by Spoor, Garry
The wooden doors of the Noxton meeting hall did not disappoint her. They were made from Iron Oak, a tree that grew in abundance, in the east, not far from Riverport. It would have made sense if the building was being used for the last line of defense, as a means of protecting the people of the town from invaders, but seeing that there were seven foot tall windows on either side of the door that could easily be breached made the concept rather ridiculous.
She pulled open the doors that were set on pivoting hinges, so despite their size, and the weight of Iron Oak in general, they opened easily enough. The interior of the meeting hall was no less grand than the exterior, with white marbled floors and wooden beams, it puts the Great Hall of the Academy to shame, that was before it was burned down.
It wasn’t difficult to figure out where to go. There was only one desk in the room and one person sitting behind it. As she walked across the white marbled floor Kile felt the emptiness weighing in on her. It was so bleak and barren in the room that it bordered on the depressing. There wasn’t a banner or a picture to be seen, just white walls and windows, a few doors leading off to a few offices but for the most part there was no form of decoration, no identity to the room, and it reminded her of the Mystic tower.
The woman behind the desk looked up as she approached. She was a dark haired old woman with a face like a crow, long and narrow, with a sharp noise that hooked down at the end and small beady eyes that were black and sunken behind a pair of thick rimmed glasses.
“Yes, can I help you?” She asked, looking over the top of those glasses. It was clear that helping anyone was the last thing she wanted to do that day.
“Probationary level five Hunter Kile Veller.” Kile announced as she placed the satchel of mail upon the desk, but it wasn’t the bag the woman was looking at, it was the yarrow on Kile’s shoulder. She had gotten so use to Vesper sitting up there that she had forgotten he was still there. This did not do much to impress the crow faced woman behind the desk as she scowled at the yarrow. What was this instant dislike towards rodents she wondered? At least the woman didn’t go screaming out of the room.
The crew faced woman turned her gaze to Kile with just about the same amount of discs. It must be guilt by association she figured. She sat there staring at Kile as if she was expecting something more.
“Your mail.” Kile finally said, pushing the bag forward.
The woman let out a heavy sigh as if the entire interaction was just too much to bear and pulled the satchel across the desk to look inside.
“It’s about time.” She remarked, dropping the bag down beside her.
“Perhaps you should consider having a chapter of the Hunter’s Guild in Noxton.” Kile suggested.
“Not likely.” The woman replied and went back to the work that she was doing before Kile had entered. It was nice to see that not only the Guild House was cursed with forms to fill out.
Kile waited for a few minutes, and when it was clear that the crow faced woman had no intention of addressing her any further, he pulled out the reverse script that Justin had given her and set it on the desk.
“Excuse me.’
“Is there something else?” The old woman snapped as she looked over the top of her thick rimmed glasses. She had that look down to an art form. How many people instantly excused them and left the hall after receiving that look?
“Sign this and I’ll be on my way.” Kile replied, handing the reverse script to the crow faced woman. The secretary took it gingerly with two fingers as if the notion of touching something that was in Kile’s possession was just too disgusting to comprehend.
“Yes.” She said slowly before setting the paper aside without even looking at it. “I can’t sign this. You’ll have to make an appointment with Lord Bunston.”
“Look, I don’t have time to make an appointment, I have other deliveries to make, other places to go.” Kile said, although it wasn’t exactly true, she didn’t have any more deliveries but she wasn’t going to wait around until some big shot with a title beside his name decided to grace her with his appearance.
“I’m sorry, but his Lordship is not in, you’ll just have to make an appointment.”
“I was told you could sign this.” Kile replied grabbing the paper and putting it back in front of the woman.
“I’m sorry, but that’s not my responsibility. The mail will have to be sorted and inspected first before we can sign for it.” The old woman said as she took the paper and placed it back on the pile.
“So, how long is that going to take?”
“It will take as long as it takes, we are very busy here.”
Kile looked around the empty room, this was the only desk and she was the only person, so unless she was including Kile in that comment, she wasn’t sure where the “We” came from.
“Can you at least give me an idea of how long it will take?”
“Mail is sorted the first of every week.”
“That’s three days from now. I can’t hang around here that long.”
“That is the way we run things here, if you are not happy with it, then I suggest you speak with Lord Bunston, but you’ll have to make an appointment.”
“Fine.” Kile said in hopeless defeat. “When can I see his Lordship?”
The crow faced woman let out another heavy sigh as she pulled a thick book toward her and began to flip through the pages.
“Lord Bunston is a very busy man, but I can mark you in on… Thursday.” She said as she scribbled something down and then set the book aside.
“That’s five days from now.” Kile exclaimed. This was getting her nowhere. She was beginning to think the Minotaur was easier to handle than this old crow. “Look, I don’t get paid until you sign that sheet and I return it to my Guild House. Where am I supposed to hold up until then?”
“That’s not my problem.” The woman replied. “You’re the Hunter, aren’t you people suppose to be able to survive anywhere, adapt to any situation?”
Plainly this woman had a beef with the Hunter’s Guild, or possibly just one Hunter in particular, but Kile really didn’t care at this point. Whatever the old crow faced woman’s problem was, she should keep it to herself, but clearly she wasn’t going to, which meant Kile just had to add to it.
“You know, you absolutely right.” She said as she turned and walked away.
The old crow faced woman watched as Kile left the meeting hall before she picked up the reverse script and dropped it on stack with the rest of the paperwork she was filling out. She paused only a moment to look through the satchel of mail when the double doors of the meeting hall flew open. She quickly looked up, almost losing her thick rimmed glasses when she saw the most ungainly, long haired, black horse heading toward her. The sound of its platter sized hoofs striking the white marble floor in the empty room was deafening as it echoed off the rafters. The horse came all the way up to the old woman, gave one loud snort that blew half the papers off her desk and then turned aside where Kile dismounted.
“What is the meaning of this?” The woman exclaimed as she quickly regained her composure.
“Oh, don’t mind us, you’re busy, we can entertain ourselves. Just keep on doing whatever it was that you were doing. You won’t even know we’re here.” Kile said as she started to untie her supplies from the back of the Pony.
“You… you can’t have this… this beast in here.”
“What… Grim? You don’t expect me to leave him outside do you?”
“You can’t be in here. None of you can be in here. This is a government building, not… not a… a stable.” The woman shouted.
“Oh sure we can. It’s not that big of deal.” Kile replied. “As you were so quick to point out, as a Hunter, I should be able to survive anywhere. This seems as good a place as any.”
“This is not what I meant, this is outrageous.”
Riding a horse from the main streets of Noxton, up the stairs of the meeting hall and through the front doors was bound to draw some atte
ntion as people began to appear at the window trying to get a look inside at what was happening, but not all the attention was from outside. The doors began to open inside the meeting hall and all the self proclaimed important people who were never in their offices, we're now emerging from those same offices trying to find out what all the commotion was about.
Maybe Master Boraro was right all along, when he said that Hunter’s should have some standing on the social ladder. Had she been the daughter of a wealthy merchant or a Lord, it was quite possible that the old crow faced woman would have showed her a little more respect, of course how would she have known that Kile wasn’t of royalty or wealthy, it wasn’t as if the old woman let it come up in conversation.
She unrolled her blanket, setting it down beside one of the windows and then broke out her small tinder box, sat on the marbled floor with her striker and went through the motions of starting a small campfire.
She had just managed to get the tinder lit when a heavy set man, as round as he was tall, with a large red nose came running, or waddling down the stairs. He was out of breath by the time he reached the desk.
“Mrs. Werth, what is going on here?” He demanded.
“I don’t know sir, this… this hunter… this horse.” The woman stammered. This was something that she never had to deal with before. Kile couldn’t understand why. The meeting hall was large enough to house several horses and had the entrance to allow it.
Seeing that he wasn’t going to get anything coherent out of the old crow faced woman, the large man turned to Kile.
“Young lady, what do you think you are doing, this is not a stables. This is the meeting hall of Noxton.”
“Oh, I’m aware of that.” She said as she started to feed the small fire. “I’m just waiting for his Lordship.”
“I am the Lord of Noxton.” The large man shouted as he threw out his chest, and there was quite a bit of him to throw out.
Kile looked up and then shook her head.
“You can’t be.” She replied and turned back to her smoldering fire.
“What?”
“You can’t be his Lordship. I was told that Lord Bunston wasn’t in, so unless your receptionist lied to an official of the Hunter’s Guild, you can’t be him.”
“I assure you young lady that I am Lord Bunston and I am most definitely in.” The large man shouted. By now the man’s face was as red as his nose, and given his general state of health, Kile figure she shouldn’t push the matter much further. The last thing she wanted was to be responsible for the death of a Lord.
“Well, if that’s the case…” She said as she got up from the floor. “… then she can’t be a very good receptionist if she doesn’t even know if the person she is receiving for is in or out.”
“I beg your pardon. I’ll have you know…”
“Take it easy Mrs. Werth.” Lord Bunston said as he waved for the old crow faced woman to sit down. “It would seem that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot.”
“No, I don’t think so.” Kile replied. “I was told to make an appointment, and it would appear that you’re booked up for the next five days, so I’ll be staying here until then, you just go about your business. You’re clearly a very busy man.”
Lord Bunston looked around the meeting hall. Now the spectators, otherwise known as the citizens of Noxton, were starting to come inside for a better look at what was going on. This was the last thing he wanted.
“I believe I can spare some time if you wish to come to my office.”
“Oh, that won’t be necessary.” Kile replied as she retrieved the reverse script from the old crow faced woman’s desk and handed it to Lord Bunston. “Sign here please.”
“This is it, I sign this and you leave?”
“That's all I need.”
Lord Bunston was all too eager to put his signature across the bottom of the page and handed the reverse script back to Kile, who delighted in stalling as she looked it over.
“Seems everything is in order.” She said as she rolled the script up and slipped it into her courier bag. She stomped out the small flame and brushed most of the ashes back into the tinder box before gathering her supplies and tying them back onto Grim.
“This would be a lot easier if you’ll have your secretary sign for it in the future.” Kile said as she mounted up.
“Yes, of course, now please if you could get you and that… that beast out of here.”
“Come on Grim, it doesn’t look as if we’re wanted here either.” Kile said with a sigh as she rode the mountain pony toward the front doors. The people that had entered to witness the exchange laughed and applauded as she left. She wasn’t sure if they were laughing at her or with her, either way they held the doors open for her and she waved to them as she rode Grim down the stone steps of the meeting hall and back out onto the streets of Noxton.
-That was not the nicest thing to do.-
Grim announced.
“I didn’t see you trying to stop me.”
-I didn’t say it wasn’t fun, I said it wasn’t nice.-
The next stop would be Coopervill and her first payday.
When the first signs of Coopervill came into view, Kile had mixed feelings. On the one hand she welcomed a descent meal and place to sleep, as well as her first pay, but on the other hand she enjoyed the freedom that the road provided for her. No one was telling her what to do, where to go, how to do it, but then given the course of her first delivery, maybe some should have. It all came down to the outcome, as long as the Hunter succeeded, no one really cared how they did it, and she had made not one, but two deliveries.
She rode into the Apple Blossom Livery where Alisa was waiting for her at the door. The young woman was wiping her hands on her apron as she came down the steps, a sure sign that she had been baking all afternoon.
“Hail the returning hunter.” She laughed and held Grim’s nose as Kile dismounted. “So, how was your first assignment?”
“Uneventful.” Kile replied as she unfastened her supply pack from the pony. “As I said, it was just an average delivery.”
“Well, then you were in the wrong place.”
“Why, what happen?” She asked.
“The story is that Marcus Taylor captured the Minotaur of Calder Falls, single handedly, can you believe it?”
“Wow, that is… hard to believe.”
“I’ll say. He’ll go down as one of the great heroes of our time. I mean to think…”
Alisa was cut short as Grim stomped his foot and snorted.
“What’s with him?” The young woman asked, stepping back from the Mountain Pony.
“Oh nothing, I think he’s been looking forward to a piece of your apple pie. He’s just being a little impatient.” Kile replied.
-Captured the Minotaur single handedly-
Grim snorted again.
“Well, he does look hungry. It’s a good thing that I’ve got a few pies cooling in the kitchen now, but then I always seem to have a few pies cooling it the kitchen.” Alisa laughed. “I’ll have Carl take him to the stables and clean him up.”
-I can find my own way.-
Grim replied as he set off for the large barn.
“You’re going to have to tell me how you trained him so well. I have horses that won’t obey anyone.” Alisa remarked as they watched Grim slowly walk away. “You’re also going to have to tell me why you have a yarrow sitting on your shoulder.”
“Oh, this is Vesper, he’s a friend of mine.”
“A friend you say.” Alisa replied with a nod. “You realize you have spinster written all over you.”
“Yeah, and I’m in no rush to change that.” Kile said as she hoisted up her pack. “So, anything else of interest I should know about, besides the great Marcus Taylor.” She added trying to change the subject, the last thing she wanted to discuss with Alisa was her love life, or lack of one.
“Well, news is that the province of Setton has just mustered their troops to guard the western bo
arder Lord Eeny has petitioned the crown for more men.”
“That’s to be expected.” Kile replied, although she wasn’t sure where the province of Setton was located or even who Lord Eeny could be. She really should have paid more attention to her political studies.
“Oh yea, and there was an interesting rumor that came out of Callor, it seems that one of their outposts was attacked by a wili.”
“Really.” Kile said, trying to avoid the pun. “What exactly is a… wili.”
“A wili? Oh… It’s an old legend around these parts. My father use to tell me stories about them. Supposedly they were maidens that died before their wedding night and can't rest because of their unsatisfied passion, so on a rainy night they dance naked in the town square, or capture the hearts of men on the open road, luring them away with their beauty down into the waters where they feed on their blood.”
“How pleasant.”
“Well, an outpost of lonely men, you could see where the desire to see a wili would come from. Of course there are stories of them being these hideous demons, but I think I like the beautiful maiden version myself.”
“Yeah, me too.” Kile replied as she shouldered her pack. “I better get this paper work over to Kane at the Guild House if I want to get paid.”
“Remember, we’re going shopping tomorrow.” Alisa told her as she handed Kile back her keys. “We’ll try to find you something more suitable to wear than that.”