‘We don’t normally get within a demon’s reach,’ Gorbacov reminded her as she strayed close once again. Sighing at the annoying restriction Seiya moved her position so she could see both demon and Gorbacov clearly. Her attempt at an under-arm throw wasn’t bad, Gorbacov managing to catch it by taking a couple of steps back. For a man that looked nearly a decade older than her father his reflexes were in decent shape.
‘Very good,’ Gorbacov threw the piece again and this time Seiya managed to use the demon to catch it, even if she did end up mimicking the action herself.
‘Don’t get into that habit,’ Gorbacov warned. ‘This afternoon we’ll be practising with rank fours, depending how your own summoning goes I may want you to act as standby for some of the others in case the bindings fail.’ Seiya nodded, resisting the urge to tell him there really wasn’t anything to worry about. ‘Usually I wouldn’t ask a student to hold a new rank summoning for any length of time, but,’ he gestured towards the rank three demon standing in front of them, ‘you don’t appear to be feeling any particular strain.’ Seiya turned her head towards the door as she heard the bells ringing for lunch.
‘Alright,’ Gorbacov raised his voice so it carried across the room above the clanging chimes, ‘dismiss and be back here early.’ His gaze swept the room, ‘it’ll be your first and only practice at summoning a rank four.’
Chapter Five
‘Fruit pies!’ Seiya couldn’t help herself starting forwards as Lyam pointed to the pastry pots lined up on the counter.
‘Better grab one quick,’ he advised her, one already sitting safely on his tray. ‘They don’t make sweet things very often.’ Seiya knew he was grinning at her as she sped away, her attention fixed on the swiftly disappearing treats.
‘Gotcha!’ she called triumphantly as she claimed the last pie; she could still feel the fruit bubbling through the pastry case, it was certainly hot enough.
‘I’ll have that,’ a voice claimed authoritatively from behind. Turning around Seiya found herself face-to-face with the boy who had accosted her yesterday over her choice of table.
‘Not a chance,’ she jokingly placed a protective hand in front of the pie, mock shielding it from him as she balanced the tray one-handed. Seeing his lips tense into a thin line Seiya belatedly realised he didn’t appreciate her humour. ‘I’m sure they’ll be bringing more out soon,’ she added placatingly. ‘These are way too hot to be the original batch.’ She smiled politely and went to step around him.
‘I just passed the level four exam,’ he glared at her, blocking her way. ‘if I say that I want the pie then you’ll give it to me.’ It was probably meant to sound like a menacing threat, perhaps it would have worked on the younger children. Seiya groaned inwardly, trust her to get stuck dealing with a bully.
‘It’s not my fault you’re late,’ she responded irritably. As a level two she’d had to wait until the Masters and higher-level students had been in to select their food. What had been left was still far better than the choice of leftovers she’d had yesterday and the poor level ones were still queuing for their turn. Even though she felt the system was unfair it didn’t unduly bother her, but in her eyes if a higher level missed their slot then it was their problem.
‘You-’ the boy started angrily but he was interrupted by someone nudging him from behind.
‘Hurry up Jamen,’ the newcomer interrupted, ‘the others will be wondering where we are.’ Seiya noted that the person providing the distraction wore the same colour armband as Jamen, grey as opposed to yesterday’s red.
‘She won’t give me her pie,’ Jamen flushed as Seiya raised an eyebrow at the pathetic sounding whine. ‘She’s not even passed level one!’ he added angrily.
‘Have mine,’ the boy held his tray one-handed as he transferred his pie onto Jamen’s plate with a shrug.
‘That’s not the point!’ Jamen declared in annoyance, ‘she should give me hers.’
‘Fine then,’ rolling his eyes at Seiya whilst hidden from Jamen’s view the boy reclaimed his pie before transferring Seiya’s over. Amused by the boy’s expression Seiya didn’t interfere, besides she was worried he was going to drop his tray altogether if he did much more one-handed juggling.
‘Happy now?’ Jamen’s friend didn’t wait for an answer as he gave the still furious boy a shove towards the tables.
‘Don’t you dare start making a scene,’ he warned as Jamen resisted, still standing and staring at Seiya.
‘She needs to learn her place,’ Jamen growled, eventually relenting and walking away.
‘Sorry,’ the boy turned to Seiya with an apologetic smile. ‘He tends to get a bit prickly about things.’ The plate and pie were dumped onto her tray.
‘Thank you-,’
‘Tooks.’ The boy lifted the tray as an excuse for not shaking hands. The fixed grimace she’d held while Jamen was talking morphed into a genuine smile.
‘Seiya,’ she raised her tray with a nod. ‘I think they’re bringing out the next batch,’ she gestured towards the kitchen counter. No longer focused on Jamen she could see they were blocking the way with people having to flow around them.
‘Mm, bubbly,’ Tooks answered with a grin as Seiya went to move away. ‘Well done on passing the exam,’ he called after her, nodding towards the band on her arm. Seiya glanced down, impressed by the fact he had noticed the small slither of yellow. Opening her mouth to reply she saw he was already walking off in the opposite direction, heading towards the table where she thought she could make out Jamen’s back.
‘Over here!’
Searching for the source of the voice amidst the general din Seiya saw the rest of her class with Lyam waving her over. He, Martin and Cynthia greeted her with friendly smiles; Kirinya, Calvin and their two adoring followers looked annoyed at her presence.
‘How did you find it?’ Lyam asked into the brooding silence that had spread across the table. Seeing the reactions of Kirinya and Calvin both Cynthia and Martin had focused on the food in front of them, smiles gone as they avoided making eye contact.
‘Tricky,’ Seiya replied, grateful that Lyam didn’t seem to be controlled by his brother the way the others were.
‘You had no problem calling a demon,’ Kirinya said accusingly, the pretty face marred by an ugly, spiteful expression. ‘Nobody is that good straight away, you must have been kicked out from the level three class.’ Her mouth full and unable to reply Seiya watched as Kirinya nodded in satisfaction, taking her silence as confirmation.
‘No wonder you look so old,’ Kirinya was smiling gleefully, her earlier annoyance gone. Seiya held her tongue and resisted the urge to correct them. The antagonism from Kirinya seemed to evaporate as she found a reason for Seiya’s greater ability, even Calvin looked more relaxed. Seiya shrugged inwardly, if it meant they could all get along she would swallow her pride and accept the label of failure. It was revealing though that Kirinya had brought up her age; Seiya would have guessed that she herself was over sixteen, easily the oldest in the class. Perhaps she was sensitive about coming into her power late, or perhaps, Seiya thought unkindly, the idea of being kicked out came from personal experience.
‘So where are you from?’ Lyam returned to his attempts at a conversation. Seiya assumed his mildly contemptuous look at Kirinya when she had made her “revelation” implied he knew it was rubbish; after all it had been Gorbacov who had said she passed her exam early and then insisted on supervising her first rank three summoning, a fact the others had conveniently forgotten.
‘I work on my parents ranch near Milhowe.’ As she expected Lyam looked at her blankly.
‘If this is Rhianwater,’ she placed one of her hands on the table, ‘we flew in from here.' She took a moment to orient herself as she matched her current position and direction she was facing with where they had landed that night.
‘How long were you flying?’ asked Lyam. To Seiya’s discomfort she could see the others were paying attention once again.
‘Probably four t
o five hours,’ Seiya replied, ‘I wouldn’t like to walk it,’ she added jokingly. In truth it was another reason her escape would be so difficult, on foot and penniless she would have to steal a lot of supplies from the kitchens. Given the speed of their flight she estimated it would take well over a week, it was tricky remembering she wouldn’t be on horseback.
‘So you aren’t even from a summoner family?’ she could hear the sneer in Kirinya’s voice but the girl didn’t give her a chance to reply, pointedly turning her back and talking loudly to Cynthia.
‘Sorry,’ Lyam mouthed across the table but Seiya waved the apology away. Digging into her hard-won fruit pie her mind turned to Jamen, he and Kirinya would get along perfectly.
‘Bind it!’ Seiya moved several steps away so she was no longer standing beside the bellowing Master. Freiden, the target for Gorbacov’s roared instruction, screwed his face up even more as he desperately attempted to hold the bindings as the gateway opened. Trying to appear confident, no doubt for Kirinya’s benefit, he had managed to stumble over the incantation. He had realised his mistake almost immediately but the ensuing panic meant the gateway was poorly woven. Seiya couldn’t see his mistakes, Freiden’s power was by no means strong enough for the lines to be easily visible but it felt wrong.
‘What a mess,’ the rank four demon standing beside her seemed even less impressed than she was, ‘and I thought that girl was bad.’
Calvin, Lyam, Martin and Tresney had managed the rank four summoning without incident, Tresney the only one giving any indication it was more effort than a rank three. For the two girls and Freiden it was a different story; much to Kirinya’s pique Gorbacov had insisted Seiya take a break from her own practising and stand by with her summoned rank four, ready to restrain any loose demons. Anger fuelled by wounded pride had given Kirinya the edge she needed, her demon had been brought through fully bound and still seemed to be under her control. Cynthia had performed better than expected, both her gateway and bindings felt far more stable than Kirinya’s. Seiya suspected it was because Kirinya herself was too pre-occupied with her own demon to notice the quiet girl was out-performing her. Only Freiden was a complete disaster, a mixture of nerves and misplaced cockiness had landed him in his current situation and panic was only making it worse.
‘Do you think he’ll recover it?’ Discussing the attempts of her classmates with the demon provided a welcome distraction from the black looks Calvin, Kirinya and their followers had been sending her way after Gorbacov had asked for her assistance.
‘Do you want him to?’ Seiya looked at the demon in surprise but the smile was only in his voice.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I can ask him to resist and break the bindings,’ she could hear the demon laughing in her mind. ‘That would at least give us something to do. How about a spectacular fight where we break all the furniture?’
‘’Uh, no,’ Seiya tried to make her own voice stern but she was taken by the image the demon created. ‘We’ll let him have a chance,’ though she had to confess she was very tempted by the demon’s proposition.
‘Fine.’ The pretend sulky tone had Seiya grinning, of all the demons she’d spoken to so far this one had the most human-like personality. She kept being shocked when she turned to talk to the guy beside her and found a demon there instead.
‘You’ve got it,’ the tone of Gorbacov’s voice was encouraging, ‘now just let your power flow into the bindings.’ Perhaps he’s being a little too patronising, Seiya thought, but looking at Freiden’s near collapse in relief as the bindings stabilised she doubt he’d noticed.
‘Back to work?’ Seiya suggested as Gorbacov waved her away. ‘Do you know what’s on the exam?’ She’d rather find out now than wait to hear from Aleos in the night.
‘We have to walk across the room and back,’ the demon told her, ‘then complete a puzzle, but the pieces are covered in something that burns human skin.’
‘Is it the same every time?’
‘Yes,’ the demon confirmed sourly, ‘they couldn’t make it any more boring.’ He deliberately made a show of playing with the wooden puzzle as Gorbacov looked towards them.
‘Summon me tomorrow would you?’ the demon was twiddling a piece in his fingers and Seiya made him put it down with a warning look. It was hardly the sort of thing she’d be doing if she were the one in control.
‘I thought you were bored with it?’
‘I am,’ the demon agreed, ‘but I want to watch how those two get on.’ Seiya didn’t need to ask who he was referring to, she was also curious how Freiden and Kirinya would manage under exam pressure.
‘It could be painful,’ she warned him, ‘but it’ll be nice to have someone to share it with.’ She was certain Gorbacov wouldn’t mind her keeping the demon summoned until the pair were finished.
‘Call me Hitan,’ the demon gave her the alias just as Gorbacov gave the order to dismiss and Seiya found she was sorry to be saying goodbye.
‘Tell Aleos I won’t be summoning him tonight,’ she remembered to tell Hitan seconds before the dismissal gateway took him, ‘I need to catch up on my sleep.’
‘Until tomorrow then,’ Seiya nearly died as the demon gave a cheery wave as he vanished. A quick look round showed that none of the others had noticed, all too wrapped up in their own dismissals. Seiya let out a small sigh of relief; how would she have explained that?
‘As you can see the pieces stack like this,’ with an ease that made the task look suspiciously simple Gorbacov piled the wooden rods into a triangular tower, ‘the diagram shows how for any of you who forget.’
Looking at the completed puzzle Seiya was certain this would be far more difficult than the trays they’d been using for practice. One wrong move and the whole thing would collapse, forcing them to start again from the beginning. They’d already completed the group traverse of the room, she had struggled not to laugh out loud at the sight of the demons shuffling awkwardly along.
‘Of course your sticks have all been coated in wasanai paste, so don’t try to touch them or it’ll burn your skin.’ Gorbacov smiled and gestured to the desks spread evenly across the usually empty space at the back of the room. ‘Find your name and get cracking.’
‘That looks tricky,’ Seiya confided to Hitan as they headed to a desk in the far corner. At least she had been paying attention to Gorbacov’s demonstration, for Kirinya and Freiden simply holding the rank four demon between the two exam parts had been a test in itself.
‘Do you mind if I try doing this properly?’ Ideally Seiya wanted to make sure had the ability to complete the exam without the demon’s aid.
‘Go ahead,’ Hitan didn’t seem bothered as she strengthened the physical bindings until she was the one guiding his movements. A part of her wanted to touch the rods, having never heard of wasanai paste before she curious as to how it felt.
‘Don’t,’ Hitan warned her as her hand crept out, ‘it really hurts and then you have to put on foul smelling ointment. Besides,’ Seiya could hear the grin in his voice, ‘I’m sure one of those two will demonstrate it eventually.’
‘Don’t be mean,’ Seiya chided, smiling herself as she had to admit the demon was probably right. The tower had been growing steadily while they chatted, so long as she was careful to place each rod down gently it seemed to balancing.
Finally only three were left, near the top of the tower it was even more crucial, the last rod she’d placed rather roughly and the whole thing had swayed. Holding the rod so it hovered just above the tower Seiya lowered it slowly, her eyes fixed on the point where it would make contact. Suddenly Hitan threw himself against the bindings, flexing in Seiya’s relatively weak hold the rod rammed into the top of the tower, sending the whole thing flying with a horrendous clatter.
‘What are you doing?!’ Seiya yelled at him, only at the last minute biting her tongue to stop herself shouting out loud as she leapt back to avoid the few wasanai coated rods that rolled off the table towards her.
&nb
sp; ‘It was getting boring,’ she could sense Hitan’s mental shrug and resisted the urge to thump the demon.
‘Boring?’ Seiya demanded acidly, standing and glaring at the demon across the desk. ‘You’re the one who’s going to have to pick those up.’ She nodded towards the rods on the floor and relaxed the bindings as Hitan meekly complied, piling them back on the desk.
‘Are you going to rebuild it then?’ Seiya asked the demon, deliberately ignoring the fact that Calvin was staring at her collapsed tower with undisguised glee. With her attempt scuppered his was the one nearest completion.
‘Nope,’ if the demon had been given full freedom of movement Seiya would have sworn he would have sat on the floor with his arms folded. ‘Do it yourself,’ he challenged, the mocking tone lingering in her mind. Gritting her teeth in frustration Seiya reinstated the full physical bindings, she tried to use the same light guiding touch but Hitan sagged against the supporting power like a dead weight.
‘Come on,’ he chided as she glowered at him, exasperated with the lack of co-operation. ‘This is a far better test of your abilities.’
‘More like my patience,’ Seiya ground out, pouring in more power until the demon was little more than a puppet. This time the tower hadn’t even reached half way when Hitan rebelled. The resulting crash caught the attention of not only the rest of the class but Gorbacov as well. Calvin wore an irritatingly smug smile as the Master finished inspecting his completed tower, Tresney looked equally as happy to see her fail though the others simply looked surprised. There were enough other collapsing towers that Seiya had no idea how they knew it was her.
Summoner's Call (The Summoner Trilogy Book 1) Page 5