Hunter's Beginning (Veller) Read online

“Well, what I’ve learned so far was that it was a Hunter by the name of Marcus Taylor. He brought him into Evenshire two days back… by himself.”

  “One man? I have to meet that guy.”

  “Yeah, sorry about the script Tree, but that still leaves three more, you can always try for one of those.”

  “Yeah… but the Troll of Blackmore.” Tree said shaking his head. “There’ll never be another script like that. You’ll have to tell me what Sour Puss does when he hears the news.”

  “You got it man.” Rick said, clapping Tree on the chest and running back down the hill.

  Tree stood there for a moment still shaking his head as he watched his friend go. Kile couldn’t help but noticed how fast the young man could move, and before she realized it, he was already across the fields and through one of the door in the large stone building on the western side of the compound. Was that a Hunter’s edge she wondered, and what sphere would that have fallen under?

  “What was that all about?” Alex asked.

  The big man quickly turned around as if he had just remembered that he had six new students waiting for him.

  “Well, if Rick got his story right, and I have no doubt he did, then a Hunter just brought in the Troll of Blackmore.”

  “The what?” Daniel asked.

  “You haven’t heard of the Troll of Blackmore?” Tree responded in disbelief. “He’s been terrorizing the southern region around the Blackmore swamps for over a decade now. Boraro, our illustrious weapons master, went after the troll himself some years back, it nearly killed him. He is not going to be happy when he learns that another Hunter did what he couldn’t. Never let your pride get in the way of your duty.”

  “You don’t seem very happy about it either… are you?” Kile asked, although it wasn’t so much a question as it was a simple statement of fact. She wasn’t sure why she knew; only that she knew. The news of the death of the Troll was one that Tree wasn’t too happy about.

  Tree looked at Kile a bit confused at first, then that familiar smile returned to his face. “It’s not really all that bad.” He replied. “It’s just that… I always thought that I would be the one to bring the troll in.”

  “Why you?” Carter asked.

  “Oh, no reason… well… actually it’s kind of embarrassing really. You see it was my first year here when I heard about the Troll of Blackmore. It was just after he had attacked the royal caravan. It took a couple of days before the news actually reached us so there was nothing we could do about it, not that a bunch of cadets could do anything about the Troll, but Master Boraro was pretty steamed when he heard. I think he blamed himself for the attack, not being able to stop the troll when he had the chance.

  “Well… that night I had this dream that I was the one that brought the Troll in and receiving all the fame and glory, and of course the money wasn’t all that bad either. His script was enough for any Hunter to retire on. I just thought the dream was… I don’t know, an omen… or a prophecy or something, you know, like… my destiny. I use to tell everyone that I was going to be the Hunter to bring down the Troll of Blackmore and retire off the script. I guess there’s no chance of that now.”

  Tree fell silent for a moment and appeared to be lost in thought, and Kile knew there was a lot more to the story than he was telling. She wanted to ask him, but on the other hand she didn’t want to pry. If he didn’t want to tell, that was his business.

  “What’s a script?” Tommy asked.

  “A script, no… you wouldn’t really know what those are would you. Okay, I’m going to give you your very first unofficial lesson as a Hunter.” Tree replied, and again that familiar grin returned to his face. “You see, a script is the paper that is written up on a bounty. It is basically the price that is put on the bounties head along with any pertinent information. The Troll of Blackmore was an open script for… well… quite a bit of coin. Open means it wasn’t assigned to anyone, so any Hunter who really wishes to make a name for himself could fill the open script by bringing in the bounty, that is if he’s good enough, and lucky enough. As I was saying before, Boraro tried and nearly got himself killed. This Marcus must really be good to bring in the Troll on his own. A few Hunters have been known to collaborate on a script of this magnitude, but then they would have to divide the pay among themselves.”

  “Then there are only three bounties out there?” Carter asked.

  “Well no, not exactly, there are a lot of bounties or scripts that are still open. Some Hunters pick up open scripts to make extra cash between assignments, and some during assignments, but the guild doesn’t really approve of that. Other Hunters spend all their time collecting on open scripts, there’s always enough to go around, but there were only four Class A scripts that were still open.”

  “Class A?”

  “You’re gonna learn all this in Master Voreing’s classes, but I’ll give you the basics for now. When you graduate from the academy, you’ll start out as a probationary level five Hunter, which means you only get to do class E missions. Class E being the lowest ranking assignment … not all that important, but still there are a lot of them and they have to be done by somebody. They’re kind of the bread and butter of the guild.

  “As you prove yourself to the guild council you’ll be given more important assignments with higher priorities. Succeed enough times and you’ll move up in rank from a level five Hunter to a level four Hunter, from a level four to a level three and so on. As your levels go up, your assignments get harder. You’ll go from a class E to a Class D then to a Class C and so on. Now, there are a lot of open scripts that are posted by the public or even the local governments, these are evaluated by the Guild. They are given a class rating but for one reason or another they aren’t assigned to any one Hunter. It may be that the bounty is too trivial or that there are no new leads to follow, it could be that it is not financially profitable or the party that placed the script does not have the means or money to back it up, so the scripts are considered open. Any Hunter regardless of level can try his… or her hand at filling these scripts. Only a very few scripts have been deemed dangerous enough to be given a class A assignment rating. Since the Troll of Blackmore was taken down, as of today there are only three Class A scripts left open. These represent the most dangerous threats that exist that we know of.”

  “Why doesn’t the guild just go after them?” Carter asked. “Why not just get a group of Hunter’s together and… hunt them down?”

  “Financial reasons.” Daniel replied.

  “You’re right Danny, that is part of it. It's not like they haven’t tried, it’s that they haven’t been very successful at it. It’s difficult to get Hunters to work together, each one develops their own techniques, their own skills. Each Hunter has their own edge, and each Hunter wants to keep that edge a secret from other Hunters, so you can understand why it would be difficult for Hunters to work in groups. Then, of course, there are the financial reasons. It’s not very cost effective. After a while it just starts to cost too much in time, resources and equipment to hunt down all the scripts. By the time the news reaching the guild and they get everything together and get to the location where these bounties were last seen, they’re gone, and since the threat, although quite real is not constant, they leave them for ones that are more demanding, ones that bring the guild more money, more recognition. The Guild takes forty percent of the assigned scripts, but only ten percent of the open scripts. So there will always be Hunters like Marcus Taylor who will pursue that one open script that will set them up for life.”

  “So, what you're saying is that all we have to do is go after one of these open scripts as soon as we get out of the academy and we’ll be set for life. We’ll just jump straight to level one… that’s perfect.” Alex grinned.

  “I don’t think it’s that easy.” Kile remarked.

  “It’s not.” Tree laughed. “Let's say… for the sake of argument you graduated from the academy and by sheer luck, you managed to bring in… … t
he Beast of Splinter mountain two days later, the guild with not certify you as a level one Hunter based upon one deed. They take a lot of things into consideration, and how fast you can jeopardize your life is not one of them. In fact, it may even work against you. If the guild thinks you’re too reckless, they may place restrictions on you.”

  “Why would they do that?” Alex asked.

  “Because the guild is investing a lot of time and money into your training.” Daniel replied. “They want to get their money’s worth.”

  “You’re defiantly heading towards the accounting department at the guild Danny, but you’re right, that pretty much sums it up.” Tree laughed.

  “So what are the last three… scripts?” Kile asked.

  “Well, lets me see if I remember my teachings.” Tree said as he tried to put on his best mystic impersonation by scratching his chin and looking thoughtful. “There is the Beast of Splinter Mountain as I mentioned before, then there is the Drake of the Western flats, and of course the worse is the Minotaur of Calder falls.”

  “Why is he the worst?” Kile asked, “I would have thought that the Dragon would have been more dangerous.”

  “Well... yeah, but no one’s heard from or about the Drake of the Western flats for so long that most believe it to be a myth. The last known Hunter that tried to bring down the Drake was Sondire Berk and that was what, a hundred years ago.”

  “What happen to him?” Alex asked.

  “I believe he died.” Tree replied. “As for the Beast of splinter Mountain, well, let’s face it. There aren’t too many people going up into the Splinter Mountains for the Beast to be much of a threat, but the Minotaur is real enough. In the past four years, since coming to the academy, I’ve heard news of eight Hunters that have lost their lives in search of the Minotaur of Calder falls, not to mention how many were injured. The creature just pops up every now and then, and Hunters of all levels try their hand at bringing him in, so far, they haven’t been very lucky.”

  “How much is he worth?” Carter asked.

  “Why, thinking of trying your hand when you get certified?” Tree laughed.

  “Who knows, I just might.”

  “Well, then I wish you the best of luck, I think I’ll stay clear of the Minotaur. The last I heard though, his script was up there, as good as, if not more than, the Troll of Blackmore. Okay, enough with scripts, I’m suppose to be showing you around this campus as my last official duty as a cadet, so come on and lets get going.” Tree said as he started up the hill.

  “Can you image that, one script and you’d be set for life.” Alex grinned.

  “That’s if you live long enough to collect.” Kile remarked.

  The stables were pretty much what Kile had expected them to look like, very similar to the old barn back home on the farm, only four or five times larger and dedicated solely for the care of horses. It was like a long narrow hallway with stalls on both sides, and then another hallway that ran parallel to that, and there was no telling how many more ran parallel to that one, but for all the stalls, only a few of them were actually occupied.

  Tree knew exactly where he was going, as he passed each stall one by one, until he arrived at his destination, a beautiful silver grey mare. Kile had never seen such a horse in her life, but then horses were not all that common back in Riverport. Her family only owned the one old plow horse that doubled as a cart horse when they needed to get into town, but he was nothing compared to this one. She seemed to radiate her own light, even in the darkness of the barn.

  “This is Silvermoon.” Tree said with a note of pride as he stroked the horse’s nose. He reached into his tunic and produced a carrot which the mare eagerly accepted.

  “Isn’t she a beauty?”

  “Is she yours?” Alex asked.

  “She sure is, and if you stay around until your second year, you’ll get one of your own, probably not like Silvermoon here.”

  “What? We get are own horse?” Carter asked with a note of excitement in his voice that Kile had never heard before. So, there is something that can spark a reaction in the stone faced Carter she thought.

  “Well of course you do. It would be difficult to teach you how to ride a horse if you didn’t have a horse to ride.” Tree laughed as he pulled out another carrot and fed it to a hungry Silvermoon.

  “So we’ll get one of these horses?”

  “No, not one of these, these are all accounted for. By the time you reach your second year, the academy will have a new batch of horses for you to choose from.”

  “Is there a problem master Treeman?” A voice whispered from one of the shadows. It was difficult to tell where it came from as Kile quickly scanned the area, but at least she wasn’t alone in her confusion as the boys had no idea where the disembodies voice originated from either. Tree was the only one that didn’t appear to be bothered by the seemingly ghostly visitor.

  “No problem Luke, just showing the new recruits around the compound, I figured I’d start here and work my way around, see how Silvermoon was doing.” Tree replied without taking his eye from the mare. “I was thinking of taking her out this afternoon.”

  It looked as if the shadows had come to life within one of the upper haylofts as a figure pulled itself from the darkness and leapt to the stable floor, landing no more than twenty feet from where the group stood, and yet it never made a sound. As the figure got closer it moved into the light and Kile recognized the man as the carriage driver that had brought her to the Academy.

  He wasn’t wearing the same green livery as he had the night before. Instead he was dressed in shades of brown which was probably why he blended in so well with the stable’s surroundings. His high leather boots and long, ill fitting, threadbare coat gave him the appearance of a vagabond as opposed to a stable hand, and yet his seemingly ageless facial features belied even that. He moved with a grace, which in Kile’s mind was unnatural, as he moved silently toward them.

  “Not very impressive, are they?” He inquired in a soft calm voice that was barely above a whisper, but was easily heard in the silence of the stables. He looked from one cadet to the other then focused on Kile until Tree spoke.

  “I wouldn’t say that Luke, I think that there are quite a few in this group that will become excellent Hunter… like me. If you remember right, you didn’t think much of me the first time we met.”

  “I remember, the feeling hasn’t changed.”

  “Very funny.” Tree laughed, although it didn’t look as if Luke was sharing in the joke. “I’d like you to meet Lukiena Elemsia Morten, don’t worry if you don’t get his name right, everyone just calls him Luke. He takes care of the horses and does a few odd things around the academy, so you’ll probably see him here and there… or then again, you probably won’t. He has a nasty habit of popping up and disappearing when you least expect it.”

  “So, am I to expect masses of people coming into my stables today, disturbing my horses, all for the sake of sightseeing?”

  “Pretty much so, yeah.” Tree grinned.

  “Wonderful.” He mumbled to himself. Kile watched him as he walked past her, and she would have sworn he had only gone a couple of yards when she just couldn’t see him anymore. It wasn’t like he disappeared the way the mystics did back at the tower, of course they made an exhibition out of everything they did, it was more like she just lost sight of him in the shadows.

  “Is he for real?” Carter asked.

  “Don’t let his good nature fool you; he’s actually a very serious fellow.” Tree remarked, pulling Kile’s attention back to him. “Okay, let’s get moving, there’s a lot still left to see.”

  They left the barn and headed up toward the North West corner of the academy with Tree leading the way. They walked across a large stretch of ground, neatly trimmed with small groves of trees along the outer compound wall.

  “Now we come to the hub of the academy.” Tree said as he started towards a large structure nestled in the corner of the compound.

 
This building was the largest she has seen so far and appeared to be a series of smaller buildings that had somehow been forced together to create one larger construction. A condition of constantly adding on as the guild grew larger through the years and a larger academy was required. Kile was reminded of the mystic’s tower, and although this building looked far from sinister, she couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same architect. The original structure was of an old stone and probably predated the walls of Azintar. As the years passed the newer sections were added as needed in whatever material was available at that time, giving the building an overall unique quality.

  It was far larger than Kile had originally believed, as it extended further back, covering a lot more ground than she thought, but then she had only seen it from the bottom of the hill and in the dark, so it was a bit deceiving. Most of the activity was isolated to the outer buildings. One in particular was of the same old stone as the original structure, built around a large chimney that was streaming out black smoke. The smell of food easily identified it as the kitchen.

  “Get used to that sight.” Tree said as he pointed to a few cadets that were carrying plates and trays from the kitchen to the main building and back again. “That’ll be one of your assignments.”

  “Assignments, what does that have to do with Hunting?” Murphy grumbled from the back of the group.

  “Nothing and everything.” Tree responded without turning around, Kile was getting the distinct suspicion that Tree didn’t think too much of Murphy, although the boy has been behaving himself so far. “This academy is your home whether you like it or not, and as in any home you have your chores and your responsibilities. There are kitchen duties, stable duties, grounds keeping, cleaning and laundry to name a few. It’s all done by the cadets.”

  “If I wanted to do chores I would have stayed at home.” Timmy commented. Tree just smiled and pointed to the eastern gate. It was clear what he meant, if you wanted to stay home you can simply go home, no one was forcing you to stay.

  “Is there another kitchen?” Alex asked.