Hunter's Academy (Veller) (51 page)

“See ya Danny.” Carter shouted back and waited until his friend was out of
earshot. “He doesn’t have to work the night shift does he?” He asked Kile.

“That depends.” She replied. “Do you know where I can find Jarred to tell him he has the night off?”

“I know where his, I’ll give him the news.” Carter said with a grin.

She arrived at the stables, or what was left of them. The place she had once dared to call home was now just a pile of black ash, and charred sticks protruding from the ground like little tombstones. Only the stone foundation gave credence to the existence of the structure that had once stood there. She stepped through the remains of the archway that she had entered so many times before, kicking at a beam that disintegrated under her foot.  She reached into her pocket and her fingers found the blue and white stone that was still there. They hadn’t taken it from her when they brought her to the hall of healing, they probably didn’t realize what it was, not that she knew what it was. So much destruction for something so trivial.

She put the stables behind her as she headed up toward
the northern wall where she found the make shift paddock. It was a random series of gates, poles and fences tied together with rope to keep the horses in one place, not that it would really work if the horses had any intention of leaving. Three boys were in the process of feeding them. The uniforms they wore weren’t guild issued, so they weren’t cadets. They were probably from the city stables, more than likely the one that the staff had to move their mounts to. The horses appeared to be in good spirits after the harrowing experience they had, but that was ten days ago and they didn’t seem to hold any ill feelings toward her as she approached. Many of them raised their head and called out to her, not that the three boys knew what was happening, they just tried to calm the horses down.

“Can I help you miss?” One of the boys asked as he stepped away from the others. He was
the tallest of the boys with shaggy brown hair that covered his eyes and she was surprised that he could even see her from under it. He couldn’t have been much older than she was, and it felt a little odd being addressed with that much respect from someone her own age.

“I’ve just come to see my horse, make sure he’s alright.” She replied.

The boy appeared to be a bit skeptical, he probably didn’t know there was a female cadet at the academy, or maybe he just wonder why it took her so long to check on her horse, they had been there for over a week. Either way she wasn’t really in the mood to explain it to him.

“Which one
would that be miss?” He finally asked as he looked over the row of horses. His eyes favored the grays. Maybe that was what he thought a girl would be riding.

“I see him.” She replied as she moved past him.

It wasn’t difficult to find Grim; the horse was isolated from the others, tethered to the largest tree with the thickest rope and looking as miserable and as ornery as ever. When he saw her his mood picked up, but if she wanted to be realistic about it, it was more likely the slice of apple pie that she was carrying that attracted his attention. She started to move toward him when the shaggy haired boy grabbed her arm, an action that almost made her drop the dessert.

“You can’t go over there miss.” The boys said, and he looked genuinely concerned.

“And why is that?” She asked.

“That’s a dangerous animal. He almost bit off Pete’s hand if he had been a little quicker.”

Maybe Pete shouldn’t have had his hand in the horse’s mouth she thought.

“It’ll be fine.” She assured the boy.

“We’ve had orders not to let anyone go near that horse.” He replied, and now the other two were in agreement as they walked over.

“Whose orders?” She asked.

“Mr. Revers for one.”

“And then there was that Master Pike fellow.” One of the other boys added.

“Master Pike I know too well, but who is this Mr. Revers when he’s at home?”

“That’s who we work for miss, Carl Revers, he runs the city stables.
He sent us up here to watch the horses.”

“So he’s the one that isolated the mountain pony.” She asked.

“Yes miss.” The boys replied.

“It took eight men to do it.” One boy added.

“I’m sure it did.” She grinned and found it amusing how the boy reacted to Grim.

She started to move toward him
again, and again the boy grabbed her arm to stop her. Grim reared up and stomped the ground. The two other boys back away to a safer distance; it appeared that being thirty some odd feet away from him was not far enough. They didn’t know that Grim was only trying to protect his apple pie.

“I’m
serious miss, he really is dangerous.” The eldest boy repeated more desperately.

If she had dropped the pie, then he’d know how dangerous an animal Grim could be.

“So who would I have to talk to get permission to visit the horse?” She asked, leaving out the fact that it was technically her horse to start with; she wanted to see how far this would go.

“Visit the horse miss?” The boy asked, as if the question was beyond comprehension.

“Yes, you know, actually walk over to the horse.”

“Why would you want to do that
miss?” One of the other boys asked.

The whole ‘miss’ thing was starting to get on her nerves.

“To give him this piece of apple pie.” She replied, holding up the dessert, and watched as the confused boys exchanged looks. Clearly they though she was as mad as the mountain pony.

“Well
… I guess you would have to talk to either Mr. Revers or Master Pike.”

“How about the horse’s owner?” She asked.

“I don’t think he has one miss. Mr. Revers says no one in their right mind would own a mountain pony let alone ride one.”

“Oh, that’s good.”
She sighed. “I’ve never been accused of being in my right mind. So, can I go see my horse now?”

The boy quickly released her arm and watched in awe as Kile walked over to where grim was now straining at the rope. She was sure that if they kept
the dessert away from him any longer he would have either broken free or uprooted the tree. She held out the slice of pie and he inhaled it with one bite.

“How are they treating you otherwise?” She asked as she strokes his side and looked him over. There was no sign of injury, but his thick shaggy coat did make it nearly impossible to tell without a thorough inspection, something that Grim was not very keen with.

-A bunch of stupid little vir children. How do you put up with them?-

“They mean well. I heard you gave Master Pike a good scare.”

-That’s another one. Foolish little vir thinks just because they call him a horse master that he can order me around.-

“I wanted to thank you, for saving the other horses.”

-I didn’t save the other horses. That was your fault, I went back in to get you out.-

“Better be careful, that almost sounded as if you cared about
me.” She laughed.

-Well… you’re my only means out of here, aren’t you?-

“I suppose I am. Which means you better behave yourself. No more scaring the kiddies, not more biting the boys’ hands when they try to feed you, no more harassing the other horses.”

-Doesn’t leave me much to do.-

“I’ll tell you what. If you behave yourself, I’ll bring you another slice of apple pie tomorrow.”

-Two-

“Two then… if… I can get them and if you behave. Do we have a deal?”

-Can I still scare the horse master?-

“Oh sure, you can still do that, just don’t hurt anyone else. Is it a deal?”

There was a long pause as he looked over to the three boys that
were staring at him. She could only image what was running through the mountain pony’s mind.

-It’s a deal.-

Grim reluctantly replied as he shook his long hairy mane.

“So I can tell them that they have nothing to fear now.
They can come over and feed you, water you, groom you.”

-No grooming, I don’t want
their little hands all over me.-

“Fine, no grooming, just feeding and watering.”  She said as she stroked his
nose, something that Grim didn’t normally allow her to do, maybe he was mellowing. “Come on, it's only another six month, and then we’re gone, we are out of here. Neither one of us will have to put up with this after then.”

She walked back to where the three boys were still watching her, their jaws hanging open in awe. Anyone would
have thought she had just interacted with a dragon instead of an ill tempered horse.

“It’s okay, he’s agreed to behave.” She said as she wiped the pie crumbs and horse saliva off her hand. “You can feed him and water him, just don’t try to groom him.”

She moved passed them to the edge of the makeshift paddock where the other horses were now vying for her attention. She tried to make it appoint to stroke each noise that was pushed in her direction, feeling the ever present stares of the boys behind her.

It was getting late as she walked across the compound toward the Great Hall. She had spent a little more time than she had intended at the paddock, speaking with each of the horses, apologizing for what she had done to them. Fortunately most of them didn’t really understand what had happened, or even remembered. She did relay their personal little grievances to the three boys that were attending them, and although she didn’t tell them how she knew, or where she was getting the information from, she thought they might have suspected, even if they couldn’t believe it. The oldest boy had even offered to put a good word in with Mr. Rever. It appears that he was often looking for stable hands and since she was so good with the horses, he might even hire her in spite of the fact that she was a girl. She gave him a half hearted thanks and walked away.

She wasn’t looking forward to seeing the damage done to the great hall, even though the fire was kept under control, it wasn’t so much the structural damage as it was the loss of history. The stables were difficult to look at from her personal point of view, it was where she felt the most at home, but in the end it was just a building. The Great hall went deeper th
an that.

She was a little surprised that
the cleanup had started so quickly, but then she had also been away for the last ten days. The walls had survived, although they were stained with black soot, and the great doors had been removed as well as the glass from the windows. Kile walked up the short flight of stairs as she peered into the gallery. It was worse than she had feared.

The place was nearly gutted. The last of the displays that had somehow survived the fire had been carted away and placed into storage and all that remained of those that weren’t so lucky, was a pile of debris in the center of the floor. The portraits were now gone, only a few still hung, and most of those were too badly damaged to make out who they were. The rafter had burned through and there was no longer a roof to speak of, even the stairs had not survived the fire, only the catwalk ending in midair gave any evidence that there had been a flight
of stairs there to begin with, but worse of all, the small room under those stairs was no more.

Kicking
aside a stay roof tile she watched it skid across the marble floor. It was all gone, she thought. What would the next group of hunters look to for inspiration or the ones after that? They could rebuild the rooms, but they would never replace the artifacts. She stepped over a fallen beam and walked to where the secret little gallery would have been… if it was still there. The door was gone; the room was empty, the contents having found their way to the large pile in the center of the great hall. A charred piece of wood that had once framed the portrait of Risa Ta’re was all that remained of the sad maiden. She picked it up and beneath it found the small brass key to the door. It had been bent out of shape from the heat of the fire, but there wasn’t a lock for it to fit anyway. Mathew Latherby had entrusted the key to her, and this was how she repaid him. She clutched the key tightly in her hand, then turned to leave, but didn’t get very far.

He was standing in the gallery, staring up at the place that his portrait had once hung. It was the first place that she had spoken to him, nearly three years ago. She thought about slipping away quietly, leaving him to his ghosts, but she owed him more th
an that. She stood behind him, not knowing what to say, but she didn’t have to say anything.

“I thought I’d find you here eventually.”
The Guild Master said.

He did not sound angry, or sad, or like the fool that he usually sounded like when he spoke with the staff, if anything, he sounded tired. He turned around when she didn’t answer, and a wisp of a smile crossed his lips.

“What do you have there?” He asked.

She looked down at her hands. She hadn’t realized she was still holding the charred piece of
frame, or the small brass key, she held them both out for him to see.

“
It's funny isn’t it.” He said as he took the charred piece of wood and turned it over in his hands. “We see it, and we never really notice it, until it no longer there. I must have looked at this frame a million times, and I never really saw it.”