I’m not going to let you have it.” She said in the bravest and most confident voice she could muster, too bad it didn’t sound that way.

“Then I guess I’ll have to take it.” Eric grinned and then lunged for her.

He never reached her as a large black mass struck his side, clamping down on his extended arm. Eric screamed in pain once more as he swung himself around going down to the floor. Gorum lost his grip on Eric’s arm and slid across the marble before he could regain his footing. The arrival of a large black mastiff was not something that Eric had anticipated.

He crouched there staring at the dog, clutching
his wounded arm. If he was anything like the other cadets, Kile realized, the pain would keep him from concentrating on his edge, and if he couldn’t control his edge, he couldn’t withstand the flames that were now burning out of control all around them. They were now in the same boat and it was going down fast.

The noises outside caught
their attention, someone had sounded the alarm, people were coming. Eric looked to the front door first, but knew the guards would already be on their way, there was no way he could hide from this one. His luck, and the influence of his father, had suddenly run out. He quickly made for the back doors.

Gorum tried to give chase, but mastiffs don’t have
very good traction on marble floors. The hallway that Eric took suddenly exploded in flame, a final attempt to cover his retreat, which left only the front door for an escape from the fire.

Kile grabbed Gorum by the
collar; the dog was still trying to chance Eric but was getting nowhere fast. She pulled him back and managed to slide him toward the front of the hall. Pulling the great doors open she stumbled out into the fresh air, gasping for breath.

“What have you done? What have you done?” Somebody shouted as they grabbed her roughly by the arm, yanking her to her feet.
She stared up into the purple face of Sir Oblum.

“It wasn’t me.” She shouted as she tried to pry his fingers loose. For an old man he really had a strong grip.

“You’ve destroyed it, you’ve destroyed it all, you’ve destroyed the academy, the gallery, the history of the hunter… why… why.” He kept shouting.

By now more people
were coming up the hill carrying buckets of water, but it was too little too late as they tried to douse the fire. They could only stand and watch as the Great Hall went up in flames.

“You are going to pay for this
child; you are going to pay dearly.”

“Will you listen to
me? It was Eric.” She tried to explain, but Oblum was beyond listening until Gorum explained by biting his master’s arm.

Whether it was the pain of the bite, or the fact that his beloved dog just bit him, Oblum fell strangely quiet, or he went into shock it was difficult to tell.

“If you would listen to me I was trying to tell you, Eric Rimes just stole some artifact from the Gallery, and then set it on fire to cover his escape as he went out the back.” She explained. She knew it wasn’t exactly the truth, a sort of watered down version of the events, but it was close enough and she didn’t want to try to explain why she was there in the first place.

“Eric… Eric Rimes?” Oblum said, as if hearing her for the first time.

“Yes, he’s influenced by the sphere of fire, he can manipulate fire, he set the fire, not me.”

“Eric Rimes… influenced by fire?” Oblum repeated.

She was wondering if another bite from Gorum would snap the Headmaster back to reality, fortunately it didn't come to that as the realization of what she had told him finally sunk in.

“Guards, Guards.” Oblum called out as a few men came running in his direction. For a man that was standing in his bathrobe and underwear, he could still command respect. “Close the gate, search the grounds, find cadet Rimes and bring him to me… by any means necessary.”

She turned to face the Great hall as the flames had now reached the second floor. The gallery was gone, the portraits were gone, and Risa Ta’re was gone. She opened her hand to see what the artifact was, the artifact that Eric was willing to destroy the academy for, and all she found was a small blue and white stone. She had wondered if maybe she had made a mistake, that he had actually managed to get a hold of the artifact and she only came away with a piece of the floor.

“The stables, the stables are on fire.” Somebody shouted from down the hill.

It took her a moment to realize what the man was yelling as he came running up to them waving his arms. If the stables were on fire, then the horses were in danger. She shoved the stone in her pocket and ran toward the stables, but Oblum quickly overtook her as he grabbed a guard on his way up. The guard didn’t seem to recognize him at first and tried to pull away.

“What is it, what’s happening?” Oblum shouted.

“Sir, we pursued the cadet into the stables, but when we moved in on him, the whole place burst into flames, somehow he managed to escape in the confusion.”