Hunter's Academy (Veller) (70 page)

As they walked the edge of the stream, she saw something white beside the water’s edge. It was obscured by the tall grass and it wasn’t moving, and it looked very much like a rabbit, and that was what she thought it was, but as she got closer she realized her mistake. It wasn’t the fur of a rabbit, but the hair of
a man, and not any man, but the white haired hunter Marcus Taylor. He was laying face down on the side of the stream, and he wasn’t moving.

-Master hurt.-

Who would have thought that the self proclaimed greatest hunter in all of Aru would have had a horse by the name of Rose?

Kile dismounted and quickly ran to his side, she was a bit surprised, but grateful to find he was still alive. His face was covered in blood from a nasty wound on his head, he was probably trying to reach the stream, but what he had planned after that, she couldn’t tell.

“Grim, over here.” She called to the mountain pony.

Grim cautiously approached, his nervous eyes scanning the forest. The trees made it hard to see any
further than a couple of yards, so there was no telling what was out there, what had done this to the man who had defeated the Troll of Blackmore. It was clear that whatever Marcus’s edge was, it didn’t serve him very well against… well, whatever it was that saw fit to rearrange his face. She had remembered seeing those strange steely blue eyes of his when he was boasting on the raised stone dais outside the Bird and Bay, waving the Ogre head around, and had wondered if that had something to do with his edge. Was it in some way connected? She hadn’t seen any other hunter changed by their edge, but she had seen a few change with their edge.

She
retrieved the healer’s bag from her supplies and dumped out the contents on the grass beside his body. There were a lot of herbs and ointments in the bag, but she didn’t know what any of them were used for, and the last thing she wanted was to use the wrong ones. When in doubt, stick to the basics she thought as she soaked a rag in the river and wiped the blood from his face.

It was pretty bad, but then he was out cold so it couldn’t be good. She had to get him out of here she had to get him to someone that could do more for him th
an she could. It was a shame Daniel wasn’t here, this was right up his ally. Maybe she should have paid more attention in those first aid classes.

“I don’t think anything’s broken.” She said as she
felt down each of his legs, although she wasn’t really sure what she was feeling for. She kind of figured that if it was bad, it would be noticeable. She picked up one of the rolls of bandages and began to unfurl it.

-We should go.-

Grim said.

“I can’t just leave him here. If I can get him up on your back then you could carry him.”

-Cow.-

Vesper said, gripping Kile’s shoulder even tighter, causing her to wince. They would have to come up with a better way for him to get her attention.

“Cow, what do you mean Cow?” She asked, the only cows she had seen was the herd back in Coopervill, and she didn’t think they could help her all the way out here.

-Cow.-

Vesper repeated, only this time louder and with more urgency.

The images that Vesper was giving her weren’t helping very much, all she could see were cows in a field.

A loud, drawn out cry carried through the forest and Kile had a feeling that things just got a whole lot worse. She had heard cows before, and that was not a cow. She watched as the tops of the trees slowly bent, as something pushed them aside, and whatever it was, it was getting closer.

-We should go
… now.-

Grim repeated.

“I can’t leave him here.” She argued. She drew the Lann from their sheath and stood over Marcus. He might be an egotistical braggart, but he was still a hunter, and hunters look out for one another.

The cry got louder. The trees began to bend more and the ground began to tremble. What
she feared emerged from the forest.

“That’s not a cow Vesper, that a bull.”

It stood over ten feet tall, a massive brute of muscle and fury. Half man, half beast, an open script that no hunter in their right mind would attempt, the Minotaur of Calder Falls.

It turned its head to where Kile was crouched over the fallen body of Marcus, but it didn’t seem to notice her at first. It slowly lifted its nose to the sky and sniffed at the air.
  This situation was not covered in the code book she said to herself as she tightened her grip on the Lann. The beast suddenly let out a horrible howling cry, and Kile felt the blood run cold in her veins. It was a cry filled with pain, anger and insanity. There were no words, nothing she could see, only feel.

-Kile talk to cow?-

Vesper asked.

“I don’t think he’s in the talking mood.”
She replied as she slowly got to her feet. Taking the Minotaur on here was not a very wise choice, actually, fighting the Minotaur anywhere, was not a very wise choice. Even if she was able to keep out of his reach, they could easily trample over Marcus, or worse. It was possible that the Minotaur was here because of Marcus, and she knew she would have a hard time trying to stop him if he wanted to finish what he started.

It stepped out, into the stream, no more the fifty yards from her, but
she had a feeling that it could easily close that distance before she could do anything to help the fallen hunter, which meant the only option she had was to run, but not away from the Minotaur. She would have to run toward the Minotaur, she would have to lead it away.

She cut the straps that held her supplies in the back of the pony before slowly sliding the Lann back into their sheaths.

“Grim, get ready.”

She said as she backed toward the horse.

-It’s about time.-

Grim replied. His eyes never leaving the bull headed beast.

“We’re going to ride right past it.”

-We’re going to what?-

“I have to lead it away from Marcus. When I say now, run at it.”

-I hope you know what your doing child.-

The Minotaur turned it noise to the air again, and sniffed at the wind. Its eyesight must not be all that good
she thought, otherwise it would have attacked by now, maybe she could use that to her advantage, but before she could figure out how, it let out another wordless cry that was filled with insanity as it lowered its head and began to charge.

“Now Grim.” She shouted as she grabbed a handful of his mane and pulled herself onto his back, kicking off her supplies to lighten Grim’s load. “Rose
, stay back.” She shouted to the dapple gray that was standing over her fallen master.

Grim launched himself toward the Minotaur and
she drew one of the Lann. The mountain pony took a hard left, barely missing the beast’s outstretched arm. She seized the opportunity and the momentum as she lashed out at the Minotaur, cutting into his side, but it did little to slow it down and really only angered it more. The Minotaur turned and gave chase.

“It worked.”
She shouted.

-Yes, I can see that, now what?-

Grim asked as he tried to put as much distance as he could between him and the Minotaur while avoiding the tree, but mountain ponies were not built for speed and the beast was closing in fast. It cried out as it lunged forward, taking out several trees but just missed Grim as the Mountain Pony took another hard left.

“Wow, I didn’t realize they were that fast.”
She said in amazement.

-Great, now you tell me.-

Grim shouted and then cursed as he was forced to take a hard right, his back feet sliding in the loose dirt.

The Minotaur’s cries echoed in
her head, he was an abomination. Half of him existed in the mortal world, half of him existed in the natural world and Kile could hear both halves screaming at her, and neither one of them were very rational. There were no words to his voice, no images, only a primal feeling of hatred and an uncontrolled rage

The Beast didn’t stay down for long and was soon closing the gap between them. One large hand reached for the pony, forcing Grim to make yet another suddenly change, this time he barely managed to avoid being struck as he nearly lost his footing on the loose forest floor, going down on his hind quarters. Kile held on with one hand and managed to score another hit on the outstretched arm of the Minotaur with the Lann as Grim regained his speed.

-Will you stop doing that. You’re just pissing him off.-

Grim shouted.

“Well, what do you want me to do?”

-Just hold on.-

Grim changed directions again, this time he was heading for higher ground. He may not be fast on flat land, but no horse could match his speed going up the side of a hill, unfortunately the Minotaur was not a horse. Grim took the incline straight on, his hoofs digging in the hard ground, his powerful back legs propelling him forward. Kile held on tightly as Grim scaled the side of the hill, but it was no use, the Minotaur was still closing ground.

Grabbing
at Grim’s back legs it pulled them out from under the mountain pony. Grim went down, rider, yarrow, Minotaur and all.

Kile wasn’t sure what actually happened, she suddenly found herself in mid air. She knew she had a horse under her a minute ago, but now she was just falling. She hit the side of the hill a few times before she was stopped by a tree, then staggered to her feet as Vesper quickly jumped up onto her back and climbed up onto her shoulder. That was going to hurt in the morning
she thought as she wiped the blood from her nose.

-Kile alright?-

“Yeah, I think so.” She said as she grabbed the Lann that rested no more than two feet away from her. She was just lucky she didn’t slice herself up on it when she came rolling down the hill.

“Grim.” She shouted, but she couldn’t hear the ornery mountain pony, she couldn’t even feel him.

The insane cry of the Minotaur told her where to go as she half ran, half slid down the rest of the hill.

Grim had fallen further th
an she had, he wasn’t fortunate enough to be stopped by a tree, in fact it looked as if he and the Minotaur took out a few on their way down, clearing a wide swatch in the hillside, leading all the way down to the forest floor.

“Grim.” She called out again, and only stopped when she saw the large black hairy mass lying across the fallen trees, he was not moving. She started toward her fallen friend, but the Minotaur was
moving too. He was a little shaken, but he was far from out of this and he was going for the mountain pony.

“Get away from my horse.” Kile shouted with as much force as she could and ran at the Minotaur, tightening her grip on both Lann.
Surprisingly the Minotaur suddenly stopped, and she was hit was a strong feeling of confusion, blood lust and that uncontrollable rage. She slid between the Minotaur legs, mostly because she fell down the hill, and not by design, but she did manage to lash out with both Lann as she passed and only stopping when she hit another tree. If she had somehow managed to use the Maligar on the Minotaur for that brief moment of time, it ended when her face met the bark.

-Kile get up.-

Vesper yelled frantically, digging his claws into her shoulder. The images the yarrow fed her with his words were those of the Minotaur regaining his senses and heading in her direction now armed with a large stick.

Kile scrambled to her feet, a little dazed from kissing the tree as she grabbed the Lann and turned to face the Minotaur, but the stick that she had seen in Vesper’s vision was in fact a tree. He swung it, branches and all, and Kile barely managed to get out of the way as it whipped over her head.

It was one thing to fight an opponent with a sword, that was only four feet at best, this thing was using a tree trunk and he had a reach over twelve feet, there was no way she was able to get through that.

She had to make him drop it, and to do that she had to give his hands something else to do. She dodged another swing of the tree and led the beast back up towards the
hillside. She was forced to sheath her own weapons and use her hands for climbing, kicking down any loose stone or rock to slow down the Minotaur that was quickly gaining ground. She was no where near as fast as Grim had been, and the Minotaur had caught up with the mountain pony, she wasn’t sure what luck she would have in keeping ahead of him.

The good news was that the first part of her plan
had worked, she managed to get the Minotaur to release the tree, the bad news was that he threw it at her.

It struck the rocky
hillside just above her, creating a small landslide that was carrying her toward him. She grabbed hold of one of the shrubs as the rocks and dirt bounced over her. Fortunately the Minotaur wasn’t having a much luck maintaining his own balance and was losing ground rapidly as the dirt slid away from under his hoofs.

She seized her opportunity as she scrambled up to the flat top of the hill, but the Minotaur hadn’t given up yet, and was closer than she would have liked.

“Persistent, isn’t he?” She said as she stood atop the hill, watching him climb up. She grabbed the largest rock she could find, or the largest she could lift, and tossed it down at him. It bounced off his thick skull, but did nothing to slow him down.