Summoner 20, p.19
Summoner 20, page 19
“I’m tired of this,” I groaned. “Why the fuck should I even be afraid of something that won’t reveal itself or its identity? Being vague and mysterious doesn’t make you as scary as you think it does, and I don’t take empty threats from disembodied voices.”
I am one who has lived countless lives and yet was born not long ago, the voice hissed in the back of my mind. I am neither young nor old, ancient as time, and yet as new as this morning’s sunrise
A chill ran down my spine as the voice took a pause. While its rant should have been laughable at best, the conviction and intensity of its voice were like a pair of nails against a chalkboard, and a strange sensation fell over me.
I am the creator of life and the one who takes it away. I do not need to make speeches or exchange words to be feared. I am the embodiment of fear itself, young mortal, and it would be in your best interest to remember that. Heed my words with caution: the worst is yet to come.
I awoke with a start, and my body was soaked with a thick sheen of sweat. My heart throbbed in my chest, and the lump in my throat made it difficult to catch my breath, so I ran my fingers through my damp hair and tried to stabilize myself.
What the fuck was that?
Why was the voice so intent on remaining vague and insisting I would soon meet my doom? The conviction behind its words was alarming to say the least, and whatever it was, it wanted me dead and gone.
The entity had referred to me with the Beastmaker title, so I knew whatever the entity was, it had something to do with the Archons. Perhaps it was Hunnah or Quilla infiltrating my dreamscape and planting terrible visions within. It wouldn’t have been the first time one of the monster goddesses sent me nightmares that messed with my head, though out of all the bad dreams I’d had before, this one was easily the most impactful. I needed to find out who the voice belonged to, and if they were merely a ruse sent by the Archon alliance, I had to find out what they wanted to distract me from.
I wiped the sweat from my brow and carefully pulled myself up from my sleeping bag so I wouldn’t disturb my women or the babies.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get some sleep. Freya stood in front of the windows with her back to me, and her head was tilted as she studied the sky.
The warrior princess wore a thin yellow shift dress that was silky and transparent enough for me to see the curve of her hips and perfect ass. Her wild mane of dark gold hair fell over her shoulders, and her arms were hugged around her as if she were comforting herself.
I cleared my throat so I wouldn’t scare her too badly, and the hawk-princess didn’t jump at all.
“Hawk hearing,” she whispered softly in her mother tongue, and then she looked over her shoulder and fixed her uptilted golden-brown eyes at me. “Why are you awake, my love?”
“I could ask you the same question.” I gave her a small smile, and then I crossed the cabin over to her.
Freya turned her head so she was looking out the window again, and even when I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, she remained facing forward.
“I could not sleep,” my wife answered as she relaxed her arms at her sides. “I tried, but my mind felt… frantic, as if it couldn’t settle down no matter how hard I worked at it.”
“I understand how that feels,” I said softly.
“You had a nightmare again, my love,” Freya realized, and when she turned her head to face me, her dark-blonde eyebrows creased together. “What was it? The monster goddesses?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted to her. “It could have been them. I’m not sure what to make of it.”
“Would it make you feel better to talk about it?” my hawk wife offered. “I can be a good listener if you would like to tell me what happened.”
“I know you are,” I said. “Thank you, but I honestly don’t even really know what to say about it. It was all just so bizarre.”
Freya waited patiently for me to continue, and I realized I wasn’t getting out of talking about it, so I dropped my arm from around her shoulders, grabbed her hand, and led her away from the window. We sat down in the empty seats, and Freya studied me with bird-like curiosity.
“What is it?” she pressed softly. “What plagues your mind, my mate, and how may we stop it?”
“I don’t know what to say or do about it,” I reiterated. “I don’t even have a face to put to the voice.”
“There was a voice?” Freya frowned.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“Was it a woman?” the blonde shapeshifter wondered. “Hunnah or Quilla?”
“No, I’ve heard both of their voices before, and neither matched with the one I heard in my head,” I explained. “The voice didn’t have a clear gender, it was just… a voice. Some kind of being.”
“That is strange,” Freya remarked, and her eyes narrowed in thought. “And you could not see a face at all? Was it hidden away?”
“No, it was just the voice,” I said, and I rubbed the back of my neck as the memory of the voice echoed through my head.
“And what did the voice say to you?” the warrior princess asked. “Were they… evil?”
“I can’t definitively say if they were evil or not,” I admitted, and I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Whatever they were, they wanted me to give in. Give up or something.”
“You cannot,” Freya said firmly, and her jaw clenched as her eyes grew sharp and focused. “No matter what they tell you, you must not give in or give up. You have worked so hard for what you have, and you cannot allow a voice to take you away. Promise me you will not succumb.”
“I won’t,” I promised her. “Whatever it is, I won’t give in. Thank you, Freya, for the encouragement.”
“That is what I am here for,” Freya replied simply.
There was still quite a bit I could’ve told her, but I didn’t want to scare my wife too much. Freya was a badass warrior princess, but when it came to dealing with the Archons, she was overly cautious and nervous.
Even with that in mind, I did feel a lot better now that I’d gotten the strange dream off my chest, but now I realized I wasn’t the only one awake at a strange time of night.
“Enough about my nightmares.” I shook off my discomfort. “Why don’t you tell me why you were out here? You said your mind was being--”
“Frantic?” Freya finished my sentence for me. “It was, but now I am fine.”
Her lips said one thing, but her eyes said another, and I knew the hawk-princess had more on her mind than she wanted to share. But fair was fair. I needed to support her in the same way she supported me.
“You don’t have to worry about scaring me away,” I assured her. “Or burdening me with your thoughts. I want you to tell me if something is wrong, so tell me, what’s on your mind?”
Freya began to fidget with her hands, and her eyes fell to the floor as if she were too embarrassed to say anything. I waited patiently for her to share what was going on, and after a few moments passed by, she finally took a deep breath.”
“I am excited for my parents to meet Lahrra, but there is a fear in my mind that I cannot ignore very easily,” she began. “No matter how much I want to.”
I waited for the warrior princess to continue, but her gold-flecked brown eyes remained downcast.
“Freya, you can tell me,” I assured her in my most gentle voice. “You can always tell me anything, remember?”
“It is about Lahrra, and her blood,” Freya admitted after a moment of pause. “I know that sounds silly, but it’s been bothering me quite a bit.”
“Her blood?” I clarified, and my eyebrows creased together. “What do you mean by that?”
“I am worried about her partial blood, and how it will affect her place in the Clan,” Freya explained further.
“Her partial blood?” I repeated back to my blonde wife. “Meaning she’s half shifter, half-human?”
“Yes.” Freya nodded. “We have never had a child born of both Clan and Mistral. I do not think my parents or Hawk Clan will take issue with our daughter’s heritage, but it will likely be a bit of a shock to the others. My mother and father’s feelings matter the most, but amongst the others in Hawk Clan, there might still be tension toward anyone they deem an outsider.”
“Oh, I know all about that,” I said. “But then again, I was an outsider before, and they ended up welcoming me.”
“They welcomed you because you were a fierce warrior,” Freya said. “You proved yourself a worthy warrior of Hawk Clan when you endured the Trials, and then again when you became my mate. However, I do not know if they will give that same affection and care to our Lahrra. Mixing hawk blood with the blood of others has never been done in our histories, and I do not want Lahrra to be abandoned by half of her heritage because she is not full hawk.”
“Freya, you’re the daughter of the chief,” I reminded her. “You’re beloved in Hawk Clan, and I don’t think they would treat your daughter with anything but love. And besides, your people had to know this was a possibility with me as your husband.”
“I hope that is the case,” my blonde wife sighed, but I could tell she still wasn’t sure. “I love my people, but we’re very stuck in our ways. I am just worried. Perhaps I should not be.”
“Remember what you told me about our daughter’s name?” I reminded her. “She was named after that ancient warrior queen, Lahrra the Golden, right? Tell me what she was known for again.”
“She was powerful,” Freya said. “One of the bravest and strongest warriors Hawk Clan has ever seen. She was ever victorious in all of her battles, and as fearsome as any king.”
“Now, you can’t tell me our little girl, who has the blood of two badass warriors, isn’t going to grow up to be just as amazing as her namesake,” I continued on. “She’s going to do all of Hawk Clan proud when she’s older, I just know it. Don’t stress about what they’ll think initially. It’s all going to be just fine.”
My golden-haired wife considered my words for a good ten seconds, and then she finally raised her eyes to meet mine.
“Thank you, my mate,” she said, and the hints of a relieved smile pulled at her lips. “You are right. There is no reason to be upset. Mother and Father, along with all of Hawk Clan, will love Lahrra just as she is, and if they do not… that would be their mistake.”
“Of course, they’ll love her,” I agreed with her, and then I leaned forward and gave my wife a soft kiss. Once we pulled apart, I cupped her cheek in my hand. “Shall we lay down and try to get some sleep? We need to try to get some rest so we can feel better tomorrow.”
“Yes.” She nodded, and then we stood up and crossed over to our bedrolls. Freya brought her sleeping bag over to mine and laid it down to create one large surface, and we curled up in one another’s arms and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
The next three days of travel passed by quickly with little issue. My women and I had a difficult time keeping the children entertained, but we managed well enough. The green, rolling hills of Mistral soon gave way to a vast expanse of oceanscape, and my women, children, and I studied the changing environments with a mixture of excitement and awe.
The babies had never experienced the ocean, and it was fascinating to see their eyes widen as they studied the water below them.
It would be too cold to make it happen, but I decided that once the weather was warmer, we would pay Nia’s brother Nayveth a visit to his ocean-side home so the children could really experience the water.
Finally, on the third day, the airship began to descend.
“I think we’re finally here,” I announced.
All of us buckled our harnesses tighter as we braced ourselves for landing, and as the ship ducked lower and lower, I grew more and more excited. Though I was used to air travel, I was ready to steady myself on land and get some fresh air.
Suddenly, though, the ship stopped in place, and my women and I shared looks of confusion with one another as we tried to assess what was happening.
“Why did we stop?” Cyra asked as she peered over at the window.
“I have no idea,” I admitted as I craned my neck around to get a better view.
“Hey, Gryff?” Erin’s voice suddenly rang out. “We have a bit of a problem.”
Chapter Ten
Those were easily a few of the worst words that one could ever hear, and my stomach plummeted as I considered every sort of issue that could have arisen. It could’ve been anything from a technical difficulty to a discrepancy with a rival Clan, and I braced myself for whatever was to come.
Then I quickly unbuckled my harness and sped across the cabin until I reached the cockpit.
“What’s wrong, Erin?” I demanded once I breached the doorway. The orange-haired mimic was clearly startled by my hastened entrance, so I forced myself to take a breath and repeat myself in a softer tone. “Is something wrong with the ship?”
“Nothing’s wrong with the ship,” Erin assured me. “We just have a bit of an issue I didn’t even think of until now. I don’t know where to land. The mountain terrain isn’t exactly suited to handle an airship of this size, and I don’t want to risk crashing or damaging the ship.”
“Maker, I’d completely forgotten about the cliffs,” I sighed, and now that I wasn’t confined to my seat in the cabin, I had a full view of the island in front of us.
Eyrie Island, much like a few of the islands in the surrounding area, had an unusual terrain that consisted of what appeared to be a single mountain peak that rose hundreds of feet into the sky, with trees growing in random clumps up the steep slope. Hawk Clan made their home on the inside of the hollowed mountain, and the only access point was in a small opening in one of the jagged cliffs below. The shapeshifters entered this point by boat, so there was no possible way Erin could fit her airship through that opening.
I paused to think about how to proceed. When Arwyn and her crew had found me the last time on Eyrie Island, their government-issued aircraft had been forced to park on a nearby island, since it wasn’t suited for an ocean landing.
If it had only been Erin, Cyra, Freya, and I on board, I could have easily done the same thing and then arranged for one of my water-based monsters to bring us over to the entrance, but we had the babies to worry about, and I wasn’t about to risk the safety of my children. We needed a place for the ship to safely land that didn’t involve us having to scale down the steep cliffs, or park in a territory we weren’t sure was safe.
“I never thought to ask about a landing place,” Erin admitted. “Which is definitely my fault. As the pilot, I should’ve realized a shapeshifter civilization wouldn’t have a landing pad--”
An idea suddenly struck me.
“Erin, you’re a genius!” I declared as my mind started running in circles.
“Not gonna deny that,” Erin chuckled, but her face betrayed her confusion. “Though, I don’t see how me admitting to a mistake makes me a genius…”
“Not the mistake part,” I laughed lightly. “I meant you gave me an idea. It might be a little complicated--”
“I’m willing to try anything at this point,” the orange-haired pilot interjected. “I can’t hover here forever, and there’s no way I can safely land on the mountainside, so if you have literally any ideas, let’s try it.”
“This shouldn’t take too long,” I insisted with a wave of my hand. “I just need you to hover here for a little while longer and unlock the door so I can slip out and get to the island.”
“Gryff, we’re pretty high up.” Erin frowned, but then a look of realization crossed her elfin features. “Wait, are you about to do what I think you’re going to do?”
“Most likely.” I grinned at my girlfriend as I gave the door a sideward glance. “I’ll be right back.”
“Be safe,” she advised me in a serious voice, but then her caution gave way to an adorably amused smile. “Love you, Gryff.”
“Love you, too.” I winked at her, and then I made my way back out to the cabin.
“Gryff, what’s going on?” Cyra asked once I returned. “Is everything alright?”
“Everything’s fine,” I assured the curly-haired summoner. “I forgot Erin’s never been here before, and we’re having trouble figuring out where to land.”
“The mountainside is not suitable for the airship,” Freya realized with widened eyes. “And it cannot pass through the cliff opening. How will we--”
“I think I have that figured out,” I interjected. “Don’t worry, we’ll have a way to safely land. I’m going to go try something out, so just stay in your seats and keep the kids settled. I shouldn’t be gone for too long.”
“Do you need help?” Cyra wondered, and before I could answer, the dark-skinned summoner had already started to unbuckle her harness.
“If you want to, I’m not going to object to another summoner joining me,” I replied, and then I turned to Freya. “Are you okay with staying here and keeping an eye on the children? With two of us working at this, it shouldn’t take too long.”
“Of course.” My shapeshifter wife nodded at me. “I cannot imagine the babies will get too out of hand since they’re strapped into place. You and Cyra go and accomplish what must be done, and we will wait here patiently.”
“Thanks, Freya.” I smiled at the beautiful hawk shifter, and then I looked to Cyra. “You’re going to need Kalon for this.”
“I’m sure she’s itching to get a good stretch in,” Cyra replied, and her familiar poked its head out of her nest of thick midnight curls as if on cue. The tiny silver dragon let out a high-pitched coo, flew down to the ground, and awaited her mistress’ command.
The babies let out squeals of delight as they glimpsed the adorable monster, and the sound of it brought a smile to my face. I wanted to linger on the moment for a little while longer, but we had work to do, and I couldn’t ask Erin to keep us hovering in place for so long. She likely wouldn’t take issue with it, but I didn’t want to run the risk of a technical complication with the craft.
