Hunter's Academy (Veller)

by Spoor, Garry

  The coolness of the stables was a welcome relief from the heat of the summer, and the company was better as she greeted the horses one by one.

  “You’re not down with the others?” Luke asked as he appeared from the shadows beside her.

  “I don’t see the point.” She replied without looking up. She was getting used to him fading in and fading out, that it no longer fazed her.

  “The point is tradition.”

  “Been there, done that.” She said with a wave of her hand. “I’ve seen the orientation when I was on the receiving end, why would I want to listen to it again and again… and again?”

  “Some people see it and understand it the first time they hear it, others don’t really understand until they’ve been here long enough.”

  “So what you’re saying is that there is some cryptic message in Sir Oblum’s speech.”

  “It’s not what he says, but what he means.” Luke replied.

  “What he says is boring and what he means is to bore us.”

  “Is that really what you think?”

  “No… I understand what he’s trying to say but… it's not real. None of it is. I’ve been here for two years and his ideas about what a hunter is supposed to be… I just don’t see it. Most of the staff seems petty, jealous, vindictive, and those that have any real traits of being a hunter are just…”

  “Just what?”

  “I don’t know, I want to say meek, but I don’t think that’s the word I want to use. I mean, look at Master Adams. He’s intelligent, he’s eloquent, I don’t know how good he is in combat but in all other ways he appears to be everything a hunter is supposed to be.”

  “And yet?”

  “And yet if he sees something wrong, he looks the other way. Don’t get me wrong I like the man, I really do, and he’s helped me out quite a bit since I’ve been here but there are things that are just wrong, and to look the other way doesn’t make them look any better.”

  “Master Adams was never really a field hunter.” Luke replied. “He preformed his missions adequately, but never really advanced above a class D assignment level.”

  “Class D… I know that one, that’s mostly deliveries, and the occasional escorting of low priority figures.”

  “Very good.”

  “But if that’s true, how is it that he’s a certified level one hunter?”

  “Masters Adams’s skills were better suited to the guild administration, he was advanced for his work there, so you see, he may not be as… confrontational as other level one hunters.”

  “Like Master Boraro.” She concluded.

  “Yes, like Master Boraro.”

  “But I don’t see Master Boraro as… well… what a hunter should be. He seems too proud, too... full of himself. He doesn’t see people as people, he sees them as occupations as positions. To him the higher you are up on the social ladder the more important you are.”

  “And you don’t think that's right?” Luke asked.

  “No.” She replied. “In many ways he’s kind of like my father, they would get along great… then again maybe not. My father’s a farmer and Master Boraro has a tendency to look down on farmers, but they do think alike. My father wanted to marry me off to a troll of a boy in the hopes of getting bottom land. That’s where I would be right now if I hadn’t gotten into the academy. I would be married to Pordist Tallon, I’d be Kile Tallon.” She said with a grimace which made Luke laugh.

  “But you did pass the entry examination and you did get into the academy, you made it this far.”

  “I guess. I just don’t know if I can go the rest of the way, and then what? What if I don’t pass? What if I don’t graduate? I can’t go back home, I can’t go back to Riverport. I’m not welcome there anymore.”

  “I’m sure you’ll always be welcome back home.” Luke assured her.

  “You don’t know my father, he was not pleased with me wanted to become a hunter, told me so on numerous occasion. Nearly convinced me that I was just too incompetent to do anything; that I was useless, and now I’m here. I’ve been away for too long, I know it wasn’t me, I’m sure of it now.”

  “What wasn’t you?” Luke asked.

  “What… nothing, nothing. The point is that I still have to get through my third year here and I know Master Boraro will do everything and anything he can to prevent me from passing.”

  “And what make you think that?”

  “Simple, he’s already told me so.”

  “When?”

  “Oh… just every chance he’s gotten. ‘I won’t rest until you’re out of here.’, ‘why don’t you save yourself the trouble and go home now.’, ‘I’ll see you gone if it’s the last thing I do.” Kile mimicked in her best Boraro voice.

  “He said all that.”

  “Oh yeah, that and more… actually the last one about seeing me gone, I think that was Sir Oblum, I don’t remember. I should probably be getting back to my cell, it’s getting late” Kile said as she got to her feet. “Look, about what I said… you know about the staff and all… you’re not going to… to tell anyone are you, I mean…”

  Luke smiled.

  “There isn’t anyone here but us and the horse and I don’t plan to tell anyone.”

  “You don’t know how unreassuring that is.” Kile replied. “I trust you. It’s the horses I’m not too sure about. Just keep an eye on Grim; he’s liable to tell anyone.” She said as she headed out the door.

  ***~~~***

  15

  “Kile, one moment please.” Master Adams called out as Kile was walking out of the dining hall.

  She was on her way to the training field with the rest of the boys. On the first day of each week it was required that everyone show up for training, even those that are so gifted in combat like Carter who, otherwise, wouldn’t have to bother. On this day Master Boraro introduced a new weapon to torment the cadets with. The reasoning was simple, if unrealistic. The Guild believed that every cadet should be skilled in every weapon possible so that as a hunter, they would not find themselves lacking in time of need. The Academy was a little more practical, by introducing so many different weapons in the training process; each cadet should be able to find at least one that they could handle with enough skill to pass combat training. The problem was, with Kile, it would be just another weapon on a long list of weapons that she wouldn’t be any good with, so when Master Adams called out to her, she was actually grateful for the delay.

  “What is it sir?”

  As the Hunter approached, he looked first at the boys waiting with her before looking at her, and she could tell that she wasn’t going to like what it was he wanted to say.

  “Sir Oblum wishes to see you in his office.”

  The words were rather solemn and just hung in the air like a signpost pointing to the eastern gate. The first thing that she thought of was the incident during the survival exercise. Master Adams had alluded to the fact that other might be forced to pay for their actions that day, but that was almost three months ago. Did it take the council that long to figure out what had happened?

  “What’s wrong sir, what's this about?” Daniel asked.

  “Sir Oblum wishes to see Kile in his office, that’s… all I know.” Master Adams replied.

  He was lying, she knew he was lying. There was something he wasn’t saying, something more that he knew and he wasn’t telling her, at least not here in front of the boys.

  “Okay sir, I’ll… head right over.”

  “Wait a moment.” Carter said, grabbing her wrist before she could turn. He looked at Master Adams. “Is she in trouble, if she is then maybe we should all go.”

  “No.” Master Adams replied. “Just her.”

  “It’s alright.” She said pulling Carter’s hand off her arm. “I’ll see you guys during training. I shouldn’t be too long, you go on without me.” She told them, and watched them as they reluctantly obeyed.

  It was an ominous building, or that’s the way she saw it. Tall, dark, f
orbidding, the place that cadets go into, but they don’t come out. She had seen the inside of it on only one occasion and that was from a yarrow’s point of view, she assumed it would look a bit different from her vantage point.

  She headed up the short flight of stairs, and passed under the archway of the open doors. The foyer was as dark and as gloomy as the exterior of the build promised. Stairs off to the right lead to the second floor where Oblum’s quarters would be, the door off to the left lead into his office.

  She removed her hat, clutching it in both hands as she hesitated before she finally knocked on the door that was already ajar. The face that opened it was not Oblum’s, but Erin Silvia’s. She smiled, but it was a forced smile, a sad smile as she pulled the door open and stepped aside. Kile knew she was in trouble when Sir Oblum rose from his seat.

  “Cadet Veller.” He acknowledged and then directed her to a chair opposite his desk. “Please, be seated.”

  She didn’t really feel like sitting down, but knew he wouldn’t start until she did. The chair was low and hard, and she felt as though she had to look up to see the underside of his desk. Was this some psychological thing she wondered, a way to make him look more in command?

  “Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble.” Erin said as she sat on the corner of the headmaster’s desk.

  The office door opened again and Kile dared to steal a glance as Master Adams approached. He didn’t look at her; he looked first at Oblum, then at Erin. Something passed between them and Kile wished that they were horses; at least she could understand horses.

  “We have just received news that… your father has passed away late last week.” Sir Oblum said, gripping his hands together and placing them on the desk. “I am sorry.”

  She sat there in silence unsure of how to take the news. She knew how she was suppose to feel, she was supposed to feel sad, she was supposed to cry for her father. That was why Erin was there. Sir Oblum may have been able to console a sad young boy who had just lost his father, but he knew he would be out of his league with a sad young girl, and the fact that she wasn’t crying confused him even more.

  “May I ask how he died sir?”

  “Well.” He said looking at Erin wondering what he was supposed to do next. This clearly didn’t turn out how he had pictured it. “It would appear that he took ill some time during the winter and never really recovered.”

  “I see sir.” She replied.

  He was always a strong man, a stubborn man. For as long as she could recall she had never seen her father sick or if he was, he would never let it stop him, and now he was gone, and she wasn’t sad. He was never like a father, not like Daniel’s father, or Alex’s father, or even Murphy’s father who had given up everything to give his son a better life. Her father was a stranger, a man that lived in the same house she grew up in, a man who worked the fields from sun up to sun down, a man that never missed an opportunity to remind her of how useless she was, how much of a disappointment she was.

  “If that is all sir, I better get back to class.” She said, rising from her chair.

  “The Guild has authorized a leave of absence so that you can return to Riverport, for your… father’s funeral.”

  “That won’t be necessary sir.” She replied.

  “You’ll still be able to return.” Master Adams explains. “It’s only a temporary leave you understand. We would expect you to come back and finish your training to become a hunter… when you’re ready.”

  “I’m not really needed there Sir.”

  “Kile, it’s not a sign of weakness to grieve for a loved one.” Erin added.

  If that were only the case she thought as she turned to face Oblum.

  “Am I being ordered to go Sir?”

  “No, no one is ordering you to go.”

  “Then I should be getting back to class, Master Boraro is not one for tardiness, especially mine… sir.”

  “Kile…” Erin was about to say something more but Oblum held up his hand to stop her.

  “You’re dismissed Cadet.” He said.

  “Thank you sir.” She replied as she turned and headed out the door.

  She knew what they wanted to see, what they had expected to see. A young girl balling her eyes out over the loss of her father, but she just didn’t feel anything. They could have told her some peddler she never met just keeled over down the street and although she would have felt bad for the person, she wouldn’t have had any stronger feelings. She felt more for the loss of Tree, a boy she had known for a week, than for the loss of her own father, and that was the one thing that did bother her. If anything she was mad at him, mad at him for denying her to opportunity to prove to him that she wasn’t as useless as he had always led her to believe.

  She stepped back out, onto the compound and was surprised on how hot it actually was, or was it that much colder in Oblum’s office. It was difficult to tell since she was sweating in both environments. She headed toward the List where the cadets were starting to gather and saw Alex tug on Daniel’s sleeve and point in her direction as she approached. When Daniel turned around, she knew by the look on his face and the way he stood, that Mater Adams must have told them why she had been summoned to Oblum’s office, and she knew the course that the next conversation was about to take.

  Daniel stepped away from the other and started to approach her. What did they do, draw straws to see who was going to console her? As endearing as the sentiment was, it actually annoyed her. To think that she had been through so much with these boys that they still expected her to act like a little girl the minute she received bad news.

  “You okay?” Daniel asked as he got closer.

  “I’m fine, how are you?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “No, I don’t.” She replied.

  “We know about your father, Master Adams’s told us.”

  “And?”

  “Kile, you don’t have to act brave around us, it's okay…”

  “I’m not acting brave around anyone; I just don’t see what the big deal is.” She said as she pushed past him.

  “Kile, he was your father.”

  “Believe it or not, I’m well aware of who the man was.” She replied. “I’ve been around him nearly sixteen years, actually fourteen years since I’ve been here nearly three years.”

  “Well, what did Oblum say?” Daniel asked.

  “Oh, they want to give me a leave of absence to attend his funeral.”

  “So, when are you leaving?”

  “I’m not.”

  “Kile?”

  “Drop it Daniel, you don’t understand, and I don’t care to explain it.”

  “Fine, but if you do.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t.” She said.

  It was the first time she was actually grateful to see Master Boraro enter the field, because it meant the conversation with Daniel, for better or for worse, was now at an end. He didn’t understand, he couldn’t’ understand. How could he? His father actually wanted him around, his father actually wanted him to succeed, his father brought him to the mystic tower so that he could take the entry examination, his father didn’t try to sell him off for bottom land or better water rights, how could he understand?

  The Weapons Master stood before the cadets and waited for them to quiet down.

  “Today we are going to start studying the complexity of the pole arm; this is not to be confused with the quarter staff which is a peasant’s weapon. The pole arm is much more versatile.” Mater Boraro announced from the front of the class as he held up an eight foot long staff weighted at both ends. One end had a bent looking hammer while the other had a simple ball for a counter balance. “Although there are many different pole arms, the techniques for using them are the same varied only slightly by the head of the pole.”

  He went through the maneuvers; a few thrusting action and few swings and Kile couldn’t tell the difference between the use of a pole arm and the use of a quarter staff. To her they appeared to be
the same thing, although she had to admit the added weight on the ends would make it more difficult to use. In fact she was beginning to see a pattern in most of Master Boraro’s techniques. They only vary based on the length of the weapon.

  “For the next couple of weeks we will be working with some different pole arms, maybe some of you who are incapable of handling the intricacies of the sword will find these weapons simpler to your limited skills.” He finished, tossing the weapon to Master West.

  She had a feeling that the last statement was made for her benefit since Master Boraro made it a point to look directly at her when he said it. He was not blind to the fact that her swordsmanship was sorely lacking.

  “Pick up your weapons and break off into pairs for evaluation.” Master West called out.

  She wasn’t looking forward to this as she grabbed one of the weapons from the barrels that had been brought in. She was right about one thing, the added weights on the staff’s ends did make it awkward to use. Heading towards her practice spot, one that was far enough away from the Weapons Master as not to attract too much attention, she found Daniel waiting for her.

  She took her stance opposite him, gripping the pole arm with both hands.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Daniel asked her.

  “No, I’m pretty sure I know how to do this.” She replied.

  “You know that’s not what I meant.”

  This was not the time or the place for such a discussion as she launched into her first attack. It was half hearted and ill prepared, but she just wanted Daniel to focus on the matter at hand and leave her private life alone. He easily blocked it and turned it aside and went for a weak counter attack. He was pulling his punches she realized, which only annoyed her more as she deflected the blow and came around with a strike of her own, unfortunately she misjudged the length of the staff and how much those weighted ends threw her balance off. She ended up dragging the end of the pole arm through the dirt which resulted in the sudden loss of her weapon. Daniel had already moved to block and counter the strike that never came, which resulted in his blow catching her on the back of the inside leg and ultimately knocking her flat on her back.