‘Nothing,’ Seiya answered automatically, levering herself up to look at the pair Paudry was currently tutoring. Jamen seemed to be throwing all his energy into the battle but Amaran was still easily holding him at bay.
‘He’s really going for it,’ she observed to Tooks, gesturing to the fight in front of them. “Is it always like this?’
‘Yup,’ Tooks answered with a sigh, ‘he’s determined to become stronger than Amaran.’
‘And getting pretty angry over the fact he isn’t,’ Seiya commented, watching as Jamen poured more power into the summoning.
‘Frustrated,’ Tooks corrected her, as Jamen’s power flow began to fluctuate, the mark of someone reaching their limit.
Seiya shrugged indifferently, ‘he’s a slow learner either way.’ She lay back down and pillowed her head on her arm, watching the clouds skimming across the beautiful blue sky. ‘I mean Amaran must have been stronger from the first day in level one.’
‘You never told me what you were thinking.’
‘Nothing,’ Seiya smiled as Tooks copied her earlier subject change, she’d hoped he’d forgotten.
‘You’ve been thinking about something the last couple of days,’ Tooks pulled up a blade of grass and started to use it to tickle her nose.
‘Quit it,’ Seiya turned her face and to try and avoid him but finally gave up. Sitting up she rubbed her nose hard to get rid of the residual itch.
‘Tell,’ Tooks waved the grass threateningly, ‘or else.’
‘Fine,’ Seiya conceded, it was hard to refuse when the boy was being so persistent. ‘I’m trying to work out how to get out of here now I’m level five.’
‘Do you really hate it that much?’ Tooks sounded hurt.
‘I’ve got to get back to my family,’ Seiya hastened to reassure him, ‘it has nothing to do with you guys.’ Well, at least not you, she added to herself.
‘You can’t leave without paying the fees,’ Seiya looked around to see Havir and Felix approaching from behind.
‘Well, what exactly are they going to do if I fly out of here?’ she challenged them. ‘They forced me to come here under false pretences.’
‘You know that won’t make a difference,’ Havir told her firmly, ‘and do you really think Master Youally will just let you go?’
‘I’m not just going sit around here the rest of my life until they decide I’m allowed to leave!’ Seiya responded angrily, Havir had vocalised precisely what had been troubling her. ‘When are they going to start sending us on jobs anyway?’
‘Ask Master Paudry,’ Havir advised, seemingly unmoved by her shouting, ‘but it should be soon.’ Seiya muttered under her breath and glared out at the two combatants.
‘What is he doing here?’ scrambling to her feet Seiya pointed to the demon flying towards them from the school.
‘Who?’ Tooks looked where she was pointing, shading his eyes from the sun, ‘all I can see is a demon.’
‘It’ll be Youally,’ Seiya hissed, it was as if just mentioning the name summoned the man.
‘Surely you can’t tell from here,’ Tooks protested, squinting as he tried to make out the people in the wicker basket gripped in the demon’s claws.
Paudry noticed the approaching demon as well, calling to Amaran and Jamen to dismiss theirs.
‘Guess we’d better find out what’s going on,’ Havir said as Paudry started waving at them, taking her arm as they headed over.
‘I’m not going to run away from him!’ Seiya protested as Havir gripped her arm firmly.
‘I thought that was exactly what we were discussing a second ago,’ Havir countered as she twisted free.
’You know that isn’t what I meant,’ Seiya ignored the smile playing on Havir’s lips as he didn’t comment any further.
‘Hurry up.’
For Seiya there was no mistaking that distinctive voice; it was Youally, Bifull standing alongside him at the basket. Up close it was obvious this one was far bigger than before with two handles for the demon to grasp.
‘Get in,’ Youally commanded.
‘There’s a forest fire spreading down the Lars Valley,’ Paudry quickly explained, glancing at Seiya and Amaran. Seiya wondered if Amaran had worn the same rebellious expression as her at Youally’s abrupt demand. ‘We’re to stop it before it reaches the towns and villages.’
‘I’ll be accompanying you as well,’ he added as Seiya swung herself into the basket and nodded thanks as she offered him her hand.
‘I’ll be flying you there and acting as an additional observer.’ In the small confines of the basket Seiya couldn’t escape Youally’s smirk. ‘After all this is your first assignment as summoners.’
‘I’d help even if they didn’t pay us a thing,’ Seiya replied bluntly, her eyes daring Youally to argue with her, ‘what good is this power if we don’t use it to help people?’ She was tempted to slap the Master as he sneered at her pityingly but Youally didn’t say anything out loud.
‘Ready?’ the question was pointless as the demon lifted the basket up at the same time, the sudden lurch sending Seiya crashing into Havir who easily steadied her while keeping his own balance.
‘Sorry,’ she smiled apologetically as Havir released her. Instantly her attention was stolen by the views and she pushed her way to the basket edge, happily hanging over the side.
‘Not afraid of heights then?’ Amaran was already standing there, watching the ground fall away as they climbed higher and higher.
‘Nope,’ Seiya spared a glance for Tooks, Jamen and Felix, all sat in the basket with their backs against the wall, eyes determinedly focused on the floor.
‘Looks like they’re trying to pretend we’re still on the ground,’ Seiya observed, looking once more over the edge. ‘Any idea how long to the Lars Valley?’ her grip on geography was sketchy at best, there wasn’t any need for her to know more than the area surrounding the ranch. The furthest she ever went was the market in Hottle-Hythe, and even that was only a couple of days ride.
‘A little over an hour,’ Amaran guessed after pausing for a moment to judge their speed. ‘We should see the smoke from quite far away.’
Seiya nodded apprehensively, she could only imagine how terrified the people would be with fire tearing its way towards them.
‘Be careful,’ Seiya looked over to see Amaran was still looking out over the basket edge, his voice so soft she had barely heard him. ‘Youally will be watching for any mistakes, so will Paudry,’ his gaze flicked sideways for a second to check she was listening and neither Master could overhear. ‘Don’t do anything stupid.’
‘Of course not,’ Seiya assured him lightly and Amaran looked at her sharply. ‘But I guess that depends on your definition of stupid.’
The smoke wasn’t just visible from far away, it started to choke them. Seiya’s eyes were steaming and her throat burned until Youally flew them around so they approached from downwind, landing in the valley bottom beside a river. Looking over the edge of the basket the fire resembled a living thing, consuming the forest on the valley walls as it made its way along. Seiya was thankful it wasn’t the middle of summer, in hot dry weather the trees would have caught instantly and they would never have been able to outpace the blaze. As it was they would be playing catch-up, the wind fanning the flames away from them at horrifying speed. On the ground the heat was overwhelming but at least the smoke provided less of a problem; the flames rose so high they were far below it. Still Seiya removed one of her socks and tied it round her mouth, it made breathing far more difficult but at least the air that entered her lungs wasn’t searing hot. Finding some water to dampen it would be even better. The others looked at her as if she were mad, but she didn’t care.
‘Summon a rank eleven water elemental and put out the fire,’ Youally ordered. ‘Spread out in a line-’
‘Don’t you mean fire?’ Seiya had to remove her sock so she could be clearly understood.
‘I think we’ve got plenty of fire already,’ Youally retorte
d scathingly. ‘There’s a river in the valley bottom you can draw on. Get going!’
‘Work in pairs!’ Paudry shouted as Youally waved them away. Seiya was already running to grab Amaran’s arm, the rest of the class swiftly heading down towards the river.
‘A fire elemental will be much more effective,’ Seiya wanted to scream in frustration as Amaran eyed her doubtfully.
‘You use water to put out a fire,’ he explained patronisingly, pulling away from her grasp and following the others. ‘Just do what you’re told, opposing elements is something you should have learnt at level five.’ Stung by the unnecessary barb Seiya let him go. Paudry and Youally had already disappeared, she assumed they were keeping tabs on them away from the heat of the flames. Knowing Youally he would be watching her. Cursing she joined the others by the river but couldn’t bring herself to summon what she knew was wrong. Tooks and Jamen were already struggling, however much water they dumped onto the fire most went up in steam. Felix and Havir weren’t faring much better, even though they were lifting huge sheets of water from the river to smother the flames. Amaran was helping least of all, stronger than the others when his power was channelled through the water elemental he was effectively redirecting the whole river over the burning forest. While it was working near the river bank he couldn’t make it extend very far, and the fire had spread high up the valley sides until the tree line thinned. Not to mention the fact his approach left the others waterless.
‘I won’t do this,’ Seiya muttered under her breath and sprinted up the valley, a good distance behind the fire so the heat didn’t sap all her energy. Sweat was still pouring off her by the time she stopped, her clothes soaked through with perspiration. Looking back she couldn’t see the other students anymore, the river itself was difficult to distinguish and as she approached the fire she was almost certain no-one would be able to see her, especially if Youally and Paudry were focusing their attention below.
The gateway pattern seemed to lack its usual brightness next to the flames but she could feel the power was there as she spoke the incantation. Uncertain how far away the Masters would be able to sense what she was doing she put all the bindings in place, now wasn’t the time to start risking a request summon, she had taken Amaran’s warning more seriously than she let on. Seiya held the image of the fire in her mind, the way she had seen it from the basket and up close, the demons had to know the magnitude of what she was facing. The answering power was indeed strong, with the feeling she had come to associate with fire elementals. She had deliberately let the demons choose for themselves which elemental to send and Seiya was pleased to see she’d got it right. It was far stronger than a rank eleven though, pouring more power into the gateway she guessed it was a rank thirteen but Seiya couldn’t stop her jaw dropping as she stared at the demon in front of her. Easily as tall as the tree tops that loomed high above them he was humanoid but far stockier than many of the ones she summoned. For an elemental his presence was extremely solid but she could feel the power oozing out of him; a part of her even thought the flames seemed to reach towards him, wanting to embrace the fire he embodied.
Sensing the demon’s magic Seiya watched in amazement as the towering flames shrank to nothing, leaving only glowing embers which were swiftly crunched underfoot as he headed onward.
‘It’ll be quicker if we work separately,’ the demon assured her, gesturing for her to take a higher path along the tree-line. ‘My hide is impervious to flames so I’ll go through the middle.’ Seiya nodded, the others down by the river should be able to make some progress with the trees lower down. Jogging up to the top she was surprised to find that her ability to control the fire wasn’t affected by the distance between her and the demon, Seiya wondered if the link formed when summoning remained no matter how far apart they were.
‘Damn!’ jumping backwards Seiya glared at the ground in front of her. The flames may have been reduced to charred cinders but the ground was still burning hot, the heat easily penetrating the soles of her shoes. She only hoped that she’d leapt back quick enough to avoid her feet blistering. Grinding her teeth in frustration Seiya watched as the fire elemental charged on through the forest, a huge gap appearing in the fire. She was going to have some very difficult explaining to do if the demon was completely out of her sight.
‘What are you doing?’ Seiya nearly collapsed as Amaran’s voice made her jump out of her skin. ‘I assume you’re responsible for that?’ he pointed towards the swath of extinguished flames.
‘I need you to summon a fire elemental,’ Amaran looked at her suspiciously and Seiya lost what little patience she had left.
‘You can see it’s working!’ she shouted angrily, ‘I can do the same but I can’t walk on the ground, it’s too hot.’ She stood and glared at him, ‘summon a demon that can carry us.’
‘Us?’
‘Us,’ Seiya confirmed in a tone that left no room for discussion. ‘You won’t relax the bindings and the speed we’ll be going we’ll be out of sight pretty quickly.’ She pointed to the glowing embers ahead of her. ‘I assume you can’t walk on that either?’
‘That’s not a rank eleven,’ Amaran accused her, avoiding the question.
‘I’ll deal with that later,’ she could feel the demon getting further and further away, sooner or later the two Masters would notice the rapid progress and try to investigate. ‘Hurry up and summon, or are you scared of being held by a demon?’ she challenged.
‘Not sure your bindings will be enough?’ Seiya jeered as Amaran glared at her, ‘maybe you’re not as strong as you think?’
‘Do you really think I’ll react to such childish taunting?’ Amaran demanded coldly, but Seiya thought the colour rising in his cheeks had nothing to do with the heat from the fire.
‘Just do it!’ Tolerance exhausted Seiya resorted to yelling, ‘do you want those people to die because of you?’
‘Fine!’ Amaran spat the incantation out like a curse. The gateway flared into life and before Seiya had time to reply a demon stood waiting.
‘Come on,’ refusing to give Amaran time to change his mind she grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the demon.
‘Pick us up then,’ Seiya demanded impatiently as they stood by the demon’s feet. After a moment’s hesitation the demon’s arm dropped towards them until it lay on the floor palm up, the claws spread wide. Wasting no time Seiya clambered in, easily avoiding the sharp edges of the claws as she pulled Amaran with her. For the first time Amaran looked unsure of himself and Seiya thought he was going to leap back out again.
‘Curl the claws up slightly and lift us off the ground,’ she instructed firmly. Ideally she would have been far happier if the demon’s physical bindings had been lifted so it could look after them directly. As it was she would have to trust Amaran’s ability to control the demon from this rather unusual position.
‘You know this is completely insane-’
‘Get on with it,’ Seiya resisted the urge to thump Amaran into submission, ‘if we don’t hurry the others will get trapped down by the river bank when they get tired.’ Amaran’s head whipped up and Seiya knew she had struck a nerve.
‘Is that why you followed me?’ suddenly Amaran’s presence made sense, ‘you wanted me to help you protect the others?’ She shook her head as Amaran remained silent. ‘This is the way to save them, please believe me!’
Amaran’s answer was the demon’s hand closing around them as they were lifted into the sky. Seiya carefully wrapped her arms round one of the claws to keep her balance as she looked out towards the fire. The demon started forward, crossing the hot embers as Seiya reached ahead and dampened more of the flames, creating a path that spread out ahead of them. Sparing a glance towards Amaran she saw him staring at the shrinking fire before looking back towards her as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Was it possible the other summoners didn’t know they could control fire in this way? Casting her mind back to the lessons it was difficult to separate what Gorbacov had taug
ht her and what the demons had shown her. Certainly they knew how to alter the intensity of fire they had created, but using the elemental control to force their will over existing fire? Perhaps the demons had taught her that. Seiya shook her head and focused on the task ahead, it didn’t matter anyway; Amaran would need his full attention keeping the demon moving smoothly without dropping them. Extinguishing the blaze was up to her.
‘What did you do?!’
Seiya stared numbly at the screeching Master; teetering unsteadily she was only upright thanks to Amaran’s supporting arm. Losing all track of time Seiya had no idea how many hours she and Amaran had spent methodically working their way through the fire. Tired and aching from the constant drain on her power the effort needed to create the gateway to dismiss the rank thirteen had pushed her over the edge into exhaustion.
‘Put out the fire,’ Seiya sagged gratefully against Amaran as he cooly responded to Youally’s angry demands.
‘You were told to use rank eleven!’ Blanking out Youally’s unreasonable yelling Seiya noticed Paudry hurrying over to them. The rest of the students trailed behind him, sooty and tired but otherwise unharmed.
‘Thank goodness,’ Paudry sent a withering look in Youally’s direction as he arrived on the scene, ‘if you hadn’t extinguished the flames further up the valley they would have been trapped.’ Seiya saw his eyes widen slightly as he took in her exhausted state, his questioning look at Amaran met with a carefully neutral expression.
‘One of them summoned a rank thirteen,’ glaring at the guilty pair Youally spat the words towards Paudry as if he were the one responsible.
‘And?’ Paudry’s reply matched Amaran’s for icy indifference. ‘As far as I’m concerned both are perfectly capable.’
‘Which one of you was it?’ Furious at the lack of support from his fellow Master Youally turned once again to Seiya and Amaran.
Summoner's Call (The Summoner Trilogy Book 1) Page 20