Hunter's Academy (Veller) (29 page)

“Protection.” He said as he drew the sword and raised the blade, catching it in the light of the sun through the window. “One of you will be responsible for the protection of the group.”

“Carter.” They replied in unison as Master Adams sheathed the sword. It was an easy decision and everyone thought the same, Carter was by far the best swordsman in their class and therefore the best swordsman in the group.

“Well, that was easy.” Ma
ster Adams said as he handed the short sword across the desk to Carter who willingly accepted it. “Usually I just lay the items out and let the members of the group fight over them for the next few minutes. A couple of black eyes and a few bloody noses and they usually come to a decision.”

The next item up for bid, Kile thought as she remembered the auctions that came
through Riverport during the summer, was a leather satchel with a long strap.

“This is your survival kit.” He said as he opened the satchel’s flap. “Inside you will find the necessity of survival, including a piece of flint, a knife, a cloth for filtering, a water skin and of course
, your first aid supplies as well as a few other essentials.”

It was another mutual agreement, and again it was logical. First aide was Daniel’s specialty, that was his edge, and even though he didn’t need the satchel, he was still the obvious choice. Master Adams handed it to Daniel who slung it over his shoulder.

The Hunter looked into the bag and grinned, he seemed to be enjoying this too much.

“The next three items won’t be as easy to hand out.” He said as he drew the last three items from the pack and laid them out on the end of the desk. There was a key, a rolled up piece of parchment and a small,
but all too familiar, black ebony box.

“You’ll probably remember this from your entry examination.” He said as he tapped the small ebony box. “If you get into any trouble, and you can’t go any further, just open this box and you’ll be brought back to the academy by Morgan.”

He picked up the parchment and unrolled it. It was a map with three areas clearly marked.

“This is where the items will be found.” He said as he pointed to the map. “You must collect all three and return to the academy within five days. Try not to
lose the map, if you do, it will only make the exercise harder.”

“But… doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose?” Alex asked.

“You may be hunters.” Master Adams said as he rolled the parchment up. “But that does not mean you are treasure hunters. As a hunter you are not going to be searching for lost temples or forgotten civilizations, your assignments will be more practical and you will, for the most part, know where you are going ahead of time.”

“
The last thing is in many ways the most important. Only with this key will you be able to open the chests that contain the items that you must collect. In each area marked on the map, you will find several chests. Your key will only open one. The chest cannot be destroyed nor moved from that site, so you can be assured it will be there when you get there. You can thank the mystics for that. If you lose this key, well… then you might as well use the box since you have no chance of completing this assignment.”

He tossed the now empty sack on the floor, leaving only the three items on the desk.

“I think Kile should have the Key.” Carter announced. It surprised Kile more than anyone else, lately she had been under the impression that Carter thought she was less than capable. She looked over at him and he shrugged. “For obvious reasons.” He added.

What reasons were those she wondered, and then looking over at Murphy and Alex, and understood what Carter had meant. Alex wasn’t very reliable and would probably lose the key the first chance he got, and as for Murphy, well, Carter just didn’t trust him.

“Good choice.” Adams replied as he handed the key to Kile.

She
held onto it tightly. It was an odd looking key, not like the ones she was familiar with. It had a red gem on one side and instead of having a single row of teeth it had three, creating a kind of three pointed star at the other end. She wasn’t sure how the last choices were made, but Murphy ended up with the map and Alex had the small ebony box.

“I think we’re making good time.” Master Adams replied. “I don’t remember it every going this smoothly.”

He reached up behind him and pulled down one of the larger maps that were attached to the wall. In the center of the map was the city of Azintar along with the Hunter’s Academy.

“This is what’s going to happen from this point on.” He said as he pointed at the map. “At
noon today, Morgan will transport you to a random location, somewhere around here.” He said and he circled a huge section of the map with his finger. It appeared to be a mostly wooded terrain with a river running through it just north west of the city.

“Your first goal is to figure out where you are, beyond that you can go after any of the three items in any order, it doesn’t matter. Once you collect all three items you have to make your way back here.” He said and pointed to the Hunter’s Academy, which was the obvious destination.

“That’s pretty much all there is to it.”

“What about food, water, shelter… you know… those
things?” Alex asked.

Kile remembered from the first survival exercise that he hadn’t managed to acquire any of them, so she couldn’t blame him for being nervous.

“I’m getting to that.” Master Adams said, calming the boy down. “You will be allowed to pick up any supplies that you feel you need at the quartermaster. You want tents, you can have tents, you want food, fill your pack with food, whatever you want, the quartermaster will provide you with.”

“Oh, that’s not too bad.” Alex said with a sigh of relief.

“But remember your logistics, the more you carry, the slower you move, so you have a choice. Take everything you can and not finished the test on time, or take nothing at all and never finish the test, the choice is yours. I suggest you discuss this among yourselves and head down to the quartermasters before it gets too crowded.”

They left Master Adams room more troubled th
an when first went in, although now they knew what they were in for. It was as Master Folkstaff had alluded to, the test may be simple, but it was far from easy.

Carter strapped the sword on as they headed toward the Quartermaster, and he seemed to walk a little taller now that he had a weapon strapped round his waist. Alex clutched the small box with both hands for fear of dropping it and released the Mystic that he believed was inside, although Kile could have told him that the mystic didn’t
actually sit in the box and wait until someone opened it, but she figured that if Alex thought there really was a mystic inside, he would be a little bit more careful with it. Murphy looked as uncomfortable as Alex did as he clutched the map, and she wondered if they were ever going to be able to read it if he didn’t ease up on it. The big man's eyes roamed the compound as if he was searching for someone, if he found them, he never let on. As for Daniel, he walked with the satchel hanging at his waist and in many ways it made him look more the part of the healer.

She
saw other groups in similar situations, their own responsibilities weighing heavily on them. Was this what it was like to have a real assignment? With this much tension it was surprising that hunter lived beyond a couple of years.

They reached the quartermaster’s and stop just outside the door.

“What are we picking up anyway?” Carter asked.

“Food, water, tents, blankets, cots, sleeping bags, pots, pans, utensils…” Alex was ticking off each item on his fingers and when he ran out of
fingers he just started over again.

“We can’t carry all that.”
She told him.

“Sure we can, we have Murphy.” Alex replied, but Murphy wasn’t paying much attention and just nodded when he heard his name mentioned.

“We shouldn’t need all that, we should travel light.” Carter replied as he turned to Kile. “What do we really need?”

She
was a little surprised. Carter still didn’t believe she passed the first survival exercise, and now he was asking for her advice.

“Well, we should
keep it simple, we can move faster if we don’t weight ourselves down, but there are a few items we should pick up, if just to make things easier.” She said as she tried to remember the list she had created when she was sitting under the tree branches.

“We should get some tents
at least.” Alex begged.

“Tents will
really slow us down. It’s only going to be five days; Blankets should be more than enough.” Carter replied.

It didn’t take them long to form a list as they entered the Quartermaster’s, but they came out with more
supplies than they had intended, thanks primarily to Alex who was grabbing just about anything he could find off the shelves. There were pieces of equipment that he picked up that they couldn’t even identify, but he insisted that they would need it, that was until they told him he was going to have to carry it himself. Alex was a little more selective after that.

The Quartermasters was well stocked for just about any condition and he added a few things to their list that
even they hadn’t thought of, like a lantern, it had never occurred to them that one of the items that they were searching for could be hidden in a cave or some other dark place. It was a little odd that the Quartermaster would have suggested that, since he hadn’t to the group before them, but he gave them the lantern and gave them a wink and they figured that he might know something that they didn’t.

They picked
out five standard backpacks along with the supplies, and distributed the weight between them. Murphy had agreed to carry the lion's share, but Carter was still leery of the big man and declined. His excuse was that each member should carry their own weight, something that Alex protested, but nobody listened.

“We should probably bring along an extra set of clothing as well.” Daniel suggested as he scanned the heavens. The dark clouds threatened yet another day of rain.

“You don’t think that will be too much?” Carter asked.

“Not as much as them.” Murphy replied as he pointed to another group that had just emerged from the Quartermasters. They were weighed down by just about every piece of equipment available.

“How far are they going?” Carter asked.

“Maybe they don’t plan on coming back.” Kile suggested.

They decided on one extra set of clothing, something to change into if it did rain and headed back to the dorms, which Kile was grateful for because she still had to pick up one more thing.

She pushed open her cell door and dropped her pack on the bed. Five days lugging that thing around should build up a little upper body strength. After this test was over she should have no trouble swinging a sword. She went to the dresser and pulled out the only other clean
uniform that she had, as well as a few unmentionables.

“You ready Vesper.” She called out as she grabbed her belt pouch from the chair.

-Vesper ready.-

The yarrow replied as he jumped up onto the dresser and waited until she fastened it around her waist.

She looked around her room one more time, to see if there was anything else that she may have missed as she tried to think about what she needed the last time. She decided to take the leather straps that she used to tie back her hair. Each one was about two feet long and could be used for a variety of tasks. She tied two together and looped it through the head of the key and draped it around her neck. That would keep that safe she thought as she wrapped the others around her wrist.

She looked at the pack sitting on her bed
.

“What else will I need?” She asked no one in particular. The first thing that came to mind was a knife and fork, they had served her well during the entry examination, but she doubted if a situation like that would come up again. Improvise, she thought as she through the pack over her shoulder and fastened it around her waist.

“Can you think of anything else we may need?” She asked Vesper.

-Food.-

Was the one word response that she had expected from him.

“We have that, but that doesn’t mean you help yourself.” She warned the yarrow.

She grabbed her hat and straightened the feather that Kaza had given her before setting it on her head. It didn’t fall down around her eyes as much as it use to, and she chalked that up to the length of her hair.

Stepping out into the hall she met Daniel coming in the opposite direction.

“I was just coming to get you.”

“Why, did you think I’d g
et lost?” She asked.

“Now you’re getting as bad as Alex.” Daniel sighed as he turned around and left her standing in the hall.

They met up in the list, where most of the groups were now gathering. In comparison to the others, they were hardly carrying anything. Folkstaff moved among the cadets, looking over their equipment, with some he approved, with others he just rolled his eyes and kept walking. He did hand out a few tidbits of wisdom, but it didn’t appear that anyone was really paying all that much attention to the Hunter, they were too nervous about the task ahead of them.

“You’re traveling rather light,
that's good.” Master Folkstaff acknowledge as he approached their group. “But then I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Thank you sir.” Carter said, in that military fashion that he always took with the instructors.

“Then carry on.” The hunter replied and stopped in mid thought as he looked at Kile, but it wasn’t only Kile he was looking at, it was at the pouch that she wore on her belt. She looked down to see what had caught the Hunter’s attention and found Vesper’s head poking out from under the flap as he looked around the compound with eager curiosity. She lightly tapped him on the nose and he ducked back in.

“Just a friend.” She told him.

“I see.” He replied slowly. “Carry on.”

“Why is Vesper here?” Daniel asked.

“He wanted to come.” She replied as if it was such an obvious answer.

“Is that a… rat?” Murphy asked.

“No, it’s a yarrow.” Daniel calmly answered.

“Squads, ready.” Master Boraro bellowed as he walked onto the field.

-Are you ready for this?-

Kile looked up just as Kaza landed on the rim of her hat, now she really
was attracting attention. She looked over to see Morgan walking crossed the compound toward the list, his yellow robes billowing out behind him, and exasperated look on his face. She wondered what he had been involved in, when he was summoned. He didn’t appear to be in a very cooperative mood.

“Ready for what?” She whispered to Kaza, but it was a little difficult to hide the fact that there was a bird sitting on her hat. Daniel just shook his head, Carter rolled his eyes and Murphy stared in amazement.

-You're going to be transported to a random location in the forest.-

Kaza told her.

- Have you ever been transported before?-

She wished the crow didn’t keep asking her question that she couldn’t answer at the moment. She gently shook her head instead.

- It’s a little disconcerting. Your best bet is to crouch down and close your eyes when he started to mumble his chant, and when you can no longer hear him, count to ten before standing up.-

“Are you serious?” She asked, forgetting she was being watched.

“Serious about what?” Carter asked.

“Serious about…”

“I told her that people have lost limbs while being transported.” Daniel quickly finished for her.

“Are you serious?” Alex asked this time.

“No, not really, it was a joke.” Daniel told him as if Alex should have already known that.

Kile
thanked Daniel as Morgan came to stand before the cadets. He pulled his robes close about him and adjusted his glasses.

“Are they ready Master
Folkstaff?” He asked the Hunter.

“As ready as they will ever be.” Maser
Folkstaff replied as he raised his hand to silence the cadets. “At this point there is no turning back. You should have your survival kit, your supplies and anything else that you feel you need. You will be transported to a random location in the forest, from there you’re on your own.”

Morgan stood before the
cadets; he raised his hands, closed his eyes and began to chant.

Kile crouched down and closed her eyes, but quickly realized that she was the only one.

“Kile, get up, what are you doing.” Daniel whispered.

“I think we should
keep down and close our eyes until the chant it finished, and then count to ten before we get up.”

Even as she said it, she realized how foolish it sounded.

“Are you kidding?” Carter asked.

“Suit yourself.” She said, hoping that Kaza wasn’t playing a joke on her. Daniel sighed and crouched down beside her, Alex quickly followed. Murphy looked first at Carter then at Kile and decided it was better to be safe than sorry as he got low to the ground.

“Oh this is ridiculous.”
Carter replied, but in the end, even he decided to err on the side of caution.

They were making a spectacle of themselves as they could hear the other cadets
snickering and could image them pointing and trading remarks, but they never heard any. The voices slowly drifted away, as did the ground beneath them, and for one brief moment Kile felt as if she was flying or was that falling. When she could no longer hear Morgan’s voice, and she could feel the ground beneath her once again, she started to count to ten. When she reached three she heard a crash and somebody cursed.  She quickly opened her eyes to see Carter lying flat on his face in the dirt.

“What happen, you alright?” Daniel asked as he jumped to his feet and tried to run over to check on him.
He suddenly found his legs going out from under him, as he put out his hands to maintain balance, but it was too little too late and he toppled over sideways.

“I’m fine.” Carter said as he tried to get to his feet, but he fell over to one side again and cursed even louder, he had a small cut on the forehead from where his face bounced off the forest floor.

“You got up too soon.” Alex told him. “You should have counted to ten and got up slowly like Kile said.”

“Yeah, yeah,
that's all fine and dandy.” Carter replied as he lay on the ground trying to regain his equilibrium.

Kile felt no ill effects from the transport and looked around to get her bearings. It was difficult to
actually tell where they were from where they were standing. All she knew was that they were in a forest, among the trees, there was a gentle breeze blowing from one direction and the singing of birds from every direction.

“So, where are we?” Alex asked.

“Let's see the map Murphy.” Carter said holding out his hand, he didn’t dare get up.

Murphy pulled the map from his pack and unrolled it
and crouched down beside the Carter, as Daniel applied his edge Carter studied the map.

“So, where are we
pathfinder?” Daniel asked as he finished up.

Carter looked at the trees, then at the sky. Since it was
noon and the sun was already as high as it was going to get, and it was near the first day of spring, it was difficult to tell which way the sun was moving.

“You have no idea, do you?” Alex commented.

“We’ll have to wait a while to see which way the sun sets.” Carter complained.

“Well, that’s north.” Daniel said as he pointed off in one direction.

“How do you know?” Carter asked as he looked at the map again, as if the answer was there and he somehow missed it.

“
When we were waiting in the field, the wind was coming in from the north. Assuming that we haven’t been sent passed the Spire that way has to be north.”

“We don’t know that for certain, and even if we did, that doesn’t tell us where we are on the map.” Carter replied, “We’ll just have to wait
an hour or so, we should be able to tell by then.”

“And then what, we just keep walking until we find something that look familiar?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t know… you think of something.” Carter snapped as he handed the map back to Murphy.

“If we wait, we might as well set up camp.” Alex said as he tried to remove his pack with little success.

The arguments were getting them nowhere, and waiting would loose them half a day at best, trying to find their location tomorrow could loose them another day, especially if they head off in the wrong direction.

“I’ll be right back.” Kile said as she started to head
off into the forest.

“Wait, where are you going?” Carter asked.

“The call of nature.” She replied.

“Oh… well… don’t go
too far. We don’t know what’s out there.”

“I don’t think there’s anything we have to worry about.”
She said as she headed into the forest.

“Wait, I’ll come with you, I have to use a tree too.” Alex added as he tried to lumber after her with is
overstuffed backpack on. She was sure the boy went back to get some of the unidentified stuff at the quartermasters before meeting them in the list.

“Find your own tree.” She shouted over her shoulder as she moved deeper into the woods.

She
had only gone far enough to find the sources of the singing birds, which really wasn’t that hard to find. Where the sun broke through the leaves, the branches were filled with them, small brown sparrows singing to the light.

“Excuse me.” She called out, and the birds took flight, all but
a handful who curiously watched her approach as they cocked their heads to one side, then the other.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you, I was just wondering if you could give me directions.”

-Directions?-

-Directions?-

The song birds had sharp, high pitched melodic voices, much like the sound of their singing, and there was a carefree feeling of freedom when they spoke.

“Yeah, my friends and I are kind of lost, you see we were transported here and we don’t know where we are.”

-Transported?-

-Are?-

-Where?-

-Directions?-

This was getting her nowhere fast as the birds shot back quick words that almost appeared random.

-It’s too hard-

Vesper said from inside her pouch. Kile opened the flap and gently pulled the yarrow out. She held him in her hands.

“What do you mean too hard?” She asked him.

-Words, too hard, too long, no meaning-

It took her a moment, but she finally understood what Vesper meant, and what Kaza told her so long ago.
The wilder the animal, the less contact they had with the Vir, the simpler their speech was. As she had done with Tik and the squirrels, she had to give the words meaning.

“I’m lost, can you help me.” Kile said, focusing on each word.

-Help… need help.-

-We help.-

-How we help?-

“If you could fly above us.” She said, pointing to the sky. “And then come back and tell me what you saw. It would help.”

The birds looked at one another and she wasn’t sure if they understood what she asked of them, until they took off from the branches and then she was afraid that she had scared them off as they disappeared into the sky.