Edge was woken before dawn by a knock at his door, a service that he’d paid Rita a few credits to arrange. He found a mealbox waiting when he poked his head into the hall, with a smiling face drawn on a scrap of paper. Cute.

He let out a sleepy yawn, then got dressed and rinsed his face in the sink. He took a sip from his canteen, opened the box, and picked up what turned out to be some kind of beast meat sandwich. It was made from two thick slices of bread with a slab of cheese on the side, smeared with some kind of creamy sauce.

It was tasty and easy to eat as he walked out of the building. News of his new job must have already made it to this side of town. A timely reminder that rumors spread fast in a settlement of this size. It meant that he could get out the door a few minutes faster, chewing contentedly as he made his way down the street while heading for the hunter’s quarter.

Edge was careful to stay within well-lit areas and kept one eye over his shoulder. While murder and assault were rare within the walls, going down backstreets in the dark could still end quite badly for him. Perhaps because he was cored now, people would leave him alone, but there was no reason to push his luck.

He made it to Trapper’s with time to spare. By now, color had begun bleeding back into the world and the horizon was glowing with the coming of dawn. When he stepped through the gate and gave Blue a pat on the head, he saw two people sitting on a bench, talking softly while waiting for him to arrive.

Edge walked over to Trapper and Riller, raising a hand in greeting. When he came to a stop, Trapper turned to him and said, “Here’s how this is going to work. Over the next ten days, we’re going to teach you the basics of hunting. You get to spend two days training with each member of the crew. We will try to teach you a little of our specialties, along with our hunting philosophy.”

He nodded along with her words. “At the end of the series, we’ll take you into the field for a final exam. Some manner of big game hunt, whose details I’ll reveal a little later. You’ll be starting with Riller and ending with me, and we’ll train you from dawn until midafternoon.

“The rest of your time will be yours to do with as you please. I advise that you spend it conditioning your body as best you can and making enough credits to round out your kit. Although it seems that you’ve already made a good start on that front.” She rose from the bench and came to a stop in front of him.

“You won’t be paid until you’re on the team, but there will be opportunities to make some creds while you’re training. That’s it from me, so I’ll pass you over to Riller. Good luck, Edge. I really hope that this works out.”

“Thanks. I feel the same way.” With that, Trapper headed inside while Riller rose to his feet. Edge took the opportunity to take a long look at the hunter in front of him, who returned his regard in kind.

Riller was a short man with dark skin, curly black hair, and steel blue eyes. He was lean and fit, especially for an uncored individual. He gave the impression that his gaze took in everything that happened nearby. When they were done taking the measure of one another, Riller smiled at Edge and stuck out his hand.

“You’re with me today. We didn’t get a chance to introduce ourselves before, when all that shit went down. The name’s Riller. I’m the team’s lookout and scout. Thanks for the save back there. We would have bled a lot more without you.”

“Edge. Pleased to meet you.” He shook Riller’s hand and then followed the man away from the den and toward the south gate of town.

“I’m going to do my best to teach you the fundamentals of concealing your presence and detecting creatures that are trying to hide. I tend to take a light approach, so try to learn what you can by following my example.”

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Riller looked over his shoulder from time to time, like he was waiting for Edge to ask where they were going and why, then smiled again when it never happened. He might be testing my patience.

They made their way out the gate, then stopped to watch the sunrise. By this point, he had noticed that Riller never made a sound. That the man flowed across the ground like he was blown by the breeze, moving in time with the grass and trees around them. Edge was certain that if he took his eyes off the hunter for an instant, he would lose track of his position.

“That’s not a skill, is it?” He broke the long silence, gazing up at a sky that had become a work of art, the rising sun painting the heavens crimson and the earth gold.

“No.” Was the man’s only reply. That’s impressive. I have a hard time sensing his presence, even when I’m looking right at him. If he was trying to hide, I doubt I’d ever notice he was there. I wonder how he does it.

Riller started walking again, quiet as a whisper. It made Edge feel like a bull in a China shop by comparison, although he did his best to follow the man’s example.

Twenty minutes later, they came to a stop along a strip of land where a cluster of boulders intersected a small grove of trees. Riller set down his pack and Edge did the same. When he looked up again, the hunter was nowhere to be found. Where in the hell did he go? He must be close, I only looked away for a second.

He poked his head around the closest rock, but there wasn’t anything there. He looked down at the grass, trying to see if the man had left any tracks, before giving it up as a loss. If Riller had left some trace of his passage, Edge lacked the skill to read anything more subtle than a footprint.

When he looked up again, Riller was standing beside him, so close that Edge could have reached out and touched him. He startled at the sight, then let out a laugh. Ok. I think I understand what the game is.

Over the next six hours, Riller and Edge played hide and seek, without exchanging so much as a word.

At first, he couldn’t come anywhere close to spotting the stealthy hunter. Riller would vanish and reappear as if by magic, although he was certain that the man wasn’t using any skills. Edge didn’t have any better luck hiding. Every time he thought that he’d managed to duck out of sight undetected, Riller would find him within seconds, standing right behind him the next time he turned around.

It was both deeply impressive and rather frustrating. But eventually, Edge began to get a sense for Riller’s movements. The way that he would head in one direction before stepping behind an obstruction, changing his heading the instant that the line of sight was broken. How he avoided terrain that was likely to give his position away, stepping around dry leaves and sticks.

It let him predict Riller’s general direction, although he still wasn’t able to win.

The only times the man made a sound, Edge was certain it was deliberate, using it as cover to conceal his true intentions. As the sun rose high in the sky, they stopped to break for lunch. A meal consisting of wild mushrooms and berries that were growing in the grove.

Then they put in another hour of training before calling it quits for the day. By now, Edge had a hunch that Riller’s technique was a combination of quiet movement, organic motions, and strategic misdirection.

The man was always aware of exactly what Edge could see at any given moment. Of which parts of his profile were broken up by the terrain. His movements told a story. A lie that he was intending to head one way, when he was planning something else entirely. Riller was a master of drawing Edge’s attention to certain details, leading him to false conclusions countless times.

While it was embarrassing to be so bad at something, Edge learned a lot in the exchange. Most notably, that a stealthy beast could ambush him with ease.

If he wanted to improve, he didn’t just need more perception, he needed to put himself in the hunter’s perspective. Learn to spot potential ambush points and hiding places well before he drew near. Once he figured out the trick, it would teach him to hide better too. Improve his ability to approach his prey without giving his presence away.

It made him wonder if his scent was playing a role too. If Riller always knew where Edge was because he could smell him as well as hear him. I’ll see if I can do something about that.

They bid each other farewell after walking back through the gate, leaving him the rest of the day to use as he pleased. Tomorrow, he might head back out to hunt on his own, but today, Edge intended to take Trapper’s advice.

It was time to start conditioning his body as quickly as he could.