Hunter's Bounty (Veller) (24 page)

“I’ll see you guys later
. Okay?” She said as she moved away from the horses, back around the outer edge of the campsite.

She didn’t dare get
too close, although they didn’t have anyone on watch, but that really didn’t surprise her. They were in the southern provinces, which was as safe as the wild could be, and they were only two days out of Littenbeck, besides, the only threat the Hunter would have on an assignment like this, was from the bounty they were chasing, and that would be Kile. If she looked at it that way, it was kind of like an insult. If she was supposed to be this deadly assassin, shouldn’t they be more careful.

Keeping a safe distance from the c
ampsite she fell into her edge and reached out through the forest, touching every animal she could sense, until she found the ones she wanted. It didn’t take long before six curious raccoons answered her call.

“Just the guys I’m looking for.” She said as she turned to see their black masked faces. “I was wondering if you could help me out. There’s food in it for you if you do.”

***~~~***

14

Erin
awoke to the sound of the birds in the trees as she pulled the blanket over her head and tried to block out the noise. There were very few assignments that she had been assigned that she was reluctant to see through, and this was one of them. Whether it was the bounty that she was required to bring in at any coast, or the company she was forced to cooperate with to bring in that bounty, this was one assignment she wished she never accepted, although she wasn’t given much of a choice.

The entire thing was blown out of proportion from the start. If it had been any other Hunter that had been accused of the crimes that Kile was accused of, he would have been given the opportunity to turn himself in and explain his actions before the council. Not only was Kile not given that option, but Erin was starting to believe that the council had no intentions of giving her the opportunity to explain her side, and yet Erin still had to bring her in and what made it worse, was that now Kile thought Erin was in on it as well.

Right now the girl was out there alone with the feeling that no one believed in her, that no one was on her side, and in some ways she was right. There really wasn’t anyone looking into the assassinations. The council had already closed that case even after the recent deaths. It is their belief that Kile was the assassin and no other explanation was needed. Instead of a trial, Erin was brining the girl in for her execution, which only confirmed Kile’s accusation, that Erin was just another part of it.

They had left Littenbeck two days ago and picked up Kile’s trail before the end of the first day. It wasn’t that difficult
. She had only recently graduated from the Academy, she was only a level five hunter, she wasn’t very skilled in wilderness survival, and the trail was so easy to follow that any first year worth his admittance into the Academy could have done it. At the rate they were going and the signs that Kile was leaving behind, they would be able to overtake her by day’s end. In some ways it was a relief. It would mark an end to the assignment, but at what cost?

She
turned over and closed her eyes. Maybe she could give Kile just a few more hours of freedom.

“It’s no use
. You’re going to have to get up sometime.” Folkstaff said from his place beside the tree. She was beginning to wonder if the man ever slept.

“What’s the rush?” She mumbled.

“Oh… no rush.” He replied.

Erin
opened her eyes.

Was that a note of amusement in
his voice?

“Is this good news of bad news, and do I want to hear it?” She asked from under her blanket.

“That would depend on how you look at it.”

There was no getting around it
. She would have to get up sooner or later to see what obstacles the day had just dumped on her. It was clear that Folkstaff wasn’t going to just tell her. She sat up, letting the blanket fall from her face, running her hands through her hair as she yawned, stretched and tried to assure herself that this was all going to turn out for the best. She looked around the campsite, so much for optimism.

“Where are supplies?” She asked calmly.

“Gone.” Folkstaff replied.

Daniel was still sleeping on one side of the fire that had long gone out, wrapped tightly in his blanket. She would have to tell him that no Hunter wraps himself in his blanket when he sleeps, it
only makes it that much harder if they have to get up fast in the night. Aside from the little tricks of the trade he still needed to learn, she was impressed with the young Hunter. He hardly said a word during their rather rapid travel of the last two days, even though she knew he wanted to. Most fifth level hunters she had the displeasure of working with usually did. They weren’t used to spending that much time in the saddle. He was a good boy, but he wasn’t cut out to be a field Hunter. If the rumors about his abilities and his edge were even half true, his place was definitely in the hospital.

Then there was certified level one hunter Grey, who was fast asleep on the opposite side of the camp. If she had her way she would leave him behind at the first opportunity that she got, and if it was in the middle of the ocean, or in the center of the wasteland, so much the better.

She got up, stretched the kinks out of her back, shook out her blanket and rolled it up before looking over the campsite once again hoping that maybe her first assessment of the situation was an over exaggeration. Unfortunately it wasn’t. The backpacks that sat off to one side, the spare pack that was sitting by the fire, even the water skins that were hanging from a nearby branch were all missing.

“All the supplies are gone?” She asked.

“It would seem that way.” Folkstaff replied.

He was sitting beneath one of
the trees, weaving together blades of grass into a long chain. Why he did this, she never did ask, it was just something he did to pass the time.

“The horses?”

“They're still here.”

“Tracks?”

“Not a one, I’ve been around the site three times, couldn’t find a trace of anything.”

“Did you… you know?”

“Listen to the earth. First thing I did, and it’s not telling me anything I didn’t already know.”

“So, what do you make of it?”
She asked.

Folkstaff got up and dusted off his pants, then looked around the forest once again, as if trying to find something that he missed. He finally just shook his head and grinned.

“Damn. I’m impressed. I underestimated her. She’s a lot better than I gave her credit for.”

“So, you’re sure it Kile?”
She asked, matching his grin.

“If it was anyone else, they would have taken the horses or even tried to do us in. She just took the supplies. It looks like she got just about everything too. You do realize that we have to catch her now, just to find out how she did it.”

“I suppose we’ll have to head back to Littenbeck to stock up, that’s going to put us, at least another day or two behind her.”

“More th
an that.” Folkstaff replied.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I wasn’t joking when I said I couldn’t find any trace of her.”

“Are you serious?”
She asked. She thought he was thinking along the same lines as she was. Anything to give Kile a little extra time. But if the girl somehow managed to hide her tracks even from him, then they had no idea of where she was heading.

“You might as well get sleeping beauty up, I’ll wake Daniel.”
She sighed as she dropped her blanket on the ground beside the spent fire and kicked the young Hunter’s boot.

“What? Is it morning already?” Daniel
yawned.

“It’s been morning for the last hour.”
She replied. “Come on, get up, we have a small problem.”

“Problem, what… Is someone hurt?”
He asked as he struggled to get out of his tightly wrapped blanket.

“No, no ones hurt.”
She replied.

“What… What’s going on?” Grey shouted as the Hunter quickly jumped to his feet, reaching for his weapon, but his hands felt only the empty
seat at his side. He cursed as he looked around the campsite.

Erin
looked to her own blade, but found it still intact. She glanced over at Folkstaff, who was still wearing his weapon. It would appear that Kile had targeted certain other items.

“Where the hell are my boots?” Grey
shouted.

“What’s going on?” Daniel asked, finally freeing himself from his blanket. Maybe next time he’ll learn not to wrap himself up
so tightly Erin thought to herself.

“It would appear that we’ve been… robbed.” Folkstaff replied.

“Robbed? What are you talking out, who robbed us?” Grey continued to shout.

It was too early for all this noise.

“At the moment we’re not sure.” Erin replied trying to calm him down. “But whoever they were, they managed to get most, if not all of our supplies as well as a few… choice items.”

“This is an outrage.” Grey shouted. “We have to track them down, find the bastards who did this and make them pay.”

“There are no tracks.” Folkstaff added.

“There has to be tracks. No one can enter a campsite and walk away with all our stuff without leaving t
racks.” Grey continued to shout. He started to look around as if he would find something that Folkstaff missed

“You’re not going to find anything.” Folkstaff replied.

“And I’m sure you tried everything. You know who did this don’t you? It was that girl, the fugitive Veller.”

“We can’t be sure of that.”
Erin added.

“We’ll just see what the earth says about that.” Grey replied as he clamped his hands together, closed his eyes and fell into his edge.

Earthspeak was a high level art, obviously influenced by the sphere of earth. It was a means of learning information from the surrounding area, and was quite effective when executed properly. Erin knew of only one Hunter that had truly mastered the skill, and that was Folkstaff, and if he said the earth revealed nothing, then there was nothing to reveal. She waited until Grey came back to his senses with a familiar confused look on his face.

“And what have you learned?” Folkstaff asked, already knowing the answer.

“Nothing.” Grey reluctantly replied. “There is no sign of her, she was never in this camp… no one was.”

“The earth… actually speaks to you?” Daniel asked.

“No, not quite.” Folkstaff explain. “It’s more like reading the flow of energy around the earth to see the passing of things. It’s like dropping a rock in the lake, we know where the rock landed from the ripples it creates, the same thing can be read from the energy of the earth, but unlike a lake, the ripples last longer.”

“Then if nobody was here, how did our stuff disappear?”

Folkstaff took off his hat and scratched his head. “Haven’t a clue. It is possible that if you walk fast enough and are light enough, you could pass without leaving ripples, just like certain insects can walk on the surface of the water.”

“How small would you have to be not to leave ripples on the earth?”

“You wouldn’t have to be as small as an insect, if that’s what you mean, Probably the size of a… cat or possibly a small dog, something in that area might be able to pull it off.”

Erin
watched Daniel nod in agreement and knew the boy was onto something, although he wouldn’t say, but was that even possible. How far did Kile’s control over animals extend?

“If it was Kile, we know she didn’t head back to Littenbeck. Grey, go east a couple of leagues, Folkstaff, try south. Daniel and I will go west. Return here in an hour, maybe we can find something that will lead us in the right direction.”

“What about my boots?”

“What do you want me
to do Grey?” Erin asked with a shrug as she motioned for Daniel to follow her. “I’d lend you mine, but I don’t think they’ll fit.”

They had put some distance between them and the campsite before
Erin slowed down. She had to hand it to Daniel. He was still trying to look for tracks, even if he didn’t know what he was looking for. She was pretty sure that Kile didn’t come this way. It just didn’t make any sense. She waited until they were far enough away from the others before she stopped him.

“So, what were you thinking back there?” She asked.

“Sorry.” Daniel said, looking up rather startled. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh sure you do, those questions about how small would you have to be to not leave ripples on the earth. It seemed like a leading question.”

“I was just curious, that’s all.”

The subtle
route wasn’t going to get her very far.

“How strong is her control over the animals?”
She asked.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Whose control?”

“Please
Daniel. I really don’t have the time, or the patience for these types of games.” She said as she stared at the younger Hunter. Daniel just grinned and shook his head.

“She doesn’t control animals.”

“You know I spoke with Morgan, you know he told me about Kile’s edge. I know she can communicate with the natural world, I just don’t know how far her control goes.”

“That’s just it, you don’t know.”
He said as he turned away from Erin. “Kile was right, just like every other Hunter, you need to control things to understand them. She doesn’t control the animals, she talks to them, and she listens to them.”

“Then how does she make them do what she wants them to do? How did she make the bats cover her escape? How did she make the horses defy their riders and return to the stables? How did she make… what ever it was that entered our campsite last night, clean us out?”

“She asked them, and they help her.” Daniel said and watched the look on Erin’s face as the realization of what just happened finally sunk in. “Now you get it” He said with a grin. “You’re not looking for one girl on the run with no one to turn to. You’re looking for a girl that has friends in every tree, in every bush, in every field, in ever forest. Hell, she might even have friends in the rivers for all I know. I’ve seen her get directions from birds. I’ve seen her convince guard dogs to look the other way when she passes. I’ve seen squirrels help her forage for food. What ever got into our camp and cleaned us out last night did it, not because it had to, not because she made it, but because it wanted to.”

And
things just got a whole lot more complicated.

“We better head back to camp.”
Erin replied as she started to digest the new information. If what Daniel said was true, and she had no reason to disbelieve him, then Kile was a lot more dangerous than anyone could have ever thought. It’s clear that the council knew nothing about this when they posted the bounty on her. If they had, they might not have been so quick to do it.

When
they returned to camp, Grey was already limping in from the west. He looked more displeased than when he had left.

“Did you find anything?” She asked him, trying not to laugh at his discomfort.

“Yeah, a whole lot of rocks.” He grumbled as he sat down against one of the trees and rubbed his feet. “You. Healer, help me out here.”

Daniel reluctantly approached. Healers didn’t have the luxury of refusing to tend to the wounds of Hunters, even i
f those wounds were so minute as to not even warrant his abilities. Erin grabbed her blanket from the ground and walked toward the horses, where she looked at the mounts in a whole new light. If she had the ability to speak with animals, what information could they give her? What did the horses see last night? What information had they given Kile?

Elemia had been her mount for what seemed like an eternity, although it was probably closer to eight years. She always through she knew her horse well, all h
er little inconsistency, her mood swings, the different ways she acted when he wasn’t feeling well or when she was scared. She always thought she had a close bond with her horse, but now she wasn’t so sure, now that bond didn’t seem to be so strong. If she could speak with her, what could she say, what would she say? She had always been skittish around strangers, she had always warned Erin when anything was near their camp, and yet last night she said nothing. She let Kile walk in an out without so much as neigh.

Erin
draped the blanket over the horse’s back and Elemia shook out her mane and pawed the ground nodding her head toward the tree that was in front of her.

“What’s the matter
girl?” She asked her, even though she knew she would never truly receive an answer, but Elemia kept doing it until Erin was forced to look at the tree.

There in the crook of two branches was a
n old book and the mare wouldn’t stop nodding until she picked it up.

The book was old, faded and badly burned, but she knew it
hadn’t been there when they set up camp last night. Had Kile left it for her? She flipped through the pages, reading the soft spidery print. There was no name on the book, no way of knowing whose it was, but there were a few leaves marking the pages. For what reason she wasn’t sure, but she closed the book and stuffed it into her belt pouch when she heard Folkstaff talking.

“What did you find?” She asked as she returned to camp.

“The trail actually picks up not far from here.” He said as he took a seat against the tree.

“That’s it
. We know where she’s going.” Grey announced.

“Not quite, the tracks lead in this direction.”

“So… she was heading south like we thought, but she turned around.” Erin said sitting down beside the Hunter.

“It would seem that way.” Folkstaff replied. “She came at us from the east side, but from that point on her tracks just… disappeared.”

“She was coming for us, she planned this.” Grey said as he jumped to his feet, only to remember that he didn’t have any shoes on, he cursed as he quickly sat back down.

“I think we were more of a
sidetrack.” Folkstaff replied.

“What do you mean?”
Erin asked. “You don’t think she was looking for us.”

“No, from the tracks that I did find, she was heading in a more northeasterly direction. She must have spotted our campfire, from that point on, nothing.”

“So, she realized how close we were getting and covered her tracks.” Erin said as she got to her feet. “I did find some signs over by the horses that I would like you to take a look at.”

“Lead the way.”

He removed his glove as he crouched down, running his hand over the earth. “Somebody was here, but with all the traffic that we’ve had, I can’t be too sure.” He said looking up at Erin. “But even someone as green as Daniel could have told you that.”

“I realized that.” She said pulling the book out. “I wanted to show you this.”

“What is it?”

“It was left here in
the crook of the tree.”