Summoner 16, p.14
Summoner 16, page 14
“What if I told you I was planning an elaborate ruse?” I smiled coyly. “I’d let you help me if you ask nicely.”
“Ooh, what is it, what is it?” Layla bounced on my back, and I nearly lost my grip on her.
“Something to do with Professor Brevens?” Cyra’s chocolate eyes danced with amusement as she put the pieces together.
“Yep.” I nodded proudly.
“A prank?” Layla’s voice shook with excitement.
“Not quite,” I replied vaguely, and I winked at Cyra.
“Intriguing,” the dark-skinned summoner observed, and her familiar gave me a curious tilt of her little dragon head.
I’m cuter than some silly dragon, Dio commented in a jealous tone.
“Of course, you are,” I whispered as I stroked him behind his ears reassuringly, and then my familiar started to purr in contentment.
Just then, we passed over the threshold into the dining hall, and my two women aimed for our normal table. The rest of my friends, my wife, and my fiancée already occupied the space. The group waved us over as soon as we entered the room, and we shoved past the swarms of other students to reach them.
“Busy today, huh?” I commented as I sat down between my wife and my fiancée and gave them both quick kisses. Then I glanced up at the teachers’ table and sent Arwyn a wink, and the red-haired professor smiled warmly across the dining hall.
“Maybe it’s because midterms are coming up,” Mati suggested with a shrug.
I could sense the eyes darting over to our table, and when I turned to find the source of the sensation, my fellow students avoided my gaze and leaned their heads together to exchange furtive whispers.
“Maybe everyone wanted to see the dead men for themselves,” Varleth drawled with a defensive look around the crowded dining room.
“I guess that means you guys have heard the rumors?” Erin’s eyes flicked anxiously between me and the gypsy.
“I’ve heard a few,” I chuckled. “Something about me making a deal with a demon.”
“Yeah, and apparently I’m a vampire.” Varleth rolled his eyes. “People are so creative… ”
“Don’t pay attention to the rumors,” Nia instructed. “Trust me, if you ignore them, they’ll stop eventually.”
“How has that worked out for you?” I arched an eyebrow at my fiancée. “As far as I know, everyone still discusses any Kenefick related news like it’s a mandatory edict.”
“Yes, but it doesn’t bother me anymore,” Nia giggled. “I hardly notice the gossip and whispers now.”
“Not all of us grew up under that kind of public scrutiny,” Varleth countered. “We’re not accustomed to being famous.”
“Then you’re lucky,” the prodigy child of the famous Keneficks replied in a solemn tone. “It’s not fun.”
“I think I’d like to be rich and famous,” Layla mused. “I could hire a waffle-man.”
“What’s a waffle-man?” Freya asked with a confused bird-like tilt of her head.
“An angel,” Layla breathed, and as she blinked her eyes dreamily, I had no doubt she was envisioning endless fountains of syrup.
Suddenly, Rori Brevens strode toward my table with an air of determination. He quickly crossed the distance between us, and a moment later, he stood before me, and he rolled on the balls of his feet as he tucked his hands behind his back.
“So, Mister Gryff,” my teacher greeted with a twinkle in his eyes. “About that time, is it not?”
“I suppose it’s as good a time as any,” I replied with a wide grin, but I sniffed him to make sure he wasn’t still intoxicated. The smell of soap and cologne met my nose, so I was reassured Rori had followed my instructions to get himself cleaned up.
“I can’t tell you enough what this means to me,” he gushed. “Thank you so much.”
“Hey, what are friends for?” I winked, and then took a deep steadying breath to prepare for what I must do.
Layla giggled knowingly, but the rest of my friends gave me questioning looks.
“I’m so confused,” Nia remarked with a shake of her head.
I ignored them as I placed my hands on the table and pushed myself to my feet. Then I gave my teacher a feigned look of outrage.
“How dare you!” I shouted over the din of the lunch crowd. “I am twice the summoner you are!”
Rori fought back his smile, and he pulled on an angry scowl as he followed along with my acting. “Why, you impudent little start up! I’ll show you who the better summoner is!”
“Are you challenging me?” I demanded with a hurt look.
“Indeed I am!” Professor Brevens puffed out his chest, which caused his bulging gut to bounce. “I challenge you to a summoning duel!”
A hush fell over the dining room, but I paused dramatically to build up tension, and I avoided the eyes staring at me from the teachers’ table.
“I accept,” I said in a deadly calm voice, and a collective gasp shot through the watching crowd.
“What. The. Fuck.” Nia’s voice was full of fury as she drilled into the back of my head with her gaze.
“What the fuck is happening?” Gawain hissed.
“Why are they fighting?” Braden asked helplessly. “I thought they got along?”
“This is so weird,” Erin observed with a thoughtful frown.
The first-year summoning professor nodded curtly, then he swiveled and marched out of the dining hall at a quick pace.
Do we get to eat him now? Dio sounded excited. I’m starving.
“Gryff?” I heard Cyra’s voice ring out expectantly.
“I’ll explain everything later,” I said as I gave my friends an apologetic smile, and then I pushed away from the table to follow my teacher out of the dining hall.
“You better!” Braden called out as I walked away.
A surge of bodies pushed me forward, and it seemed like the entire student body was rushing out to the yard to watch my duel with the summoning teacher. I glanced over my shoulder to see my friends following along, as well as several faculty members from the head table.
The entire school was going to see the fake duel between me and the summoning teacher, and I hoped it got him the kind of credibility he wanted. If everything went as planned, everyone would think Rori Brevens was a more talented mage than me, and if the rumors circulating about me were any indication, that would make him seem pretty damn powerful.
Even if it wasn’t exactly true.
As we crossed the yard toward the training grounds, I scanned the crowd for my friends once more. I knew our mock fight had confused them, but they would soon understand. Braden and Layla had gotten front row seats to my initial conflicts with the professor, but they’d also witnessed us form a friendship of sorts. My summoner friends hadn’t been very invested in their magic before I’d shown up, and Rori’s status quo maintaining curriculum hadn’t taught them much, so I’d taken over a lot of the teaching after I’d arrived at the Academy.
Before I single handedly defeated a king fire eye cyclops in Ralor’s Stead, summoners were not considered combat mages. Instead, the monster masters of the world came in after battles to reconstruct and salvage materials from the fallen enemies. It was a vital role, but it didn’t bring any of the fame or glory the other mage classes got. All of that changed after Marangur Sleet had seen the way I’d used my summons to fight, and the headmaster had enlisted my help in changing the stigmas associated with my calling.
Memories of sparring matches and informal duels flashed through my mind as I approached the impending battle against my teacher. It felt closer to a sparring match than to an actual duel, since I was going into it with the goal of losing. I’d never purposefully thrown a match before, but if it helped my friend and teacher take the job he wanted without shame, then I would do what I needed to do.
Wait, we’re not going to eat him? Dio asked in a disappointed voice.
“Nope.” I gave my familiar a sideways smile. “But I’m gonna need your help.”
I will fight to the death. The cat-like monster growled to emphasize his point, but the sound was adorably miniscule.
“While I like your energy, I’m going to need you to follow my commands to the word.” I gave the cat-like creature a stern look. “This fight is going to require finesse.”
I am the finest, so no problem. Dio let out a tiny roar full of pride. I am ready for your commands.
Once we reached the training grounds, the students fanned out and created a circular perimeter around Rori and me. Everyone was vying for a better vantage point, but I was glad to see my friends had managed to squeeze up to the front of the crowd.
Rori waited in the center of the circle of people, and his fake scowl was becoming more believable with each passing moment. His hand lingered near a small leather pouch on his waistband, and he shifted his weight from foot to foot experimentally.
“Took you long enough,” Rori taunted.
“You shouldn’t be so anxious to lose,” I countered.
I stepped inside the circle, and steely resolve gripped me. I kept my gaze locked onto my teacher as I ignored the watchful eyes of the crowd, and I flexed my shoulders to loosen my stiff muscles.
Rori Brevens would leave the Academy as a respected combat summoner, if I had anything to say about it.
“You guys really want to do this?” Braden asked as he pushed forward through the crowd to stand between the professor and me.
“Definitely,” Rori growled.
“Looks like it.” I nodded to my roommate.
“Alright, but you have to promise to have a clean match.” Braden spoke loud enough for the majority of the crowd to hear, and my heart swelled with pride to see my previously shy friend speaking with such confidence in front of his classmates. “Best two out of three decides the winner.”
“Got it.” I grinned.
“You act as though I’ve never dueled against another summoner,” Rori scoffed. “I’ve been dueling since you were in diapers.”
Braden rolled his eyes, but he stepped up close to me and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “If you’re serious about this, just promise me one thing. No Archons.”
“Yeah, of course,” I promised as my eyes widened. “I wasn’t even thinking about using them. I don’t want to kill him, after all.”
Unfortunately, one of the nearby students overheard part of my statement, because a moment later someone screamed, “He’s going to kill him!”
“He could try!” Rori shouted into the audience in a confident voice.
“Alright, enough,” Braden growled. “I don’t know what is going on between you two, but let’s just get this over with so we can all move on.”
“Fine by me,” I said with a shrug.
Rori nodded in agreement, so Braden stepped back into the throng of people as I reached for an essence crystal from my bandolier. My teacher’s fingers wiggled, but it seemed he was waiting for my summons to appear before he made his choice.
Please, allow me, Dio offered, and he flexed his sharp claws on the edge of my hip pouch. I will end this battle in one move.
Exactly. I couldn’t explain my plan out loud to my familiar without also telling the entire audience the duel was a sham, so I attempted to get my point across through the bond we shared as summoner and monster.
Dio titled his small cat-like head as he peered up at me for a long moment.
What does it mean to ‘fake’ it? His voice in my head stumbled over the word. You do not wish to kill this man who insults you?
He was starting to get it. If I could get my familiar to do exactly what I wanted, then it would be easy to stretch out the duel while also making Rori seem super powerful. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to pull it off as efficiently with my other summons, but I didn’t want to risk my teacher getting eaten if the saber tooth tiger monster decided he was hungry.
Ah, I see, Dio exclaimed in a proud voice. He is a cub you are training to hunt. Even though he looks old, and fat, it is hard to tell human age. I will help teach your young hunter, do not fear.
Close enough. I chuckled to myself as I patted the top of my familiar’s sand colored head.
“Are you going to toss a crystal?” Rori asked in an impatient tone. He had his arms crossed, and he rapidly tapped his toe against the dirt as he waited for me to make my move.
“You can always go first if you’re in a rush,” I retorted in a sickly-sweet voice, but before he could shoot back with another verbal jab, I threw an essence crystal onto the ground between us.
An amber plume of essence erupted from the shattered crystal, and a spark of electricity flashed before the cloud dissipated and my arachness stood in its place.
Rori instantly cast his eyes downward to avoid my monster’s paralyzing gaze, and he cursed under his breath as he rifled through his crystal pouch. He was breaking his own rule by not keeping his essence crystals organized and memorized for quick retrieval, and that was just summoning basics.
What Rori didn’t know was how well trained my arachness was with her gaze. I’d had her summoned around my friends so often she was practically programmed to avert her eyes from any human. As one of my oldest combat monsters, she was very attuned to my desires, and I could sense the bond between us humming with power.
Beyond my familiar, once he understood the concept of the ruse, I had several more monsters I shared very strong bonds with. My roosa, vingehund, and kalgori all worked so seamlessly with me they often predicted my commands before I even thought of them. My baroquer and I had done things I’d never even thought possible, and while I hadn’t used my forty-foot-tall armor-clad fire monster in a very long time, I could still sense his presence inside his essence crystal, even without holding it.
My teacher had been giving my arachness sideways glances whenever he felt brave enough to dare open his eyes, but he suddenly looked like he had a great idea, and in my next breath, a crystal shot from his hand up into the sky above my summons.
The essence crystal soared, then curved and began to fall, but it seemed like Rori had perfect aim because a moment later, a wallerdon poofed into existence on top of my spider-like summons’ head. Then the wide, thick, wall-like beast my teacher had cast squished my monster like a, well, like a spider.
The crowd booed as though they were personally offended by my opponent’s move, but I gestured for them to stop once my arachness’ crystal returned to my fist. While he’d taken one of my monsters out, I had plenty more where that came from, and no shortage of mana.
“Calm down,” I admonished the horde of students encircling us as I glanced around at all the disappointed faces. “He followed the rules.”
Suddenly, I was caught up in the gaze of none other than the headmaster, and the cloudy white color shone out from the audience like a beacon. Marangur Sleet had come to see the duel between Rori and me.
I swallowed hard. I wasn’t expecting that.
Rori’s entire attitude changed when he noticed the headmaster watching. He fidgeted his fingers against the buttons of his overcoat, and his eyes darted around the crowd to everyone except Sleet.
I wished there was some way I could reassure him without making it obvious we were faking our conflict. If this was going to work, it needed to be one hundred percent believable, especially by the headmaster.
My teacher had won the first round, but I knew it wouldn’t be as believable if I didn’t win a single fight, so I wanted to wait to see what my teacher summoned before I made my next move.
I was still amazed Rori had even agreed to the duel, since he’d been adamant about summoners not being fighters when we’d first met. I’d changed his mind, though, after I’d defeated his gray prowler with my combination of lower level grunts.
Almost as though he read my thoughts, Professor Brevens pulled out a large, deep gray crystal that swirled as though a thundercloud ready to burst with rain was contained within. My teacher tossed the essence crystal to the ground, a thick plume of smoke erupted, and a loud thumping sound accompanied his monster’s appearance.
It had a large and hulking serpent’s body, like a basilisk, but that’s where the similarities ended. The head was vaguely humanoid, but massively fat, with frog-like cheeks, and it had sickly green flesh with gray scales. Small spikes ran along its jaw, and two muscular arms as wide as Braden’s torso protruded below the head. The monster shifted and jerked about unnaturally, and everything about it should have been terrifying.
It was his grey prowler, alright, and the first time I’d seen it, it had been one of the most rare and dangerous monsters I’d witnessed in person.
Its jaw unhinged and revealed several rows of tiny but incredibly sharp teeth, and a long, leathery tongue sat coiled, ready to pounce. Then the monster reared back and roared, and corrosive acid dripped from the prowler’s mouth and sizzled into the dirt of the training grounds.
Are you going to let me devour this snake? Dio demanded in a voice oozing with impatience. I can’t just sit back and do nothing.
“Not yet,” I muttered to my familiar as my hand slid across my bandolier.
He would be expecting the same attack I’d used before, which was a combination of my daggerdillo, bulletbass and speed slug, but I wanted to shake things up and keep it interesting, so I decided to show off one of my more recently acquired monsters.
“Damn, I forgot how scary that thing is,” I commented while I thought over my choices.
“Think you can beat it?” Rori snickered.
“I don’t know,” I said in a voice dripping with doubt. “I sure hope so… ”
I caught Sleet’s smile in my peripheral vision, but I couldn’t tell if it was a good sign or not, so I chose to ignore it.
“Quit stalling and summon,” my teacher insisted in an impatient tone as he tapped his foot against the dirt.
His gray prowler eyed me with malicious intent, but it stayed motionless as it watched me. The creature was so still, if I didn’t know any better, I would have assumed the monster was merely a stone statue.
I shuddered beneath the snake-like beast’s steady gaze, and it was just frozen like that, staring at me.
