by Spoor, Garry
“She asked you a question.” Alisa whispered.
“I’m sorry… I was just admiring your… knitting.” Kile quickly replied.
“Oh, do you like to knit?” The old woman asked.
“I… don’t… really know how to ma’am.”
Her mother had tried to teach her to knit once, but that was just one of those things that Kile never managed to pick up. Her fingers always seemed to get in the way. The only thing she managed to finish was a vest with no arm holes.
“Every young lady should know how to knit.” Mrs. Miller replied as she headed for her knitting supplies and Kile was afraid that she was going to start giving lessons on the spot.
“I’m afraid I don’t really have the time.”
“The young are always in such a rush.”
Yeah, like right now Kile thought as she took a step toward the door.
The old woman dug into her knitting supplies and picked up a rather emaciated purse.
“So, how much do I owe you dear?” She asked as her trembling fingers toiled at the knot.
“Owe?” Kile replied. She hadn’t really thought about that. That was what the Guild house took care of. She should have dropped the Cat off at the Guild house and then Mrs. Miller would have paid Kane and then Kane would have paid her, but looking at the state of Mrs. Miller’s purse, not to mention her house, it didn’t really look as if she could afford the Hunter’s fee. Was that one of the reasons that Kane never handed the assignment out, because he knew the financial status of the old woman.
“Forget about it ma’am.” Kile heard herself say as she approached Mrs. Miller and closed the old woman’s fingers around the small purse. “I did it on my day off.”
“But you returned my Moppin. I have to give you something.” Mrs. Miller replied as she slowly put the purse away. She looked around the room and finally picked up a red knitted scarf that hung over the back of the chair. “At least take this.”
Kile draped the scarf around her neck. “Thank-you ma’am.” She replied.
-Kile.-
Moppin bushed up against her legs, getting the young Hunter’s attention. Kile knew she couldn’t talk to the cat directly, not with people watching, they already thought she was strange. Those rumors didn’t need any more fuel. She knelt down to stroke the cat.
-Come… visit?-
“As long as you don’t go wandering out of the yard again. I don’t want to have to go looking for you.”
-I won’t-
The cat replied with a purr.
“I think we’d better get going.”
“Come by any time dear, the least I can do to thank you for finding Moppin is to teach you how to knit.”
The way the current situation within the Guild was, she might have been tempted to take Mrs. Miller up on her offer. At least it would give her something to occupy her time.
She stepped out the front door and onto the footpath that led down to the road. It was still early, too early for supper, so her next stop would have to be the Guild House. Maybe there was another assignment that she could finish before heading back to the Bird.
Alisa burst out laughing.
“A fine business person you would make.” She said.
“What’s that suppose to mean?” Kile asked defensively.
“How much would that… what do you call them… bounties?”
“It’s not exactly a bounty, it was just a script.”
“Okay, script, how much was that script worth to the Guild?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t take much notice it in.”
“Sure you did, how much?”
“Well… somewhere around fifty.”
“Fifty? No wonder the guild isn’t doing much business with prices like that.”
“The Guild has more than enough business. They just cut back on deliveries until the Council can determine the connection of these recent deaths.”
“Well… maybe, but you just did that job for what, about half a coin?”
Kile pulled the scarf tighter around her neck. “I like my pay.” She told Alisa who just laughed again.
“Yeah, and aren’t you suppose to give a certain percentage of that pay to the Guild house. What are you going to do, cut a couple of inches off the end?”
Kile left Alisa at the Apple Blossom Livery to tend to her pies as she headed off to the Guild House. The walk took her back through the center of town, over the bridge, past Lester’s place and down the river road to where the old stone building stood. The green banner blowing in the breeze that displayed the Hunter’s coat of arms marked the location of the Guild house as she turned off the road and headed up toward the front door. The house itself was nothing special and could have easily been mistaken for any other farm house along the street, but it did bear a carved wooden sign over the door that simply read Hunter Guild House Local Chapter 42.
Kile pushed the door open and stepped into the stifling gloom. The only light in the room was that which filtered in through the closed shutters. How could anyone live in such deplorable condition she wondered as she dragged one finger over the back of the chair, leaving a line in the thick dust. She turned and looked at the billboard that hung on the wall closest to the door. There was more paper than there was board. Each piece of paper was an assignment, an assignment that wasn’t important enough to be assigned to a hunter. Some of those pieces of paper were older than Kile as she pulled another one off.
It was faded and difficult to read but had something to do with a lost book, the date on the script read 1232. Kile was sure whoever lost the book fifty years ago would have found it by now if they were still alive, but she pocketed the script just in case. At least now she could see the back of the board, even if it was just one small corner. She pulled off another script. This one was a little newer. It was only thirty years old. The script was a request for a guide to lead someone to the town of Shrop. If they hadn’t gone in the last thirty years, they’ll probably never go. She slipped the paper into her pocket as well and looked back to the board for something a little more recent.
“So, found Mrs. Miller’s cat.”
She spun around to see old Kane standing behind the reception window, his tufts of gray hair sticking out over his ears, his thin wired rimmed glasses perched on the end of his rather large bulbous nose.
“How did you know?” She asked. She knew Hunter’s were renowned for their ability to gather information, but she had only just dropped the cat off. Kane said nothing as he pointed to his neck and Kile remembered the red scarf.
“Was that your payment?” The old man asked.
It was difficult to tell if Samuel Kane was mad or not since he always spoke in the same monotone voice. It never fluctuated. It never rose or fell it just stayed at that same level, as if he didn’t really care one way or the other… about anything.
“You do realize that the Guild requires a ten percent finder’s fee on the completion of all open scripts.”
“Well… yeah I know, but she wouldn’t have been able to afford the fee.”
“You will find many people who request the services of the Hunters are unable to afford the fees, which is why there are so many open scripts on the board.”
“But does that mean we should just ignore them? They ask for our help, how can we just turn our backs on them?”
“That is what the guild expects us to do.” Kane replied. “It is not for us to question the regulations of the council, only to see them through.”
“But that's just not right. I thought we were supposed to help all the people, not just the wealthy… or the powerful.”
“And we try.”
“Then what about this?” She asked, pulling the small piece of paper out of her pocket. “A book, all this guy wanted was help to find a missing book, and his request has been posted on the board for the last fifty years.”
Kane took the paper from Kile’s hand and had to adjust his glasses a few times in order to read the script.
&
nbsp; “This was posted by a Mr. Kraght.” He said as he looked over the rims of his glasses at Kile.
“Is he still looking for his book?” She asked.
“I doubt it.” Kane replied as he crumbled the small piece of paper in his hand and tossed it in the general direction of his waist paper basket. It never made it. “Mr. Kraght has been dead these past twelve years.”
“What about this one, a request for an escort to Shrop.”
“From a Mrs. Atkins.” Kane replied without even looking at the paper.
“Well?” She asked when he didn’t say anything more.
“She didn’t succeed.”
Kile didn’t have to ask what she didn’t succeed at. Mrs. Atkins, most likely, tried to get to Shrop by herself, without the aide of a Hunter to guide her. Whether she got lost or worse, Kile didn’t want to know.
“Then why are we here?” She asked. “If it’s not to help the average person, why are we here?”
“I am here to run this guild house, you are here to carry out assignments evaluated and posted by the Guild.”
“Well, it doesn’t look as if I’m doing much in that area.”
“On the contrary, we have just received a request for a delivery.”
“But I thought the Guild put a freeze on all deliveries until they got to the bottom of the disappearances.”
“On all Class E deliveries, this is a Class D.”
A class D delivery was defined as a high priority package or the delivery of standard mail through hostile territories. Since the territories around Coopervill have not yet been classified as hostile yet, then the package must be of the high priority variety. High priority packages were delivered directly to the customer and didn’t go through the Guild houses.
“That is if you are interested.” Kane said as he looked over the rim of his glasses at her.
“Am I qualified to take a Class D assignment?”
“Under the circumstances I don’t have much of a choice with Steele on assignment and Taylor is off to… who knows where.”
A class D assignment was just one level higher than what she usually received, but it was a step in the right direction. It was an opportunity for advancement. If she could prove that she was capable of completing Class D assignments then would her level four certificate be that far behind, and it did mean getting out of Coopervill, if just for a few days.
“I’ll take it.” She replied.
Kane said nothing as he turned and disappeared into the back room.
As she waited for the old man to return, she walked over to the far wall, the one where the second billboard hung. This was the board that held the open bounties. Criminals, thieves, or people just wanted for questioning by the authority hung upon the board awaiting capture. The faces of so many vir staring out at her made her feel uneasy, but the one that really drew her attention, was that of a black haired gentleman with dark eyes. Beneath his picture, that really didn’t do him justice, was the name of Eric Rimes, wanted for crimes against the Hunter’s Guild, he had a substantial bounty upon his head.
She was nowhere near good enough to go after open bounties, but the eyes of Eric Rimes always stared at her from the billboard each time she came in, and even if his face was hidden behind other parchments, another wanted vir, she could still feel those eyes staring at her. She was partially responsible for him being on that board, for him being wanted. If she hadn’t been in the Great Hall when he tried to steal those artifacts from the display case of Sir Jameson Flint, he might have gotten away with them. She still didn’t know what he wanted with those two stones, but now she figured she would never know.
“Here it is.” Kane called out from behind the window.
Kile turned to see the old man holding up a small package. He set it on the sill and began to fill out the required forms.
“Since this is your first Class D delivery, let me explain. You will not be delivering this to a Guild House; you will be delivering this to a Mr. David Draw personally. His place is marked on the map. Before he takes possession of the package, you are to have him sign for it. If he doesn’t sign for the package, you don’t get paid, do you understand?”
“Yes sir.” She replied as she carefully lifted the package from the sill.
It was a small box, although she couldn’t say much more than that since it was wrapped in brown paper and sealed with wax. It was surprisingly light, and she wondered if this was just another test to see if she was ready to take on more responsibility, but test or not she would deliver the package.
“If he is unavailable to sign for the package, you bring the package and the paper back here, do you understand?”
“Yes sir.” She replied as she took the paper from Kane and slipped it into her pocket.
“If you open the box for any reason, don’t bother coming back.”
“Yes sir.”
The privacy of the package was always paramount to the delivery, something she learned even before the Academy, back when she took the entry examination at the mystic’s tower. She tucked the box under her arm and left the Guild house.
It was starting to get late, an early supper, maybe a bath before bed, and she would get an early start in the morning.
***~~~***
2
Kile awoke to the steady tink, tink, tink of the blacksmiths hammer as it rang through her morning. The man mustn’t require much sleep if he can work well into the night and still wake up early enough to disturb any attempt at sleeping in. She tried to pull the blankets over her head, but it was no use, the sound wasn’t going to be dissuaded that easily. Throwing her legs out from under the covers she sat on the edge of her bed as a small white rodent ran up her arm and perched himself on her shoulder.
-Morning.-
Vesper’s voice rang inside her head almost as loud as the tink, tink, tink of the blacksmith’s hammer.
“Is it morning already?” She asked as she got to her feet and headed for the door. “And where were you all night?”
-Around.-
Around usually meant he was visiting the pantry in the kitchen on his never ending quest to find food, and it had not gone unnoticed. She heard Beth complaining about something getting into the pantry just the other night.
Crossing the hall she entered the public bathroom that had now become her private bathroom that was until Gus rented out another room on her wing, which he wasn’t likely to do. There weren’t too many paying patrons that would or could put up with the blacksmith so early in the morning, but if it let her have a bathroom all to herself, she wasn’t going to complain.
She washed her face in the sink, combed back the wild strands of her hair and fastening it into a pony tail with a length of leather cording. She stared at herself in the mirror and a tired young girl stared back.
Kile looked over at the beckoning bathtub. A bath would be wonderful this early in the morning, but that would require her to stoke the fire in the kitchen to heat up the water and carry up the stairs to the tub. It was not something she looked forward to doing and usually paid little Toby to do it for her, but money was tight these days. Maybe she would treat herself to a long hot bath after the assignment was over.
Of course little Toby wasn’t all that little. He was almost as tall as she was, but he was only ten or eleven years of age. He did odd jobs around the Bird and Bay for extra money but for Kile he would have done it for free. Toby had a bit of a crush on her, but she wasn’t going down that road. He was way too young for her and she was sure it was more to do with the whole Hunter mystique than anything else. In three or four more years he would be eligible to take the entry examination at the mystic’s tower, but that was if he really wanted to.
She wasn’t sure if she would recommend it or not. She had mixed feelings about her time at the Academy, most of it was a living hell, but there were a few good times and a few good friends, and the fact that he was a boy would definitely go in his favor. The thing was she really didn’t want to get his hopes up
. For all the times she had watched him do his chores, he had never once showed any sign of having any influence in any of the mystic arts.
It was common knowledge, or it was common knowledge to most people, she didn’t know when she entered the examination that every Hunter had to have some acquaintance with the mystic arts. This was known as the Hunter’s edge. It was that rare ability, that special skill that sets them above and apart from the common mercenary. Daniel Leary, her best friend back at the academy, had the ability to actually heal wounds. It was an incredible skill, one that helped Kile out quite a bit back then. Then there was Carter who could turn invisible and Alex who created the most realistic illusions that she had ever seen, not that she had seen many illusions before, and of course there was Murphy, who could turn his body to living stone. Most of the time a Hunter’s edge was grounded in one of the four basic spheres of influence but every so often, a hunter came along that had something so rare, something so different that it defied the categories and confused the mystics, and Kile was one of those rare Hunters.
That wasn’t to say that Toby had no chance in becoming a Hunter if he put his mind to it. The boy could be filled with the mystic arts, what did she know? She didn’t understand her Hunter’s Edge until her first year at the Academy.
She threw her pack on the bed and pulled on her boots. If Toby was really interested in becoming a Hunter as much as he was interested in Hunters, then she probably would try to encourage him, but he would still need a sponsor. She was sure that if she tried to sponsor him, it would only do him more harm than good. She wasn’t even sure that she could sponsor him, what with her only being a level five.
She took the key from its hiding place in one of the small ebony boxes that sat on the shelf and unlocked the trunk at the foot of her bed. She didn’t keep much in the truck, since she didn’t have anything of real value, or at least what other people would consider to be valuable.
There was an old leather jacket, threadbare and worn with age. It had belonged to another Hunter, but she had it taken in by a tailor so that it would fit. Pinned to the collar was a small golden tree, a final gift from another old friend. A wide rimmed hat was the next thing that came out of the trunk, and it too had seen better days. It was her brother’s and he had placed it on her head when she was fourteen, the day she left to take the entry examination, that was almost four years ago, and she hadn’t seen him since.
