Hunter's War (Legend of the Wild Hunter Book 4) (47 page)

“Fine, I guess you guys can come,” she replied.

“Oh wow, that's really big of you,” Daniel laughed.

“Just meet me at the western gatehouse in an hour.”

“We’ll be there.”

“And try not to let everyone know where we’re going.”

She watched as Daniel returned to the Flatten Sparrow. She had to admit, it would be easier than going it alone, but she was still worried about bringing him and Alex into the wastelands, and she wasn’t too sure about Larks. He said he wanted more excitement, but did he really know what he was getting himself into. Perha Squad could take care of themselves, they had seen action, and were now veteran soldiers, if three weeks behind enemy lines can make one a veteran. Marcus, well, Marcus was Marcus and looked out for himself, but he was a survivor, and his trophies proved that.

One step at a time, she thought.

-He seemed… likeable.-

Bakara said

“He’s okay,” Kile replied.

-You care for him?-

“He’s a friend,”

-Is that all he is?-

“I did not ask you along to evaluate my personal life,”

-Just making conversation-

Fortunately, she reached her destination before she had to reply.

It was a pleasant looking barn with the simple name of Cali’s Livery. It was nowhere near as grand as the ones up at the keep, and they accepted mountain ponies. She was surprised by how many stables in Forthbar wouldn’t even consider taking in mountain ponies. One would think they had a bad reputation.

Entering through the side door, she found Grim in one of the stalls. The rest of the place was empty, save for two other horses, located near the front of the barn. She had gotten to know both of them. They belonged to a pair of merchants out of Littenbeck.

-So, what’s the verdict?-

Grim asked.

“It’s a no go,” she told him.

-But we’re going anyway.-

“That’s the plan.”

-Is this a solo adventure, or are we going to be saddled with a bunch of vir.-

“The others have agreed to come as well,” she said, leaning on the gate.

-Wonderful, a herd of vir walking across the wastelands. That shouldn’t go unnoticed.-

“Do you want us to go alone then?”

-Personally, I wanted to go to the mountain. What did that little vir ever do for me.-

“He’s my friend.”

-That’s right. He’s your friend, not mine.-

“Please, Grim, you’re not going to give me a hard time, are you?”

-I didn’t say I wasn’t going to go. I’ll go. As I said before, someone has to keep you out of trouble.-

“Come on then,” she said, pulling the stall door open. “We have to be at the gatehouse in an hour.”

She was leading him out of the barn when she smelled him. It was the scent of old books mixed with soap and roses, or at least a rose smelling soap. Stopping, she quickly scanned the shadows of the stables.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Trying not to be noticed,” he replied. “It would seem I failed. What gave me away?”

“Your scent.”

“I see, hard to hide that,” Roland said, stepping out from behind the office wall. He was wearing an old cloak with the hood pulled up over his head. He looked suspicious even without trying. “I wasn’t trying to spy on you or anything. I just didn’t want to disturb you while you were talking. At first I thought it might have been one of the stable hands you were conversing with. It wouldn’t do for me to be seen walking around in public.”

“Then why are you here?” she asked.

“To see you,” he replied. “I was present when Colonel Barshed proposed the operation into the wastelands to command. I could have spared you the time. They never would have accepted it. To the military, Hunters are expendable, or haven’t you realized that yet.”

“I learned that lesson a long time ago,” she replied. “I suppose if it was a soldier lost in the wastelands, they would send in a whole platoon to find him? It doesn’t matter,” she said. “They made their decision, and we have to live with it. Too bad I can’t say the same for Carter.”

“You knew him?”

“He was a friend of mind, from my days at the Academy. He was a good Hunter…
is
a good Hunter.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you snuck out of the castle to come here. Won’t Jerald be worried?”

“He’d have a conniption if he knew where I was, but I knew you were going on this mission, regardless of what Command decided.”

“And you’re here to stop me.”

“Like I could,” Roland replied. “No, actually, I wanted to help you.”

“Don’t even say you want to come along, I have enough to deal with.”

He laughed. “I’m afraid I’m not the adventuring type.” He said as he removed one of his rings. Reaching down, he took her hand in his. “Take this,” he told her and slipped the ring onto her finger. “This is a symbol of my house. If you need to, use my name. I doubt if it will help you in the wastelands, but it could help you reach it, if anyone tries to stop you, that is.”

“Thank you, but… why?” she asked.

He brought his hand gently under her chin and lifted her head slightly. Bakara took the hint and flew up to the rafters. Roland slowly leaned in and kissed her.

“Don’t you know?” he asked.

She was caught completely off guard, this was way out of her confront zone. Before she could react, or say anything, he was gone. She just stood there, dumbfounded, while he disappeared into the streets of Forthbar. The only sound she heard was Grim laughing.

-That shut you up.-

He said.

Kile quickly turned on him. “Not another word.”

They rode through the streets of Forthbar with Grim humming some simple child’s tune about love and marriage. Kile tried to ignore him, but it was difficult. There was nothing about this in her Hunter’s code book.

“Kile.”

“Nothing, nothing happened,” she shouted.

“Hey, I was just going to say you rode right past us,” Daniel replied, riding up to her on Miliea.

Kile quickly looked around. She hadn’t realized Grim brought her directly to the gatehouse.

“You all right? You look a bit preoccupied,” Daniel asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Nothing happened,” she replied, a bit too quickly.

“All right, I’d say you were acting strange, but I don’t really know what’s normal for you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked.

“Seriously, have you seen yourself lately? You’re riding through the streets of Forthbar on a mountain pony with a bird sitting on your head.”

“Where are the others?” she asked.

“We thought it might be suspicious if we rode together, so Perha Squad went one way and Veller Squad went the other.”

“Nobody is actually looking for us-- Veller Squad?”

Daniel laughed. “Well, the soldiers had their squad, so we decided to form our own.” He explained.

“So you called it Veller Squad.”

“It was Alex’s idea.”

“Of course it was,” she said, heading toward the new Veller Squad, who were tucked into one of the alleys. “Look guys,” she said when she reached them. “You can back out now if you want. Nobody has to come along.”

“Nobody is backing out.” Lark told her. “We’re in this together.”

“It’s just that, this could get really bad,” she explained.

“Look, we all agreed to go when we thought Command was going to give us the okay, what makes it any different now?” Daniel asked.

“Because, once was pass through those gates, we’ll be AWOL, and I think the military frowns on that,” she replied.

“Yeah, but the Guild won’t,” Lark added. “The Guild has a long list of Hunters who have bent the rules to get an assignment completed. So, if we get booted out of the military, who cares?”

He had a point, she thought. Rules to a Hunter are more like suggestions.

“There they are.” Alex said, pointing up the street were four soldiers were riding in formation.

Kile lead Veller Squad alongside Perha Squad.

“Commander,” Tullner said, eyeing the bird on her head. “I think our first obstacle will be getting out of Forthbar.”

“What do you mean?”

“They close the gates at night. Nobody is allowed in or out, without authorization.” he explained.

“Seriously, and nobody thought about bringing this up until now?” she asked.

“We were supposed to be leaving in the morning, so it was a nonissue,” he told her.

“Not to mention the fact, we were also supposed to have authorization.” Sandson added.

“You aren’t helping,” she told him.

They rode the rest of the way to the gate where a guard in the Callor colors approached them. He was a middle-aged man with a short scruffy beard and a mess of black hair. He stood in front of them, blocking their way.

“The gates are closed, until the morn. What business do you have here?” he asked.

Tullner dismounted and stepped forward.

“We are on an errand for Lord Bollen and we need to pass,” he said in his most authoritative voice. Kile was a bit surprised. He had definitely grown since she first rode with him. Confronting authority, and lying to them, was not something the old Tullner would have done.

“I have not received any message about an errand,” the guard replied.

He didn’t seem very impressed with Tullner’s authoritative voice.

“Does Lord Bollen often share his affairs with the gate keeper?” Tullner asked.

“When they pass through my gate, he does,” the guard retorted.

This wasn’t going too well. Kile turned the King’s ring on her finger. She could use Roland’s name, surely the guard wouldn’t stop them if their errand was for the King, but it seemed such a waste to use it now. Then again, if they couldn’t get past the gate, there was no mission. Kile was about to dismount when she heard a rider coming up one of the side streets.

From out of the darkness he came upon his light bay mare, his white hair flowing behind him. He always knew how to make an entrance. Marcus skidded to a halt, kicking up rocks and dust between Tullner and the guard.

“What’s the problem here?” He demanded, turning Rose around. “Why have we stopped?”

“And who might you be, sir?” the guard asked.

“Me?” Marcus laughed. “Surely you’ve heard of the great white haired Hunter.”

The guard looked over his shoulder to his two companions who were sitting at a small table behind him. They were in the middle of a game of cards before they were interrupted. The two men laughed at Marcus’s arrogance.

“We have heard of such a man, and even he would not be allowed through the gates after nightfall,” the guard said, standing his ground.

Marcus looked at the dark haired man carefully. “But you’ll make an exception for us,” he said in his softest, most persuasive, voice.

“But we’ll make an exception for you,” the guard replied.

Marcus grinned. “Open the gates and let us through,” he told him.

Turning around the guard waved to his companions. “Open the gates and let them through,”

The two men looked at one another in disbelief before one approached. He was a tall, lanky man with sandy blonde hair.

“Thompson, no one is allowed through the gates at night without proper authorization, you know that,” he reminded the guard.

“But we have authorization,” Marcus explained.

“They have authorization,” Thompson, replied.

Kile watched the exchange in awe. Marcus used his Edge so effortlessly, the guard really didn’t stand a chance. He was no more than a marionette, with the Hunter pulling the strings. The sandy haired man knew something wasn’t quite right, he just couldn’t place his finger on it. He looked at his companion and then at Marcus. He didn’t trust this white haired Hunter. “I have not seen any authorization,” he finally said.

“But you have seen it,” Marcus told Thompson.

“I have seen it,” Thompson replied.

When a confused and troubled look came over Thompson’s face, Kile was sure Marcus pushed it too far. She was about to intervene when Thompson turned to the other two guards and shouted. “He has authorization, open the gates now. That is an order.”

The young man, still seated at the table, quickly jumped to his feet. Clearly this was out of character for the guard named Thompson, but he had no intention of questioning his superior, instead, he ran into the gatehouse. There was a bit of commotion and a bit more shouting, but the gates were finally opened.

“You may pass,” Thomson told them and waved them through.

Kile couldn’t help but notice, Thomson seemed a little dazed, as if he knew what he was saying, wasn’t something he should be saying.

“Thank you, sir,” Marcus replied. He turned and gave Tullner a wink. “And that’s how it’s done.” He said, before riding Rose through the gates of Forthbar.

“I warned you Tullner,” Sandson said, riding past him, “Never get mixed up with Hunters.”

Once they were out of the city and put some distance between them and Forthbar, they felt a little more at ease, even though now, they were officially AWOL. They had successfully passed the first obstacle, which was getting out of the city. Now, all they had to do was, reach the rendezvous point in five days to meet up with Carter. It was still a good four day ride to the edge of the wastelands, and there may be more checkpoints to get through. They rode through the night and well into the morning, putting all thoughts of breakfast and sleep from their minds.

With routine updates from Bakara of the surrounding area, mostly pertaining to where the King’s troops were located, they were able to avoid notice and make themselves as inconspicuous as possible, but with Marcus leading the column, it wasn’t easy. When they rode through one of the smaller towns, on the very edge of Callor, he felt the need to greet everyone, even if they didn’t know him. The way the citizens clamored over each other just to shake his hand or touch his boot, Kile was sure it had more to do with his Edge, than with his fame. His Edge was more powerful than she originally thought. If he hadn’t been so instrumental in getting them out of the city, she would have ditched him in the first bar they came to.

“Must you?” she asked, riding alongside him.