Hunter's Academy (Veller) (43 page)

“Then I should be getting back to class, Master Boraro is not one for tardiness, especially mine
… sir.”

“Kile…”
Erin was about to say something more but Oblum held up his hand to stop her.

“You
’re dismissed Cadet.” He said.

“Thank you sir.”
She replied as she turned and headed out the door.

She knew what they wanted to see, what they had expected to see. A young girl balling her eyes out over the loss of her father, but she just didn’t feel anything. They could have told her some peddler she never met just keeled over down the street and although she would have felt bad for the person, she wouldn’t have had any stronger feelings. She felt more for the loss of Tree, a boy she had known for a week, th
an for the loss of her own father, and that was the one thing that did bother her. If anything she was mad at him, mad at him for denying her to opportunity to prove to him that she wasn’t as useless as he had always led her to believe.

She stepped back out, onto the compound and was surprised on how hot it actually was, or was it that much colder in Oblum’s
office. It was difficult to tell since she was sweating in both environments. She headed toward the List where the cadets were starting to gather and saw Alex tug on Daniel’s sleeve and point in her direction as she approached. When Daniel turned around, she knew by the look on his face and the way he stood, that Mater Adams must have told them why she had been summoned to Oblum’s office, and she knew the course that the next conversation was about to take.

Daniel stepped away from the other and started to approach her. What did they do, draw straws to see who was going to console her? As endearing as the sentiment was, it actually annoyed her. To think that she had been through so much with these boys that they still expected her to act like a little girl the minute she received bad news.

“You okay?” Daniel asked as he got closer.

“I’m fine, how are you?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t.” She replied.

“We know about your father, Master Adams’s told us.”

“And?”

“Kile, you don’t have to act brave around us, it's okay…”

“I’m not acting brave around
anyone; I just don’t see what the big deal is.” She said as she pushed past him.

“Kile, he was your father.”

“Believe it or not, I’m well aware of who the man was.” She replied. “I’ve been around him nearly sixteen years, actually fourteen years since I’ve been here nearly three years.”

“Well, what did Oblum say?” Daniel asked.

“Oh, they want to give me a leave of absence to attend his funeral.”

“So, when are you leaving?”

“I’m not.”

“Kile?”

“Drop it Daniel, you don’t understand, and I don’t care to explain it.”

“Fine, but if you do.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” She said.

It was the first time she was actually grateful to see Master Boraro enter the field, because it meant the conversation with Daniel, for better or for worse, was now at an end. He didn’t understand, he couldn’t’ understand. How could he? His father actually wanted him around, his father actually wanted him to succeed, his father brought him to the mystic tower so that he could take the entry
examination, his father didn’t try to sell him off for bottom land or better water rights, how could he understand?

The Weapons Master stood before the cadets and waited for them to
quiet down.

“Today we are going to start
studying the complexity of the pole arm; this is not to be confused with the quarter staff which is a peasant’s weapon. The pole arm is much more versatile.” Mater Boraro announced from the front of the class as he held up an eight foot long staff weighted at both ends. One end had a bent looking hammer while the other had a simple ball for a counter balance. “Although there are many different pole arms, the techniques for using them are the same varied only slightly by the head of the pole.”

He went through the
maneuvers; a few thrusting action and few swings and Kile couldn’t tell the difference between the use of a pole arm and the use of a quarter staff. To her they appeared to be the same thing, although she had to admit the added weight on the ends would make it more difficult to use. In fact she was beginning to see a pattern in most of Master Boraro’s techniques. They only vary based on the length of the weapon.

“For the next couple of
weeks we will be working with some different pole arms, maybe some of you who are incapable of handling the intricacies of the sword will find these weapons simpler to your limited skills.” He finished, tossing the weapon to Master West.

She
had a feeling that the last statement was made for her benefit since Master Boraro made it a point to look directly at her when he said it. He was not blind to the fact that her swordsmanship was sorely lacking.

“Pick up your weapons and break off into pairs for evaluation.” Master West called out.

She wasn’t looking forward to this as she grabbed one of the weapons from the barrels that had been brought in. She was right about one thing, the added weights on the staff’s ends did make it awkward to use. Heading towards her practice spot, one that was far enough away from the Weapons Master as not to attract too much attention, she found Daniel waiting for her.

She took her stance opposite him, gripping the pole arm with both hands.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Daniel asked her.

“No, I’m pretty sure I know how to do this.” She replied.

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

This was not the time or the place for such a discussion as
she launched into her first attack. It was half hearted and ill prepared, but she just wanted Daniel to focus on the matter at hand and leave her private life alone. He easily blocked it and turned it aside and went for a weak counter attack. He was pulling his punches she realized, which only annoyed her more as she deflected the blow and came around with a strike of her own, unfortunately she misjudged the length of the staff and how much those weighted ends threw her balance off. She ended up dragging the end of the pole arm through the dirt which resulted in the sudden loss of her weapon. Daniel had already moved to block and counter the strike that never came, which resulted in his blow catching her on the back of the inside leg and ultimately knocking her flat on her back.

“Kile, I’m sorry.” Daniel said, dropping his weapon as he moved to her side. “Are you alright? I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I’m fine.” She said, slapping his hand aside. The last thing she needed at this moment was to be made aware of how bad she actually was.

What made matters worse wasn’t the fact that he wasn’t even trying to win and she was, but that Master Boraro had to pick that moment to be standing right behind her.

“Pathetic.” The weapons master grumbled.

“I’m not pathetic.” She shot back as she grabbed her pole arm and got to her feet.

“You can’t even handle one of the simplest weapons in the armory, what would you call it other than pathetic. You’re useless, you’re a disgrace to the academy, your father would be ashamed of you.”

Whether he made that statement because he knew about her father or not didn’t matter.

“I… am… not… useless.” She said in a calm voice that even surprised her.

“Then prove it.” Master Boraro replied as he grabbed one of the pole arms from a cadet that was standing nearby.

When was she going to learn to keep her mouth shut? She silently scolded herself as she tightened her grip on her own weapon. This should be quick and quite painful, she thought, and wondered how long her stay in the halls was going to be this time.

He stood across from her in a defensive posture, a cocky grin on his face, there was no way he would
lose this match, they both knew that, the only outcome she could hope for was one where she would be able to walk away from the list.

She threw herself into her attack, going low, of course he was nearly twice her height and close to three times her weight so most of her attacks were going to be low. He easily deflected
it, but never followed up as the cocky grin on his face only grew. She went in again and again he knocked her aside, on her third try he drove the weighted ball of his pole arm into her stomach, and she went to her knees gasping for air.

“Useless.” He muttered
again.

She got back to her feet, reestablishing her grip on the weapon and went at him again, but the ground was uncommonly slick and her attack was weak at best.
The Weapon’s Master knocked her aside with little effort. By now she was making a fool of herself if she could gauge by the loudness of the laughter from the crowd that had gathered to watch the beating. She tried again and this time his block lead to a counter attack as he swung the hammer side of the pole around. She tried to block it by digging the end of her pole into the mud for better leverage, but the force of his blow was greater than the strength of the weapon as nearly two feet of her pole snapped under the impact of the Boraro’s swing. The hammer of his weapon caught her in the side, knocking her sliding sideways across the ground.

She was gasping for air as the intense pain in her ribs was hindering her breathing.
Boraro wasn’t finished and came down with the hammer side again. Fortunately she was able to roll to one side to avoid the blow. The hammer impacted the ground, throwing up dirt and she knew that he meant to hurt her if not kill her.

“I think this is over.” Master West called out.

“Not by a long shot.” Boraro yelled as he spun the pole and swung with the opposite end of the staff, Kile rolled with the blow, catching most of it on her lower back.

“Master Boraro, I think that is enough.” She heard Master West yell, it was the first time he had ever raised his voice, aside from the day she shot him in the ass with
a crossbow bolt.

She rolled to a crouching position as he came at her again, now she was sure he had no intention of stopping. The blow was a two handed over the head strike, a killing blow.
She held what was left of her pole up to bock, but her weapon shattered under the impact, although she was able to divert most of the energy from its initial target, she took a good shot to the side of the head and the world began to spin out of control.

“You are a stupid, useless child.” Her father said through clenched teeth as he stood over her.

“I… am… not… useless.” She shouted back as she grabbed the two longest length of her weapon and slowly staggered to her feet.

“Kile, stay down.” Someone yelled from behind her.

It was probably Daniel, but she didn’t dare turn to see. She now held a piece of the broken pole arm in each hand. Each piece was nearly three feet in length and felt surprisingly comfortable, like the Lann.

“You just don’t know when to give up.” Boraro laughed

He moved into an attack stance, but she wasn’t watching him, she was watching his feet. His movements were very predictable, why it took a blow to the head to point this out to her, she wasn’t sure, but he came in hard and fast, and she easily spun into the attack, through his circle of defense, rolling along his outstretched pole and bring both pieces of her weapon around to make contact with his side. It may have been a weak shot for two sticks but had they been the Lann, it would have been killing blow. She followed through with her roll, ending up behind him, scoring yet another non fatal hit.

“You little…”

He swung again, but she knew it was coming as she ducked under his wild attack and again she broke through his circle of defense. She caught him on the backswing. Using the knee of his planted foot as her personal spring board she launched herself up with a spin and brought one of the wooden sticks down across the bridge of his nose. There was a sickening, yet satisfying crack. She hit the ground beside him, kicking his legs out from under him as he stumbled backward, falling like cut tree. She was on top of him before she even knew it, the splintered edge of her weapons poised against his throat.

“KILE!”

The name, her name, snapped her back to reality. She stopped, turning to look at the awestruck faces of the cadets as they stood in a large circle around them, staring at her.  She looked down at Master Boraro, and the hatred she had always seen in his eyes toward her was now tinged with fear.

What had just happened?

“Kile… Let him up.” Erin said in an unnaturally calm voice.

It took
her a few moments to understand what Erin was asking her to do. She stepped back from Master Boraro and dropped the broken weapon. Master West moved past Erin, keeping a watchful eye on Kile as he helped the Weapon’s Master to his feet.

“Perhaps you should wait in you
r room.” Erin told her.

“Yes ma’am.”

Her first instinct was to run, to run as fast as she could back to her cell and lock the door behind her and forget that this day had ever happened, but she didn’t. She turned slowly and the sea of cadets parted before her as she walked across the now silent courtyard to the dorms.