Hunter's Beginning (Veller) Read online

  The darkness became thicker, like thick black strands of molasses holding her back and every step she took was a struggle against some unseen force. It was whispering to her, telling her to go back home, that was where she belonged, not here, not among the worthy. They didn’t want her, they would never want her, she was useless.

  This wasn’t right. What was happening to her? Why was she suddenly filled with so much doubt and self loathing? She forced herself to face the darkness. She had come this far, she couldn’t turn back now. She just had to take one more step.

  The path was suddenly lit by the flicking light of torches lining the walls before her. The heavy feeling of the darkness had passed, and she wasn’t quite sure what had just happened, why she felt what she had felt, but it was gone now. She could feel the dread, the doubts and the fears slowly drain from her heart and soul. The torches may not have chased all the shadows away, but those that remained were real, and those she could deal with.

  It also appeared that the lights had chased away her belongings. She no longer had her pack over her shoulder or for that matter the hat on her head. She was sure she had a firm grip on it, but it was gone. Her first thought was that somehow she must have dropped it back in the tunnel where whatever was happening to her had happened. That pack had everything she ever owned it in, and although it wasn’t much, it was still valuable to her. Her only choice now would be to go back into the darkness and look for it. As she turned she was surprised to see the entrance of the door leading outside. She couldn’t have traveled more than three feet total into the tower, and yet she felt as if she had been walking for hours. She knew she didn’t drop it in the courtyard, and if she walked back through that door, back past the grinning oni, would she have the courage to return? Her only choice now was to go forward.

  Kile moved slowly down the lit corridor. If that had been part of the examination it was something far beyond what she had anticipated. She was thinking more in the lines of a written test, maybe some calisthenics to prove fitness, something in the way of the mundane. It had never occurred to her that the Hunter’s Academy would employ the aid of mystics. Now she wasn’t sure what to expect. She continued forward until she was standing in the entrance of a large room. It was difficult to gauge the size, do to the lack of lighting, but she could feel the emptiness and the grandeur of the place. High in the ceiling a glowing orb produced the only source of light, and even that was confined to a single shaft that illuminated a small circle upon the floor. As she stepped into the room she suddenly became aware that she was not alone. On the far side, against the wall, a man sat behind a large oak desk, filled with stacks of books, piles of scrolls and the odd sheet of paper. She was sure neither he nor the desk was there before she had entered, but where else would they have come from? There did not appear to be any other way into or out of the room other than the way she had come in, and surely she would have noticed a man pushing a desk past her.

  She could just make out the paleness of his hands as they hovered over an open book. The rest of him was little more than a silhouette in the dark, wrapped in his black robes sitting against the wall. He didn’t look up as she entered but just waved for her to come closer.

  “Step forward… into the light.”

  His voice filled the room, but it wasn’t a loud booming voice, it was rather soft and calm. It didn’t sound as if it came from him but from everywhere at once. Kile did as she was told and walked slowly across the room. She hesitated for a moment before actually stepping into the circle of light, but when she did a sudden feeling of warmth came over her. It wasn’t so much from the light itself, but from within. She felt completely isolated from the coldness of her surroundings. There was a strong feeling of safety that she had never felt before. It was as if the light was burning off those last lingering doubts from the ordeal in the darkness. The man behind the desk said nothing as his finger moved slowly down the pages of the open book.

  “Your name?” He finally asked.

  “Kile Veller.” She replied in what she thought was a positive strong voice; unfortunately it came out as little more than a dry squeak. This time the man did look up, she couldn’t make out much of his face, he was wearing one of those robes that all mystics seem to enjoy wearing, the ones with the hoods that are pulled down over the head, obscuring any facial details.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Veller… Kile Veller.” She replied again.

  “Veller?” He repeated the name over and over, each time sounding more and more confused as his finger slid down the pages of the open book. “Who is sponsoring you?” He asked.

  Now what? She could try to lie but if her name wasn’t in the book it wasn’t in the book, and how far could a lie get her? She could use Erin Silvia’s name, but she feared that would do more harm than good. It would be a poor start on her path to becoming a Hunter.

  “I don’t think I have a…”

  “Oh, here it is. Kile Veller… fool put it in the wrong column again, that’s what you get for hiring a teenager.”

  Kile stood in silence, staring at the man who was now scratching something in the book with a large quill pen. A door on his right, that she would have sworn wasn’t there before, slowly swung opened and a shaft of pale blue light entered the room, created a path from the lit circle to the open door.

  “You may enter the next stage of the examination.” The man said with a wave of his hand that clearly said she was being dismissed.

  “Seriously?” She heard herself say.

  “I beg your pardon?” The robed man asked, looking up one more time.

  “Um… nothing, thank-you.” She replied and quickly made for the door.

  “Good luck.” She heard the mystic say as the door swung closed behind her. She suddenly remembered her belongings and quickly turned to ask the mystic about them, but found herself staring at a solid stone wall.

  She really hated the mystic arts.

  The hallway was empty, except for a light at the far end, and seeing that there were no other doors or any other directions she could have gone in, she headed toward the light.

  Kile stepped into a room that was even larger than the last, well lit and full of people, all of them about her age. These must be the rest of the hopefuls taking the examination she reasoned. Some of the other kids turned to see who had entered, but that was about as much interest as they gave her. There were a few groups of two or three standing off to the sides and talking in hushed whispers, but most stood alone. They were staring at the walls, the floor even the ceiling, anything to keep from looking at each other. If Kile wasn’t so nervous she would have found some humor in it.

  It was the table on the far side of the room that caught her attention. It was filled with an assortment of fruits and cakes along with pitchers of what she hoped were something to drink. She wasn’t really hungry, she was still too nervous to be hungry, but her mouth was dry and she could use something to satisfy her thirst. As she walked among the other kids, they appeared to go out of their way to avoid making any kind of eye contact with her. It seemed a bit odd, but at the moment she didn’t really care as she reached the table. She had just picked up one of the pitchers of what looked to be a type of juice when the sound of laugher caught her attention. It seemed so out of place in such a tense atmosphere, but it wasn’t a laugher of mirth, rather a laughter of spite.

  She quickly looked around the room, and it didn’t take her long to find the source of the commotion. A dark, greasy haired teen, older than the average age of the room, was picking on a much smaller boy, someone even smaller than Kile if that were possible. She could tell from where she was standing that the greasy haired teen had taken something from the other, and was refusing to give it back. There were even two other boys standing off to one side laughing as they egged the greasy haired boy on. One was a rather round child with a haircut that looks as if it had come off the end of a mop, the other was a tall, thin kid with a long neck and sharp nose who stooped w
ere he stood. It wasn’t so much the idea of an older boy picking on a younger boy that surprised her, that was to be expected. There were bullies on every playground. What really annoyed her was how everyone else in the room was looking in the opposite direction, as if nothing was happening. It wasn’t as if you couldn’t see what was going on, but these wanna-be Hunters were acting as if it was perfectly normal. A Hunter’s primary responsibility is to serve and protect the people, and yet no one in the room was getting involved, surely this was too stupid to be another test.

  She looked around the table for something useful, she couldn’t just walk over there and pick a fight with three boys, especially when one of the kids was three times her weight and twice her height, the outcome of that scenario was something she would rather avoid, not to mention the fact that it was probably not the smartest thing to do during the examinations. She found the answer in the form of a fruit bowl, or more accurately, the fruit within the bowl. It was a taka fruit, A small citrus like fruit, similar to a lemon and quite rare in the Northern province, but she wasn’t really surprised to see it here, by the look of the table, they had fruit from almost every province in Aru.

  Her brother Leon would often accompany their father into town on trade business, and when he could, and the season was right, he would purchase a few of the taka fruit from Old Fen’s shop when their father wasn’t looking. They would sneak down to the river away from watchful eyes to eat the fruit, and it was there that Kile learned that there was a right way and a wrong way to eat taka fruit and Leon had taught her both.

  She quickly selected a good one, like her brother had showed her, but all the fruit in the bowl appeared to be of excellent quality, which again didn’t surprise her. With fruit in hand, along with one of the white silk napkins that lay on the corner of the table, she walked across the room, acting like all of the other kids, and pretended not to see what was going on in front of her. As she got closer, she managed to walk between the greasy haired boy and his younger victim.

  “Hey, what the Hell is your problem.” The older boy demanded as Kile deliberately bumped into him. She turned and stared at him wide eyed as if seeing him for the first time.

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” She replied, giving him a confused smiled and a dazed looked, which appeared to work as he took a few steps back. It was clear that she had unnerved him. At first he wasn’t sure what to do, and like most bullies would have probably walked away from the situation if it wasn’t for his little fan club waiting to see what he would do next, or at least half of his fan club as the thin kid with the long neck and the sharp nose took himself out of the confrontation by turning around and facing the other direction as if he had no involvement in the situation whatsoever. The Round boy with the mop hair just stood there with an equally confused look and gave a shrug to the dark greasy haired teen.

  “I asked you what’s your…”

  “Want one?” Kile asked cutting him off in mid tirade and holding the taka fruit up to his face. She continued to stare at him with her eyes opened as wide as she could. It was the confused, clueless child bit she used to perform for her brother whenever she wanted to make him laugh, but her brother was use to it, this kid was not.

  “Hey man, I don’t think that chicks all there.” The round kid with the mop hair remarked. Kile quickly turned to him with the same dazed look she had given the greasy haired boy, and held up the fruit again.

  “You want some?” She asked as pleasantly as she could, she wasn’t trying to be rude. The boy quickly backed up, nearly falling over his own feet in the process.

  “Look… kid” The greasy haired boy replied, poking her in the shoulder so that she would turn around and face him. “Why don’t you just run along, this has nothing to do with…”

  “They’re really good.” She remarked, cutting him off once again. She could tell it was making him angry, but that was half the plan, too bad she didn’t really think through the other half.

  “I don’t care.” He said in a harsh whisper as he knocked her hand aside. Clearly he wanted to shout at her, probably even more than that, but he didn’t want to bring too much attention to himself, at least not that kind of attention. He leaned in closer so that his face was only about a foot from hers, which was close enough.

  “If you know what’s good for you, you better get the Hell…”

  “Are you sure you don’t want one?” She asked, “There really is quite a bit over there, I haven’t seen that much taka fruit since my… well… no… wait, I’ve never seen that much taka fruit… well… it doesn’t’ really matter, does it?, It’s not like I could eat them all, although it would be interesting to try… I really have a fondness for them you know… do you think you could get sick on taka fruit? Well, I suppose you could get sick on just about anything if you ate a lot of it.”

  “Is she for real?” The older boy asked the round kid with the mop hair, who just shrugged in response.

  Kile turned the fruit over in her hand like her brother had showed her and then bit into it as hard as she could. The strange thing about the taka fruit is that the juices collect at one end after it sits for a while and is evident by the coloring of the peel. If you bite into the darker side of the fruit you can drink the juice, but Kile bit into the lighter side.

  It happened instantly, the taka fruit exploded. The peel split on the opposite side of the fruit and the juices squirted out, directly into the face of the greasy haired teen who cursed rather loudly and stumbled backward. By now everybody in the room turned to take notice.

  “Oh … I am so… sorry.” Kile said pulling out the white silk napkin, “Here, let me help you.”

  She reached up with the napkin in one hand, while still squeezing the taka fruit with the other. It was a clumsy attempt to render aid, and at this point the boy wasn’t sure what was happening since he couldn’t see very well.

  “Just get away from me will you!” He shouted, pushing her back.

  “No, really I’m sorry, just let me help. I keep forgetting which side to start with. They are a dangerous fruit after all.”

  “Stop, you’re getting it everywhere you idiot!”

  “Oh, I am so… so sorry. Here…” she said, turning around as if looking for a place to set the fruit down, finding none she grabbed the round boy’s wrist, opened his hand and slapped the soggy taka fruit into it as hard as she could. The round boy just stood there too stunned to do anything else. She turned her attention back to the teen with napkin in hand.

  “Just get off me!” The greasy haired boy shouted, pushing her harder. She stumbled but maintained her balance.

  “See if I ever help you again.” She huffed as she turned around, pushing the smaller kid in front of her, directing him away from the other two.

  The greasy haired teen managed to wipe most of the juice from his eyes and noticed that he had quickly become the center of unwanted attention.

  “This isn’t over.” He hissed then turned and pushed the round kid out of his way as he stormed off, trying to wipe off the last of the sticky juice.

  “Moron.” Kile mumbled under her breath when she was sure he was out of range. She reached into her pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a small golden leaf shaped pendant on a thin chain that had been recently broken. “Is this yours?’ She asked the younger boy hopefully. That would have gone very badly if she had only managed to steal it from the greasy haired kid.

  “Yes… thank you… but how?” He asked as he carefully took the pendant back. There was a definite note of relief in his voice as he cradled it in his hands. “He’s not going to be too happy with you.”

  “Yeah, well, one more thing I have to worry about in this exam.” Kile replied.

  “Oh, he won’t do anything… not yet anyway.”

  “What do you mean?” Kile asked, still watching the older boy push his way across the room. She had taken an instant dislike to him, and that was something unusual for Kile. She had always tried to see the good in people, but for som
e reason there just didn’t seem to be any good in that boy.

  “That’s Eric. Rumor is this is his third attempt to get into the academy. He knows if he tries anything during the exams, he’s out and probably for good this time.”

  “Isn’t stealing the same thing as trying something?”

  “Well, technically no, at least not here anyway.” The small boy replied indicating the room they were in.

  “Did you say it was his third attempt?”

  “Yep, he’s failed the exam twice before.”

  She knew that he was older, that was obvious, but she had just figured he had a late start.

  “I didn’t know you could take the exam more than once.”

  “Well, normally you can’t, not really. They say his father sponsored him. He’s Lord Rimes of the Callor Province. I guess if you have that much pull you can do just about anything.” The boy remarked rather quickly. He slipped the small golden pendant into his pocket and extended his hand. “Hi, I’m Alex by the way, Alex Bartlow of the town of Procton.”

  “Kile Veller... of the town of Riverport.” Kile replied taking the boy's hand. At least there was one friendly person in this place.

  “Hey Alex, you alright?” A tall blonde haired boy called out as he quickly moved across the room. “I just saw Eric walking away in a real huff, what did you do this time to tick him off?”