Hunter's Beginning (Veller) (49 page)

“Now what?” She asked as she looked over the racks of weapons. She had only held the crossbow for a short period of time, just long enough to get her into trouble. She couldn’t even remember what the weapon looked like, let alone pick it out of a line up.

“We find the right one… somehow. I guess I never considered that there would be so many.”

“What? Did you really think it was going to be sitting on a table in the middle of a room all alone?”

“It would have been easier, wouldn’t it?” Carter replied then reached out and grabbed one at random. “This one?” He asked.

“No.” She replied. One down, ten thousand more to go.

“It’s your crossbow, you find it.”

“I held it for what, ten minutes.” She snapped.

“Long enough to shoot Master West.”

“That was uncalled for.”

“Hey you guys, I think someone’s coming.” Daniel called from outside the armory.

Kile began to quickly sort through the crossbows, but it was no use. She really didn’t bother to examine in all that closely, all she wanted to do was shoot it and get off the line. She knew certain detail which did help narrow the search but there were so many to look through she was beginning to doubt even those details. The entire plan was slowly falling apart.

“Any luck?” Carter asked.

She picked up two crossbows, but neither one of them was the right one, although one was closer
than the other. Why was it close she asked herself? There was nothing physical that reminded her of the one she was looking for, but there was definitely something there.

-Kile smell.-

Vesper said as he jumped down from Kile’s shoulder and ran along the top of the rack.

“Thanks a lot.”
She replied. It wasn’t her fault that she hadn’t been able to shower since she was placed in confinement.

-Kile smell.-

Vesper said again, and she realized that the yarrow wasn’t telling her she smelled but that she should smell. Since she didn’t have any ideas of her own, she sniffed at the two crossbows that she held. She wasn’t sure what she smelled, or how she smelt it, but she was sure that there were similarities.

“I think I can find it.” She said slowly as she picked up yet another crossbow and gave it a sniff. “But you can’t laugh.” She told Carter.

“Why am I going to...?” He stopped when he saw her sniffing the weapon in her hands. “What are you doing?” He asked.

“I don’t really know.” She replied.

“Heads up guys, Boraro’s back.” Daniel called from the hall as he pulled the door closed.

“I thought getting rid of him was too easy.” Carter remarked. “Whatever you’re doing, do it faster.”

Daniel was leaning against the wall when Master Boraro came down the hall. He stopped and looked at the door to the armory, then at Daniel.

“What are you doing in here cadet? I
thought you and your friends were… practicing.”

“We are sir.”

“Here? In the great hall? Do you think that’s appropriate?”

“No sir.”

Boraro made it a show to look up and down the hall. “I can’t seem to see them anywhere. Where are your friends cadet, especially your little friend… cadet Bartlow, I would like to speak with him.”

“Carter and Alex… went to see
the mystic; I’m waiting for them to return.”

“Are you now, and why didn’t you go with them?”

“I didn’t want to sir.”

“You didn’t want to.”

“No sir, I believe they share a common edge and Morgan wanted to teach them a new technique.”

Boraro wasn’t paying much attention to Daniel’s
story; he was still looking at the armory door, but mainly at the water that had pooled around the base. He crouched down and placed his hand in it and Daniel would have sworn that the water began to move.

“Do you know what my edge is
Cadet?”

“No sir.”

“It’s knowing when I been lied to.” He said as he suddenly pushed Daniel out of the way and threw the door open with so much force that it shook the weapons in the racks. Boraro walked in and quickly scanned the room, but beyond the weapons, the room was empty.

“What are you looking for sir?” Daniel asked from behind him. “Maybe I can help you.”

“The day I need help from the likes of you, they’ll be laying me in my grave.” He mumbled as he walked between the rows of weapons.

She was up to something he told himself, he just had to figure out what it was. He walked up and down the isles, looking at the weapons but not really seeing them. Everything
seemed to be in order, nothing out of place. The windows were much too high for anyone to have climbed out and the racks too narrow for anyone to hide behind.

“Are you sure there is nothing I can help you with sir?” Daniel asked
. He too was as surprised as Master Boraro to find the room empty although he tried not to show it.

Carter stood between Boraro and Kile, his illusion of invisibility was enough to keep them both hidden as long as he faced
the Weapon’s Master and Kile remained behind him, but that wasn’t going to be easy. Kile was now on all fours sniffing the weapons rack like a hunting dog on a scent trail. As she moved down the rows Carter was forced to keep up, which meant walking backward without taking his eyes off the Weapon’s Master.

Master Boraro walked the length of the racks again, this time coming within inches of Carter and the young man could see the anger rising in the Weapon’s Master’s face. Just when he thought the
Hunter was going to reach out and grab him, Boraro turned around and left the room followed by an equally confused Daniel.

“Where did you say your friends were?” Boraro asked.

“The last I know they were heading toward Morgan’s Tower.” Daniel replied.

Boraro pulled the armory’s door closed and left Daniel standing against the wall. Daniel had never
given much thought to Master Boraro’s edge, but clearly it was not of the fact finding kind, and he couldn’t really tell if he was being lied to. Daniel followed the Hunter a little ways down the hall until he was sure that the man was actually leaving and had no intention of coming back anytime soon. He ran back to the armory and slowly opened the door.

“It’s clear.” He called out.

Daniel watched as Carter slowly reappeared. Kile was still on her hands and knees when she grabbed one of the crossbows.

“This is it, this is the crossbow I used.” She said
with excitement as she held the weapon up.

“You found it?” Daniel replied sounding more surprised
than anything else. “Are you sure, how do you know?”

“Don’t ask.” Carter remarked as he took the crossbow from Kile. “We should get out of here fast.”

They left the armory pretty much as they had found it, except for the now missing crossbow and the puddle of water by the door, but if it hadn’t bothered Boraro, it wasn’t going to bother them.

Kile disappeared back under her hood as the three of them headed toward the stables. They needed a place where they wouldn’t be disturbed and Carter could examine the weapon in more detail. They
were running out of time and she wasn’t sure how long Alex could keep up whatever it was he was supposed to be doing. Boraro was already suspicious and probably already knew that she was out of her cell even if he hadn’t been able to prove it yet. She may not have liked the man but she had to admit that he had some intelligence. It was only a matter of time before he was able to put all the pieces together and figure out exactly what was going on.

They reached the stables and tried the north doors, much to their surprise and their relief, they were not locked. They weren’t sure how they were going to explain this to Luke, or how understanding the stable hand would be, but fortunately he wasn’t anywhere to be found as they entered the stables and pulled the doors closed behind them. Kile welcomed the darkness as the doors closed, the place was cool, an oasis from the summer sun. Daniel retrieved a lantern from the wall and quickly lit it as he set it down on one of the work surfaces.
She watched as Carter held the crossbow up to the light and turned it over in his hands a few times mumbling to himself. She wasn’t sure what he was looking for if he was looking for anything in particular, but then to her the crossbow looked just like every other one she had seen in the armory. Was she really sure that this was the same weapon? She couldn’t explain how she knew, or why the odor of that crossbow seemed so familiar, or why she was even able to detect the odor in the first place. It was not something that she had ever done before and now that they had the weapon in their possession, she could detect no scent on it what so ever. The ability, if she could call it an ability, was gone, and now she was starting to have her doubts on whether or not she actually sniffed out the right one.

“So, what do you make of it, was it tampered with?” Daniel asked after Carter had a few moments to examine the weapon.

“Actually it’s what I figured. See this.” He said, referencing a point on the crossbow. Kile wasn’t sure what he was pointing at, but nodded nevertheless.

“Somebody removed the tension
spring; these things don’t just fall out. Without that there was no way to keep the trigger under tension. It's no wonder the bow misfired. I think it was just bad luck that it went off when it did.”

“So it was just a fluke that it hit Master West.”

“That’s what I think.” Carter replied.

“That’s why
Eric wanted me to fire first; he knew it would go off without warning. He must have removed the pin before he gave it to me… right?”

“If you knew what you were doing, yes.” Carter replied, “But let’s face it, Eric’s no genius. I doubt if he would
know what to do. I don’t really think he would know his way around a crossbow, it’s beneath him. Who else was in that group?”

“Let me see, beside Murphy and Eric, there was Roger, Charles and Kevin.”

Carter quickly looked up when she had mentioned Charles, the tall thin blond haired boy with the bad complexion.

“Charles Banes?”
He asked.

“I don’t know, he never told me his last name.”

“Would he know how to rig a crossbow?” Daniel asked.

“Bane’s father is a crossbowman from the Blackmore province.”

“So we take this information to the Oblum and she’s in the clear.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.” Carter replied. “Just because we have a crossbow that’s been tampered with, and a name, we have no real evidence. This could be anyone’s crossbow, regardless of how Kile found it, and as for Charles…” Carter just shrugged.

“Then we need a confession.” Kile chimed in. She was not beaten yet, if there was just a glimmer of hope she would embrace it.

“How do you plan on getting that?” Carter asked. “I doubt if he’s going to come right out and tell you.”

“You get me Charles and I’ll get the confession, but I’ll need a little extra muscle.”

“What muscle?” Daniel asked.

“Leave that to me and Vesper, just bring Charles here, I’m sure he’ll see things my way.”

It wasn’t too difficult finding Charles, the problem was that he was surrounded by so many people, including Eric. It would appear that Eric was keeping a rather close eye on the young man, and that only confirmed their suspicions that Charles had something to do with the so called accident.

“Does he look a little nervous to you?” Daniel asked Carter as they watched the blonde haired boy from the doorway of the dinning hall. He was constantly looking around as if he expected someone to be looking for him.

“It looks like our friend there is trying to hide something.” Carter remarked

“The problem is how do we get him away from them?”

“That's the easy part. Create a distraction, and grab him.”

“Oh, it
’s that easy is it?”

“You just be ready to get him out of there when the fireworks start.” Carter grinned as he slowly faded from sight.

Daniel wasn’t sure what his friend had in mind, and not being able to see him only made it more difficult to know when the distraction was about to take place. He pushed himself away from the door and slowly walked over to the hill where Charles was watching the game, that is when he wasn’t looking over his shoulder. Eric and Roger sat just below him on the hill and Murphy sat right behind him

Daniel picked a spot close enough to keep an eye on the blonde haired boy, but far enough away so that he didn’t spook him. He wasn’t sure what Carter had in mind, but he knew it would probably be
fast. He kept looking over to where Charles sat, and that’s when he saw it. A small round pebble beside Murphy’s right hand suddenly launched itself through the air and struck Roger in the back of the head.

Roger quickly spun around, trying to figure out what just hit him and where did it come from. When he couldn’t answer either one of these questions, he slowly and reluctantly turned back to the game. Within a few minutes he was struck in the back of the head again. This time the boy jumped to his feet.