Hunter's Beginning (Veller) (47 page)

“No surprise there.” Boraro commented and was again silenced by Oblum’s hand.

“Maybe someone should go and find him.” Erin said as she pushed passed Boraro and stormed out the door.

“I guess that’s the end of the meeting.” Folkstaff replied as he rose from his seat in the corner and walked passed Vesper’s hiding place. Kile had wished she could have gotten a better view of the
Hunter, but all she could tell was that he wore a pair of light tanned boots. Boraro and West followed Folkstaff out of the office, leaving only Master Adams and Sir Oblum.

“Rafael, I want you to set a watch on
Veller’s door. She is to have no visitors and she is not to leave, you will also arrange for meals to be taken to her by the kitchen staff.”

“Yes, of course sir. The guard
… should it be one of our own?” Adams asked.

“No, get a guard from the city watch, the last thing we need is to get the Son’s of Terrabin involved… and Rafael, make sure they understand that she is not a dangerous criminal.”

“Of course sir, I hope it was worth it.”

Kile broke the connection with Vesper and stared at the yarrow for a while longer. This was a lot worse than she actually thought, they weren’t treating this like a simple accident, they were treating this like a crime. If she is found guilty of an aggressive act toward another Hunter, even if West wasn’t technically a Hunter, she could be facing some serious charges.

“Kile, are you alright?” Daniel asked.

“Its going before the council… it might go to a… a trail or something.”

“What is?”

“The whole crossbow incident, they think I may be connected to some plot to bring down the guild.”

“Oh come on, that’s ridiculous.”

“That's what Erin said.”

“How do you know this?”

“Vesper showed me. According to Oblum there have been some problems along the western boarder and they lost Hunters. The council believes that there is a plot to bring down the guild and my little… accident has raised some suspicions.”

“And you got all this from a yarrow?” Daniel asked as he eyed the rodent.

“It’s a bit hard to explain, and I don’t have much time. Master Adams will be here shortly with a guard to post outside my door.”

She wasn’t sure how long it took for Vesper to get back to her, or how long it took for him to relay the entire conversation
to her, but she was sure that Master Adams had enough time to employ a guard from the city watch and would already be on his way.

“Look I don’t want to tell you that I think you
’re being paranoid, but you’re being paranoid. The guild wouldn’t go as far as that, is it possible that you just… imagined it all. Maybe…”

A knocking on the door stopped Daniel in mid sentence and Kile pulled herself from
her bed. He was earlier than she had expected as she opened the door to let a somber Master Adams in, but he did not come alone. A tall man in light armor wearing the colors of Azintar stood just outside in the hallway.

“Cadet Leary, I did not expect to see you here.”
Adams said upon seeing Daniel standing off to the side of the room.

“Sorry sir,
it's just that I…”

“No need to explain.” He said holding up his hand then
turning to Kile who waited for his verdict. “Cadet Veller. I’m sorry to tell you that the entire matter has been passed to the council. In two days time there will be a review of the evidence, if they feel that there is any chance that this wasn’t an accident, it will go to trial. If you’re found innocent of any aggressive action they will still have to determine if you’ll be allowed to stay at the academy or be expelled.”

Even though she knew what he was going to say, the words still stunned her. As long as she was listening into the conversation, it didn’t feel like they were talking about her. Now there was no doubt who it was directed at.

“Sir. You said if they find her innocent. What if they find her guilty?” Daniel asked.

“I seriously doubt it will come to that.” Master Adams replied, although
Kile could tell that he was worried about it. “The real issue here is that although you will more than likely be found innocent of an aggressive action, the likelihood that you will be allowed to remain at the academy is slim. It’s just… not good publicity.”

“Yes, but if she’s innocent of an aggressive act,
surely they will let her stay.”

“Unfortunately there are still the lesser charges of carelessness or incompetence. Normally it would warrant a simple punishment, but under the circumstances, I’m afraid that expulsion may be their only option.”

Either way it was over. Her chances of becoming a Hunter were gone. She had almost made it through one year and now they were telling her that there was no chance of her staying.

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Daniel asked.

“I wish there was, the reality of the situation is that it will come down to personal testimony as there is a lack of any real evidence.”

“Which means I’m as good as gone… either way.”
She said.

With Boraro and half the cadets never wanting her here in the first place, personal testimony wouldn’t be very positive. They would say anything to get
rid of her, even Boraro claimed that she had a violent streak, what more would an aggressive action require.

“Do you think
Erin will find Master Latherby?” She asked.

“I really don’t know. Guild Master
Latherby has a way of disappearing when you need him the most, but also a way of appearing when you least expect it. If anyone can put a stop to this before it get out of hand, it’s him, if anyone can find him, it’s Erin.” Adams said, then stopped and looked at her curiously.

“How did you know that Erin Silvia was going to look for Guild Master
Latherby?” He asked. “I never mentioned it and she only made the decision about an hour ago.”

“Lucky guess?” Kile replied.

“You also didn’t seem very surprised when I came in here, or when I told you what the committee had decided.”

“A very lucky guess?”

Adams looked over to Daniels who held his hands up.

“Don’t look at me
sir. I was here the whole time.”

“Yes, very well… let’s hope your luck holds out.”
Adams replied as he motioned for Daniel to leave the room. “I am sorry about this Kile, I wish it could turn out better.” He said as he closed the door.

***~~~***

17

Kile sat on her bed, curled up in the corner eating the last of her peppermint imps, an open book
lay beside her but she was in no mood to read. The idea that a group of people, of whom she knew none, were going to decide her fate because of an incident they never saw was rather unnerving. She still never found out what would happen to her if she was found guilty. It was not as far fetched as Master Adams had led her to believe. If the entire trial was going to be based upon the personal testimony of her peers as well as the staff, it wasn’t going to be in her favor. She was not naive enough to believe that, and if they did find her innocent, they would still have to decide whether or not to allow her to continue at the academy, there was little chance of that happening. The only solution she could come up with was to agree to take the gate of Pudora, the walk of shame, to quit the academy. That way they wouldn’t have to go through the embarrassment of a trial, and as Master Adams had alluded to, she was going to be expelled anyway. In spite of what Daniel said, she was sure it would be easier to get a job after quitting the academy as opposed to being thrown out of it. The stories were that many cadets who couldn’t hack the Academy life and were never meant to become Hunters were readily accepted into the military. Could she actually live a military life? It was an option, but was it an option she was willing to take? If she had another year at the academy she was sure she could land a job as a merchant guard, at least then she would be able to see the world. The last thing she wanted to do was to return home with her tail between her legs. It would have been one thing to fail the entry examination and be told you weren’t good enough, it was quite another to actually be one of the few to make it into the academy, only to be thrown out over something that she had no control over.

As she sorted out her bleak future, there came a knock, but not on the door, on the window shutters. Kile crawled to the end of her bed and pulled open the shutters to find the top of Daniel’s head. He quickly turned around when he realized the window had been opened.

“Get out of here.” She told him in as quiet a voice as she could. He was risking his own career as a Hunter just talking to her.

“Look, we have an idea.” Daniel said as he tried to calm her down, “Carter thinks that the crossbow may have been tampered with.”

“I’m sure they checked that already.” She replied as she started to close the shutters.

“That’s just it, nobody did.”

Well, that didn’t make sense. How could you have an accident with a piece of equipment, and not check the piece of equipment that the accident occurred on?

“
That's impossible, how come…”

The newly installed latch on the outside of her door rattled. Kile quickly moved away from the window, grabbed the book that lay open on the bed and started to read out loud. The door opened and the guard looked
in. He didn’t enter the room, he never did, he just scanned the room from the hallway, and when he was sure that there was no one else there, he fixed his gaze on Kile.

“Are you alright?” He asked her. He was a sympathetic guard, rather young, a kind face, as much as she could see through the open faced helmet that he wore. There was a familiarity about him that she couldn’t place. She had never seen him before but she felt she did. He probably just reminded her of the guard the helped her back in Littenbeck.

“Oh… sorry.” She said as she closed the book. “Sometimes if I read it out loud it makes more sense.”

The guard looked at her and then at the window with the shutters still half opened. If he knew what was go
ing on, he was very good at keeping it to himself.

“You may want to keep it down a bit.’ He said as he pulled the door closed.

She waited until she heard him pull the deadbolt then turned back to the window, but when she pulled open the shutters, it wasn’t Daniel she found, it was Alex, and it wasn’t just his head, it was his whole body as he was being hoisted through the window by Carter and Daniel. Kile wasn’t sure if she should help pull him in or push him out.

He came through the window landing rather
noisily on the floor and put a finger to his lips to silence her as if it was she that was making all the noise. He pointed toward the window and motioned for her to get going. She was already expelled, what else could they do to her? Her only fear now was brining everyone else down with her.

She
climbed out the window and dropped to the ground just as she heard the door to her cell being opened. She knew the guard’s head would be popping into the room to find out what all the noise was about, she held her breath and waited for the alarm to sound.

“Everything okay in here?” She heard the guard ask.

“Yes.” She heard herself answer in a rather monotone voice, Kile looked at Daniel and Carter for an explanation but both were holding their breaths and staring up at the window. There was a prolonged silence before they heard the door close again, then they both let out a sigh of relief.

She was about to ask what was going on, but Daniel held up his hand to keep her
quiet. A few minutes latter Alex’s cloak came out the window, and Daniel motioned for her to put it on. Before she could, a white furry shaped leapt from the window sill and landed on her head, then crawled down to sit onto her shoulder. If she hadn’t gotten used to Vesper by now the sudden appearance of a yarrow on her head and the way she was feeling at that moment, would have freaked her out.

-Help you.-

Those two words meant a lot as she draped Alex’s cloak around the both of them and he nestled beside her neck hidden within the lining of the hood. The tickling of his furry little tail on the nape of her neck was a bit distracting and she knew she would have to find better accommodations for him to ride along in the future.

Daniel grabbed her arm and led her away from the window and toward a more secluded area behind some of the overgrown shrubs that lined the front side of the dorms.

“I can’t believe he pulled that off.” Carter said shaking his head. “I was sure he would foul it up.”

“Tell me about it.” Daniel laughed nervously.

“Why don’t you tell me about it, what’s going on?” Kile asked. “And what is Alex doing in my room?”

“The less you know about what Alex is doing, the better off you’ll be.” Carter replied.

She wasn’t sure if Carter was referring to Alex’s part in this little scheme, or the fact that the boy was alone in her room. Neither scenario was very comforting.