5. Brats, Books, and Hunters
Brats, Books, and Hunters
What was that sound? A wheezing, rolling, meowing sort of noise came from the workroom, punctuated with bursts of lemurial mirth.
Did he want to know the source of Tay's laughter?
More importantly, did he need to know? Alas, yes, he probably did.
He set his reading glasses on the desk blotter, stood, and opened the office door fully.
A small mountain of tan and silver shed fur marked where two Familiars lay wheezing and chuckling on the workroom floor.
Tay managed, "Then it gets worse. The undead guy gets angry because the feds cut his old-age benefits when government starts cleaning up fraud.
" The two dissolved in laughter once again.
"Dare I ask the source of your amusement?" Arthur inquired. It could not be a new television series, nor the movie that had left the magic workers' net fuming and sighing in alternate gusts.
"This, Unchi Art'ur," his sister-by-marriage said, showing him a paperback book. "Was in the box, a sample. Is bad." Corava glared at the fur pile and the Familiars. "They say it is funny."
Raj, an oversized Himalayan Pallas cat, rolled onto her belly. "It is funny."
"Oh yeah, it's sooo bad," Tay gasped. The magic-bleached lemur managed to sit up. "Mostly harmless, but there hasn't been a vampire book this lousy in a decade. A national government actually getting rid of fraud?" Laughter resumed.
The bead curtain clattered, and his fica leaned into the workroom from the shop proper.
Mistress Lestrang frowned at the fur on the floor, then said, "Corava, I need you to cover the counter while I unlock the fine jewelry, please, and there is a concern about the provenance on one of the spooky prints, sir. "
He held his questions for the moment. Commerce came before all else, save for a Hunt.
The afternoon had passed before he had time to consider the book samples, and finish the month's accounts.
"Enough," he informed the stack of papers and files on the computer screen.
His brother eschewed accounting software.
There were times when he concurred wholeheartedly.
Alas, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Riverton tax board disapproved of hand-written quarterly summaries.
He sipped some water, then filed the pages in the appropriate folders and logged out of the program.
A dark symphonic rock arrangement of something by Mussorgsky came from the speakers.
He made a note of the artist and title, should the recording become available through one of the music catalogues. Which reminded him ...
He stood, stretched, and went out into the workroom.
No messages awaited on the board. Mistress Corava had checked off two things, and Mistress Lestrang had added a date to the fire inspection.
Someone must have come in and notified her while he was tending to the accounts.
After so long, she yet remained reluctant to disturb him, even for appropriate reasons.
Three small stacks of books now sat on the table used for folding garments and sorting orders.
Mistress Corava had written out cards for them.
One pair of books sat on the "dark or dangerous" tag.
Three resided on the "so bad are funny" card, and "harmless" described the rest of the preview shipment.
He fetched his reading glasses from the office, unfolded them and considered the first of the "dark/dangerous" books.
The cover alone was sufficient warning. Were two lines on the pattern in the circle complete, a blood-path summoning would come into being.
He bared his teeth the slightest bit and opened to a random page.
"Absolutely not. Into the fire." Pure putrescence in page form he would not sell, nor invite others to read.
He returned it to the table and started the second book.
"Too depressing." The urban portal fantasy concluded with the protagonist killing himself from despair when his magic failed after he returned to this plane. It seemed well written, but no.
"Oh Lady of Night have mercy," he sighed after four pages of a "so bad" novel.
Familiars as trusted servants, and a secret society paying incomes to those who fought dark forces?
Amusing but poorly written as well as major factual errors.
The only Familiar of his knowledge who acted as in the books was the over-large skunk who assisted two mages.
Someone had hurt her in the past, that he could tell from her ways.
Master Tay had implied that the evil one now answered for her crimes.
He started the next book and almost hurt himself hiding his laughter.
Alas, the Familiars had been correct. Even for vampire romances, the premise ...
No. Too, the editing left a great deal to be desired, and the author could not maintain a consistent point of view.
The next one featured yet another secret knighthood of monsters seeking redemption through romance as well as fighting demons.
Given the author's and publisher's recent legal problems, not selling the title remained wise.
He glanced at the third and dropped it into the recycling.
That sort of erotica he would not sell, even under the guise of romantic fantasy.
That night, after making the deposit, he drove out of Riverton to the home farm.
Harvest had begun, encouraging wariness.
Indeed, as he turned off the highway and onto a county road, he beheld faint red and a brighter yellow stripe floating in mid-air.
He slowed. His headlights revealed a combine head on a trailer being towed by a tractor.
The tractor's yellow caution lights flashed a dim warning, as if they too had grown tired from the season's work.
The tractor signaled, then turned with great care into a farm drive. Arthur accelerated once more.
A dozen vehicles parked in the place for them at the home farm.
Tonight, several Hunters took inventory and repaired weapons.
After much thought and consideration, it had been decided by the Elders that all Hunters needed to know the state of the spare and unclaimed tools, and how many boxes of silver shot remained.
They had Hunted less this past summer than was usual.
That might portend ill for the dark time of the year, or perhaps not.
He parked well away from the private road, lest he block the others should a Hunt be needed.
After getting a bite to eat in the big kitchen, he took two of the rejected books to the armory.
Dim light spilled from the open door, then darkened with motion.
Two youngsters, each carrying a heavy staff, departed, followed by Ladislu.
"It will be settled. Now," Ladislu commanded, pointing to a ring that Petru had scratched in the farmyard dirt.
Ah. Tempers had flared and needed to be quenched before true trouble arose.
"... Ugh," Ianku said from inside the armory. Arthur hesitated, listening. "How did he deal with it?"
"Pure magic, since he had no silver shot," Leopold reported.
They must be discussing the Lone Hunter's latest kill.
"His Familiar says they were very fortunate that the property owner is a Sensitive.
He fled the instant he felt the breach open, then called for aid, instead of checking on the sound himself. "
Quiet, the sound of blades on whetstones, then one of the youngsters, Lukaz the Younger, ventured, words slow and hesitant, "Sirs, does a way exist to kill one of those that does not require pure magic?"
More quiet, then Master Itzaak said, "Not that we know of. Perhaps boar spear, if we knew where the vitals were, and the Hunter were shielded against both the creature's calling and the spray of corruption that would follow."
Arthur moved through the open doorway and waited.
Leopold and Florian saw him first. The large canine Familiar stood and dipped his head while his key null stood and bowed.
A flurry of motion followed as the other Hunters noticed his presence.
"Gratse," He gestured for them to sit once more or to return to other tasks.
Thunks of wood on wood from the farmyard behind him led two of the older Hunters to trade glances and half smiles.
Had there been a wager? He slipped the two books onto a shelf.
As he checked the duty list, he noted Leopold lying down once again.
The very large, black and gray dog did not rest his head on his paws like most canines, but remained alert and upright.
He had enjoyed his elder brother's discomfiture with Leopold's arrival perhaps a bit too much.
All the other Hunters went wary around the Familiar.
If his presence in the armory had not sufficed to keep the puppies from trying to continue their disagreement or to prod a fellow Hunter, they richly deserved the lesson they were getting.
"Master Itzaak, sir, what would the Hunters have done with a creature such as that before the Spell Eruption Event?" Stepan's question was a good one. Arthur nodded.
Itzaak glanced toward him, then answered, "The same as was done by the mage of shadow.
Pure magic. Magic workers Hunted less with us than they do today, and reserved their power for creatures that demanded a purely magical solution, just as Healers learned more herb and knife skill in order to spare the Healers of the Lady's Touch for those wounds that could be helped no other way. "
Arthur gestured agreement. "Those Hunters who were Sensitives scouted more widely than today, in order that possible problems be dealt with before magic was truly needed." Florian and Nikolai both nodded and Nikolai gestured "strong agreement."
"Healers of the Land might travel with the Hunters, to cleanse after a Hunt, but even they learned skills of non-magical Healing." Arthur gestured to Nikolai, "Much as Vladi does for us today."