Hunter's Academy (Veller)

by Spoor, Garry

  “When you put it that way it seems so simple.”

  -The cycle of life is simple. It is the vir that places burdens within their paths; it is the vir that make living the cycle complicated. Why do you suffer these burdens? When your cycle is near its end, as mine is, you will see that the burdens you suffer are meaningless. If anything you should rejoice that you were a part of the rabbit's life, if only for a little while, and if you did have a hand in ending its cycle, then you were only doing as nature had intended.-

  It was like being lectured to by one of the instructors; only the lecture was shorter and more meaningful. Although she still felt guilty over the death of the rabbit, Gorum’s explanation of the simplicity of life did easy a bit of the pain.

  -So pup, show us this resting site of your rabbit friend so that we may respect it too.-

  She led them up to the north wall where a patch of freshly turned dirt and a small stone rabbit, created by Morgan from a simple rock, marked the location. Both Gorum and Hunar sniffed around the perimeter of the grounds before paying their respects.

  -I still say it’s a waste.-

  She heard Hunar mumbled under her breath.

  Kile threw the stick as far as she could and Hunar tore after it. She could never understand the fascination dogs have with the game of fetch. She had tried asking Hunar but all the dog would tell her was that it was fun and thrown the damn stick. Gorum was less enthusiastic about fetch, but then the male mastiff was quite a bit older than his female counterpart. She didn’t know how old Gorum was and never really gave it much thought until he spoke about the cycle of life and his coming to an end. She was always led to believe that animals were ignorant about their mortality, but it turned out that they were just more accepting of it. She sat beside Gorum, stroking the dog as she waited for Hunar to return with the stick. Hunar had a habit of getting sidetracked easily by a stray sound or a new smell, so it usually took her some time before she returned.

  “Did you see any of the gathering?” She asked Gorum.

  -I was present.-

  “You were? What did they talk about? What was it like?”

  -More things for the vir to worry about, more burdens for them to place upon their path. If they did not have enough burdens they would look for them, and then complain when they found them.-

  “What burdens have they found?”

  -The burdens of the vir matter little to me these days.-

  Gorum replied as he turned his head so she could scratch his other ear.

  -They spoke mostly of war in the western lands, from there I do no know, nor did I care to listen. Ask of Hunar, she appeared more interested in the vir’s business.-

  -Don’t listen to him.-

  Hunar said as she dropped the stick beside Kile’s leg.

  -He was just as interested, He’s just too old and could no longer stay awake to hear it all.-

  -There is truth in that too.-

  Gorum laughed as he lay on his side so Kile could reach his belly.

  “What was that about a war?” She asked Hunar.

  -They didn’t call it a war; they called it… something else-

  -A conflict.-

  Gorum replied.

  “With who?” Kile asked.

  -The uhyre, they’ve crossed the western border and conducted raids on the vir dens, and then they retreat over the border where the vir can not reach them.-

  It was not a very good time to be in western Aru, but that was where Tree was now, a small unknown border town by the name of Grover’s den. In two more years when she graduated would they send her to someplace like that, some place out of sight and out of mind, someplace on the border facing the threat of an uhyre invasion? And what of the uhyre, were they really the valrik and gulrik of legend, the ones she faced in battle at the Mystic tower. The thought of those creatures being real and really out there was unsettling at best.

  “Gorum! Hunar!”

  -Master’s voice.-

  Hunar replied as her ears shot up.

  Master would mean Oblum and Kile didn’t really want Sir Oblum finding her out of bed after lights out, and not with his precious dogs. She scrambled to her feet, waking Gorum.

  -What is it?-

  -Master calls.-

  Hunar replied.

  “Gorum! Hunar!”

  The silhouette of a large man topped the hill and Kile slipped off to the darker places of the night, hiding within the shadows of the stable walls.

  “Is someone there?” Oblum called out as he started down the hill. “Show yourself.”

  Gorum and Hunar both ran toward their Master as he crouched down to greet them. He was scratching their heads but still looking in Kile’s direction. What was Oblum’s edge she wondered as the big man got to his feet? Could he see her? She could see him clearly enough, it wasn’t that dark, and yet he wasn’t even looking at her, he appeared to be looking past her. When he had made up his mind that there was nobody else out this time of night, he turned back up the hill.

  “Come on guys, let’s get your supper.” He said as Gorum and Hunar followed.

  ***~~~***

  2

  “Hey Kile girl, you awake in there.”

  Kile had been lying in bed staring up at the ceiling dreading another summer day at the academy. She quickly sat up when she heard the call from outside her window. There was only one person who thought they could get away with calling her Kile girl, and if he kept it up any longer he would regret it. She quickly rolled out of bed and ran to the window. Throwing open the shutters she looked down at a small boy that was grinning up at her.

  “What are you doing here?” She asked. “You aren’t supposed to be back until next week.”

  “Yeah, well, we got bored without you.” Alex replied.

  It was probably not all together true, but it felt nice to hear it.

  “You’re all back?”

  “I don’t know what you mean by all, but Daniel and Carter are with me, actually they’re reporting in right now.”

  She closed the shutters and quickly pulled on her slacks and tunic. It wouldn’t do for her to go running out to meet the guys in nothing but her underclothes.

  “Come on Vesper, let’s go find the boys.” She said as she fastened the belt pouch around her waist. Vespers waited until she sat down to pull on her boots before he climbed in.

  -Healer back?-

  He asked eagerly.

  “Yeah, Daniel’s back.”

  There were a lot more cadets in the dorm today than she had previously noticed; they must have come back really early, while she was still asleep. She walked past open doors as boys, returning from their summer, were starting to put away their belongings. They didn’t pay her much mind as she passed and she didn’t really care if they did as she stepped out onto the compound. The sun was already high in the eastern sky and it was probably nearly noon. There was quite a bit of commotion as a few more carriages were just arriving, she must have slept through all the noise. It marked the end of a long, drawn out, summer.

  She saw the tall awkward blond haired boy stepping out of the main office and could have sworn that Daniel had grown another couple of inches. His head seemed to tower above the other boys as they pushed past him to report in. He spotted Kile right away and a large crooked grin stretched a crossed his face.

  “There you are.” He called out as he stepped from the crowd, he looked so different in his civilian clothes, he looked almost normal. Carter followed close behind him and where Daniel had grown up, Carter had grown out. He appeared a lot broader than he had before he left.

  “Why are you back so soon?” Kile asked as she ran up to greet them. “Not that I’m complaining mind you.”

  “There was a caravan passing through Procton, heading in this direction so we figured we’d cut our summer short.” Daniel replied.

  “Actually Carter wanted to come back early.” Alex added as he joined them. “He missed his sparring matches with you.”

  “I
said no such thing.” Carter snapped as he turned a rather deep shade of red.

  Daniel picked up a sack that was outside the office door and slung it over his shoulder, then picked up another one and dragged it behind.

  “What’s all this?” Kile asked. When he left he only had the one small bag that he took with him.

  “Mother thought I needed a few more things for next two years.” He replied with a shy grin. Kile looked around at the other boys taking their own luggage to their own cells and realized that there was quite a bit more going in than what came out. It would appear that more mothers thought the same way as Daniel’s. It made sense really; nobody knew who was going to be accepted into the academy last year, until they actually made it in. Now that they knew they had two more years to go, cadets were bringing more stuff from home to make those years a little easier.

  She followed Daniel back to his cell and watched him unpack.

  “So, how was Procton? Change much in a year’s time?” She asked him as she took the seat by the door. It was the first time she had actually sat in Daniel’s room, usually he was visiting her.

  “Not really.” Daniel replied. “I did go back to Quigley, but he’s already got himself another assistant, I figured he would, so he didn’t really need my help, although I did show him a few of the things that I had learned here. Mostly I helped my folks out the best I could and hung out with Alex. We did get in a little fishing. Carter joined us a few times, that was when he wasn’t helping is father at the forge. All in all it was pretty boring.”

  “What did you expect? You were only gone for a year.”

  “Yeah… I know, but it was… kind of weird too.” Daniel added as he turned to face her.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I… just didn’t feel like I belonged there anymore. I guess in many ways I don’t. If I survive my time here at the academy, the guild will send me to… who knows where, and that’s where I’ll be stationed, that will be my new home. Procton… will just be another town.”

  “I doubt that. Procton will always be the place where you grew up, it’s the place where your parents are, the place where your friends are, it will always be your home.”

  “Yeah. I guess.” Daniel said as he turned back to his pack and began pulling out even more clothes. “Do you still think of Riverport as your home?”

  “Yeah, of course.” She lied. She never thought of Riverport as her home when she was living there, why would she start thinking of it as her home now?

  “Oh, I have something for you.” Daniel said, grabbed his second sack and tossed it on the bed. He pulled it open and rummaged inside for a few minutes before pulling out a small wrapped parcel and handed it to her.

  “What’s this?” She asked. Was this another custom that she was unfamiliar with, like winter’s feast?

  “It’s a sweater, for the cold nights. Mom made it.”

  “For me?”

  She had never met Daniel’s mother, why would the woman spend so much time on her?

  “I… kind of mentioned you to her when I got home.”

  “Mentioned?” Alex laughed from the doorway, Kile quickly spun around on her chair. She hadn’t noticed the small boy standing there. He was getting very good at sneaking up on people.

  “He didn’t stop talking about you the whole time.” Alex laughed.

  Kile looked from Alex to Daniel as the taller boy slammed the door.

  “It wasn’t like that.” He said, a little red faced as he went back to his unpacking, keeping his back to her so she couldn’t see him. “It’s just that mom was really interested in the only female cadet at the academy. She also said that if you didn’t want to go all the way back to Riverport during our next leave, you’re more than welcome in Procton.”

  Kile held the parcel close to her chest and suddenly missed her own mother. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go back to Riverport, she couldn’t go back to Riverport, her father had made that quite clear. She was no longer welcome back home; it’s quite possible that she didn’t have a home to go back to.

  -Kile Okay?-

  “Yeah, I’m okay.” She lied again, but unlike lying to Daniel, Vesper was able to read between the lines as he poked his head out of the pouch and looked up at her.

  “Sort of okay.” She corrected herself.

  “I’m sorry.” Daniel said as he turned around.

  “I was just talking to Vesper.” Kile replied casually. She looked up at Daniel’s face and realize that no matter how many times he had seen her do in the past year, he still didn’t quite believe, or understand that she could communicate with the yarrow, sometimes she had a hard time believing it herself.

  “So, what did you get up to while we were gone?” Daniel asked.

  Walking the compound in the dead of night, carrying on conversations with the guard dogs, and killing rabbits for no reason.

  “I got a bit of reading done.” She replied as she opened up the parcel and pulled out a soft green sweater. It was beautifully made and it was close to her size, a little too close to her size as she stood up and held it against herself. She looked at herself in the mirror. It was almost made to fit.

  “How did your mother know what size I was?” She asked a rather nervous looking Daniel.

  “Oh… you know. She...guessed.”

  “She guessed? She’s a good guesser.” Kile replied as she neatly folded the sweater still stared at the back of Daniel’s head.

  “Well… she might have gotten… a little help.”

  “From whom?” She asked calmly, as if she didn’t already know.

  “Alex… kind of…”

  “I’ll kill him.” She replied. “I warned him, now I’ll kill him.”

  “She wanted to see what you looked like that’s all, and… well… Alex created you once…”

  “Alex had nothing to do with creating me.” She corrected him.

  “Sorry. He created an illusion of you once.”

  “Better.” She replied. “It’s just a little… creepy if you know what I mean.”

  Daniel laughed. “Yeah, especially with Alex doing it.”

  Somehow she didn’t want to know the exact meaning of that laughter.

  “His illusions, you can’t… touch them… can you?” She asked. That would have really creeped her out.

  “Not that I’m aware of.” He replied.

  Not a very reassuring answer.

  “I heard the new cadets should be arriving next week. It’s going to be odd watching from the other side of the fence.” Daniel said as he tried to change the subject.

  “It’s hard to believe we made it through one year.” Kile replied. “I wonder if there will be any girls in this year’s group.”

  Kile wasn’t sure if she wanted another girl at the academy, it wasn’t that she wanted to be the only one, it was because she knew what it was to be the only one, and she would hate to think of someone else having to go through what she had gone through, or what she was still going through. On the other hand, if two girls passed the entry examination, that wouldn’t be as bad, of course Boraro would have a fit. Who knows, he might even go as far as quitting, and that would be just fine by her.

  “I doubt it.” Daniel replied, breaking into her little fantasy. It took her a moment to remember what he doubted.

  “Why, you don’t know.”

  “Sure we do. Think about it. All the cadets knew about you when you arrived last year. I’m sure if there was a girl in the next group coming up we would have known already.”

  “Maybe last year’s senior class was better at gathering information than this year’s senior class.”

  “Maybe, but I doubt it.” Daniel said as he tossed the empty pack into the corner of his room and started on the next. “But it looks as if they’re going to need as many hunters as they can get.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He quickly looked around the room, as if they wouldn’t have noticed someone standing in the room listening a
lready. When he was sure they were alone he sat on the end of his bed and leaned toward her.

  “Well, for starters, Carter told me, that his father told him, that there was an accident at the Blackmoore prison last year, and that some of the inmates may have gotten free, and that’s why the Hunters have gathered, to discuss the so called accident, but if you ask me, I think it has more to do with the pirates.”

  “Pirates?” Kile replied, it seamed a little cliché, but it wasn’t that far fetched. Even in Riverport they had heard stories of the pirates of the southern seas. Of course they were just stories and no one, to her knowledge, which was limited in this matter, had seen a pirate in over a decade.

  “My father was telling me that there has been some trouble on the southern coastline. A few cargo ships have gone missing. Some are saying that there’s a serpent in the Sun Color Sea, but he thinks it might be pirates. From what he says, three cargo ships have gone missing since the spring thaw. Two coming from the southern continents, and one going. That’s why I think the Hunters have gathered.” Daniel said as he sat up straight.

  “Not quite.” Kile replied. “From what I’ve heard, the topics of conversation were the uhyre raids on the western borders.” Of course she wasn’t going to say where she got her information from.

  “Uhyre raids… what are the Uhyre?”

  “The valrik, the gulrik? You know the little ugly gray guys with the large swords.”

  “But the valrik were wiped out. What little still exist wouldn’t amount to much.”

  “Well, I guess nobody told them that, because they’ve already attacked a few of the outer posts. I wonder if the events are related in any way.”

  “What? You think the valrik, the disappearing cargo ships and the accident at the Blackmore prison are connected? That’s a bit of a stretch, even for you.”

  Maybe, Kile thought, but it was rather suspicious.

  Daniel’s information proved to be less than accurate, but then it wouldn’t have been the first time. The caravans with the new recruits were scheduled to arrive tomorrow evening as opposed to next week. That morning all the cadets were required to pick up their new uniforms from the quartermaster, and turn in their old ones. They moved from the dull brown tunic and pants to those of a dull green. It wasn’t much of a change, but it was one step closer to becoming a hunter.