Hunter's War (Legend of the Wild Hunter Book 4) (44 page)

“Should I be worried about you?” she asked.

Alex just laughed.

They passed through the gatehouse, unhindered. Kile wasn’t sure what to expect. She did slip out of her room without telling anyone where she was going. She was afraid there would be a line of guards stationed at the exit to stop her. When no one even raised an eyebrow over her departure, she was a bit disappointed.

Crossing over the small bridge, she was back in Forthbar, and Alex was leading them east, down one of the more narrow roads. At least now she was able to look at the people and the building without having flashbacks of her time in the crags.

The city was considerably old. The buildings were all of stone with ivy climbing as high as the third floor. The vines were bare now, and the leaves of the few trees which dotted the streets, were nearly gone. Winter was coming in with a vengeance, and it was going to be a long dark one. When men go to war, there are few left behind to tend the fields and bring in the harvest. Some were calling the battle of Moran a turning point in the war, but even if that was so, they still had a very long way to go before they would see the end.

Alex led them onto a wider cross road where lights were lit and music played. There was singing, laughing, and people stumbling in the streets. This was where the soldiers came to forget about the war, as well as their families. It was a reprieve from the nightmare, or sometimes a nightmare unto itself.

“There’s a place up here where most of the Hunters park their horses.” Alex said, pointing to a small lot off the side of the street. Sure enough, it was filled with horses tied to hitching posts. An old man sat on a chair outside the gate and watched them approach.

“Hey, Aden, it’s me,” Alex shouted. He dismounted and walked up to the old man, who appeared to be looking everywhere but at Alex. “Hey, over here,” he said, waving a hand in front of the man’s face.

“Alex my boy, is that you?” the old man asked.

“Where are your glasses, Aden; you lose them again?”

“Glasses? I don’t need any glasses. Why, my eyes are as sharp as a hawk.”

He probably would have been more believable, if he wasn’t addressing Alex’s horse at the time.

“I have three for you today,” Alex said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a few coins. He dropped them into the old man's hand.

“Going to be spinning your tales in the Sparrow?”

“Not today. We’re looking for a Hunter by the name of Boraro.”

“Garret Boraro, huh? Yeah, I seem to recall him coming through. I believe he’s in the Skinny Rat again.”

“Kind of what I thought,” Alex replied, dropping another coin into the man’s hand.

Aden held the coin up to one eye and squinted. When he was sure he wasn’t being cheated, he stuffed them into a small pouch which hung from his belt.

“You know what to do, son.” He said, returning to his seat.

Alex led Illusion into the pen, Daniel and Kile followed.

The lot was much larger than it appeared from the street and extended back behind two of the buildings. Long hitching posts lined the inner perimeter of the pen, along with strategically placed watering troughs. Daniel and Alex chose places closer to the gate, while Kile decided to choose one of the more isolated locations.

As they headed toward the far end of the lot, passing many a horse along the way, Grim suddenly pushed Kile with his nose.

“I’ll pick you a good spot,” she told him.

-Not that, over there.-

He said, nodding his head toward a small group of horses off to one side. At first, Kile thought he actually wanted to be placed with the other horses, but that was so out of character for him she had to take another look. That’s when she spotted the light bay mare hitched to one of the posts.

“Is that Rose?” she asked.

-Sure looks like it.-

Grim replied.

She was kind of surprised the mountain pony recognized the mare, as he often avoids consorting with other horses. When she got closer, she called out to her. “Is that you, Rose?” she asked.

The horse turned and looked at her.

-Kile.-

Rose exclaimed, and seemed genuinely excited to see her.

“It’s been a while. How have you been?” she asked.

-Rose fine. Master has been good to me.-

The mare replied.

“So your master is here?”

-Yes, master comes here often. Stays most of the night.-

Rose’s words were filled with images of the white haired Hunter staggering back to his horse in the early hours of the morning, and not always alone.

“Why doesn’t that surprise me,” Kile laughed. “It’s been good to see you again, Rose. Unfortunately, I can’t really stop to talk. I’m kind of looking for someone,”

She led Grim past the other horses to one of the vacant hitching posts. She didn’t even bother to secure him, if Grim had a mind to, he would tear the post out of the ground. Retrieving Vesper from the pony’s head, she slipped the yarrow into her satchel

“Now, you be good, you hear,” she told the pony.

-You know this solves your problem.-

He replied.

“What problem?”

-Master Boraro.-

“What do you mean?”

-Oh please, are you that dense?-

Kile had to think about it for a moment, but it finally clicked.

“You’re right, that’s perfect, thanks Grim,”

She ran back to the front gate where she found Daniel and Alex waiting.

“What took you so long? This place isn’t that big!” Daniel complained.

“I was talking to a friend, if you have to know,” she replied.

“Of course you were,” he said, shaking his head. “Come on, we still have to find Master Boraro.”

“I don’t think so. Change of plans,”

She approached the old man sitting outside the gate.

“Sir, I was wondering if you can help me.”

“What? What? Who is it?” The old man asked, jumping to his feet. He was pretty quick, in spite of his age.

“It’s just us, Aden.” Alex said, calming the old man down.

“Oh, Alex my boy, your voiced changed.”

“No, it’s just a friend of mine,” he laughed. “This is Kile, Kile Veller.”

“Oh, Veller, I heard that name before. You wouldn’t be the same Veller who fought at the fall of Moran?”

“Um, yeah, that was me,” Kile replied meekly. She didn’t like this fame which was being associated with her.

“What is it that I can help you with, child?”

“I was wondering if you know of a Hunter by the name of Marcus Taylor.”

In spite of Aden being practically blind, the old man saw quite a bit. For another coin he told them exactly where to find Marcus. Kile could have figured it out herself. All she had to do was find the bar with the most women.

The Wet Frog was an odd name for a bar, and had a picture of a frog in a beer stein hanging over the door. It was a brightly lit, noisy place, which was pretty much how Alex described it. There was drinking, dancing, drinking, gambling and more drinking. Daniel, the tallest of the three, led the way through the crowd to one of the vacant tables on the far side of the room. The atmosphere was rather joyous, if not a bit crass. There were paintings on the wall which Kile found quite embarrassing.

No sooner did they take their seats, then one of the waitresses arrived.

“What’ll it be?” she asked, having to shout to be heard above the ruckus.

“Hey, Mabel, they got you working tonight, I see,” Alex replied.

“Master Bartlow, I don’t think you’ll be able to perform tonight,” Mable said, pointing to the stage where a young woman was trying to sing. Her mouth was moving, but the noise level in the room drowned out any sound she was making.

“Not tonight, Mable. We’re looking for someone,” Alex replied. “Maybe you’ve seen him… um, actually, I don’t even know what he looks like.”

“He’s a big man, white hair,” Kile added.

The waitress grinned. “You’re looking for Marcus.”

Figures, was there a waitress in all the realm who didn’t know Marcus Taylor? She was just another member of his ever growing fan club.

“So, you’ve seen him?” Alex asked.

“Oh, sure, he’s over at the bar right now.” she said, pointing toward the far side of the room.

Only Daniel was able to see over the crowd, and even he had to stand on his toes.

“I think I see him,” he said. “There’s a white haired gentleman sitting at the bar, surrounded by three young ladies.”

“That would be Marcus,” Kile replied, getting to her feet.

“You wait here, I’ll go talk to him,” Daniel said. “You’ll get squashed if you try to go out there alone.”

Before Kile could stop him, Daniel was swallowed by the crowd.

“So, what will it be, Master Bartlow?” Mable asked.

“Three pints of your Frog’s Brew,” He said with a grin.

“You better make that two, I’ll have a tea, if I may,” Kile added.

“Two points of Frog’s Brew and a tea for the lady,” Mable replied. “Will that be all?”

“For now, thanks, Mable.”

The waitress gave Alex a wink before heading toward the bar.

“You don’t know what you’re missing.” Alex said, turning to Kile. “The Frog’s Brew is one of the best beers on Pubs Row. It’s really the only reason I come in here.”

Kile watched Mable disappear into the crowd. “The only reason?” she asked him.

“Hey, it’s not like that,” Alex replied defensively.

She laughed, and turned her attention to the stage, where the young singer was trying her hardest to be heard above the noise. But it was no use; even with Kile’s ears, she couldn’t hear the song.

Moments later, Daniel stumbled out of the crowd.

“Well, I talked to him, but he’s not qualified.” He said, taking a seat opposite Kile. “We’ll have to ask Master Boraro after all.”

“Why, what did he say?” Alex asked.

              “He said… he said something” Daniel replied. He had a confused look on his face, as if he was trying to recall the conversation he had only a few minutes ago. “All I know is he’s not qualified, but he did give me his autograph.” He added, holding up a napkin with Marcus’s signature on it

“What did you say to him?” Kile asked.

“I told him we needed a Level One Hunter to lead an expedition into the wastelands to search for a missing colleague.”

Kile dropped her head on the table. “I should have warned you,” she said.

“Why, what’s up?”

“Nothing, just tell him I’m here and I want to talk to him. He owes me that much.”

“But he’s not qualified.”

“Just tell him I want to talk to him.”

“Okay.” Daniel said with a shrug. Getting to his feet, he ventured back onto the crowded floor.

Alex picked up the autograph. “You think it’s worth anything?” he asked, looking it over.

“Hardly,” Kile replied.

Mable returned with their drinks, setting two large pints of foaming ale down on the table along with a simmering cup of tea. Alex thanked her and passed her a few coins. Kile was rather impressed. She really didn’t think he could make a decent living telling stories in a bar, but Alex appeared to be managing quite well. It wasn’t that she didn’t think he was talented, she just didn’t think there was a market for it.

She took a sip of the tea. It wasn’t bad, although it had a bit of an aftertaste. She regretted not getting the name of the blend served to her back at the outpost.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the wili,” Marcus laughed when he emerged from the crowd ahead of Daniel. “I heard about you and the siege of Moran. Nice bit of work there, girl.”

“Thanks,” Kile replied, setting her cup down. She watched him closely. “And I heard I had you to thank for me being assigned to Perha Squad in the first place.”

“Oh, yeah, well, you know how it is.”

“No, please, tell me.”

“Hey, look, no hard feelings. I’m sorry about that. You know I would have gone if I knew they were going to drag you into it.”

“Yeah, I’m sure, but now you can make it up to me.”

“Anything,” he said, with a big grin.

“Oh, good, because you’re going to lead an operation into the wastelands to search for a missing contact,” she told him.

“Now wait a moment there. I am not the Hunter you want. I am not qualified for such a mission,” he said. His gray eyes shifted to a bright blue. It was only for a moment, but Kile saw it.

“See, Kile, I told you, he’s not the Hunter we want. He’s not qualified,” Daniels said.

“Yeah, Kile, he’s not qualified, he’s not the Hunter we want,” Alex added.

“Well, I better be going,” Marcus said, pushing himself up from the table. “I have a few young ladies over there who are vying for my time,” he said with a wink.

“Sit down,” Kile ordered.

Marcus turned to look at her, his eyes shifting to a brighter blue. “I’m not the Hunter you’re looking….”

“And you can knock that off while you’re at it,” she told him.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot. It doesn’t work on you, does it?” he replied, sheepishly.

“No, it doesn’t. Now sit down.”

He reluctantly took a seat.

“Now, you owe me, Marcus. You said if there was anything I ever needed, all I had to do was ask.”

“Well, yeah, but I meant like a loan, or helping you move some furniture, but going off into the wastelands, that’s asking a bit much.”

“A friend of mine went missing, and he is supposed to have valuable information for command. We have to find him and find out what he knows. He was supposed to meet up at a predetermined rendezvous point, but he never showed. I’m going to find him, but I’ll have a better chance if I have Command’s approval.”

“So, you’re really going to do this. You’re going into the wastelands to search for this Hunter?”

“That’s the plan,” she told him.

“What information does he have?” Marcus asked.

“We don’t know. He said he was onto something, but no one’s heard from him since.”

“You know, he’s probably dead.”

“I don’t know, not until I see it. And if there’s a chance he’s not, I have to help him.”

“Why you?” he asked.

“Why not me?”

Marcus leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Say I help you, what’s in it for me?”

“If this information is as big as some people think it is, you may never have to work for a drink again,” Kile replied.