Hunter's Academy (Veller) (73 page)

“Then tell me what good you did?”

The door opened and a young soldier stepped in, he was wet and out of breath. It might have been Logan, but Kile couldn’t tell under the helmet, all the guards looked the same.

“Sir, the Minotaur has been bound and is now being carted off to the prison gates.”

“Did he wake?”

“No sir, he’s still out cold, mores the better.”

“Good, keep me informed.”

“Yes sir.” The guard replied as his eyes slowly looked over to
where Kile was sitting and watching him closely. If he dared call her a wili, she was going to hit him.

“You’re dismissed soldier.” Captain Jax commanded.

“Well sir, it’s the kelpie sir.”

“Soldier, it is not a
kelpie, it is a mountain pony.”

“Yes sir, well… anyway sir, what are we suppose to do with it.”

“Take it to the stables, see that it’s fed.”

“
That's just it sir, he won’t go.” The solider replied a little nervously.

“He won’t go?” Captain Jax repeated.
“Solider, it’s a horse, you do not debate with it. You take it to the stables.”

“Well sir, that’s just it sir. We tried, but he’s already broken Sergeant Truff
’s leg and kicked private Yolan across the road, nobody wants to get anywhere near him after that.”

“Is your private Yolan okay?” Kile asked.

“Well, yes ma’am, he was wearing his breastplate, but that kelpie… I mean pony, put a good sized dent in it.”

“I’ll just have to have a talk to him.”
She said as she pushed herself away from the table and got up.

“Sit down.” Captain Jax ordered, and then turned to the young
soldier. “Put a watch around the horse for now, if he won’t move, leave him there.”

“Yes sir.” The young solider replied as he exited the room.

Captain Jax turned to Kile, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned back in his chair. “You still mean no harm?” He asked her. “It would seem your horse has other ideas. Shall we start from the beginning Kile? That is your real name isn’t it… Kile?”

She
turned to the two wire-haired hounds that were watching her very carefully, but not the way guards dogs were supposed to. They appeared to be more fascinated with the girl rather the actually guarding her.

“I don’t suppose you two could help?” She asked them.

-We’re not supposed to.-

One of them said.

So far, out of all the creatures Kile had spoken with, dogs were by far the easiest. It was probably because they were so close to the Vir, in that they are always by their side, that they picked up so much of the speech. It was a shame they couldn’t communicate with just any vir, they so wanted to, but it was as Kaza had said, vir just don’t listen to the natural world.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want to get out of here.”

-What do you want us to do?-

“Creating a diversion would be helpful.”

The two guards that stood on the door looked at one another with uncertainty. It was clear that they thought the wili was talking to them. Captain Jax looked between the guards and Kile, and clearly thought the same thing.

“My men will not respond to you.” He told her.

“Yeah, well I wasn’t talking to them anyway.” She replied when it looked as if the dogs weren’t going to help. She couldn’t blame them, and she wouldn’t have asked them if she thought they would get into a lot of trouble.

“Look I really have to get out of here.”

“I know. A delivery to Tobery. What is it that you deliver?”

“Oh, what
ever needs delivering, mail, food, Minotaur, fallen hunters, we do it all.” She replied.

“You can’t really expect to just drop the Minotaur of Calder falls on my doorstep and disappear, can you?”

“Well, that was my intention.” She replied, and then leaned over to speak to the dogs again. “How about if I help you, give you something that you can use as a diversion, that way you won’t get into trouble.”

-Like what?-

Captain Jax looked at Kile, then at the dogs. He was starting to catch on. The guards weren’t as bright. That’s probably why he was the captain and the guards were still just privates.

Kile opened the flap to the
courier bag.

“Ready?”

-Ready-

Vesper replied and suddenly leapt up onto the table.
At the sight of the yarrow the captain jumped back, knocking his chair over onto the floor. Who would have thought that a man of that size was scared of mice? The two wire-haired hounds took the bait and as one jumped up on the table in a bogus attempt to grab the yarrow, the other shot between the Captain’s legs, knocking the man to the floor. The guards instinctively went to help their captain as Kile made a run for the door. One of the guards tried to block her escape but Vesper charged between his legs, followed by one of the guard dogs. The soldier went flying, knocking over the other solider and landing on top of Captain Jax who was struggling to get to his feet. The room was already too small for three men to try to get up at the same time and with the two guard dogs charging between them, it was nearly impossible. Kile pulled the door open and stepped back out into the rain catching the attention of the two guards that stood just outside the door.

“I’m a
wili, remember.” She shouted.

The guards paused, unsure of what to do next. Being a
wili had some advantages, now all she had to do is figure out what a wili was.

She heard the shouting of even more guards, or it might have been close to screaming as they ran in all directions when
Grim charged through the mist toward her. Vesper made his escape out the small window and Kile scooped the yarrow up before grabbing Grim’s mane as he passed.

The solider quickly jumped
aside. No one was willing to stand in her way. It was surprising what a little superstition and a rainy morning could accomplish as she escaped the Moran outpost.

When she was sure that no one was following her, and she doubted the captain could get any volunteers, she slowed Grim down to a nice slow easy pace.

“That was wili close.” She said.

-You use that joke one more time and I’m taking you back there.-

“What’s wrong, is my trusted kelpie in a bad mood.” She laughed.

-I am not a
kelpie.-

“Wow, you
wili don’t like being called a kelpie, do you?”

-That is, we’re going back.-

“Okay, I’ll stop, I’ll stop… wili I will.”

-So, did you tell them you were the one that defeated the Minotaur?-

“No.”

-Figures.-

“They wouldn’t have believed me anyway. Besides, they were more concerned about who laid out the Great Marcus Taylor than who defeated the Minotaur. Captain Jax already has his little scenario all figured out. The great Hunter Marcus Taylor defeats the Minotaur in single combat, probably hand to hand, and then I come along and conk him on the head or something like that.”

-And for what reason would you have done that?-

“I don’t know, maybe I was… wili mad at him.”

They traveled for most of the day and stopped in the early afternoon when she spotted a safe place to spend the night. It was a small outcrop of rock that provided shelter from the rain, large enough that even Grim could fit under. It was also back in the Denal province, and she figured that even Captain Jax wouldn’t dare pursue her across the board, especially when he had no proof that she had done anything wrong. She set up camp and tried to dry out some of her clothing over an open fire. They ate a simple meal from what supplies they had left and then got some sleep before heading out early the next morning.

The rain didn’t let up, but at least the world around them was alive. She hadn’t realized how much she felt abandoned when the Minotaur was running loose, when there was no birds in the trees, or creatures on the ground. She may not have been able to see them, or hear them, but she felt their
presence and that was enough for her to feel connected.

The first sign of civilization was a
farmhouse that sat on a large field of corn. It took her thoughts to Riverport, all the way back to the Veller farm. What kind of harvest would her brother have this year? Would they manage to make enough to see them through another season? As much as she hated the place, it was also hard not being there, not being able to help.

The single farmhouse turned into more farm houses that eventually lead to shops and stores
and found herself in the middle of what she hoped was the town of Tobery. It was a large sprawling town, much like Coopervill, and was difficult to gauge the overall size. These types of farm towns could actually stretch their borders for miles, which usually led to disputes on which farms belonged to which towns. The farmers didn’t care so much as they had a place to sell their crops, and some of them found themselves moving from town to town without ever leaving their homes as the town border lines were constantly being redrawn. Disputes of this nature were usually handled in the Province’s High Court, it only got tricky when it stopped being a farm and became a disagreement over the ownership of an iron mine or water rights, something that provided serious revenue to the township. Now, to take it one step further, and make it even worse, if that second town that was claiming ownership over the mines or the water rights was in a different province all together, there was bound to be violence.

Wars erupted between provinces on a daily basis, the Province lines were also constantly shifting, but it wasn’t as painless. Disputes of this nature could be taken before the Royal High Court of Aru, but seldom were. It was just too much of a hassle and was easier to settle it on the battle field. Conflicts between provinces could linger on for years and nobody seemed to care. The crown received their coin no
matter which province held the land, and as long as the area was considered hostile, the Hunters were paid extra to transport goods and civilians from one point to the other.

The politics of Aru were shaky at best, each province pushing against their neighbors, neither one giving any ground, and through it all, the Hunter remained completely neutral.

The town of Tobery of the Denal province was no more than a day's ride from the outpost of Moran in the Callor province, and by tomorrow, it was possible that, Tobery could also be in the Callor province, there was just no way of telling. Kile would hate to see that happen, although as a Hunter she was supposed to remain natural, she disliked the Callor province, or to be more accurate, the ruler of the Callor province, Lord Rimes.

The streets of Tobery weren’t as busy as Coopervill, but then the weather was probably keeping the people inside. Only those that had no choice were stuck in
the rain, and they tried to keep that to a bare minimum as they ran through the streets darting from one building to another.

She
rode down the center of the street, and wasn’t sure if it was the old feelings of paranoia returning, but she felt every window was watching her. In their defense, she was probably quite a sight, a young redheaded girl riding on the back of a very large, very wet mountain pony. She couldn’t imagine that the people of Tobery saw such things every day.

She was about to ask someone for direction, if she could have found someone or slowed someone down long enough to ask, but the sight of the green banner flapping in the wind outside a small building on the edge of town gave her the information she needed. From the outside, the Hunter’s Guild House, looked very much like the one back in Coopervill, with its banner and symbol by the door. It even had the hand carved sign over the entrance that marked it as “Local Guild House Chapter 73”

She dismounted, grabbed the leather satchel that held the mail and headed for the door. If the exterior held a resemblance to the one in Coopervill, then the interior was identical, right down to the over papered bulletin boards. She knew that the Guild lacked any originality, but this was taking things too far. The room had the same atmosphere, the same smell, the same dim lighting, she half expected to see Kane on the other side of the reception window requesting his mail in that monotone voice he spoke with, but instead she found a much younger, thinner man. He looked up when she entered and gave her a friendly smile.

“Can I help you?” He asked.

“Mail.” She said as she shook herself off beside the door. There was no need in getting the floor wet; it didn’t look as if it had seen a mop in a few decades.

“You wish to send something?”

“No sir, delivering something.”

She
set the leather bag on the counter. The young man looked at it, then at her.

“You must be Kile Veller.” He said with a big grin.

Wow, news travels fast, was Captain Jax already looking for her?

“How did you…?”

“Know who you were? There’s been only one female to graduate the Hunter’s Academy in the last twenty years, I have to assume you’re her.” He said with a grin. “The name is Justin, Justin Poros.”