Hunter's Beginning (Veller) (15 page)

“Well what?

“Does she or doesn’t she?” Erin finished the question.

“Who?”

“Kile Veller.” They shouted in unison.

“Oh… darling child… darling child.”

Garret took a long drink from his tanker as Erin dropped her head onto her papers. This was going to be a very long debate.

“Sir.” She said, taking a deep breath and remaining calm. “Do you… think… that Kile Veller has
the proper qualifications to be a Hunter?” She asked.

“Oh… is that what w
e’re discussing.”

“Yes, that’s what we’re discussing.” Garret was on the verge of shouting.

“Oh, well then, carry on.” Mathew replied with a wave of his hand.

“No sir, you have to agree or disagree.”

“Oh… I disagree.”

“With who sir?”
Erin asked. She thought she had found an ally, now it looked like she was alone and Kile was on the next carriage back home.

“Who said she should be a
Hunter?” Mathew asked, Looking between Garret, who was grinning in a clear victory as he leaned back in his chair, and Erin who was staring at the Guild Master in disbelief.

“It is Erin Silvia’s position that
Kile Veller has the proper qualifications to become a Hunter.”

“Yes…” Mathew replied nodding as he looked
over at Garret. “Then I disagree with you Master Boraro. I feel she would make an excellent Hunter.”

Garret’s jaw dropped as his face slowly started to turn
red. He finished off his ale and slammed the Tankard down. “I guess that’s two for and two opposed.” He said through clenched teeth.

“I have to agree with Master Boraro.” West spoke up, not that anyone really thought he would disagree with Garret. “She just doesn’t have what it would take to be a
Hunter.” He added.

Folkstaff pushed the brim of his hat up just high enough so he could look over at West. “Do you know what it takes?” He asked the
soldier, West said nothing.

Garret knew that the only way to end this debate quickly was to get the Guild Master on his side. If Mathew said no to the girl
’s admittance into the academy, then no amount of voting would override that decision.

“Sir, even you can see that she just doesn’t
have the qualifications. Look at her actions in the combat scenarios.” Garret said, grabbing the papers on the table and pulling out one of the sheets. “She was killed by a valrik about five minutes into the exam.”

“They were all killed, except for the few that ran away and she lasted a lot longer than five minutes.”
Erin argued. “Besides, that doesn’t tell us anything.”

“It tells us how she would respond in an adverse situation.” Bells added in his hissing voice.

“You’re right, and what did she do. She sacrificed herself to save a teammate another Hunter.” Erin added.

“Not exactly a
Hunter, She sacrificed herself to save an idiot, who, I may add, ended up getting killed about three second after she did, some sacrifice.” Garret remarked.

“One
cannot be held responsible for how another spent the last moments of his life. She saw only to save the life of another.” Folkstaff added.

“For what purpose. This boy… this…. Alex Bartlow, for what reason was this boy’s life so important. What did the team benefit by loosing her and gaining him?”

“So you admit that the team would have been better served if she had lived and he had died?” Folkstaff remarked

“I admit no such thing, only that she, knowing the inferior quality of this boy, chose to throw her own life away for his. A very poor decision.”

“Then that should be reviewed under his evaluation, not hers.”

“Fair enough.” Garret said as he addressed the sleeping
Hunter. “But you have to admit that she didn’t kill the Hobgoblin when she had the chance.”

“Failure to slay one’s foe in battle is the sign of a coward.” West chimed in.

“It is not in the Hunter’s nature to kill for the sake of killing. The sparing of a life, even that of your enemy shows great compassion, a trait that should be acknowledged, not condemned.” Mathew replied. Erin just eyed him warily. Was he an idiot or wasn’t he?

“Fine.’ Garret replied, also a little confused at the moment. “Then
… what about the psychiatric evaluations, the dream interpretation.” He said, throwing down yet another page of the file.

“That is a point that interested me as well.” Bells remarked. “In my opinion, it is rather troubling that a child should identify so much with… the aggressor.”

“What’s that suppose to mean?” Erin asked. She was beginning to realize that they had planned this entire argument out before the evaluations had even begun.

“She identified too much with the wolves in her nightmare, the beast as opposed to
… the guardian, or for that matter, her own self which she clearly placed in the scenario. This shows a decided lack of identity and rather hostile motives, is this what you want as a Hunter.”

“I think it’s the
Orseen blood.” Boraro mumbled.

Erin
heard him but choose to ignore him.

“I think I understand that dream better than you.” She said before she could restrain herself. She didn’t want to talk ab
out the dream, about that night, or about what happened, not here, and not now. It wouldn’t do Kile any favors.

“And how is that?” Bells asked.

Erin thought for a moment. How much should she tell? How much could she tell? She really didn’t understand all of it herself.

“Because I was there.” She finally said.

“What do you mean, what are you talking about?”

“Are you saying the nightmare is an event that occurred in the child life, based upon actual events?” Folkstaff asked.

“Yes.” Erin replied.

“And you were present when these events took place?”

“Yes. Five years ago, I was the Hunter that found Kile lost in the woods just outside of Riverport, It was the incident that she wrote about in her essay, and the basis of her nightmares.”

“So you… were the female figure in her nightmare, the guardian that saved her from the wolves.”

“Yeah, yeah, something like that.” Erin replied, but it wasn’t anything like that. Something did happen in those woods that night, but it wasn’t her that saved them from the wolves, not the way Kile remembered it.

“Then why would she
lose her identity to the beast as opposed to her own self, if, as you say, the incident actually took place. What did happen?”

“What about the final test.” Mathew interrupted. “She was the only one to find a solution to the final test.”

“We weren’t talking about the final test. We were talking about the dream interpretation.” Bells responded

“Ye
s, but dream interpretation is so… boring. Everybody sees something different in it... don’t they? You see a child with aggressive issues, I see a child that wants to run with the wolves. You see… two interpretations and no answers. Now the final exam, that was interesting.”

“You have to admit, she did find a solution.” Folkstaff remarked.

“There isn’t a solution to the final test. It’s meant to evaluate how one faces failure.” Garret explained.

“But she did solve it.” Mathew replied.

“No, she broke it.”

“There was nothing in the rules that says one could not break the test in order to solve it.” Folkstaff added. “Besides, the
means were right there, just because we didn’t see it when we took the test doesn’t mean it wasn’t possible.”

“It was a fluke, dumb luck. If the mouse hadn’t gotten caught in the stasis field she would have. You know that as well as I. If she hadn’t knocked the gem so close to the door, it would have closed off the room preventing her from going back in to get the gem in the first place. It was a string of luck.”

“Luck or not, She seized the opportunities that the fates had provided for her whether they should have been available or not.” Folkstaff said as he sat up in his seat. “In my opinion, that is the mark of a great Hunter, therefore… I must agree with Erin. Kile Veller should be given a chance to prove herself at the academy, if not for her sake, then for the sake of the Academy.”

“That makes it three for and three opposed.” Mathew said. “It all comes down to Morgan.”

“What comes down to Morgan?”

Where once
stood an empty seat was now filled with the presence of a middle aged man draped in yellow robes. He had a narrow, gaunt face that was framed in white hair. One thin finger pushed a pair of wire rimmed glasses further up his pointed nose.

“Nice of you to make time for us.” Garret snapped, more out of surprised than anger at seeing the man suddenly appear.

“Time? One does not make time. One only uses the time that one has.” He said, leaning back in his chair. “Am I to guess that the topic of such a heated discussion would be one Kile Veller?”

“And how would you know that mystic.”

“Simple deduction. How many cadets could you refer to as she?”

“He’s got a point there.” West remarked, which only received a stern look from Garret.

“Suppose you tell us whether or not SHE has what it takes to be a Hunter, or can’t you deduce that.”

“It would appear that you fail to understand my
role in these evaluations. I do not make my decision on the bases of your tests, but simply on the evaluation of the individual and their influence of the mystic arts. Now, if you will, there is a total of three hundred and six cadets who have applied for enrollment into the Hunter’s Academy. It would appear that you have wasted enough time on one, let us now continue with the next three hundred and five shall we.”

***~~~***

7

Kile Veller lay on the cot, staring up at the cracks in the ceiling. She was sure there were a few more up there since she had last counted, before the test took place. She was beginning to wonder if those cracks may have been inadvertently caused by her. She had not counted on the door breaking, or the wall for that matter, or even the ceiling. It all came down to shoddy craftsmanship and a building inspector on the take. There was no way that was up to code and it couldn’t have been all her fault, but in the end it didn’t matter, they would find a way to blame it on her. Anything that got broken back home was automatically her fault, even if she was nowhere near it. Then what? Will they make her pay for it? They could try but all the money she had went to the expense of getting to the exams in the first place.

Kile sat up and looked over at the small table in the center of the room. She had no idea how hungry she had been, but she made short work of the food that they had
provided for her upon her return. Unfortunately the table was now void of anything edible, and she was still hungry, she was probably making up for all those opportunities she skipped during the test. It was funny how much more relaxed she felt now that the burden was lifted. There was no way they were ever going to let her into the academy now.

It had been hours since the test had ended, what was taking them so long, probably tallying up the cost of the repairs she thought as she walked over to the table and searched the empty bowls for anything she may have missed. Say what you like about the place but they can set a good table.

Kile paced the floor and even put an ear to the door, still there was nothing. No sound, no noise, just silence. Maybe everyone went home and forgot about her. She picked up the small ebony box that had been lying on the floor near the door where she had dropped it. She had thought about opening it, just to see what was inside, but truth be told she wasn’t even sure the test was over. It would be her luck to open the box now; just to fail after all she had gone through. It was funny, she thought, how one clings on to those last lonely strands of hope even when all else is said and done. She placed the small ebony box carefully on the table and then tried the handle of the door again, still locked.

Kile returned to the cot and stared up at the cracks in the ceiling. No, there were definitely more there now
than there had been before as she began to count them one more time. The noise at the door made her lose her place as she jumped to her feet. It was the sound of a deadbolt being drawn back, which confused her since she had never remembered seeing a deadbolt on the door in the first place. Here it was, the verdict. Lay it on me warden, I can take it.

The door swung open and an aged man in long white robes peered in. He looked around the room once, as if making sure it was safe enough for him to enter. He was another mystic she figured. It was easy to tell from the way he was dressed and the look on his face as he surveyed the room. He looked past her several times as his eyes were slowly drawn to the ceiling. He shook his head, and sighed before he finally
acknowledged her.

“You will come this way.” The Mystic said in a soft and calm voice.
He didn’t wait for her to answer, he just turned and left.