Hunter's Academy (Veller)

by Spoor, Garry

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Sure he did, I saw him with the pack myself. I almost had it but he disappeared, along with the rest of them.”

  “Just because he had the pack, doesn’t mean he had the orbs. Does it Tik?”

  -Help Kile?-

  The voice, only she could hear, came from the tree just behind her. She turned to see a familiar squirrel sitting on one of the lower branches alongside a yarrow. His tail looked a little singed, but otherwise he was in good health. She limped over to them, holding her arm out so Vesper could get back onto her shoulder.

  “Yes, you did, thank you Tik, you both helped.”

  -Help Kile-

  Tik said as he ran back up the tree, there was a moment of chattering in the higher branches, and then three red orbs fell to the ground followed by three blue ones.

  Daniel was able to soothe the pain in Kile’s ankle, fortunately there was nothing broken, although that’s not what it felt like. It was still a little sore but she would be able to walk on it without help.

  “That’s about as much as I can do at the moment.” He told her.

  “It feels a lot better now, thanks.”

  “What were you thinking, trying to trip him? You could have just stepped out of the way.”

  “Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?” She grinned.

  “Yeah, like when he did that awesome face plant.” Alex laughed.

  “That was a bit wild.” Carter remarked as he helped her to her feet. “You could have given your little army some better information. I don’t know… like whose friend and whose foe.”

  “Hey, I didn’t tell them to go after anyone, they did it by themselves.”

  “I think it’s a little more than that.” Daniel replied. “Squirrels don’t tend to link up in platoons and attack people. It’s not exactly… normal.”

  “Hey, what can I say, they were just looking out for me.”

  It took them another three hours before they reached the road moving at a much slower pace. They could finally see the western gates of the Academy. The sun was already low in the sky that was now changing to a misty orange, but it was still a long way from setting so they had arrived with time to spare. As the Open field just outside the walls of the academy got closer, they noticed a group of cadets sitting on the side of the road. One of the cadets sat up as Kile and her group got closer and she recognized Keith Larks as he waved to her.

  “What’s the matter?” She asked. Her first thought was that something had happened within the academy, something that she didn’t want to know about.

  “Nothing.” Keith said, looking to the other members of his group. “We got tired, right guys.”

  “That’s it, just taking a break.” Another member chimed in and lay back down on the grass as if to prove it.

  It seemed like an odd place to get tired, just a couple of yards from the western gate, a couple of yards from the completion of the exercise. It was almost as if they didn’t want to come in first, well, two can play at that game.

  “You know, I’m feeling a little tired too.” She replied, turning to the others.

  “Yeah, I think we can all do with a little rest before we move on.” Daniel agreed.

  “What? What are you talking about we’re almost home.” Alex started to complain until Carter slapped him upside the head.

  “We’re going to rest here first squirt.” He told him as he followed Kile and Daniel to the side of the road.

  Alex looked to Murphy who just shrugged and followed the others.

  Kile took a place on the grass beside Keith.

  “That was some exercise.” She said as she stared at the road.

  “It sure was.” Keith replied.

  “You guys the first here?”

  “As far as we know.”

  “How many groups do you think made it through?” Daniel asked.

  “We were trying to figure that out.” Robby replied. “Laurence and his team never made it.”

  “What happen?”

  “Rock slide during all the rain. Caught them on the top of the hill, about three days back. Barry broke his leg so they couldn’t continue.”

  “Is he alright?” Kile asked.

  “Oh sure, the healers will have him fixed up in no time.”

  “It’s a shame they didn’t have you with them Daniel.” Keith added. “With your skill they could have continued.”

  “If I had known I would have been there.” Daniel said.

  “So, out of the seven groups, that still leaves just the six.”

  “Four.” Carter corrected. “We found a spent black box in the rooms under the hill, by the looks of things there, someone got themselves caught in a nice little trap and had to drop out.”

  “Do you know whose group it was?” Keith asked.

  “No way of telling.” Kile added. “They were long gone before we got there.”

  “Well, that still leaves five.” Robby replied.

  “Well, Eric’s group had to drop out unexpectedly.”

  “Really?” Keith said, and his face lit up with a grin. “I know Jakk will be happy about that, they ran into Eric and his minions two days out, barely got away.”

  “So, how long are we going to sit here?” Alex asked.

  “Two more group out there, I say at least until the sun sets below the walls.” Kile replied and looked to Keith for verification. The blond haired boy nodded.

  “Sounds like a good idea to me.”

  They didn’t have long to wait as one of the cadets from Keith’s group stood up and pointed.

  “That looks like Jakk and his group now.”

  Kile looked up the road.

  “I can’t see anything.” She said.

  “Trust him.” Keith sighed. “If he says he sees something, he sees it. It gets rather annoying after a while.”

  “Don’t blame me if you’re as blind as a bat.” The other cadet laughed.

  It was about five minutes later before any movement could be seen on the road.

  “Yeah, it’s Jakk.” The cadet said as he sat back down on the grass.

  Jakk was a lean, dark haired boy with a narrow face and rather large ears. He stopped in the middle of the road when he saw the other Cadets.

  “What's the matter, what’s going on?” He asked as he came over to Keith, his eyes briefly glanced over at Kile, but only for a moment.

  “We’re waiting on you.” Keith replied, to where Jakk just looked more confused. “Come on, sit down, we still have some time.”

  Jakk looked at the other cadets, and then looked at his own group. He could have made for the gate and been the first through, but it didn’t look as if he really cared all that much and neither did his group.

  “Hey Jakk, you’ll be happy to know that Eric and his group dropped out.”

  “No way, are you sure?” He asked as he sat down on Keith’s other side.

  “Oh yeah, we’re sure.” Carter replied. “He didn’t want to drop out; the decision was kind of made for him.”

  “As long as he’s out of it, that’s all I care about.” Jakk laughed.

  “We were trying to figure out who still out there, it’s either Williams group or Troy’s.”

  “Troy’s gone. His group didn’t last one day.”

  “What happen?”

  “Eric. He persuaded Troy to drop out early if you know what I mean. Tried to do it with us but… well… lets just say it didn’t turn out the way he had hoped.”

  So, Eric had tried to remove other groups as well. In a way, Kile felt kind of disappointed, she was under the impression that Eric had a personal vendetta against her, but now it would appear that he was trying to stop everyone. In many ways it seemed a little pointless to have all the cadets fail the final exercise with the sole exception of his group, it would have looked a little suspicious.

  “So that means William’s group was trapped.” Daniel concluded.

  “What happened to William?” Jakk asked
/>   “We think he got caught in a trap while going for one of the orbs.” Carter replied. “At least the trap was sprung when we got there and we did find one of the black boxes, it had already been opened.”

  “You mean that trapped room in the cave, the one with the poisoned needle in the box?”

  “That’s the place.”

  “Yeah, we would have walked into that trap too if Tom here hadn’t noticed the Hunter symbols on the floor.” Jakk replied as he gripped the shoulder of a rather round cadet sitting next to him.

  “Symbols, what symbols?” Carter asked.

  “There were Hunter symbols on the floor just outside the room. At first I though it was a joke, something to mislead us, but as Tom said, Hunter symbols should be taken seriously. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious. James was able to get the orb, he set off the trap but… lets just say he has a way of getting out of a closed room.”

  “We didn’t see any symbols?” Carter replied.

  “I don’t see how you could have missed them, they were large enough.”

  “How come we didn’t see it?”

  “Because Kile wrote them after we left.” Daniel replied.

  “Kile?”

  “If Williams and Troy both dropped out of the exercise, then that leave just us.” Kile said, quickly changing the subject.

  “Well, if that’s the case, there’s no use sitting around here.” Keith replied as he got to his feet. He even offered Kile a hand.

  ***~~~***

  14

  “Well, I guess congratulations are in order, at least for those fifteen cadets that passed the survival exam.” Master Adams said as he stepped into the room and walked to the front of the class.

  Kile looked around the room at the faces of the cadets, some beamed with pride, and others looked down at their desks. It was either in shame or in anger of having to bail out of the exercise. Eric was the only one that looked in her direction, and there was no denying what he felt when he saw her, and surprisingly it didn’t bother her.

  She looked out the window, out at the western wall, and she had mixed feelings, whether she liked it better in here or out there. The wild held so much more freedom, more than the stone walls that now surrounded her; of course the bath and the extra change of clothing were a welcome indulgence. Sleeping in her cot, in her cell or sleeping out under the stars, it was a hard choice to make.

  “I see that you all managed to survive it well enough.” Master Adams remarked as he took his seat. “Although I am sure that you may have noticed that we’ve lost a few more cadets. Five took the walk.”

  “Who?” One of the cadets yelled out from the back row.

  “Their names are on the notice board if you care to check. I’m sure that you’ve heard by now that an incident occurred during the survival examination. Cadets used their edge against other cadets, this as you know is not tolerated by the guild, as a result two cadets have been forced to leave the academy and there may be more.”

  Kile looked around the room again, searching for the faces she knew she should see. The members of her group were still here. Murphy was sitting next to Alex in the front row. Carter and Daniel were sitting right behind her. Were they the next to go? Were they the ones Master Adams alluded to? They had used their edge against other cadets, namely Eric and his group, but if Eric was still here, they couldn’t very well force her to leave.

  “So, you have all made it to your third year.” Master Adam said, leaning back in his chair as he studied the faces of the cadets before him. “If you thought the second year was intense, your third year is only going to get harder. Your training is going to get harder, your studies are going to get harder and of course the academy will be expecting more from you. You may have gotten by the first two years on sheer luck or natural talent, but they will only take you so far, the survival examination should have proven that. It’s why we have it first, a sort of a wake up call to those that think they can coast into the Hunter’s guild.”

  He leaned forward and clasped his hands together, looking at each cadet in turn.

  “From this point on, you will each be considered individuals. Each one of you has your strong points and your weak points, and that is what the academy is going to focus on. For the next several months until you are either assigned to a hall, or pass through the gate of Pudora, we will expose your weaknesses and use them against you until they become your strengths. If you can’t ride a horse, you will be on that horse day and night until you can prove otherwise. If you can’t survive the wild, you will be left out there for weeks on end if necessary until you can. If you’re having problems controlling your edge, you will be seeing a lot more of Morgan than anyone actually should. There are no more easy courses. Those courses that you sailed through are gone now, for the next few months, it's going to be all those things you hated the most about the academy.”

  There was a fiendish grin on Master Adam’s face that Kile didn’t like. Where were her weaknesses she wondered? That was a surprisingly easy and frightening answer, combat. That would mean she wouldn’t be let out of Master Boraro’s sight until she mastered the sword… or he killed her.

  “Your assigned location for each day will be posted on the notice board. It is your responsibility to be where you are supposed to be, when you are supposed to be there, and to show that we at the academy are not evil… you may take the rest of the day off to recuperate from your survival exercise. That’s all have a nice day.”

  Master Boraro everyday all day she thought as she slumped in her seat. Maybe she should seize this opportunity to reserve herself a bed in the halls of healing; since she had a feeling she was going to be visiting it a lot more frequently in the next few months.

  She waited until the classroom emptied, mostly until she was sure Eric had left before she got up from her desk.

  “So Kile, it doesn’t look as if I will be seeing much of you in the next few months.” Master Adams commented as he followed her to the door.

  “Sir?”

  “You’ve read just about every book I have in my library, I don’t think there is much more that I can teach you, and you will be happy to know that Master Voreing feels the same.”

  “I’d take Master Voreing over Master Boraro any day.” She mumbled.

  “Yes… a shame about that.” Master Adams replied. “Still, he is a good man, a little hard nosed at times but he knows what he’s doing, you can learn a lot from him.”

  “You’ll visit me at the healers?” She asked.

  “I don’t think it will be that bad.” Master Adams laughed. “In all my years here, I don’t think I ever heard of Master Boraro actually killing anyone.”

  Somehow that wasn’t very comforting she thought as she followed Master Adams out into the hall. Maybe Master Boraro hadn’t killed anyone yet, since he hadn’t had to instruct anyone he disliked more than her.

  “Oh, Kile, I almost forgot, Morgan wanted to see you after class.”

  “Morgan?” She asked, now what did he want. He probably had something to say about the incident.

  “Master Adams.” She called out, stopping the Hunter before he reached the stairs.

  “What is it cadet?”

  “The two boys that were forced to leave the academy.”

  “What about them?”

  “Did that have anything to do with…?”

  “What occurred between Eric’s group and your group out in the wild two days ago?” He finished for her. All she could do was nod. “I’m afraid to say, yes, it had a lot to do with the fight in the field. A Hunter, whether he’s a full fledge Hunter or just a cadet is never allowed to use his edge against another Hunter. It’s right at the top of the Hunter’s code. Both Robert and Stephen knew that, and yet they chose to act against that code.”

  “But sir… we all kind of used our edges at that time.”

  “I’m sure you did, in your own ways, but to use your edge defensively to protect yourself or others against another is what a hu
nter does; to use your edge offensively to attack another hunter is a violation of the code.”

  “But just those two, it doesn’t seem fair. What about Anthony… or Eric.”

  Master Adams pulled Kile off to one side as he looked around the hall, making sure that they were not overheard.

  “I understand what you are saying Kile, and believe me, I agree with you, but there are certain circumstances that have to be dealt with first. In Anthony’s case, it is not clear if his edge can be used offensively, and he may still find himself out of the academy if a further investigation finds that what he did, acted against the code.”

  “And Eric?” She asked.

  Master Adams sighed and shook his head. “Sometimes… the code can be paid for.”

  “Because his father is Lord Rimes.”

  “In Eric Rimes case, the evidence has to be more… substantial.”

  “So, not until he does something that can’t be disputed, he can get away with it.”

  “I’m afraid that how it goes, even in the guild.” Master Adams replied, and it was clear that he was as upset about it as she was. “Think of it this way Kile, the world is a big place. Once you’re a hunter and out there on your own, you’ll never have to deal with the likes of him again.”

  Somehow that little bit of wisdom, wasn’t very encouraging.

  She took the back way down the stairs and out the rear of the great hall to the small mystic towers. She knocked on Morgan’s door, and when no one answered, she went in.

  Each time she visited Morgan, his room looked cleaner and more organized, and in a way it seemed pointless. In one more year the remaining hunters would be given their destination papers and be leaving the academy. By the time Morgan had everything where he wanted it; he would be packing it all up again and headed back to the Mystic’s Tower.

  The two overstuffed wingback chairs were still sitting before the blue flame that was cooling the room. The shelves were stocked and the books were neatly aligned, even the little curiosities that littered the workspace now appeared to be in order. It was a far cry from the first time she had ventured into his tower that was nearly two years ago.