Hunter's Bounty (Veller) Read Free Page A

really look as if she could afford the Hunter’s fee. Was that one of the reasons that Kane never handed the assignment out, because he knew the financial status of the old woman.
    “Forget about it ma’am.” Kile heard herself say as she approached Mrs. Mill er and closed the old woman’s fingers around the small purse. “I did it on my day off.”
    “But you returned my Moppin . I have to give you something.” Mrs. Miller replied as she slowly put the purse away. She looked around the room and finally picked up a red knitted scarf that hung over the back of the chair. “At least take this.”
    Kile draped the scarf around her neck. “Thank-you ma’am.” She replied.
    -Kile.-
    Moppin bushed up against her legs, getting the young Hunter’s attention. Kile knew she couldn’t talk to the cat directly, not with people watching, they already thought she was strange. Those rumors didn’t need any more fuel. She knelt down to stroke the cat.
    -Come… visit?-
    “As long as you don’t go wandering out of the yard again. I don’t want to have to go looking for you.”
    -I won’t-
    The cat replied with a purr.
    “I think we’d better get going.”
    “Come by any time dear, the least I can do to thank you for finding Moppin is to teach you how to knit.”
    The way the current situation within the Guild was, she might have been tempted to take Mrs. Mill er up on her offer. At least it would give her something to occupy her time.
    She stepped out the front door and onto the footpath that led down to the road. It was still early, too early for supper, so her next stop would have to be the Guild House. Maybe there was another assignment that she could finish before heading back to the Bird.
    Alisa burst out laughing.
    “A fine business person you would make.” She said.
    “What’s that suppose to mean?” Kile asked defensively.
    “How much would that… what do you call them… bounties?”
    “It’s not exactly a bounty, it was just a script.”
    “Okay, script, how much was that script worth to the Guild?”
    “I don’t know. I didn’t take much notice it in.”
    “Sure you did, how much?”
    “Well… somewhere around fifty.”
    “Fifty? No wonder the guild isn’t doing much business with prices like that.”
    “The Guild has more th an enough business. They just cut back on deliveries until the Council can determine the connection of these recent deaths.”
    “Well… maybe, but you just did that job for what , about half a coin?”
    Kile pulled the scarf tighter around her neck. “I like my pay.” She told Alisa who just laughed again.
    “Yeah, and aren’t you suppose to give a certain percentage of that pay to the Guild house. What are you going to do, cut a couple of inches off the end?”
     
    Kile left Alisa at the Apple Blossom Livery to tend to her pies as she headed off to the Guild House. The walk took her back through the center of town, over the bridge, past Lester’s place and down the river road to where the old stone building stood. The green banner blowing in the breeze that displayed the Hunter’s coat of arms marked the location of the Guild house as she turned off the road and headed up toward the front door. The house itself was nothing special and could have easily been mistaken for any other farm house along the street, but it did bear a carved wooden sign over the door that simply read Hunter Guild House Local Chapter 42.
    Kile pushed the door open and stepped into the stifling gloom. The only light in the room was that which filtered in through the closed shutters. How could anyone live in such deplorable condition she wondered as she dragged one finger over the back of the chair, leaving a line in the thick dust. She turned and looked at the billboard that hung on the wall closest to the door. There was more paper than there was board. Each piece of paper was an assignment, an assignment that wasn’t important enough to be assigned to a hunter. Some of those pieces of