Hunter's Academy (Veller) (5 page)

He quickly looked around the room, as if they wouldn’t have noticed someone standing in the room listening already. When he was sure they were alone he sat on the end of his bed and leaned toward her.

“
Well, for starters, Carter told me, that his father told him, that there was an accident at the Blackmoore prison last year, and that some of the inmates may have gotten free, and that’s why the Hunters have gathered, to discuss the so called accident, but if you ask me, I think it has more to do with the pirates.”

“Pirates?” Kile replied, it seamed a little cliché, but it wasn’t that far fetched. Even in Riverport they had heard stories of the pirates of the southern seas. Of course they were just stories and no one, to her knowledge, which was limited in this matter, had seen a pirate in over a decade.

“My father was telling me that there has been some trouble on the southern coastline. A few cargo ships have gone missing. Some are saying that there’s a serpent in the Sun Color Sea, but he thinks it might be pirates. From what he says, three cargo ships have gone missing since the spring thaw. Two coming from the southern continents, and one going. That’s why I think the Hunters have gathered.” Daniel said as he sat up straight.

“Not quite.” Kile replied.
“From what I’ve heard, the topics of conversation were the uhyre raids on the western borders.” Of course she wasn’t going to say where she got her information from.

“
Uhyre raids… what are the Uhyre?”

“The
valrik, the gulrik? You know the little ugly gray guys with the large swords.”

“But the
valrik were wiped out. What little still exist wouldn’t amount to much.”

“Well, I guess nobody told them that, because they’ve already attacked a few of the outer posts. I wonder if the events are related in
any way.”

“What? You think the
valrik, the disappearing cargo ships and the accident at the Blackmore prison are connected? That’s a bit of a stretch, even for you.”

Maybe, Kile thought, but it was rather suspicious.

Daniel’s information proved to be less th
an accurate, but then it wouldn’t have been the first time. The caravans with the new recruits were scheduled to arrive tomorrow evening as opposed to next week. That morning all the cadets were required to pick up their new uniforms from the quartermaster, and turn in their old ones. They moved from the dull brown tunic and pants to those of a dull green. It wasn’t much of a change, but it was one step closer to becoming a hunter.

As Kile was returning from the quartermaster with her new uniforms, she noticed Kaza sitting on her window sill tapping on her shutters trying to get her attention. Since she wasn’t in her room, his enthusiastic tapping was getting him nowhere. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to acknowledge the bird or not. She hadn’t seen Morgan or Kaza since that day with the rabbit, and although she never blamed Kaza for what happened, she wasn’t too sure about Morgan.

“Looks like you’ve got a visitor.” Alex laughed as he pointed at the crow.

“Probably after some bugs or something.” Carter remarked.

She wasn’t sure if she liked the implication that she had bugs on her window sill, but it was better than trying to explain that the crow came to talk to her.

“So, who’s up for some sparing this afternoon?” Carter asked. “I borrowed some blanks from my father’s shop.”

“Blanks?” Kile inquired.

“Yeah, not quite swords, not quite large hunks of metal.” Carter laughed. “You have to pour a blank before you can make a sword, at least
for the cheaper ones that is.”

“So what good are they to us?” Daniel asked.

“Oh no, my father worked them up a bit, even put hilts on them, the quality of the metal sucks but they're good enough for banging around, they may not have the precise balance of a good sword, but they have the weight, and that’s what’s important.”

“Not me, at least not right now.” Kile replied.

“Come on Kile girl, you need all the help you can get.” Alex teased.

“You could use a little more practice with the sword
before we return to the real thing.” Carter agreed.

“Maybe later this afternoon, right now I think I have an appointment with Morgan.”

“Since when?” Daniel asked.

“Since right about now.” She replied as Kaza, who was fed up with knocking his head against the shutters had just turned around and noticed her walking toward the dorms.

“How do you know?” Alex asked.

“I little bird is about to tell me.” She replied, unable to avoid the pun. “I’ll meet up with you guys later.”

“If you don’t mind the company, I wouldn’t mind seeing Morgan again, I did have something I wanted to ask him.” Daniel said.

“Not me.” Alex replied. “That dude scares me, he’s always yelling at me every time I try to make a
n illusion. It’s hard to concentrate.”

“Good, then I’ll just beat up on Al for a while until you guys get through with your mystic meeting.” Carter said as he grabbed Alex by the back of the neck and pushed him forward.

Kile took her time
changing into her new uniform before opening up the shutters to let a rather irate crow into her cell. Kaza hopped onto the bed then flew up to the dresser.

-What took you so long girl?-

He asked as he ruffled his feathers.

“I had to change.” She replied calmly as she folded up her old uniforms.

She would have to bring them to the quartermaster later today, what he did with them was something she didn’t want to know about, she didn’t want to even thing about the number of hunters who had worn the uniform she was wearing right now. The pants were a bit loose and the tunic was a bit snug. It was a mix matched set since they didn’t have much in her size in stock. Alex probably got the worst of it, with his stature, nothing they had really fit. The Quartermaster did say they had to order some new uniforms, but the way this place was run, they would arrive some time within the next decade, long after they graduated.

-Morgan wants to see you.-

“I’m not sure if I want to see him.” She replied as she went into the lavatory to brush her hair.

-You’re not still blaming him for… you know.-

“I don’t know Kaza. I still don’t think he really understands.” She replied.

- Probably not, but then most vir wouldn’t. You have to realize that you see things from a completely different view th
an everyone else. You have to understand that they don’t see the world as you see it now. Did you see the world as you see it now?-

A timely knock on the door prevented her from having to ponder that as she tied back her hair and proceeded to answer the door
. She knew who it was before she even opened it.

“I’ll be right with you.” She told Daniel as he stepped into the room.

He looked rather fetching in his new uniform, but then his uniform fit, where as she looked as if she fell out of the laundry cart.

“Tell him I’ll be there.” She told the crow.

-Considering he doesn’t understand a word I say, that will be very difficult to do.-

“Then sit on his head until he gets the message. What’s he want me to do anyway? Has he found something else to torture me with?”

-Actually he doesn’t want you to do anything; he wants you to meet someone.-

Kaza replied
as he hopped onto the window sill and took to the air.

“You were actually talking to that Crow… weren’t you?” Dandle asked her.

“It was more like being talked at, but yeah, that was Kaza.” Kile replied as she grabbed her brother’s old floppy wide brimmed hat from the back of the chair and stuck it on her head; it completed the mixed match ensemble. She then grabbed the belt with the tattered old pouch from the end of her bed.

“You coming Vesper?” She asked, not that she really had to. The Yarrow had already jumped into the pouch before she
even had a chance to fasten it around her waist. Daniel watched it all with quiet amusement.

“I have to say, for someone w
ho swore to me a year ago that they had no mystic arts, you definitely have something.”

She
looked down at Vesper, who was staring up at her from under the flap of the pouch.

“I have interesting friends.” She replied.

“That’s an understatement.” Daniel laughed as he stepped out into the hall.

She
closed the door and the two of them left the dorms to cross the compound together. In three days time classes would begin again, the only difference was that this time they wouldn’t be the first years. They would also be able to choose what chores they wanted to do, and the class structure wasn’t nearly as strict, but the work load was harder, and she was sure that Master Boraro was already looking for new and inventive ways to inflict pain.

“So, what’s it like?” Daniel asked.

She looked at him for a moment, unsure of what he was asking.

“You know, what you do.” Daniel said looking around the compound to make sure that no one could hear them.

“What do I do?” She asked.

“You know.” He said, then bent down closer to her and whispered. “Talking with animals.”

“Oh… I don’t know.”

“Come on. Last year you asked me what it was like to use my mystic arts, is it anything like that.”

“Not really.” She replied, although she couldn’t really remember what he had told her last year. “It’s kind of just like… talking to you.”

“You mean animals can communicate with… words?”

“Some can, although most of it is a combination of feelings and visions. Sometimes it’s not so much of what they say as how they say it, or how if feels when they say it. It’s kind of difficult to explain.”

“It’s just really weird.” Daniel said, and then quickly backtracked. “I don’t mean weird as in you’re weird, I mean it’s just really…”

“Weird, yeah I know.”

“No I mean weird as in how it works, how the animals take to you and… well… really how you take to the animals. It’s like… when we brought Charles into the stables, and you came out with Oblum’s two mastiffs on either side of you. When I saw those two dogs the first day we were here, standing with Oblum, they made me nervous. They were intimidating, but when I saw them standing with you, for a moment I was terrified, not so much of the dogs
… but of you.”

“Me?”

“Well... Yeah, it's hard to explain but when you came out with those two dogs, it was like there were three dogs there… wait, that didn’t really come out right.”

“No it didn’t. I’ll give you a little time to think about that.”
She replied. The idea of being referred to as a dog was not helping her ego much, and dressed the way she was, she was having one of those low self-esteem days.

“What I meant to say is that you took on dog like qualities.”

“How about this, we quit while we’re ahead.” She told him as she reached Morgan’s door. She knocked three times, then walked in. She had learned long ago that if you wait for Morgan to answer you’d be standing on his stoop for a long time.

The room was rather comfortably cool and dimly lit, as it had been all through the summer. She could hear Morgan speaking to someone or more like at someone, and he didn’t sound like he was in a very good mood. Why she would want to see him when he was like this was beyond her. There was the sound of fluttering and then someone laughing. Kile looked at Daniel who just shrugged. She walked around the
bookshelf and looked into the main room, there, sitting on the overstuffed wing backed chair, was a woman she had never seen before. It was difficult to tell whether she was old or young, there appeared to be no age to her at all, something that was common with mystics. She was dressed in the same yellow robes as Morgan, but she had flowing sliver white hair and bright pale blue eyes. Her face was very delicate except for a rather angular nose, although it didn’t distract from her beauty. She was sipping a cup of rosemary tea, or was trying to in-between fits of soft laughter. Morgan on the other hand was not as amused. Each time he tried to talk, Kaza would land on his head. He would angrily wave the bird off and it would retreat to the safety of the higher shelves out of reach of the mystics flailing arms, only to fly back down and sit on his head again when the mystic calmed down. He turned when he heard Kile enter the room.

“I suppose you put him up to this.” He said with the crow still perched upon his
bald head.

“I think he got the message Kaza.” Kile replied trying not to laugh. The crow took off from Morgan’s head and came to land upon Kile’s shoulder.

“Thank you.” Morgan replied as he straightened out his yellow robes and brushed back what little hair he had.

“You must be Kile.” The woman said with a gentl
e smile. As the woman turned in her chair, Kile noticed the small white bird with the yellow and blue crest that sat upon her shoulder. Did all mystics own birds she wondered?

“Yes ma’am.” Kile said as she looked from the woman to the bird.