Hunter's War (Legend of the Wild Hunter Book 4) (23 page)

“It’s not good,” he said in his deadpan voice.

He may be a good healer, but his bedside manner needed work.

“Will he be all right?” she asked.

“I’ve done what I could. Under the circumstances he’s lucky to be alive. It’s now only a matter of time,” the old man said. He dried his hands and tossed the rag to his assistant. “He’s young, he’s strong, he’d have to be to sustain a wound like that and keep going. There was extensive damage to the right side of his face, and he’ll lose the use of his eye, but he’ll regain the use of his arm, assuming he survives the night.”

“Thank you, Sumsor.”

She waited until he left the room before moving to the side of Alex’s bed.

Sitting down, she took his hand in hers, remembering the first boy, the first Hunter, who made an effort to be her friend. His unquenchable optimism, his untamed mop of hair, his ever smiling boyish face, now covered with bandages. He looked so much smaller, so much frailer than he did back then.

The sound of the door opening brought her back to reality. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she looked up. Captain Jax stood framed in the light from the hall.

“What is it?” she asked.

“You’re going to want to hear this,” Jax replied.

She looked down at Alex. There really wasn’t anything she could do for him at the moment, which is why she felt so helpless. If only Daniel was here. He would know what to do, at least in the way of helping Alex. He wasn’t exactly the first person she would turn to for strategic advice.

Getting up from the chair, Kile reluctantly released the smaller Hunter’s hand. Why did it have to be Alex, she wondered? It wasn’t like he had much experience, certainly not enough to go behind enemy lines to deliver a message. Although, knowing him the way she did, he was probably foolish enough to volunteer, anything to widen his repertoire of stories.

She looked back one more time before stepping out into the hallway. Tullner and Sandson were waiting for her along with Captain Jax.

“So, what is it?” she asked.

Jax didn’t reply. He led them down the hall and stopped beside one of the doors. The room was empty, save for a single table and a few chairs, of which two were occupied. Raf was sitting in one, the other was taken by the young man who arrived with Alex. He was looking a little nervous and caged in. When she entered the room, Raf quickly sat up, the loud clunk, from the front legs of his chair hitting the floor, made the young man jump.

He was older than she was, if only by a few years. The fact he was dressed in the King’s colors meant he wasn’t a Hunter, probably one of the military messengers, so she really didn’t feel bad she didn’t recognize him. He stared at her when she entered. The look on his face reminded her that her eyes still hadn’t changed back, but there was little she could do about that at the moment.

“This is Private Duntz,” Jax said, motioning for Kile to take a seat.

She sat across the table from the young man, Tullner and Sandson stood against the wall behind her. Captain Jax took the chair at the head of the table.

“Private Duntz, this is the Hunter, Kile Veller.” he said.

The young man looked at her for a moment, then at the other men in the room.

“I was told I had to deliver this message to you and you alone,” he said in a shaky voice.

“What you can say to me, you can say in front of these men,” Kile replied.

There was a momentary look of relief on the young man’s face. Was he actually afraid of being alone in the same room with her?

“You do have a message, don’t you?” she asked.

“Oh, yes, ma’am. I was sent by the Major.”

“What major?”

“Major Robert Folkstaff.”

“Master Folkstaff,” Kile exclaimed, leaning forward. “What did he say? Is he on his way here?”

“Well, yes ma’am, I mean… no ma’am.”

“Maybe you should just give us the whole message, son,” Jax said.

“Well, sir…” Duntz stammered. He was looking at Jax suspiciously. Whatever he wanted to say, he was not comfortable saying it in front of the Captain.

“Out with it,” Kile said, or at least she thought she said it. She actually shouted it, which caused Duntz to jump out of his seat and press himself up against the wall as far away from her as he could get. Raf fell out of his chair, and both Tullner and Sandson quickly move away from her. Jax was the only one who didn’t move, although, his hand did fall to the sword at his side.

Kile closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I’m all right,” she told them. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if she lost it now. “Just tell us what you came to tell us,” she said, looking at Duntz, and then regretting it. The young man was fixated on her eyes.

“Private.” Tullner shouted, taking a step forward and drawing Duntz’s attention away from Kile. “I am Sergeant Robert Tullner of Perha Squad. You will deliver your message to me,” he instructed.

Duntz came to attention.

“Sir, the Callor province has betrayed the King and has declared war on the throne. Callor is now an enemy of the crown,” he said, and his eyes shifted to where Jax sat.

Now they knew why he was reluctant to say anything.

“Well, that we already knew,” Raf commented from the corner of the room.

“Is there more, Private?” Tullner asked.

“Sir, the King’s army has invaded Callor and has laid siege to the city of Norfrom. Major Folkstaff does not know when help can arrive, but says the outpost of Moran must not fall. If the valrik are allowed to enter Callor…”

“They could easily break the siege, reinforce the armies of Callor and prolong the war into the harvest season,” Jax finished for him.

“Yes, sir, that is correct.” Duntz replied.

“So, all we have to do is defeat the few thousand valrik on our front door step to win the war,” Kile said, throwing up her arms. “I thought it was going to be something really terrible. I mean, we should have that done before breakfast tomorrow.”

“It’s a little worse than that, ma’am,” Duntz replied.

“Oh please, don’t make me drag it out of you,” she warned.

“There are Uhyre heading this way.”

“How many?” Jax asked.

“I’m not quite sure, sir. We didn’t know there were any valrik on this side of the range. We ran smack into them on our way here,” he said, looking a little embarrassed. “If it wasn’t for Hunter Bartlow, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Why, what did he do?” Tullner asked.

“I’m not really sure, sir,” Duntz replied.

“He cast an illusion to disguise you as valrik,” Kile said, getting to her feet. She headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” Jax asked.

“Command doesn’t know the Uhyre are using Mercer’s pass. I have to talk to Alex, find out where they are and how many, and then I have to get a message to Master Folkstaff.”

“What makes you think this Alex knows anything more?” Tullner asked.

“Because he’s a Hunter, and that’s what Hunters do,” she said, closing the door behind her.

This was great, she thought. Her one chance of getting the refugees out of Moran was quickly being cut off. She needed to find out where the Uhyre were and how many actually made it into the Callor province. If the King’s army was truly in Callor, and she could get the refugees to them before the valrik reached the outpost, then the refugees would become the responsibility of the army. They could easily get them to safety in either the Fennel or the Azintar province, which would just leave Moran with the small problem of holding off a few thousand valrik with just a handful of vir and a small army of dogs.

Pushing open the door, which led into her room, she closed her eyes and fell into her Edge. She reached out to the higher peaks of the outpost until she found where the red shoulder hawks were waiting. It didn’t take much to send them on their way. They could search the eastern valley and be back before dawn.

“Vesper, you back?” She called to the empty room.

-Kile.-

The reply came as the small white yarrow leapt up onto her bed.

“I got a job for you.”

-Help Kile.-

She extended her hand and Vesper scrambled up her arm. He took his place on her shoulder.

-What do?-

He asked.

“I need you to watch over somebody.” she replied

Kile sat in the corner of Alex’s room, quietly scribbling a note to Folkstaff by the light of a single candle. She made reference to the fact Alex and Duntz managed to get through and delivered their message, although, it kind of went without saying. She wouldn’t be writing the note if they hadn’t. She went on to write about the valrik forces which crossed into Callor, although, she was still a bit vague on this part. She would have to wait for the hawks to return before she could fill in the proper numbers. She wanted to fill him in on the situation within the outpost. Mostly about the number of refugees who were in need of evacuation, and the number of soldiers who were capable of defending Moran, but putting all that into a letter would a bit careless. Information such as that would be dangerous, if the wrong people read it. Instead, a few well-chosen Hunter symbols would have to do, although, Hunter symbols didn’t actually cover this sort of thing. She could only hope Folkstaff would understand.

There was something she was overlooking, something she was missing. When she linked with the reptilian wolves, she saw a vision, hidden in their minds. It was like waking up from a dream. She knew it was important. She just couldn’t wrap her head around it.

She glanced out the window at the rising of the moon. It was going to be a clear night. The guards were already spread thin, monitoring both the east and the west walls. Whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen very soon.

-Kile.-

Vesper called from a crossed the room and through his eyes, she saw Alex waking up.

“Vesper?”

His weak, but clear, voice was probably the most beautiful sound she heard in such a long time. Kile grabbed the candle from the table and quickly moved across the room.

“Alex.”

“Hey, Kile girl… is that you?”

“Yes, you idiot, what the hell are you doing here?”

“I’m delivering a message,” he said with a grin.

“You’re not qualified to deliver messages through hostile territories. You’re still a Level Five,” she said, setting the candle down on the table beside his bed. Pulling up a chair, she sat down and took his hand in hers.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Shouldn’t you have asked me that first?”

“Probably, but you had me worried. What were you doing out there? What happened?”

“Did you see them Kile, those weird dog things? They’re all over the place. What are they?”

“I don’t think anybody really knows,” she replied. “What can you tell me about them? How many did you see?”

“I don’t know. It seemed like there was a hundred of them, but it could have been just one really fast one.”

“Somehow, I don’t think so,” she laughed, pouring him a drink of water from the pitcher on the bedside table. She handed it to him and waited for him to take a sip.

“What happened?” She asked again. “Tell me everything, from the beginning.”

“About two weeks ago, we got the news Callor declared war on the throne. Master Folkstaff thought Lord Rimes must have gone mad. They pulled a few squads off the line as well as a few Hunters to join up with the King’s forces in the province of Lunvalt, in the hopes of putting down the rebellion as quickly as possible. Daniel and I were selected because we’re both from the Callor province. Maybe they thought we would know something they didn’t.” He said with a shrug. “Anyway, we were just entering Callor when Master Folkstaff was attacked by the large bird you sent. It nearly knocked him off his horse, it wouldn’t let up until he took the letter it kept shoving in his face, that’s when we knew you were in Moran. Master Folkstaff said we couldn’t do anything for you just yet and that you were on your own.”

Alex finished off the water and handed the empty cup to Kile. “We joined up with Lord Bollen’s men just outside of Norfrom,” he added.

“Lord Bollen?”

“Yeah, he’s Lord Rime’s second cousin. Everybody loves Lord Bollen, well… at least everyone in Procton does.”

“So, Lord Bollen has raised an army.”

“Yeah, you didn’t really think he was just going to let Lord Rimes drag the Callor province into a war with the entire country, did you? Lord Bollen would never do that. Well… anyway, I guess Lord Rimes has a few men of his own because he took control of Norfrom. That’s when a few Hunters, who were in Norfrom, discovered Lord Rimes was waiting for valrik, which were supposed to be coming through Denal at any time. Master Folkstaff told Lord Bollen the outpost of Moran was under Hunter control, but he wasn’t sure for how long.”

“Hunter control?” Kile laughed. “I wouldn’t exactly go that far,”

“Well, that’s what everyone was saying,” Alex replied. “You and your squad learned of Lord Rime’s treason and that the valrik were going to sneak into Callor through Moran, so you seized control of the outpost away from the Callor forces and are defending it from the Uhyre army.”

“That’s not actually what happened,” she said.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter what happened, that’s what people are saying. The whole camp was praising your name. Master Folkstaff knew we had to get a message to you as quickly as possible, but your bird didn’t hang around, and there weren’t too many Hunters familiar with the Callor province. Daniel volunteered, but Master Folkstaff said it wouldn’t be a very good idea, his skills were needed. Since I’m not as valuable as Daniel, they sent me.”

“Who said you aren’t valuable?” Kile asked, sitting up in her chair. “Didn’t Master Folkstaff say the message was important? He wouldn’t just leave it to anybody.”

“Well… I guess, but they did send me with Private Duntz. I could have delivered it by myself.”

“I know you could,” Kile said reassuringly. “But you have to think back to Master Adam’s classes. An important message like this, through such a dangerous area, you have to send at least two messengers. You know, just in case.”

“Well… I guess.”

“Besides, wasn’t it you who saved Private Duntz by creating your illusion. How many other Hunters could have done that? And that was after you were so badly injured.”