‘Why would anyone summon an unbound demon if they had the power to do it properly?’ Amaran demanded, still keeping his voice barely above a whisper. ‘I spoke out in the Council against letting you join this class, you’re nowhere near our level, your power is nothing but an illusion. Then suddenly you’re summoning fully bound rank eleven demons and using elemental shields.’ He stepped forward, his eyes boring into hers. ‘I don’t trust you.’
Seiya retreated backwards to put space between them again, unnerved by Amaran’s quiet aggression, at least she now knew why he hadn’t looked surprised this morning.
‘And if I summon a rank eleven wild,’ taking a firm hold on her growing anxiety Seiya was surprised to find the words didn’t even sound that insane if she said them confidently enough, ‘what will that prove?’
‘That you are powerful, strong enough to belong here.’
‘And you’ll stop treating me like this?’ Even as she spoke Seiya couldn’t believe she was considering it, but if Amaran was on the Council, no matter how ridiculous that sounded, she couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get his support, or at least not be against her.
‘If you can match me in a fair fight. The wild demons won’t help you.’ That made her look at him sharply, so he did think the demons helped her even when fully bound.
‘Oh, I know there was no way you would have known that shielding technique you used this morning,’ Amaran explained condescendingly, correctly interpreting her look, ‘don’t worry your secret’s safe with me.’
‘So long as I fight you,’ she answered grimly, in the end it all came down to blackmail.
‘So long as you prove you would have been able to do it without the demon’s help,’ Amaran corrected her as he gestured behind them, ‘they’re waiting for your answer.’
‘Alright then,’ Seiya agreed reluctantly, running out of stalling possibilities, ‘but I want you to summon yours first, that way if mine does escape you can protect the others.’
‘Agreed,’ Amaran swiftly turned and nodded towards Paudry before walking to one of the small stones squares marking where the summoners were expected to stand, designed to ensure a decent space was given for the demons to fight.
‘After all,’ Seiya called after him, ‘we wouldn’t want all that practice to go to waste.’ She smiled in satisfaction as Amaran spun to stare at her sharply; at least she’d managed to find something out about him that the school would regard with less than full approval.
Standing on the stone slab Seiya watched nervously as Amaran’s gateway spread out on the ground in front of him. She was too far to see the exact pattern, the lines forming a hazy glow which didn’t match the raw power emanating from the summoning. It was certainly strong, Seiya rubbed her arms as her skin started to tingle, part of her wished Amaran would fail and save her the daunting task of having to copy him. Trying to push all other thoughts aside, Seiya focused on fixing his power level in her mind, she would have to use the same if her own summoning were to be successful. The surge of power was smooth and controlled, the demon appearing statue-still in the gateway centre, even at a distance Seiya could feel the bindings holding firmly with no chance of breaking.
The others were already looking towards her, Seiya could feel their gaze even if she couldn’t see their faces up close. Sudden uncertainty assailed her, none of them had been watching Amaran with the same nervousness she had felt, they’d all known he would easily manage. Surreptitiously she wiped her hands on her tunic, her palms becoming clammy as her heart beat faster. The rank eleven was big, and not just physically; she could feel the demon’s presence from far across the training ground, the hatred washing over her in waves. The blades on the arms looked sharper, though she was sure it was just a trick of the light, the eyes certainly burned deeper; the usual honey amber almost blood red. She wasn’t even the one responsible for the summoning and still its gaze bore into her, stripping away all her outer façade. It knew she was afraid and couldn’t wait to see her get ripped apart for trying.
‘Seiya?’ Paudry’s voice sounded like it was coming from a whole other world. Clenching her trembling hands she forced herself to tear away from the demon’s gaze. She had no idea how long she had been standing there; from the way the others were agitatedly talking amongst themselves it must have been quite a while for Paudry to feel he had to intervene. Why was she panting? Seiya felt the first stirrings of panic as she couldn’t stop herself taking rapid shallow breaths, her lungs screaming for huge gulps of air as if she’d been held under water and only just resurfaced. Maybe she had; escaping from drowning in the demon’s emotions.
‘Are you going to summon?’ Impatience in Paudry’s tone, did he think she was wasting time just to annoy him? She wondered briefly if anyone else had ever been trapped by a demon’s stare, utterly overwhelmed; perhaps that was where the idea summoner’s being driven mad came from. Then again she couldn’t imagine any of the others bothering to look at the demons, they were only tools after all.
Enough. Seiya clamped her lips together and refused to acknowledge the burning building in her chest. She was the one in control, Amaran’s demon held no power over her.
So tempting to say “no” and walk away, she didn’t have to do this. Unbidden her mind showed her an image of Amaran’s face, his features twisted in contempt. If she failed here he would never leave her alone, perhaps even resorting to revealing her secret to get her removed from the class. Thoughts of the cells below the school were never far away. Seiya let her breath go in a whoosh, trying to exhale all her nerves. Her answer to Paudry was the blinding white lines emblazoned on the ground, the pattern that seemed permanently etched into her skull instantly appearing.
This is madness.
Seiya pushed the thought aside, concentrating only on what lay before her, pouring all the power she had into the gateway. To her shock she felt energy soar past Amaran’s level, every inch of her buzzing as the gateway resonated in response.
More, she had to be sure.
Every line in the gateway was humming, the vibrations reaching a fever-pitch; the summoning itself was alive. She smiled as she basked in the pure white light, the pattern was gone, for once her thoughts calm…
‘INCANT!’ Paudry’s scream barely made it through, she couldn’t understand what he was shouting about. Couldn’t he see everything was under control? Why would she care about the incantation anyway, she hated speaking those words; ugly binding chains, all the pain caused because of those damn syllables. Perhaps if she made it brighter she could burn it all away, she’d show them the words weren’t necessary.
As she reached through the gateway some fraction of her still clung to the present and knew what she was searching for; it had to be a wild.
Nothing would be sorted unless it was a wild.
Giddiness took over as Seiya split across two places. The part of her still standing on the small square stone could see the demon staring at her, the black bulk seeming to drain all the light away. She wasn’t afraid of it anymore, after all it didn’t seem so angry with her now. Somehow the two sides of her mind managed to match the feel of the demon she was facing to the aura of one on the other side of the gateway. Every part of her body was on fire but the heat was wonderful; the memory of that awful level four exam was fading away. Youally’s face, Amaran’s confrontation, all was being wiped from her mind.
Power surged through Seiya once more as she wrapped her mind around the demon’s aura; she had to be stronger. Reaching back she felt her two parts reunite, drawing the demon back with her. The gateway was singing all around her, united in perfect harmony she could keep going forever. A small distant part of her noted that someone was screaming, but it didn’t seem important. Even the demon was smiling at her now; it was happy.
‘NO!’
The pain lanced through Seiya’s mind as if someone whiplashed her exposed brain. The demon was standing there; no, her demon was standing there. She collapsed to the floor as all the light vanished,
the gateway closing as the demon came through. All her power swallowed up, all that fire gone; shivers wracked her body as icy coldness invaded, eating into the core of her being.
‘AHH!’
Seiya smashed her head to the stone floor to stop the agony, but it was no good. Joy and fierce triumph; the emotions assaulted her with every nerve-rending jolt. The shattered pieces of her mind groped for comprehension, the demon was doing this to her. Peripherally she was aware of two demons fighting, somebody was running towards her but she couldn’t tell who. Tears blurred her vision and something kept gumming her right eye shut. Wiping the sticky substance away with one hand Seiya stared at it blankly; blood.
More pain. Sharp daggers drove into her mind but Seiya grit her teeth and bore it. Each time she could endure it that little bit more, resist it. Forcing herself to her feet she stared uncomprehendingly at the demons ahead. Both were wild but one was so much stronger, why would Amaran have called such a thing?
‘Ah!’
Seiya rocked on her feet from another mental blow, swaying as she struggled to maintain her balance. Horror nearly sent her crashing to the ground as realisation set in, Amaran hadn’t called the stronger demon, she had. But how? Wildly Seiya scrabbled through her disjointed memory but all she could remember was the light-
‘SEIYA!’
Amaran’s voice, screaming her name. She searched desperately but couldn’t see him, his demon was failing as it tried to block the other from reaching the students. This was her fault; she’d brought a wild demon across not just unbound, but unsummoned. A request summoning without the request; she’d just reached across and picked him up. Seiya’s senses quailed as she tried to assess the demon’s rank, it was higher than Amaran’s eleven, much higher. The fact Amaran’s was still alive and holding on was a testament to his fighting skill. She couldn’t see Paudry, was he even strong enough to face the demon alone? She could see Amaran now, unaware of her own body she’d been stumbling forwards towards the fighting. Thankfully the blood seemed to have stopped running into her eyes, reaching up Seiya gingerly examined the sticky clot on her forehead on top a fast swelling lump. Vaguely she recalled her head impacting stone though the details eluded her once more.
The wild demon saw her and roared, icy needles slammed into her mind and Seiya nearly blacked out, collapsing to her knees. There was no strength left in her legs as she tried to get up, her eyes sought Amaran and then she wished they hadn’t. His face was showing the strain, chest rising and falling in desperate heaves as he staggered on his feet, almost too exhausted to stand.
Why wasn’t Paudry doing anything?
There was no sign of the Master, even with her raw and battered senses Seiya could feel the other students starting to summon. They were far away but she could tell their demons were weak in comparison. It wouldn’t work, the gap in ranks meant sheer numbers would be ineffectual, the one she summoned would carve through the weaker demons with no hesitation.
‘Bind it,’ Amaran grated the command through gritted teeth as she stumbled towards him. His bindings were beginning to weaken, a pale shade of what they had been at the start, fibres stretched thin to breaking point.
‘How?’ Seiya knew how to reinstate bindings she had weakened, in theory she could even replace broken bindings; but this demon had never been bound. An involuntary shudder ran through her body, if she tried to apply the bindings now the demon would be able to fight against her, unlike being summoned and passing through the gateway when they were effectively helpless before the incantation.
‘You had the power to call it,’ Seiya could see the exhaustion in Amaran’s eyes as he poured more power into the failing bindings, but still they continued to sag. Losing full control over his demon he couldn’t match the physical speed of the higher rank and the loose demon broke free, roaring triumphantly as it headed towards the other students.
‘NO!’ Seiya’s abused mind screamed in protest as she reached out with her power. Agony knifed into her as blood pounded in her temples, clenching her jaw Seiya forced herself to stay focused on the demon, tears of pain running down her cheeks as she screeched the binding incantations until her throat was raw; but the words were not alone. Holding out her hands Seiya imagined the lines of power she usually used in the gateway forming between them, but this time they were alive rather than static. The incandescent threads whipped out from her hands, thickening and strengthening as they flew through the air. Power she thought gone welled up inside, bright white fire flowing through her hands to the filaments racing ahead. Like a rope suddenly unweaving the single strands split into many, spreading out to form a wide mesh they enclosed the demon as it was only a few strides from reaching the students. Seiya smiled grimly as the demon howled in outrage, ensnared by her web of light she wrenched it backwards, allowing the threads to blur and merge until they formed the enveloping binding she was so familiar with.
Seiya winced as the demon hurled itself against the bindings but the attacks could no longer reach her mind. Muffled and dull they still impacted on tender spots but no more agonising lances pierced her skull. The world started to spin and Seiya put a hand on the ground to steady herself, surprised to find she was already kneeling down. Amaran’s demon was about to break free; her own demon was there, restraining it before she’d even framed the thought in her mind. The demon writhed under her control but she held it in an iron grip, as tired as she was there could be no let up.
‘Are you in control?’ Amaran looked at her warily as she nodded wearily.
‘Yes,’ Seiya assured him, trying not to sound as weak as she felt. ‘I can dismiss it in a minute.’ For a moment she thought he didn’t believe her but then with a shrug his demon was gone.
Turning to regard her own summoning Seiya felt peculiarly unmoved by the rage in its eyes, the boiling fury that had made her so afraid earlier she now regarded completely dispassionately. Or maybe she was just too tired to care anymore. Seiya sighed heavily but didn’t attempt to stand up, despite the damp chill slowly creeping into her bones from the wet grass. The students were shouting, squinting towards them she could see Paudry and someone else running over. Seiya frowned to herself, it didn’t really make sense that Paudry would leave rather than one of the students.
‘Are you going to dismiss it?’ Amaran’s cutting tone dragged Seiya back to the present.
‘Where did Paudry go?’ she asked absently, her mind automatically opening the gateway beneath the demon.
‘To get another Master to help,’ Amaran looked at her sideways as her power flowed into the summoning pattern.
‘You’ll have to put more than that in,’ he advised as she began to tail off, ‘it’s a rank thirteen. Which definitely counts as cheating,’ he ignored her shocked expression and gestured impatiently. ‘You brought it here so hurry up and send it back,’ Amaran walked over to stand at her shoulder, ‘but if you start getting drawn in again I’ll smack you back to your senses.’ He shook his head when Seiya opened her mouth to speak.
‘Send it back, then ask questions.’ Too tired to argue Seiya shrugged defeatedly and put what energy she had left into the gateway. This time when the lines started glowing she didn’t feel the radiance lifting her spirits; only drained. Seiya didn’t bother with a normal dismissal, picking the demon up with her fully enveloping binding she simply dropped it through the gateway, her remaining energy barely enough to hold it stable to allow the demon passage. The hate filled eyes glared at her in disgust as the warped black head finally disappeared.
As Seiya cut the power flow exhaustion swept through her body and she sagged backwards. Only Amaran’s hand on her shoulder stopped her from falling over completely. With her head still pounding mercilessly Seiya let herself lean against him, trying not to smile as the last thing she saw before closing her eyes was Amaran’s look of surprise.
Chapter Sixteen
‘I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to try to summon an unbound wild. No-one can hear us,’ Amaran added patr
onisingly as Seiya instinctively whipped her head round to look where the others were. It was true; the rest of the class were busy with their own summonings, spread out across the training area. Ordered to rest both she and Amaran shared a stone, preferring the cold slab to the wet grass.
‘I didn’t mean to,’ Seiya answered crossly, her head was still aching abominably, the handfuls of cooling moisture she collected from the grass providing much needed relief. She doubted it would do much to ease the swelling but at least the small trickles gave her something else to think about. The square was not that big, both she and Amaran occupied the very edges of their corners yet she still had to lean forwards to prevent their backs touching. Initially Seiya had sat diagonally opposite to maximise the space but that had left her facing away from the continuing lesson so now they shared an edge. Amaran seemed determined to avoid her as if she were some poisonous substance; a reaction that left Seiya utterly baffled. After collapsing onto him she’d expected him to shove her aside but instead he had gently supported her until she had regained the strength to sit up. It had been ever so tempting just to stay there, her exhausted mental state had left her so disorientated she had almost believed she was back on the ranch; that it was her father or solid familiar Diroc who held her safely. All that softness was gone now as she met his disbelieving stare.
‘It wasn’t a request summoning,’ she qualified but he still looked unconvinced.
‘What was it then?’ he demanded, ‘you spoke no incantation.’
‘It just happened.’ Seiya paused as she searched for the words. ‘I was putting all this power into the gateway to make it strong enough but the brighter it got the more I wanted to be a part of it.’ She looked towards him, hoping for some sign he understood what she was saying. ‘It felt so good,’ she added longingly, shutting her eyes she could still remember the feel of the enveloping light.
Summoner's Call (The Summoner Trilogy Book 1) Page 15