Hunter's Academy (Veller)

by Spoor, Garry

  She fell into her edge and let it consume her as she stretched her consciousness through the wild. Something was wrong, she hadn’t noticed it before, because there wasn’t anything there to notice, and that was the problem, there wasn’t anything there. No birds, no animals, no voices in the woods, the whole world had gone quiet.

  “Vesper… vesper wake up.”

  The yarrow curled up and had gone back to sleep, after being so rudely awakened, it was the only other thing he enjoyed doing besides eating.

  -What?-

  He asked in a groggy tone.

  “Get up, we’re going.” She told him.

  She pulled the Lann from her backpack and strapped them on, she still wasn’t comfortable wearing them in public, but she felt safer knowing she could get at them easily. Erin’s jacket was too baggy and would only get in her way. She rolled it up with the blanket and stuffed them both into her pack before tying it onto Grim. She stuffed the satchel with the mail into her leather courier bag along with Vesper and quickly mounted up.

  “Which way?” She asked the horse.

  -You’re driving, you tell me.-

  Grim replied, clearly as eager to get moving as she was.

  Kile pulled the leather tube out of the pack and retrieved the map of the northwest quarter. They had left the main road to follow the river, it was her choice and now she was starting to wonder if it was such a smart choice. It had nothing to do with time and everything to do with the scenery.

  “We should probably get back to the road.” She said as she studied the map. “We’ll follow the road three or four miles until we can cross the river.”

  Grim didn’t wait for the command, he was already moving when she returned the map to the tube.

  What would quite an entire forest she wondered. It had to be something large, something territorial, A bear maybe, but then a bear wouldn’t scare the birds right out of the trees, and a bear she would have felt in the forest, she was feeling nothing.

  The only thing she could think of were the open scripts posted on the bulletin board back at the Guild house. They had reported something lurking in the woods outside of Shrop, of course Shrop was easily a three days ride west of her position. There was the dowger that was raiding farms, but a dowger wouldn’t scare off all the wildlife in the forest. The Ogre might, but he wasn’t terrorizing anyone lately, not with his head being paraded around the streets of Coopervill.

  As soon as they hit the road, Grim began to pick up speed, his patter size hoofs thundering in Kile’s ears. Mountain Ponies don’t run when they don’t have to or don’t want to, either way the conclusion was the same, they were running. The problem was they didn’t know what they were running from, or worse, running towards.

  She was suddenly hit with a cry for help, a feeling that stuck her so deeply that she knew someone was in trouble. She didn’t hear it, so it wasn’t a Vir, which only made it harder to figure out which way it was coming from.

  “Grim hold up.” She called out to the pony.

  -Like hell.-

  The pony responded.

  “I’m serous Grim, hold up, someone’s in trouble.”

  Contrary to Grim’s selfish nature, he did slow down long enough for Kile to figure out in which direction the cry came from.

  “The open field, over beside the tree line, head over there.” She told the horse.

  Grim responded, although he made it clear he was not happy as they crossed out into the open, leaving the road behind. That’s when Kile saw her, a horse standing alone on the edge of the forest. Grim started to slow down before she even told him to. He was thinking the same thing she was, that this could be a trap. What was it that Rick had said, that he felt that someone might be hunting hunters. It was a little egotistical to think that anyone would go through this much trouble to come after her, but then she did manage to make a few enemies at the academy.

  The horse was a dappled gray mare and looked as nervous as Kile felt, and seemed to be caught on that fine line of wanting to run, but being forced to stay.

  “You think it’s a trap?” She asked Grim.

  -I can’t see anyone, and why use a horse as bait?-

  He made a good point, why would someone use a horse as bait, unless they knew who, or what they were trying to catch.

  -Blood.-

  Vesper said as he popped his head out of the bag and sniffed the air.

  “Where?” Kile asked.

  -Water, Blood in the water.-

  The images that Vesper’s words carried were just that, blood in the water, and didn’t give her any more information than she already had.

  “Come on Grim, I think someone may be injured.” She said, spurring the horse forward.

  The dapple gray mare was wild eyed and scared beyond reasoning, but she looked to be uninjured. Burdened with a saddle and saddle bags, she obliviously belonged to someone.

  -Hurt, Master’s Hurt.-

  She cried out over and over again, and the images the mare’s words carried were as confused and as disoriented as she was.

  Kile slid off Grim’s back. She tied the courier bag with the mail still in it to the rest of her supplies on the back of the mountain pony. If she had to move, she didn’t want that getting in the way. Vesper wasn’t going to be left behind as the yarrow climbed onto her shoulders. The yarrow may not be very good in a fight, but he had a calming effect on Kile, and she welcomed his closeness. She motioned for Grim to stay put as she carefully crossed the few yards to the dapple gray mare.

  -Hurt, Master’s Hurt.-

  “Please calm down, let me help you.” She said.

  She held her hands out, away from her body as her brother had shown her when approaching spooked horses. She didn’t know if it really worked, and one of these days she would have to ask a spooked horse if it made them feel safer.

  As she got closer she could see that the reins of the mare had looped around the branches of a fallen tree. The horse was pulling at it, trying to get free, but the more she pulled, the more the branches of the dead tree scratched at her legs.

  “You have to calm down.” She said as she reached for the reins, but the horse was nowhere near calming down, and even went as far as to snap on Kile.

  -Hurt, Master’s Hurt.-

  She knew she could easily command the horse to stop, although she still didn’t have as much control of that aspect of her edge as she would have liked, and the mare might not appreciate the intrusion into her psyche.

  “Please, I want to help you.” Kile said as she held her hands out to the mare. There must be something in the gesture, since the horse began to calm down long enough for her to pull the reins free. She didn’t let go of them for fear that the mare would run, and she didn’t want to chase the horse all around the forest when someone may be in need of help.

  -Hurt, my master is hurt.-

  “Calm down, who is your master? Where is he?”

  -Hurt… Master… Hurt.-

  Kile gripped the reins tighter and moved closer to the mare, reaching out she gently stroked the horse’s nose.

  “It’s alright, you’re safe.” She said in a calm voice. “What’s your name?”

  -Rose-

  Rose. That was an odd name for a dapple gray. She was expecting something along the lines of rain or cloud or even rain cloud.

  “Okay Rose, where is your master?”

  -Master Hurt, Master fall, Rose left Master.-

  There was a tinge of guilt in the mare’s words at leaving her master behind. Whoever her master was, they must have a really deep bond to instill such emotion. Kile sometimes thought that Grim would leave her at the drop of the hat, or an apple pie.

  “Take me to your master Rose.” Kile said as she gripped the reins and pulled herself up into the saddle. “Take me to your master.”

  Rose quickly spun and headed back into the forest at a full gallop. Kile had a firm grip on her reins. It was a lot easier than riding Grim bareback. She could hear the Mountain Pony
closing in behind her and felt Vesper securing his grip on her shoulder. The mare had come far, but at least she knew her way back. They came up, over the ridge and then down the hill as trees flew past Kile. She let Rose go where she had to and as fast as she needed to, until the mare came to a shallow stream, it was here that she slowed down. Kile had a feeling they had found their water.

  As they walked the edge of the stream, she saw something white beside the water’s edge. It was obscured by the tall grass and it wasn’t moving, and it looked very much like a rabbit, and that was what she thought it was, but as she got closer she realized her mistake. It wasn’t the fur of a rabbit, but the hair of a man, and not any man, but the white haired hunter Marcus Taylor. He was laying face down on the side of the stream, and he wasn’t moving.

  -Master hurt.-

  Who would have thought that the self proclaimed greatest hunter in all of Aru would have had a horse by the name of Rose?

  Kile dismounted and quickly ran to his side, she was a bit surprised, but grateful to find he was still alive. His face was covered in blood from a nasty wound on his head, he was probably trying to reach the stream, but what he had planned after that, she couldn’t tell.

  “Grim, over here.” She called to the mountain pony.

  Grim cautiously approached, his nervous eyes scanning the forest. The trees made it hard to see any further than a couple of yards, so there was no telling what was out there, what had done this to the man who had defeated the Troll of Blackmore. It was clear that whatever Marcus’s edge was, it didn’t serve him very well against… well, whatever it was that saw fit to rearrange his face. She had remembered seeing those strange steely blue eyes of his when he was boasting on the raised stone dais outside the Bird and Bay, waving the Ogre head around, and had wondered if that had something to do with his edge. Was it in some way connected? She hadn’t seen any other hunter changed by their edge, but she had seen a few change with their edge.

  She retrieved the healer’s bag from her supplies and dumped out the contents on the grass beside his body. There were a lot of herbs and ointments in the bag, but she didn’t know what any of them were used for, and the last thing she wanted was to use the wrong ones. When in doubt, stick to the basics she thought as she soaked a rag in the river and wiped the blood from his face.

  It was pretty bad, but then he was out cold so it couldn’t be good. She had to get him out of here she had to get him to someone that could do more for him than she could. It was a shame Daniel wasn’t here, this was right up his ally. Maybe she should have paid more attention in those first aid classes.

  “I don’t think anything’s broken.” She said as she felt down each of his legs, although she wasn’t really sure what she was feeling for. She kind of figured that if it was bad, it would be noticeable. She picked up one of the rolls of bandages and began to unfurl it.

  -We should go.-

  Grim said.

  “I can’t just leave him here. If I can get him up on your back then you could carry him.”

  -Cow.-

  Vesper said, gripping Kile’s shoulder even tighter, causing her to wince. They would have to come up with a better way for him to get her attention.

  “Cow, what do you mean Cow?” She asked, the only cows she had seen was the herd back in Coopervill, and she didn’t think they could help her all the way out here.

  -Cow.-

  Vesper repeated, only this time louder and with more urgency.

  The images that Vesper was giving her weren’t helping very much, all she could see were cows in a field.

  A loud, drawn out cry carried through the forest and Kile had a feeling that things just got a whole lot worse. She had heard cows before, and that was not a cow. She watched as the tops of the trees slowly bent, as something pushed them aside, and whatever it was, it was getting closer.

  -We should go… now.-

  Grim repeated.

  “I can’t leave him here.” She argued. She drew the Lann from their sheath and stood over Marcus. He might be an egotistical braggart, but he was still a hunter, and hunters look out for one another.

  The cry got louder. The trees began to bend more and the ground began to tremble. What she feared emerged from the forest.

  “That’s not a cow Vesper, that a bull.”

  It stood over ten feet tall, a massive brute of muscle and fury. Half man, half beast, an open script that no hunter in their right mind would attempt, the Minotaur of Calder Falls.

  It turned its head to where Kile was crouched over the fallen body of Marcus, but it didn’t seem to notice her at first. It slowly lifted its nose to the sky and sniffed at the air. This situation was not covered in the code book she said to herself as she tightened her grip on the Lann. The beast suddenly let out a horrible howling cry, and Kile felt the blood run cold in her veins. It was a cry filled with pain, anger and insanity. There were no words, nothing she could see, only feel.

  -Kile talk to cow?-

  Vesper asked.

  “I don’t think he’s in the talking mood.” She replied as she slowly got to her feet. Taking the Minotaur on here was not a very wise choice, actually, fighting the Minotaur anywhere, was not a very wise choice. Even if she was able to keep out of his reach, they could easily trample over Marcus, or worse. It was possible that the Minotaur was here because of Marcus, and she knew she would have a hard time trying to stop him if he wanted to finish what he started.

  It stepped out, into the stream, no more the fifty yards from her, but she had a feeling that it could easily close that distance before she could do anything to help the fallen hunter, which meant the only option she had was to run, but not away from the Minotaur. She would have to run toward the Minotaur, she would have to lead it away.

  She cut the straps that held her supplies in the back of the pony before slowly sliding the Lann back into their sheaths.

  “Grim, get ready.”

  She said as she backed toward the horse.

  -It’s about time.-

  Grim replied. His eyes never leaving the bull headed beast.

  “We’re going to ride right past it.”

  -We’re going to what?-

  “I have to lead it away from Marcus. When I say now, run at it.”

  -I hope you know what your doing child.-

  The Minotaur turned it noise to the air again, and sniffed at the wind. Its eyesight must not be all that good she thought, otherwise it would have attacked by now, maybe she could use that to her advantage, but before she could figure out how, it let out another wordless cry that was filled with insanity as it lowered its head and began to charge.

  “Now Grim.” She shouted as she grabbed a handful of his mane and pulled herself onto his back, kicking off her supplies to lighten Grim’s load. “Rose, stay back.” She shouted to the dapple gray that was standing over her fallen master.

  Grim launched himself toward the Minotaur and she drew one of the Lann. The mountain pony took a hard left, barely missing the beast’s outstretched arm. She seized the opportunity and the momentum as she lashed out at the Minotaur, cutting into his side, but it did little to slow it down and really only angered it more. The Minotaur turned and gave chase.

  “It worked.” She shouted.

  -Yes, I can see that, now what?-

  Grim asked as he tried to put as much distance as he could between him and the Minotaur while avoiding the tree, but mountain ponies were not built for speed and the beast was closing in fast. It cried out as it lunged forward, taking out several trees but just missed Grim as the Mountain Pony took another hard left.

  “Wow, I didn’t realize they were that fast.” She said in amazement.

  -Great, now you tell me.-

  Grim shouted and then cursed as he was forced to take a hard right, his back feet sliding in the loose dirt.

  The Minotaur’s cries echoed in her head, he was an abomination. Half of him existed in the mortal world, half of him existed in the natural world and Kile could hea
r both halves screaming at her, and neither one of them were very rational. There were no words to his voice, no images, only a primal feeling of hatred and an uncontrolled rage

  The Beast didn’t stay down for long and was soon closing the gap between them. One large hand reached for the pony, forcing Grim to make yet another suddenly change, this time he barely managed to avoid being struck as he nearly lost his footing on the loose forest floor, going down on his hind quarters. Kile held on with one hand and managed to score another hit on the outstretched arm of the Minotaur with the Lann as Grim regained his speed.

  -Will you stop doing that. You’re just pissing him off.-

  Grim shouted.

  “Well, what do you want me to do?”

  -Just hold on.-

  Grim changed directions again, this time he was heading for higher ground. He may not be fast on flat land, but no horse could match his speed going up the side of a hill, unfortunately the Minotaur was not a horse. Grim took the incline straight on, his hoofs digging in the hard ground, his powerful back legs propelling him forward. Kile held on tightly as Grim scaled the side of the hill, but it was no use, the Minotaur was still closing ground.

  Grabbing at Grim’s back legs it pulled them out from under the mountain pony. Grim went down, rider, yarrow, Minotaur and all.

  Kile wasn’t sure what actually happened, she suddenly found herself in mid air. She knew she had a horse under her a minute ago, but now she was just falling. She hit the side of the hill a few times before she was stopped by a tree, then staggered to her feet as Vesper quickly jumped up onto her back and climbed up onto her shoulder. That was going to hurt in the morning she thought as she wiped the blood from her nose.

  -Kile alright?-

  “Yeah, I think so.” She said as she grabbed the Lann that rested no more than two feet away from her. She was just lucky she didn’t slice herself up on it when she came rolling down the hill.

  “Grim.” She shouted, but she couldn’t hear the ornery mountain pony, she couldn’t even feel him.

  The insane cry of the Minotaur told her where to go as she half ran, half slid down the rest of the hill.