by Spoor, Garry
The way Tree had explained it to her was that the first year cadets were usually so numerous that they had to be divided into individual classes. By the time they reached their second year, if they were still around, there would be a lot fewer of them, so fewer classes. She had originally thought that he was exaggerating, but five boys in one month and already taken the walk and that wasn’t counting the two last week, if that kept up, there may not be any of them left by next year.
She walked through the doors into the great hall, and in spite having seen the exhibits each time, and not approving of them, she couldn’t help looking at them again. The grand pictures of the men staring down at her were a bit intimidating. Her eyes then wandered to the simple door that everyone walked past without a second thought, behind that door the second exhibit was hidden. She kept the key in the small ebony box on her dresser and had thought about revisiting that room, but the timing never seemed right. In her eyes, she just wasn’t worthy enough to be in there to look at her, the mysterious maiden in the painting.
Kile followed the flow of students upstairs and branched off to her own destination. She stepped into Master Voreing’s room and moved quickly to one of the rear seats. Sitting in the corner as far away from the instructor as she could and waited until the rest of the room slowly filled up as she hid herself behind her political manual, a book more boring than the instructor, if that was even possible.
“So, you’re still here are you?”
She knew the voice before she even looked, and she knew that the peace of the last couple of weeks had finally come to a crashing end. Kile looked over the top of her book to see the dark greasy haired boy approaching her with two more in tow. She wasn’t sure why Eric always needed at least two people to support him whenever he tried to confront her, it was almost like he was scared of her, but she couldn’t be that lucky.
“What’s wrong, nothing smart to say?” Eric asked as he placed his hand on her desk and leered over her. “Come on girl, you always have something witty to say, make me laugh.”
This was the last thing Kile needed this morning, or any morning for that matter. She knew it was only a matter of time before Eric remembered he didn’t like her, she was just hoping it would take him a year or two before he got around to doing something about it. As it was she just didn’t have anything to say, as the only thought in her head today was her appending appointment with the mystic instructor.
“I don’t want any trouble.” She replied, trying not to look at Eric, but keeping her attention to the pages of her book. Master Voreing should be showing up soon, not that it was going to solve anything, but it should prevent something.
“You don’t want any trouble.” Eric repeated in what Kile had to believe was his mocking voice. “You don’t want any trouble because you don’t have that big oaf watching your back now… do you?”
It took Kile a few minutes to realize who it was that Eric was referring to, was he that scared of Tree she wondered. It didn’t matter anyway, Tree was long gone, probably in Grover’s Den by now, and she was here alone.
“Come on girl, you think you’re a Hunter, why don’t you show me how much of a Hunter you are.” Eric said as pushed her book aside and pointed his finger in her face, and with no more than a thought, if that was even what it took, the tip of his finger began to glow. She could feel the heat radiate from it as she remembered what Daniel had told her, that Eric was influenced by the sphere of fire. He appeared to be a lot further along with his edge than most of the cadets, but then he was two years older than everyone else.
Kile sat in her seat staring forward; she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of scaring her, even though he was doing a great job at it. If she ran, she would only be proving his point and she might as well keep running all the way to the eastern gate, if she fought him, there was no chance she would win. He slowly moved his finger closer to her face and she could feel the intensity of the heat as well as hear the other boys cheering him on. Could he hate her that much, to do something that severe, something that would get him thrown out of the academy after it took him three years to get in. For a Hunter to use his edge against another Hunter was unthinkable, but that was assuming the instructors didn’t just look the other way.
“Maybe I should just burn a large L on your forehead for looser.”
“Mr. Rimes, what do you think you are doing?”
Eric quickly doused his finger. He didn’t even turn to look at the front of the room where an irate Master Voreing was standing with hands on hips.
“Do yourself a favor girl, take the walk or get burned.” Eric whispered to Kile as he turned and pushed past his two friends.
He took his seat at the far end of the room. Kile could still feel the heat from the boy’s finger and wanted to touch her forehead to see if he had actually burned her, but she also didn’t want to give Eric the satisfaction of knowing he unnerved her.
“If you’re through holding up my class, I can begin.” Master Voreing said, but he wasn’t looking at Eric, his gaze turned to Kile. She knew somehow she was going to get blamed for this.
“Yesterday I talked a little bit about the current situation with the Hunter’s guild, today I thought I should give you a little background on how the Hunter’s guild came about.” Master Voreing said as he paced the floor and began to drone on in his monotone voice that usually put everyone to sleep.
“We learn that the Hunter’s origin goes back to the early 800s or eight hundred years after the formation of the Kingdom of Aru, although we do not know the precise date we can at least agree upon that fact. We also know that the organization was first started by our founder Moran Leafler. Moran was a man who had a vision to serve the people of Aru, as a young man he sought the adventurous life as he wandered the wilderness. It was his dream to discover the forgotten history of Dalval, to uncover its treasures and its secrets, some even said he was looking for the lost city of Goff. Needless to say he was not very successful in finding either. It is then, that we believe, he turned his attentions to more mundane, if not more profitable, tasks. Utilizing his vast knowledge of the surrounding areas he started to deliver packages from one town to the next…”
“He was a delivery man?” One of the cadets shouted out followed by a few snickers that causing Master Voreing to stop his monologue. He turned to the class and quietly scanned the seats, as if trying to determine just who it was that had the audacity to interrupt him. When he wasn’t able to find the miscreant, his eyes fell on Kile. Fine, she was going to be blamed for that too.
“He was not… a… deliver man. He was a courier, he carried important documents and artifacts to their assigned destination.” Master Voreing explained with a look of contempt.
“A deliver man.” Another cadet on the other side of the room mumbled, just loud enough for everyone to hear. Master Voreing scanned the room again, and again when he couldn’t find who had interrupted him, he turned his gaze to Kile, and she was getting the feeling that no matter what happened in his classroom, he would somehow find a way to blame her.
“Eventually” He said with a sudden start that caused half the class to wake up. “This would lead him to the escorting of merchants through the wilderness, but it wasn’t until he brought in his first bounty that he found his true calling… as a Hunter. And he saw that he, as a single individual, could provide a service to the common people, something that they had been lacking, and something that the government of the provinces couldn’t provide. Security in the wild. Unfortunately this was a short lived vocation, as he suffered serious injury while attempting to bring in the Aunyaina.”
“The what?”
“What’s an Auana… Auya?”
“The Aunyaina.” Master Voreing corrected. “It is a humanoid creature with a dreadful visage. It is said to be of enormous size, its body covered with fur and it possesses two large tusks that protrudes from its mouth which it uses to hunt down and kill its favorite food… man.”
Th
ere was a notably gasp from the class, something that Master Voreing enjoyed hearing; it meant he had their attention. Kile had never heard of an Aunyaina, or anything that even remotely matched Master Voreing’s description, and if she didn’t know better, she was sure he was making most of the story up, but then Master Voreing was not much for storytelling, or for having much of an imagination or a personality for that matter. He was strictly by the book and if he says it's true, it must mean he read it somewhere.
“The injury put an end to his career, but not his vision. He still saw a place for a group of men to serve the people of Aru by protecting them from the wild. Using the small fortune he had set aside, and the reputation that he had earned, he gathered men of like mind and temperament and formed the first Hunter’s Guild.”
Kile couldn’t help but noticed how much he used and emphasized the word man, it was becoming a little obvious, so obvious that some of the other cadets would turn to look at her each time he said it.
“Moran realized that it wasn’t enough. There was too much work and not enough men to handle it, and there was a decided… lack of talent to choose from, so Moran set about creating the Hunter’s Academy, an organization to teach men what it meant to be a Hunter.
“Even up to this day, we have strived to meet the high standards that Moran Leafter has placed upon his men, and each class of Hunters that passes through the doors of this academy, is a shining representative of Moran vision.” Master Voreing stood there posed, with his head back and his chest out, looking very much like one of the paintings in the gallery. Kile hoped she would see her picture up there before his.
“When you become a Hunter, if… you become a Hunter, there are several duties that you will be required to perform for the Hunter’s Guild. These jobs are presented to the Guild in good faith by the citizen and the government of Aru. They are evaluated by qualified guild members and are classified based on the task that needs to be completed and ranked by difficulty, priority, chance of survival and of course payment. They are then given a classification letter from Class A all the way down to Class E. If you graduate, you will be a Probationary level five Hunters, and therefore will only be assigned Class E missions. As you prove yourself capable and the guild sees fit in promoting you to a higher certification level you will be eligible to take on the higher assignment classifications.”
“What do you mean by probationary, won’t we be certified?” Another cadet called out.
Kile had to admit that it was a question she would have liked to ask herself, and was only glad that someone else beat her to it, not that she was actually going to say anything. Asking questions in class was a direct violation of her master survival plan.
“If you survive your three years here, you will receive your probationary certificate as well as your destination papers. You will have to prove to the guild that you can handle yourself on your own, in the wild, before you receive your certification, think of it as the ultimate final exam.”
“How long will that take?”
“For most Hunters, it will take a full year, if you don’t do anything that will jeopardize your standing in the guild, then after you complete your one year probation, you will receive your certification, although there are times and certain circumstances where a Hunter has been known to receive their certification earlier, possibly a month or two into their probation.”
“What assignments will we have as level fives?”
“As a certified level five Hunter, your assignments will primarily be that of a courier.”
“A delivery man?” Some called out from the other side of the room, this time Master Voreing ignored the remark.
“As a courier, you will be required to transport letters or packages through non hostile territories to the corresponding guild house. There you will get your signed confirmation of deliver and return back to your own guild house for payment.”
“When do we get to hunt down monsters?”
“Bounties are automatically labeled as a Class B assignment, and therefore you will have to be at least a certified level three or higher to receive such an assignment, and from what I have seen so far, that’s a long time coming.” Master Voreing replied.
“What other assignments are there?” Another cadet asked.
“Aside from courier duties and bounties, the Guild is often asked to act as bodyguard for political officials, dignitaries, or wealthy merchants in need of protection. We have often been asked to escort caravans through the wild or hostile territories, or acquire information from …other parties.”
“What about assassinations?”
Kile recognized that voice as she looked over to where Eric was sitting, his arm in the air to attract the instructor's attention, a smug look on his face. Was that why he wanted to be a Hunter, so that he could hire himself out as an assassin?
Master Voreing looked at Eric for a while, or a little longer than a while. Kile could see that there was a look of concern on the instructor face, something she hadn’t seen before, something that told her the next thing he was about to say wasn’t going to be the whole truth.
“Contrary to popular belief, Hunters are not assassins.”
“Funny, that’s not what I heard.” Eric replied.
“Well then, you’ve heard wrong. Hunters do not assassinate. If that is the reason you are here, then I am afraid you will be sorely disappointed. Maybe you should look into the assassin’s guild; they’re always looking for new… blood.”
There was an assassin’s guild? That was the first time Kile heard about that, but then it was the first time she had heard about a lot of things. Riverport was never the hub of much information, and what was that expression on Master Voreing’s face, was he trying to hide something, had the Hunters been used as assassins before?
“I think we should take a short recess, when we come back I will talk about the political structure of the Aru kingdom as well as some of its key members.” Master Voreing stated as he started to pick up his papers.
This was Kile’s chance to get to the mystics without bringing too much attention to herself, but that wasn’t going to be easy. As she got up to leave she saw Eric standing in the doorway, blocking her escape. He didn’t appear to be waiting for her; instead he was talking with a few of the other cadets, laughing at something or someone. It was only when he started to leave did he turn to where she was standing. Eric held up his finger and this thumb to create the shape of an L as he laid it against his forehead. His entire hand burst into flame, something that startled a few of the boys around him. It was a clear enough threat as he laughed and walked out the room. Kile waited until the way was clear when she peeked around the door to see if Eric was lying in wait for her. She was relived to find the hall was empty.
There was no denying that Eric had full use of his Hunter’s edge, and Kile didn’t even know if she had one.
If she was lucky, maybe she was influenced by water, and then she could defuse the next situation with Eric before it got out of hand. What ever it was, if it was any, she was about to find out as she headed out the back of the Hall toward the three round building set aside for the mystics.
Kile knocked on the mystic’s door, but received no answer. It would be her luck for the mystic just not to show up, maybe he knew something she didn’t, of course he could just be asleep. She waited a few minutes and knocked again only a little louder. It was possible that she had the wrong time, maybe she misread the schedule, or somebody changed it on her so that she would arrive late, or early, or on the wrong day all together. That wasn’t a thought that had occurred to her before; it would not be so far fetched that somebody would try to sabotage her chances of becoming a Hunter. It’s not like there weren’t enough people who wanted to see her fail.
Her only course of action now would be to return to the field and the bulletin board to make absolutely sure that this was the time that she was supposed to be here. Of course, by doing that, she would be late for the appointment, but then so
was he and she really didn’t want to be here in the first place. What was he going to tell her that she didn’t already know? That she had no mystic influence, that she should never have been allowed into the academy and that he had made a grievous error, because that was the only conclusion she could come up with.
Kile turned and was heading back toward the great hall when she heard a noise from inside the mystics quarters, she couldn’t make out what the sound was, just a loud clatter as if something was being moved. Surely the old man wasn’t hiding inside waiting for her to leave. Kile moved around the outside of the building to the only window, but it was too high for her to peek through, even if she was to stand on her toes, she would need a ladder or a chair to ever have a chance to see through that window. What was the purpose of putting those things so far up the wall anyway?
She waited under the window for a few minutes, to see if she could hear the sound again, and when her waiting was met with silence, she decided to return to her original plan, to go back to the field and check on the schedule.
She had just taken a few steps away from the building when she heard another, louder noise. There was no mistaken that one, something very large and very heavy had just fallen onto the floor. Surly the old mystic hadn’t just collapsed. She returned to the door and knocked again.
“Hello is anyone there. Hello.”
It was obvious whoever was there wasn’t going to answer, or couldn’t answer. She tried the door, expecting that a mystic’s room, with all its unnatural magic and secrets would be locked, but the door swung open unhindered.
“Hello.” She called again.
It was no use; she was going to have to enter the domain of the mystics one more time. She took a deep breath and stepped into the main foyer.
She didn’t really know what to expect, her few days at the tower had shown her that when dealing with mystics, you couldn’t be prepared enough, but what she hadn’t prepared for was that nothing happened. There was no magic in the room, there was no energy, there was no feeling, it was just a plain, ordinary room.
