Hunter's Beginning (Veller)

by Spoor, Garry

  “Oh this is just too creepy.” Daniel said as he turned around on his stool to face the wall.

  As Eric the specter finished his macabre little performance, he disappeared without a trace.

  “Is he gone?” Daniel asked as he slowly turned around.

  “Yeah, he’s gone.” Carter laughed.

  “Couldn’t you think of someone else to play with?”

  “I could always try doing one of Kile.”

  “You do that and the potatoes aren’t the only thing that will get peeled in here.” Kile replied.

  “Gotcha.” Alex said as he quickly took his seat.

  “How long did it take you to come up with that one?” Daniel asked.

  “Not nearly as long as it use to, I think I’m getting the hang of it.”

  “At least this one could move.” Carter remarked under his breath, but loud enough for Alex to hear.

  “Better than anything you could create.”

  “I’ve kind of moved away from illusions.”

  “What do you mean? I thought that was going to be your edge too.”

  “Not anymore, I found I could do something a lot better.”

  “Oh yeah, show us.” Alex demanded.

  “Yeah, like I’d show you.” Carter replied.

  “Why not, you’ve seen what I can do.”

  “Yeah, and if I show you what I can do, by tomorrow afternoon everyone within this compound, the city of Azintar and half the province will know. I think I’ll keep my edge to myself for now… if you don’t mind.”

  “Spoil sport.” Alex grumbled. “What about you Kile?”

  “What about me?” She asked cautiously.

  “Don’t you want to show off your edge?”

  “Sorry Alex, I’m with Carter on this one. I think I’ll keep my edge to myself for the time being.”

  “Fine, be that way, I don’t care.” Alex said, but there was no malice in his voice as he pouted.

  “Don’t worry about him.” Daniel assured her. “He always does this.”

  “What do I always do?”

  “Try to make people feel guilty.”

  “No I don’t.”

  “Yeah you do.” Carter added. “Just because you’re small and pathetic you think people should feel sorry for you.”

  A statement that was answered by a flying piece of potato.

  “How long have you guys known each other?” Kile asked.

  She never had any close friends growing up, it wasn’t for lack of trying, there just weren’t any opportunities, no one ever came to the farm and she was seldom allowed to leave. The only friends she had belonged to her brother, if you could call them friends, and she knew they only tolerated her for his sake. If it wasn’t for him they wouldn’t have had anything to do with her.

  “Believe it or not, those two are actually related.” Daniel replied.

  “Don’t remind me.” Carter groaned.

  “How?”

  “They’re cousins. Carter’s mother was Alex’s mother’s sister. I met Alex just after his mother passed away. We were what, six? Seven?”

  “Seven.” Alex replied in no uncertain terms, but Kile figured he would know the exact day he lost his mother.

  “I met Carter not too long after that.”

  “Yeah, he’s the reason why we’re all here.” Alex added.

  “I didn’t force you to try out for the academy.” Carter replied. “I would have been quite happy if you had stayed home.”

  “Oh, so you could be alone here with Kile.” Alex teased, which resulted in a red faced Carter launching another slice of potato across the room.

  “Actually it’s not that far from the truth.”

  “You too Danny?”

  “No, not that.” Daniel laughed as he waved Carter off. “The fact that we’re all here.”

  “I don’t get it.” Kile said, hoping to steer the conversation, or the teasing, away from her being alone with any of them.

  “Carter always talked about wanting to be a Hunter for as long as I’ve known him. When Quigley heard, he figured it would be a great way for me to hone my healing skills, not that the mystic tower had any interest in me. He talked to my parents and they thought it was a great idea as well. When Alex’s father heard about the two of us going to take the exam, he suggested Alex take it as well.”

  “Thought it would toughen him up.” Carter added.

  “I’m tough enough as it is.” Alex replied as he pulled back his shoulders and threw out his chest.

  “As tough as a dandelion.”

  “Hey, you ever try to pick a dandelion, they’re tough little suckers.”

  “As you can see, we all managed to get in.”

  “Yeah, they must have lowered the bar.”

  Kile knew that Carter’s last remark was a jab at Alex, but she couldn’t help thinking that it also applied to her. She would hate to believe that it was true.

  Daniel continued to tell stories of the three of them growing up in Procton and Kile listened with envy. They tried to get her to talk more about Riverport, but she would always steer the conversation back to Procton, what she did tell them about her childhood was vague at best and soon they no longer tried to pursue the issue. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of Riverport, she liked her home town for what it was worth, but the stories of her growing up, or the ones she remembered the best, were also the ones she wanted to forget.

  It didn’t take long before the large pile of potatoes dwindled down to a mere handful, and with the last of the potatoes in the pots, ready to greet the cooks in the morning, Kile and the boys cleaned up and headed back to their cells. A new blanket of snow had covered the compound, creating an almost magical world, but in many ways it was just covering the reality. Procton was the snow, Riverport was the reality, and she couldn’t forget where she came from, but it shouldn’t stop her from getting to where she wanted to go.

  ***~~~***

  13

  Two months had past and the winter weather was just getting worse as Kile forged her way through the snow to Morgan’s tower. It would be the first time she had seen him since learning of her abilities and she started to wonder if he was avoiding her. That was until she received word from Kaza that she had an appointment with him. Apparently he had been out of the academy for a couple of weeks and had only just returned.

  The crow had landed on her window sill earlier that morning, knocking on the shutters to get her attention. She was already awake, sitting in bed, wrapped in her blankets and reading the last chapters of the book she had borrowed from Master Adams. The normal routine had been put on hold for the last couple of days. The entire schedule had been thrown for a loop because of the snow storm. Her recent assessment of nothing being able to alter the normal course of the academy was sorely overrated, it just needed more snow.

  Needless to say, Kaza was not very amused at being used as a messenger pigeon as the snow covered crow hopped into her room and began to complain to the only person that would and could understand him. Kile wondered if Kaza was always this way, or only this way because now he had someone that could listen to him rant.

  She reached the great hall and knocked the snow from her boots as she took a break. There weren’t any classes today so the great hall was empty since most of the cadets were trying to keep warm in the dinning hall. It was the only building at the academy that was large enough to house everyone, both staff and students. It was simply the easiest to heat now that they fired up the coal heaters. Kile was not one for crowds and decided to weather it out in her own cell, although if it got any colder than it did last night, she might have to swallow her pride and stake out a clam in the dinning hall.

  The gallery of the great hall seemed so much larger now that it was empty and Kile regretted not grabbing the key to the small side room. She had not looked upon the paintings since the day Mathew showed them to her. That seemed so long ago now.

  -What’s keeping you? –

  “What's your rush?�
�� She asked as she moved slowly around the room, gazing once again at the over exaggerated pictures of past Hunters. She recognized some of them now, after reading the history books, but their portraits didn’t really do them justice, or maybe it was just the opposite.

  Kaza came down from his perch and landed on the top of her hat.

  “Do you know any of these?” She asked him.

  -Why would I know them?-

  “Because you seem so knowledgeable.” She said, hoping a little flatter would get the bird out of its foul mood.

  -My knowledge does not extend to the history of the academy-

  “I know him.” She said pointing to one of the displays. “According to the book, he fought the great water serpent that terrorized the eastern seacoast, unfortunately he didn’t fare too well against the Drake of the flat lands.”

  -Why was that?-

  “It probably had something to do with his edge being influenced by the sphere of water and the dragon breathing fire.”

  -It’s never a good idea to work outside your comfort zone.-

  “This guy tamed the Dragon of Silmark single handily.”

  -Impossible, no one can tame a dragon, well, actually no man can tame a dragon. What was his name?-

  “Jamuson Flint. He was supposedly knighted for it, so I guess that would make him Sir Jamison Flint, Certified level one Hunter.”

  -Never happened.-

  “That’s what the history book said.”

  -Just because a history book said it happened, doesn’t mean it actually did happen. I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, history is written by the victors.-

  Kile had heard the saying enough times before, and kept it in mind as she read through the Hunter’s history, but if nothing was accurate, then what was the point of writing it down. Some of it, if even a little, had to be true to some degree. She looked over the artifacts that sat on display within a small glass case under the portrait of Flint. A long knife, two small stones, a pocket watch and a compass were neatly arranged, but nothing was labeled so nothing was identified as to what they are other than what they were.

  “You said no man could tame a dragon, does that mean a woman could?” She asked as the thoughts of flying through the air on the back of a dragon filled her head.

  -What I should have said in no vir could tame a dragon-

  “I’ve heard that word before. What is a vir?”

  -To put is simply, you.-

  “I don’t understand.”

  -You, your race, your people, you are known as the vir.-

  “We are the vir, I’ve never heard anyone call us that before.” Kile confessed.

  -It’s not surprising, there were many races on the face of Dalval at one time, but it goes back to what I said earlier. The victors write the history. There’s no one left to call you the vir anymore except for those of the natural realm, and the vir don’t listen to them anyhow.-

  “The vir. So none of our people, the vir, could tame a dragon, then who could?”

  -It was said that the alverie could tame dragons, although whether there was any truth in that is up to debate.-

  “Alverie?”

  - The alverie were the first people, before the coming of the vir.-

  “Do you know much of the… alverie?”

  -A bit, I have been present at many gatherings of the croceus, where the discussion has been about the alverie and they're supposed whereabouts.-

  “The croceus?”

  -Child you must keep on track if you want me to explain anything.-

  “Yeah but you keep throwing all these words at me that I’ve never heard before, how am I suppose to understand what you’re talking about.”

  Kile could feel the crow impatiently tapping on her head.

  “Okay, okay, tell me… about the alverie.”

  -Fine, from what I have learned, there were two races or clans, the Lys-alverie or the sun walkers in the royal tongue, and the Morke-alverie otherwise known as the star or moon walkers. They’ve lived in this area, what is now the Kingdom of Aru long before the vir arrived. They welcomed the coming of the vir, helped them get settled, they even worked together to drive off the uhyre, But, as all things go, the vir and the alverie learned that their different philosophies didn’t mix and eventually the alverie left Aru. Now, we mustn’t keep Morgan waiting.-

  “Was it better here before the vir arrived?”

  -Child, I am a bird, not at an oracle, I wasn’t around back then. How would I know?-

  “Sorry.” Kile said as she headed for the back door. “What are the…”

  -Not another question.-

  “I was just going to ask about the croceus.”

  -Why am I not surprised?-

  The crow sighed, if crows could sigh that is.

  - Morgan is a member of the croceus; they are a foolish bunch of mystics who are influenced by more than two spheres and quite a bit of alcohol. They have a lot of time on their hands and they dabbled in just about every subject in a vain attempt to link everything together under one unifying theory, though, for the life of me, I can’t understand why.-

  “It sounds… pointless.”

  -It is, but that is why you are important to him.-

  “Me?”

  -You do not fit the mold, you are outside the norm and therefore could either destroy everything that they have spent so many years putting together, or provide a missing piece to their puzzle.-

  “Am I… that much of a problem? Should I be worried?”

  -Believe me child, they would be happy either way it turns out. They live for the search, not the solution.-

  The moment the back doors were opened, Kaza took off from Kile’s hat and made a direct line towards Morgan’s tower. She wasn’t sure if Kaza was eager to get into the warmth or away from her questions, either way she was left to battle the snow alone. When she finally did get to the tower, she didn’t bother knocking; she just pushed the door open and stumbled in.

  “It’s about time you got here.” Morgan replied from inside. “I was afraid you’d fail the test.”

  The heat was intense, more so than she remembered but it was nice to finally get warm. She took off her hat and cloak, shook off the snow, hung them on the wall and walked into the main room. Morgan was sitting in his overstuffed wingback chair sipping a cup of what she now knew to be rosemary tea laced with rum, he indicated for her to take the other seat.

  “What test was that sir?” She asked as she fell into the chair.

  “I simply instructed Nullus to fetch you, if he could truly understand the common tongue and you could understand him, then you would receive the message. As you took so long, I wasn’t sure if it was Nullus who couldn’t understand or you.”

  “Sorry sir, it was my fault, we stopped at the great hall to talk.” She said, and then realized how odd a statement that was under the circumstances.

  “Did you now? And what did you talk about?”

  “Just… stuff, a lot of things actually, things about the Hunters, the alverie, the vir, even about the croceus.”

  “You know about the croceus?” Morgan asked, raising an eyebrow, “What do you know of the croceus?”

  “Not much sir.” She replied cautiously, was she supposed to know anything about it?

  “Come now, what did Nullus tell you.”

  “He said the croceus was a group of wise mystics who were trying to find the unifying theory that links everything together.”

  “Did he now?” Morgan grinned.

  -I said no such thing, wise indeed.-

  Protested a rather irate bird from his perch on top the bookshelves.

  “The reason that I wanted to see you was to show you this.” Morgan said as he set a rather large and dusty book on the table that wasn’t there. We’re not really going through this again are we? Kile wondered as she looked under the book that was now suspended in mid air. She had hoped she left all that freaky stuff about invisible furniture back in the mystic’s tower. Carefull
y taking the book, she opened it up to a random page, but knew what she would find before she even looked. The pages were all hand written in a very bold print, but the writing was unreadable. She looked over at Morgan who appeared to be waiting for her to say something.

  “What does it say sir?”

  “Oh… I’m sorry.” He said as he reached over and took the book from her. Did he really think she could read something like that? She couldn’t even make out the characters let alone the words.

  “I sometimes forget.” He said as he closed the book and set it back on the table that wasn’t there. “I found it in the library, some years ago, but I hadn’t given it much thought until now. It was one of the reasons that I return to the tower.”

  “One of the reasons sir?”

  “That’s not important just now.” Morgan said, waving it off, but Kile got the feeling that it was very important, just not something for her to know about. “The book tells of an… alva with certain gifts.”

  “An alva sir?”

  “Yes an alva, of course Nullus told you all about the alverian race.” Morgan said as he gave the bird a curious look. Kaza just ruffled his feathers and turned his back to the old mystic. It was a good thing those two couldn’t communicate Kile thought, otherwise there would be a never ending argument.

  “Not all that much sir.”

  “Well this particular… alva was of the sun walkers.”

  “The Lys-alverie?”

  Morgan gave Kaza another look.

  “Really sir, it wasn’t all that much.” She replied, although it was kind of hard to keep from grinning. Kile realized that Morgan was looking at the crow that he kept as a pet in a whole new light. The old mystic would now have to be more careful of what he said around Kaza, or any animal for that matter, and it was making him a tad bit uncomfortable.

  “Regardless.” The mystic finally said, as he turned his gaze back to Kile. “This alva was documented to have had a unique ability to communicate with nature. It is said she could… speak with the animals.”

  “Who was she sir? What was her name?” Kile asked eagerly.

  “I’m afraid it doesn’t give much personal information. It’s more about her abilities.”