Free Hunter's Academy (Veller) by Garry Spoor

with perfecting his skills then he just wasn’t interested in it. Daniel was too practical; sometimes he was too grounded in reality. She was sure he still doubted that she could speak with animals even after what he had seen, and as for Alex, well Alex was Alex. If he could find a story in it then he was interested, although the story that he heard and the story that he told were often unrecognizable from one another.
    “Why do you ask? Why the sudden interest in Quaineess Nyn?” Daniel asked.
    “No real interested, it just kind of came up.” Kile replied as she finished off her own breakfast and got up from the table.
    There had to be a reason for Eric’s interest in the artifacts of the long dead Hunter, but why and which artifacts. There didn’t appear to be anything of true value there. The ring maybe, but Eric was the son of Lord Byron Rimes of the Callor Province, one of the wealthier provinces in Aru. The value of the ring was nothing compared to what he already owned or could own if he desired it. The long knife was just that, a long knife. It was nothing of great value or great worth, nothing to get branded a thief and tossed out of the academy for. That left only the dragon scales, if they were dragon scale, but why, and for what reason. Could you sell dragon scales? Did it all come down to wealth after all? She figured scales from a dragon would be worth something to someone somewhere.
    “Kile watch out.”
    She turned, but not in time as a young first year cadet loaded down with a breakfast tray collided with her. Juice, potatoes, and some mysterious gray slop went everywhere and she managed to get the worst of it. The sound of laughter throughout the dinning hall and the guilty expression on the young cadet’s face lead her to believe that this wasn’t just a chance meeting. He looked nervously over his right shoulder and Kile followed his gaze to a rather smug looking Eric sitting on the side of the table. He gave her a smile and a nod before leaving with Murphy and Richard.
    “You alright?” Daniel asked as he ran up to her.
    She was picking scrambled eggs out of her hair. “Yeah… I’m alright.”
    “What, you couldn’t see her?” Carter yelled at the young boy, who, although was younger, was still taller than Kile.
    “I’m … I’m sorry.” He stammered.
    “It’s not entirely his fault.” She replied as she pushed past the growing crowd of spectators. It was always entertaining to see someone made a fool of and even more entertaining when it was her or at least that was how it appeared to her. When she got outside she wiped the gray slop from the front of her tunic. She wasn’t sure what it was but it smelled bad and she didn’t remember seeing it on the menu.
    “That was uncalled for. He saw you; he didn’t even try to stop.” An irate Daniel said as he stepped out of the dining hall behind her.
    “Yeah, well, there’s nothing you can do about it now.” She replied.
    “But he did it on purpose.”
    “I think it was more out of fear th an anything personal.”
    “What do you mean; you think someone forced him to do it?”
    “What does it matter now?” She said as she started walking back to the dorms.
    If a kid could be so easily persuaded or scared into doing something that he didn’t want to do in the first place, there was no chance he would survive a year at the academy. She was sure it was just a matter of days before she heard his name mentioned in the morning lists, even though she didn’t know his name.
    “Where are you going?” Daniel asked as he came up behind her.
    “To get changed.” She said as if the answer was obvious.
    “Class is starting in a couple of minutes.”
    She stopped and turned to face him.
    “I am not going to class looking… and smelling like this.” She said.
    “Sorry… I’ll wait for you.”
    There was a general look of split loyalties in Daniel’s eyes. One side of him wanted to be the good friend that stayed and waited until