Hunter's War (Legend of the Wild Hunter Book 4) (70 page)

“So, what will you do, after the war?” Roland asked.

The questions brought her back to the gardens, and she suddenly looked up at the young man she was walking with. Reality was starting to sink in.

“I’m sorry?” she replied.

“You know, you plans, for after the war? I assume you have some.”

She never thought that far ahead. Since rejoining the Guild, it felt like a daily struggled. One day at a time, she kept telling herself. So far it had gotten her through the worst of it.

“I have no idea,” she replied.

“Well, if it means anything. Yesterday afternoon the Callor forces, under Lord Bollen, have secured the province of Denal. Lord Ian Warren will be returning to take over his father’s place come this spring. So, the Denal province will be back up and running in no time, and I am assuming, so will Coopervill.”

“That’s good to hear,” she replied. “But, I don’t think I’ll be going back there.”

“But aren’t you stationed there?”

“Yeah, sort of. You see I quit the Guild before the war started. I only rejoined because I felt I had to.”

“And, once the war’s over?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know if I want to stay a Hunter or go off on my own. There’s so much of this world I haven’t seen. Do you know I haven’t even been to Baxter’s Bay yet? Everybody talks about it, but I’ve never seen it.”

“Well, between you and me, it’s a bit overrated. I know, I’m not supposed to say thing like that. It’s bad for the tourism. I mean, you should see it at least once, just to say you have.”

“Maybe I will, when this is all over.”

“What about home. You ever think about going back to Riverport?”

“That, I’m afraid, is no longer an option. I kind of burned my bridges when I scared the wits out of my sister-in-law.”

“You don’t have to tell me about family.”

“I suppose not,” she laughed. “Anyway, I have to deal with the mystics at the Tower first. See if I can get my head screwed on right before I make any decisions.”

“Well, there is one option you haven’t considered.”

“And what’s that?” she asked.

“You could always stay here… with me.”

Kile stopped and looked at him. “Roland, I…”

“No,” he said, holding his hand up. “You don’t have to give me an answer now. Just think about it. Do what you have to do at the Tower. Get yourself better, then decide. This place is always open to you. Well, I don’t have to tell you that. You’re the only one who’s ever managed to sneak into the place.”

“It’s… tempting.”

“Maybe this will sweeten the deal,” he said, and before she could say anything more, he leaned in and kissed her. For one brief moment, nothing else seemed to matter. Unfortunately, that moment was all too brief.

“Kile come quick.” Alex shouted as he came running into the garden. He slid to a stop when he saw her with the King. He always had the worst timing.

“What is it Alex?” She asked.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to…”

“Out with it Alex. What’s so importation you’ve lapsed into your hyperactive chipmunk mode?”

“Grim’s at the front gate.”

“What? Is Tullner with him?”

“No, he’s alone.”

This wasn’t good, why would Grim be here, and where was Tullner?

“Grim? Your horse? What’s he doing here?” The King asked, looking between the two of them.

“That’s what I’d like to know. He was supposed to bring Tullner to Forthbar to warn Colonel Barshed of the Rojan.”

“But we already knew about the threat in the north,” Roland replied. “A Hunter arrived in the city, nearly two weeks ago. It gave us just enough time to muster the forces of Callor and Azintar, not that we needed to in the end.”

“That would have been Larks,” Kile explained. “We sent him to warn the Colonel of a possible threat, but it wasn’t until later we understood it ourselves. Ravenshadow sent men into Rojan, posing as your men to destroy their cities and ultimately rile them up enough to go to war.”

“So, that explains it.” Roland said, scratching his chin. “We couldn’t understand why the Rojan broke the treaty for no reason. It would seem I underestimated my brother.”

“Yeah, that’s why we had to block the Lutmorli pass.” Alex added.

Kile shot him a look.

“You blocked the pass?” Roland asked, looking at Kile. “How?”

“That’s a little difficult to explain.” She replied. The last thing she wanted to do was tell Roland about Umingoth. She needed to keep the existence of the dragon secret, and not just for the dragon’s sake. “Right now, we should get to Grim and find out what’s going on.”

“Fine, follow me, but we are going to talk about this later tonight.” Roland said as he led them out of the gardens.

They took the King’s personal passage, which cut through the royal chambers and led them out into the main baily were they were met by one of the gatehouse guards. He was a tall, stern- looking man with a sour face and he eyed Kile suspiciously before addressing the King.

“My Lord, we have a slight problem,” he said.

“What is it, Captain?” Roland asked.

“There appears to be a mountain pony just outside the gate, and he refuses to move.”

“Well then, let him in.”

The guard gave the King a curious look.

“I’m sorry, sir. Did you say you wanted us to let him in?”

“That’s right, Captain. Unless you are in the habit of leaving guests standing on our doorstep.”

“If you say so, sir.” The Captain replied. It was clear, by the look on his face, he thought the King had gone daft, and when he looked at Kile, it was also clear who he thought was to blame. Turning to his men, he shouted for the gate to be opened. The portcullis were slowly raised as four solders ran forward to remove the cross bar which barred the gate. Nobody stopped Grim from casually walking into Windfoil.

“What is it, what’s wrong?” Kile asks as she ran up to the mountain pony. At this point she didn’t care if the guards were watching her or not.

-Having a grand time here, are we?-

Grim said, looking over at the King. If she didn’t know any better, she would have sworn he was jealous.

“That’s none of your business,” Kile replied. “Just tell me what happened? Where’s Tullner?”

-Your little soldier boy is where he’s supposed to be. I took him all the way to the city and dropped him off right in front of your Colonel’s headquarters. He was a little slow getting off, so I helped him on his way.-

“What did you do?”

-I just helped him get off a little faster, then I headed here. Someone has to keep an eye on you, so you don’t do something foolish.-

He said, looking at Roland.

-Looks like I might be too late.-

“Drop it, Grim.”

-As you wish. So, I kept my side of the bargain. Do you plan on keeping yours?-

“Are you sure Tullner’s fine?”

-I waited long enough to see him to the door. When he went inside, I took off. What they did to him after that, I neither know, nor care. He is not the most pleasant of traveling companions, although, he speaks very highly of you. He went on and on and on and on, it was getting rather tiresome. I thought about dropping him off half way, but I couldn’t find a cliff high enough to do the job properly. I don’t think he truly understands the level of communications we share, otherwise, he wouldn’t have said some of the things he said.-

“Like what?”

-Do you really want to know?-

Kile looked around to see the guards, as well as Roland, were now paying close attention to her. This was neither the time, nor the place for such a conversation.

“We will talk about this later,” she whispered to Grim.

-As you wish. Now, where are the stables in this place? It’s been a long walk and I’d like to rest.-

“Alex, do you think you can show Grim, where the stables are?”

“Yeah, sure thing,” Alex replied as he set off across the baily. Grim plodded along behind him.

“Is everything okay?” Roland asked.

“Yeah, everything’s fine, he wanted to let me know he dropped Sargent Tullner off in Forthbar and came to collect his reward.”

“Sargent Tullner, what about the others who went with you?”

“Tullner went on ahead. He was to bring word to Colonel Barshed that the Rojan were under the misconception that you ordered the attacks on their cities. We wanted to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed, if at all possible.”

“But, if Tullner went on ahead, how is it that you and Alex arrived here almost a week earlier.”

Kile shrugged. “It’s a Hunter thing. Trade secrets, I can’t just tell anyone. The Guild has rules.”

“I see,” The King replied with a grin. “I guess I’ll just have to accept these little mysteries about you.”

“I suppose so,” she added as she set off toward the kitchen.

Roland caught up to her. “By the way,” he asked. “What does a horse get for a reward?”

“Apple pie, what else?”

***~~~***

31

It was another two days before members of the war council arrived, and with them, the first snowfall. All of Windfoil was covered in a white blanket as winter descended upon them from the north. Fires were lit in the great hall while the kitchen staff prepared large quantities of food. It was the first time in over a century that Windfoil would play host to such a large gathering of noblemen. Lords from the surrounding provinces as well as officers of the King’s Command filled every corner of the old castle. They were all eager to hear news and to give it.

From her hiding place on the balcony, Kile watched them file in. She had been offered a seat beside Roland at the head table, but she declined. For some reason, it just didn’t seem proper. She wasn’t noble and she wasn’t an officer, so questions would be raised by her presence there. Questions she didn’t want to answer, mainly because she didn’t know how. Things were moving too fast, and she was finding herself in some unfamiliar territory. Roland wanted something she wasn’t sure she was ready to give.

In spite of her lack of knowledge about politics and power players, she was surprised she was able to identify so many of them. Colonel Barshed arrived alongside Master Folkstaff and, much to her surprise, Master Bororo. She had hoped to live out the rest of her life without seeing that man again. She was also able to spot Lord Bollen of Callor and Lord Warren of Denal. She had never met Lord Warren personally, but she had seen him during a few of her trips to the city, back when she was still delivering mail. Lord Kestler of Azintar sat on the far side of the room. The only reason she knew him, was because Lord Bollen called out his name upon his arrival. Of the other people present, she recognized a few, but really couldn’t bother trying to put names to faces. Like the two lords who were practically in Lord Bollen’s back pocket. Didn’t they have anything better to do than follow his Lordship around?

“What do you think Vesper?” She asked the yarrow sitting on her shoulder. “You think they’ll get anything resolved today?”

-Don’t know. Don’t care. Hungry-

Vesper had a way of saying, hungry, that made her feel as if she hadn’t eaten for a week.

“When
aren’t
you?” she laughed. “Let’s just wait until they get settled in and start yammering away before we go raid the kitchen.”

She really wasn’t sure what the purpose of the Council was. Roland did try to explain what they hoped to accomplish, but most of it just seemed like common sense. For starters, there were the distributions of food and supplies to the hardest hit areas, as well as patrols into the wastelands. They also wanted to reestablish a treaty with the Rojan and to organize a trade deal with the Balaa Empire. The way Kile figured, there really wasn’t anything to discuss, they just had to do what needed to be done. Roland then went on to tell her it wasn’t that simple and they had to work out deals with the guilds, taxes as well land compensations and farming subsidies and a whole lot of other words that she couldn’t understand.

The council had just gotten around to food distribution and was arguing over which province would provide which province with food and what each province was going to get in return. Let them talk about food, she thought. She was going to go find some in the kitchen. Pushing herself away from the rail, she was heading to the door when she heard whispering. She stopped and looked into the corner of the room where the shadows were the thickest. She almost expected to see the pale man with the haunted look staring back at her, but there was nothing there. Did she hear it, or was it her over-active imagination?

Noise from the floor caught her attention and she moved back to the rail. The council had ceased their talk of food and their attention was now drawn to the front of the room. Kile tried to see what they were looking at but, from her vantage point, it was difficult. She didn’t have to wait for long, though. Three robed figured entered the great hall and approached the King at the head table. She may have only seen them for a brief, although memorably, moment back in Forthbar, but she easily recognized the Alva ambassadors.

What were they doing here?

There were no shadows following them this time, or at least none she could see. Were there ever shadows? Did she imagine them before? They tried to tell her it was fatigue, but they seemed so real. The Alva appeared quite normal now, or as normal as Alva could appear in a room of full of vir. Kile watched as all three of them stopped before the King’s table.

One of them stepped forward and drew back his hood. She couldn’t see his face since his back was to her, but his hands were thin and delicate and his hair was long and blonde. He retrieved something from the Alva standing on his left side, and presented it to Roland. One of the King’s advisors, an older man by the name of Colin Piarais, stepped forward to accept the gift.

It appeared to be a small wooden chest or possibly even a coffer. There was writing on it, but it was much too far away for Kile to read it. Colin placed it before Roland, who thanked the Alva before opening it. He pulled out some golden object which almost appeared to radiate its own light, but she figured it had more to do with the flicking fires than any real magic.