Hunter's Bounty (Veller) (9 page)

He was a tall, slim man with greasy black hair that was matted to his head, narrow eyes and a sharp hawk like nose. He was dressed in dark hardened leather, wore knee high boots and a black tattered cape, not unlike the robes of Ravenshadow. All in all, he looked ridiculous, but
it wasn’t what he looked like that surprised her, it was what he did next. He knelt before the dark robed man as a servant would before his king.

“My Lord, I fear that the prisoners have escaped.”

“Escaped?”

There was no anger in Ravenshadow’s voice, or surprise. It was almost as if he had expected the events to happen.

“Yes my lord.”

“And how did they manage to do this?”
He asked calmly.

“I’m not entirely sure my lord. All I know is that the Mystic must have somehow rusted the shackles of the Hunter, since they were
no more than dust.”

The black robed man leaned back in his
throne. Clasping his bone white hands together he brought them up to where his chin must have been under the hood. He held them there for a few minutes, as if to ponder what his servant had told him.

“Bring me… this dust.” He finally said.

“My Lord?”

“The dust from the shackles. I want it.”

“But my Lord, the prisoners are loose.”

“They are of little use to us now. Let the
uhyre handle the prisoners. Bring me the dust.”

“My Lord, if Veller gets back to Aru…”

“What? She cannot stop what has begun. My plan is now in motion. There is no stopping it now.”

“Yes my lord, of course, but I was only thinking about…”

“He will have to mind for himself, won’t he? If he can’t handle one little girl, then maybe he’s not the ally I require in these times. Now, do as I say, bring me the dust from the shackles, let the uhyre deal with the prisoners.”

“Yes my lord.” Eric reluctantly replied as he slowly backed away from the black robed man before turning around and heading for the door. He stopped in the middle of the floor and looked up at the balcony, directly at Kile as if he could see her, and then
she realized that Eric could see her since Emara was hiding behind her.

“Emara… what are you doing?” Kile asked not taking her eyes off of Eric.

“I don’t want that Ravenshadow guy to see me.” Emara replied.

“Great. But now… he can see me.”

“Oh… yeah… sorry about that.” The young mystic apologized.

Ravenshadow
slowly rose from his wooden throne and stepped down from the raised platform. He walked up behind Eric, his black robes sliding along the floor behind him silently like a massive shadow. He turned his head up to her and even though Kile couldn’t see his face within the folds of his hood, she knew he was smiling.

“So, you are Kile Veller. Eric has told me all about you.” He stated in a low calm voice.

“And you are Ravenshadow.” Kile replied, keeping her voice equally as calm. “And I’m afraid I’ve never heard of you before.”

“Oh, you will my dear… you will, but maybe that’s a bit premature, since your use to me is… well… shall we say
… at an end.”

“Well, if that is so, then I do have one question.” Kile said as she leaned over the balcony railings.

“Only one… I am surprised.”

“Oh, well… let’s be honest. I have a lot of questions to ask, but I’m sure you wouldn’t answer any of them. From what I’ve heard you won’t even tell you toady your plans, so why would you even think about telling them to me.”

There was a momentary break in Ravenshadow’s calm exterior as he turned and looked at Eric, but it was only brief and he soon turned his full attention back to her.

“My plans are not that secret, all I seek is justice. Surly as a true hunter, you can understand that.”

“True… true, but the whole… kidnapping, bondage thing, that I don’t get.”

“It was only to keep you safe, for the time being.”

“Safe… safe from who? You? The uhyre? Funny, I thought I was safe before you brought me here.”

By now Emara was pulling on Kile’s arm and she knew that the
uhyre were on their way, if they hadn’t already arrived.

“Was that your question?” The black robed man asked.

“No, not really, all I really wanted to know was… why Ravenshadow. What? Were all the good names taken? I mean it's a bit cliché, sort of like a villain in an old fairy tale. I mean, come on, this was the best you could come up with.”

“Oh, I think the name
suits me just fine.” He laughed as he raised his arms and his black tattered robes fell around him. She had to admit that at that moment, he did kind of look like a large raven’s shadow.

“
Um… Kile?” Emara whispered, pulling on her arm again. “I think we have more trouble.”

The young mystic was pointing up at the rafters this time, and Kile could see why. The wooden beams were now occupied by hundreds of ravens, each one of them staring at
the girls with their little black eyes.

“I’m afraid this discussion is at an end.”
Ravenshadow said, and as he brought down his arms, folding his tattered black robes about him, the ravens took flight heading directly at the two girls.

***~~~***

5

Of all the parts of her edge that Kile had learned and was still learning, there was one part, one skill, that she despised above all else.  The reason she disliked it was simple. It went against what she had come to believe to be nature, in a way it was an abomination of the order of things. She hated the way it made her feel, she hated the fact that it came so easily to her, she hated what it did to the animals around her and worse of all, deep down, somewhere in the dark recesses of her psyche, the one thing she hated the most about it, was that some part of her actually enjoyed it.

The Maligar was a power that she swore she would never use again, but as it consumed her, as its thick black stands reached out from her mind and sought out those of the raven’s, she felt empowered. Her psyche merged with those of the black birds, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Within a matter of moments, not one, not a dozen, but hundreds of the ravens had fallen within her control and turned on their former master.

She could see everything that was happening, not from her own eyes, but from the small black eyes of the ravens. She saw what they saw. She knew what they knew. She felt what they felt. She lived a hundred lives all at one time. She hatched one hundred times. She learned to fly one hundred times. She saw every place from the black seas of southern coast to the Spine Mountains, all in a matter of seconds. She heard the curses. She heard the shouts as the ravens attacked that black robed man and his cruel little toady. She felt herself clawing at them with her talons, pecking at them with her beaks, until the touch of one hand brought her back to her senses.

“Kile?”

Emara stared at her with a looked of fear.

She
was back in her body, but only just, she still had control of the ravens. Her mind was torn between two worlds and she was holding on by a thin thread of sanity. She turned the ravens down the hallway against the uhyre that threaten their escape. Emara grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the now vacant halls, but the girl wasn’t going in the right direction, she was taking the wrong turns. She was heading up instead of down to the main gate. Kile knew the way but she couldn’t speak. Each time she tried it came out as a chorus of caws all around her.

Emara pulled her toward the stairs, spiraling
further up as the valrik closed in behind them. The guttural cries and the clashing of crude weapons were getting closer as they exited the tower door onto the battlements under the warm night sky. Kile suddenly lost the connection with the ravens. Snapping back into her own mind one hundred times left her dazed and confused as she fell to her knees on the cold stone.  She could only watch as Emara worked her arts over the door.

“That should hold them for a little while.” The young mystic said as she stepped back “Assuming that was the right spell.”

There was a loud crash on the opposite side of the door, followed by some verbal exchange between the valrik. They had no idea what was said, only that it was followed by an eerie silence. Whether it was just a strong door or Emara had worked the right art, it looked as if it was holding.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” Emara said as she came to Kile’s side and helped her to her feet.

She could say nothing as Emara started her chants, and she suddenly felt herself being pulled out of reality, spiraling down a deep hole and suddenly hitting the ground, and then everything went black.

When Kile finally opened her eyes she was staring at a vast wasteland of cracked earth as far as she could see. The sky was a hazy gray in color, but there were no clouds, only the dim yellow sun that hung low on the horizon. She tried to get to her feet, but for some reason her legs wouldn’t hold her weight and she figured sitting would be to her advantage.

“Thank the arts you’re back to normal.” Emara
said from somewhere off to Kile’s side.

“Normal? I don’t think I would use that word.”

“How about just conscious. You gave me a right good scare there.” The mystic replied as she dropped a pile of what could only be described as plant leaves on the ground.

“I must have… over exerted myself.”

“What did you do? One moment there’s these birds flying right at us, the next moment they’re attacking everyone in sight. Then they go and clear a way for us to escape.”

“It’s… difficult to explain.”

“They’ve been teaching me every skill in every sphere at the Tower, but none of my instructors taught me anything about controlling birds.”

“Well… it’s not exactly a common… skill.”

“I’ll say. They way you controlled those rats, and then the birds. It was incredible.”

“I didn’t control the rats.” Kile replied.

“What? What do you mean?”

“The rats. I didn’t control the rats… I asked them for their help.”

“Same thing, what difference does it make.”

“It makes a lot of difference.” Kile shouted, and then regretted how the words came out as she saw the startled look in Emara’s eyes, and it didn’t help her head much as it pounded every word back at her. “I’m… I’m sorry. I… I didn’t mean to snap. It’s just that Reginald’s family helped because they wanted to… the raven’s had not choice. I didn’t give them a choice.”

“No, I’m sorry. I should have realized how taxing the arts are, if it was actually an art.”

“What do you mean if it was actually an art?”

“Well… I’m not an expert in the mystic arts, and a lot of my instructors would agree, but I do know a thing or two about the way they work, and what you did back there, that didn’t seem like an art to me, it seemed more like… well… a natural skill.”

“I don’t think I understand.”

“Well… the arts are more like manipulating the strings of reality, placing them in the proper order to make things happen. If you know the order to place them, you’ve basically cast a… well… a spell. If you place them in the wrong order, and believe me I’ve done that enough times, nothing really happens. At least you hope nothing happens. It’s better than the alternative. I once tried to shape a stone and… well… lets just say the outcome was a bit embarrassing.”

“I thought all you had to do was just think it to happen.”

“The simple spells, yeah, like… lighting a candle. It’s like one or two strings to get it to work. You can’t really screw up two strings of reality.”

“I wouldn’t put it past me.” Kile replied “But then I… don’t remember any
… strings.”

“That’s just it. A spell, like the one you used back there on those birds
. That would have been very complicated. Anything that deals with changing a person’s perception or controlling his will is really hard. There aren’t too many mystics at the tower that can do it, and you did it without thinking… and with multiple subjects. That should have been impossible.”

“Then how can I do it?”

“That's what I’m saying. It’s more like a natural skill, like a bird flying or a skunk spraying, or a fish swimming, they don’t have to work at it, it just happens, it’s what they are. Maybe this is what you are.”

“A freak.”

“I didn’t say that.” Emara replied as she sat down across from Kile and picked up one of the leaves. She began peeling the outer skin off.

“What are you going to do with those?” Kile asked.

“I was going to try to get water from them… Isn’t this how it’s done?”

“Not from those, they’re poisonous.”
She replied.

Emara quickly dropped the leaf back on the pile. “Are you sure? How do you know?”

“Me and my freak nose could smell them from here.” Kile said as she slowly got to her feet. “Come on, I’ll show you the ones that are safe to eat.”