They decided on one extra set of clothing, something to change into if it did rain and headed back to the dorms, which Kile was grateful for because she still had to pick up one more thing.

She pushed open her cell door and dropped her pack on the bed. Five days lugging that thing around should build up a little upper body strength. After this test was over she should have no trouble swinging a sword. She went to the dresser and pulled out the only other clean uniform that she had, as well as a few unmentionables.

“You ready Vesper.” She called out as she grabbed her belt pouch from the chair.

-Vesper ready.-

The yarrow replied as he jumped up onto the dresser and waited until she fastened it around her waist.

She looked around her room one more time, to see if there was anything else that she may have missed as she tried to think about what she needed the last time. She decided to take the leather straps that she used to tie back her hair. Each one was about two feet long and could be used for a variety of tasks. She tied two together and looped it through the head of the key and draped it around her neck. That would keep that safe she thought as she wrapped the others around her wrist.

She looked at the pack sitting on her bed.

“What else will I need?” She asked no one in particular. The first thing that came to mind was a knife and fork, they had served her well during the entry examination, but she doubted if a situation like that would come up again. Improvise, she thought as she through the pack over her shoulder and fastened it around her waist.

“Can you think of anything else we may need?” She asked Vesper.

-Food.-

Was the one word response that she had expected from him.

“We have that, but that doesn’t mean you help yourself.” She warned the yarrow.

She grabbed her hat and straightened the feather that Kaza had given her before setting it on her head. It didn’t fall down around her eyes as much as it use to, and she chalked that up to the length of her hair.

Stepping out into the hall she met Daniel coming in the opposite direction.

“I was just coming to get you.”

“Why, did you think I’d get lost?” She asked.

“Now you’re getting as bad as Alex.” Daniel sighed as he turned around and left her standing in the hall.

They met up in the list, where most of the groups were now gathering. In comparison to the others, they were hardly carrying anything. Folkstaff moved among the cadets, looking over their equipment, with some he approved, with others he just rolled his eyes and kept walking. He did hand out a few tidbits of wisdom, but it didn’t appear that anyone was really paying all that much attention to the Hunter, they were too nervous about the task ahead of them.

“You’re traveling rather light, that's good.” Master Folkstaff acknowledge as he approached their group. “But then I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Thank you sir.” Carter said, in that military fashion that he always took with the instructors.

“Then carry on.” The hunter replied and stopped in mid thought as he looked at Kile, but it wasn’t only Kile he was looking at, it was at the pouch that she wore on her belt. She looked down to see what had caught the Hunter’s attention and found Vesper’s head poking out from under the flap as he looked around the compound with eager curiosity. She lightly tapped him on the nose and he ducked back in.

“Just a friend.” She told him.

“I see.” He replied slowly. “Carry on.”

“Why is Vesper here?” Daniel asked.

“He wanted to come.” She replied as if it was such an obvious answer.

“Is that a… rat?” Murphy asked.

“No, it’s a yarrow.” Daniel calmly answered.

“Squads, ready.” Master Boraro bellowed as he walked onto the field.

-Are you ready for this?-

Kile looked up just as Kaza landed on the rim of her hat, now she really was attracting attention. She looked over to see Morgan walking crossed the compound toward the list, his yellow robes billowing out behind him, and exasperated look on his face. She wondered what he had been involved in, when he was summoned. He didn’t appear to be in a very cooperative mood.

“Ready for what?” She whispered to Kaza, but it was a little difficult to hide the fact that there was a bird sitting on her hat. Daniel just shook his head, Carter rolled his eyes and Murphy stared in amazement.

-You're going to be transported to a random location in the forest.-

Kaza told her.

- Have you ever been transported before?-

She wished the crow didn’t keep asking her question that she couldn’t answer at the moment. She gently shook her head instead.

- It’s a little disconcerting. Your best bet is to crouch down and close your eyes when he started to mumble his chant, and when you can no longer hear him, count to ten before standing up.-

“Are you serious?” She asked, forgetting she was being watched.

“Serious about what?” Carter asked.

“Serious about…”

“I told her that people have lost limbs while being transported.” Daniel quickly finished for her.

“Are you serious?” Alex asked this time.

“No, not really, it was a joke.” Daniel told him as if Alex should have already known that.

Kile thanked Daniel as Morgan came to stand before the cadets. He pulled his robes close about him and adjusted his glasses.

“Are they ready Master Folkstaff?” He asked the Hunter.

“As ready as they will ever be.” Maser Folkstaff replied as he raised his hand to silence the cadets. “At this point there is no turning back. You should have your survival kit, your supplies and anything else that you feel you need. You will be transported to a random location in the forest, from there you’re on your own.”

Morgan stood before the cadets; he raised his hands, closed his eyes and began to chant.

Kile crouched down and closed her eyes, but quickly realized that she was the only one.

“Kile, get up, what are you doing.” Daniel whispered.

“I think we should keep down and close our eyes until the chant it finished, and then count to ten before we get up.”

Even as she said it, she realized how foolish it sounded.

“Are you kidding?” Carter asked.

“Suit yourself.” She said, hoping that Kaza wasn’t playing a joke on her. Daniel sighed and crouched down beside her, Alex quickly followed. Murphy looked first at Carter then at Kile and decided it was better to be safe than sorry as he got low to the ground.

“Oh this is ridiculous.” Carter replied, but in the end, even he decided to err on the side of caution.

They were making a spectacle of themselves as they could hear the other cadets snickering and could image them pointing and trading remarks, but they never heard any. The voices slowly drifted away, as did the ground beneath them, and for one brief moment Kile felt as if she was flying or was that falling. When she could no longer hear Morgan’s voice, and she could feel the ground beneath her once again, she started to count to ten. When she reached three she heard a crash and somebody cursed.  She quickly opened her eyes to see Carter lying flat on his face in the dirt.

“What happen, you alright?” Daniel asked as he jumped to his feet and tried to run over to check on him. He suddenly found his legs going out from under him, as he put out his hands to maintain balance, but it was too little too late and he toppled over sideways.

“I’m fine.” Carter said as he tried to get to his feet, but he fell over to one side again and cursed even louder, he had a small cut on the forehead from where his face bounced off the forest floor.

“You got up too soon.” Alex told him. “You should have counted to ten and got up slowly like Kile said.”

“Yeah, yeah, that's all fine and dandy.” Carter replied as he lay on the ground trying to regain his equilibrium.

Kile felt no ill effects from the transport and looked around to get her bearings. It was difficult to actually tell where they were from where they were standing. All she knew was that they were in a forest, among the trees, there was a gentle breeze blowing from one direction and the singing of birds from every direction.

“So, where are we?” Alex asked.

“Let's see the map Murphy.” Carter said holding out his hand, he didn’t dare get up.

Murphy pulled the map from his pack and unrolled it and crouched down beside the Carter, as Daniel applied his edge Carter studied the map.

“So, where are we pathfinder?” Daniel asked as he finished up.

Carter looked at the trees, then at the sky. Since it was noon and the sun was already as high as it was going to get, and it was near the first day of spring, it was difficult to tell which way the sun was moving.

“You have no idea, do you?” Alex commented.

“We’ll have to wait a while to see which way the sun sets.” Carter complained.

“Well, that’s north.” Daniel said as he pointed off in one direction.

“How do you know?” Carter asked as he looked at the map again, as if the answer was there and he somehow missed it.

“When we were waiting in the field, the wind was coming in from the north. Assuming that we haven’t been sent passed the Spire that way has to be north.”

“We don’t know that for certain, and even if we did, that doesn’t tell us where we are on the map.” Carter replied, “We’ll just have to wait an hour or so, we should be able to tell by then.”

“And then what, we just keep walking until we find something that look familiar?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t know… you think of something.” Carter snapped as he handed the map back to Murphy.

“If we wait, we might as well set up camp.” Alex said as he tried to remove his pack with little success.

The arguments were getting them nowhere, and waiting would loose them half a day at best, trying to find their location tomorrow could loose them another day, especially if they head off in the wrong direction.

“I’ll be right back.” Kile said as she started to head off into the forest.

“Wait, where are you going?” Carter asked.

“The call of nature.” She replied.

“Oh… well… don’t go too far. We don’t know what’s out there.”

“I don’t think there’s anything we have to worry about.” She said as she headed into the forest.

“Wait, I’ll come with you, I have to use a tree too.” Alex added as he tried to lumber after her with is overstuffed backpack on. She was sure the boy went back to get some of the unidentified stuff at the quartermasters before meeting them in the list.

“Find your own tree.” She shouted over her shoulder as she moved deeper into the woods.

 

She had only gone far enough to find the sources of the singing birds, which really wasn’t that hard to find. Where the sun broke through the leaves, the branches were filled with them, small brown sparrows singing to the light.

“Excuse me.” She called out, and the birds took flight, all but a handful who curiously watched her approach as they cocked their heads to one side, then the other.

“I didn’t mean to frighten you, I was just wondering if you could give me directions.”

-Directions?-

-Directions?-

The song birds had sharp, high pitched melodic voices, much like the sound of their singing, and there was a carefree feeling of freedom when they spoke.

“Yeah, my friends and I are kind of lost, you see we were transported here and we don’t know where we are.”

-Transported?-

-Are?-

-Where?-

-Directions?-

This was getting her nowhere fast as the birds shot back quick words that almost appeared random.

-It’s too hard-

Vesper said from inside her pouch. Kile opened the flap and gently pulled the yarrow out. She held him in her hands.

“What do you mean too hard?” She asked him.

-Words, too hard, too long, no meaning-

It took her a moment, but she finally understood what Vesper meant, and what Kaza told her so long ago. The wilder the animal, the less contact they had with the Vir, the simpler their speech was. As she had done with Tik and the squirrels, she had to give the words meaning.

“I’m lost, can you help me.” Kile said, focusing on each word.

-Help… need help.-

-We help.-

-How we help?-

“If you could fly above us.” She said, pointing to the sky. “And then come back and tell me what you saw. It would help.”

The birds looked at one another and she wasn’t sure if they understood what she asked of them, until they took off from the branches and then she was afraid that she had scared them off as they disappeared into the sky.

“You think they’re coming back?” She asked Vesper.

-Don’t know, can’t trust birds… too flighty-

“That was terrible.” She moaned as Vesper chucked. She had no idea that the natural world had such a bad sense of humor.

Fortunately she didn’t have to wait for long as the birds returned one after the other and landed before her on one of the lower the branches.

-See-

-See-

-We see.-

They said and her mind was suddenly filled with visions of the forest from so high above that once again she felt like she was flying, but this time it was filled with a lighthearted sense of freedom as if she had left all her cares and problems on the ground as she took to the sky. She could see the mountains, the river, the hills, even the academy. It didn’t take her long before she was able to locate herself and her group as they stood motionless in the forest. She could see two other groups, not very far from where they were, and they didn’t appear to be moving either. When she finally came back to her own sense of reality, it was like being dropped back into her body. The sensation of flight was incredible and being trapped in her earth bound form, seem unnatural almost unbearable until she regained her identity. When she was once again Kile and not one of the birds flying over the forest, she thanked them for their help and reluctantly turned back to where she had left the boys.

It didn’t take her long to find them, it wasn’t like she could have lost them as they were still bickering about the best way to proceed. Alex was checking the sides of the trees, probably looking for moss, while Carter was sticking twigs in the ground so that he could follow the shadows that they cast.

“May I see the map Murphy?” She asked.

The big man got to his feet and handed the rolled up map to Kile, his eyes never left the yarrow that was now perched on her shoulder.

“You got an idea about where we are?” Daniel asked.

She looked over the map for the first time. It was quite detailed in its simplicity and marked out the locations of the three items, the mountain range, the hills, the river, and the academy. It wasn’t difficult to pinpoint their location from what the birds showed her.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” She said as she pointed to a place on the map.

“How do you know?” Carter asked as he dared to get to his feet. “How sure are you?”

“I know there are two other groups, one is here, and the other is just over here.” She said as she pointed to two more locations on the map. “And neither one of them appear to be moving. If we travel in this direction for about four hours, we’ll find ourselves along the river here. That’s where we should set up camp.”

“And you’re really sure about this?” Carter asked again.

“She's sure.” Daniel replied as he grabbed his pack and slung it over his shoulder.

 

 

 

***~~~***

 

 

 

11

 

It took them a little longer than the four hours that Kile had estimated to reach the river’s edge, but then that was really a guess since she couldn’t tell from the map exactly how far away they were. She was even beginning to have her doubts about the direction that they were heading in, until the sounds of the river grew louder.

“We should make camp here.” Carter said, taking the role of the leader once again now that he had a clearer idea of where he was. He dropped his pack in the dirt, and soon followed.

For someone who was so good with the physical aspects of the academy, he runs out of steam pretty fast she thought as she unfastened her own pack and set it down a little closer to the river’s edge.

“So, who’s getting what?” She asked. It was no good just sitting around when they had to prepare for the night.

“We have everything already, what else do we need?” Carter asked.

Kile looked at him in disbelief.

“We’re going to be cutting in from the river tomorrow if we want to reach the first objective on the map. We should at least filter some water and fill up the skins.” She said as she pulled her water skin from her pack. They could probably drink straight from the river, but there was no telling what was upstream.

“I’ve got the filter, who’s got the pot?” Daniel asked as he pulled the filter cloth from his satchel.

Murphy opened his own pack and pulled out the small metal cooking pot.

It was a simple water filtration system for extracting clean water from nature. The filters were crafted by hand in Littenbeck for just this situation. Wrap the cloth around a pot, pour the water on top and let it seep through. Whether there were any mystic arts involved in the crafting of the cloth or sheer alchemy, Kile didn’t know, and at this point she didn’t really care.

“Do you think we need a fire?” Murphy asked as he began to pull out even more supplies.

“The rain will hold off, for another day or two at least.” Daniel replied. “And we have enough hard tack to last us the five days. I think the less we do the easier it will be to break camp in the morning.”

“We should probably… uh… set our packs where animals can’t get to them.” Murphy suggested.

“That would be more your area Kile, what do you say?” Daniel asked.

She closed her eyes and fell into her edge. She had never done this trick outside of Morgan’s tower, but it was one of the easier skills she had learned and in some ways the most frightening. It bordered on the Maligar, or at least is seemed that way, but there were no black stands lingering in the dark recesses of her mind. All she had to do was open herself up and let her mind wander through the forest as it touched on a variety of life.

“I don’t think animals are going to be a problem.” She said. The closest and largest thing she could sense was some kind of small ground mammal, probably a ground hog, not far from where they were sitting.

“Oh… well… I guess that's a relief.” Murphy replied, but he didn’t appear to be very happy about it.

“Are you sure it’s not going to rain?” She asked Daniel as she watched the clouds that were gathering. She even went as far as to sniff the air, but what rain was supposed to smell like, she wasn’t sure.

“Positive, there isn’t enough moisture in the air.” He grinned. “Trust me, I’m a water mystic.”

“Right.” She said as she filled the last of the water skins and handed them back to him, keeping one for herself. If they didn’t want to do anything more tonight, it was fine with her, she was hoping for an early night anyway, the effects of Morgan’s transport spell still lingered, the long walk to the river didn’t help much and there was still some distance to go tomorrow before they would reach the first destination on the map.

Vesper was already trying to get into her pack when she set the water skin down and pulled him out by the small ball of fur on his tail.

“What did I tell you?” She asked him.

-Hungry.-

“When are you not?” She said as she sat down on her blanket and pulled the pack towards her.

She rummaged passed her spare clothes, the length of rope and a few utensils until she finally found what she was looking for. It was a small bundle wrapped tightly in a white cloth. The Quartermaster swore by them she recalled as she pulled at the knot that held the cloth in place. She finally unwrapped what looked like a brick. It was a four inch long, two inch wide, one inch thick brown block of a yet unidentifiable substance that was suppose to be edible. The Quartermaster had referred to it as hard tack, the same food substance that the army used back in the mountain conflicts. She could only hope that it tasted better than it looked.

Breaking off a small piece she held it out to Vesper, but the yarrow refused to even go near it.

-What that?-

He asked as he cautiously gave it a sniff.

“It’s food… I think.” She replied. “It’s all we have.”

-Find food.-

He said, and before she could stop him, he scurried off into the high grass.

“Don’t go far.” She yelled, and then realized she had yelled it. She looked up at the boys who were now watching her. “What?” She asked, and they quickly looked away.

Setting her pack behind her she took off her hat and then her boots. She thought about soaking her feet in the river but was afraid it would be thought of as a girl thing, and didn’t really feel like being teased about it all the next day.  Instead she set her boots behind her pack and settled in for her evening meal. She looked the hard tack over, then made the mistake of smelling it and realized why Vesper was so reluctant to even try it. She couldn’t really place the aroma, it was something in the way of wet wood, but it was the only food they had at the moment.  She took a bite and immediately regretted it. It had the texture of sawdust and the flavor of spiced potting soil.

“They used this during the mountain conflicts?” She asked as she forced herself to swallow the foul tasting food substance. She set the uneaten portion aside.

“That’s what the Quartermaster said.” Daniel replied as he choked down another bite. At least she wasn’t the only one who found the taste of the hard tack unpalatable.

“What a horrible thing to do to the enemy. I’m sure there are laws against this type of cruelty, even in times of war.”

“I kind of like it.” Alex said as he finished his block, but then Alex never had the best taste in food.

Kile wrapped the uneaten brown block of food substance back up and dropped it into her pack. Maybe when she was really hungry, and she would have to be really hungry, it would taste better. She lay down on her blanket, placed her hat over her eyes and tried to get some sleep. The last thing she thought of, was that Vesper had the right idea and she hoped the yarrow would bring her back something in the morning.

 

It was a cried in the night that startled Kile from her sleep. She quickly jumped out of bed only to discover too late that she was lying on the ground and tripped over her own feet, falling face first into the dirt. Looking up she saw Daniel already running headlong into the woods in the direction of the cries for help.  Scrambling back to her pack she grabbed her boots and tried to catch up.

“What’s going on?” She yelled.

“I think its Alex.” Daniel said as he got even farther ahead of her and she quickly lost track of him in the dense foliage.

“I think he’s over here.” Murphy called out somewhere off to her left, but even half asleep Kile could tell the voice was coming more from  the direction that Daniel had run in, then where Murphy was going.

“This better not be one of his jokes.” She mumbled as she stopped long enough to get at least one of her boots on. She heard Alex cry out again.

“Over here, I found him.”

It was Carter that called out this time, and she gave up trying to get her second boot on as she half ran, half hopped into the direction of his voice.

When she finally reached them, Carter had his sword drawn and was already in the defensive stance, but there didn’t appear to be anyone around to defend against. She also noticed that the stance he took looked rather ridiculous outside the practice ring. If hunters really did that out in the wild, how could anyone take them seriously?

Daniel was in the process of untying Alex from the truck of a tree.

“What happen?” She asked as she hopped over to them.

“I don’t know.” Alex replied a bit shakily. “I came out to use a tree, and… well… somebody jumped me.”

He was both annoyed and embarrassed about being taken so easily, not to mention the fact that his pants were unbuckled and down around his knees.

Kile looked the other way as Alex righted himself. She leaned up against the tree to pull her second boot and saw Murphy come barreling through the forest. He was gasping for breath and looked a little nervous; the poor man must be really out of shape.

“Who did this to you Alex? Who jumped you?” Carter asked as he finally sheathed his weapon.

“That’s just it, I didn’t see anything.” Alex said, bucking his pants. “It was a big blur. I was just… well I was… you know, and then someone or something pushed me into the tree and the rope just kept running around and around, and before I knew it I couldn’t move.”

“And you didn’t see anyone?” Daniel asked.

“No, that’s just it. You… you don’t think the woods are… are haunted do you?” He asked as his eyes began to roam over the shadows of the trees that now seemed to grow even larger.

“I seriously doubt it.” Carter replied.

“Then why do it?” Daniel asked. “What purpose does it serve? A practical joke? If it was, it’s wasn’t very funny.”

“Maybe it’s part of the test.” Murphy said as he struggled to catch his breath.

“What, you think one of the instructors did it?” Carter asked. “It still doesn’t make any sense. Like Danny said, for what purpose.”

“You know… maybe to test how alert we were.”

“I’m sure if it was part of the test they would at least let us know how poorly we preformed.” Daniel added as he began to coil the rope. “Otherwise, what do we learn from something like this. No, I think it was one of the other groups, and I think I can guess which one.”

“But again, what for? There’s still no reason for it. Were they hoping we didn’t find him so quickly?” Carter asked.

“You think we were supposed to spend all night looking for him or maybe not notice that he was missing until the morning. Then what? We waste time searching for him?”

“If that was the case they should have gagged him so he couldn’t call out.” Carter suggested.

“Damn.” Kile said as she finally shoved her foot into her boot.

“What? Something in there with you?”

“They wanted us out here because all our stuff is back there.” She yelled as she turned and ran back through the forest. She heard Carter cursing behind her as he started to catch up, but it was too late. As they reached their makeshift campsite, it was completely bare of all supplies, only her hat remained in the middle of the small clearing by the river.

“Damn, how could we be so stupid?” Carter shouted as he pulled at his hair and spun around like always did when he got mad and had nothing to lash out at. “They got everything, everything.”

Kile walked to the center of the clearing and picked up her hat. “Not everything.” She said as she revealed the small ebony box.

“Nothing like sending us a clear message.” Carter replied as he snatched the box from the ground.

At that moment Daniel and Alex arrived, followed closely by Murphy.

“What did they get?” Daniel asked.

“What didn’t they get?” Carter snapped as he tossed the box to Alex.

“I’m sorry guys.” Alex replied. He clearly felt bad and responsible for the situation.

“It’s not your fault.” Carter assured him. “It’s mine.”

“Oh come on, it’s either all of our faults or nobody’s faults, and I’m leaning toward nobody.” Kile said.

“I should have stayed behind; I should have protected the camp.”

“Your responsibility is for the protection of the members of the group.’ Daniel told him. “Items can be replaced, lives cannot.”

It was a nice sentiment, a little over the top since no lives were really in danger, but it was nice sentiment all the same.

“So, we find out what we have and we work from there.” Kile replied.

“We have nothing, we’re out of it, we’ve lost. We might as well pack it in. Just open the box and let’s go home.” Carter said in defeat.

“Spoken like a true hunter.”

Carter spun on Kile, his hand actually reaching for the hilt of the short sword. Daniel quickly stepped between them.

“There’s no use arguing among ourselves, nor is there any point in giving up so soon.”

“Maybe we can find them, track them down and get our stuff back.” Alex suggested. “They can’t have gone that far.”

“We don’t know who they are, or which way they went.” Murphy finally chimed in. “I hate to admit it, but maybe Carter’s right you guys, maybe we’ve had it.”

“Not yet we haven’t.”

Kile pulled the leather cord from around her neck, the key dangled on the other end. “If we still have this, then we’re still in it. I don’t care if we come in dead last, I don’t believe in quitting.”

“Agreed.” Daniel said. “You two guys did survive the first exercise and you had less than what we have now.”

“But that was only for one night.” Carter reminded him.

“One night or five, I’m willing to go for it.” Kile said as she tucked the key back under her tunic. “How about you?”

It was a clear challenge, one that she knew Carter could never refuse.

“Fine, I’m in.” Carter agreed reluctantly, “but where do we start now? Do we at least still have the map?”

“Sorry guys.” Murphy said, looking down at his feet. “I left it in my pack.”

“Well, we might as well get some rest while we still have time, there’s nothing we can do about it tonight.” Daniel said as he sat down in the grass where his blanket used to be.

“They’ll only get farther ahead of us then.” Carter added.

“We can’t go stumbling around in the dark, we have no lantern, we have no idea which way they went, and we don’t even know what’s out there. We just have to wait until morning. Hopefully we’ll be able to see something by the morning light.”

As much as Kile hated to admit it, Daniel was right. Even it they were able to pick up their trail, how could they follow them in the dark? None of them knew their way around this area. They could easily walk off a cliff without knowing it, at least not until the hit bottom. There was nothing they could do until the morning.

She returned to her spot by the river. They hadn’t left anything, and what was worse was that her last good tunic was in that pack.  She would have to beg the Quartermaster for another set, or wear the one she had on until the end of the summer. Of course some of her unmentionable were also in there and the thought of some guy messing around with them was humiliating enough. Then there were all the supplies she was carrying, such as her knife, her utensils, even the rope. There was also the matter of the food, okay, forget about the food, she still wasn’t that hungry, but there was the water skin, and then of course…

“Vesper.”

She quickly searched around her area, hoping that he hadn’t decided to come back early and take a nap in his pouch, but the yarrow poked his head out of the tall grass when he heard his name.

“You alright?” She asked him quietly as she scooped him up in her hands.

-Vesper alright.-

The yarrow replied casually.

Had he been here all the time?

“What did you see Vesper, show me what happened here.”

 

The morning didn’t come too soon for Carter who was pacing the grounds, and probably had been for most of the night. Kile watched him as he walked back and forth, not so much as a guard on his post, but as a man who was seriously annoyed with himself and the people around him. She had seen her father pace the kitchen floor like that some mornings and knew that it was time to slip out of the house and start her chores as quickly as possible.

“Did you get any sleep?” She asked as she got up slowly. She wouldn’t have imagined that a blanket would have made that much of a difference, but it does. She ached all over as she tried to stretch it out.

“Yeah, a bit.” He replied.

The sun was just peeking through the trees, casting a hazy mist across the morning landscape. Daniel, Alex and Murphy were still asleep and she wondered if she should tell Carter what Vesper had told her last night, but the way Carter was acting, it would probably do more damage than good, so she figured it was best to stay silent on the matter, for just a little longer.

She headed into the woods to; as Alex had so eloquently phrased it, find a tree.

“Where are you going?” Carter asked.

“None of your business.” She replied.

“You shouldn’t go off alone.”

“Believe me, what I’m going to do, I want to do alone.”

“What… oh… OH, oh okay.” Carter stammered. She had to admit he looked kind of cute when he was embarrassed. She grinned at him and then walked into the woods a good distance, to be well out of sight of the camp before visiting her tree.

From what Vesper had told her last night, it was Eric and his group that had stolen their supplies, no big surprise there, they pretty much already knew that, or at least that was what they believed. He had waited until they all ran off to save Alex, and then raided their campsite of everything that they could carry. It took them all of five minutes, especially one of the cadets that had moved at such a tremendous speed that she had an idea of how Alex had been tied up so quickly. The boy was just a blur from what Vesper could see and she figured that it must have been the boy’s edge. What sphere rapid speed fell under she didn’t know, and at the moment she didn’t really care. 

This was not a simple random act committed by one group against another just for the sake of minimizing the competition, this was more of a personal vendetta, since it may have actually started before they even left the academy. Thinking back over everything that had occurred since yesterday morning, when they were first informed about the test, she couldn’t help but see little signs that she had missed, which lead to the real question. How much did Murphy know? She was starting to like the big man, in spite his inability to stand on his own two feet, and although she wanted to believe he was ignorant of the entire incident, she knew that wasn’t the case.

He had tried to lead them the off in the wrong direction when they were looking for Alex, and before that he had wanted to secure their supplies against wild animals the night before. Had it actually been wild animals that he was worried about, or did he just want to get all the supplies in one place to make it easier for Eric and his cronies latter that night.

From his demeanor over the last two days, Kile was sure that Murphy wasn’t a willing participant in Eric’s schemes, but the fact that he went along with them didn’t help matters. At the moment he was a liability to the group and the group’s success, but as long as she knew that, maybe she could do something about it.

As she headed back to camp she was stopped by the grumbling in her stomach. She hadn’t eaten since yesterday afternoon that is if she didn’t count the block of brown food substance that she had taken a bite from and for some reason she just couldn’t count that as eating. Had she reached that point of hunger where even the hard tack would have tasted good, no, nowhere near that point, but she was still hungry.

“Food is all around you, you just have to know where to look.” She said, quoting Master Folkstaff, but it was easier to quote than to do. From where she was standing there was no food to be seen, although she didn’t really expect to see a street side vender in the woods.

“Whenever you find yourself in a new town and you need a place to eat, you ask the locals.” That was another quote, one from the traveling mystic that visited Riverport, one that made more sense giving the situation.

Birds were plentiful, but not very informative from what she had experienced and their diet was not something she found appetizing. Kile fell into her edge and stretched out her awareness through the forest and what she did find was a mother deer and her fawn out for their morning walk.

It didn’t take her very long to actually find the deer; her edge was able to give her a rough idea of where they were located.

“Excuse me.” She said holding her hands out to her side as to not frighten them anymore they already were.

The fawn slipped behind his mother and peeked out from around her back legs. The mother deer’s muscles tensed as Kile approached. She was torn between the natural instinct to run in the face of an approaching vir, or stay and see what this particular vir wanted. The doe must have seen or sensed something since she decided to stay.

“Could you direct me to a place to eat?” She asked.

She wasn’t sure how to address a deer, or any animal for that matter, but if it worked for the vir, why wouldn’t it work for those of the natural world. The mother deer cocked her head and blinked her large dark brown eyes as she slowly approached Kile. She looked the girl up and down sniffed at her tunic, and must have found something she liked in the cadet since she began to relax.

-Berries.-

Kile wasn’t sure if the doe was offering her food, or telling her that was what she smelled like, but the feelings that came with the word filled her head with a satisfying sweetness.

“That would be perfect.” She replied.

-Follow.-

The Doe answered, and the word hit Kile with a feeling of warmth and comfort as the mother deer led her fawn through the forest.

Fortunately they didn’t have to go very far as the doe stopped and motioned Kile toward a small clearing in the woods filled with familiar looking bushes.

“Here?” She asked as she got closer. “These are edible… good to eat… not poisonous?”

-Safe.-

That would have been the easiest word to use.

The little fawn came up alongside her and ate one of the berries from the bush as if to prove to her that his mother did not lie.

-Good.-

He told her.

She stroked the fawn’s head.

She thanked them as they moved off to one of the other bushes to eat.

They were wild raspberries, something that she should have recognized, and probably would have if she hadn’t been so preoccupied with the fact that she was talking with a deer. She had picked wild raspberries back home, down by the river, during the late summer, and the memories made her feel a little homesick, but only for a moment, and it was the fact that it was so fleeting a feeling that worried her the most.

 

Carter quickly jumped up from where he was sitting when she came walking into camp with a hat full of raspberries.

“Where have you been?” He asked.

By now everyone was up and ready to go, not that there was much of a camp to break down to get ready. They seemed to have been waiting on her.

“I picked up breakfast.” She said as she held up her hat.

“Where did you find those?” Carter asked.

“I asked the locals.” She responded, and only Daniel knew that she wasn’t joking.

They divide the raspberries up as best they could but since nobody had anything better to hold them in other than their hands, Kile had to go without her hat for a little while longer.

“So, anybody got any ideas where we’re going.” Alex asked.

“Well, I figured we should probably follow the river further north.”  Carter suggested.

“That way.” Kile said, pointing off toward the west. “The mark on the map was west of the bend in the river and that the direction our stuff went in.”

“Are you sure?” Carter asked. He was starting to have doubts, not in her but in himself.

“I’m sure.” She assured.

It wasn’t so much that she remembered it from the map, she had only seen the map that one time, and It wasn’t the fact that Vesper thought their stuff had gone in that direction, although he saw who, he didn’t actually see where they had taken the supplies. Kile hated to admit it, but she could smell Eric. He had passed through their camp, staying long enough to pick up a few things and headed in a westerly direction. She had detected it last night when she was trying to get to sleep without her blanket, and now she was picking it up again. It wasn’t as strong, but it was there and she could follow it. Of course if Morgan was right, and she was just channeling this ability from Vesper, then it was the yarrow that could follow it. She would like to think that was closer to the truth.

With the yarrow on her shoulder Kile lead them through the woods for the better part of the afternoon until the scent she was tracking began to wane. No mater how hard she tried, no matter which direction she went, she couldn’t pick up on Eric scent, or was that Vesper could pick up on Eric scent, or was it just that the connection between them had been broken. The ability was still rather new to her, and she had yet to master it. Either way she lost the trail as she began to slow down.

“What's the matter?” Daniel asked as he came up beside her.

“I lost him, I can’t… smell him any more.” She replied. They were far enough ahead of the others that she didn’t have to worry what they would think if they had heard her say that.

“Nothing?” He asked, then began to look around as if hoping to find some sign that she may have missed. “Well… we got this far, we’ll think of something.”

“What’s the hold up?” Carter asked as he made his way closer.

“Just taking a break.” Daniel replied.

Carter didn’t argue, which meant, in his own mind, he had given up. He had relinquished command of the group and it looked as if he had given it to Kile as he waited on her every word.

“We’ll rest here for a few minutes.”

She was hoping that the delay would give her enough time to pick up on Eric. Maybe if she went ahead without the others she could find the trail a little easier, at least she wouldn’t have the added pressure of them watching her and wonder what she was doing.

Carter sat down beneath one of the trees and stared at his feet, not making eye contact with anyone. Alex sat across from him, turning the small ebony box over in his hands. He had been carrying it all the way, not that he had a pack to put it in, but he refused to part with it. In many ways each member of the group was blaming themselves for being so careless so soon into the exercise, but there was only one person who really deserved some of the blame.

“Murphy.” She called out, and the big man looked up from where he was sitting. “Come on, we’re going ahead a bit to see what we can see.” She said.

He looked at the rest of the group, then at her and she could see the shame on his face now as he slowly got to his feet and followed her. Kile moved ahead well out of range of the others. She still couldn’t pick up the scent.

“So, what did he promise you?” She asked Murphy without turning around. Kill two birds with one stone she thought, actually that was a horrible expression since she knew a few birds.

“What do you mean?” Murphy replied.

“I was just wondering how Eric convinced you to help him sabotage your own group. I figured he must have offered you something in return.”

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

This time she did turn around. The man was nearly two feet taller than she was, but he cringed when she looked at him.

“Look, let’s not lie to each other. I know full well that Eric stole our supplies, I also know that you helped, what I don’t know is if this was all planned or whether he was just seizing an opportunity to knock us or anyone out of the exam. I’m hoping it’s the latter, because if it’s the former, then you knew about it all along.”

Murphy’s face dropped as he looked from side to side, whether he was looking for a place to run or for someone to help him, he found neither, but the look did tell Kile one thing, this was all planned from the start.

“Why don’t you tell me about it?” She said as she took a seat on a large flat rock.

“I didn’t want to, it's just that… well… my father works for Lord Rimes, at his estate. I’ve known Eric ever since we were kids, we grew up together. It’s not every day that the son of a servant is befriended by the son of a Lord, not that it was a very good friendship, but still, I had opportunities and experiences that I wouldn’t have had otherwise, but it still comes down to the fact that he is the son of Lord Rimes. I have to do what he says.” Murphy said and then just shook his head as he sat down across from her.

“He always talked about becoming a hunter, especially when Master Boraro visited the estate. He convinced me to become a Hunter too, said we could explore the world together. At first I wasn’t very interested, but the more he talked about it, the more I liked the idea, not so much to team up with him, but to finally be on my own, to finally get away from him. When I heard he failed the entry examination I was actually happy. When he took it again and failed, I was beyond happy. The third time his father made sure he passed.”

“He paid the guild to pass his own son.” Kile said. It was more of a statement than a question. How else would Eric ever become a hunter?

“Don’t you see? He also paid the guild to let me pass. That way Eric would have what he wanted all along.”

“You don’t know that for certain.”

“Might as well. Eric gets what he wants, whatever he wants and doesn’t care about anyone else. That’s the way it’s always been, that's the way his father makes it. If he wanted a new horse, his father would buy it for him. If he wanted a servant removed, his father would do it, no questions asked. At first I thought it was great, here was someone with power, but I soon found out if he got in trouble, I took the punishment. That was the only reason he had me around, I became his whipping boy; that was my purpose in life. I thought if I could become a hunter that would all be over.”

“What did your father do before he started working at the estate?”

“He was a tailor, had his own shop in the poorer part of town, but he never made much out of it. My mother became ill when I was still very young. He couldn’t afford the healers so he could do nothing but sit with her until she died. He decided that he didn’t want his son growing up in poverty so he took a job on the estate grounds. When Lord Rimes learned that my father had a son that was only two years younger this his, he moved my father up to a position within the estate.”

“And your father took it, because he knew it would give you the opportunities and the experiences that you wouldn’t otherwise have had.”

“Something like that.”

“Murphy, I don’t know your father, but I do know, from what you just told me, that he loved you enough to take a job working for Lord Rimes to give you a chance. The question is how are you going to use that chance?”

Murphy looked up at her, and she could tell that the big man was having a crisis of conscience. On one hand he wanted to honor his father, on the other he didn’t want to anger Eric.

“Don’t throw it away.” She told him.

“Heads up.” Some cried out, which instantly caused both of them to duck.

Daniel came running through the woods pointing toward the western sky.

“No.” He said. “Look.”

Kile looked up to where he was pointing and could see plumes of black smoke rising from the trees. Where there was a smoke, there was fire, and where there was fire, there was probably Eric.

“That still some distance away.” She said.

“But it’s a destination.” Daniel replied.

“Okay, let’s go.” She said and then slapped him. “It's look up, not heads up.”

 

They made good time since they were no longer relying on Kile’s tracking skills, they didn’t have a map to keep referring to and they were traveling very light, but it was still a good distance to run and it was creeping into the evening hours when reached their destination. What they found was utter chaos.

What was once an old farmhouse was now a large bonfire. The entire structure was engulfed in flames, spewing out a tower of black smoke with a defending roar. The heat was so intense that no one could get within thirty feet of the structure.

“Who wants to bet that our first item was in there?” Alex said.

Sure enough, on the other side of the clearing another group stood, staring at the inferno that was marked on their map as a farm house.

“What happen?” Carter asked as he approached the other group.

“Don’t know, we just got here ourselves.” They replied.

“No chance of a water mystic putting that out is there?” Kile asked with little hope, Daniel just shook his head.

“We could always wait until it burns itself out.” Alex remarked.

“That should be about some time tomorrow afternoon.”

Carter came back, shaking his head.

“According to them, the place was burning when they got here. I managed to get a look at their map. This is where we’re supposed to be, this is where one of the three items was located.”

“You don’t think this is a test by the guild… do you?” Daniel asked.

“No.” Carter remarked. “I think Eric beet us here.”

“Sure, if you can’t move the chest and you can’t destroy the chest, you have to make it so the others can’t reach the chest.” Kile replied.

“So, what now?” Carter asked as they stared at the wall of flame. After a long pause, it was Murphy that answered.

“I can get it.”

“What… what are you crazy, nobody can get close enough to that fire, let alone inside?” Carter remarked.

“I can get it, I know I can, just give me a chance.”

“How?” Alex asked.

“I have… a way.” He replied.

His edge, whatever it was, had to have something to do with fire Kile thought.

“How long?” She asked. “How long can you last in there?”

“You’re not serious?” Carter asked. She wasn’t sure if his skepticism was because she was planning on sending someone into a burning building, or simply because it was Murphy.

“Unless you have a better idea.” She replied.

Carter threw his hands up in surrender and took a step back.

“How long can you last in there?” She asked Murphy again.

“I don’t know. I’ll admit I haven’t really tried this before, I would say about twenty minutes, thirty tops.”

“That doesn’t give him much time to go searching around.” Daniel pointed out.

“No, so we have to get some more information on the layout of the farm house.”

“From who, It’s not like Eric’s going to tell us where the chest were, and it doesn’t look as if anyone’s lived in there for quite some time.”

“Leave that to me.” Kile said. “You and Alex talk to the other groups, see if they're on board.”

“What?”

“Look, there in the same boat we are. If Murphy can find our chest in there, then he should be able to find theirs. Right Murphy?”

“Uh… yeah… right.” Murphy said, but the hesitation made her a little suspicious, she hoped she was making the right choice as she headed back into the woods.

Setting Vesper down in the grass she walked the perimeter of the clearing searching the undergrowth. It didn’t take them as long as she thought to find what she was looking for.

-Here, over here.-

Vesper called to her, and she followed the yarrow to old rotting log.

-In here.-

He said, and as she crouched down to take a look, Vesper took his place on her shoulder. Inside the log were about six or seven large rats huddled in the corner. One of the rats came forward, a rather mangy looking black one, and she could understand why Vesper took offense at being called a rat.

“Are you guys alright?” She asked.

-Fine… Safe… Home gone.-

He said and she watched as Eric set fire to each of the rooms with a simple touch of his hand. He was definitely getting more powerful with his edge.

“I’m sorry about what happened to your home.”

-Safe… Most.-

That was a vision she did not want to see, but it came to her anyway as the rat showed her the fire spreading so rapidly that not all of his kin had escaped.

“I know I have no reason to ask this, but can you help me?”

-What?-

The rats didn’t appear to hold any grudges against the vir or even Eric for that matter, They didn’t’ appear to be as  affected by the death of so many of their own as she would have thought, but what Gorum had told her, so long ago, seemed to make sense now. It was simply the cycle of nature. Life, death and life, it couldn’t be stopped therefore it had to be accepted. They sought no sympathy, the sought no revenge, they just carried on.

“People put boxes in your home?”

-Yes… sun… boxes.-

In those words she saw the boxes, seven of them line out on a table, somewhere in the kitchen areas. They were smaller than what she had figured and were made of gold that reflected the morning sun. She could see why the rats had called them sun boxes.  Eric had opened one and retrieved what looked like a small blue sphere. He tried to open the others but couldn’t, he tried to take the boxes but couldn’t, he tried to burn them, but couldn’t. Determined son of a lord wasn’t he, she thought.

“Please, tell me where those sun boxes are... or were”

The mangy looking black rat didn’t so much as speak this time, but took her through the pathways of the house, down through the walls and out into the kitchen. This was his path from his home to those boxes, and although she knew they would never get Murphy to fit between the walls, it was enough information.

“Thank you.” She said as she got to her feet. She felt bad for not having anything to give the rats for their help, but they didn’t appear to want anything. They gave the information because they had the information, why couldn’t the vir learn from the natural world.

She ran back to the clearing where Daniel met her half way.

“The other groups think that this is some kind of scam.” He told her as he walked along side her.

“Are you kidding?” She asked. Were they really that suspicious that they couldn’t trust anyone?

“Okay. I’ll try to talk to them.” She said as she walked over to Murphy. He was already trying to calm himself down for whatever edge he was planning to use, and it didn’t help with Carter standing behind him with his hand upon his sword.

“Okay.” She said as she got Murphy’s attention. “You're going to go through the front door, keep to the left since the basement does extend into that area of the house, we don’t want you falling through the floor. Pass the stairs you’ll find the kitchen. On the kitchen table were seven boxes, although I don’t suppose the table is still there. One of the boxes should already be open or gone or whatever happens when the contents it removed. One of those boxes is ours.”

“I got it.” Murphy nodded.

“Okay, wait here. Alex, come with me.”

Alex was the least intimidating member of their group, or the entire academy for that matter. If they couldn’t trust her, they had to trust him.

“You think this is going to work.” He asked her.

“I have no idea.” She replied.

She walked across the opening to where the other cadets were now standing with a respectable distance between them. These cadets use to sit side by side in the dinning hall without argument, place them into groups and they become mortal enemies. Why couldn’t they be more like the rats?

“Look, we have a plan.” She said as she got closer. “Murphy has a way of getting into the farm house, he’s going to get our item from one of the boxes, he can get yours as well.”

“And why should we trust you?”

“What’s that suppose to mean?” Alex said stepping forward. “Kile is the only cadet at the academy you can trust. She’s never been mean to anyone, she’s never stolen anything, she’s would never hurt anyone or get anyone in trouble.”

“I think that's enough Alex.” She said, pulling the small boy back. Maybe he wasn’t the best choice to come along.

“I trust her.” One kid said from the back of the group as he pushed his way forward. “Mark, give her the key.”

“Are you serious Keith?” Mark said, as his hand gripped tighter on his pouch where he must be keeping it.

“Yeah, I’m serious. We don’t know how to get our…whatever it is out of there. If Kile does, I’m willing to take a chance.”

It was Keith Larks, the only other hunter to survive the first survival exercise and the boy she had forced off his horse. She was a bit surprised that he, out of all of them, would take her side.

“What’s your plan?” He asked as he took the key from Mark and handed it to her without hesitation.

“We have a member in our group that can withstand the fire, although we don’t know for how long. Hopefully it will be long enough that he can get to the chest, get the items, and get out.”

“That's a long hope.” Keith replied. “But we have nothing.” He looked at the other group who were still arguing among themselves.

“How does he know where in the house the boxes are?” One cadet asked.

“Because Kile told him.” Alex shot back.

“Then how does she know where the boxes are?”

“The point is I do.” She said, now it was her turn to get annoyed. “I’m not forcing this help on you, I’m offering it. If you don’t want to take it… don’t. I don’t care.” She said as she turned and started to head back.

“Come on Robby, what do you have to loose?” She heard Keith ask.

“This contest.” Was his reply.

She stopped.

“This isn’t a contest.” She said as she turned around. “What do you think you’re going to win, a paid vacation to Baxter Bay.”

“Well… no… but…”

“This is an opportunity to utilize everything you’ve learned at the academy, this is a mock mission. If I’m out in the wild and another Hunter offers me their help, I’m going to jump at the chance, we can’t do this alone.”

“She’s got you there.” Keith added.

“Well… okay, it’s better than doing nothing I guess.”

The two groups of cadets followed Kile as she and Alex walked back to where Murphy was still trying to relax, obviously they didn’t trust her with the keys as much as they said they did.

“You ready Murph.” She said as she handed him the two keys and then pulled hers from around her neck, she dropped it into his hand without hesitating. He appeared a little nervous and she hoped that was just because he was about to go running into a burning building.

Murphy nodded, then closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths before he started to walk toward the burning structures. At first nothing happened, but as he got closer to the fire he began to turn to stone, his skin, his clothing, everything. By the time he reached the farmhouse, he was a walking statue. So, she thought, that’s your edge. Morgan had alluded to a cadet that could turn to stone, and stone doesn’t burn, well, it does, it just requires a really hot fire.

Kile moved to the back of the group, grabbing Carter by the arm and dragging him with her.

“What's up?” He asked.

“I want you to use your edge, get around to the other side of the house and keep watch. If he tries to make a run for it, stop him.”

“You don’t think he will do you?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to take the chance.” She whispered. No need to raise everyone’s suspicion. She felt bad not trusting Murphy completely, but it was his idea, and she was responsible for two other keys beside her own. If this was part of Eric’s master plan and Murphy did try to make a run for it, she wanted to be ready.

Carter moved slowly around the outer edge of the clearing and faded as he walked. Within moments Kile could no longer see him, now she just had to wait with everyone else, the rest of the situation was out of her hands.

The big man pushed the door aside and entered the burning structures. Every minute he was in there felt like an hour to the spectators, and as the time passed the comfort level dropped, even Kile was beginning to get nervous. A section of the building finally gave way as it collapsed under its own weight, sending out a shower of sparks. Only she knew that it was not where Murphy was supposed to be, but it was also something that she hadn’t taken into consideration. He may be able to withstand the heat, but if the building fell on him, trapping him in there, could any of them get him out. She started to regret giving into his suggestion.

Suddenly the side wall blew out as Murphy came stumbling forward across the clearing. His clothes were smoking where they had changed from stone back to cloth and leather, but fortunately his skin was still intact as he staggered across the charred lawn. Daniel was the first to get to him as he eased the big man to a sitting positing away from the heat. His skin was back to its original color and he seemed to be fine, although he had suffered some minor burns to his arms that Daniel was even now tending to.

He leaned forward toward Kile and opened up his two large hands, in one he held three globes of different colors, in the other he held the three keys.

“You did it.” She said as she patted him on the back. She took the keys and handed them back the other cadets. She didn’t want to give him too much praise, he was still the one responsible for getting their stuff stolen, but at least he was making amends, it was a step in the right direction.

“How do we know whose is whose.” Robby asked as he looked over the three globes.

“Key.” Murphy coughed. “Use the keys.”

Kile held her key over the three spheres, the red one began to glow.

“I guess we’re the red group.” She said as she took the small hand sized orb.

Mark ended up taking the green orb and Robby was left with the yellow one.

“Thanks again.” Keith said as his group began to move to the far corner of the clearing, they had completed their joint adventure and now they were back to being mortal enemies.

“You guys need anything?” He asked before he followed the rest of his members. “I mean, you seemed to be traveling really light.”

“Equipment failure.” Kile replied.

“We have some extra hard tack if you want some.” Keith offered.

She still wasn’t that hungry. She didn’t want to accept the offer, whether it was pride or stubborn determination she wanted to prove to Eric that his little trick didn’t work, on the other hand, she just used the argument that if another hunter offered her help she would jump at the chance, and it wasn’t just her it was the entire group.

“No, we’re good.” Carter said as he came up behind her.

“You sure?” Keith asked.

“Yeah, we’re good, thanks anyway.”

“Alright then, then I’ll see you at the finish line.”

Carter waited until Keith was far enough away before he took Kile aside.

“How did you know about Murphy?” He asked.

“What happened?”

“He came out the other side like you said he might. I’m not sure what happened after that. He just stood there for a few minutes, almost as if he didn’t know what to do, then he turned around and walked back into the fire. You knew that was going to happen, didn’t you?”

“But he went back in, and that’s the important part.”

Murphy had finally made a choice for himself, something that went against Eric’s wishes; hopefully it wouldn’t be the last. She sat down on the grass and watched the farmhouse burn.

 

 

 

***~~~***

 

 

 

12

 

Kile awoke to the aroma of real food cooking over an open fire as she blinked the new morning sunlight out of her eyes. It had been a debate, whether or not to stay in the clearing of the burning farm house, using its warmth to keep the night's chill away, or attempt to pursue the first group that had left the clearing in the hopes that they would lead them to their next destination. They chose the latter, and set out after Keith Lark's group, keeping a respectable distance away and hoping that Keith would unwittingly lead them to the next point on the map, but fatigue and the lack of adequate supplies forced them to stop for the night.

She pulled her cloak tighter around her and looked out from under her hat at the small campfire that was burning not more than five feet from her. She had seen enough of fire for a while, but it did provide a little reprieve from the morning dampness. What had surprised her most was that the boys had actually managed to build it. It was nice to know that she could leave them unattended for a couple of hours and they would play nicely together.

It was a small fire, surrounded by a ring of rocks, a perfect example of what Master Folkstaff had taught them. There were a few things on sticks that hung over the flames, and were cooking slowly as Carter turned them.

“Look who’s finally awake.” Daniel said as he walked passed her holding what appeared to be a cloth basket.

“What time is it?” She asked as she sat up, by now the small cot in her cell was looking as enticing as the bed with the six inch thick feather mattresses that Master Folkstaff had described.

“Sun’s been up for about an hour now.” Carter replied.

“An hour, why didn’t you wake me?”

“It didn’t seem necessary. It’s not like we know where we’re going.”

He had a point she thought as she made her way to the warmth of the flames and watched Carter as he tended the morning breakfast.

“What are you cooking?” She asked.

“You want some.” Carter said, pulling once of the sticks from the flames. She could now see that, whatever it was, it once had legs.

“What was it?” She asked, staring at the thing on the end of the stick.

“Squirrel.” Carter said as he pulled a strip off. He stuck it in his mouth and she had to look away as he chewed on the tough piece of meat. “What? It actually tastes pretty good.”

“I’m… not very hungry.” She lied. The only thing she could see was Tik skewered on a stick, and although she knew that it couldn’t be that squirrel, it was still hard for her to look at the charred remains. Tik was on the other side of the forest with his family and his friends she told herself as she got up from the fire.

“You alright?” Daniel asked.

“I’m fine.” She replied and dared to look one more time at the charred little squirrels. She couldn’t blame the boys for eating, and at one time she probably would have joined them, but it was getting harder and harder to see food the same way she used to. She had spoken to squirrels, they had helped her when she was hungry, and although it all falls into the cycle of life, it still didn’t seem very hospitable.

“How about some water?” Daniel suggested as he pointed to the cloth basket that now hung from the tree. She hadn’t noticed it before, but it was the hood off of one of the boy’s cloaks.

“That’s a good idea.” She said as she tipped up the basket and took a drink. The water was cold and quite refreshing.

“Alex thought of that one.” Daniel replied. “Originally he wanted to use your hat, but…”

“Alex?” She said. It was hard to believe the boy could be that resourceful as she looked around the makeshift camp. “Where is he anyway… and where’s Murphy.”

Although Murphy had taken his first steps on the right path, she didn’t feel comfortable with him out of her sight.

“They’re working on something, been working on it all morning.” Carter grumbled. It was clear that he still didn’t trust Murphy either.

“What are they working on?” She asked. A feeling of dread slowly crept over her.

“They wouldn’t say.” Daniel replied.

Alex suddenly came bursting into the campsite laughing followed by a lumbering, an equally excited Murphy. “We got it.” He shouted.

“Got what?” Carter asked.

“This.” He said as he held a rolled up piece of parchment tightly in his hand.

“That’s… a map.” Carter exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

“It sure is.” Alex grinned, and he unrolled it and held it up for them to see as proof that was actually a map.

“Please tell me you didn’t steal someone’s map.” Kile pleaded.

“What if they did?” Carter replied. “You know the rules, anything goes.”

“Just because the rules say you can doesn’t make it right.”

“I’m with Kile on this one.” Daniel said, and even went as far as to physically stand behind her to prove it. “Where did you get the map Alex?”

“What map?” Alex grinned and as he pulled his hands apart, the map disappeared.

“An illusion?” Kile asked.

He brought his hands together, and the map slowly reappeared, shimmering into existence from nowhere. It looked exactly like the map they had lost in every detail, right down to the wrinkles where Murphy had a tight grip on it most of the time. Alex was getting better at controlling his edge; he didn’t even look like he was concentrating that hard on it.

“I don’t understand.” She said a she got closer to look the map over, only when she was right on top of it, did there appear to be a translucent quality to it. “What good is an illusion of a map?”

“Not a map, our map. When we were waiting for Murphy to get the spheres from the farm house, I asked Joseph if I could take a look at their map. Once I knew what the actual map looked like, it was just a matter of time before I could recreate it. Murphy helped me fill in the rest of the detail.”

“Like what?” Carter asked. There was no hiding the note of suspicion in his voice.

“Well… for one… not all the maps are the same.” Murphy replied as he pointed to the illusion that Alex was, in a way, holding. “The first map that Alex created, the marks were not in the same place. At first I thought it was just a mistake, but now, I’m not so sure.”

“So only the farmhouse was the same.” Kile replied as she took another look at the map and appreciated the effort that the two boys had put into it even more.

“That's what it looks like.”

“That would make sense.” Daniel added. “The farmhouse, being the only man made structure in the forest, would be the most practical hiding place.”

“And the other two spheres would be located at different places for each group, that way nobody could follow anybody.” Murphy concluded.

“How do we know that’s right?” Carter asked. “We only have your word on it.”

“I studied that map every chance I had.” Murphy replied. “I may not have a keen eye for detail like Alex, but once I saw his illusion, I knew exactly where our points were.”

“But can we trust you?” Carter asked. They stood there, staring at one another for what seemed like ages, neither one willing to back down, Finally Kile spoke up.

“I trust him.” She said.

Murphy looked at her and nodded a thank you.

“So you guys, where does that place us, which way do we have to go from here.”

“We were just talking about that.” Alex grinned. “And according to our new map, the closest point is northeast of here, maybe less than a day's walk.”

“I’m game.” She said as she looked at the boys. “Northeast it is.”

 

Northeast meant up, and that’s exactly where their path took them, up into the rockier, mountainous regions. It wasn’t exactly a mountain, but it was a steep path and on more than one occasion, Kile wished she had Grim with her to carry her to the top. They stopped once to catch their breaths and to drink from the makeshift water skin that looked as it if was dripping more water than it was carrying.

From their new advantage point they could see a great distance across the wild. In the west the smoke still rose from what had to be the remains of the farmhouse. It wasn’t as black, or as thick as it had been the day before which only meant that it was finally burning itself out. Far to the east, a lot further than any of them had figured, they could see the tips of the towers of Azintar, their final destitution. With two more spheres to collect and only three days to do it in, the task seemed impossible.

Wordlessly they carried on, until the terrain got steeper and ultimately turned into a short vertical climb that brought them to the top of a wide flat plateau sparsely populated with shrubs and little else.

“Well, now what.” Carter demanded as he surveyed the area, although there wasn’t that much to survey. The entire plateau stretched out for forty feet before dropping down the other side, there was nothing higher than two feet off the ground, no building, no people, no trees and especially no golden boxes hiding orbs.

Kile’s first thought was that they had come the wrong way, but was it by accident, or was it by design. She saw Carter watching Murphy. It appeared that she wasn’t the only one that came to that conclusion.

“What did you do now?” Carter asked the big man who looked as surprised as everyone else.

“Me? I didn’t do anything.”

“No, we just happen to be out here… in the middle of nowhere. There’s no telling how far off the track we are now, but we had to follow your map. Our target was probably somewhere off to the south for all we know.”

“Look I marked the map as I remembered it.” Murphy replied as he took a step closer to Carter. He wasn’t backing down this time, which means he felt no shame in what he did or he had nothing to be ashamed of. Kile slipped between the two of them and even though they both towered over her, they both backed down.

“We don’t have time for this.” She said.

“Knock it off you two, Kile’s right. If we’re not where we’re supposed to be, then where are we?” Daniel asked. “Let’s see that map of yours again Alex. Alex?”

And he was gone again. How could he be so annoying when he was round but you never notice when he’s missing. The brief moments of silence should have been a give away.

“Over here you guys.”

Across the Plateau a small hand waved from behind one of the taller brushes.

“Look what I found.” Alex said, pointing to a large hole, concealed by the flora. A rope was tied around the base of one of the thicker bushes and descended into the darkness.

“You think it’s down there?” Daniel asked.

“If it was, then someone else has already beaten us to it.” Carter remarked as he tugged on the rope.

“I don’t think so.” Kile replied. “We already know that the boxes can only be open by one key, they can’t be moved and they can’t be destroyed, so if our box is down there… is should still be down there.”

“Yeah, but someone else is down there too.”

“That’s not surprising.” Daniel replied. “We know there are seven groups out here, three boxes per group, twenty one boxes total, seven of which were at the farmhouse since that was the most obvious hiding place, which still leaves fourteen boxes. Why not double up on hiding places.”

“Then there’s only one way to find out.” Kile said as she tugged the rope.

Carter took it from her “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I thought it was obvious… down.”

“I’m supposed to be protecting this group, I’ll go first.” He said as he gripped the rope and swung his legs over the side of the hole. Hand over hand he descended into the darkness until they could no longer see him. They leaned over the hole, eagerly waiting, straining to hear even the faintest of sounds.

“I’m at the bottom.” Carter’s voice echoed back from the darkness.

“What do you see?” Daniel called back.

“Nothing.”

“You mean there’s nothing down there.”

“No, I mean it’s too dark, I can’t see a damn thing.”

“I guess this is where that lantern would have come in handy.” Kile added.

“Wait a second guys.” Carter called back. “I think I see something. Yeah, there appears to be a tunnel and a light.”

“Hold on, we’re coming down.” Kile said as she gripped the rope. “Hold on tight Vesper.” She told the yarrow that clung to her shoulder.

The drop wasn’t as far as it sounded when Carter was talking; she only had to descend about fifteen feet before her feet hit the cavern floor, which was surprisingly flat for a natural cave. The room was round, hued, almost dome shaped, out of solid rock. She could barely see Carter standing beside a hallway, or tunnel that lead away from their location. A faint, flickering light was visible at the far end. What surprised her most was that she could see Carter, who could not see her.

“Who’s that, is that you Danny?” He asked, as he turned to face her, or almost face her, he was kind of looking off in the wrong direction.

“No, it’s me.” She replied.

“I’m over here.” He said as he turned towards her.

“Where is everyone?” Alex called out as he touched the cavern floor.

“Over here.” Kile said and watched as Alex fumble around in the dark with his hands out in front of him. Was it that dark, she wondered.

It wasn’t as if she could see them clearly, not as if they were standing in a lit room. It was more like reality had the color stripped from it and everything appeared to be in shades of gray. Was this what she was seeing, or was Vesper seeing it?

Daniel came down next and stumbled into Alex, followed close by Murphy who didn’t move away from the thin shaft of light from the opening in the ceiling.

“Where is everyone?” He called out

“They’re around.” Kile said, shaking her head, this was clearly getting out of hand. She grabbed Alex by the arm.

“It’s me.” She told him. “Just come this way.” She said, leading him to where Carter was still standing. “You better go see what’s up ahead.” She told Carter and went back to get Daniel, and Murphy.

Once they got into the dim light of the corridor, they were able to navigate easier as it rounded on itself, spiraling deeper and eventually opening into another circular room. The room was lit by several flicking torches attached to the walls, casting strange dancing shadows upon the high ceilings. The walls were rough but the floor was flat and there were only three other exits out of the room beside the one they had come though, or  upon closer examination, two exits since one had been blocked by what appeared to be a rather large stone door. This was Carter’s first detestation as he examined the door. He tried to open it, even knocked on it a few times but just shook his head in defeat.

“Why not try one that already opened.” Kile mumbled to herself as she peered through one of the doorways. Inside was a smaller room, about twenty feet in diameter. A small glowing globe hung silently in the center of the room, illuminating a small golden box.

“That's too easy.” Daniel remarked over her shoulder, and she had to agree. It reminded her of the mousetrap that her brother had built in the barn one summer. Set the cheese out for the mouse and when it got too close, BAM, A large hammer came down and hit it on the head. They never did find out if it worked, she would always disarm it at night before going to bed and then rearm it in the morning before her brother ever got up. The cheese was always gone and Leon could never figure out what he had done wrong with the trap. Eventually he just gave up.

She looked up toward the ceiling to see if there was a large hammer waiting for her.

“Now what?” Daniel asked as he backed out of the second room. That one was set up the same way.

Kile held the key out to the two open doors, and when she thought she felt it pulse, she knew their orb was in the second room.

“We go in and get it.” She said, although she didn’t feel all that confident.

“It has to be a trap.” Daniel replied.

“Even if it is, we still have to get it.” She said and then looked over at the closed door. That was something that made her nervous.

“Okay.” She finally said, working it over in her mind. “Carter, you stand beside the exit. Alex stands near the closed door, Murphy stands near the door to the room, Daniel keeps an eye on me and I open the chest.”

“Why you?”

“Because I have the key.” She said holding it up.  “If anything happens it has to come from one of those areas. If anyone hears or sees anything… just yell.”

“Oh, I’ll yell.” Alex said as he nervously stood beside the closed stone door. “If anything comes out of this room I won’t just yell, I’ll scream.”

“What do you think Vesper, do you feel anything wrong?” She asked the Yarrow as she took him off her shoulder and placed him on the floor. He seemed a little nervous, but it was difficult to tell with a yarrow since they always seemed a little nervous.

-Smell wrong.-

“What smells wrong?” Kile asked.

-Air smell wrong, not like.-

“Yeah, me neither. We’ll be out of here soon. You wait here, I’ll be right back” She assured him, and then turned to Daniel. “You ready?”

“You want me to open the box.” He offered.

“No, I got the box. You just make sure a hammer doesn’t hit me in the head.”

“A what?”

“Just… make sure nothing happens.” She said as she stepped into the room. Daniel was two steps behind her.

Walking slowly across the floor she tried to watch both the ceiling and the walls. Of course the floor was another matter. From her own experience in the entry examination, she remembered how the mystics loved trap door. Stand in the wrong place, kneel in the wrong place, move the wrong object and she could be dropped into a deep pit before she knew it. She held her breath and knelt down beside the golden box holding the key in her left hand. Slowly slipping it into the lock she gently started to turn it.

“Anything?”

Kile jumped, almost leaping over the box as she spun around.

“Do you mind?” She told Daniel who took a few steps back.

“Sorry.”

She crouched back down beside the box, took another deep breath to calm her already shaky nerves and turned the key, the lid popped open. She cringed and waited for the worst, but nothing happened, no hammer came down to strike her on the head. Inside the box was a single orb of the same color and size as the one they already had.

She wet her lips, flexed her fingers and very slowly reached into the golden box. Carefully she took hold of the orb and gently picked it up. So far so good she thought as she slowly lifted the orb from the box that was when she heard the click and something scratched her hand.

“What the…. what… uh…”

The room began to spin and everything went black.

 

The room was still spinning, but now it was a dull gray as Kile lay in the center of the floor, staring up at the dome ceiling with a furry little creature laying a crossed her neck. She lifted her head to look around, but the minute her head left the floor the room spun faster. Vesper sat up and looked down at her.

-Kile alright?-

He asked, cocking his head to one side.

“That depends, am I still alive?”

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” Daniel laughed.

“Ouch, not so loud.” She replied as she placed her hands over her ears.

“How do you feel otherwise?” He asked, a little quieter.

“Still too loud.” She cringed. All she wanted to do was curl up in a dark corner and wait until her head stopped pounding.

“Hey Kile Girl, you back with us.”

“Ow. The next person that yells I’m going to rip their tongue out.” She said as she curled up pulling her cloak over her head.

“Yeah, she’s back.” Alex replied. “She going to be alright?”

“Oh sure.” Daniel replied. “I’m not sure if it’s the poison or the cure that causes the headache.”

“Poison?” She asked from under her cloak.

“That was half the trap, the box had a spring loaded poison needled embedded inside.”

She had thought about everything outside the box, she didn’t think about the trap being inside the box.

“They tried to… poison me?”

“I don’t think it was personal, and I don’t think anyone was trying to kill anyone. It was more like a strong sedative. Knock you out for hours, if not days.”

“Days… the exam.” She exclaimed as she sat up, and then the room really spun as she fell over backwards.

“Don’t move around too fast. Your equilibrium is shot.”

“My what.” She moaned.

“Your equilibrium, you balance. I extracted the poison but it has a tendency to disrupt the balance, I think it has something to do with the water aspect of the art.”

“How long was I out?” She asked as she prepared for the worst.

“Only a couple of hours.” Daniel assured her. “Fortunately poisons are easy to remove from the system if you get to them fast enough.”

“What happened? Did we get the orb? Is everyone else okay?”

“Everyone’s fine, Carter and Murphy when top side to look around. We thought about tying a rope around you and hauling you out of here, but figured it would be better if we just spent the night.”

“Thanks”

It was nice not to be treated like a sack of potatoes.

“So, what happened after I died?” She asked.

“Well, after you sprang the trap, the door to the room closed. It would have sealed us in if Murphy hadn’t been standing right there to block it. He got under it and turned his body to stone again. I grabbed you and the orb and dragged you out.”

“The key?”

“Actually Vesper grabbed the key.”

“Thank you Vesper.”

“Once we saw the door closed, we realized that the other closed door, the one that Alex was guarding, must have been a sprung trap. Carter and Murphy managed to lift it high enough for Alex to craw under.”

“And… was there anybody inside? What did he find?”

“Aside from a few items that might come in handy, he found this.” Daniel said as he held a small ebony box over her so she could see it without moving. “It was opened.” He added.

“They got trapped inside and had to give up.” She realized. She felt bad for the group, even though she didn’t know whose group it was. To come all this way, to get to the second, or it could have been there first orb, only to have to quit over a silly mistake. How far would that go against them, would they still be able to graduate?

“That’s what we think.” Daniel replied, bringing her back to reality “They probably all went in at the same time, didn’t trust one another or were too trusting of the situation, that’s when they all got caught, or maybe most of them, it’s hard to say. Either way they took the short cut out.”

“We’ve got to get moving.” Kile said as she tried to sit up, only to fall back down.

“We’re gong to wait until morning. We still have three days and only one orb to go. We’re making good time.”

 

By morning the effects of the poison had almost completely worn off. She still felt a little dizzy and there was that annoying pounding way in the back of her head, but at least she was able to stand on her own without using the wall as support. She looked back at the only door that still remained open. One more victim she thought, the trap was waiting for one more chance. The score was one to one, one that it caught, one that got away, how lucky will the third party be.

She picked up the pack that Alex had found in the room where the trap was sprung. It must have been dropped by one of the cadets, before the mystic in the little ebony box whisked them away back to the academy. It was one of the survival kits that each group had been given prior to the start of the exercise, but it was depleted of anything really useful, in fact the only thing that still had any use, was the pack itself since it now held the two red orbs that they had collected.

There were a few items that had been left, such as a half eaten bar of hardtack, a small knife, a piece of chalk and a few bandages from the first aid kit.

“Hey, you coming?” Daniel asked as he walked back into the room. The rest of them were already up top, and they’re waiting on her.

She looked back toward the one door still open, the one trap still not sprung.

“Give me a second will ya.” She said.

Opening the pack she grabbed the piece of chalk. This was one of those items on her mental list, a must have for every adventurer who found themselves in a dark cave or dimly lit tunnel.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing, I’ll be right there.” She said as she got down on the floor in front of the open door with chalk in hand and began to write.

“What are you doing? What are you writing?”

“Nothing, I’ll be right there.” She said again.

Daniel finally walked across the open room and stood over her.

She had drawn two squiggly lines over a large X as well as a triangle with an arrow pointing down. These were the Hunter symbols for poison and trap respectively; she then drew a large box around the two symbols. To another hunter, this clearly reads as a poison trap in a box, hopefully the next group would understand.

“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Kile replied as she slowly got to her feet to admire her work. She was still a little wobbly and the drawing showed it, but she was sure they would get the message, but that was only if they paid attention in Master’s Adam’s class.

“Because that’s…”

“What, cheating?” She finished for him.

“Well… yeah kind of.” Daniel replied, although he really wasn’t sure if that was the right word.

“Anything goes, remember what Master Adam said.”

“Well yeah, but this… this is giving help to the enemy.”

She shook her head as she pushed past him and headed back to the tunnel. She was ready to see the light of day and put this room behind her, but she stopped when she reached the entrance, turning to face Daniel.

“You know they’re not our enemy.” She replied. “I don’t remember anyone saying anything about having to come in first. All we have to do is finish on time.”

“You’re too good hearted for this, you know that.”

“Why, because I don’t see this as a competition like Carter does.”

“You know he’s not going to like you leaving clues for the other group.”

“Why should I care what Carter likes, I can sleep at night.”

“So, you’re going to tell him?”

“Hell no.” She said as she headed for the rope, the fresh air and the sun. She heard Daniel laughing behind her.

Kile found the rope and the fresh air, but not the sun as the sky was dark with thick layers of clouds. They wouldn’t have to worry about searching for water today.

The heavens had been kind to them, until they reached the bottom of the mountain, then it opened up and began to rain. It was a light drizzle at first, but it soon turned into a downpour. If she didn’t know better she would have sworn the Mystics had something to do with this sudden change in the weather, just another obstacle for the cadets to overcome.

“We should have stayed back in the hole.” Alex complained. His wild hair matted flat against his head by the rain. At least now she knew whose hood they cut off for the water skin. Kile removed her own cloak, much to Vespers annoyance since he had been hiding in her hood to keep dry.

“Sorry about that Vesper.” She said to the yarrow as she slipped him into the pack that hung at her side. “You’ll be dryer in here anyway.”

-Don’t like water-

Vesper complained.

“Hold up guys.” Kile called out as she handed Alex her cloak.

“What’s this for?” He asked.

“Switch, you’re getting drenched.” She told him.

Alex didn’t wait to be asked twice. He quickly slipped out of his cloak and exchanged it for hers. Fortunately they took the same size in cloaks, not that the quartermaster had too many sizes to choose from. He pulled the hood over his head and thanked her.

“Don’t mention it.” She replied. Her hat kept most of the water off her head anyway. “Where are we supposed to be going anyhow?”

Alex unrolled the illusionary map and held it out in front of him. She wondered if it was necessary for him to unroll it each time they wanted to use it, since it wasn’t a real map and it wasn’t really rolled up. She looked over his shoulder to read it. If the map was right, they weren’t far from their final orb.

“We should be able to get there tonight.” She told the others.

“Well, that’s some good news.” Carter replied.

Alex rolled the map back up until it disappeared, she shook her head and kept walking, he was on his way to becoming a first class mystic, always showing off.

They never stopped for lunch or supper, they didn’t have anything to eat anyway and to forage for food would have taken away time which they also didn’t have. According to the map they still had quite a distance to go before they could get back to the academy. Even if they were lucky enough to find the orb by nightfall, it would take them two days to reach the Western gates, and that was assuming nothing hindered them along the way. Instead they split the half bar of hardtack that was found in the lost pack, although no one was eager to eat it, except maybe Alex who actually liked the stuff.

They pushed themselves forward as the skies grew darker, the air grew closer and the distant sound of thunder echoed through the valley. It was going to be a harsh night. By the time evening rolled on them, and it was becoming too dark to continue, Daniel spotted the campfire in the distance.

“Looks like someone beat us to the punch.” Carter said.

“That doesn’t mean anything.” Daniel replied. “Besides, maybe they’ll lend us a hand.”

“Yeah right, what’s in it for them, it's not like we have anything to offer.”

“Maybe they’ll do it out of the goodness of their hearts.” Daniel replied as he looked over at Kile and grinned.

-Dogs-

Vesper’s voice echoed in Kile’s head, bringing with it a sense of danger.

“Hold up you guys.” She called out.

“What are we stopping for now?” Carter asked.

She ignored him as she opened the pack that hung at her side, looking down at the yarrow who stared back up at her.

“What’s the problem Vesper? What’s wrong?” She asked him, at this point she didn’t care who was watching.

-Dogs, dogs and Vir in the forest-

“Men with dogs.” She said as she quickly fell into her edge and scanned the forest, only then did she pick up on them. Two men, two dogs, two different locations.

“Back this way guys, we have a problem.”

“What problem? What are you on about?” Carter asked.

“There are men in the forest with dogs, at least two of them, there could be more.” She said.

“How do you…” Carter started to ask, but Daniel cut him off.

“Where Kile?”

She paused for a moment, laying it out in her mind.

“One directly ahead of us, about fifty yards, the other a little farther away, maybe seventy, eighty yards off to the north.”

“Why would there be dogs in the forest?” Daniel asked

“You think the last orb is guarded?” Alex asked.

“I’ll find out.” Carter said with confidence as he began to slip into his own edge.

“Wait.” Kile stopped him. “You may be able to slip past the vir, but you won’t fool the dogs.”

“The what?”

“The… men, you may be able to slip past the men, but you won’t fool the dogs.”

“You’re underestimating my edge.” Carter replied in a boasting manner.

“You’re underestimating mine.” She replied. “How do you think I was able to defend against you when you pulled your edge on me during our first duel. No, the vir can be fooled, the dogs can’t.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

 

 

 

***~~~***

 

 

 

13

 

He was not from the academy, not in the sense that he was a hunter, but instead a city guard, although he was not dressed in the city livery. He wore banded armor with quilted slacks and high leather boots, an ill fitted helm concealed most of his face, probably his idea of what a brigand would wear. Even though he wasn’t dressed like a city guard, he definitely patrolled like one. It was the way they walked, the way they held themselves, like stiff pieces of wood on wheels. It was not uncommon from the Hunter’s Guild to employ city security for the more mundane task, like waiting out in the wild for five days hoping that a bunch of cadets would come along. Anything for a few extra coins to spend in the pub.

The dog was as stiff and as focused as his master that was until he picked up on the scent. His entire body tensed as the hair on the back of his neck stood up and he began to growl in a low menacing tone.

“What is it boy, what do you ya got.” The guard asked as tightened his grip on the leash. He scanned the forest but could see nothing through the dense rain. Only by the random flashes of lightning did he have any hopes of seeing anything in the darkness. He placed his hand gently upon the hilt of his sword. He knew the rules, he knew what to expect, but he wasn’t taking any chances. The dog pulled at the leash and the guard crouched down beside him.

“You got something boy, you got something?” He said, egging on the dog as he released the clasp. Once freed the dog shot off into the high grass the guard drew his sword and followed.

He cursed as he cut his way through the thick brush, the rain soaked branches hanging lower made it even harder for him to keep up, and he only stopped when the forest suddenly went quiet.

“Javoon?” He called out, but there was no reply. “Javoon, where are ya boy?”

He was answered only by the distant sound of thunder. The city guard pressed on through the high grass, stumbling out the other side, what he saw was not what he expected.

A young girl with long red hair sat face to face with the guard dog, they were staring at each other in a small clearing under a large pine tree.

“Hey… hey you there.” The guard called out, walking slowly. “You better be careful there miss, that dog’s dangerous.”

Neither the dog, nor the young girl looked up, or paid him any mind as he started to get closer, if he didn’t know better, he would have sworn they were carrying on a conversation. He took a few more steps in their direction when something or someone stopped him as he felt a hand press against his chest. He gripped his sword and was ready to defend himself, but he couldn’t see who to defend himself against.

“We don’t want to hurt you.”

The Guard spun around and nearly fell over backwards. It was the largest man he had ever seen, standing nearly seven feet tall with his head in the trees, dressed in black armor with a helmet that was crafted into the shape of a grinning white skull. He held a battle ax that was so large, it could have cut the guard in two with one swing. How this juggernaut managed to sneak up behind him so easily defied logic.

“You may want to put your sword down.” The grinning skull said.

Although the voice sounded a bit meek considering the bulk that it was coming from, the guard decided that the few extra coins the Hunter’s Guild was offering wasn’t worth it. He dropped his sword.

“Thank you.”

A tall slim man stepped out from behind one of the trees.  His face was barely visible from under the hood of his cloak, but the guard could make out that he was rather young.

“We don’t want to see anyone get hurt.” He said as he raised one glowing blue hand and touched the guard’s forehead. It was the last thing the guard remembered of that night.

 

“You killed him?” Alex cried as he walked through the glowing skulled juggernaut that slowly faded out of existence.

“Of course not.” Daniel replied. He knelt down beside the guard, placing his finger along side the man’s neck just to make sure he hadn’t. “He’s fine.”

“Did you know that was going to work?” Carter asked.

“Truthfully… no. I had never tried that before.” He replied.

“How long is he going to be out?”

“A couple of hours at the most.”

Carter picked up the guards fallen sword and turned it over in his hand, feeling the weight and the balance. “Why do you think they would use outsiders?” He asked. “You would think that Hunter’s would have been better suited.”

“That would require hunters to use their edge against other hunters, and it is strictly prohibited in the hunter’s code.” Alex chimed in.

“I think it’s a little more than just that.” Daniel added.

“Who knows?”

Carter gently sets the sword beside the sleeping guard, and then turned and looked to where Kile and the dog were still sitting face to face.

“She’s really talking to that dog… isn’t she?” He asked.

“Yep.” Daniel replied.

“I mean… really talking to the dog. Like, actually carrying on a two way conversation.”

“Yep.”

“Is that… normal?”

“It depends on your definition of normal.” Daniel explained. “If you’re asking if it’s rare, then yes, it’s a very rare edge, I’m not sure of any other Hunter that can do it, past or present, but then you can’t really be sure since Hunter’s keep their edges secret.”

“So… she can talk to other animals too, like that rodent of hers.”

“Vesper? Oh yeah, she talks to Vesper. She can also talk to squirrels.”

“What does that have to do with… the squirrels… with the apples… that was her?”

“Yep.”

Carter sat down against the tree shaking his head.

“And here I am suggesting that she probably cheated during the first survival exercise.”

“Yep.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“A hunter’s edge is known only by the hunter and the mystic that teaches him, and anybody else the hunter wants to tell. If she wanted to tell you, she would have.”

“She told you.”

“That's different. I think up until now she was a little self conscious about her edge. Now she’s finally seeing how useful it is.”

“If it can get us some information about what’s going on in that camp, it will be very useful, we still don’t’ know how many guards are in there, or even if our last orb is there.”

“Five guards, minus the one you guys took care of.” Kile said as she and the guard dog approached. “And yes there is a box in the tent on the east side of the camp, as to whether or not our orb is in there that waits to be seen, but it does match the description of the other boxes, oh… and this is Javoon, he’s agreed to help.”

“Why?” Carter asked as he looked between the guard dog and Kile. He was still coming to grips that she was actually talking to the animal.

“Believe it or not, because of Gorum.” Kile replied with a sigh. “When the guards were at the academy getting their instruction and picking up their boxes, the guard dogs were with Gorum and Hunar. It would appear that Gorum asked them to help us out.”

“Gorum? Oblum’s dog? Asked them to help us.” Carter said, now he was in complete disbelief.

“Well, actually, he asked them to help me, and since I’m with you it kind of works out the same way.”

“But why would Oblum’s dog want to help us… I mean… you?”

“That's what friends do.” Kile replied with a shrug. “Come on, we should get back to Murphy and find out what’s happening in the camp and figure out what to do next.”

“What about sleeping beauty?” Alex asked.

“If you want to kiss him and wake him up, be my guess, but wait until we leave first.” Daniel suggested.

“I ain’t kissing no dude.” Alex replied as he quickly caught up with the others.

They set about backtracking up through the forest with Kile and Javoon leading the way, it didn’t take them long to find Murphy who was crouched down beside one of the larger trees, completely in his stone form to mask his scent from the dogs. He turned when they approached, looking between Kile and the Guard Dog, if he thought anything was strange about the pair, he didn’t say.

“What have we learned?” Kile asked as she came up behind him.

They had found the encampment not long after Vesper had detected the guards, although it wasn’t that difficult to find. It was situated in the center of a wide clearing, four tents erected around a good size cooking fire. A large pot of something that smelled edible hung over the flames. On either edge of the clearing two guards stood with their backs to the fire, looking out in the darkness of the woods around them.

“There are only the three guards, along with two dogs.” Murphy said as they pulled back from the edge of the hill.

“That means there is still one guard and one dog unaccounted for.” Kile concluded.

“More than likely they’re out on patrol. So now what?” Carter asked.

“That’s easy.” She answered, pulling the key out of her tunic and then from around her neck. She handed it to Carter. “You’re going to get the orb.”

“Me?”

“With your edge you can be in and out without anyone seeing you.”

“I can get past the men, but not the dog. You told me that yourself.”

“That’s where Javoon come in. He’s going to convince the dogs not to pay any attention to you.”

“Aren’t they going to be a little suspicious when the dog comes back alone?” Daniel asked.

“Surprisingly not, it seems to be a regular occurrence.”

“Let's hope so.” Carter said as he gripped the key tightly in his hand and slowly faded out of sight.

“You’re on Javoon.” Kile whispered to the dog.

The guard dog casually walked into camp, under the watchful eye of the one of the guards. He didn’t hesitate as he trotted over to the other dogs and lay down among them.

“Was that Javoon?” Another guard asked as he came out of one of the tents. He must have been sleeping as he ran one gloved hand through his hair and cursed the rain.

“Who else.” The guard on post answered.

“Where Angelo?”

“Probably somewhere out there, looking for Javoon?” The guard at the post laughed.

“By the gods what an idiot, tell me again why he has to be in our squad.”

“He’s your brother-in-law.”

Carter slipped quietly between the two guards as they spoke and cross the campsite to the tent, which happen to be the one the guard dogs were laying in front of. He hoped that Javoon had carried out his part of the plan, and then realized that he was relying on a dog to convince his pack to look the other way.

One of the dogs did look up briefly as Carter was stepping over him, but soon laid his head back down on his paws and closed his eyes. Only when Carter was inside the tent did he start to breath again.

It wasn’t difficult to find the golden box. It was the only other thing in the tent beside the table that it was sitting on. Carter inserted the key and gently turned it. A muffled click was all the noise that it made. He looked back toward the opening of the tent to see if he had attracted any unwanted attention, but the dogs remained still and the guards were too far away. Slowly he opened the box and removed the red orb from inside. He was nearly out of the tent when the missing patrol returned.

“Hey, you see Angelo out there.” The guard asked the new man.

“I couldn’t see squat with all this rain.” He replied as he got closer to the campsite, it was then that his dog began to growl.

“What is it girl?”

Carter moved back, away from the opening of the tent. If the dog was going to try anything, he would need an escape. He could go out the back but there was a guard on that side of the camp as well. A tent ripping itself apart from the inside out was kind of a dead give away that something wasn’t quite right.

The new man held onto the leash as the dog strained to get free.

“Have you checked on the package?”

“Well… no, not lately, but nothings happen here since you left, it’s been quiet. Maybe she’s a little spooked by the thunder.”

“Kenor does not get spooked.” The man replied. He held the dog back as she pulled on the leash. There was no mistaken the direction that she wanted to go in.

It was Javoon that made the next move as the larger guard dog rose slowly from the pack and made his way toward Kenor. Carter watched as there was an exchange between the two dogs. He had never considered dogs being able to communicate with one another, but seeing Javoon and Kenor, he was beginning to have second thoughts. The female guard dog eased out of her defensive posture.

“What’s the matter girl, did you lose it?” The man asked, he was still not completely convinced and even released the dog so see where she would go. Kenor followed Javoon back to the pack where she settled down.

“See, nothing to worry about. It was probably just a lover’s spat.” The guard said with a laugh.

“Yeah, maybe.” The man replied, although he didn’t believe it as he continued to head toward the tent.

There really wasn’t enough room in the tent for the two of them as Carter compressed himself against the side as much as he could, but the man wasn’t all that enthusiastic. He simply pulled back the flap and looked in to see that the box was still on the table.

“Everything there.” The guard on post said with just a hint of venom in his voice at the insinuation that he had somehow let the box be stolen.

“Hey, I’ve worked with these hunters before, you haven’t.” The man said. “They can be really tricky.”

“Come on, they're just kids.” The guard replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“Kids or not, they have… secret powers.”

He was looking around the forest as if he expected to be surrounded by cadets at any minute. Working with the hunters clearly made him nervous, but only made the guard on post laugh.

“Oh come on, don’t tell me you believe all that crap about the hunters, it’s a promotional gimmick to rake in more work for their guild.”

“If you’d seen what I’d seen Pete, you wouldn’t be so quick to judge.” The man said as he moved to the second tent. “I don’t think I’ll even be able to sleep tonight. They’ll be here soon, and when they do, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.”

“Yeah, yeah, just shut up and go to sleep already.”

Carter seized his opportunity as he stepped nimbly over the dogs that still paid him little mind, only Kenor looked in his direction as he passed. He crossed under the nose of the Guard on post, which he now knew as Pete and headed back up the hill with the third and last orb well in hand.

“Oh man that was close.” He said as he collapsed by the tree and slowly reappeared.

“It’s not over yet” Daniel said as he got to his feet. “Let’s get the hell out of here before we start to celebrate.”

 

They traveled just over an hour more through the wilderness before they decided to stop for the night, choosing the shelter of leaning rock to keep the wind at bay and tied together their cloaks to create a makeshift tent to keep out the rain. With the flint that he kept in his boot as a good luck charm and the small steel bladed knife that they found in the cave, Carter was able to start a fire even in the damp conditions they found themselves in.

They had to make sure that they were outside the guard’s patrol area, the last thing they wanted were the guards to come stumbling upon them by accident. They wouldn’t be searching for them until morning, if they actually went to those lengths. The Hunter’s Guild didn’t pay that much coin.

The guard they left sleeping in the forest would be awake by now and the story he had to tell would be too unbelievable to even be considered fact. Since they couldn’t open the box without the key to see that it was now empty, there would be no reason for them to go looking for anyone, including grinning skulled juggernauts or red headed forest nymphs conversing with dogs.

The rain, the damp condition, the lack of food and warmth did not distract from the fact that they had all three orbs in their possession. They had completed their part of the survival exercise and now they had two days to get back to the academy. Even if they took it slow they should easily arrive in time.

 

By the next morning the storm had blown over and the sun was now struggling to be seen through the clouds. The weather was getting warmer and the summer was well on its way. The new first year cadets would be arriving in two months, the old first year cadets would become second years and Kile would be in her third year at the academy. In nine months time she would be assigned to a Guild Hall who knows where to start her life as a hunter, the only thing on her mind was whether or not she was ready. This was not a time to have doubts she told herself as she followed the boys through the forest.

They had given her the pack that they salvaged from the cave. It was the pack that had been left behind by the unfortunate group that was forced to use the little ebony box as a last resort. In the pack, that now hung over her shoulder was the three orbs and Vesper who was quite happy to ride with his head poking out from the top. He appeared to like this one more than her old one, as it provided him with more room to curl up in.

The walk was more light hearted now as their only purpose now was to get from point “A” to point “B”. With no mountains to climb or valleys to traverse there didn’t appear to be any obstacles in their way. By late evening they stopped beside the river to fill themselves as well as their makeshift water skin.

“You know what we need.” Daniel said as he played around with the water skin. He was sure that he could find a way to cleanse water more efficiently with his edge than filtering cloth. He had gotten close once, but the water took on such a bitter taste that although it was clean, it was still undrinkable.

“This should be good.” Carter said. He was trying to show Alex how to start a fire, but wasn’t having much luck.

“We need fish.”

“Hey yeah, A fish fry.” Carter grinned. “The only problem is we don’t have a pole, string, hook or bait, but besides that....”

“I’m sure we can find something.” Daniel replied.

“How about Kile just call the fish to the surface and we grab them when they get there.” Alex chimed in, only to receive a slap upside the head by Carter.

“That’s horrible.” Kile exclaimed.

“It was just a suggestion.”

“Actually I was thinking more in the lines of Carter’s edge and how he caught those squirrels a couple of days back. He’s getting better at it.” Daniel suggested.

Carter shrugged. “I can give it a try, but I’m not promising anything.” He said as he started to remove his boots.

Barefooted he stood on the bank of the river and slowly faded out of existence as he started to wade in. Only the water as it flowed around him, gave any indication that someone was there. They waited on the banks of the river to see if he could actually pull this off.

There was a violent splash as one of the fish was raised into the air followed by the eerie sound of disembodied laughter.

“And to think of all the time I wasted with a pole.” Carter shouted.

Kile had never talked to fish, and she didn’t want to try. She had always enjoyed fishing with her brother back home when she was younger, it was one of the few times that she could get away from her father’s disapproving looks, but even if she caught more fish than Leon, it was always her brother that had gotten the praise. It was just another way for her father to turn an otherwise enjoyable event into a disappointment. She gave up fishing soon after that and when she decided to train to become a hunter she never had the time.

“Hey, I’m not doing all the work.” Carter laughed as he grabbed another fish and tossed it to Daniel. “Get the fire started; let’s get this fish fry going.”

Alex and Daniel began to clean the fish; Murphy took over with the chore of building the fire easily stoking the flames, his large stone hands unaffected by the heat, while Kile headed into the woods with the help of a friendly groundhog to fine some herbs and mushrooms for added flavor. Within a couple of hours they were enjoying the first real meal they had in quite some time.

“Why didn’t we think of this sooner?” Alex asked, finishing off his third fish.

“We were too busy looking for the orbs.” Daniel replied.

“Or it could have something to do with the lack of fish in the middle of the forest.” Carter remarked.