Hunter's Beginning (Veller) (43 page)

“At least until the end of training.”

Of course that sounded a lot braver when she said it, in her mind she realized that she still had a couple of hours to go before the end of training.

“She’s right.” Carter added as he handed Daniel his sword. “If she backs down now and shows weakness, he’ll never let up until he breaks her.”

Well, that really cheered her up.

“I’ll be okay.” She said as she tried to grip her sword. Daniel was probably right, those two fingers don’t appear to be
moving as well as they once did.

“I’ll spar with her.” Carter replied.

Kile wasn’t sure she heard him right, it seemed like a very unlikely thing for him to do, even Daniel was amazed.

“You don’t have to look so surprised. I
’ve used a sword before. I can go easy on her so it doesn’t look like I’m going easier on her. If you or Alex tried you’ll probably do more harm than good.”

She had planned to spar with Alex, since Alex knew as little about sword
s as she did and she thought it would be easier on both of them, but what Cater said was true. If Alex got a little too zealous which he was apt to do, or a little too careless he could easily break more of her fingers.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

“It will be safer for you that way, and maybe Master Boraro won’t get involved if you’re sparing with me instead of Daniel. I have a feeling if he thinks your coasting he may have something to say.”

Again, another good point, Ca
rter was a lot smarter than Kile had given him credit for, except for the fact that he automatically assumed she would spar with Daniel.

He
led her to the outer edge of the List, away from the activity and away from the unwanted attention. Daniel and Alex paired off and Kile could see that they were not unfamiliar with the sword as each one landed some decent shots and blocked even more, in fact most of the cadets here knew their way around a blade. They were not great, not by a long shot, but at least they had some experience, that was more than she could claim.

Kile stood watching them and she could have watched them all day but Carter impatiently reminded her that dueling was not a spectator sport, which wasn’t exactly true but she understood what he meant.
He showed her how to stand and how to hold the wooden sword and even how to perform the series of cuts and thrusts that Boraro had used on her. The parts of the lecture that she had missed when she was preoccupied with the ground, but when their blades finally met, the pain in her hand was too much and she was forced to drop the sword.

“Kile pick it up.” Carter said urgently.

He didn’t have to tell her why it was so important, his eyes did that. He was looking somewhere over her right shoulder, but she didn’t really need that either. She could feel Boraro staring at the back of her head with all the malice he could muster. Kile lifted the sword, gripped it in spite of the pain and launched her own attack at Carter.

The larger boy was fast, a lot faster than she was as he easily set aside all of her attacks without even thinking about it. It was second nature to him, probably what comes of growing up the son of a blacksmith. She pushed the attack for as long as she could, but the momentum was quickly lost with each stroke as the pain only intensified. Carter seized his opportunity, not that there was a shortage of them, and put her on the defense, which was only worse and didn’t last nearly as long. She finally had to drop the sword as she clutched the broken fingers of her hand.

Daniel quickly broke off his attack on Alex, who, being Alex, took the opportunity to launch his own attack at his opponents undefended backside with the flat of the blade. At least that lightened the mood, for a moment.

“Let me see those fingers.” Daniel said, ignoring Alex.

As he moved her broken fingers, it sent a shock wave up Kile’s arm and she did everything she could to prevent herself from screaming, of course that meant punching Daniel in the shoulder.

“I’m only trying to help.” He said, rubbing his arm.

“Sorry.” She replied.

He took the hand again and this time was
gentle as he tried to fall into his Hunter’s edge.

“There
is no holding of hands on the List.” Master West barked as he came up behind her.

“She has two broken fingers sir, I can mend them.” Daniel protested.

“What, you a healer now cadet?”

“Well… actually yes I am.”

So much for snide remarks Kile thought as Master West found himself at a loss for words, regrettably not for long.

“By all means healer, apply your trade, but after the training period.”

“That's fine by me.” She said as she pulled her hand from Daniel before he could say anything else. “It’s feeling better already.”

“Here, take your weapon.” West said as he picked up the fallen blade and tossed it to her. Kile fought back the pain as she grabbed the sword.

“May we continue… sir?” She asked.

“By all means.” He replied, “But I think we should switch partners to make the evaluation… fair.”

So much for coasting through the first day. Master West motioned for four cadets to join him. With the way Kile’s luck was running she was not surprised that Eric was among the four.

“Pair off.” West ordered before stepping back to watch the action, or the mayhem.

Carter moved to challenge Eric, but he had other plans as he pushed past the boy to stand in front of Kile.

“What’s wrong Eric,
don’t want a real challenge?” Carter goaded, Eric said nothing as he tightened the grip on his sword.

“I think this will do nicely” West replied. “Now you may continue.”

“You should have left when you had the chance.” Eric said as he launched his attack.

Kile was forced to defend herself with every trick that Carter had shown her. Fortunately for her, Eric was nowhere near as good as he thought he was
. Carter would have been more than a match for him, even when he pulled his punches, but it really didn’t matter. She was in no condition to fight and found herself being forced back by every blow. Eric had no style, no finesse, but he had strength and that was all he really needed to put Kile down. She hit the ground, flat on her back which really didn’t do much for the condition she was in. Eric wasn’t going to wait for her to get to her feet, he came at her with an over head cut, but Kile rolled to one side, kicking out at Eric’s knee with her foot then rolled into a crouching stance. She could no longer hold onto the sword, the pain was just too much, so she shifted it to her left hand. Why she hadn’t thought of that before she’ll never know.

Eric cursed as he got back to his feet and came at
her again. This time she was able to set aside his blows easier now that she had a better grip on her weapon. She hadn’t noticed how clumsy of a combatant he was, how easy it was to counter his attacks, even for her. She had been concentrating so much on the pain in her right hand that she really hadn’t been studying his technique, or in his case, the lack thereof. He had been keeping her at the very edge of his circle, and using the full length and weight of his sword, and that was his flaw. She jumped back out of his perimeter and waited for the attack that she knew was coming, and Eric didn’t disappoint her. He leapt forward with a two hand, over the head full power cut, intending to break through her defenses and end the duel, much as Master Boraro had done earlier, but the outcome was very different. She wasn’t there. He lost track of her as he brought down his sword and she managed to sidestep the attack slipping into his blind spot. As his blade struck the ground, where she should have been, She quickly stomped on the tip. The wooden sword was snapped out of Eric’s hands. The counter attack did not only disarm him, it surprised him as she placed the point of her own wooden blade to the side of his neck before he even realized what had happened.

Eric batted the weapon away.

“That’s not fair, she cheated.” He cried.

“Of course you would say that, you’re dead.” Alex called out from somewhere in the crowd that had formed. The
laughter that followed did not improve Eric’s disposition.

Carter strategically stepped between Eric and Kile. “How do you figure that?” He asked.

“She used her left hand, it confused me. How am I supposed to fight against that?”

“
You're right, how do you fight against something like that?” West asked as he looked over at Kile.

She was surprised, not by his words, but by the look on his face. The condescending smirk wasn’t there anymore; the air of superiority wasn’t there anymore. Could that actually be a look of approval as West walked away.

“This isn’t over.” Eric said as he pointed at Kile over Carter’s shoulder.

“You should get some new material. We’ve heard it all before.” Alex shouted
back.

Kile collapsed on her cot, she had a headache, a pain in her side, a bruise on her legs as well as half a dozen other places and her right hand was splinted and bandaged. Not bad for her first day at combat training, it could have been a lot worse, at least she was still breathing. Fortunately the bandages would only have to be kept on for a day or two thanks to Daniel. It was more for the peace of mind of the other healers at the hall than anything else. Although Master Bealer did voice his concern about the delay of treatment, and even with Daniel’s abilities it would still need time to heal.

-
Kile okay? -

She looked up to see Vesper sitting on
the small ebony box on the dresser, and she could have sworn she saw a look of concern on the yarrow’s face. It wasn’t that she didn’t think he wasn’t concerned; it was just that she didn’t think she could see an expression on a yarrow’s face.

“Kile’s fine.” She said as she dropped her head back to her pillow.

Vesper leapt from the dresser onto her bed then climbed up onto her chest.

-
Kile not fine -

“Well… as good as can be expected th
en.” She replied.

-
Why do it? -

“Good question. I guess… because I have to.”

- Why have to? -

“Maybe ‘have to’ wasn’t the right word, it’s because I want to.”

- Why want to? -

“Because I want to be a
Hunter.”

-
Why? -

“Because I have to be a
Hunter.”

There was a therapeutic quality to talking with Vesper. He always
seemed to get straight to the point, although she never did figure out if she was there because she wanted to be, or there because she had to be, the knocking on the door postponed that debate. Vesper scurried back to his bottom drawer as Kile got up to open the door.

“Kile girl, you in there?” She heard as she reached for the handle. She didn’t have to open the door, she could just pretend she was asleep, or maybe she
just wasn’t in. The idea was tempting but she opened the door anyway.

“What now Alex?”

“Come on, we’re going to get some practice in before the supper shift.”

“I don’t know.” She replied. The idea of getting whacked around with a wooden stick a bit more today wasn’t very appealing.

“Come on, we need a fourth and Carter says you need all the practice you can get.” Alex replied.

He didn’t wait for an
answer; he was half way down the hall expecting her to follow. It would serve him right if she just went back to bed.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” She said as she grabbed her hat and
proceeded after him.

Alex headed up to the stables where the other two were already engaged in a mock battle. Carter was calling out attacks as he preformed them for Daniel to block as Kile stopped to watch. Carter was good, a lot better than she was, but than anyone was better than she was, even Daniel was better than she was and he didn’t like to fight. The real question was how good Carter was compared to Master Boraro. It was a safe assumption that Master Boraro had to be one of the best, otherwise why would the guild appoint him as their weapons master.

“About time you guys got here.” Daniel said as he waved off Carter’s next move. “I’m getting tired of getting hit by him.”

“What? You want us to hit you instead?” Alex asked.

“You’re training with Carter for a while.” Daniel said as he threw the practice sword to Alex. He then turned to Kile. “How about you?”

“I’ll watch.” She said.

“I meant how are you, the hand okay?”

“It doesn’t hurt as bad as it did this morning, if that’s what you mean.”

“He didn’t have to do that you know.”

“Yes he did.” She replied as she sat down against the wall of the stable. “He was sending a message, one that I received loud and clear.”

“And what message was that?” Daniel asked as he took a seat beside her.

“That I’m not welcome here.” She said, but there was more to it, a lot more to it. It was one thing to have a grievance with a student that shouldn’t be admitted, it was another thing to try to remove that student’s head with a wooden stick. There was something
more going on with Master Boraro and she would have to find out what it was if she wanted to survive.