Hunter's Academy (Veller) (32 page)

Carter quickly jumped up from where he was sitting when she came walking into camp with a hat full of raspberries.

“Where have you been?”
He asked.

By now everyone was up and ready to go, not that there was much of a camp to break down to get ready. They
seemed to have been waiting on her.

“I picked up breakfast.” She said as she held up
her hat.

“Where did you find those?” Carter asked.

“I asked the locals.” She responded, and only Daniel knew that she wasn’t joking.

They divide the raspberries up as best they could but since nobody had anything better to hold them in other th
an their hands, Kile had to go without her hat for a little while longer.

“So, anybody got any idea
s where we’re going.” Alex asked.

“Well, I figured we should probably follow the river further north.”  Carter suggested.

“That way.” Kile said, pointing off toward the west. “The mark on the map was west of the bend in the river and that the direction our stuff went in.”

“Are you sure?” Carter asked. He was starting to have doubts, not in
her but in himself.

“I’m sure.” She assured.

It wasn’t so much that she remembered it from the map, she had only seen the map that one time, and It wasn’t the fact that Vesper thought their stuff had gone in that direction, although he saw who, he didn’t actually see where they had taken the supplies. Kile hated to admit it, but she could smell Eric. He had passed through their camp, staying long enough to pick up a few things and headed in a westerly direction. She had detected it last night when she was trying to get to sleep without her blanket, and now she was picking it up again. It wasn’t as strong, but it was there and she could follow it. Of course if Morgan was right, and she was just channeling this ability from Vesper, then it was the yarrow that could follow it. She would like to think that was closer to the truth.

With the yarrow on her shoulder Kile lead them through the woods for the better part of the afternoon until the scent she was tracking began to wane. No mater how hard she tried, no matter which direction she went, she couldn’t pick up on Eric scent, or was that Vesper could pick up on Eric scent, or was it just that the connection
between them had been broken. The ability was still rather new to her, and she had yet to master it. Either way she lost the trail as she began to slow down.

“
What's the matter?” Daniel asked as he came up beside her.

“I lost him, I can’t… smell him any more.” She replied. They were far enough ahead of the others that she didn’t have to worry what they would think if they had heard her say that.

“Nothing?” He asked, then began to look around as if hoping to find some sign that she may have missed. “Well… we got this far, we’ll think of something.”

“What’s the hold
up?” Carter asked as he made his way closer.

“Just taking a break.” Daniel replied.

Carter didn’t argue, which meant, in his own mind, he had given up. He had relinquished command of the group and it looked as if he had given it to Kile as he waited on her every word.

“We’l
l rest here for a few minutes.”

She was hoping that the delay would give her enough time to pick up on Eric. Maybe if she went ahead without the others she could find the trail a little easier, at least she wouldn’t have the added pressure of them watching her and wonder what she was doing.

Carter sat down beneath one of the trees and stared at his feet, not making eye contact with anyone. Alex sat across from him, turning the small ebony box over in his hands. He had been carrying it all the way, not that he had a pack to put it in, but he refused to part with it. In many ways each member of the group was blaming themselves for being so careless so soon into the exercise, but there was only one person who really deserved some of the blame.

“Murphy.” She called out, and the big man looked up from where he was sitting. “Come on, we’re going ahead a bit to see what we can see.” She said.

He looked at the rest of the group, then at her and she could see the shame on his face now as he slowly got to his feet and followed her. Kile moved ahead well out of range of the others. She still couldn’t pick up the scent.

“So, what did he promise you?” She asked Murphy without turning around. Kill two birds with one stone she thought, actually that was a horrible expression since she knew a few birds.

“What do you mean?” Murphy replied.

“I was just wondering how Eric convinced you to help him sabotage your own group. I figured he must have offered you something in return.”

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

This time she did turn around.
The man was nearly two feet taller than she was, but he cringed when she looked at him.

“Look, let’s not lie to each other.
I know full well that Eric stole our supplies, I also know that you helped, what I don’t know is if this was all planned or whether he was just seizing an opportunity to knock us or anyone out of the exam. I’m hoping it’s the latter, because if it’s the former, then you knew about it all along.”

Murphy’s face dropped as he looked from side to side, whether he was looking for a place to run or for someone to help him, he found neither, but the look did tell Kile one thing, this was all planned from the start.

“Why don’t you tell me about it?” She said as she took a seat on a large flat rock.

“I didn’t want to,
it's just that… well… my father works for Lord Rimes, at his estate. I’ve known Eric ever since we were kids, we grew up together. It’s not every day that the son of a servant is befriended by the son of a Lord, not that it was a very good friendship, but still, I had opportunities and experiences that I wouldn’t have had otherwise, but it still comes down to the fact that he is the son of Lord Rimes. I have to do what he says.” Murphy said and then just shook his head as he sat down across from her.

“He always talked about becoming a hunter, especially when Master Boraro visited the estate.
He convinced me to become a Hunter too, said we could explore the world together. At first I wasn’t very interested, but the more he talked about it, the more I liked the idea, not so much to team up with him, but to finally be on my own, to finally get away from him. When I heard he failed the entry examination I was actually happy. When he took it again and failed, I was beyond happy. The third time his father made sure he passed.”

“He paid the guild to pass his own son.” Kile said
. It was more of a statement than a question. How else would Eric ever become a hunter?

“Don’t you see? He also paid the guild to let me pass. That way Eric would have what he wanted all along.”

“You don’t know that for certain.”

“Might as well. Eric gets what he wants,
whatever he wants and doesn’t care about anyone else. That’s the way it’s always been, that's the way his father makes it. If he wanted a new horse, his father would buy it for him. If he wanted a servant removed, his father would do it, no questions asked. At first I thought it was great, here was someone with power, but I soon found out if he got in trouble, I took the punishment. That was the only reason he had me around, I became his whipping boy; that was my purpose in life. I thought if I could become a hunter that would all be over.”

“What did your father do before he started working at the estate?”

“He was a tailor, had his own shop in the poorer part of town, but he never made much out of it. My mother became ill when I was still very young. He couldn’t afford the healers so he could do nothing but sit with her until she died. He decided that he didn’t want his son growing up in poverty so he took a job on the estate grounds. When Lord Rimes learned that my father had a son that was only two years younger this his, he moved my father up to a position within the estate.”

“And your father took it, because he knew it would give you the opportunities and the experiences that you wouldn’t otherwise have had.”

“Something like that.”

“Murphy, I don’t know your father, but I do know, from what you just told me, that he loved you enough to take a job working for Lord Rimes to give you a chance. The question is how are you going to use that chance?”

Murphy looked up at her, and she could tell that the big man was having a crisis of conscience. On one hand he wanted to honor his father, on the other he didn’t want to anger Eric.

“Don’t throw it away.” She told him.

“Heads up.” Some cried out, which instantly caused both of them to duck.

Daniel came running through the woods pointing toward the western sky.

“No.” He said. “Look.”

Kile looked up to where he was pointing and could see plumes of black smoke rising from the trees. Where there was a smoke, there was fire, and where there was fire, there was probably Eric.

“That still some distance away.” She said.

“But it’s a destination.” Daniel replied.

“Okay, let’s go.” She said and then slapped him. “It's look up, not heads up.”

They made good time since they were no longer relying on Kile’s tracking skills, they didn’t have a map to keep referring to and they were traveling very light, but it was still a good distance to run and it was creeping into the evening hours when reached their destination. What they found was utter chaos.

What was once an old
farmhouse was now a large bonfire. The entire structure was engulfed in flames, spewing out a tower of black smoke with a defending roar. The heat was so intense that no one could get within thirty feet of the structure.

“Who wants to bet that our first item was in there?”
Alex said.

Sure enough, on the other side of the clearing another group stood, staring at the inferno that was marked on their map as a farm house.

“What happen?” Carter asked as he approached the other group.

“Don’t know, we just got here ourselves.”
They replied.

“No chance of a water mystic putting that out is there?” Kile asked with little hope, Daniel just shook his head.

“We could always wait until it burns itself out.” Alex remarked.

“That should be about some time tomorrow afternoon.”

Carter came back, shaking his head.

“According to them, the place was burning when they got here. I managed to get a look at their map. This is where we’re supposed to be, this is where one of the three items
was located.”

“You don’t think this is a test by the guild… do you?” Daniel asked.

“No.” Carter remarked. “I think Eric beet us here.”

“Sure, if you can’t move the chest and you can’t destroy the chest, you have to make it so the others can’t reach the chest.” Kile replied.

“So, what now?” Carter asked as they stared at the wall of flame. After a long pause, it was Murphy that answered.

“I can get it.”

“What… what are you crazy, nobody can get close enough to that fire, let alone inside?” Carter remarked.

“I can get it, I know I can
, just give me a chance.”

“How?” Alex asked.

“I have… a way.” He replied.

His edge,
whatever it was, had to have something to do with fire Kile thought.

“How long?” She asked. “How long can you last in there?”

“You’re not serious?” Carter asked. She wasn’t sure if his skepticism was because she was planning on sending someone into a burning building, or simply because it was Murphy.

“Unless you have a better idea.” She replied.

Carter threw his hands up in surrender and took a step back.

“How long can you last in there?” She asked Murphy again.

“I don’t know. I’ll admit I haven’t really tried this before, I would say about twenty minutes, thirty tops.”

“That doesn’t give him much time to go searching around.” Daniel pointed out.

“No, so we have to get some more information on the layout of the farm house.”

“From who, It’s not like Eric’s going to tell us
where the chest were, and it doesn’t look as if anyone’s lived in there for quite some time.”

“Leave that to me.” Kile said. “You and Alex talk to the other groups, see if
they're on board.”

“What?”

“Look, there in the same boat we are. If Murphy can find our chest in there, then he should be able to find theirs. Right Murphy?”

“Uh… yeah
… right.” Murphy said, but the hesitation made her a little suspicious, she hoped she was making the right choice as she headed back into the woods.

Setting
Vesper down in the grass she walked the perimeter of the clearing searching the undergrowth. It didn’t take them as long as she thought to find what she was looking for.

-Here, over here.-

Vesper called to her, and she followed the yarrow to old rotting log.