by Spoor, Garry
That was something she didn’t miss as she turned to the source. Alex was sitting beside a campfire waving as Daniel emerged from one of the tents.
“What’s this?” She asked as she walked over. The idea that she had survived the cold night with just her little camp fire, a shelter made of tree branches and a bed of pine needles, and here everyone was sleeping in warm tents on cots. This was a bit annoying.
“It would appear that purifying water is not something that I am capable of doing.” Daniel laughed.
“I don’t understand.” She said as she looked around the campsite. Were all of the cadets here she started to wonder. “I thought this was supposed to be a solo exercise.”
“It is, or… it was.” Daniel explained. “These were some of the cadets that didn’t make it through the night.”
“Or even to the night.” Alex added as he looked down at the fire.
“When we ran into trouble, Master Folkstaff brought us back here, everything was already set up.”
So the minute they ran into trouble, they just called for help. The exercise was only for one night, they couldn’t survive one night out in the wild and they wanted to be hunters. She could understand the twelve cadets that had to be taken back to the academy. She was sure the guild would have frowned on allowing cadets to die of exposure or poisoning for the sake of an exercise, but this was entirely different.
“Is everyone here?” She asked looking around. She even spotted Eric sitting outside one of the tents with Robert and Murphy.
“Not everyone.” Folkstaff replied as he came walking up behind her.
“Oh… sorry sir.”
“No need to apologize Cadet Veller, the sentiment is mutual. Only three cadets managed to spend the entire night outside the clearing.”
“Three?”
“You, cadet Hausman and cadet Larks.”
She didn’t know who Larks was, but Carter didn’t surprise her, he could have lost his arm and still stubbornly refused to give up.
“Only three.”
“I’m afraid so. I do hope that you try better during the survival examination.” Folkstaff said as he walked toward the center of the clearing.
“Well, that was kind of… mean.” Alex pouted.
“No. He’s right. I gave in too quickly.” Daniel replied “When he appeared last night and asked if I wanted to give up, I did.”
“He asked you?” Kile exclaimed as she turned to Daniel. “He never asked me.”
“Would you have… if he had asked you? Would you have given in?”
“Well… no I guess not” She said shaking her head. Why would she, she was quite comfortable out there, in fact, she seriously wanted to go back, but then she did ask the squirrels for help, and there was Kaza. If this was a victory, it wasn’t a very clean one.
“So… how did you guys do anyhow?” She asked as she sat down beside the fire.
“Horrible.” Alex replied as he prodded the flames with a stick. “How was I supposed to know you shouldn’t eat cold snow?”
“Why don’t you tell her about your fire?” Daniel laughed.
“I couldn’t start one, so when I saw him coming, I created an illusion.”
“Yeah, he tried to fake out the instructor with an illusion of a fire.”
“It was a great illusion, one of my best, and it would have worked.”
“Why didn’t it?” Kile asked, although she was sure she knew the answer already.
“Illusions don’t give off heat.” Daniel laughed.
“If it wasn’t for that squirrel I would have probably starved to death.” Alex pouted.
“That may be a bit of an exaggeration.” Daniel corrected him as he took a seat beside the fire.
“What about the squirrels?” Kile asked. She didn’t like the way that sounded.
“Oh, it was really freaky. These squirrels came charging across the field and ran straight up the tree I’m sitting under, and then he dropped an apple on my head. What are the chances of that happening?”
“Yeah Kile, what are the chances of that happening?” Daniel asked with a knowing grin.
“Gee Daniel, I don’t know.” She replied.
“What? Did I miss something?” Alex asked as he looked between the two of them.
“There you guys are.” Carter shouted as he came around the tent. “I thought I heard you, I’ve been to seven of these tents so far looking for you guys. So, you all washed out huh, couldn’t spend even one night out in the wild.”
“Kile did.” Daniel replied. “She’s only just arrived.”
“You spent the entire night?” Carter asked, he looked suddenly deflated at the prospect of not being the only one to survive the night, or maybe it was the fact that the only girl managed to survive the entire night took away from his accomplishment.
“If it makes you feel any better, there were only three of us.” She replied.
“Only three?”
“Only three.”
“So, only you two guys washed out.” Carter laughed. “So, what happened?”
“I was able to get something that resembled a shelter, but had some problems with the water since I couldn’t get the fire started to save my life.” Daniel replied.
“Yeah, from what I heard trying to find you guys, that seemed to be the biggest downfall, that and finding food in the dead of winter.”
“Food wasn’t too much of an issue.” Daniel replied, looking over at Kile. “It was the fire that did me in.”
“That’s why you should always carry one of these.” Carter said as he pulled a small stone out of his pocket.
“Is that… a piece of flint?” Kile asked.
“Yeah.” He grinned. “I always keep a piece of flint on me whenever I go off into the woods; you never know when you need it. Truth is, I’ve never needed it until now, but I was glad to have it.”
“What about the other obstacles, Shelter, water, food?” Daniel asked Carter, but he was still watching Kile.
“Oh… food?”
“Yeah, food, you know the stuff you’re supposed to eat.”
“Oh… I… I found some.” Carter replied
“Where?”
“Around, you know, I foraged.”
“Oh, like… nuts, berries, apples.”
“Yeah, that is, you know… apples.” He replied.
“Yeah, that's what I figured, delivered by squirrels.”
***~~~***
9
The first signs of spring were finally reaching the academy as Kile sloshed her way through the mud of the compound until she caught up with Daniel and Carter as they were heading toward the stables. Master Folkstaff had spent the last five weeks giving them a refresher course on wilderness survival, covering everything from starting fires to digging latrines. Master Boraro had picked up where he left off, knocking into their heads the importance of good swordsmanship and now Master Pike was determined to challenge them and their mounts under every condition he could possibly think of. Ever since the loss of those fourteen hunters and the growing concerns of the worsening conditions on the western border during the winter, training at the academy seemed intensified, and with that intensification, came the walkouts. No names had been read that morning, but there seemed to be a few faces missing during breakfast.
“You weren’t at practice again last night.” Carter remarked without turning around. For some reason he took offense with Kile missing their sparring matches, although from what she heard, Murphy more than made up for her absence. She couldn’t tell them that she had been sneaking out to the stables late each night to learn the Touchy system from Luke, or whatever it was that he insisted on calling it. It felt a lot more comfortable and a lot more intuitive than what Master Boraro was instructing. She actually felt as if she was making progress.
“I’ll try to be there tonight.” She said.
“Hey, it’s not for me, it’s for you.” Carter remarked. “I don’t need the practice.”
“Fine, I�
��ll be there.” She promised.
Two sparring classes in one day, she was going to be sore tomorrow morning.
“Hey guys, wait up.” Alex cried as he came charging across the compound. “Did you hear?” He shouted.
“Yeah, we heard you.” Carter shouted back.
“No, I mean, did you hear, four more cadets walked out this morning.”
“Four more?” Daniel exclaimed. “That brings our total class down to what… just over thirty.”
“Yeah, and the first years lost nearly twenty cadets since last week.”
“It’s a mass exodus.” Carter replied. “People are running in fear of the war.”
“War? What war?” Kile asked.
“You don’t think all these little skirmishes on the western border are random do you? They're gearing up for something, and that usually means trouble.”
“Yeah, but… you don’t really think we would go to war… do you?”
“Who can say?” Daniel added. “I didn’t think there were even enough valrik left in Dalval to do this much damage.”
“But what does that have to do with the hunters, why so many drop outs?”
“If Aru goes to war, then the Hunters will be reassigned to the military as a recon group.”
“Assigned to the military?”
Great, she can finally see the end of the tunnel as a hunter, only to graduate and be drafted.
“It hasn’t gotten that far yet.” Daniel assured her.
“I don’t know about that.” Alex added. “They’re saying that another three hunters were killed over the winter that brings the total up to sixteen…”
“Seventeen.”
“… Seventeen hunters.”
“What are you the town crier?” Carter asked as he slapped Alex upside the head.
“Hey, I won’t tell what else I learned.”
“Spill it.”
“Qunton Nashes…”
“Quaineess Nyn.” They shouted together.
“How am I supposed to remember that name?” Alex pouted.
“Yeah, come on guys, he had a hard enough time remembering his own.” Daniel laughed as he ruffled Alex’s hair.
“Hey, cut that out, or I won’t tell you anything.”
Carter and Daniel looked at one another and shrugged. “Find by us.” They said together.
Kile was not so willing to let the matter drop. “What about Quaineess Nyn?” She asked, although she knew she wasn’t going to like what she heard.
“See, Kile wants to know.”
“She’s a glutton for punishment; you’ve seen her in Master Boraro’s classes.”
“Quinlinn Niss…”
“Quaineess Nyn!”
“Whatever. His exhibit was broken into again, this time who ever did it stole the ring as well as the long knife.”
“Who would want old relics from an old hunter?” Carter asked.
“Look guys, go on without me, I’ll be just a minute.” Kile said as she veered off. She didn’t wait to give them an explanation as she headed up toward the great hall.
The doors were open and classes were in session. The first years would be studying all the things that they had learned but forgot over the summer. As she stepped through the great doors, her eyes first drifted over to the locked room just beneath the stairs, the one that housed the small secret exhibit in which she was the only one that had the key. She thought about going back for it, just to see that painting again, but there really wasn’t any time.
The exhibit hall was generally empty except for a hand full of first years mulling around a few of the displays. She walked over to Quaineess Nyn’s painting. What was once the old hunter’s display case was now a vacant spot with a few stray bits of broken glass that had somehow avoided the brooms. She crouched down and ran her hand across the floor, it was Eric alright, she could tell by his scent, but why. Why would someone go through so much trouble for just a few trinkets of a long dead Hunter whose name no one could even pronounce?
“Kile, what are you doing here?” Master Adams asked as he approached. He was carrying a stack of books and looked as if he was going to, or coming from, one of his classes.
“What happened here?” She asked.
“Oh, we’re not really sure.” He said shaking his head, and she could tell that it really upset him, that someone, and not just someone but a cadet, could destroy a piece of the Hunter’s heritage. “The case was found completely vandalized, whoever did it wanted whatever was in side bad enough to go through all that trouble.”
“But, there really wasn’t anything of… value in there, was there?”
“Well, historical value maybe, but, I don’t know about monetary value.” He said, and then looked at her carefully. “Do you know something about this?”
She hesitated for a moment, but thought that someone should at least know what was going on.
“I think… Eric did it.”
“Kile, throwing around accusations without proof can get you into a lot of trouble.”
“I know. That’s why I didn’t say anything when the scales went missing.”
“You don’t know how much I hope you’re wrong.” Master Adams replied. “The Rimes are very well connected. Lore Rimes, Eric’s father, is a first cousin to High King Roland.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“No… well, now you do.” Master Adams replied. “To accuse cadet Rimes of a crime such as this, without proof, could be very dangerous.”
Dangerous? That was not a word she would have used. Risky maybe, foolish most likely, but dangerous implies danger, as in two people go for a walk in the woods but only one returns.
“I understand sir.” She said as she started toward the door.
“Kile.” Master Adams called out. “Get me proof, and I’ll stand behind, otherwise my hands are tied.”
She stepped back out into the compound. If the Rimes were directly related to the crown then that would explain how Eric was able to take the entry examination three times even if he failed the psycho portion, and how Lord Rimes had so much pull with the Guild. There was no way she could openly accuse him of a crime, even if she had proof.
She headed over to the stables where Grim was already standing outside, waiting for her.
“You didn’t break the stall again, did you?”
-No-
The horse grumbled.
-The Vir left it open.-
“Probably through it was better the repairing it all the time.” She remarked as she grabbed hold of his main and pulled herself up.
-You seem… preoccupied.-
Grim commented as he took a leisurely walk to the gate.
“Let’s just say that I have information that somebody did something, but I just can’t prove it.”
-Have you tried… hitting him?-
“What!”
-From what I have seen, striking a vir a few times usually gets a confession.-
“No I haven’t hit him… well, okay once I did but that was under completely different circumstances, and I didn’t mean to.”
-Didn’t you-
“No I did not. I don’t go around hitting my problems to create solutions.” She said as they passed under the western gates. The guards were giving her odd looks again and she had to remember not to carry on conversations with her horse in the presents of other people.
She rode up to the open field where the other cadets had already assembled and were engaged in some form of activity. They were either trotting their horses around in a large circle or watching other cadets trot around in a large circle. The entire exercise seemed pointless. The only new things were a series of fences that had been propped up around the field, a few of the more adventures cadets were trying their hand at jumping them.
“Have I missed anything?” She asked as she rode up beside Daniel.
“Nothing very important, but you get to run the course last for being late.”
“Wonderful.” She said as she looked
over the field. There were a series of eight fences or gates as some of the cadets had referred to them. They had been propped up along a marked course starting from where Master Pike stood and ran the length of the field. It was a straight line, so nobody could get lost.
“So, what did you run off for?” Daniel asked.
“I had to talk to Master Adams about something.” She replied, although that wasn’t exactly true, that was what eventually happened.
“Something about Quaineess Nyn’s exhibit?”
She forgot about the field as she looked at Daniel.
“How did you know?” She asked.
“Oh come on Kile, it wasn’t that hard to figure out. I saw the way you looked when Alex told you about the theft, and then to go running off right afterward, it wasn’t that difficult to put two and two together.”
“I think Eric stole the artifacts.” She said. She hadn’t planned on saying anything to anyone but as soon as she opened her mouth it just kind of fell out.
“Kile.” Daniel hissed in a harsh whisper as he looked over his shoulder to make sure that she hadn’t been heard. “You do not want to be saying that out loud.”
She hadn’t intended on saying it at all, let alone out loud, but now that it was out there, there was no taking it back.
“That’s what I believe.” She said, defending herself.
“Look you’re not from the Callor province, you’re from the Shai Province, so you really don’t understand just how much trouble saying that could get you into, that would be like me accusing Lord Rolf of being a theft.”
Was that supposed to mean something she wondered. She just stared at Daniel, waiting for him to clarify.
“Lord Rolf… the Lord of Shai… your province.” He explained.
“I don’t know him, you can accuse him of anything you want, why should I care. It’s not as if Riverport is the hub of political activity. As long as the Lords leave us alone, we don’t revolt.”
“It’s not a joke Kile. Lord Rimes rules Callor, some say a bit too harshly, but he gets what he wants and if he wants his son to be a hunter, then his son will be a hunter.”
“Politics are over rated.” She said dismissively. She could never follow the lineage of the royal families, who was next in line for which seat. It all seemed pointless, and as long as they didn’t come into Riverport with their lordly ways, what did she care.