by Garry Spoor
“Not your kind of peace, not like this.”
“You’re a hypocrite, Silvia.” Grey laughed as he leaned back in his saddle. “You say you don’t believe in uniting the Hunters, and yet that’s exactly what you’re trying to do. You don’t think we know about the renegades? You don’t think we know about the Veller Hunters? You and your precious code. Doesn’t the code say Hunters must work alone, that they are to aid the weak and the helpless and not to harm another Hunter? While here you are assembling another group of Hunters to lead against us. You are no different from us. Don’t you see? We can end this now. Join us, and together we will finally have peace.”
“Peace? Under whose rule? Guild Master Parker?”
“Parker?” Grey barked. “You think we’re working for Guild Master Parker? He may lead the Hunters, but this isn’t his war.”
“Then whose is it? Who’s calling the shots?” Erin asked, but she laughed after seeing the look on Grey’s face. “You don’t know, do you? You have no idea who’s pulling your strings.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Grey said, “because you can’t win. Not today, not ever. Stand down. Surrender and your companions won’t be harmed.”
Erin hesitated. She looked back over her shoulder at the men who stood behind her. One medic, one storyteller, one Hunter, who could barely stand, and another who was out of commission, probably for good. Grey was right. There was no way they were going to win this battle.
“How can I believe you?” she asked.
“Despite what you might think of me, I am still a Hunter,” he said. “I am honor bound by my mission. The script I have is for you and you alone. I care nothing about the rest. You surrender to me, and your companions are free to go. But, I can’t promise you there aren’t scripts with their names on them floating around.”
“I go with you, and they leave this place. Your men will not follow them?”
“You have my word as Certified Level One Hunter,” Grey said.
“No, you can’t,” Alex shouted.
Erin turned to the young bard. “I have to,” she whispered. “There’s no other way. We’re outmatched. Find Kile, tell her what happened. Tell her to find Folkstaff.”
“But you can’t go with them. We came all this way to save you.”
“I don’t see any other way out of this. I don’t want anyone getting hurt. You know the code: Hunters don’t harm Hunters.”
-Then it’s a good thing I’m a horse,- Kile said, walking past Erin to stand between her and the Terrabin Hunters. She was a bit miffed because it was such a good line and nobody understood her, well almost nobody. There were the horses, Vesper, and of course, the few thousand birds that were now darkened the sky.
They poured out of the trees like a large feathery blanket and descended on the riders. Thousands of them, of all different shapes and sizes from sparrows to hawks. There was no time for the men to react. They were swept off the backs of their horses. Unfortunately, as soon as they hit the ground, they were set on by squirrels. Out of tall grass, they swarmed over the fallen Hunters, biting at any section of exposed flesh. It was complete pandemonium until one of the men managed to get to his feet. Holding out his hands, he burned the grass away with a cone of fire, scattering the animals. Erin, in a blinding burst of speed, flew past Kile and into the fire-wielding Hunter. She not only knocked the man out but stole his weapon as well. Now armed, Erin took the fight to Grey, barely giving the man time to defend himself.
“You should have given up, Silvia, when you had the chance,” Grey said as he parried her attack.
“It would seem we’re not as outnumbered as you might have thought,” she said.
Two Terrabin Hunters, now free of the squirrels, tried to help Grey, but a wall of stone blocked them. Charles made himself known. Armed with the metal rod, he connected with one Hunter, sending the poor man spiraling into the grass. Swinging the bar wildly, he kept two more at bay but didn’t see the third.
“Behind you,” Mandy exclaimed, and the third Hunter was thrown backward across the field.
Mandy was a bit shorter and thinner than his brother but was no less intimidating. He also had a great deal more hair. Influenced by the sphere of air, he flung another Hunter away from Charles, but the use of his Edge was taxing. He fell to his knees. Charles quickly disarmed his remaining opponent by thumping him over the head with the metal bar. Grabbing the fallen blade, he tossed it to his brother.
“Think you can still wield one of these?” He laughed.
The sword slowed down in midflight and stopped in front of Mandy, who simply reached out and grabbed it.
“Please, I was swinging a blade before you could even talk.” He grinned.
This is why Hunters don’t fight Hunters, Kile realized as she watched the chaos unfold. Flames burning the earth, boulders flying through the air, Hunters zipping from one side of the battlefield to the other. It also explained why they were supposed to work alone. Two Hunters working in tandem like the brothers was one thing, but an army of them, unifying their powers, was a frightening idea. She saw it before, during the siege of Moran. It had scared her ever since.
What had Guild Master Parker unleashed?
The Terrabin Hunters fell back and started to regroup. Kile watched as two of them joined their Edges to create strands of interwoven magic. Red for fire, yellow for air, they exploded into flaming serpents that streaked across the field toward the brothers. Charles jumped in front of Mandy, shielding him. The flames burned his clothing, but not his flesh. His body was solid stone.
With Charles preoccupied, the wall around Erin and Grey was absorbed back into the earth. Two men broke away from the others and ran to Grey’s aid.
This was not going well.
“Hey, is that Kile?” Alex asked.
At first Kile thought she was no longer a horse and somehow turned back into a vir. She quickly looked down and was relieved to see she still had hooves. It wouldn’t do for her to stand naked in the middle of a battle. She then realized Alex wasn’t even looking in her direction and instead was pointing south.
“No,” Daniel said nervously. “That’s not Kile, but it is Grim!” He pulled Alex out of the way.
Sure enough, the mountain pony was racing across the field at full speed, heading directly for the melee. Aiming for the group of Terrabin Hunters, he’d never moved so fast. The crash was horrible as one vir was trampled and two more were thrown across the field by the impact. With the fire serpents gone, Charles regained his flesh form and charged at the dazed Hunters, his brother right behind him.
Grim hardly slowed down as he skidded into a turn and came back toward the battle, running down another Hunter. Kile knew she had to stop him.
-Grim,- she called out.
The mountain pony slid to a stop and looked in her direction, then started laughing. -Well, well, well,- he said as he trotted across the battlefield.
-Look at you.-
-This is not the time, Grim.-
-Seriously?-
-Grim, please. Look, I’m glad you’re here, but we have to stop this battle.-
-I thought that’s what I was doing.-
-Not by trampling everybody into the ground.-
-Why not? It works, and it’s kind of fun. Although, it is a little messy on the hooves. You’ll be surprised at how hard it is to get vir stuff off your feet once you step in it.-
-Grim! I do not want to see that.-
-Well, there’s always option number two.-
-And what’s that?-
-We leave them to fight among themselves and we head off to the mountains together. I mean, come on. You, looking like that…-
-You are not honestly hitting on me at a time like this.-
-Hey, it’s worth a try. Besides, you can’t stop the vir from fighting if they want to. You either join in or you leave them alone.-
-I’m ending this battle now.-
-Yeah, and how are you planning to do that?-
Kile had one mo
re trick up her sleeve, one she was reluctant to use.
-I didn’t want to do this,- she said, slowly backing away from the battle.
Grim joined her. -Oh, that’s devious. I’m proud of you.-
-They left me no choice,- she said.
They came out of the woods and snuck onto the field, unseen by either side. Quietly they stalked their prey, slowly moving into position, waiting for the signal to strike. Erin must have spotted one as it approached Grey from behind.. Quickly breaking off her attack, she ran. She waved for Daniel and Alex to get back, but there was nothing she could do for the brothers; they would have to take care of themselves. Grey seemed confused by Erin’s retreat.
It happened without warning. The worst smell known to vir. The stench of fourteen skunks.
-Damn,- Grim said, as he backed farther away.
-That’s just cold.-
-Too much?- Kile asked.
-Maybe a little.- he answered.
Erin had gotten Daniel and Alex behind the transport before the worst of it reached them, but she must have still felt the effects. The smell was nauseating. Tearing off a piece of her shirt, she covered her nose and mouth before approaching Grey. She could only get within a few yards of him. Two skunks came toward her, dragging the Hunter’s sword. They left it at her feet before scurrying back to the woods. It didn’t matter he was disarmed, Grey was in no condition to fight. He was on his hands and knees vomiting. He had gotten the worst of it.
“It’s over,” she told him in a muffled voice. “Go home.”
“You’re… not going… to get… away with… this,” he sputtered. “We… we will… come for you.”
“Give it up, Grey. The Veller Hunters don’t care about the Terrabin Hunters. They never did,” Erin said.
She picked up Grey’s sword and retreated to the wagon. “Alex, Daniel, free those horses. We’re going to need them.”
“What the hell just happened out there?” Charles cursed, coughing into the crook of his arm. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Are you two all right?” Erin asked.
“If you’re asking if we stink to high Ti’ban, the answer’s no.”
She laughed. “How did you manage to avoid that?”
“Ask my brother.” He jerked his thumb toward the man behind him.
Mandy appeared in good spirits despite the stench that lingered on the field. The smell didn’t seem to affect him as he stopped beside his brother.
“It was simple, really,” he said with a grin. “I call it an air shield, something I picked up from a mystic when I was doing a job in Sutton. He called it a self-contained environment or something of that nature. You know mystics—never use a single word when twenty will do. Fortunately, I saw the little darlings before they fired, so I was able to shield my brother and me from the stench.”
“I might not stink, but I can still smell it,” Charles protested.
“What, you expect me to do everything?” Mandy said.
Charles turned away from his brother to address Erin. “So, how did all this happen, and what the hell is that?” He pointed to Grim.
“I’m not sure how, but I know who.” Erin shook her head. “I’ll explain later. Right now we should probably put some distance between us and the transport before they regroup and come back.”
“I’m all for that,” Daniel said, leading the horses away from the wagon.
“But where are we going?” Alex asked.
“First thing I need to do is find Kile before the Terrabin Hunters do,” Erin said.
Mandy looked up when Erin mentioned Kile’s name. “Kile, as in Kile Veller?” he asked. “She’s alive?”
“The last time I saw her, she was. That’s why I need to find her.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Daniel interrupted. “I think she’ll find us.”
20
They traveled north, putting as much distance between them and the transport as they could in the shortest amount of time possible. Only when they were far enough away from the skunk’s aroma, could they talk without gasping for breath.
“So, where are we going?” Daniel asked.
He and Alex were riding one of the transport horses. Erin was riding Fort, while the brothers rode the last two available mounts. As for those horses belonging to the Terrabin Hunters, they scattered when the skunks released their fragrance as did their riders. They were all too quick to abandon Grey to his fate.
Grim walked alongside Kile, several yards behind the group. The mountain pony wouldn’t let anyone near her, and nobody was foolish enough to try to ride him.
“We’re going to Wooddale,” Mandy said. “That is if my brother remembers how to get there.”
“I remember just fine,” Charles said from the head of the column. They were following him for most of the evening since he was the only one who knew where they were going.
“What’s in Wooddale?” Alex asked.
“Folkstaff and the Veller Hunters, for starters,” Mandy answered.
Kile pricked up her ears. What exactly was a Veller Hunter?
Moving closer to the conversation, she tried to get Daniel’s attention. Had she been in the form of a vir, she could ask the questions herself, but she was reluctant to change around these new Hunters. Erin seemed to trust them, but she was finding it hard to trust anyone lately.
Daniel must have noticed her interest since he asked what she wanted to hear.
“You mentioned something about the Veller Hunters before,” he said. “Who are they exactly?”
“Well, I guess you can say the Veller Hunters are what the Hunters used to be before the Hunters became what the Hunters are now,” Mandy said.
-Well, that cleared things up,- Kile said, looking at Daniel and waiting for him to ask the follow-up question.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
Okay, it wasn’t the question she wanted to ask, but it was close enough.
“No. I suppose not.” Mandy laughed. “Let me try to explain. You see—”
“Now you’ve done it!” Charles said. “You done got him started on one of his long-winded explanations.”
Mandy glared at his brother. “Ignore him,” he said. “He gets grumpy when he hasn’t eaten.”
“You were saying… about the Veller Hunters,” Daniel reminded him.
“Oh, yes. The Veller Hunters. Well, I should tell you more about the origin of the Hunters first.”
“Oh, we learned all about the history back at the Academy,” Alex interjected.
“Think of this as a refresher course,” Mandy said. “You see, in the beginning, the Hunters were a small band of people, who tried to do some good in the world. They would help the poor and the less fortunate, the people who couldn’t afford to hire professional mercenaries, security guards, or military guides. They were simply too expensive. Hunters never asked for much—whatever the client could pay. Sometimes they were paid in coin, but most of the time it was in chicken or feed or grain or blankets, whatever the client’s form of currency was. As it turned out, the Hunters were far better than the professionals and eventually, their reputation grew and so did their clientele. Soon wealthy businessmen, politicians, and merchants were all trying to hire Hunters. There was such a demand, the Academy was formed to train new Hunters while the Guild was created to keep track of them, and the code was written to keep everyone on the same page. Unfortunately, as the Guild grew, it no longer saw any benefits to helping the less fortunate and placed more of its resources into helping the wealthy. That’s when Terrabin D’al came along. He wanted to take it even further. He wanted to unify the Hunters.”
“But isn’t that a good thing?” Daniel asked. “I mean, working together, Hunters could do so much more, they could help more people.”
“Ah, yes, that is true. But think about what you saw today and multiply it. I’m not talking about one or two Hunters working together to fulfill a script, I’m talking about an army of Hun
ters. A Hunter is part soldier and part mystic. Put enough of them together, and who would be able to stand against them? That’s why Hunters are required to work alone. Working in groups, they have too much power, and that power can lead to corruption.”
“But what about what Grey said? Isn’t bringing peace to the kingdom worth it?”
“Peace. Yes, peace is always worth fighting for, but at what cost? If you have everything taken away from you for the sake of peace, what have you won?”
“But it might not be that way.”
“Don’t fool yourself, Daniel. It’s always that way,” Erin said. “Think about it. If you had the power to bring peace to the kingdom, where would you stop? Once peace is established, it’s hard to give up that kind of power. Once Parker creates his army of Hunters, who could stop him?”
“But isn’t that what the… the Veller Hunters are doing? Creating an army to battle the Terrabin Hunters?”
“No, not really,” Mandy said.
“But I thought…”
“You thought the Veller Hunters were going to try to reclaim the Guild, but there’s nothing to reclaim. The Hunters aren’t the Guild, the Guild is the Hunters.”
“Oh, I see,” Alex said excitedly. “You’re starting over.”
“Exactly,” Mandy said. “For better or worse, the Terrabin Hunters were the next logical step in the evolution of the Hunters. It was bound to happen eventually. It is obvious by the number of Hunters who support it. Fighting to try to reverse it is futile. The fight would never end. It would only keep going back and forth, and do more harm than good. The Veller Hunters are starting over. We are going back to what we were supposed to be and we are only taking those Hunters who wish to come.”
“Then you’re giving up.”
“There’s nothing to give up, Daniel, because there was nothing to be had. A Hunter doesn’t own anything, we knew that when we joined. The Terrabin Hunters have forgotten this. What they are doing isn’t wrong—it’s just another way of looking at things. However, I believe they will eventually destroy themselves from the inside. It’s already happening because they’ll never be able to give up what they are taking.”
