by Spoor, Garry
Kile neither agree, nor disagree to the shopping expedition, but bid Alisa goodbye and headed down the road to the Guild House. As she passed through the main hub of town, heading for the old bridge and the river road, it was clear that the conversation on everyone’s lips was Marcus Taylor and the Minotaur of Caldor falls. By the time she had gotten from the Apple Blossom to the Guild house, she must have heard six different versions of the story of the Great White Haired hunter and each one was more unbelievable than the next. He had now defeated the Minotaur with his bare hands, wrestling it to the ground and getting him into some type of choke hold until the beast either gave up or passed out. It depends on which story was being told. How was it that the tale of an event that happened no more than a week and a half ago could have gotten so out of hand so fast?
When she entered the Guild House, she wasn’t in the best of moods. It wasn’t that she wanted anyone to know that she defeated the Minotaur, or actually Grim had defeated the Minotaur, it just annoyed her on how readily people were willing to accept the stories of Marcus without any form of proof.
“Back from your first assignment I see.” Kane said in that same monotone voice when he saw here enter.
“Yes sir.” Kile replied, setting both signed documents on the window sill. “I have this…”
“Reverse script.” Kane finished for her as he picked up the second sheet. He looked it over, nodded and stuffed it into a large box under the window before returning to the back room.
Kile paced the floor of the Guild House as she waited. She looked at the open script board to see Eric’s face staring back at her. They hadn’t changed his affiliation with the water sphere yet, that was going to get some unlucky hunter toasted. Egomaniacs biting off more than they could chew, misinformation on bounties, paper work that constantly needed to be filled out, forms and scripts that had to be signed, a general distrust toward the Guild by citizens, this was not what she sighed up for.
“Here’s your pay for the deliveries.” Kane said as he dropped a small coin purse on the counter that actually jingled. She picked it up and held it in both hands. It might not have been much by most people’s standards, but it was more money than she had ever had in her life. She stuffed the coin purse in the courier bag and headed back out into the street.
Kile walked back through town to the Bird and Bay Inn, it was pleasantly quiet. The activities of the night had yet to start and if she was lucky she could have her meal and be out of the dining area before they did.
“Returned in one piece I see.” Beth commented from behind the counter. “How was your first assignment?”
“Uneventful.” She replied as she headed for the stars and up to her room.
She opened the door and dropped the pack on her bed, and felt like following it, but she wanted to get something to eat first. The room, thankfully, was in the same state as how she left it, even with the unmade bed. At least Gus meant what he said about the cleaning and locked doors, if they couldn’t get in, they didn’t clean. She placed her Lann and Long knife in the truck before locking it up again, then dumped the contents of the purse on the table and counted it out.
She was still on probation, which meant that she wasn’t responsible for paying her room, food or stable fees. She wondered how long that was going to last. It wasn’t that she wanted to stay on probation, but as long as she was, she had more money to do with as she needed, and at the moment that need was to send some of it home. As she counted out the coin she was sure she could live off of half the sum, of course that would mean cutting costs where ever she could. Master Folkstaff was rumored to have never stayed at an inn; living in the wild outside the town he was first assigned. If push came to shove, she was sure she could do the same thing, she was pretty good at surviving in the wild and that was where most of her new friends were, and if that didn’t work there was always the Guild House, although she dreaded that idea.
She slid the coin back into the purse. The only thing now was to find out how to send it to her brother all the way in Riverport. She was sure that the Guild would provide the service, she just wasn’t sure if they would charge her for it.
She brushed out her hair, shook out her clothes and headed down for an early supper.
Kile sat at a booth in the corner of the Bird and Bay, well out of sight of the otherwise normal patrons. She was scribbling on a piece of paper the list of things she needed to buy as well as the things she wanted to buy and figure out if she had enough money to buy anything. There were some things on the list that she could probably get through the Guild, other things she knew she couldn’t and a few things she would be too embarrassed to ask for. She just hoped that Alisa wasn’t joking when she offered to help her pick up a few things, some of this stuff she wouldn’t even know where to find in Coopervill.
The waitress came around once to set down a cup of tea before heading back to the kitchen. The Bird and Bay had twenty seven different varieties of tea on their menu, so far she had sampled four of them, and she didn’t like any of them, but she was determined to find at least one that she could say she enjoyed. She took a sip of the tea and then set it aside, make that five flavors she didn’t like. It was kind of a personal quest, Morgan had his rosemary tea and Alisa drank a kind of Apple cinnamon tea, Kile wanted a tea of her own. She didn’t like ale, or any of the strong drinks the Bird was known for, so that left just the water and the juices, but with winter on its way, it would be nice to have a warm drink now and then, the juices would wait until summer, there were forty two varieties on the menu and she would try them all.
She turned over the sheet of paper and started to scribble a few more notes on the back. She would send at least half her pay home that way, even if she couldn’t be there, she could still help her brother and mother out financially. It would have to be sent to her brother directly; she wouldn’t want her mother to worry too much, even though that’s what mother’s do. Maybe in a year, when things settled down or when she settled in, she could take some time off and return to Riverport for a visit, although she really wasn’t sure if she wanted to go back, or if she could. So many things had changed, that was another place, and another time.
The waitress came with her meal and stopped short of the table as Kile quickly removed the papers and waited for her supper, but the plate never came. The waitress was distracted as she looked toward the front of the room. From where Kile was sitting she couldn’t see what had captured the young waitress’s attention, all she knew was that her supper was hovering just above her table, slowly tipping toward hers. She reached up and grabbed it before she wound up wearing it. The sudden loss of the plate broke the waitress’s trance as she turned and looked at Kile. There was a moment of confusion on her face, as if she was trying to figure out what Kile was actually doing, sitting there.
“It is my meal… isn’t it?” Kile asked.
“Oh… yes… sorry.” The waitress apologized meekly as she slowly turned to face the front of the room again.
What was so interesting that almost had her wearing her evening supper? She tried to see over the counters and the dividing wall, but the reason she had chosen this booth was because it isolated her from the rest of the dinning room.
“Isn’t he incredible?” The waitress said her gaze still fixed to the front of the room.
“I wouldn’t know.” Kile replied.
That was the wrong thing to say as the young waitress shot her a glance that would have caused Grim to back down. She quickly turned and stormed off.
“What?” Kile shouted, but the waitress didn’t turn around as she disappeared through the kitchen door.
“Mind if I sit down?”
She turned to see a rather large, broad man with shocking white hair and steely blue-gray eyes. He looked a lot taller standing up of course the last time Kile saw him he was laying face down in the mud, actually it was more like he was slumped over his horse, either way it was difficult to judge his height. He didn’t wait for an answer as
he slid into the booth. He was a big man; broad shouldered, and took up the other half of the table all by himself. The waitresses were quick to respond, really quick, Kile had been sitting at the booth for nearly half an hour before anyone came to take her order, this guy sits down and has four young waitresses fawning all over him.
The big man looked up at one of the girls, and their eyes connected, Kile could have sworn that those steely blue-gray eyes turned into a kind of golden yellow as he spoke, but it was something more than that, something that Kile could feel but she just couldn’t put her finger on.
“My usual love.” The big man said with a grin.
“Yes sir.” The waitress replied with a slight giggle as she quickly ran off to get him whatever his usual was, the other waitresses moved off a bit slower, disappointed for not having been chosen by the white haired hunter with the steely blue-gray eyes.
The big man slowly turned those eyes onto Kile, and folded his large hands upon the table.
“So, you’re the new hunter.”
“I suppose so.” She replied.
“So you know who I am?”
“I suppose so.”
“Then you’ve heard of me.” The big man said, a faint boyish smile crossed his lips, but it was his eyes that caught Kile’s attention, they slowly shifted between the steely blue-gray to a rather vivid gold. “I brought down the Minotaur of Calder falls. I fought him single handedly with my bare hands in the field, down by the by the river. You saw that didn’t you?”
The way he said it, it didn’t sound so much like a question, more like he was stating a fact.
“That’s not exactly how I saw it, but really, whatever floats your boat.” She replied as she turned back to her meal. Maybe that blow to his head did a little more damage than she thought.
“I said; I was the one that brought down the Minotaur of Calder falls in single combat. I fought him with my bare hands in the open field down by the river. You saw that… didn’t you?”
Again, a statement, not a question.
“Look, to tell you the truth, I couldn’t care less.”
Marcus looked confused and even glanced around the room as if to make sure no one was watching. He then leaned in closer.
“I said, I am the man…”
“Yes, yes, the man who fought the Minotaur of Calder falls in signal combat, something else, something else, whatever. If you want to believe that, that’s fine with me, but really I am trying to enjoy my supper here.”
“This isn’t working on you is it?” He asked.
“What… that story. Uh… no.”
“One moment please.” He said as pulled himself out of the booth and approached one of the waitresses.
She watched as he leaned in towards the pretty young girl and started to speak. She wasn’t sure what the exchange was between the two of them but she felt that same feeling that something just wasn’t normal about this man and especially those eyes. The waitress giggled and handed him a set of keys which the White haired hunter quickly slipped into his pocket.
“Man I thought I lost it.” He said as he came back to the booth and sat down across from Kile “Let me try this again.”
He leaned over the table and stared at Kile, his steely blue-gray eyes slowly shifting to the golden yellow.
“I am the incredibly handsome man that saved your life as I defeated the Minotaur in single combat down by the river with my bare hands…”
“You have got to be kidding.” Kile replied.
“Wow, this is… really awkward.” Marcus said, looking even more confused and a bit worried. “Look… Uhm… how about we start this again.”
“No, how about we don’t. Look, I don’t care if you want to take credit for the defeat of the Minotaur, you’re welcome to it, I don’t want it, and don’t worry. I don’t plan on telling anyone.”
“Wait… please… calm down.”
“Calm down? You want me to calm down. You come over here uninvited, sit down at my table and… you know. I’m not even sure what you’re trying to do. You’re either trying to pick me up or threaten me.”
“Neither, neither, you don’t understand. Look, let me start all over… please.”
“Fine.” Kile said as she pushed her meal away. “Go for it.”
The big man looked a little uncomfortable now, a bit out of his element as he ran one hand through his long white hair.
“Look, I sorry about what I tried to do just now, it was a bit… low, I’d admit it. What I should have said and what I was going to say when I came over was… thank-you for saving my ass back there. I owe you big… I just never had to… owe anyone.”
She watched his eyes, but this time they never changed color. She had a feeling it was something that he could turn on and off at will.
“You’re welcome.”
“Since you’re a hunter, I guess I should do this by the book. I am Certified level three Hunter Marcus Taylor, at your service.”
“Probationary level five Hunter Kile Veller, at yours.” She said as she took his hand, or actually watched her hand disappear into his.
“You didn’t feel any… different… before when I was talking to you… you know, when I told you that…”
“That obviously fake story?”
“Yeah, that.”
“Why? Should I have?”
“Well, actually… yes.” Marcus said as he leaned back in the seat. “I’ve never met anyone that it didn’t work on. I mean aside from animals, and now I guess I can Minotaur to that list. You know my horse still doesn’t listen to me.”
“Although I don’t know why, Rose is very fond of you. She wouldn’t have stayed by your side if she wasn’t”
“Well yeah… wait, you know my Rose.”
“We’ve met.” Kile said as she sipped her tea, it was even worse cold, which was when she realized what was going on. “Wait a minute, you were trying you use your edge on me.”
“What? I don’t know…”
“Yes you do, you were trying to use your edge on me, that’s why your eyes changed color. What is it, some kind of mind control?”
“Keep your voice down.” Marcus hissed as he looked around the room.
“That’s it, isn’t it? It’s some kind of mind control.”
“Well, not exactly, it’s more of a mind nudge, a kind of suggestion.”
“No hunter should ever use their edge on another hunter.”
“You are fresh out of the academy, aren’t you?” Marcus replied. “Look, things change when you’re out here. You have to get by the best way you can.”
“Maybe, but wouldn’t use my edge against you.” Kile replied, not that she was able to, her edge just didn’t work that way.
“Hey, come on, I said I was sorry, and I meant it. Besides, I have kind of a reputation here in town and I didn’t want you to ruin it before I had a chance to speak with you.”
“Well you spoke with me, so don’t worry, I have no intention of taking any credit or soiling your reputations, you can have the Minotaur, the fame, the coin and the credit, it’s all yours.” Kile said as she got up from the booth.
“Sit down Hunter.” Marcus said, and his eyes flickered to a golden yellow.
“You tried to do it again.”
“Sorry… force of habit… please sit down.”
She returned to her seat.
“Let it be known that I am doing this because I want to and not because you suggested it.”
“Look, what I wanted to tell you was... yes, the people of Coopervill believe I defeated the Minotaur, and I am sorry about that, and… quite frankly… I need it.”
“Need it?”
“Fame is… rather addicting. When I got out of the academy I was a nobody. Just another hunter making deliveries, and I was quite happy to be that way, but when I defeated the Troll of Blackmore, my entire world changed. I became a somebody. People were coming from all over to see the White haired hunter. I guess… I got drunk on it.”
“So
that makes it alright.”
“No, it doesn’t make it right, that's what I’m trying to say. Sure the civilians think I defeated the Minotaur, that means nothing, well, almost nothing. Once the story’s out, you’re not going to change it, it’s part of the legend now, the fame was handed to me, so yes, I took it, but the Minotaur, the credit and the coin, those are yours.”
“They're not mine, I don’t want them.”
“Oh yeah right, now who’s making things up. You’re a probationary level five, how much coin do you have on you at this moment. I’m wagering ten, twenty at the most.”
“Twelve and change.”
“And you’re saying that you can’t do with the extra. The Minotaur is a class A open script, that some serious coin. I didn’t go after him for the bounty. I went after him for the fame. I got the fame, for better or for worse, you keep the rest.”
“I don’t want it.”
“It’s too late. I’ve already explained everything to Kane at Guild House. Look I may be a lot of things. I’m a cheat, a swindler. I’ve never paid for a drink or a meal since I became famous, but I would never, never take credit within the guild for something that I didn’t do.”
“You don’t understand, I didn’t defeat the Minotaur, it was a… a fluke, my horse had more to do with the Minotaur’s defeat than I did. It was just dumb luck.”
Marcus Laughed.
“Never underestimate dumb luck kid.” He said “How do you think I brought down the Troll of Blackmore.”
“From what I’ve heard you fought him with your bare hands for three days and four nights in a torrential downpour with a broken leg before you pulled off his head.”
“Yeah, that was one of the better stories.” He grinned. “But you want to know the truth of it, it was just dumb luck. You’ve already guessed my edge, why it doesn’t’ work on you I don’t know, but I’m what you call a freak.”
“We preferred the term miscellaneous.”
“So, you’re one too.” Marcus said as his eyes lit up. “Maybe that has something to do with it. Either way, I have the unique ability to, shall we say, persuade someone to do something they may or may not have wanted to do, just by making eye contact. At first I thought it was a curse, I wanted a better edge, a cooler edge, something like walking on air, or throwing balls of fire, maybe even turning invisible. Do you know that Steele can move with rapid bursts of speed? He was able to complete his deliveries before I could even saddle my hose, but the more I practiced my edge, the more advantages I saw in having it. I may not have used it to its fullest potential, mostly to get free drinks or a free meal.”