Hunter's War (Legend of the Wild Hunter Book 4) (7 page)

At that moment, Tullner wanted nothing more than to run back to camp and beyond. The fields of home were looking more and more inviting. He had seen his share of strange things and wanted nothing more to do with them.

Kile sprang away from the tree, moving farther away from where Tullner believed the camp was located. Against his better judgment, he followed her. She was his responsibility and his orders were to keep her from harm, but he was starting to wonder who was supposed to keep her from harming him.

She stopped suddenly and motioned for him to do the same. He was grateful to see her eyes were back to normal, although, he was starting to doubt there was anything normal about this girl.

“There,” she whispered.

Tullner crept up beside her and looked in the direction she was pointing. It took him a moment to see what it was she wanted him to see. His first thought was that of a thin child, standing in the forest. It was about three, possibly four, feet tall, with long, thin arms that hung down at its side. Its skin was the color of river mud, and its head was narrow with yellow eyes that reflected what little light there was in the forest. It moved without a sound as if wasn’t actually there and was only a vision his mind was using to drive him mad.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Gulrik,” she replied. “Kin to the valrik, but smaller… and more psychotic.”

“Is that what’s been following us?”

“One of them, at least. There should be more.”

“I don’t see any more, I think he’s alone,” Tullner replied, scanning the forest.

“Don’t bet on it.”

“I think we can take him,” he said and started to get to his feet.

“Are you mad?” she hissed, pulling him back down. “We should get back to camp and inform your Sergeant Wargner.”

“He won’t believe you without proof.” Tullner explained.

“Then we have to make him believe. The only advantage we have now, is they don’t know, we know, they’re there.”

Tullner never heard what she said. He was already half way to the lone gulrik.

The drawing of his sword sliced thought the silence, like metal on bone. One hit was all he would need to take this thing down, but when he swung, there was nothing there. The creature's speed surprised him and before he knew it, it got behind him. Turning quickly, he blocked the gulrik’s blade. Although it was fast, it wasn’t powerful. He was sure he could keep the creature at bay, and might have been able beat it.

“Tullner, behind you.”

He turned just in time to avoid an attack from a second gulrik who came out of nowhere. These creatures didn’t make a sound as they moved through the tall grass. Fighting in unison, they drove him back and systematically broke down his defenses. One of their blades slid under Tullner’s sword, nicking the side of his leg. The wound wasn’t deep, but it burned and it felt as if his entire leg was on fire. The second gulrik came in high, working off his companion’s distraction. Tullner didn’t have time to get his blade up and knew he made his first, and last, mistake. He tried to dodge the attack when something large slammed into him, knocking him out of the way. When he hit the ground he lost his glasses and wasn’t able to see what saved him. All he knew was a large gray blur was now standing over him, defending him against the two gulrik, who were keeping their distance. They started to circle, splitting up and coming in on both sides. When the gray blur went for one of the gulrik, the second one tried to attack it from behind, but something stopped it.

Frantically searching the ground for his glasses, Tullner found them and quickly put them on, just in time to see Kile parry one of the gulrik’s attacks. She deflected its weapon with the blade in her left hand and drove the blade in her right hand through its chest as the small creature dropped to the ground. The remaining gulrik took to the woods with two wolves in pursuit. She watched them run and it seemed to Tullner, she wanted desperately to join in the hunt, but instead, she turned to where he was laying.

“You idiot,” She shouted, opening the pouch on her belt. She knelt down beside him and opened a small vile containing a blue powder which she applied to the wound on his leg. Tullner wasn’t looking at her, or the powder, but at the large gray wolf who sat behind her.

“Fortunately, it's not deep,” she said, and she started to bandage the wound. “Gulrik’s tend to poison their blades”

“Poison?”

“It’s not lethal, but it does burn and if not treated I’m told it can get worse. Lucky for you, a friend of mine is a brilliant healer.”

She looked up when two wolves emerged from the forest.

“Don’t move,” she warned him and walked to where the wolves waited.

Tullner slowly looked around him. They were now surrounded by a total of five gray wolves as well as three dead gulrik.

-We are sorry, we lost it.-

The wolf, known as Tyloner, told Kile when she approached. His words were filled with visions of the gulrik moved faster and farther into the woods, until he was swallowed up by the darkness.

“It’s alright. I underestimated their speed, I didn’t think they could move that fast.”

-Is the vir okay?-

The second wolf asked, looking past Kile to where Tullner was even now trying to get to his feet.

“He’ll live,” Kile replied, although she couldn’t help but detect a serious lack of any sincerity in the wolf’s words.

-Too bad,-

The wolf replied and headed back to the others.

“Thank you again Tyloner, for your assistance.”

-Always Kile, you have but to ask. It has been many cycles since you have walked in these woods.-

“I’m afraid it might be a few more before I can come back,” she replied. “The vir are at war with the Uhyre.”

-Yes, we have heard such things.-

“Then you should move your pack further north, it may not be safe here anymore.”

-You may be right. The hunting has been bad as of late, although the journey will not be an easy one. You will rejoin your pack, then?-

“I don’t have much of a choice at the moment. I can’t leave them just yet. If I bring back one of the gulrik’s bodies, that might help them better understand.”

-We shall stay in the area for as long as your pack is here, should you need us again.-

“Thank you again, Tyloner.”

She bid the wolf goodbye and watched as he led his pack off into the woods, leaving her alone with Tullner. How much of this was she going to have to explain? Wiping her blade on the back of her leg, she sheathed it before returning to the wounded soldier.

“How’s the leg?” she asked.

“What exactly happened?”

“We won. Now, how’s your leg?”

“It's fine... I guess. How exactly did we win?”

“Can you walk on it?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t hurt anymore. It wasn’t that bad to begin with.”

“Good,” she said, and motioned to the dead gulrik. “Pick that thing up and let’s get back to camp.”

Tullner lugged the dead gulrik back through the woods. He wrapped it in his cloak to make it easier for him to carry, not so much physically, since the creatures were rather small, but mentally. He couldn’t take looking at it any longer.

He was surprised at just how far they had actually gone and realized, if he was alone, he wouldn’t have found his way back. Kile, on the other hand, knew exactly where they were going and led him right into the center of camp.

“Sergeant Wargner, they’re back,” a soldier cried out when the two emerged from the forest.

Wargner stormed across the campground toward them, looking more livid than he usually was.

“Where the hell have you been, Corporal?” he shouted. “Do you think this is some social gathering for your amusement?”

“No sir… we were…”

“You were what, Corporal?”

“It’s just that, sir…”

“You think you can wander off where you please. We are not back in your little hick town where you can take your girl off into the woods for a…”

“Don’t even go there,” Kile shouted, pushing between them.

“You’re already in a world of trouble, don’t even start with me.”

Turning, Kile grabbed the corner of the cloak which Tullner was carrying. She gave it a quick jerk and flipped the lifeless body of the gulrik in the air. It landed at the Sergeant’s feet, who, she was happy to see, actually jumped back in surprise.

“What the hell is that?” he shouted.

“That is a gulrik. And they have been following us for the last two days.”

“How is this possible?” he asked.

Kile looked down at the gulrik and shrugged.

“They have feet, they can walk.”

“That’s not what I meant,” the Sergeant said, grinding his teeth before taking a deep breath. He directed his next question to Tullner. “Was he the only one?”

“No, sir, there was a total of four, that I saw, could have been more. We were able to eliminate three of them, but one got away.”

The Sergeant went back to shouting.

“You let one escape?”

“It couldn’t be helped, sir.” Tullner replied.

“This is what I get for agreeing to have amateur in my squad,” he said turning his anger back on Kile. “Through your incompetence, they now know we are aware of them. You don’t think I already knew they were out there and following us?”

“Honestly, I don’t think you had a clue,” she replied, watching his face turn to a lovely shade of purple. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m tired and I’m going to bed.”

“Don’t you dare turn your back on me, missy.”

She already gave up trying to understand the Sergeant, so why would she want to stand there and debate him. He was going to believe what he wanted to believe and there was nothing she could say that would change his opinion of her. She turned her back and walked Grim into the woods.

***~~~***

6

Kile wanted so desperately to wake up and find them all gone. Sort of like a last ditch punishment from Sergeant Wargner, but she wasn’t that lucky. Perha Squad was still asleep when she got up. She was glad to see they had, at the very least, doubled the guards. There were now four men sitting around the dwindling campfire. She decided not to bother them and headed off into the wild to find breakfast.

The woods sounded a little more alive and she couldn’t smell the presence of the gulrik anymore. She knew they didn’t all go home, back to the wastelands. That would be too much to hope for. She decided to call on a few of the birds for information. Usually, she tried to avoid speaking with the birds so early in the morning as their high pitched melodic voices often gave her a headache, but she made it a point not to let them know that. Surprisingly, the surrounding area was clear, which only worried her more. If the gulrik knew the soldiers were aware of them, then their need for stealth was at an end. It was only a matter of time before they would be an open confrontation.

Collecting some berries and some edible foliage, she headed back to her camp where she shared the food with Vesper. Even the yarrow was a little more at ease today.

- So are we leaving?-

Grim asked in his usual contemptuous tone.

“Are you going to ask me that every morning?”

-Only until you say yes.-

“I can’t just leave them here.”

-And why not?-

“To tell you the truth, I ask myself that same question every night, and about the only answer which come close is, if I returned to base camp with no soldiers, it wouldn’t look too good.”

-I suppose not, but why even go back there?-

“You’re talking desertion,” she said as she started to pack up her campsite. “You can’t just leave the military. I think they have a rule against that.”

Although, she hated to admit it, she did think about it more than once.

She tied her kit to Grim’s harness, set Vesper on the pony’s head and mounted up. The sounds of Perha Squad’s camp being dissembled reached her in the forest and she knew a new day was just about to start. Unfortunately, it too would be filled with problems. If Sergeant Wargner kept his course, and she had no doubt he would, they would be passing through the lowlands by mid-afternoon.

She spurred Grim forward to stand upon the outer edge of Perha Squad’s camp and watched the men go about their business. Again, she noticed a few of them glancing up at her while they completed their tasks, but those quick glances were not like the glances several days ago. These faces were filled with curiosity, as if they were noticing her for the very first time.

Sergeant Wargner stood on the opposite side of the camp. His look never changed; he still didn’t want her in Perha Squad, not that he had much of a choice.

The soldiers finally broke down the last of the camp, loaded it up on the horses and were on the move again. She waited until the column passed before taking her place at the end of the line. Not exactly the proper place for a scout, she thought, but at least she didn’t have to deal with the Sergeant.

As the column moved out, Tullner came back down the line to ride alongside her.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t left yet,” she told him.

The young soldier laughed.

“I really didn’t think you would,” he said. “I have a feeling you're too damn stubborn to let someone like Sergeant Wargner run you off.”

“It’s got nothing to do with being stubborn,” she said, although she wasn’t sure she believed it. Why was she really staying? It wasn’t just to be a thorn in Wargner’s side, although it was a contributing factor.

“Can I ask you a question, ma’am?”

Ma’am? Now she was ma’am, when did this happen?

“Fire away,” she replied.

“Last night, in the woods… the wolves?”

Looking over at Tullner, she could see the dilemma in the young soldier’s face. On one hand, he wanted to confirm his suspicions; on the other hand, he was still afraid of her. What did he see last night? What did she do to bring about this change in him? Was it just the wolves or was it something else? There was a moment last night when she almost lost it, when the darkness crept in on her and she almost let herself go. It was the hunt, when she smelled the gulrik, when she caught the scent of her prey. In that brief moment, she was alive. Had he not shown up when he did, what would have happened? Would she have lost herself to her feral side completely?