Hunter's Beginning (Veller) (8 page)

Kile picked the stone up.

“With your mind, your mind.” He said a little more agitated this time.

She quickly placed the stone back down, and when she did, she was surprised to feel it touch the solid surface of the table that wasn’t there which just annoyed her even more. Why not just have a table? Why make it invisible? Why do mystics always have to do everything the hard way? She leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes and this time concentrated on the stone, picturing herself picking it up. When she opened her eyes, the stone hadn’t moved, but the mystic looked even more confused, and that worried Kile even more. If she was confused over the test, that was one thing. If the instructor was confused then something was terribly wrong.

“D
id you feel any connection with the stone?” The mystic asked.

“No sir.” Kile replied

This time the yellow Mystic didn’t even use his skill as he picked up the stone and dropped it back into the small wooden box. He then pushed the glass of water toward her.

“Perhaps the sphere of water, it does tend to be more elusive.” The yellow mystic mumbled mostly to himself. “I want you to try to move the water. Manipulate it, feel the strands and move the water.”

Kile wasn’t sure what stands she was suppose to be feeling, but closed her eyes and again tried to concentrate, this time on the water. First she tried to move it, then just to cause it to ripple. She wasn’t looking for much, anything would have made her happy, anything to just get through this evaluation, but the still water remained still.

The yellow mystic picked up the glass of water and dropped it back into the small wooden box. She couldn’t help but wonder why the water stayed in the glass and didn’t spill out over everything, she even tried to peek in the box to see if it did, but the Mystic pulled out two more objects and placed them upon the unseen table. One was a coin the other was a branch from a tree. He slid the coin forward first.

It was an average looking coin, bearing the likeness of the king's great grandfather, or possible his great-great grandfather, she never learned the lineage of the kings. Living in a place such as Riverport one dose not have much contact with royalty. She hated to admit it, but she would be hard pressed to pick the king out of a line up.

“I want you to reach out to the coin.”

Kile shrugged and reached for the coin, but upon seeing the Mystics face she quickly stopped herself.

“I know, I know, with my mind.”

She closed her eyes and again pictured herself reached out to the coin. But she didn’t have any more luck with the coin than she was with any of the other objects and this was getting very boring.

“
Let us try the branch.” She heard the mystic say.

Without opening her eyes she diverted her
attention to the branch, and again she wasn’t having any luck. It just wasn’t there. She didn’t know what was supposed to happen but she figured it had to be something; the mystic was waiting for something. He just shook his head and looked more confused.

“It’s just no use. I just don’t… feel… anything.” She admitted in defeat.

The yellow mystic wasn’t paying much attention to her as he pulled a book from the small wooden box that, by all rights, should not have been able to hold all these things and if anything, should be wet from dropping a full glass of water into it. He placed the book on the table and Kile began to wonder if she was suppose to move the words with her mind or something, but the Mystic said nothing as he set to flicking through the pages. It was clear that he was looking for something, but she didn’t know what, and she was afraid to ask. He slowed down his scanning and began to read as Kile sat and watched, but the more he read, the more confused he appeared. It was several minutes before he realized that Kile was still sitting there.

“Yes… yes, you may leave now.”

“That’s it?” She asked. “Did I… pass?”

“What… oh uh… yeah… you passed.” He replied, not taking his eyes from the page that he was reading.

Kile slid out of the overstuffed wingback chair and moved quietly around the Mystic. She didn’t want to disturb him any more than she thought he already was, but she was presented with yet another problem. There was no door to leave by. Was this part of the test she wondered? At this point she would have even welcomed a window to crawl out of. She walked around the room a few times before stopping beside his chair.

“Excuse me sir, but… the door?”

“The door? Oh… oh yes, the door.”

He waves his hand dismissively and the door appeared on the wall behind him. The mystic arts were impressive at
times, but she still didn’t like them. Kile pulled the door open and quickly exited the room.

“By the Gods you’re alive.” Alex cried as he jumped up from his desk and wrapped his arms around her. Kile stood for a moment, more confused than ever as she surveyed her surroundings. The door she had just come through was gone, and she was back in the classroom, standing beside her desk. The other cadets were all there as well, some looked rather dazed, others looked terrified but all of them were alive, even the tall thin kid she had seen with the spear in his back was alive. Daniel was sitting at his own desk, and looking rather ragged as he looked up at Kile and gave her a grin. Alex had been crying, which was clear to see from the redness of his eyes as he quickly backed away from Kile and wiped them on the sleeve of his shirt.

“I… I mean it
's… great to see you’re okay.” He stammered.

“Yeah, I’m sure. What do you mean I’m alive?”

“Well… the last time we saw you, you had just gotten your head split in two by a large valrik. It was probably the most disgusting sight I had ever seen.” Daniel replied.

“Sorry I couldn’t be there.”

“It was all an illusion, but it was so real.” Alex replied as he dropped back into his seat.

“I don’t know what’s going on.” Kile said, shaking her head as she took her own seat.

“Well… so far we figured out that the battle and the deaths were all illusions.” Daniel replied as he waved her attention to the front of the room to where the huge double doors should have been. The wall was completely bare.

“There’s no door.” Kile remarked. What had surprised her the most was that she wasn’t surprised at all.

“No door, no room, no gulrik, no valrik, it was all an illusion of some kind.” Daniel replied. “Damnedest thing I’d ever seen.”

“What about you.” Kile asked. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll be alright, I’m just… a little worn out.”

“You took so long to wake up, we thought you… might have actually… died… in the illusion.” Alex said.

“Is that possible?” She asked.

“Don’t really know.” Daniel replied “I guess it is possible, if it’s real enough.”

“And the mystic arts test, was that an illusion too.”

“No, that was real… well, real enough, as real as anything around here.” Daniel replied. “But… you
’re back. That means you passed.”

“What do you mean because I’m back? I’m not really following you. I’m not really following anything. I don’t know what’s an illusion and what’s real anymore.”

“Well, right now we’re real. The battled was completely an illusion. The mystic arts evaluation was… kind of half and half.” Alex replied.

“That doesn’t help much.” Kile said.

“Regardless, how did you do? Did you find your sphere of influence?”

“Alex.” Daniel warned. “You know
Hunters aren’t supposed to reveal their edge.”

“If you haven’t noticed, we’re not
Hunters… yet, and just telling what sphere you’re influenced by should be alright, we don’t have edges yet. Besides, Kile knows ours.”

“I don’t… know what my sphere is… I
… I don’t know if I even have one.”

“You have to have one.” Alex remarked. “What object did you connect with?”

“I didn’t connect with any of them.”

“That’s not possible. You should have connected with at least one of them. Otherwise… they would have taken you out by now.”

“Taken me out?” She asked. Did that come under the heading of surviving?

“He means escorted out. Some of the other cadets have already been removed from the room. We figured that they must have failed the Mystic arts evaluation, you know, they probably don’t have enough influence in the arts to succeed as a
Hunter. We’re not really sure. Nobody is telling us anything.” Daniel added. “They’ve been taking them out one by one as they woke up.”

Kile looked around the room to see if anyone was coming for her, but nobody was moving in her direction. She hadn’t noticed before, but the place was looking a little less populated.

“He says I passed, but I didn’t… really feel anything, did you guys?”

“Well yeah, but then we already knew before we even went in what our spheres were. Are you sure you didn’t feel any connection with any of the objects.” Daniel asked. “You didn’t really have to do anything with them. I mean you didn’t have to succeed in lighting the candle or moving the stone.
Just as long as you made some kind of connection the mystic would have known.”

“What do you mean?”

“He would have felt the connection, even if you didn’t.” Daniel replied. “Did he say anything?”

“He said a lot of things.”

“Yes, but he should have told you what sphere you were influenced by, even if it’s not enough to be a Hunter you’re still influenced by a sphere. What did he say after the last test, the water test, did he say anything?”

“For me the last test would have been what? The branch test?”

“The what?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know,
it was a branch from a tree, oak I think, I’m not sure. He put away the other items and took out an old coin and a branch.”

“He didn’t do that for me.” Daniel replied.

“Me neither.” Alex added.

“I don’t know?” Kile shrugged, “He did for me”

“Wood… wood and metal” Daniel replied. “That's what he did, he tested you for the spheres of wood and metal.”

“Come on Danny, why would he do that?” Alex asked.

“What other reason is there?”

“Maybe she’s a Freak.” Alex said, and then quickly realized what he said as he clamped his hands over his mouth.

“A what?” Kile asked staring at Alex, who suddenly looked a lot smaller to her as he cringed under her glare.

“A Freak is a term that some use to describe unconventional magic.” Daniel laughed.

“I don’t think I like being referred to as a Freak.”

“Well, Alex is right about something… he must have seen something if he was testing you for the sphere
s of Wood and Metal. There’re not taught at the Mystics’ Tower… well… not anymore.”

“Why not?” Kile asked.

“There just weren’t enough practitioners.”

“What happen to them?” Kile asked, but before Daniel could give an answer, the door in the back of the room opened and Mathew Latherby entered, followed closely by Garret Boraro.

The other boys quickly took to their seats as Kile took to hers and waited to hear what it was that Master Latherby would tell them next. He stepped upon the platform and looked over the room, stroking his well trimmed beard. He appeared to be counting those that were left, and Kile got the distinct impression that he was disappointed. Maybe not so much disappoint but saddened by how few there were. If what he said was right, that each one was to be individually evaluated after the exams, then those that still remained were not safe. He turned his back to the cadets and whispered something to Garret who nodded in agreement before exiting the room. Kile was sure that as Garret Boraro passed her, he had given her a look that was not very encouraging, although it could have been her imagination.

“Rooms have been made available for you. Tomorrow you will start the next and final stage of your exam. Good luck.”

They were separated and then lead to their individual rooms in what appeared to be different parts of the tower by mystics dressed all in white who either knew very little about the exams or were strictly forbidden to speak of them. It didn’t bother Kile
too much since she wouldn’t have known what to ask if they had bothered to answer her.

What did bother her was that she didn’t have time to finish her conversation with Daniel about the new spheres of influence, not that it would really matter in the long run. She felt no more of a connection to wood or metal
than anything else the yellow mystic had presented her with, but it was nice to know that somebody was willing to tell her something. She felt so foolish. She knew nothing about the mystics or the Hunters. Her only hope was that there were others that knew even less than she did, but, knowing the way her luck was running, they would have been the ones that had already been escorted out of the tower.

The room was anything but
luxurious; in fact it was little more than an empty cell with a single cot shoved against one of the walls. Kile sat down on the edge of the cot and stared into the opposite corner of the room, since there wasn’t anything else to stare at. She was getting rather hungry and didn’t get much to eat except for the Taka fruit, and even that she didn’t get much more than a mouth full out of. Was this another part of the test, to see how the cadets handled starvation? She wouldn’t put it past them. It could pass as a form of survival test. She lay down on the cot and stared up at the ceiling for a change of view, it wasn’t much different from the dark corner of the room.

She had survived the testing so far. Whether she ultimately passed or not would be entirely up to the panel of judges or
whatever they were calling themselves. Erin Silvia would be one of them. Would Erin vote for her because she was the only girl, or would she base her decision on the test scores, however they scored them? Kile was fairly sure that Garret would vote against her in spite of how well or how poorly she did, for some reason the weapon’s master didn’t approve of her being here. He wasn’t alone either, from what she could tell from most of the boys, they weren’t very pleased sharing their testing day with a girl. She knew coming into this wasn’t going to be easy, and that she wouldn’t be very popular, but she didn’t really want to be popular, she wanted to be a Hunter, the real question now was whether or not she had the qualifications.

She went over the scores in her mind, or at least how she figured them out. Without
knowing what was a test and what wasn’t, or even what the outcome of the test was supposed to be, her calculations weren’t very favorable. Would marrying that little troll of a boy be all that bad she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

***~~~***

4

The wolves were coming, they were getting closer. The winter had been harsh that year, and there was no food in the highlands, they were hungry and a hungry wolf knows no boundaries. They had only been seen on the outer edges of Riverport up until now, but they were getting closer. Livestock had gone missing, and worse.

She knew they were coming, she didn’t know how or why she knew, only that she knew. It was as if she could feel them, as if she was one of them. Racing across the frozen ground, the cold winter winds blowing
through her fur, the heat of the pack running alongside her. There was something in the forest, something that wasn’t supposed to be there, something that was fair game. They crossed the frozen river without stopping, twelve of them. The rest of the pack would be waiting behind for them to bring something back. It was food, or it was starvation.

She could smell the burning wood of the camp fire, and she could smell the scent of the
vir. The vir had made a mistake. The vir had entered the forest and was now on their territory. During these hard times, the vir was as good as any livestock, the vir was fair game.

She crested the hill top and stopped to survey her hunting grounds. It was easy to find the camp that the
vir had so foolishly made. From here she could see two of them, both females of the species. One was young, no more than nine winters. The other was older and therefore more dangerous. She held a weapon of metal in her hands and stood between the wolves and the child, but it was the child that had drawn her attention. The child was something special, the child was what she wanted. She sent the signal to her pack, and they moved as one.

They circled the camp, coming in on all sides at once, they had done it before, and it proved effective in the past. The older female
vir with her weapon of metal stood her ground, but she didn’t really matter, she didn’t really stand a chance. She was outnumbered, and she was soon surrounded, but she would not give up. The wolves remained cautious, they had seen such weapons before and knew of the pain that they could inflict. Their numbers were dwindling, and even the loss of one pack member was a price too high to pay. They kept circling, keeping the female vir off guard, keeping her moving with them, always with them, always watching, her weapon of metal held high and ready to strike, but she couldn’t watch them all.

The wolf saw her mark, she waited for her chance. It was her job to strike the first blow. The female
vir had made a mistake, she turned her back on the wolf and the wolf seized her opportunity, but she wasn’t fast enough, the weapon can down, she tried to get out of the way but desperation made her careless and hunger had made her slow. The metal bit hard into her side, the pain exploded in her head, the child cried out.

“RUN!”

Kile fell upon the floor of her small cell like room. The pain in her side was unbearable, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t think, she could hardly breathe. She lay there for what felt like hours clutching at the wound on her side, yet only a few moments had passed before she was able to catch her breath. When she slowly moved her hands away, there was no blood, there was no wound, there was nothing. She was still too weak to move but managed to roll over on her back and stared up at the ceiling. The cold stone was actually a welcome relief as she wiped the sweat from her brow. She wasn’t sure what had just happened, it took her a few minutes to realize where she was and why she was on the floor.

It was a dream, but it was so real, more so
than anything she had ever experienced before. She tried to recall it, but when she closed her eyes all she could see were the gray eyes of the wolf staring back at her through the darkness. Did it mean something? Was she forgetting something? Was she remembering something? Was she even mentally stable anymore? She tried to sit up, but the spinning room prevented that. The pain in her side had been replaced by the nausea in her stomach.

When she was finally able to see straight she noticed a small round short legged table in the middle of her once empty cell like room. It wasn’t there before she had gone to sleep, that much she was sure of. It would have been hard to miss. It was about four
feet in diameter and stood two feet off the floor, upon it was an assortment of jars, plates, cups, utensils, breads, cheeses, fruits and even a ceramic craft that held something to drink. This was probably their idea of a balanced breakfast. The problem was how did they get into her room without her knowing it? She really didn’t like the idea of mystics in robes setting up a table of food in her room as she slept, of course it could have just appeared by itself and that wouldn’t have surprised her either.

She crawled over to the table to see what they had actually set out for her. She even went as far as to open a few of the jars to see what the mystics had crammed
into them, but just the smell of some of the contents had been enough to turn her already upset stomach. One thing did catch her attention though. In the center of the table among the jars and under a cloth napkin was a small polished ebony box, about three inches square, with a lid that was adorned with intricately carved runes, not that Kile knew what runes were. She had heard of them once, from that traveling mystic that had passed through town, and figured that this is what they would look like, if they were runes.