by Spoor, Garry
“That's too easy.” Daniel remarked over her shoulder, and she had to agree. It reminded her of the mousetrap that her brother had built in the barn one summer. Set the cheese out for the mouse and when it got too close, BAM, A large hammer came down and hit it on the head. They never did find out if it worked, she would always disarm it at night before going to bed and then rearm it in the morning before her brother ever got up. The cheese was always gone and Leon could never figure out what he had done wrong with the trap. Eventually he just gave up.
She looked up toward the ceiling to see if there was a large hammer waiting for her.
“Now what?” Daniel asked as he backed out of the second room. That one was set up the same way.
Kile held the key out to the two open doors, and when she thought she felt it pulse, she knew their orb was in the second room.
“We go in and get it.” She said, although she didn’t feel all that confident.
“It has to be a trap.” Daniel replied.
“Even if it is, we still have to get it.” She said and then looked over at the closed door. That was something that made her nervous.
“Okay.” She finally said, working it over in her mind. “Carter, you stand beside the exit. Alex stands near the closed door, Murphy stands near the door to the room, Daniel keeps an eye on me and I open the chest.”
“Why you?”
“Because I have the key.” She said holding it up. “If anything happens it has to come from one of those areas. If anyone hears or sees anything… just yell.”
“Oh, I’ll yell.” Alex said as he nervously stood beside the closed stone door. “If anything comes out of this room I won’t just yell, I’ll scream.”
“What do you think Vesper, do you feel anything wrong?” She asked the Yarrow as she took him off her shoulder and placed him on the floor. He seemed a little nervous, but it was difficult to tell with a yarrow since they always seemed a little nervous.
-Smell wrong.-
“What smells wrong?” Kile asked.
-Air smell wrong, not like.-
“Yeah, me neither. We’ll be out of here soon. You wait here, I’ll be right back” She assured him, and then turned to Daniel. “You ready?”
“You want me to open the box.” He offered.
“No, I got the box. You just make sure a hammer doesn’t hit me in the head.”
“A what?”
“Just… make sure nothing happens.” She said as she stepped into the room. Daniel was two steps behind her.
Walking slowly across the floor she tried to watch both the ceiling and the walls. Of course the floor was another matter. From her own experience in the entry examination, she remembered how the mystics loved trap door. Stand in the wrong place, kneel in the wrong place, move the wrong object and she could be dropped into a deep pit before she knew it. She held her breath and knelt down beside the golden box holding the key in her left hand. Slowly slipping it into the lock she gently started to turn it.
“Anything?”
Kile jumped, almost leaping over the box as she spun around.
“Do you mind?” She told Daniel who took a few steps back.
“Sorry.”
She crouched back down beside the box, took another deep breath to calm her already shaky nerves and turned the key, the lid popped open. She cringed and waited for the worst, but nothing happened, no hammer came down to strike her on the head. Inside the box was a single orb of the same color and size as the one they already had.
She wet her lips, flexed her fingers and very slowly reached into the golden box. Carefully she took hold of the orb and gently picked it up. So far so good she thought as she slowly lifted the orb from the box that was when she heard the click and something scratched her hand.
“What the…. what… uh…”
The room began to spin and everything went black.
The room was still spinning, but now it was a dull gray as Kile lay in the center of the floor, staring up at the dome ceiling with a furry little creature laying a crossed her neck. She lifted her head to look around, but the minute her head left the floor the room spun faster. Vesper sat up and looked down at her.
-Kile alright?-
He asked, cocking his head to one side.
“That depends, am I still alive?”
“Welcome back to the land of the living.” Daniel laughed.
“Ouch, not so loud.” She replied as she placed her hands over her ears.
“How do you feel otherwise?” He asked, a little quieter.
“Still too loud.” She cringed. All she wanted to do was curl up in a dark corner and wait until her head stopped pounding.
“Hey Kile Girl, you back with us.”
“Ow. The next person that yells I’m going to rip their tongue out.” She said as she curled up pulling her cloak over her head.
“Yeah, she’s back.” Alex replied. “She going to be alright?”
“Oh sure.” Daniel replied. “I’m not sure if it’s the poison or the cure that causes the headache.”
“Poison?” She asked from under her cloak.
“That was half the trap, the box had a spring loaded poison needled embedded inside.”
She had thought about everything outside the box, she didn’t think about the trap being inside the box.
“They tried to… poison me?”
“I don’t think it was personal, and I don’t think anyone was trying to kill anyone. It was more like a strong sedative. Knock you out for hours, if not days.”
“Days… the exam.” She exclaimed as she sat up, and then the room really spun as she fell over backwards.
“Don’t move around too fast. Your equilibrium is shot.”
“My what.” She moaned.
“Your equilibrium, you balance. I extracted the poison but it has a tendency to disrupt the balance, I think it has something to do with the water aspect of the art.”
“How long was I out?” She asked as she prepared for the worst.
“Only a couple of hours.” Daniel assured her. “Fortunately poisons are easy to remove from the system if you get to them fast enough.”
“What happened? Did we get the orb? Is everyone else okay?”
“Everyone’s fine, Carter and Murphy when top side to look around. We thought about tying a rope around you and hauling you out of here, but figured it would be better if we just spent the night.”
“Thanks”
It was nice not to be treated like a sack of potatoes.
“So, what happened after I died?” She asked.
“Well, after you sprang the trap, the door to the room closed. It would have sealed us in if Murphy hadn’t been standing right there to block it. He got under it and turned his body to stone again. I grabbed you and the orb and dragged you out.”
“The key?”
“Actually Vesper grabbed the key.”
“Thank you Vesper.”
“Once we saw the door closed, we realized that the other closed door, the one that Alex was guarding, must have been a sprung trap. Carter and Murphy managed to lift it high enough for Alex to craw under.”
“And… was there anybody inside? What did he find?”
“Aside from a few items that might come in handy, he found this.” Daniel said as he held a small ebony box over her so she could see it without moving. “It was opened.” He added.
“They got trapped inside and had to give up.” She realized. She felt bad for the group, even though she didn’t know whose group it was. To come all this way, to get to the second, or it could have been there first orb, only to have to quit over a silly mistake. How far would that go against them, would they still be able to graduate?
“That’s what we think.” Daniel replied, bringing her back to reality “They probably all went in at the same time, didn’t trust one another or were too trusting of the situation, that’s when they all got caught, or maybe most of them, it’s hard to say. Either way they took the short cut out.”
“We’ve got to get moving.” Kile said as she tried to sit up, only to fall back down.
“We’re gong to wait until morning. We still have three days and only one orb to go. We’re making good time.”
By morning the effects of the poison had almost completely worn off. She still felt a little dizzy and there was that annoying pounding way in the back of her head, but at least she was able to stand on her own without using the wall as support. She looked back at the only door that still remained open. One more victim she thought, the trap was waiting for one more chance. The score was one to one, one that it caught, one that got away, how lucky will the third party be.
She picked up the pack that Alex had found in the room where the trap was sprung. It must have been dropped by one of the cadets, before the mystic in the little ebony box whisked them away back to the academy. It was one of the survival kits that each group had been given prior to the start of the exercise, but it was depleted of anything really useful, in fact the only thing that still had any use, was the pack itself since it now held the two red orbs that they had collected.
There were a few items that had been left, such as a half eaten bar of hardtack, a small knife, a piece of chalk and a few bandages from the first aid kit.
“Hey, you coming?” Daniel asked as he walked back into the room. The rest of them were already up top, and they’re waiting on her.
She looked back toward the one door still open, the one trap still not sprung.
“Give me a second will ya.” She said.
Opening the pack she grabbed the piece of chalk. This was one of those items on her mental list, a must have for every adventurer who found themselves in a dark cave or dimly lit tunnel.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing, I’ll be right there.” She said as she got down on the floor in front of the open door with chalk in hand and began to write.
“What are you doing? What are you writing?”
“Nothing, I’ll be right there.” She said again.
Daniel finally walked across the open room and stood over her.
She had drawn two squiggly lines over a large X as well as a triangle with an arrow pointing down. These were the Hunter symbols for poison and trap respectively; she then drew a large box around the two symbols. To another hunter, this clearly reads as a poison trap in a box, hopefully the next group would understand.
“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t do that.”
“Why not?” Kile replied as she slowly got to her feet to admire her work. She was still a little wobbly and the drawing showed it, but she was sure they would get the message, but that was only if they paid attention in Master’s Adam’s class.
“Because that’s…”
“What, cheating?” She finished for him.
“Well… yeah kind of.” Daniel replied, although he really wasn’t sure if that was the right word.
“Anything goes, remember what Master Adam said.”
“Well yeah, but this… this is giving help to the enemy.”
She shook her head as she pushed past him and headed back to the tunnel. She was ready to see the light of day and put this room behind her, but she stopped when she reached the entrance, turning to face Daniel.
“You know they’re not our enemy.” She replied. “I don’t remember anyone saying anything about having to come in first. All we have to do is finish on time.”
“You’re too good hearted for this, you know that.”
“Why, because I don’t see this as a competition like Carter does.”
“You know he’s not going to like you leaving clues for the other group.”
“Why should I care what Carter likes, I can sleep at night.”
“So, you’re going to tell him?”
“Hell no.” She said as she headed for the rope, the fresh air and the sun. She heard Daniel laughing behind her.
Kile found the rope and the fresh air, but not the sun as the sky was dark with thick layers of clouds. They wouldn’t have to worry about searching for water today.
The heavens had been kind to them, until they reached the bottom of the mountain, then it opened up and began to rain. It was a light drizzle at first, but it soon turned into a downpour. If she didn’t know better she would have sworn the Mystics had something to do with this sudden change in the weather, just another obstacle for the cadets to overcome.
“We should have stayed back in the hole.” Alex complained. His wild hair matted flat against his head by the rain. At least now she knew whose hood they cut off for the water skin. Kile removed her own cloak, much to Vespers annoyance since he had been hiding in her hood to keep dry.
“Sorry about that Vesper.” She said to the yarrow as she slipped him into the pack that hung at her side. “You’ll be dryer in here anyway.”
-Don’t like water-
Vesper complained.
“Hold up guys.” Kile called out as she handed Alex her cloak.
“What’s this for?” He asked.
“Switch, you’re getting drenched.” She told him.
Alex didn’t wait to be asked twice. He quickly slipped out of his cloak and exchanged it for hers. Fortunately they took the same size in cloaks, not that the quartermaster had too many sizes to choose from. He pulled the hood over his head and thanked her.
“Don’t mention it.” She replied. Her hat kept most of the water off her head anyway. “Where are we supposed to be going anyhow?”
Alex unrolled the illusionary map and held it out in front of him. She wondered if it was necessary for him to unroll it each time they wanted to use it, since it wasn’t a real map and it wasn’t really rolled up. She looked over his shoulder to read it. If the map was right, they weren’t far from their final orb.
“We should be able to get there tonight.” She told the others.
“Well, that’s some good news.” Carter replied.
Alex rolled the map back up until it disappeared, she shook her head and kept walking, he was on his way to becoming a first class mystic, always showing off.
They never stopped for lunch or supper, they didn’t have anything to eat anyway and to forage for food would have taken away time which they also didn’t have. According to the map they still had quite a distance to go before they could get back to the academy. Even if they were lucky enough to find the orb by nightfall, it would take them two days to reach the Western gates, and that was assuming nothing hindered them along the way. Instead they split the half bar of hardtack that was found in the lost pack, although no one was eager to eat it, except maybe Alex who actually liked the stuff.
They pushed themselves forward as the skies grew darker, the air grew closer and the distant sound of thunder echoed through the valley. It was going to be a harsh night. By the time evening rolled on them, and it was becoming too dark to continue, Daniel spotted the campfire in the distance.
“Looks like someone beat us to the punch.” Carter said.
“That doesn’t mean anything.” Daniel replied. “Besides, maybe they’ll lend us a hand.”
“Yeah right, what’s in it for them, it's not like we have anything to offer.”
“Maybe they’ll do it out of the goodness of their hearts.” Daniel replied as he looked over at Kile and grinned.
-Dogs-
Vesper’s voice echoed in Kile’s head, bringing with it a sense of danger.
“Hold up you guys.” She called out.
“What are we stopping for now?” Carter asked.
She ignored him as she opened the pack that hung at her side, looking down at the yarrow who stared back up at her.
“What’s the problem Vesper? What’s wrong?” She asked him, at this point she didn’t care who was watching.
-Dogs, dogs and Vir in the forest-
“Men with dogs.” She said as she quickly fell into her edge and scanned the forest, only then did she pick up on them. Two men, two dogs, two different locations.
; “Back this way guys, we have a problem.”
“What problem? What are you on about?” Carter asked.
“There are men in the forest with dogs, at least two of them, there could be more.” She said.
“How do you…” Carter started to ask, but Daniel cut him off.
“Where Kile?”
She paused for a moment, laying it out in her mind.
“One directly ahead of us, about fifty yards, the other a little farther away, maybe seventy, eighty yards off to the north.”
“Why would there be dogs in the forest?” Daniel asked
“You think the last orb is guarded?” Alex asked.
“I’ll find out.” Carter said with confidence as he began to slip into his own edge.
“Wait.” Kile stopped him. “You may be able to slip past the vir, but you won’t fool the dogs.”
“The what?”
“The… men, you may be able to slip past the men, but you won’t fool the dogs.”
“You’re underestimating my edge.” Carter replied in a boasting manner.
“You’re underestimating mine.” She replied. “How do you think I was able to defend against you when you pulled your edge on me during our first duel. No, the vir can be fooled, the dogs can’t.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
***~~~***
13
He was not from the academy, not in the sense that he was a hunter, but instead a city guard, although he was not dressed in the city livery. He wore banded armor with quilted slacks and high leather boots, an ill fitted helm concealed most of his face, probably his idea of what a brigand would wear. Even though he wasn’t dressed like a city guard, he definitely patrolled like one. It was the way they walked, the way they held themselves, like stiff pieces of wood on wheels. It was not uncommon from the Hunter’s Guild to employ city security for the more mundane task, like waiting out in the wild for five days hoping that a bunch of cadets would come along. Anything for a few extra coins to spend in the pub.
The dog was as stiff and as focused as his master that was until he picked up on the scent. His entire body tensed as the hair on the back of his neck stood up and he began to growl in a low menacing tone.