by Spoor, Garry
“I’m looking for the Hunter’s Guild house.”
“Are you planning on hiring them?”
“Actually I’m a certified level five hunter, well, I’m still probationary, but I’ve recently graduated from the Hunter’s Academy and I’ve been assigned here.”
“You’re a hunter.” Alisa said, and her eyes lit up. “I didn’t think that girls could become hunters.”
“Well, there is nothing that says they can’t, but there are only two now, Erin Silvia and myself.”
When the name of Erin Silvia didn’t spark a reaction, Kile knew she was a long way from home.
“Well then, you’re in luck. For hunters we do offer reasonable stable fees.” Alisa announced.
“Stable fees?
“Why yes, I thought that what you came here for, to stable your horse.”
“Actually I didn’t realize this was a stable, I thought it was just an orchard.”
“It is, and it isn’t.” Alisa replied. “We grow apples as well as a variety of other vegetables for the markets in town and a few of the inns, but we also stable horses and we have a blacksmith on call once a week.”
“I’m afraid I can’t really afford stable fees right now, I haven’t been paid and I’m not sure when I will or even how much I’ll get.”
“Oh, not to worry.” Alisa said with a wave of her hand. “I wasn’t planning on you paying me now. I usually collect at the end of each month.”
“You collect, so this is your stables.”
“Left to me by my father who passed away two years ago. I’ve been running it ever since.”
“Alone?”
“Oh no, I have a few people working for me, like Carl over there.” She said as she waved to a large burly man. He came walking across the field toward them, wiping his hands on a rag that he stuffed into his back pocket.
“Yes Miss Reaba?”
“Carl, could you take Hunter Veller’s horse to the stables.” She told the large man.
Carl was a little surprised to see the horse with his head still in the kitchen window, but he didn’t say anything about it. He walked over to Grim and when he couldn’t find the horse's reins, he turned to Alisa for help.
Kile approached Grim from the other side so Carl couldn’t see what she was doing. She had to climb up on the window sill to get to his ear.
“You owe me for dumping me on my ass back there.” She scolded the pony.
Grim said nothing in response.
“I suppose you want to stay here, at these stables?”
-Will there be more pie?-
“Not for you there won’t, unless you behave yourself and you’re not doing a very good job at that.” She said, raising her voice enough that both Carl and Alisa were now watching her.
“Look Grim, I thought we made a deal here, you help me, I help you. What is it that you want? Do you want me to release you back to the wild?”
-No.-
That simple response caught her off guard, she was not expecting that. She was under the assumption that Grim wanted his freedom.
“You don’t want to go home?”
-Not yet, I’m having too much fun with you.-
“Fun? This is fun?”
-It is for me.-
“Wonderful.” She said. “Are you saying you want to stay with me?”
-For the time being. I like you Vir. There aren’t too many Vir that I have the opportunity to speak to.-
“Then why are you making this so difficult?” She asked, again loud enough to get a response from Alisa and Carl, who by now probably through she was as crazy as her horse.
-It doesn’t have to be difficult vir. You’re the one making it difficult. You put too much pressure on yourself, you worry too much about how others perceive you. You are different then they are. What is so wrong about that?-
“Nothings wrong with that… well, almost nothing. The point is I have to live among the Vir I can be acting too strange now, can I.”
-Like now.-
Grim asked as he looked back over his shoulder at Alisa and Carl who were watching the exchange between the redheaded woman and the long haired shaggy mountain pony.
“Yeah, like now.” Kile replied gritted her teeth. “Alright, here is the new deal. You stay here, you behave yourself while you are here, and I’ll see if I can’t get Miss Reaba to bring you a slice of pie every once in a while. Would that satisfy you?”
-For now.-
“Great, Follow the man into the stables, pick out a stall and behave yourself.”
-For now.-
Grim said as he moved back from the kitchen window and headed off toward the stable, not stopping for Carl. The man had to run to catch up, and when he did he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.
Kile jumped down from the window sill.
“So, is he going to behave?” Alisa asked.
She couldn’t tell if the young woman was trying to be funny or serious with her question. It wasn’t every day she saw a woman converse with her horse in such a manner.
“For now.” Kile replied. “He can be a bit… temperamental.”
“I have a feeling that he is going to be a very interesting boarder.” Alisa said as she took Kile by the arm. “And you a very interesting client. Shall we go inside for a cup of tea while we discuss the arrangements?”
***~~~***
23
The little town of Coopervill wasn’t as little as Kile first thought, it was roughly three times the size of Riverport, but where Riverport was compact in the sense that most of the businesses were located in a central hub surrounded by farms, Coopervill was more spread out. She was expecting a mining town to be a group of modest houses surrounding the entrances of large caves, but instead she found a self sustaining community, it was really her lack of experience that had led her to that assumption. The only town that Kile knew was Riverport. She had seen nothing of Littenbeck but the single street that she walked through to get to the Mystic tower, and her only views of Azintar were from the Academy compound outside the walls. Even though she was a probationary level five hunter, she still had a lot to learn.
She spent the next two hours discussing everything from the latest fashion to the rumors of war in the west, all over a pot of tea and a slice of apple pie. Coopervill was an out of the way place and there just wasn’t that many people passing through. Alisa was determined to learn all that she could about what was happening outside of the Denal province, unfortunately Kile wasn’t able to give that much information, so most of the questions Alisa asked were about life at the Academy, the one topic that Kile really didn’t want to talk about, and although the conversation did seem to be one sided, with Kile being grilled by Alisa, she did manage to learn a few useful things about the town of Coopervill.
For starters it was the only town in the area that had a Hunter Guild house, but she already knew that, what she didn’t know was that there were already two Hunters assigned to that house. One was named Copper, or Irons, something in that area, Alisa really didn’t know and she really didn’t seem to care, the other hunter was one Marcus Taylor, a name that Kile was familiar with.
Marcus Taylor was the local hero, the men admired him, the ladies adored him, and Alisa was no different. She regaled Kile on the tales of the Hunter to such a point that Kile started to dislike the man without even meeting him. She knew it wasn’t fair, but anyone that boasted that much couldn’t be that good. The one adventure that Alisa told that did catch Kile’s attention was the tale of Marcus Taylor and the Troll of Blackmore.
The Troll of Blackmore was one of the four legendary open scripts, and the one Tree wanted to fill himself, but he never got the chance. When Tree was starting his probationary year, Marcus Taylor had been given credit for bringing the Troll in, she was there when Rick gave him the news. She never did find out why Tree was so eager to go after the Troll, and now she’ll never know.
If the story could be believed, Marcus defeated the troll with his bare hands in a fight that
lasted four days, wrestling him to the ground and eventually pulling the Troll's head off. There were a few variations to the story, mostly about the weather and how long the battle actually took, but it was a tale that was widely accepted in the town of Coopervill. Kile had learned about the different species of trolls found in Aru, and there were four basic types, and none of them had detachable heads, so the story just didn’t sit well with her.
“I should really be getting to the Guild house.” She said as she finished off her cup of tea. It was a sight better than what Morgan had been serving her during her visits to the mystic, but it still wasn’t to her taste.
“And I have two more pies to bake before tomorrow.” Alisa laughed as she cleared away the table.
“I will pay you for those…when I get settled in.”
“Oh please, I told you not to worry about it, it was no big deal, and I enjoy baking. I’ll just tack the cost of the pies onto your monthly bill.” She grinned.
She still couldn’t tell if the young lady was serious or not, but when it came to money she was sure Alisa didn’t joke about it too much. She had managed to turn her father’s failing venture into a thriving business in as little as two years. Although, Kile had to admit, she could have chosen a better name for it. The Apple Blossom Livery would not have been her first choice for the name of the stables. Alisa’s only competition in town was a place called the Bent Shoe, and even if that wasn’t a great name either, it was a little easier to use in a conversation. She just couldn’t see anyone like Master Boraro checking in at the local inn and telling everyone that he had just put his horse up at the Apple Blossom, it was kind of a conversation killer.
Grabbing her hat from the back of the chair she checked on Vesper who was sleeping soundly in the courier bag before heading for the door. Alisa walked her down the front path to the main road.
“Now it’s easy.” Alisa told her as she stepped out into the road pointing toward the west. “You want to take this road until you reach the Bird and Bay, head north, across the bridge, then take the first right at Old Lester’s place, past the Mining Company and you’ll find the Guild house.”
“Oh, is that all, am I going to need a horse to get there?” She asked
“No, of course not. It may seem far but this town isn’t all that big. You’ll get the hang of it before long. Look, you can see the Bird and Bay from here.”
“Well, if you don’t hear from me in a couple of days, you may want to send a search party.”
“And I thought Hunters were supposed to be able to find their way anywhere.” Alisa laughed.
“That’s only in the wild.” She replied as she hoisted her pack onto her shoulder and set off down the road.
The town was well established and relatively old, if the trees and the hedges that surround the small houses had anything to say about it. Most of the structures were built of stone with wooden or thatched roofs, but then if Coopervill was a mining town, that shouldn’t come as a big surprise, even the roads were covered in gravel.
It took her only three minutes to reach the center of town, or what she belied to be the center of town. There was a huge round stone dais raised a few feet above the graveled street, and a small flight of wooden steps running up one side to reach it. On her right a large burly man standing in front of a forge, with a hammer in his hand was flattening thick pieces of metal into thin pieces of metal and on her left a horse drawn carriage was loading supplies from a dry good store. Across from her was the Bird and Bay, or at least that's what the sign might have read that hung over door if she was close enough to see it. Two men sat outside on an old bench starring up at the sky as they drank their pint.
She took the north road up through town, passing a few other small businesses along the way. For a mining town they seemed to have everything here to meet their needs, not unlike Riverport. There was a Taylor, some kind of meeting hall, even a hospital of sorts. She wondered what Daniel would have thought of the small house that probably couldn’t hold more than one patient at a time, but then Daniel would already be surveying the Guild hospital of Littenbeck by now.
She stopped to watch the river flow down from the mountains and meandered its way to the sea or possible the ocean. Two boys were throwing sticks in the water and watched them as they floated under the bridge and disappear from sites, something that she did with her brother down by the creek back in Riverport. She often wondered what it would be like to build a raft and just sail to the sea, although the creek back home wasn’t deep enough or she might have tried it. The boys stopped only for a moment to watch her pass, then returned to their game, it was either a lack of curiosity on their part or sticks floating on the water were more interesting than she was.
Old Lester’s place was a pub, and probably a rowdy one from the looks of the exterior. At the moment it was pretty quiet, but she was sure that when the sun went down and the miner came back from the mines, the pub would be more active, this was a place she would have to avoid. The gravel road split in two, one running up toward the western tree line, the other followed the river back toward town. It wasn’t difficult to locate the Mining Company on the River road, it was the largest building she had seen in town so far and bore the name Denal Province Mining Company in large white letters across the front of the building with, what she assumed was, the Denal Province coat of arms. Further up the river road she saw something she had recognized, a large green banner flapping in the breeze, bearing the symbol of the Hunter’s Guild.
The Guild House was made of stone and wood, and looked very much like the rest of the building in Coopervill, if it weren’t for the green banner outside she would have passed it, thinking it was just another house. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but in retrospect, she hadn’t thought much of the academy when she first arrived there either.
As she walked up the narrow path, she saw a plaque bearing the hunters symbol on the right side of the door, the familiar sword and arrow crossed on a field of green, although the wooden plaque hadn’t been green for ages, the symbol was still the same. Over the top of the door a wooden sign read “Hunter Guild House Local Chapter 42.” She wasn’t sure if the chapter number was significant or not since they were never told about it back at the academy, but she committed it to memory just in case. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves, opened the door and stepped inside.
The room was dimly lit and had that dusty damp smell, like an abandoned building which really needed some airing out. A few chairs leaned up against the front wall along with a bullion board that had so many pieces of paper pinned to it that it was difficult to tell if there was actually a bulletin board behind it or not. The shutters to the windows were closed, letting in a filtered light, adding to the general gloom of the place.
Across the room was a huge reception window, opening into the main office, to the right of the window was a flight of stairs leading to the second floor, to the left was a door, probably a means of getting in and out of the office.
The reception window was set rather height, not designed for short girls and she was forced to lean over the sill to look into the office.
“Is there anyone here?” She called out.
“Just a minute, just a minute.” Came the rather dull response.
She explored the room a bit more as she waited for the owner of the voice to come to the window. She started to read the messages posted on the bulletin board. They appeared to be job requests for the guild, some of them dating back several years, one was even older than she was. They covered everything from lost pets to someone requesting a hunter to guard their vegetable garden from rabbits.
“What can I do for you miss?”
Kile turned to see a thin old man staring at her from behind the reception window. He was bald, with little tufts of gray hair around his ears which kind of stuck out from the side of his head. He wore a pair of thin wire rimmed glasses that hung on the end of his rather bulbous nose, and his attire was as drab and as unkempt as the
rest of the Guild House.
“Well, I don’t have all day.” He said.
There was absolutely no fluctuation in his voice, he didn’t raise it, he didn’t lower. It just stayed at the same monotone level.
“You did come here for something, didn’t you?”
“Oh, yes sir, sorry sir.” Kile said as she reached into the courier bag and pulled out her papers.
“What is the nature of your request?”
“My request?”
“You did come here to request the services of a Hunter, did you not?”
“Um… no sir.”
“Then I’m afraid you’re in the wrong place.” He said and he started to turn away from the window.
“Excuse me sir, I am a Hunter.”
The old man stopped and looked at her, and it was the first expression that she had seen on his face since entering the House. It was one of half curiosity, and half annoyance.
“You know from the Hunter’s Academy, this is the Guild House… isn’t it?” She asked. It would be her luck to be in the wrong place.
“Yes this is the Guild House and I know what a Hunter is little girl, you don’t look much like a Hunter to me.”
She quickly handed him her certification papers as well as her destination papers. The old man pushed his glasses up his nose with on bony finger as he unrolled the scrolls and began to read them surprising fast, muttering to himself all the while. He looked up once at Kile and then back down at the papers, and seemed to be rereading them.
“Says here you’re Hunter.” He admitted after a few moments.
“Yes sir. Probationary level five Hunter sir.”
“You’re a…”
Here it comes she thought. She knew what this was about; he was just another member of the Guild on a long list of members that didn’t think a girl could be a hunter
“… a bit short to be a Hunter.”
Now that was not something she hadn’t expected.
“Never mind, Well… everything seems to be in order.” He said and then double checked the scrolls just to make sure. He took her papers and filed them away, or rather stuffed them into a box under the window and proceeded to pull out a small stack of papers, dropping them on the sill in front of her. “Fill these out.”