‘The power-’ a shudder rippled through her entire body and her fingers dug deep into Amaran’s arm as his hand covered her own, she couldn’t even see his face, her vision blurred with tears. ‘It needs too much,’ everything was beginning to lose focus, no matter how hard she fought the Bwyhuli was relentless, dragging her consciousness back into the summoning. ‘The gateway-’ Seiya never got to finish, suddenly she was surrounded by white light, swallowed by the summoning she could feel her awareness disintegrating as the demon wrung her dry.
‘No,’ Seiya wanted to scream but the denial was barely a whisper, the Bwyhuli had weakened her so badly she couldn’t go power running even if she wanted. Bitterly Seiya cursed the irony of the situation, the demon’s own determination to cross was going to prevent it.
‘Seiya!’
Amaran’s voice; Seiya could feel her consciousness unravelling, how strange she could hear him when-
The blast of power surged into the gateway, as the Bwyhuli’s aura seized on it greedily the pressure on her own mind eased.
‘Amaran?’ Surprised by the influx Seiya struggled to reclaim her scattered thoughts from the chaos swirling around her. The energy level soared but Seiya could still sense it wouldn’t be enough, the demon was starting to pull on her once more.
Suddenly the light surrounding her seemed to be alive, humming and buzzing, the power vibrating all too familiarly in her bones.
Amaran was power running. The realisation left her stunned, in doing so he was risking losing himself completely in the summoning. But it had given her the brief respite she needed to collect herself and release the true extent of her power. It was now or never, this time it didn’t matter if she lost herself, the demon was the one in control.
Throwing away all her defenses Seiya dived into the summoning, joining Amaran as she poured everything she had into the gateway, resonating in perfect time as her consciousness was completely submerged. The pattern was long gone, the energy swelling to impossible levels as she surrendered. Fierce, primitive joy flooded through her as she exalted in the all consuming power, the brightness enveloping her completely.
Chapter Thirty-Two
‘Take it!’
Someone was shouting at her, Seiya tried to concentrate but the voices were still unclear, as if they were coming from far away. She knew she needed to drag herself up, but it was so hard, the dark drowsiness wrapped around her, sucking her back down until it felt as if she was escaping from a vat of black treacle. Perhaps she should just let herself sink…
‘No!’
Light was there, she could sense it, and the voices were getting louder, she could almost-
‘Ah!’ Seiya screamed as pain lanced through her brain, shutting her eyes against the light she clawed desperately back towards the darkness. The throbbing resounded in every bone, every nerve, the agonising pounding as if her head would explode with her next heart beat.
I don’t want this! Let me go back!
‘Take it!’ That same voice, but now so loud and so painful and so very near.
‘Get out!’ Seiya screamed again as she slammed her hand into her forehead, trying to drive out the intrusion.
‘No,’ Seiya bit back another yell as her arm was twisted around, her hand pressed against something cold and smooth.
‘NO!’ Seiya cried out as power burned into her fingertips, she tried to wrench her hand away but something held her down. ‘Stop it!’ Sobbing uncontrollably she tried to pull away but the pressure on her wrist only increased.
‘Use it!’
‘No,’ trembling Seiya opened her eyes slightly, even kept to the tiniest slits the daylight seared into her mind. Whimpering she squeezed them shut again, hiding from the painful brightness.
‘Dismiss it!’ Seiya could feel her other arm being dragged round, gasping as the shooting pain in her shoulder cut through the pounding in her head. ‘The Bwyhuli can’t hold it forever!’
‘No!’ Seiya bucked desperately against the thing restraining her as the other hand was pressed down. Power surged through her, agony erupting as shattered nerves shrieked in protest.
‘Dismiss it!’ The voice was getting desperate, building panic in the raw edges.
Dismiss? The word was familiar, trying to ignore the pain enveloping her Seiya attempted to delve into her memories, piece together the scattered fragments of her mind.
‘This?’ the pattern formed hesitantly at first, she even risked cracking her eyes open a fraction to watch it building on the ground.
‘Bigger,’ but the voice sounded happier now, ‘let the energy from the orb flow into it.’
Orb? Seiya clenched her jaw in concentration, surprised her teeth didn’t splinter as a result as she sought to drive out the throbbing. Yes, that too was familiar. She took a moment to force herself to exhale, holding her breath was only making the pounding worse.
‘What you’re holding,’ the voice snapped impatiently and Seiya felt her mind trying to flinch away. ‘Let the power flow through you and into the pattern.’ The slow, carefully enunciated instructions hinted at strained patience.
‘Like this?’ She jumped slightly as the pattern blazed to life, the vibrant lines hurting her eyes. Her gaze wandered to the huge creature standing slightly behind, this was what she had to make fit into the pattern?
‘Yes!’ The voice crowed triumphantly as she enlarged the pattern, gateway a distant part of her brain corrected, until it would easily take the demon. Demon? She frowned slightly as the word popped into her mind, she felt as if she should know so much more.
‘Done!’ The relieved shout echoed gently in her mind this time as the demon disappeared through the gateway. ‘Now do the same for the Bwyhuli.’
‘Bwyhuli?’ Seiya echoed the word in her mind without thinking, the sudden lapse of power when the gateway vanished leaving her queasy. Vaguely aware she was lying prone on the floor she tried to sit up, impossible with both hands clamped around the orb.
‘Just do the same thing again,’ the voice encouraged her as she was gently shifted into a sitting position, her back supported against something warm. Her eyes had become accustomed to the daylight and they scanned the area where the large demon had been, where was the Bwyhuli the voice kept talking about?
The air in front of her shimmered slightly and Seiya felt something invading her mind, similar to the voice and yet utterly different. There were no words, but Seiya didn’t resist the warm comforting aura as the orb’s power was drawn through her into the pattern. Not that she had much say in the matter; gentle but unyielding the Bwyhuli was using her to form the dismissal gateway. Like we use the elemental demons, the thoughts came to her mind easily now, pieces slotting effortlessly into place.
But that means the demons can use the link to control our power? The idea left her stunned, if a strong enough request demon was summoned then the roles could be reversed, the summoner becoming the demon’s puppet.
All attempts at thinking straight vanished along with the Bwyhuli, the dismissal gateway flared and the drain on her energy was suddenly gone. Seiya felt her mind lurch forward, as if locked in a tug-of-war and someone had thrown away the rope. Shivering at the chill emptiness the pounding in her head took over once more. Bile rose in her throat as nausea took hold, chucking the orb to one side she didn’t even notice the demon holding her had eased away, her hands no longer clamped to the smooth stone.
Flinging herself to her hands and knees Seiya started retching uncontrollably, tremors shaking her arms and legs until she was on the verge of passing out. Again, a part of her mind remarked sarcastically. She never saw Nworl take the orb far across the grassland, or lay it carefully on the ground and raise his fists high in the air. When the orb was smashed she felt the surge of power for only a split second, the concussive wave the final push that sent her battered mind tumbling over the edge.
‘You’ve decided to join us then?’
Issuing what she hoped were appropriate grumbling noises Seiya rolled over an
d away from the flickering light, she was tired of voices ordering her around.
‘Come on,’ something poked her none too gently in the ribs as she grunted in protest, ‘you may as well wake up now.’
Seiya risked opening one eye a tiny fraction, then both flew open as she was confronted by Amaran staring at her, the summoner sitting right beside her.
‘It’s dark,’ Seiya blurted in astonishment, bolting upright and staring around. The flickering light that forced her awake came from a small fire, at the moment it was dancing on Amaran’s face.
‘How observant,’ Amaran commented dryly. ‘I hope you’re not too cold, it took a while to explain the concept of a fire to them,’ gesturing into the darkness Seiya didn’t miss the irritated tone. ‘Honestly,’ this time the annoyed expression was fixed firmly on her, ‘only you would get me stranded here surrounded by unbound demons.’
‘What happened?’ Peering into the night Seiya couldn’t see anything, any vision lost by looking too long at the fire.
‘You tell me.’ Amaran’s voice held a definite edge. ‘You tried to summon that Bwyhuli across but you needed my help to make the gateway strong enough.’
‘I can’t believe you went power running,’ Seiya murmured quietly, looking away uncomfortably.
‘The resonance significantly increases the summoner’s power, and you needed it,’ Amaran responded bluntly. ‘Though I was surprised you knew of the technique.’
‘Technique?’ Seiya looked at him blankly as Amaran sighed.
‘Summoners used to compete and combine powers to summon higher ranked demons,’ he threw another stick into the fire, watching it crackle. ‘But the weaker summoners were being forced to go power-running and it became forbidden.’
‘Oh,’ Seiya didn’t know what else to say, admitting that she had assumed she could use Amaran’s power the same way as the demon’s elemental magic probably wouldn’t go down well.
‘Of course you weren’t meant to, otherwise the whole thing is pointless,’ Amaran frowned as he faced her.
‘I wasn’t the one in control,’ Seiya shrugged at Amaran’s incredulous expression. ‘The Bwyhuli was just using me.’
‘This isn’t filling me with confidence in summoning without bindings,’ Amaran muttered darkly, but Seiya noted he was careful to keep his voice low enough that the surrounding demons wouldn’t hear.
‘So,’ Seiya spoke quickly to try and get the conversation back onto safer ground, ‘you said Youally was gone?’
‘Yes.’ Amaran hurled his final stick on the fire in disgust, casting a shower of sparks. ‘All these demons and none have a clue.’
‘So why are we still here?’ Seiya ventured carefully. ‘Surely one of the demons-’
‘That is the problem,’ Amaran cut in, a slight edge to his voice, ‘somebody needs to send this lot home.’
‘Couldn’t you have done it?’ Seiya looked around in dismay, she couldn’t make out any of the demons but she was quite enjoying not having her head pounding for once.
‘They won’t talk to me,’ Amaran stated bitterly.
‘He doesn’t know how to hear and we cannot be bothered to shout,’ Seiya jumped as the disdainful snort echoed in her mind. ‘He still thinks he can order us around-’
‘That’s enough!’ Seiya snapped, ignoring Amaran’s surprised expression as she shouted out into the dark. ‘You’ve got what you wanted, he’s just had his life destroyed. Show a little decency.’ Standing up she glared out beyond the fire, ready to shield against any demon fool enough to respond with anything but an apology. ‘Think of how intimidating you appear to humans and you all just surrounded him-’
‘Uh, if you don’t mind,’ Amaran interrupted sarcastically, waving to get her attention. ‘I’d greatly appreciate it if you didn’t antagonise the horde of demons.’
‘Hmph,’ Seiya gave her invisible targets one last disapproving look as she slumped back down. ‘They wouldn’t dare,’ she muttered under her breath.
‘I need to return to Havir,’ Amaran ignored her last remark, ‘but the demon will still need to be sent back.’
‘Request summon a flying demon,’ Seiya snorted in response to his sceptical look, ‘don’t worry I’ll make them promise someone will answer you.’
‘What if he refuses to send us back?’
‘Then you fly to me,’ Seiya responded firmly, feeling the swell of sullen demon voices pressing against her mind.
‘Listen to me!’ This time Seiya actually strode away from the fire to confront the demons physically, it hadn’t just been bravado for Amaran’s sake, she truly felt no reason to fear them. She’d bound that enormous wild, however briefly, on her own power alone. The orb being destroyed didn’t make her helpless. ‘Without Amaran’s help Youally would still have the orb and I’d be dead,’ she paused for a moment to allow for any demonic interruptions, pleased when everything stayed silent. ‘I am asking that you answer his requests, within reason,’ she added quickly as she felt the buzz of inter-demon communication. ‘Especially for those of you that can fly, you can always come to me to be dismissed if he refuses.’
‘You’re not returning to Rhianwater?’ Amaran was on his feet, his voice hovering confusingly between plea and accusation. ‘This is what you wanted!’
‘I always said I wanted to go home,’ Seiya avoided meeting his gaze, ‘I have no intention of being a summoner.’
‘Even with the requests-’
‘Be sensible Amaran!’ Seiya snapped angrily, turning to face him. ‘You know I can’t return to Rhianwater!’ She flushed slightly and looked away again, she hadn’t meant to shout, it wasn’t him she was angry at. For a tiny moment a traitorous voice inside her own head had started to agree with Amaran, but that simply wasn’t possible.
‘Why not?’ Amaran demanded. ‘I’m headmaster, it’s not like you’ll be imprisoned.’
‘If you go back and admit you helped destroy the orb not a single Master will support you.’ Seiya cursed the horrible lurch in her stomach, she didn’t want to be a summoner, there was no reason she should care if they hated her. ‘You’ve got to blame me and say you tried to stop it,’ she paused as Amaran stayed silent, his steady regard unnerving, ‘then they may listen when you offer request summoning as an alternative.’
‘I’ll make it clear the demons will answer you regardless. I won’t have anyone seeking revenge,’ the steel in Amaran’s voice left Seiya speechless, a heavy uncomfortable silence settling between them.
‘Well then,’ Seiya tried to smile and lighten the tone, wishing she could forget the knowing look in Amaran’s eyes. ‘Let’s get on with sorting out these demons then, one portal coming up!’
Epilogue
‘He doesn’t care about it you know.’
Seiya carefully took the hot mug from her mother’s hands and stared out at the two boys playing. Resting against the wooden railing she ran a finger along the new post, put in while she was gone it already looked weathered.
‘Missing one little finger won’t hold him back,’ Nayria continued as Seiya stayed silent, taking a small sip from the steaming cup. ‘Nobody blames you.’
‘I do,’ Seiya didn’t bother meeting her mother’s gaze, the subject was old and worn, no matter what anyone said she would always feel responsible. ‘You should never have become involved.’
‘If you keep on like that it will start to matter to him,’ Nayria placed her own cup down with a sharp chink that matched the tone of her reply. ‘He cares far more that he slept through his demon flight.’
Seiya groaned heartily as she looked out over the two playing, Hamish had been perfectly capable of talking with the demons and seemed to take great pleasure in reminding his more adventurous twin how fun it had been to fly. Jarin, to his everlasting disappointment, had been so drugged he hadn’t woken for half a day after arriving home.
‘They won’t stop pestering me to summon a demon,’ Seiya sighed heavily as she took another sip, she had naively hoped that as time pas
sed the boy’s interest would fade. Instead a couple of months on the nagging had become an almost daily ritual.
‘They won’t be able to do it themselves?’ Despite her mother’s assurances she had no problems with the demons, the idea of one appearing at the behest of a seven year old was clearly worrying her.
‘It’s impossible,’ Seiya reassured her with more confidence than she felt. Nowadays she made sure neither boy was around when she wove a gateway, just in case they could see the pattern; not that any demon would dare answer their request, Seiya was certain she had made her feelings on that perfectly clear.
‘They’re already insisting on going to Rhianwater,’ Seiya studiously ignored her mother’s sideways look, ‘isn’t Amaran now in charge?’
‘Yes,’ Seiya refused to be baited. During Amaran’s last visit she had acted as mediator while he discussed the future of demons and summoners with Aleos. If all went well soon summoners would be in demand once more, not as mercenaries but intermediaries for the demon artisans and builders.
‘So will he be visiting again soon? Or will you go to him?’
‘Will you leave it!’ Seiya sighed in exasperation, as her mother held up her hands in mock surrender.
‘I know, there’s nothing going on,’ Seiya ignored the patronising tone as Nayria patted her gently with a knowing smile. ‘But he likes you,’ she was gone before Seiya could voice a denial and so she was left glowering at the pair still fighting.
As if sensing her gaze they both ran over, each grabbing an arm and tugging madly. ‘Please summon a demon. Please, please, please!’
‘No!’ Seiya shook them off good-naturedly, careful not spill her drink. ‘Demons aren’t some toy to play with.’
‘Pathil said he’d be happy to see me again,’ Hamish pulled at her stubbornly, ‘please?’
Summoner's Call (The Summoner Trilogy Book 1) Page 34