Hunter's Beginning (Veller) Read online

  “That’s not how it works. You’re supposed to give me the answer.”

  “But I don’t know the answer.”

  “That’s not my problem.” The oni replied with a smug tone as he looked past her down the hall with the same expression he had when she first encounter him.

  Kile thought about it for a moment. She hated riddles almost as much as she hated the mystic arts, and here they were combined for her torment. If Leon was here, he would be able to solve the oni’s riddles. Leon loved all sorts of puzzles and teased Kile with them mercilessly. He would often tell her riddles and never reveal their answers, and it used to drive her crazy.

  This shouldn’t be that complicated, she thought, just something to get the cadet thinking. She went back over the ones her brother used to tell her, although none of them sounded anything like what the oni was asking her, but when she broke it down in her mind, the answer came quickly.

  “A key.” She cried in triumph. “That’s the answer to the riddle right, a key.”

  “Oh, very good.” The Oni replied, although his grin was not one of admiration, but of contempt. “Maybe you’re not as useless as some think you are.”

  Hearing the word useless coming from the mockery of her father’s face was something she hadn’t expected.

  “What’s that suppose to mean.” She demanded.

  “Hit a nerve did I?” The oni grinned.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “No, of course not.” It replied with a voice that was more condescending now than anything else. “Useless… and a liar.”

  “I’m not a liar.”

  “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, I understand.”

  “There’s nothing to understand, now open up so I can finish the test.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “I answered your riddle, now you have to open up, those are the rules.”

  “Rules?” The oni laughed again and it was a strange harsh sounding laugh, like gravel being dropped into a wooden bucket. “What do you know about the rules? You don’t make the rules here. All you did was figure out that you needed a key to open this door.”

  “Then where do I find this key?”

  “Inside of course.”

  Inside what she wondered? She didn’t want to give the oni the satisfaction of knowing that she was completely clueless to what he was talking about. This was just another riddle, and the only solution she could come up with was the small ebony box. She lifted it up and gave it shake, it remained silent. If the key was inside, the box wasn’t saying. The only way to know for sure would be to open it, but if she opened it, she would fail the test.

  “Not in there.” The oni rattled. “You take things too literally.”

  “Then where is it if it’s not in the box?”

  “The key… is in… you.”

  This was even more confusing. At least if it was in the box it would have made some kind of sense, but how could the key be inside her.

  The oni sighed, if stone effigies could sigh.

  “Only a Hunter can pass this door.” It stated.

  “But I’m not a Hunter.” Kile replied.

  “And you’ll never be one.”

  Now the situation was making even less sense if that was possible. To pass through the oni’s door, she had to be a Hunter, but she had to pass through the door to become a Hunter. As far as Kile could tell, there was no answer to this particular riddle.

  “Useless.” The Oni mumbled in mocking scorn. “You should just give up and run back home. Marry that boy like your father wanted you to do in the first place. Give up every trying to become something you obviously aren’t cut out to be. That is if you’re even allowed back home. What was it that your father told you upon your departure?”

  “Shut up.” Kile said through clenched teeth.

  “It was a beautiful essay that you wrote the judges, how much of that was actually true?”

  “I said shut up.” Kile shouted this time and she punctuated her command with a swift kick to the door. The pain shot up her foot and she cursed. The oni just laughed his gravelly laugh.

  “I’m a stone carving above a door, did you really think that that would hurt me you foolish child?”

  “It was worth a try.” She mumbled mostly to herself.

  “What does man love more than life? Fear more than death or mortal strife? What does the poor have that the rich desire? What does the contented man require? What does the miser spend and the squanderers save? What do all Hunters carry to their grave? What do you need to open this door? What do you carry never more?”

  The oni recited the new riddle, with every line louder than the last until the very walls seemed to shake and Kile had to cover her ears. When he finished, she looked up at him.

  “Never more? Isn’t that a little… well… corny.”

  “Look you foolish child, I’m trying to help you out. What do you want on the spur of the moment? If you want great poetry, visit the local library.”

  “If you really want to help me, just give me the answer, or at least just open the door.”

  “Like I would really do that.” The oni huffed. “Think about it child, what does man love more than life? What does he fear more than death?”

  “I don’t know… I guess there are supposed to be things worse than death, maybe like… becoming a ghost or something.”

  “Oh please, now who’s being corny?”

  “Well, I don’t know.”

  “What does the poor have that the rich desire?”

  “Happiness.” Kile exclaimed.

  “Happiness?” The Oni shot back. “You don’t really think wealthy people aren’t happy, or better yet, do you think poor people are happier? You’re not thinking.”

  “I’m trying, I just don’t know. I can’t think of anything. As far as I know, there’s nothing that poor people have that rich people want.”

  “Thank you.” The Oni replied with a shout to the ceiling.

  “For what?”

  “For the answer.”

  “I said there was...” Kile stopped when she realized what it was she had said.

  “Exactly.” The oni replied as he read the comprehension on her face.

  That was the problem with riddles, Kile thought. When she didn’t know the answers she felt foolish, and when she finally figured them out, she still felt foolish.

  “What do all Hunter’s carry to their grave?” The Oni asked.

  “Nothing.” Kile replied.

  “What do you need to open this door?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Leave your burdens, your bags and your past behind. If you truly wish to become a Hunter, you must go to your end with nothing.”

  It seemed like a strange concept, but she was willing to play along if it got her past the door. Kile closed her eyes and reached for the handle. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to leave all her burdens behind, it didn’t seem like something she could physically do, so she was relieved when she heard the door click and felt it swing open. She clutched the small ebony box tighter in her hand as she passed once again under the oni.

  “What can be swallowed, but can also swallow you?” The oni asked after her.

  Kile stopped. Was this another test she wondered as she slowly looked above the door she had just passed through. She was grateful to see that the Oni wasn’t on this side as well.

  “It’s… ah…”

  “Pride.” The oni shouted in exasperation. “You can swallow your pride or you can be swallowed by it. It’s supposed to be a warning not to let your head get too big.”

  “Look who’s talking.” Kile shouted back.

  “Foolish child.” The oni grumbled as the door slammed shut and locked behind her.

  She could only hope that that was the last she’d be seeing of him.

  She arrived at the next door without incident, which meant that she either blindly avoided the trap for this area, or she was at
the end of the test. She reached for the door but stopped as her hands closed on the knob. This door was similar, if not the same as the door she had just passed through, fortunately there was no Oni grinning down at her, unless this was the opposite sided of that door. Did she somehow get turned around? Did they manage to turn her around? They wouldn’t put her through that again. She turned the knob and gave it a gently push.

  The door swung open with ease which she was grateful for, and instead of a pit or a foul tempered oni, there was a short flight of stairs leading down to a large, dimly lit room. From what she could see, nothing looked out of place or suspicious, which meant everything was suspicious, she couldn’t afford to let her guard down at this point in the game, not if she wanted to get out in one piece. Whatever the mystics had in store for her as the last obstacle, it would have to be far worse than the ones before. At least that was the way she had figured it.

  Kile tapped the top step with her foot, when she was sure it was solid and safe enough, she set the rest of her weight down upon it. There was a loud snap, and before she could react, the step swung down, creating a short steep ramp that sent her rolling head over heels down into the room below where she hit the floor hard. The small ebony box, still tucked inside her shirt, drove itself into her ribs with excruciating pain. It brought back vivid images of the female with the metal weapon as it cut into her side, the stains upon her fur, the throbbing in her ears the smell of copper, the taste of blood.

  “RUN!” She screamed as she opened her eyes, but she was alone.

  There were no wolves, they had long fled. All that remained was the pain in her side, and the sicken taste in her mouth. She slowly reached up to push the hair from her eyes, and her hand came away painted in blood. She had hit the ground a lot harder than she had first thought. Did she knock herself out she wondered, and if she did, how long had she been out for?

  Kile quickly got back to her feet, which was not the best thing to do with a head injury. The room started spinning wildly and she fell against the wall sliding back down to the floor. She closed her eyes until she was sure the room had stopped moving. She reached into her shirt, thinking she was going to be pulling out the splintered remains of the ebony box she had just landed on, but the box was still intact. What really annoyed her was that there wasn’t a mark on it. She may not have broken the box but it nearly broke her, at least it could have the decency to be scratched or dented.

  The way she had come was now no longer accessible, not that she had any intentions of turning back, but this was a sure enough way of saying ‘you can’t go back’. She couldn’t climb that steep slope even if she still had the little butter knife. Was this just a simple parting shot or had she finally gotten careless and fallen into one of the traps.

  Kile undid her makeshift pouch. The only things she had left was the wedge of cheese, some rolls, and of course the cloth napkin. She wasn’t very hungry although she did eat one of the roll, and the napkin would serve a purpose as she wrapped it around her head. The wound wasn’t bleeding much, but she couldn’t tell how bad it was without looking at it, and it was always better to be safe than sorry.

  She got to her feet, slowly this time, and surveyed the room. It was large and it was empty, which pretty much described most of the places in the mystic tower. The room wrapped around itself, more like a large horseshoe hallway rather than a true room, and as she rounded the corner, she found something she hadn’t expected to see.

  It might not have been a dragon’s hoard, nowhere near that much, or so the stories would lead one to believe, but it was more wealth than she had ever seen in one place in her entire life. There were open chests of gold and silver against one wall, and on the other were scattered fineries such as silks and jewelry, golden goblets and silver plates. She stood there in awe at the riches that were laid out before her and thought of the possibilities. Any one of these items could feed her family for the next ten maybe even twelve years. The wealth would go a long way in rebuilding the farm, her father could buy the land from Oric Tallon outright, and she wouldn’t have to marry Pordist. He may even go as far as to acknowledge that she had done something right and allow her to return home.

  There was nothing in the rules that said she couldn’t leave the test with a little extra in her pocket, the problem was, what little extra. Silver was good, but gold was better, although you could stuff all your pockets and still want more. Jewelry was probably the easiest to carry and conceal and was usually worth more than its weight in gold but you would have to be an expert or at least more knowledgeable in the jeweler’s craft than she was to know what was worth it and what was worthless. She could easily pick out a worthless piece of glass as she could pick out a priceless gem.

  As Kile looked around the individual piles, she spied one piece off on its own. In the center of the room was a red ruby the size of her fist. Even she could see the value in that piece, and it was small enough that she could tuck it away inside her tunic without it slowing her down.

  She approached it cautiously, still weary of any traps that might have been laid for the prospective thief, and it wasn’t until she stood right in front of it that she was convinced there was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to prevent her from taking the ruby, in fact, the ruby appeared to be brighter and more dazzling than before. It was almost calling out to her, begging to be taken from this dark hole beneath the ground into the light of day.

  She was just reaching from the gem when a small brown mouse shot out from behind one of the chests. It ran across her path and through a small crack in the wall on the opposite side. Kile jumped back, and in spite of herself, actually shrieked. It wasn’t that she was afraid of mice. She had never harbored any such fears. It was just the sudden appearance of one completely caught her off guard, at least that was what she told herself. She had not seen any sign of life since the test started, that is if you don’t count the oni, and she wasn’t sure if he was actually alive or not, so to have something running past her like that was a bit unexpected. She scolded herself for being so jumpy, and when her heart stopped racing, she reached for the ruby again, and again the mouse made its appearance. It shot out from the hole in the wall and this time ran over her left foot before disappearing behind one of the chests. Kile still jumped back, but this time she refrained from making any noises.

  “What is the matter with you?” She asked the mouse, although the mouse wasn’t there at the time, so she was actually addressing the chest of gold. When she received no answer from either chest or mouse she just shook her head in disbelief and reached for the gem again, and again the mouse came running out from its hiding place. This time it didn’t go for her, it went for the ruby. As the mouse struck the gem there was a sudden flash of red light that engulf the small rodent who suddenly stopped, but not just stopped, it appeared to actually freeze in mid stride.

  Kile quickly withdrew her outstretched hand and took a few steps back to examine the situation a little more carefully. She even got down on her hands and knees to look at the scene from the rodent’s point of view. What she found confused her even more. The mouse had indeed stopped in mid stride and was not moving, not even to draw a breath. It looked like a little taxidermy project.

  The mouse was moving up to the point that it had come in contact with the ruby, therefore, she reasoned, the ruby had to be the trap. Kile looked around the room. She needed something to separate the mouse from the gem, she couldn’t just leave the poor thing there, it had, after all, sacrificed itself for her.

  Her first thought was to use one of the golden goblets since they were close at hand, and she was actually reaching for it before she stopped herself. What if everything of value in the room produced the same effect or possibly worse? It was a sure enough way to stop a thief, but more likely it would guarantee she would fail the test. That meant nothing in this room could be trusted, anything could be a potential trap. The only things she could trust was the stuff she was carrying, which were limited to a wedge
of cheese, a few rolls and of course, the small ebony box.

  She took out one of the rolls and balanced it in her hand. It had a good weight and was fairly stale as she curled her finger around it.

  “Sorry about this little guy, but I don’t know what else to do.” She said and she threw the roll at the mouse. It was like skipping stones across the lake or playing marbles, or possibly a combination of both. The gem went one way, the mouse went the other and the roll shot down the center. When everything came to a rest, she ran over to the mouse and picked it up gently. There was no motion or life within it and she thought that maybe the gem had actually killed it, or possibly turned it to stone, or maybe the stale roll had done it in, but as suddenly as it had stopped, it started moving again.

  “Whoa, easy there, I’m not going to hurt you.” She said as the mouse struggled to escape. She gently set it back on the ground. The moment its feet touched the stone floor it was off again. It shot across the floor and between the chests of gold and was gone. There didn’t appear to be anything wrong with him Kile though as she took the wedge of cheese from her tunic and placed it between the two chests. Whether the mouse knew it or not, it had saved her life, well, maybe not her life. There wasn’t anything really life threatening about the test, but if she had picked up that gem, she would have been frozen there instead of the mouse and there wasn’t anyone around with a large enough roll to throw at her. That would have been the end of the test. You can’t finish in time if you can’t move.

  Kile looked around the room one last time, she wasn’t sure if the other items were equally as enchanted, but she wasn’t going to take any chances. She may have briefly seen what she thought was the solution to her problems, but she also saw the folly in it. Nothing comes that easy without a price. It was the trap of temptation and she had almost fallen for it, she was beginning to second guess her motives. Was this what the oni meant by being swallowed by her pride? The thought of returning home after stealing victory from the edge of defeat was intoxicating.