Hunter's Academy (Veller)

by Spoor, Garry

  When Carter got back to his seat, his father wisely decided not to attempt to navigate the row of people and instead tried to blend in with other displays around the Great Hall.

  There were a few more names, a few more handshakes, a few more minutes that slipped by that Kile would never recapture. What was the purpose of all these ceremonies, all these little rituals, all these traditions? The entire thing could have been handled in three minutes if they just gave them their papers and sent them on their way.

  “Daniel Peter Leary”

  Daniel went up on stage with is father in tow. She watched as he shook each hand, it didn’t matter who was attached to that hand, Daniel received it with a firm grip and a neutral smile, the peacemaker. If he hadn’t been blessed with the art of healing he would have made a decent politician, or even a negotiator, he never leaned one way or the other, weighting every matter before giving his opinion, which he seldom had. Even the speed at which he navigated the line was natural, it wasn’t as fast as Alex, but it wasn’t as slow as Carter, it was always down the middle. He reached the other side, slipped on his ring, shook the Guild master’s hand and nodded to Kile as he stepped off the stage. He was going to have an easy time in the Guild, spending all his days at the hospital, but it was what he wanted, and for that she was happy for him. The gods knew she could never do it. She leaned back to listen to the rest of the name.

  “Kile Lucinda Veller.”

  Somewhere between Daniels nod and her name she must have zoned out as she felt Rick jab her in the side.

  “You want to graduate, don’t you?” He said, motioning for her to get up.

  She jumped out of her seat, knocking it over and felt every pair of eyes fall upon her. This was a good start she thought as she took a deep breath. She rested her hand upon the courier bag that she wore to make sure it was still closed and Vesper was still inside. The last thing she wanted to end the ceremony with was the image of Mrs. Leary running for the door screaming.

  Kile walked to the stage with her head held high as she came before Sir Oblum.

  “Congratulation Kile.” The old man said as he handed her the two tightly rolled scrolls, each one tied with green twine and bearing the Hunter’s Seal.

  “Thank you sir.” She said, shaking his hand and handed the two scrolls to Rick.

  Of the fourteen people in the line, eight of them she had never met before and didn’t even know, and probably would never see again. They were the members of the Guild Council, but what made it awkward was that they knew her, and a few of them didn’t hide the fact that they were not happy with the event that was about to transpire. The others were probably just better at hiding their disapproval, but each member did his job and shook her hand, congratulating her on a job well done, even if they didn’t know what that job was. Most of them wouldn’t even look her in the eye, and their handshakes were less than enthusiastic.

  The first person that she did recognize was Master Voreing, but he shook Kile’s hand with as much interest as those of the council members as he presented her with the Hunter’s banner, at least he made eye contact. She handed the Banner to Rick and moved down the line to Erin Silvia. Erin gripped Kile’s hand tightly and presented her with the Hunter’s badge.

  “About time.” She whispered.

  “Thank you.” Kile replied.

  After Erin there was Master Adams who was also eager to shake Kile’s hand. He didn’t have anything to give her but his friendship and a smile since he had already given her the code book. The next in line was Master Boraro. It was here that things got a little awkward. The weapon’s master never extended his hand to Kile, which was okay with her, since she never extended her hand to him. The two just stared at each other, a sort of mutual disrespect before Kile went on to Master West who presented her with the alumni long knife, something that Master Boraro was suppose to do, the change did not go unnoticed. There was a slight murmur in the crowd as peoples started whispering, but by that time she was already receiving her ring from the Guild Master.

  “Congratulations Kile.” Mathew said, and instead of handing her the ring as he had done with the last thirty four cadets, he put it on her finger himself.

  “Thank you sir.” She replied, gripping his hand.

  As she stepped off the stage she wanted to keep walking, the open doors were right in front of her, she could be in the stables and on her way before anyone could stop her, well almost anyone.

  “Seat.” Rick whispered in her ear as he directed her back to her chair.

  “I was going.” She shot back.

  “Tree said you had more guts than brains.”

  Someone was kind enough to stand her chair up for her while she was on stage, but she didn’t get a chance to sit down.

  “Probationary Hunters will now come to attention.” Sir Oblum commanded from the podium. He waited until all the new hunters were standing.

  “So, here we are.” He said as he looked at each one of them, much like he looked at them the first day at the academy. “In spite of all that I’ve done, all that has been thrown at you, you’re just too damn stubborn to get the hint. You’re still here.”

  There was an uneasy murmur amongst the civilians, but the cadets understood where Oblum was coming from.

  “Well, you finally did it, you finally graduated and now, I can’t call you cadets anymore, among the other things that I can’t call you anymore. I guess I’ll have to get used to calling you Hunters. Well, get out there hunters, you have a job to do.”

  Those words marked the end of the graduation ceremony as the old hunters, the new hunters and the civilians began to exit the Great hall for the feast that was awaiting them in the dinning hall just down the hill.

  “So,” Rick said as he handed Kile her stuff. “What was that between you and Master Boraro?”

  “Nothing.” She replied. She had to wake Vesper up so she could store a few things beside him in the courier bag. “We had a bit of a disagreement.”

  “A disagreement, I’ve seen old soul puss when he’s being disagreeable, and that was not disagreeable, that was downright loathing, so what did you do? Did you break his favorite weapon or something?” He said jokingly.

  “No, just his nose.”

  Rick stopped in his tracks and stared at her. “You broke the weapon’s master’s nose.” He exclaimed in disbelief. “Tree really was right; you do have more guts than brains.”

  “It was a minor disagreement.” She assured him.

  “Minor, what would you do if you were really annoyed with him, break his neck?”

  “Funny, real funny.”

  “Well, I’m a getting a head start, after I visit the feast that is. I’ll see you around Kile.”

  “Thanks for everything Rick.”

  “That was uncalled for though.” Daniel said as he came up behind her. “What Boraro did was uncalled for.”

  “Oh, I don’t care about him anymore; I don’t suppose I’ll be seeing him anytime soon.”

  “Still, I thought he would have had a little more class than that. For all his talk of social status and social graces you would have thought he’d have some.”

  “Not really.” She replied.

  “It really doesn’t bother you that he ignored you like that in front of everyone.”

  “Everyone, come on Danny, the cadets, the council, half the staff, they all wanted me gone. If anything I earned that, if nothing else it showed that I got under his skin.”

  “You’re as bad as your horse, you know that?”

  “Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment.” She grinned.

  “Hey, come on guys, we want to find out where we’re going.” Alex shouted, waving his destination papers in the air. Carter and Murphy were standing beside a few of the displays off to one side. They had agreed that they would open their destination papers together, even though Carter had already broken the seal on his papers; at least Murphy was still waiting.

  “Who wants to go first?” Daniel said
.

  “Carter’s already got his open.” Alex said with a note of disapproval.

  “Fine, if it’s that important to you, I’ll go last then.” Carter replied, and set his scroll down on one of the display cases.

  “Then Daniel should go first, since we already know where he’s going.” Murphy said.

  Daniel shrugged a silent agreement, cracked the seal on his papers and slowly unrolled the parchment. He began to read.

  “Oh no.” He said as he faced suddenly dropped. “They wouldn’t.”

  “What… what did they do?” Alex asked, jumping up to read the paper that Daniel kept pulling away from me.

  “They sent me to…”

  “To? To where?”

  “To… to the Littenbeck Guild Hospital.” He laughed.

  “Oh very funny.” Alex pouted.

  “Okay, okay, Kile’s next.”

  Kile took a deep breath and broke the seal on her papers. She unrolled it slowly and read out the destination.

  “It says here I’m to report to Coopervill.”

  They looked at one another and shrugged.

  “Never heard of it.” Carter replied.

  “Me neither.” Murphy added.

  “Oh well, that’s one we’re gong to have to look up on a map.” She said as she rolled the paper back up and slipped it into her courier bag. She hadn’t expected anyplace grand, she had a feeling that the guild would want to place her as far away from the action as possible. Then again that could be the paranoia setting in and Coopervill could be a very active place, although she doubted it from the faces of the Guild Council.

  Alex broke his seal next and the look on his face was one of utter amazement, it had to be someplace impressive since it almost left the little hunter speechless.

  “Baxter’s Bay.”

  Was the only thing he managed to squeak out, it was barely above a whisper, but Carter heard it loud and clear.

  “Oh yeah right.” He said, grabbing the papers from Alex. He read the destination and then shoved them back into the smaller Hunter’s hand. “That’s it, I give up.” He said, throwing up his hands in defeat.

  “He’s not really…” Daniel started as he grabbed the crumpled sheet from Alex.

  “Oh yes he is, he’s been assigned to Baxter’s Bay.” Carter said in disbelief.

  Kile wasn’t sure what the big deal was about Baxter’s Bay, having never been there herself, but she knew it was a prime destination, even Tree wanted to be assigned there and Erin had spoken about taking some time off in Baxter’s Bay.

  “Where are you going Murphy?” She asked, noting that he had already unrolled his scroll.

  “Says here I’m to report to Luth.” He said, shaking his head.

  “There’s another one we’ll have to look up.” Daniel replied. “Go ahead Carter, we’re two for two.”

  Carter unrolled his scroll.

  “I’m going to Glovgon.” He said with an anticlimactic note.

  “That’s a Lumber town in the south west part of Blackmore.” Murphy said. “I have, or had a cousin who moved down that way. Don’t know if he’s still there, or even if he’s still alive.”

  “Want to trade?” Carter asked.

  “If I was going to trade, I’d trade with Alex.” Murphy replied.

  “I ain’t trading with nobody; I’m going to Baxter’s Bay.” Alex grinned as he hugged the paper close to his chest.

  One place was as good as another when you don’t know where the other place is she thought as she looked over the map that was included with the destination papers. They had given her three weeks to report to the Guild House in Coopervill, now all she had to do was find Coopervill. She sat in her old seat at the back of the dinning hall as the noises of the festival filled the air. The Guild had spared no expense on the graduation ceremony. They hired the same bad magician the same armature juggler and the same band as they had during the winter’s feasts. They must receive a discount on package deals.

  The food was laid out on a long table along the south wall where anyone could grab whatever they wanted. There was some singing, some dancing and Alex upstaged the magician with his illusions, but right now the maiden in white was playing one of her haunting melodies and the people stood and listened and Kile watched it all from the back of the room.

  She was starting to feel more and more isolated from the people around her, even from her friends. Was that because of her edge she wondered as she watched Vesper pull apart the salad she no longer had an interested in. She was more at home with the horses and the dogs, and of course the yarrow, than she was with other people.

  Mrs. Leary must have noticed her sitting alone and started to walk over, with Daniel right behind her. Kile grabbed Vesper from the table as the yarrow squeaked a protest at being shoved into a bag. She dumped the rest of the salad in with him to quiet him down.

  “Why don’t you join in with the festivities dear?” Mrs. Leary asked as she approached.

  “I’m fine thank you ma’am.” Kile replied. “The day’s been a bit much for me.”

  “Oh, I understand dear.” The older woman said with a lopsided smile. “It was because of that rude man during the ceremony wasn’t it? He upset you, didn’t he?” Mrs. Leary said as she scanned the room.

  Mrs. Leary has been knocking back the cider a bit.

  “I don’t think Kile wants to talk about it mother.” Daniel said, coming to Kile’s rescue.

  “Well, someone ought to give that young man a good talking to, there was no reason to be rude like that.”

  “Mrs. Leary, may I speak with Daniel alone for a moment?” Kile asked as she got up from the table.

  “Of course dear, you don’t need my permission.” Mrs. Leary replied, and then whispered rather loudly in Daniel’s ears. “You better hold on to this one dear.”

  Daniel’s face was red when he followed Kile outside.

  “I’m leaving.” She told him.

  “What, because of what my mother said. She’s not used to these types of festivities; she had a tendency to… drink a few.”

  “No, your mother is sweet, it’s just that… I don’t know. I just don’t fit in here, I guess I never did. All these people, all this noise…”

  “I know.” Daniel said with the same lopsided smile that his mother had, but for some reason, his was sadder. “You’ve changed… a lot.”

  “Lets’ not go there.” She warned him.

  “I don’t mean physically, I mean mentally, spiritually. I’ve noticed that you’re more comfortable in the stables than in the dinning hall that you sneak out with Oblum’s dogs rather than hang out with us. You’re a lot more in tune with the natural world than what you may think; just remember which world you come from.”

  “Will you… give my goodbyes to the others? I don’t really want to drag this out.”

  “Of course, they’ll understand, well… maybe not Alex.”

  “Alex will get over it; he’s going to Baxter’s Bay, besides… we’ll see each other before long. I’m sure I’ll be delivering messages to Littenbeck in no time, and if not I just have to write them myself so that I can deliver them.”

  “Well, when you do, address them to the guild hospital in care of Certified Level Five Hunter Daniel Leary.”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself Probationary Level five. You haven’t received your certificate yet.”

  “One month, that all I have to wait, one month.”

  -We go? Want to say goodbye.-

  Kile opened the courier pouch and Vesper climbed out on her hand. She lifted him up before Daniel, who looked at her with the ‘what am I suppose to do’ face.

  “He wants to say goodbye.” She told him.

  “I never said goodbye to a yarrow before.” Daniel said as he stroked the rodent’s head. “Goodbye Vesper, keep an eye on Kile for me, will you.”

  Vesper squeaked his assurance even if Daniel didn’t understand, Kile did. She lowered her hand beside the bag and Vesper jumped in.
/>
  “I have a feeling I’ll be hearing about you quite a bit.” Daniel grinned. “There aren’t many hunters like you.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She said, and she gave her friend a hug then turned and headed toward the stables, not looking back.

  In some ways she was glad she was leaving, it some ways it was easy, but there would be things she would miss, Daniel being one of them. She knew she told him that she would write, that she would keep in touch, but how many times had she heard that same thing. That was the problem once you parted. You always want to keep in touch but it never happens. You always say you’ll write but you never do. She wondered if this would be the last time she ever saw him.

  She entered the stables and found Rick packing his saddle bags.

  “Party over so soon?” He asked.

  “It is for me.” She replied. “How far are you going?”

  “South a ways, little town of Norton, I have some messages I have to deliver there, don’t suppose you’ve heard of it.”

  “Sorry.” She replied.

  “Don’t be, you’ll start to learn where all the cities, towns and farmhouses are located throughout Aru.”

  “How about Coopervill?”

  “Coopervill? Yeah, I’ve been up there once or twice.”

  “Care for some company, at least part way?” She asked.

  “Sure, why not. How long will it take you to get ready?”

  “Been ready.” She replied. “I been ready before the graduation ceremony even started. I have all my stuff waiting for me in the stall beside my horse.”

  “You’ve really eager to get to your new home.” He laughed.

  “Home?” She asked, she knew the word, but the meaning was foreign, did she ever have a home. “Yeah, I guess so.” She lied.

  “Well then, let’s get you set shall we. Where’s your mount?” He asked as he headed into the direction where the fourth year horses had been stabled.”