with this case, it does bare keeping in mind. If the uhyre are involved, this might not be as simple as you led me to believe.”
“Do you have a timeline?”
“Unfortunately not. It would appear that Morse, along with his investigators, left enough prints of their own to confuse the situation, as for this one; there really isn’t any way of telling for certain if it has any connection with what happen to Mr. David Draw or Hunter Veller. All I can say for sure is that it was made about a week ago, and it was heading west, at a good pace.”
“That's about the time Draw died and Kile went missing.”
“I’m not one to believe in coincidences.” Folkstaff replied as he tipped his hat back. “Should we follow it?”
“As you say, we can’t be sure of a connection. Our primary concern at the moment is finding Veller, which mean we should get to Coopervill, see if we can dig up any more answers there first. I’d hate to be chasing a wild valrik into the flatlands.”
***~~~***
7
When Kile opened her eyes she was staring up at the trees, beautiful green trees, unfortunately she didn’t know where those trees were. She could be just outside of the City of Denal or she could be half way across the country. She might even be closer to Riverport than Coopervill. She could even be in those lush green lands that called out to her from beyond the Great Desert, if only that were the case. As she got to her feet, it didn’t take her long to get her bearings. For the last eight months she had been traveling the roads between Tobery and Coopervill to know exactly where she was. The mining town of Coopervill was only a day’s ride from the lake, which meant, although Emara missed her mark by quite a few miles, she did manage to get Kile closer to home. Now all she had to do was start walking.
The first thing she needed to do when she reached Coopervill was to report to the Guild house. She was sure that Kane would have more paperwork for her to fill out since she had been missing for the last five or six days and she never did get the packaged delivered. One of the things she learned about the Hunter’s Guild was that they had a form for just about anything. She would also have to tell someone of the armies camped out on the other side of the border although she wasn’t sure who or what channels to go through with that information.
Actually, all that could wait until she got a change of clothing. She didn’t want to spend any more times in the valrik’s rags than she absolutely had to. Then there was the matter of Grim and Vesper. She had no idea where they could have gotten off to. The only good fortune she had was in the knowledge that they hadn’t been captured with her. She had Reginald and his family searched every corner of the stronghold for the Mountain pony and the yarrow, and they came up empty. They either managed to escape when she was taken outside of Mr. Draw’s cabin or… well… the alternative was not something she wanted to ponder.
She sat down at the end of the open field, or maybe she collapsed, it was difficult to tell. She was tired, hungry, her feet hurt and she smelled like a dead valrik. She lay back on the grass and stared up at the clouds passing over her head. How had she gotten herself into a situation like this? She was a long way from home, a long way from that small farm on the outer edge of Riverport. Where was that simple young girl of fourteen who thought she could become a Hunter and see the world?
She must have fallen asleep, since the next thing she felt was a tongue licking her face. She quickly woke up and stared into the eyes of a doe, which suddenly backed away.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.” She apologized as she sat up.
Looking around the field, she found that she was actually surrounded by deer. There had to be about seven or eight of them feasting on the grass around her. The sun had already started to set as a damp dusk
“Do you have a timeline?”
“Unfortunately not. It would appear that Morse, along with his investigators, left enough prints of their own to confuse the situation, as for this one; there really isn’t any way of telling for certain if it has any connection with what happen to Mr. David Draw or Hunter Veller. All I can say for sure is that it was made about a week ago, and it was heading west, at a good pace.”
“That's about the time Draw died and Kile went missing.”
“I’m not one to believe in coincidences.” Folkstaff replied as he tipped his hat back. “Should we follow it?”
“As you say, we can’t be sure of a connection. Our primary concern at the moment is finding Veller, which mean we should get to Coopervill, see if we can dig up any more answers there first. I’d hate to be chasing a wild valrik into the flatlands.”
***~~~***
7
When Kile opened her eyes she was staring up at the trees, beautiful green trees, unfortunately she didn’t know where those trees were. She could be just outside of the City of Denal or she could be half way across the country. She might even be closer to Riverport than Coopervill. She could even be in those lush green lands that called out to her from beyond the Great Desert, if only that were the case. As she got to her feet, it didn’t take her long to get her bearings. For the last eight months she had been traveling the roads between Tobery and Coopervill to know exactly where she was. The mining town of Coopervill was only a day’s ride from the lake, which meant, although Emara missed her mark by quite a few miles, she did manage to get Kile closer to home. Now all she had to do was start walking.
The first thing she needed to do when she reached Coopervill was to report to the Guild house. She was sure that Kane would have more paperwork for her to fill out since she had been missing for the last five or six days and she never did get the packaged delivered. One of the things she learned about the Hunter’s Guild was that they had a form for just about anything. She would also have to tell someone of the armies camped out on the other side of the border although she wasn’t sure who or what channels to go through with that information.
Actually, all that could wait until she got a change of clothing. She didn’t want to spend any more times in the valrik’s rags than she absolutely had to. Then there was the matter of Grim and Vesper. She had no idea where they could have gotten off to. The only good fortune she had was in the knowledge that they hadn’t been captured with her. She had Reginald and his family searched every corner of the stronghold for the Mountain pony and the yarrow, and they came up empty. They either managed to escape when she was taken outside of Mr. Draw’s cabin or… well… the alternative was not something she wanted to ponder.
She sat down at the end of the open field, or maybe she collapsed, it was difficult to tell. She was tired, hungry, her feet hurt and she smelled like a dead valrik. She lay back on the grass and stared up at the clouds passing over her head. How had she gotten herself into a situation like this? She was a long way from home, a long way from that small farm on the outer edge of Riverport. Where was that simple young girl of fourteen who thought she could become a Hunter and see the world?
She must have fallen asleep, since the next thing she felt was a tongue licking her face. She quickly woke up and stared into the eyes of a doe, which suddenly backed away.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.” She apologized as she sat up.
Looking around the field, she found that she was actually surrounded by deer. There had to be about seven or eight of them feasting on the grass around her. The sun had already started to set as a damp dusk
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