Hunter's Academy (Veller) (27 page)

“I don’t care, you and that… that… beast failed.” Pike shouted from a safe distance.

“Why is that?”

“What, are you blind?”
The horse master asked as he turned around, and then suddenly stopped. “Oh… sorry sir.”

“No you’re not.” Lathery replied. “But
that's alright, I’ve come to expect it I suppose.”

He was leaning up against the paddock fence, his cloak wrapped around him. He was standing right where Kile had been
waiting to take her run and she was positive he wasn’t there when she started. How was it that this man always kept popping up at just the right time she wondered?

“Sir, no disrespect, but clearly, even you can see she didn’t run the course, she didn’t make a single jump.” Pike explained.

“And your complaint is?” Latherby asked.

Master Pike just stood there
shaking; he was on the verge of exploding and probably would have if it had been anyone but the Guild Master. Latherby just calmly shook his head as he approached. It was that calmness that annoyed Master Pike the most.

“If I’m not mistaken the requirement for the test was to run the course within the allotted time.” Lathery replied as he tapped the last grains of sand down from the hourglass. “Clearly she succeeded in that.’

“She didn’t make a single jump.”

“Well of course not, I would have thought as a Horse Master, you of all people would know that Mountain Ponies don’t jump.”

“Of course they can jump, I’ve seen it jump.”

“I did not say they couldn’t jump, I said they don’t jump. It’s really a matter of choice.”  Latherby said as he reached down and picked up Master Pike’s book. He slowly flipped through the pages.

“Choice, since when are the horses making the decisions.” Pike replied, but by the tone of his voice he was getting more irate by the minute. “If the rider is being controlled by the horse, who is the master?”

“Between a Hunter and his… or her… mount, there is no master. The Hunter’s greatest ally and companion is
their horse.”

“That’s preposterous, what are the purpose of these tests, what is the purpose of an entry examination if we just let anyone become a hunter. Are we not supposed to weed out the undesirable, those that can’t hack it, or are we now giving special treatment to…”

Master Latherby suddenly turned toward Mater Pike. “To?” He asked.

“Individuals” Pike finished.

“So, you are opposed to giving special treatment to certain cadets, is that it?”

“I think every cadet should be evaluated equally. If they can’t complete the course, they shouldn’t be
here; it’s as simple as that.” Pike replied calmly.

“Perhaps you are right.” Latherby said as he flipped through the pages of Pike’s book. “Oh
… look here Horse Master. It would appear that you have made an error in your entry.”

“What
… what are you talking about?”

“This cadet here.” Latherby declared, pointing to a name on one of the pages. “If I am not mistaken, this boy did not complete the course either, therefore he failed, but you have him down as passing,
it must have just been a mistake; I’ll just correct this for you shall I.”

“There’s no need for that, there was no mistakes.” Pike replied, taking the book from Latherby.

“Didn’t you just explain to me that Cadet Veller failed the test because her mount didn’t make a single jump?”

“
That’s correct.”

“And yet, she still mangled to cross the finish line within the time allotted,
but that cadet failed to make a single jump and failed to finish the course, and yet you’ve marked him down as passing. I don’t understand. Who’s getting special treatment?”

Master
Pike clutched the book as he stared at Latherby.

“I… may… have been hasty… about Cadet Veller’s score. Now that I think about it… She did come in under time, so… I suppose… she passes.” He said reluctantly through clenched teeth.

“See, that wasn’t so hard now, was it.” Latherby grinned.

“No sir.”

“Very good… Oh, and by the way, Cadet Bartlow also passed… you had that written down incorrectly as well.”

“Yes sir.”

“It’s as you said Master Pike, everyone should be evaluated equally. We wouldn’t want any… special… treatment.”

“No sir.”

“There she is.” Carter called out, lifting his cup of water in a mock
salute. “The luckiest cadet at the academy.”

It was a far cry from him calling her a Jinx no more
than a year ago, but Kile didn’t like the change. She didn’t like to be thought of as lucky, especially when luck had little to do with it. She also didn’t like the idea that some of the cadets were starting to think of her as a special case now. Mathew Latherby may have gotten Master Pike to change his mind and pass her, but it did little to stem the whispers that were going on behind her back. She slammed her tray down a little too hard, which silenced some of the talk in the dining hall.

“He was only joking Kile.” Daniel said.

“No he wasn’t.” She replied. “He was just saying what everyone else was thinking. That I’m getting some kind of special treatment.”

“Maybe you are.” Carter muttered.

“Is that what you think too?”

“Come on Kile, you did botch that course pretty badly, you didn’t make a single jump and you can hardly control that beast.” Carter remarked.

“I don’t think it was all her fault.” Daniel replied.

“Then whose fault was it? All I’m saying is… maybe you don’t have what it takes to be a hunter.”

“Is that it, is that your option?” She asked.

“Yeah, and it’s not only mine.”

“You don’t think I know that.” She said pushing the tray aside. Somehow she had lost her appetite.

“Why don’t you lay off Carter?”

“Oh come on Danny, she can’t fight, she can’t ride, yeah she has a bit of book smarts but that’s not going to save her out in the wild.”

“She was one of the only three that passed Master Folkstaff survival test.”

“Yeah… well I don’t know.”

“What’s that suppose to mean?”
She demanded, and again she managed to silence half the dinning hall.

“All I’m saying is that nobody knows what happed that night.”

“So your saying that I didn’t survive the test, that I’m actually dead out there on the hillside somewhere.”

“You could have gotten help.” Carter replied as he took a sip of his water. “All I’m saying is, nobody knows.”

“Knock it off Carter.” Daniel shot back

“No.” Kile said looking down at her tray. “He’s entitled to his opinion.”

“We all had help during the survival test that was half the point of it if you had listened to Master Folkstaff.” Daniel added.

“Oh I heard what he said, but I know that I did it by myself.”

“So, you forgot about the squirrels that brought you the food?” Daniel asked.

“That was a fluke, and I took advantage of it.” Carter remarked. “That’s what survival is all about.”

“That was not just a fluke. That was…”

“Daniel.”

That was the last thing she wanted to come out at this moment, as she looked at Daniel, who was, probably madder than she was.

“Hey, what did I miss?” Alex asked as he set his tray down. He looked from Daniel to Carter to Kile then back to Daniel. “Is something wrong?”

“Apparently so.” Kile said as she got to her feet. “I have to see to the horses.”

“Was it something I said?” She heard Alex ask as she walked out of the Dining Hall.

The horses didn’t need looking after as the cadets were taking on more and more of the responsibilities. She
simply had to make sure that the water troughs were filled and that there were oats in the feed bin, beyond that there was little for her to do in the stables, even though, it was better than being in the Dinning Hall. The horses understood, the horses didn’t judge her, well, most of the horses didn’t judge her. She wasn’t too sure about Grim. She had hardly spoken to the Mountain Pony after bringing him back to the stables, she wasn’t’ sure if she wanted to speak to him now. He had his own way of looking at things, to him, everything was black and white. You either agreed with him or you didn’t, unfortunately she was finding out that she agreed less with him as the days passed, but at the moment it wasn’t Grim that was bothering her, it was Carter. Actually it wasn’t so much Carter. He was just putting a voice to her nagging concerns. He was just becoming a target.

Much of what he said during supper was true, that her presence at the academy did have a lot to do with Guild Master Latherby, but she had never asked the man to interfere, she never saw him around to ask him, he always
seemed to pop up at the right time. Could he be watching her, and if he was, why?  He did approach her during her first week at the academy, when Tree was escorting them around the great hall. He had shown her the secret gallery and gave her the key to the door. Was it because she was the only female cadet, did he show this much interest in Erin Silva? She had never thought to ask Erin when she had the chance.

“What seems to be troubling you?”

She turned around expecting to see the Guild Master standing behind her, but it was only Luke. Her face must have relayed that relief as the stable hand smiled.

“Expecting someone else?” He asked as he carried a sack of feed to the back of the stable and dropped it onto the pile.

“No sir, I was just thinking.”

“Thinking like that can be dangerous.” He said as he wiped his hands on his pants. He stared at her for a moment,
and then nodded. “Something is troubling you.”

“I
… kind of got into an argument.”

“An argument?”

“It’s not as bad as it sounds, it’s… with a friend.”

“I see, and what was this, argument about.”

“Pride.”

“Yours or his?”

“I little of both I guess. He said I wasn’t qualified to be a hunter, that if it wasn’t for Guild Master Latherby’s interference, I would have been thrown out long ago.”

“Do you believe that’s true?”

“In a way, yes I do.”

“So you’re saying that the Guild Master has nothing better to
do than to watch after you? That is prideful.”

“No, I don’t think that’s the case, but he always seems to be popping up whenever I get into trouble with one of the instructors.”

“I see, and are you the only one that he looks out for?”

“Well, the last time he did help Alex as well, but it was because of me that he was there.”

“I am sure that the Guild Master watches all the cadets when he has a chance to watch them. Maybe he helps you out the most, because you tend to get into trouble the most.”

“Then what you’re saying is that
I’m not qualified to be here, and that it is only because of him that I am still here.”

“Yes… and no. I am saying that I believe
you are qualified, but also there are certain… individuals…” He stopped and looked around the stables as if he expected to be overheard, then just shook his head. “It’s not really important, what is important is what you think. Do you think you have what it takes?”

“I thought so, I’m not really sure now.”

She headed back to her cell. She wasn’t in the mood to train, not with Luke, and especially not with Carter at the moment. What was the purpose anyhow, if she couldn't even hold her own with Carter when he was letting her win, how was she supposed to pass the Combat test with an opponent that wasn’t going to be so generous. She stopped half way to the dorms. Complacency, she thought. She had fallen into that mind numbing trap where she had given up the will to survive, and to give up the will to survive was to give up the will to live. Was this what Master Folkstaff was talking about?

She turned around and headed back up the hill, pushing open the stable doors. Luke was sitting on the bench, the wrapped Lann at his side, he grinned as she entered.

“Sooner than I thought.” He said as he got to his feet.

“You knew I’d be back?” She asked.

“Of course, you are a hunter… aren’t you?” Luke replied as he handed Kile the wrapped blades.

***~~~***

10

Spring was in the air, the snow was completely gone, and the rainy season had just begun. With the official changing of the seasons came the changing of the curriculum. Weapons training under the always delightful Master Boraro intensified, deviating from the standard sword to some of the more unorthodox weaponry such as the dagger, the ax and everyone’s favorite, the bola. Forty odd cadets swinging around bolas and only six concussions, it went a lot better than Kile thought.