Summoner 2

by Eric Vall

  “You ready?” I asked as I slipped a few crystals from my bandolier.

  Layla nodded as she pulled out the large crystal again. It was round and deep blue, and I knew what slept within. Her hyppocrans. It was far larger and more dangerous than a grade E monster.

  “Are you sure about that?” I lifted my brows in concern. “A hyppocrans would be chaos in here.”

  “You gotta’ go big or go home,” she said with a smirk.

  I flashed her a grin. “Well, I can’t say that you’re wrong. The faster we take out the bulk of the gang, the less chance we’ll get hurt ourselves.” I raised a finger. “Just remember to dismiss it if you start to lose control, or we’ll have a bloodbath on our hands.”

  She nodded and then she dropped the crystal below. Essence crystals are nigh-indestructible to physical force, so it crashed into the middle of one of the tables occupied by the gangsters. It shattered some of the plates they were using and startled some of the men, but it was already too late.

  The crystal glowed and flashed in a brilliant display a moment before the behemoth that was the hyppocrans burst forth.

  I was right. It was total chaos.

  With a mighty roar, the mighty beast swept three Drakes aside with a mighty kick and threw another across the mill with a headbutt. The gangsters pulled out their pistols, swords, and the few rifles they had, but they were hardly effective against the massive creature.

  “Did you even need me for this?” I asked Layla.

  She smiled. “I just needed the company.”

  The hyppocrans busted through walls, toppled tables, and destroyed the dilapidated spinning machines. Once, it accidentally ran through one of the main walls and went outside. Layla grimaced, her face dappled with sweat as she did her best to control the notoriously wild monster. A moment later, it reemerged through the hole it had made and continued throwing and crushing the gangsters left and right.

  It was a good thing too because Layla was losing her grip on her monster. Her face was red with strain and soaked with sweat, her hair plastered to her forehead.

  “I can’t anymore,” she wheezed. And then she thrust out her hand, and the hyppocrans returned to its crystalline home. Unfortunately, as the dust settled, there were still quite a few Drakes left standing.

  Not that it worried me, because I’d already tossed my own monsters down to the mill below. With a staccato burst of flashes and smoke, my grunts appeared to mop up the stragglers: axe goblins, box trolls, and cementrolls most of all. The panic below only grew as the remaining gangsters engaged with my monsters. They were more successful holding them back as their weapons could actually affect the weaker monsters, but only barely. The Drakes’ cries of pain and shock were loud and clear as they were pummeled into submission or coated with fast-hardening globs of cement.

  However, reinforcements arrived for the Drakes as well. A door burst open below the foreman’s office and in streamed a few dozen more gang members. They immediately engaged with my monsters even as one of the thugs pointed up at us.

  “There! Summoners!”

  Well, hell.

  A few of the Drakes raised their guns at us and fired. I was only just barely able to summon a wallerdon to shield us before we were riddled with bullets.

  “We should move,” I told Layla. She nodded, and even though she looked better now, I figured I should handle it from here to be safe. Mana depletion could be fatal, and we were far from the Academy where it could be easily treated.

  With the wallerdon offering us cover, we descended the stairs to the hallway we’d entered through. A huge hole in the middle where the hyppocrans had run through led into the main chamber, but unfortunately, my wallerdon wouldn’t fit through the narrow hallway. As I was dismissing the beast back to its crystal, footsteps pounded over the rubble. Two Drakes emerged through the hole, weapons drawn. I was faster, though, and shot one right in the arm. The pain and shock made him drop his gun just as I punched him in the face to take him down.

  The second gangster rushed me in the hopes to blindside me as I finished off his mate, sword held high. Layla had my back though as she showed off the sword skills she had learned at the Academy. With a quick slash, she bloodied his sword arm to throw off his aim, then followed up with a crushing strike to his blade. The weapon was knocked clean out of his grip, and a hard pommel strike to the thug’s skull knocked his lights out.

  “I got your back, remember?” she said to me as she kicked the downed Drake in the ribs for good measure.

  I smiled. “Yeah.”

  It took a moment to reload the old-fashioned pistol while Layla scooped up a rifle from one of the gangsters that her hyppocrans had tossed through the hole in the wall.

  “Come on,” she said and then charged through the hole.

  I was right behind Layla but nearly ran into her when I emerged into the space. I moved past her to see that the fighting was over. Unconscious Drakes were strewn about like dirty laundry, and quite a few were screaming and crying from cement prisons. My goblins and box trolls were collecting the rest, conscious or not, so that the cementrolls could finish bundling them all up.

  Layla’s shoulders sagged as she let out a long sigh. “Thank goodness.” I kept walking amidst the debris and surveyed our handiwork. A whole gang taken down in one lightning raid? A good night’s work, and I had thought I might just have an answer to deal with the police problem.

  “I know you said the local police are corrupt,” I mused as I turned to Layla, “but there are more precincts in Varle Enclave. It might be irregular, but if we sent word to the units around the Academy, it might ensure that the Drakes are taken care of properly.”

  Her eyes lit up at the idea of it. “I hadn’t even thought of that, Gryff.” She pursed her lips. “I forget sometimes that I don’t have to rely on the slums for help anymore, that there are higher authorities I have access to because of the Academy.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do,” I said with a nod of authority before a smirk slipped across my face. “Of course, that leaves one last problem.”

  “What’s that then?” She arched an eyebrow curiously as I thumbed at the collection of cement-encased Drakes.

  “Who is the one who has to stay in the filthy goblin-sty to babysit these assholes while the other goes to fetch the proper police?” As I righted a chair that somehow survived the chaotic battle, I laughed. “I’d argue that as this is your mess, you should have to be the one to deal with the filth these animals left behind. I thought Gawain’s perfume was nauseating enough, but these guys…”

  Layla actually laughed at that, and some spark of the light-hearted girl I loved came to the fore again now that the worst of this was over. “Fair enough, Gryffie.” She flashed a grin at the few encased Drakes still awake. “We’ll have fun while you’re gone, I’m sure.” I was about to raise a finger of warning to her, just in case, but she rolled her eyes. “Light pranking at most, I swear.”

  “Fair play, Bethel,” I said with a chuckle as I turned to fetch some actual honest authorities. “I’ll see you soon.”

  “Don’t be too quick,” Layla laughed as she sat in the chair I had picked up and crossed her legs. “You Drakes thought you’d have some fun by snatching me, and now you’ll get to see just how much fun I can be.”

  They didn’t think it was funny, but I sure did as I laughed the whole way out of the mill.

  Chapter 12

  Once I’d returned with the Academy forces, it was a small matter to take the Drakes into custody, and since we were military personnel, they were taken to a military court. Better still, once the locals in the slums learned about what happened, and who had the Drakes in custody, they decided to testify, and well, long story short, they all went away for a long time.

  That said, after all the reports and testimonies Layla and I had to prepare, I was almost happy when the weekend ended, and we got back to our daily duties at school. Tuesday was supposed to be a response squad training day, but Arwyn
had to start preparing for exams, and both Varleth and Orenn had exams for their upper-level classes. So that left Nia and me to our regular training with the rest of the class, which I didn’t mind at all.

  Practically everyone had improved in every facet of personal combat. Rifles, bows, swords, hand to hand. Most of the class had found their own niches, masters of a specific skill, but we were all proficient in each. I was the best at hand to hand, and I’d quickly become one of the top riflemen in the class. Braden had greatly improved in hand to hand and was great with a bow. Layla had taken to swordplay like a moth to a light. Of course, Nia was nearly an expert at everything, in the top three of every category, but that wasn’t surprising.

  What was surprising was that she’d opened up slowly and was helping her fellow classmates when they needed some pointers. She was basically a teacher’s assistant, and it was nice to see her being more social. While still cold at times, she was much less so than when I first arrived at the academy. She was like how I was with Layla and Braden in Rori’s class.

  As the day slowly came to an end, the Major sat in his high officiating chair that overlooked the sparring ring. I watched as the fight before us ended. Once they cleared the ring, the Major called for one last fight. “Flint, Gryff, get your asses in the ring.”

  It wasn’t a shock to me. Since I’d proven my near unparalleled skill in the ring, the Major delighted in ending the day with me fighting, usually against someone of similar skill or someone who presented a matchup problem for me, like Varri Galwyn, a small girl from the west who was as ferocious as a tiger in the ring and just as fast.

  Today though, it was Braden’s brawn. Fine by me.

  Braden Flint was lighter on his feet than when I’d first come to the Academy. He’d soaked up all the combat training like a sponge, so adding that to his bulk, he was a force to be reckoned with in the ring. But I’d still beat him. I knew how he fought, and though he was plenty skilled now and as strong as an ox, he didn’t have that killer instinct, that pure drive to survive that he would need in combat. That absence… I would exploit that. I needed to hone that in him though I wasn’t sure on how to foster it.

  He smiled as he bounced from foot to foot, eager and confident. “You ready for a beating?” he called.

  I chuckled. “In your dreams, roomie.”

  Just then, the Major rang the starting bell. “Begin!” he proclaimed.

  We circled each other. Braden wouldn’t attack first as he used to. He’d learned the hard way to be patient from me, but we couldn’t circle each other forever, so we both slowly inched toward each other until we were within arms-reach of each other. Unfortunately for me, his arms were longer.

  That length was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, Braden’s reach was much longer than mine, so he could hit me and grab me without me being able to touch him. However, that also meant his swings were slower. In this instance, the disadvantage for him materialized. He swung at me in a slow arc, I was able to duck it, and then jab at him in quick succession.

  I hit him twice in the ribs and then skirted around him to work him on the side and back. He staggered a bit, and as I went to hit him again, he threw himself bodily on me. His huge bulk crashed into me like a freight train.

  Pain flared along my left arm as I landed hard against the hard floor. I was on my stomach, my bones rattled, and as I grimaced, Braden leapt on me. He put a knee in the small of my back and pinned my arms down.

  He leaned in close. “Got you, Gryff,” he boasted in a loud whisper. That was his mistake though. He shouldn’t have gotten that close.

  “You shouldn’t brag,” I said right before I slammed my head back hard, the crown of my head smacking against his forehead. The pain was jarring, but I gritted my teeth and pushed through it. Besides, I had given it far worse than I had gotten. Braden yelped and flailed off me. Free, I pushed back, slid out from beneath his legs, came up in a low crouch, and then sprang up to plant a kick to his back that sent him sprawling.

  I couldn’t let this opportunity pass, so I sprinted for him and hopped onto his back before he could recover. I locked my legs around his chest and put his head into a choke hold. He flailed his arms around briefly before he dove back and slammed me to the ground with all the force of his weight upon me.

  I was jarred loose as pain shot through my bones and every last breath in my body left me. The crowd erupted around the ring, oohing and whooping at this display. I wheezed while I tried to suck in air. Braden rolled off me and staggered to his feet, though clearly, that move had rattled him too.

  Through the pain, I scampered to my feet, my arms sore and my legs wobbly. I wasn’t done yet. I made for Braden, but he saw me and swung at me. I dodged, slipping under it and catching him under the shoulder. Thrown off balance and completely unexpecting the attack, Braden couldn’t do much to resist as I kicked his legs out from under him and drove him backward into the ground with all the strength I could muster. It was enough.

  A stunned silence fell over the class as I got to my feet, ready to attack again, but Braden didn’t so much as twitch. Then everyone erupted in applause. I’d won.

  The Major rang his bell. “Winner, Gryff, by knockout.” He smiled wide. “Fantastic match, you two.”

  I nodded to him in thanks before I knelt down next to Braden who was slowly coming back to reality. He laid there in a stunned heap, disbelief written into his frown.

  I offered him my hand. “That was one hell of a match though.”

  He smiled then and took my hand. “Yeah, it was,” he replied with a grimace.

  I helped him to his feet though it was a struggle for both of us. We then had to contend with a dozen classmates swarming us to praise us for the great fight, which was nice, even if I was tired and in pain, but Braden, usually shy and meek, enjoyed the fanfare. I smiled. Good for him.

  As I pinched my nose closed to staunch the bleeding, and Layla berated Braden for not knocking me out, Nia sauntered over to me with a smile. She looked me over and sized up my growing bruises and injuries.

  “Cut it kind of close, didn’t you?” she teased.

  I shrugged which made me wince, but I smiled through it. “I had to give my audience a good show.” My voice was high and nasally because of my closed nose.

  She scoffed. “You’re such a reckless idiot.” Then she rubbed my shoulder tenderly, and that caused my heart to race. “Great fight and I’m glad to see that Flint is progressing so much.”

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “It’s good to see.” Now I just needed him to get over his meekness and fear of monsters. Easy.

  It was nice to have Nia be more open with me. She’d hardly talked to me since the night she kissed me. I didn’t want to push her, so I let her ease out of this awkwardness at her own pace. Still, I was happy to see we were making progress.

  Nia chuckled at me sympathetically. “You two should head over to the infirmary.”

  I snorted. “You don’t say?”

  Nia rolled her eyes. “You cheeky ass. I’ll see you later.”

  After that, class was dismissed for dinner while Braden and I had to get fixed up first.

  As we climbed the steps of the infirmary, Braden looked over at me, his eyes guilty. “Does it hurt?” he asked.

  “Haven’t we talked about asking dumb questions like that?” I laughed. “We promised to do better, Flint.”

  He smirked. “We did, true.”

  Braden opened the door and let me go through. “Don’t worry about it,” I told him. “I’ve been in a lot of fights out in the wilds. Trust me, this is nothing.”

  He frowned like he wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t broach the subject further. As we entered the waiting room of the infirmary, we found it empty of people besides Meridan. I rang the little bell on the counter and then took a seat in one of the comfortable upholstered chairs that lined the perimeter of the room. My stomach rumbled quite audibly, which elicited a chuckle from Braden.

  “Hopefully they don’t take t
oo long,” he said.

  “Yeah, hopefully.”

  A minute later, a nurse rushed in. She was about my age, maybe a few years older. She was flustered and out of breath as if she’d run half a mile to get here. Her blond hair was tied back in a messy bun, and several loose strands were matted to her forehead. She took a seat at the counter and gave us an apologetic smile.

  “Sorry for the wait, response squad fifty-five returned today, and almost all of them had critical injuries. Things have been a bit hectic.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” I told her with my nasal tone.

  She nodded and wiped at her forehead. “Me too.” She stood and gestured for us to follow her. “Follow me to the general infirmary.”

  After a quick checkup, we were on our way. We’d done a number on each other, but it was nothing a few moments of healing couldn’t take care of.

  No one paid us any mind as we entered the dining hall which I knew would be the case though it didn’t keep me from feeling like I looked stupid. Ignoring the feeling, I went with Braden to retrieve our food. Today it wasn’t too fancy, some grilled trout and some stir-fried vegetables over rice. Still very good.

  I didn’t spot Layla, so she must have already finished and left.

  “You really think she’ll be okay?” Braden asked me as he carved up a slice of his fish. “Layla isn’t one to miss hanging out at meals.”

  “I think so, but these things take time,” I reassured him. “Especially with a family like hers.”

  We’d filled him in on what happened with her family, how we’d beaten up or killed a bunch of gangsters, and how we’d returned to campus. He thankfully hadn’t been upset that we’d gone without him, and he was very understanding since he claimed he had familial problems as well. That seemed to be the case with everyone I knew, aside from myself, who had no family besides Maelor.

  So, of course, I didn’t really know how long this could take, or if she would be okay since I had no real experience dealing with familial strife. I could only hope. Layla was strong and stubborn, so I had to believe that she would be okay. If she needed help, I wouldn’t hesitate to offer it.