Hunter's Beginning (Veller) Read online

  She walked across the compound and entered the dinning hall, she was glad to see that not only Alex was sitting at her table in the back of the room, but so were Daniel and Carter. The majority of the staff and the cadets may be out to force her to quit, but at least she had some that wanted her to succeed and it would appear, one more staff member on her side. Well, maybe not on her side, but at least not against her.

  Kile entered the small dark potato room with knife in hand as she reluctantly sat on her stool and picked up the first potato of the night. She finished cleaning up the dinning hall, wiping down the tables, mopping the floors and now she looked upon a mountain of potatoes that sat beside her and the empty bucket that sat in front of her, and realized that she only had another twelve days to go. At least she made some progress today she mused as the first peeled potato fell into the bucket. She had reestablished contact with her friends, even if she wasn’t the one that had broken it off in the first place, and she found an ally in Master Adams. Well, maybe ally was too strong a term. He never said nor gave any real indication that he was going to help her. If nothing else, she did have the satisfaction of explaining math to Alex if satisfaction was the right word. It was all in the approach. Remove the Xs and the Ys and replace them with something a little more substantial like apples and oranges and the boy picked up on it pretty quickly. Seriously, how someone can add an X and a Y and managed to come up with an actual number was beyond her, and it wasn’t only Alex she helped. From the way Carter was looking on it was clear that he had problems understanding it as well.

  She dropped another potato into the bucket. It was a shame it was so dark in the room. With a little more light she could prop the book up that Master Adams had lent her and get some reading in. It was fascinating to learn about the past accomplishments of so many Hunters, both male and female, only one of which is still on displayed in the gallery. Kile was thinking about stealing another light from the kitchen when a familiar white shape moved across the floor and sat up in front of her.

  “Yarrow” She replied.

  -Vesper-

  The word sort of popped into her head, she wasn’t sure where it came from or how it got in there but for some reason it just seemed right.

  “Your name is Vesper.” She concluded as she held a slice of potato out to the small rodent that ran and took it from her.

  -Vesper-

  “Kile, my name is Kile Veller” She replied. She thought it was a little odd introducing herself to a rodent, or a yarrow, but it seemed to be the polite thing to do.

  -Kile-

  “That’s right.” She replied. “Do you live around here?”

  -Here-

  “That's right, around here, in the kitchen.”

  -No-

  “Do you belong to one of the mystics?”

  -Mystics?-

  “Yeah, the old men in the yellow robes. Did one of them bring you to the academy?”

  -Academy?-

  “The academy… all these buildings together make up the academy. Did one of the old men in yellow robes bring you here?” She asked. This was going to take longer than she thought, but it wasn’t like she had anything else to do.

  -Yellow man bring to building-

  Now she was getting somewhere, it only made sense that this yarrow would belong to one of the mystics, since only a mystic would have a rodent that could speak. Well, actually it didn’t really speak, but it could communicate with her. It must have escaped, or the Mystic misplaced it. If all mystics were like Morgan, that was the most likely scenario.

  “So, one of the mystics… the yellow men brought you here.”

  -No-

  “Wait, didn’t you just say that a yellow man brought you to these buildings.”

  -No you say-

  “Did anyone bring you to these buildings?”

  -No. Did anyone bring you to buildings?-

  “Me? Well… a carriage driver, but I don’t think that’s what you’re after. I came by myself.”

  -Why?-

  “Sometimes I wonder, but because I wanted to.”

  -Want to. I here because I want to.-

  “So, you live around here?”

  “No, I live in Procton but you already knew that.”

  Kile jumped, dropping the potato she was holding into the bucket of water which splashed as the yarrow made a run for it. She spun around to see Alex standing in the doorway looking a bit confused.

  “What are you doing here?” She asked, trying to regain her composure.

  “Actually I came to help.” He replied holding up a knife. Kile wondered if it was safe for him to have one of those.

  “You shouldn’t be here. If Master Boraro finds out…”

  “Master Boraro is already in bed, most of the academy’s asleep except for the dorms, and besides, you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.”

  “Thanks for the offer, but are you sure?”

  “Sure I’m sure, I’ve peeled potatoes before. Well… sort of, but I’ve watched my mother do it… sort of.”

  Kile quickly scanned the floor for Vesper as Alex went back into the kitchen to get another stool. There was no sign of the rodent anywhere, and Kile had the feeling he wasn’t coming back again tonight, not with the extra body in the room.

  “Who were you talking to anyway?” Alex asked as he set the stool down beside the mountain of potatoes.

  “Talking?”

  “Yeah, you know, talking. You seemed to be carrying on a one side conversation. I thought you had someone in here but…”

  “Oh, I was just… talking to myself.” She smiled awkwardly as she dropped another potato in the bucket. “Have you ever heard of a yarrow?”

  “Yarrows? They’re only everywhere.”

  “Really?” She exclaimed. Maybe Riverport was more isolated than she thought.

  “Yeah, they get into everything. Back home they have a devil of time keeping them out of the food storage. They got into old man Jackson’s bakery and ate through most of his stock before he had to set out traps for them.”

  “Traps, couldn’t he just… reason with them?”

  “Reason… with a yarrow?” He asked with a note of bewilderment in his voice. “You are kidding me… aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, yeah of course I am, I mean, they seem so… intelligent.”

  “Well yeah, probably more so than some of the cadets here but they’re still just yarrows.”

  “So… they don’t talk.”

  “These are just regular potatoes we’re peeling… aren’t they.” He asked as he sniffed one. “I think the long hours are getting to you.”

  “Probably.” She replied, but she was sure that the yarrow was talking to her. “Have you ever heard of a Vesper?”

  “Vesper… can’t say that I have. Wait a minute, wasn’t there a story about a creature on some remote island in the north called a Vesper. Yeah it was this large creature, they said it was about the size of a horse with large claws and a long snout, and it was covered in scales.”

  “Somehow I don’t think it was the same thing.” Kile replied.

  “I’m pretty sure it was called a Vesper, Daniel would know. He knows a lot of the different creatures and the stories. We had this man come through Procton some time back. He was full of stories. He was the one that told us of the Vesper. That's what I really want to do, I want to tell stories, but not just tell them.” He said as he put down the knife and the half peeled potato and held his hands out in front of him, palms up.

  Before Kile’s eyes, a small section of a town appeared. It was like looking through a keyhole as the street formed before her. The details in the buildings were amazing, she could make out even brick, every stone, she could even see the expressions of every person’s face as the town’s people went about their daily lives. Moving through the streets, going in and out of the little stores, stopping to talk to one another, all of it occurring just above the small boy’s upturned hands, all for Kile to see. She watched in amazement
at this small slice of Procton life was playing out before her, and as easily as it appeared, it was gone.

  “Alex, that was incredible.” She exclaimed.

  “You really think so?” He asked with a grin that stretched from ear to ear. “It’s a little hard, what with so many things going at one time, but Morgan says that with a bit more practice it should become second nature.”

  “Was that Procton?”

  “That was the street my father’s shop is on, he’s a tin knocker, took it over after my grandfather passed away. It’s the easiest for me to create since I know every detail of the place. I’ve tried to create other places but they usually have blurry areas that I just can’t remember what was there.”

  “Can’t you just… make it up?”

  “Yeah, but I’m not that good at it yet, when I try to make up one section, I tend to lose another, but I’m getting better.”

  “I’ll say, I wish I could do something like that.”

  “Surly your edge is just as good… isn’t it? I mean I know you’re not really supposed to tell anyone what your edge is and if you don’t want to tell me that’s fine.”

  “Well, if you ever find out what my edge is, you let me know.” Kile replied as she dropped another potato in the bucket.

  “You don’t know what it is.”

  “Nope, not a clue.”

  “Wow… what did Morgan say?”

  “He doesn’t have a clue either.”

  “Wow… that kinda… sucks.” Alex replied. He went back to peeling his own potato and seemed to drop the subject all together as if the idea of not knowing what your edge was, was something to be ashamed of.

  -White-

  “White what?” Kile asked Alex who looked up from his peeling.

  “White what what?”

  “You just said white.”

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “You didn’t?”

  Great, now not only was Alex embarrassed for her for not knowing her edge, he was now probably thinking she was going crazy.

  -White falling-

  “Are you alright Kile?” Alex asked. He was getting concerned since she had stopped peeling and was staring at him.

  “I’m sorry, I… I thought I heard something.”

  -White falling from sky-

  Kile got the strong sense of cold that filled her mind with visions of winter.

  “It’s snowing.” She realized as if she had just managed to put the pieces of a puzzle together.

  “You thought you heard snow?” Alex asked.

  “What? No… no it’s snowing outside.”

  “I doubt it.” He replied. “Master Rooqack said it won’t start snowing for a couple of weeks.”

  Alex got up from his stool and walked back through the kitchen. Within a few moments he called for Kile. As Kile got up, she saw Vesper sitting in the corner watching her. She quickly cut another slice of potato and tossed it to the yarrow before following Alex into the kitchen. Outside the first snow of the winter season was gently falling.

  ***~~~***

  12

  Kile sat on the chair, beside the window, wrapped in her blanket, reading the book on the history of the Hunters. The snow had continued to fall all through the night and left about six inches on the ground, but that wasn’t going to stop the academy from functioning as normal. Normal, of course, was a relative term. She was sure that even if a snow storm had struck during the night and they were forced to tunnel their way out of their cells, they would still be required to continue as usual. The one thing that Tree had neglected to warn Kile about, was the fact that there was no heating in their little homes away from home. A thick blanket and a wool cloak were the only thing to keep the winter chill away.

  She had managed to get to bed earlier last night with Alex’s help, or maybe in spite of it. The boy meant well, but he took off more potato than peel, which only meant that Vesper, and the rest of the yarrows, if there were more of them, would be eating well for a while.

  She turned the page and looked outside to see if Master West had appeared in all his glory to ring the bell to start the new day. When he was nowhere to be seen, she turned back to her book. The more she read, the more she was fascinated by the different Hunters and their unique approach to life. It was obvious that the most successful Hunters were also the most unorthodox, the most eccentric, but as diverse as their lives were, their deaths were not that dissimilar, and some of them were downright gruesome. There was one underlining conclusion that she did come to, Hunters did not live to a ripe old age. There were no retirement homes for Hunters, they continued to work until they died, which, if you believe all the stories in the book, wasn’t all that long into their career. The few that did manage to beat the odds usually ended up working on the council or, the unfortunate ones, teaching at the academy.

  That would explain Sir Oblum, but not so much Master Boraro, or even Master Adams. What were their reasons for taking a teaching position? Oh sure, one excuse would be their noble desire to give back to the guild, or possibly the lure of steady pay without the risk to life and limb.

  Kile looked out the window again, and this time she saw Master West, wrapped in his woolen cloak, carefully walking down the snow covered steps. She got up from her seat, draped her blanket over her bed, placed the book in the top drawer of her chest and headed out into the hall. She pulled the hood of her cloak up over her head as she stepped out into the cold morning air, the puffs of her own breath momentarily blinding her. She moved across the compound as the first sounds of the bell echoed in her ears. She even remember to look toward the east, to see what it was that Master West used to mark the new day, but all she saw were the first rays of the morning sunlight on the dingy gray stone walls of Azintar.

  “Morning Sir.” She said as she passed a rather befuddled Master West, and took her position in the field. Let them get used to it.

  The first cadet out of the Barracks, besides her, was a third year, the redheaded boy that she had seen on the field two mornings earlier. He ran across the compound, looking behind him to make sure he had no competition, but quickly slowed down when he saw her standing there. The boy paused before entering the fenced in area of the training field, gave her a salute, recognition of her winning the coveted first person up title, before taking his second place position on the field.

  “You’re Kile Veller aren’t you?” He asked. It was an obvious question with an obvious answer. Of course hers wasn’t any better.

  “How did you know?” She asked.

  “Yeah, okay, that was kind of stupid wasn’t it?” The red headed boy laughed. “I’m Robert Little.” He said, extending his hand. She was a little cautious about accepting it, but she was taught never to be rude and what could he do to her out here in the cold anyway.

  “You’re an early riser too aye?” He asked

  “Grew up on a farm.” She replied

  “Yeah, me too, a little ways out of Nortonville”

  “I know where that is.” She exclaimed. It was the first place she had ever heard anyone mention that she did know where it was. “I’m from Riverport myself.”

  “I have a cousin in Riverport.” Robert replied. “You don’t know Dale Shoeman do you?”

  “Dale, he has a nephew by the name of Charles Nehls, he’s a friend of my brother, Leon Veller.”

  “Yeah, yeah, that’s him. Charles is my second cousin… something, something, something or other. Actually I think I met your brother once, kind of a short kid with curly reddish brown hair.”

  “My brother’s taller than you are.”

  “Well, it was about… six years ago.” Robert replied with a lopsided grin. “So, what do you think about our little boot camp?”

  “It’s a bit more than I had anticipated, but I’m hanging in there.”

  “You better. There’s a pool going as to how long you’ll last.”

  Kile knew that there were some people taking bets, she didn’t know it had gotten as far as a
n organized pool.

  “What are my odds?” She asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.

  “To be totally honest, not very good, I had you down for at least a year, but if you’re from Riverport, I’ll have to raise my expectation of you.”

  “Anybody say I’ll actually graduate?” She asked.

  “Well…”

  His long delay answered her question for him, and the arrival of a few more cadets saved him from actually having to tell her himself.

  From that point on the field had filled up rather quickly and nobody knew, or cared, who had been the first one out, what they really cared about was having to stand outside in the six inches of snow. The roll was called but the calisthenics were postponed as the senior cadet who ran the morning ritual waited for Sir Oblum.

  The man emerged from his office wrapped in a thick black woolen cloak like a large grizzly bear. This time the dogs followed him as he cut a swatch through the snow and came to stand before the cadets. He waited there, holding them in his gaze for a few moments. Mainly he wanted to the make them squirm. He pulled out a scroll from the pouch on his belt, and began to read.

  “Joshua T. Smithy, Tommy R. Kline, Henry R. Anderson.”

  Each name was read off slow and deliberate as he paused between them to let the reality of the situation sink in. He then rolled the scroll up, and slipped it back into the pouch on his belt. It was all done very ceremoniously. As with everything Oblum did, he did with an air of importance and a certain kind of flare.

  Kile only recognized one name on the list. That was Tommy R. Kline. She didn’t really know him personally. He was one of the boys that had been in her group when Tree took them on a tour of the compound, a day that now seemed so long ago.

  “It would appear that three of your companions could not take the cold, and opted to take the walk of shame instead. They did not have what it takes to be a Hunter. A Hunter must be able to brave the elements. A Hunter must be able to withstand the cold winter winds. If you do not feel that you can do this, then there is no place for you here.”