Hunter's War (Legend of the Wild Hunter Book 4) by Garry Spoor Page A

amount of input.”
    “Come on, I think he wants you there.”
    “Oh, this should be good for a laugh,” she replied, following Tullner back to camp.
    The staff meeting was already underway, but at least there were more members this time around. Besides Corporal Duffy, there were now four other men. She knew Renop and Totely from their less than stellar searches of the surrounding area. As for the other two, one was a lean red haired man with a narrow scrunched up face. The other was a thin sandy blonde and appeared to be a bit nervous. He kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Sergeant Wargner was sitting among them, his map laid out before him. She couldn’t see the purpose of all these, so called, staff meeting if all the decisions were already made.
    “Well, now that we are all here, we can get started,” Wargner said, reaching into the pack which lay open beside him. He looked at Kile. “You want to help?” He asked.
    “Of course I do,” she replied.
    “Good,” he said and threw her a carafe. “Then you can make the coffee while we get to work.”
    She stared down at the ceramic decanter and suppressed the urge to hurl it back at him. Instead, she just turned and stormed away. She heard the laughter from the group behind her and wondered once again, why she ever agreed to return to the Guild.
    “Where are you going?” Tullner asked, catching up to her.
    “I’m thinking, home,” she replied.
    “What? You’re going to leave. You can’t.”
    “And why is that?” she asked, turning on him. “I’m not some simple soldier who has to follow every order, and I’m definitely not some bar maid who has to make his coffee,” she added, shoving the carafe into Tullner’s chest.
    “I can help you with that, if you want.” Tullner replied.
    “What?”
    “I can help you make the coffee, if it’s a problem.”
    “You can’t be serious,” she said.
    “Well… it was an order.”
    “To hell with his orders, I’m not making any damn coffee. If it’s so important to you, you make the coffee.”
    “Well… if that’s what you want, of course,” Tullner replied and he started toward the campfire.
    “What do you mean if that’s what I want?” she asked, coming up behind him. “You’re not seriously going to make coffee at a time like this?”
    “Well… yeah, don’t you want me to? You did just give me a direct order.”
    “I did no such thing,” she said, stepping back. “I can’t give you an order.”
    “Well of course you can, you outrank me.”
    “Since when?”
    “Since you were assigned to this squad. Any Hunter assigned to a squad receives an equivalent rank of lieutenant.”
    “Are you saying I out rank Wargner?”
    “Well, yes and no. Although he is a Sergeant, he’s also the squad commander and since you’re a member of this squad, then he’s your commanding officer.”
    “Wonderful,” Kile said, throwing up her arms and turning away from the fire. “Can you guys make this any more confusing than it already is?”
    “Well, as a matter of interest. Since you do possess the rank of lieutenant…”
    “Wait… hold that thought.” She said, lifting her nose to the wind.
    They were back, hovering on the very edge of her senses. The same smell, but it wasn’t a valrik. That was where she made her mistake. That’s why they couldn’t find them in the forest.
    “Gulrik,” she whispered and ran across the clearing to where Grim was standing. She reached under her pack and drew out her Lann, quickly strapping them on.
    “Grim, you and Vesper, wait here. If I see anything I’ll send you a message. If I run into any problems, you are to alert the camp.”
    -And how am I supposed to do that?-
    Grim asked.
    “I don’t know. Go stomp on Wargner’s foot. You’re pretty good at doing that.”
    “Kile, what’s going on?” Tullner asked when she passed him on her way out of camp.
    “The reason your men couldn’t find anything was because they were looking