Hunter's Bounty (Veller) (27 page)

“I already told you that you’re staying for supper.”
Leon replied, jumping off the carriage.

“
It’s not that.” She said as she dismounted. “Grim is a bit… difficult. Are the stalls in the back still empty, the ones Father used to keep the grain in?”

“Yeah, there always empty this time of year.”
Leon replied.

She
reached up to pull Grim’s head down as she whispered in his ear the best she could. “You got that, take one of the stalls on the left hand side, all the way in the back and behave yourself. I don’t need you making trouble for my brother.”

-
You're taking all the fun out of this, you know that don’t you.-

“Don’t give me that, not here, not now. Behave yourself or I’ll be the one shipping you back to the north folk.”

-Fine, whatever-

Grim said as he started to trot away. Vesper leapt from the Mountain Pony’s head onto Kile’s arm and sat up on her shoulder, she moved him down to the belt pouch in spite of his protest, it was best not to frighten the relatives.

The young boy named Tad watched in awe as the Mountain Pony walked past him and entered the barn without any more fuss. Even Leon was impressed by the site.

“You’re going to tell me how you did that.” Her brother informed her as he scratched his head again and headed for the farmhouse with Kile following behind.

She stepped up onto the front porch that still creaked when she put her weight on the third board from the left. Some things never change. Leon opened the door and the smell of food cooking in the kitchen came wafting out, reminding her of how hunger she actually was.

“Jenny, I have company.”
Leon called out from the front door as he hung up his jacket.

A young fresh faced girl with reddish brown hair tied in
pigtails came around the door into the living room. She was wearing a simple grey house dress with a white apron tied around her waist. She didn’t look anything like the little freckled faced girl with pigtails that Kile remembered, of course she still had the pigtails but she wasn’t nearly as little as she was back then. The expression on her face went from mild annoyance, to confusion, to shock then to an expression that was a little more welcoming.

“Jenny, you remember my sister.”

“Of course I do.” Jenny replied as she whipped her hands on her apron and quickly crossed the room. “When you said company I thought you meant Keith. Kile isn't not company, she’s family.”

J
enny threw her arms around Kile who was forced to awkwardly do the same.

“Is supper ready, I’m starving?”
Leon announced.

“If you’d had eaten your lunch as you were suppose to, you wouldn’t be so hungry now.” J
enny shot back.

“Yes dear.”

“As it is, Supper is already on the table.”

Kile watched the exchange with a little amusement. At least
Leon wasn’t treating his wife the way their father treated their mother. She followed Leon into the dinning room that didn’t look anything like she had remembered. It was lighter and definitely brighter than it had been, even with the curtains drawn. There were nick-knacks and useless little trinkets on every shelf, a white linen table cloth draped over, what she had to believe was the old family table, even the walls looked a lighter shade of beige, if that was even possible. The entire atmosphere of the house was different.

“Is something wrong?”
Leon asked.

“Wrong? No, nothing’s wrong.”
She said as she took her old seat at the table, feeling like the uninvited guest that she was. The table was set for two with a large bowl of something sitting between the two settings.

J
enny retrieved a bowl from the cupboard, setting it on the table in front of Kile and began to ladle out a large helping of what had to be a form of stew. It was a mixture of potatoes and vegetable with a little meat thrown in.  Kile had a problem eating meat, not because of any religious belief that she held, of course that was what she told people since it was easier to explain than the real reason. Once she learned she could communicate with animals, she found it hard to eat them, just on principle alone. It was kind of like dinning on a friend. She had to force herself to make an exception, the last thing she wanted to do was to upset her sister-in-law. Imagine that, she had a sister-in-law.

“I wish I knew you were coming, I would have made you something special.”
Jenny added.

“Oh no, this is wonderful.” Kile replied. “I don’t get to eat this well on the road.”

“So, what brings you back to Riverport?” Jenny asked as she took her seat at the table.

Kile couldn’t help but think that there was more to that question th
an just curiosity.

“I was investigating a man by the name of Rothershire.” Kile replied as she dipped into her stew. She wasn’t lying, that was what she was doing.

“You mean William Rothershire, the old man that lives outside of town?” Leon asked.

“The same. Unfortunately it seems that I’m a little too late.”

“Yeah, it happened about two years ago. A couple of the men spotted the fire, when they went to investigate they found his body lying just outside his house, his head bashed in and everything. They’re saying bandits, but I have my doubts.”

“Must we talk about such gruesome things over the dinner table?” J
enny asked as she shot a look at Leon that clearly stated he better not answer that question. She turned her attention back to Kile and somehow, that smiled looked a little more forced.

“So, where will you be heading off to now?”

To translate, that would be, when are you leaving?

“I don’t really know.
Rothershire was kind of my last lead. I’ll have to rethink my next move.”

“Well, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to figure it out.”
Leon replied.

There it was that icy look from his wife that clearly stated he had overstepped his boundaries.

“I don’t think that would be necessary, I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Nonsense.”
Leon said, taking a mouthful of the stew. “You can have your old room, it’s not occupied. Isn’t that right Jenny?”

“Of course.” Jenny replied, although she was kind of forced
to. “But I’m afraid we’ve been using it as… well storage.”

“It won’t take us long to dig out the bed.”
Leon added.

“But I don’t know if the mattress is still on the bed. If I had only known ahead of time I could have gotten it all cleaned up.”

“Please, I can stay in the barn tonight.” Kile protested. In many ways, staying with Grim was looking far more inviting.

“Well, we could always move Andrew into our room tonight and she can stay in my old room.”
Leon suggested.

This was getting too complicated.

“No please… who’s Andrew?”

“Andrew? Oh, of course, you don’t know. Andrew is you
r nephew.”

“My nephew?”
She asked in disbelief.

In the four years since she had been gone, her
brother had gotten married, expanded the farm, and had a son that he named after their deceased brother. In many ways their father would have been very happy.

“So it’s settled. We’ll move Andrew into our room for the night and you can sleep in his, and we’ll get your room set up tomorrow so you can stay as long as you need.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary. I won’t be staying that long, I’ll have to be leaving soon.”

“Nonsense.”
Leon said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “You said yourself that you didn’t know where you were going next, this way you can have some time to think.”

The idea of actually stopping for a moment to put her thoughts together and come up with a better plan than just riding around in circles was rather tempting, but she knew that Erin wouldn’t be that far behind. It was only a matter of time before the Hunters picked up her trail again, and they would soon be arriving in Riverport.

A sharp pain in her leg brought Kile back to her senses and she looked under the table to see Vesper looking up at her.

-Horse.-

The yarrow said, and the word brought with it a vision of a rider coming up the path. Kile quickly rose from her seat and moved across the room to the window, sniffing the air. She had gotten careless again, she had become complacent, she had forgotten what Master Folkstaff had taught her about survival and now she was trapped again. She pulled back the curtains as she reached for her Lann, unfortunately her weapon was a little out of reach. In fact her weapon was still with her supplies which were still with Grim on the other side of the yard. Could she be any more foolish?

“
What's the matter Ki?” Leon asked.

She
had momentarily forgotten about her brother, his wife, and their son. It was not just her that was in danger now, it was all of them. She didn’t think that a Hunter would willingly harm civilians, but she couldn’t be sure what would happen if things went sour. She knew Leon would try to intervene on her behalf and that would only make matters worse.

“Ki?”

“We have a visitor.” She told him.

Leon
moved to the window over the sink, pulling the curtain aside he looked out onto the yard.

“I don’
t see…” He started to say “anybody” but stopped as a rider came through the front gates of the Veller farm. Tad was already out in the yard to greet him.

This was going to get
complicated, she thought as she looked around the room. If this got violent she would need space to maneuver, the last thing she wanted was to destroy her sister-in-law’s collection of unless nick knacks. She reached for the door, but somebody grabbed her arm, she turned on her brother and he quickly backed away, even Jenny was on her feet moving to the back of the room, to where the stairs led up to the second floor. There was definitely a look of concern on her face, no, not concern, it was fear. Was she trying to protect her son from the man outside, or from Kile?

Kile quickly pulled open the door and stepped out
into the night. It was already getting dark, but she could see the man clearly, she could smell him, she could almost hear the beating of his heart, all her senses were alive for that one brief moment, until…

“Hey Kile, so
Leon found you.” Keith said as he ruffled Tad’s hair before the young boy lead his horse off to the barn.

“Keith?”

Kile felt as if her body was crashing as reality fell in on top of her and dropped her back to normal, or as normal as it was around her.

“I told him I saw you
at the cemetery, but he didn’t believe me. He’s in, isn’t he?”

“Uh, yeah, he was just sitting down to supper.”

“Oh good, I’m not too late.” Keith replied as he rubbed his hands together and headed for the farmhouse door. He had only taken a few steps when he suddenly turned around. “Oh, before I forget Garth wanted me to relay a message. He said Rothershire often spoke of a man by the name of… Saybela. Said something about him working in Windfoil if that means anything to you.”

“Oh
yes, thank you… and uh… thank Garth the next time you see him will you.” She replied.

“
Sure thing, it was good seeing you again Kile, You’ve really grown. You’re staying around a bit aren’t you?” Keith asked with a funny looking smile on his face that Kile wanted no part of.

“I don’t know. I may have to leave sooner than I thought.”
She replied quickly headed off toward the barn. Keith watched her every step of the way which only made her feel even more uncomfortable. Only when she reached the safety of the barn did dare turn around. Keith was still standing there with that goofy grin that made him look simple. She slipped into the barn and fell against the wall, but it wasn’t Keith’s sudden attraction for her that had her worried, it was what happened earlier. What was it that had come over her? What were those feelings? It was as if everything was so much more alive than it should have been, and why was Leon so scared of her? That was probably the one question that worried her the most. She had never been able to scare Leon before, or had ever seen her brother as terrified as he was when he looked at her at that moment.

- Are we leaving now? -

Grim’s voice echoed in her head, driving out the questions. She could always count on him to get straight to the point.

“That depends.” She said as she walked the length of the barn “You wouldn’t know what Windfoil is, would you?”

“As a matter of fact ma’am, yes I do.”

Kile had forgotten all about Tad. He was still tending to
Keith’s horse as he stepped out from one the stalls, the brush still in his hand. He was a young boy, probably about ten or eleven with short honey brown hair that stuck out all over the place. He looked at his feet when she looked at him.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were still here.”

“Yes ma’am, I was just on my way home when Mr. Wints arrived.” The young boy replied still diverting his eyes.