‘Paudry was forbidden to warn you, the exam was meant to be a surprise so you wouldn’t have time to prepare.’ Gorbacov smiled at her, ‘not that you need any preparation but Paudry asked me to warn you.’ He shook his head, ‘it’s absolutely ridiculous, why they think you’d struggle on the level five exam when you’re in a level six class, fighting against the strongest student this school has seen in decades is anyone’s guess.’ He clapped Seiya on the back as she stared at him in surprise.
‘Oh yes, I’ve heard about you matching Amaran,’ Gorbacov stepped back and eyed her assessingly. ‘I’m not exaggerating, if you can hold your own against him then I doubt any Master could stand in your way.’
‘It’s not a Master I’m concerned about,’ Seiya muttered uncomfortably, ‘it’s Masters. If Youally ever tried something he’d make sure he wasn’t alone.’
‘No point in worrying about that now,’ Gorbacov gave her a reassuring squeeze, ‘I’d better go, it won’t be good if they find out I told you.’ He headed back out into the corridor, waving for her to stay put so they wouldn’t be seen together.
‘If I can make it tomorrow I’ll be there,’ he promised gruffly, ‘show them what you can do.’
Left in the dark Seiya waited several minutes before making her own way back to her room. She briefly considered summoning a demon to ask about the level five exam but the rank tens would never fit in her room. Besides, Gorbacov had made it clear Youally would be pushing for something extra. Never mind, Seiya thought as she climbed into bed, shocked at her sudden weariness, at least I’ll be able to get plenty of sleep.
‘There’ll be a delay in starting the lesson today,’ Seiya tried not to smile as Paudry had to speak loudly to make himself heard. Only she was standing quietly, the rest of the class were busy trying to guess what was going to happen, the presence of two additional Masters a sure sign something was planned. Or one Master and one ex-Master, Seiya corrected herself; Youally and Gorbacov stood apart as Paudry addressed the class and there was no disguising the mutual dislike. The frequent glares Youally directed at Gorbacov were completely ignored, to Seiya’s eyes her former Master seemed the only relaxed one there, both Paudry and Youally looked incredibly tense.
‘Quiet!’ the bellow from the usually quiet Master stunned the class into silence and Seiya saw Paudry flush at his lack of composure.
‘As some of you are aware,’ he looked meaningfully towards Amaran, ‘Seiya has been taking level five lessons alongside her level six classes. Due to what happened yesterday-,’ he paused as Felix let out a muffled giggle; even Havir’s normally impassive expression couldn’t resist a smile.
‘Because of what happened yesterday,’ Paudry repeated firmly, his quelling gaze roving over the offenders. Though whether he was irritated or pleased Seiya couldn’t work out, ‘Seiya will now be taking the level five exam.’
Something was wrong, Seiya watched Paudry shifting uncomfortably as he beckoned her out, concerned by his worried expression. It didn’t make sense, she glanced over at Gorbacov though he still seemed relaxed; Paudry was the one who had suggested she take the exam, if he didn’t have faith in her ability to pass he would never have mentioned it.
‘Gorbacov,’ Seiya heard the slight hesitation as Paudry bit off the title of Master, ‘will be observing. While Master Youally and I test her abilities.’
‘Both of you?’ Seiya looked round at Amaran’s question, unsettled to see him frowning. ‘The level five exam consists of a one-on-one battle against a Master.’
‘In most cases,’ as Seiya tried to catch Paudry’s eye he deliberately averted his gaze, ‘however in special circumstances two Masters may test a single student.’
‘When was the last time that happened?’ Amaran demanded.
‘It has been recorded,’ Paudry replied sharply. Whipping her head from side-to-side to follow the conversation Seiya started to get dizzy. ‘One Master focuses on testing the elemental battle and the other on the physical fighting.’ Paudry’s tone was defensive and Seiya’s gaze was drawn to Youally. The Master was smiling at her and the sight sent shivers down her spine; of course this would be his idea. They stopped Demar testing her since he would clearly be biased against her so how was Youally allowed to be involved? She glanced at Gorbacov; the announcement didn’t seem to be a surprise so his confidence had been based on the ludicrous notion of her fighting two at once.
Seiya noticed Amaran had fallen silent, why had he even been speaking in her defence? Looking over she saw his eyes locked on Youally, his expression grim. The sudden realisation left her floundering; Amaran hadn’t been helping her but challenging Youally. He had understood from the start that the adapted exam had nothing to do with Paudry.
‘It’s hardly the same,’ Amaran pointed out. Seiya’s head started switching back and forth again; Amaran’s gaze was boring into Youally, all pretence of addressing Paudry gone. ‘The Master’s attention won’t be split between controlling two separate powers.’
‘Which will allow us to concentrate on assessing her abilities more effectively,’ Youally answered smoothly. Seiya recoiled when she saw he was treating Amaran to same sickening smile he had bestowed on her. Anger flared in Amaran’s eyes for instant before he smothered it and answered Youally’s smile with one of his own.
‘I’m sure it won’t be a problem for Seiya with her power,’ his voice was deceptively mild and Seiya saw Youally’s eyes flash in response. She suddenly wished Amaran would keep quiet, she didn’t want Youally provoked more than he already was. Amaran’s suspicious emphasis had made her stomach lurch; the meaningful look he gave her confirmed that she hadn’t imagined it. He wasn’t referring to strength of her power, but the type, the way she allowed the demons to think and act for themselves by lowering the bindings. Seiya shrugged inwardly, normally she liked to pass the exams on her own merits but in this case she may have to let the demon take care of part of it. After all it wasn’t like they were playing fair.
‘Let’s get started,’ Paudry interrupted the staring competition going on between Amaran and Youally and brusquely motioned Seiya to one of the summoning squares. Seiya could have sworn his lips curled in distaste as he moved to the other to share a spot with Youally.
‘Summon a rank ten fire,’ Paudry called across the open space, ‘hold it still until we tell you to release.’ Seiya nodded even though he was too far away to see and formed the gateway. She spoke the incantation slowly, forming in her mind a message for the demons explaining the situation and the kind of help she was likely to need. It was her own adaptation on the ritual summoning; after the power running incident she had perfected letting her consciousness enter the gateway and hover there, allowing her to project her thoughts to the demons as she would in a request but with all the bindings of a normal summoning forming in the background. After a little practice, and the demons learning to react quickly, the lasso formed by the incantation would only grab the demon that was already volunteering to come across.
‘So is this an end to the tedious lessons then?’ Seiya wasn’t familiar with the rank ten who answered but experience told her the demons were perfectly capable of drawing their own conclusions. She didn’t doubt the poor rank nines who had been forced to endure Demar alongside her had complained profusely.
‘Absolutely,’ she assured him, ‘though they don’t want to make it easy.’ Both Seiya and the demon watched as Paudry summoned a rank ten similar to hers, aligned with fire but still with substantial physical form. Seiya allowed herself a brief sigh of relief, she had been worried Paudry was going to bring out a pure fire elemental. Even if it had been rank ten its power would have totally eclipsed her current demon’s.
‘Not necessarily,’ the demon beside her corrected, ‘my power would not have been equal but you would have been using your own power through my fire control.’ He looked down at her and Seiya hoped the two Masters wouldn’t notice, the demon was supposed to be fully bound. ‘The magnitude of your ability to control fire is de
cided by your power not mine.’ Realising his mistake the demon faced straight ahead once more and Seiya waved aside the accompanying apology.
‘So I would have the same power over fire if I summoned a rank three fire elemental or a rank ten?’ Seiya queried doubtfully.
‘Absolutely,’ the demon confirmed, Seiya strengthened the physical bindings momentarily to stop him nodding. ‘Sorry,’ the demon’s voice was sheepish, ‘I keep forgetting.’
‘Not a problem,’ Seiya replied lightly, relieved the demon hadn’t taken offence at her sudden grip. Her good mood instantly evaporated as she felt Youally begin his summoning. Her heart beat faster as adrenalin flooded through her system, with any other person she would have assumed she was mistaken, but this was Youally. She swallowed hard, her brief enquiry to the demon beside her met by grim silence. Quiet also descended over the observing audience, Seiya noted distractedly that Gorbacov was now standing with Amaran and the others but no-one was looking in her direction. All eyes were on Youally, and his rank ten wild.
‘You can’t do that!’ Seiya’s yell was completely overwhelmed by Gorbacov’s furious bellow. Down at the other end it was clear that Paudry was also adding his voice to the chorus of disapproval.
‘It’s a rank ten,’ Youally’s smug voice floated down to the far end where Seiya stood and she clenched her fists against her side. ‘There is nothing saying a Master cannot use a wild demon.’ Seiya closed her eyes and briefly considered capitulating, only one demon against a wild supported by elemental attacks? She didn’t stand a chance.
‘How flattering,’ the demon’s dry voice interrupted her depressing thoughts, ‘do I really look that weak?’
‘But it’ll be like fighting a rank eleven and a rank ten at once!’ Seiya protested.
‘That Master has made a mistake,’ the demon told her firmly, ‘the wild demons can’t fight against elemental attacks. How is he going to protected?’ He waited while Seiya nodded slowly, her heartbeat gradually slowing to a sensible level. ‘Unless the other Master is going to help him?’ Seiya shook her head violently, there was no way Paudry would do anything more than launch elemental attacks against her and defend his own demon; Youally would be on his own.
‘I can deal with the wild,’ the demon assured her, ‘so long as I can access my own elemental power?’ Satisfaction warmed the demon’s tone as she nodded, as far as she was aware it wasn’t possible to sense the difference between the demon’s magic and her own. She had performed a few cautious experiments when fighting Amaran, but he hadn’t suspected anything, even though he knew her penchant for lowering bindings.
‘And I use my power to deal with the elemental,’ Seiya confirmed. ‘Are you sure you won’t get hurt?’
‘I’ll crush that demon so badly no summoner will ever consider sending a wild against an elemental ever again,’ it was the first time Seiya had ever heard one of the demons embrace violence or fighting of any sort. She was glad the harsh tone wasn’t directed at her and felt a small thrill of fear at the reminder of how powerful the demons were. If they ever truly threw their will against the summoners and fought back there was no telling what might happen. There was no avoiding the fact that the demon’s usual docile demeanour made the summoners over-confident, there was no reason they wouldn’t be as hard to bind as a wild if they put their minds to it.
‘What should I call you?’ Seiya asked absently, she was aware she was falling into a bad habit of not always enquiring after the demons name. In this case she definitely wanted to stay on his good side.
‘Klow,’ the demon replied, ‘and you’re Seiya,’ he added teasingly. Seiya rolled her eyes at him, the demons knew she felt awkward over the way they all knew about her and some of them enjoyed winding her up about it.
‘Good luck Klow,’ she said firmly, ‘it’s about time that Master got a lesson.’
The arguing between the two Masters at the far end stopped abruptly as Klow walked forward and waited in the centre. Seiya stared at Youally defiantly even though he was too distant to see her expression; he was about to get a very rude awakening on the limitations of wild demons. As she expected Youally didn’t hesitate, the wild launched towards Klow blades swinging. Seconds later it was flying backwards, blasted out the air by an enormous fireball that exploded on impact. Stray flames fell to the ground in a fiery rain but none took hold, being instantly extinguished.
Seiya rapidly blinked her eyes, trying to get them to re-adjust after the blinding light. Klow still stood in the centre, arms comfortably relaxed by his side there was no sign that anything had happened except for the slightly charred demon lying a good distance away. There had been no warning gesture, the summoners themselves had gotten into a bad habit of “throwing” the fireballs but the demons had no such issues. Seiya had only known what was going to happen as she felt Klow’s power building a split second before the attack.
‘I think that made a statement,’ Seiya called to the demon, her mind able to travel far further than her normal voice.
‘It did work rather well,’ Klow replied smugly, ‘do you believe me now?’
‘I never doubted you!’ Seiya protested guiltily.
‘Of course,’ Klow’s tone was good-humoured. ‘Looks like you’re up next.’
Focusing her attention on Paudry’s demon Seiya could tell Klow was right. Recovering from the shock of Klow’s pre-emptive attack Paudry was preparing one of his own. The answering bombardment of flaming spheres seemed tame by comparison, lacking Klow’s intensity they bounced harmlessly off the shield Seiya erected, splitting apart and sliding to the ground. Following Klow’s example she was careful to damp out the flames before the grass set alight. Trying to take advantage of what he assumed was Seiya’s distraction, Youally threw the wild demon at Klow again. Seiya dreaded to think the fight the wild demon must be putting up against the Master, the combination of burns and the fear of being helpless against further injuries must be driving it insane.
Of course Youally’s reasoning was fundamentally flawed, Seiya was indeed pre-occupied with blocking Paudry’s fiery attacks but she wasn’t his opponent. The surge of Klow’s power did force Seiya to look over though, throwing up a general shield to avoid any unforeseen attacks she stared in horror as flames surrounded the wild demon. But these didn’t erupt from the ground; the white-hot blaze wrapped itself around the wild, almost as if the physical bindings had erupted into life.
‘Stop!’ Seiya screamed at Klow, the wild demon’s howls of pain ripping through the bindings. Abruptly the flames slipped off the demon’s body and flowed into a single point just in front of its chest. Instinct made Seiya duck down and cover her ears, eyes glued to the spot she watched as the coalescing fire shrunk to a point she could barely see. The flow of Klow’s power hadn’t changed though, if anything it was increasing, as she tried to ignore her somersaulting stomach Seiya knew what was going to happen. The explosion still threatened to knock her off her feet, the concussive wall of super heated air that slammed into her took her breath away. Surprised shouts came from the watching class, and Seiya hoped none of them had been hurt. Uncurling from her protective stance Seiya surveyed the damage. Klow still stood in the centre, an implacable and immovable statue; Seiya could only assume that he had used some power to shield himself from the blast. The wild demon had no such ability, it lay unmoving only a few strides from Youally.
‘It’s not dead,’ Klow assured her, Seiya couldn’t find the words to reply; obviously she’d been broadcasting her fear.
The battle seemed suspended in time, Youally stared uncomprehendingly at the wild demon that had been returned to him so violently. Seiya deliberately didn’t look towards the audience, but she knew they would be staring open-mouthed between her, Klow and the defeated wild. Perhaps not Amaran, she amended, he would have guessed the attack wasn’t hers from the way the wild demon had been hurt.
‘I think we’ve seen enough,’ Paudry’s voice carried easily across the silent training ground, his own demon
vanishing. Without sparing even a glance for the Master next to him he strode across the open ground. Seiya smiled as he passed Klow without hesitation and wondered how difficult it had been, though appearing nothing more than a statue that was exactly the way the demon had looked before destroying the wild. Not that it really mattered; a Master couldn’t be seen to show fear of a bound demon, no matter the circumstances.
‘Well done,’ Paudry still avoided her gaze as he tied the white band around her arm. ‘Now you’re officially level six,’ he stood back and looked at her appraisingly, ‘not that there was ever any doubt.’ His eyes narrowed as he turned and looked back to where Youally was finally dismissing his wild demon, the Master didn’t bother to stay, immediately striding back towards the school.
‘At least that’s over,’ Paudry didn’t bother to hide the relief in his voice and treated her to a rare smile. Seiya sympathised, Youally’s presence could do that to you.
‘Thank you,’ she spoke to Klow even as she created the dismissal gateway, ‘I don’t think anyone will forget that in a hurry.’
‘I’m sorry if it was too much,’ the demon’s apology made Seiya feel guilty for her earlier interruption, ‘the burns weren’t serious and the demon will heal quickly.’
‘Thank you,’ Seiya was starting to feel like a broken record, ‘I’m glad you weren’t hurt.’
‘See, I told you so,’ Klow replied smugly, ready to vanish through the gateway. ‘Take care.’ Seiya allowed herself a small wave as the demon disappeared, for once unconcerned with what anyone else would think.
Chapter Twenty
‘What’cha thinking?’
Seiya reluctantly opened one eye and looked up at Tooks, she had been quite happy dozing in the sun. The recent chilly weather had broken into a glorious heat wave, the outdoor training sessions suddenly becoming far more enjoyable. She doubted Paudry was as pleased though; the last couple of days had seen his students spending more time lazing around than doing any actual work now that they didn’t need the activity to keep warm.
Summoner's Call (The Summoner Trilogy Book 1) Page 19