Summoner 2

by Eric Vall

  “I’ve got some box trolls left,” Layla chimed in, while Braden pulled out a couple of crystals I recognized as daggerdillos.

  “It’s not much, Gryff, but we’ll do all we can.”

  I nodded. “Go for it! This hopefully won’t take long.”

  As we split up, I stepped back a bit more into the woods to let my friends unleash their distraction. Both Layla and Braden let fly with their grunts, and their crystals burst into a cadre of trolls and daggerdillos. Eager to fight after the pause in its hunt, the basilisk dove right into them.

  As expected, the daggerdillos’ spike attacks bounced harmlessly off its thick hide, but they still annoyed the basilisk. It would have torn the summons to shreds, but the box trolls did a perfect job with their great strength and bulk in protecting their smaller kin. Not that they would delay the basilisk for long, but they wouldn’t have to, as I summoned all my cementrolls and sent them to work climbing up the trees. The only problem was that I’d had to run around the whole area to get them in position.

  The snake monster was smart, very smart, but it couldn’t see everything. With my friends’ small horde of monsters keeping it busy, the basilisk didn’t see me scurrying up the trees, and get into position all around the thing. All that I needed was to lure it back within range of the trolls.

  As the last of my friends’ trolls fell to the basilisk’s fangs, I ran back into the clearing, past where Layla and Braden were controlling their monsters from cover and drew a speed slug as I ran.

  “Gryff, what are you--” Layla cried after me, but I called back at them both.

  “Dismiss the rest of your monsters now!”

  Without a second thought, Braden and Layla did precisely that. It was said that basilisks weren’t exceptionally smart for monsters, so it was confused by the dismissal of the goblins and daggerdillos that had just been in front of it. Exactly as I’d hoped. I took advantage of that confusion to run into the clearing and grab the creature’s attention. As it spun to try to race after my speed slug enhanced self, I darted into the copse of trees where I’d hidden the cementrolls.

  It let out a howl of rage as it slithered toward me. Only as it passed under the trees, I commanded my cementrolls to spew cement all over the snake.

  It worked beautifully. The basilisk writhed as it tried to slip away from the torrent of fast-hardening concrete, but it was stuck to the forest floor. I spun on my heel, grabbed my wallerdons, and then flung them into the air above the creature. As they appeared above the basilisk, they dropped one after another atop the cement-laden monster.

  It screeched in pain as the heavy wallerdons smashed it flat as a pancake. In its death throes, the basilisk shot out acid, but it couldn’t turn its neck because it was pinned, so the acid flew harmlessly in front of it with me way out of harm’s way. Regardless, it was over. All I had to do was summon a final wallerdon and drop it on the basilisk’s head. It would probably die from the damage the others had done, but I didn’t want to wait for that. It was time to end it.

  As I summoned that wallerdon and put the struggling basilisk out of its misery, a woman with a long cloak broke free of the forest beside me, and when she saw the dead basilisk, her eyes went wide.

  “Dammit!” she cried as she sprinted for the dead basilisk.

  “Hey! What are you doing?” I yelled in surprise. The creature was dead, but if she got too close, she might still get hurt by the acid leaking from its mouth.

  I got my answer. She thrust her hands out in front of her, and a stream of cold mist solidified in front of her. She was an ice mage. The woman created icy steps in front of her leading to the basilisk’s thrashing head. When she was high enough, she launched herself from the makeshift steps. In mid-air and to my amazement, she conjured a glimmering double bearded ice axe.

  She used gravity to add tremendous force to the blow as she brought the axe downward onto the basilisk and lopped its head off in a single blow before it could fully disintegrate.

  The woman slung the axe over her shoulder and bent down to pluck one of the fangs from the basilisk’s open mouth. It took her a moment to wriggle it free, but eventually, it came loose with a sickening pop. She held it up in front of her face, examining it, then put it in the pack at her hip.

  “These are very hard to find, and worth a pretty penny,” she said assumedly to me. “Sometimes they dissolve with the monster if you don’t take the head off.” She smiled as she put her axe against her shoulder. “And their head is almost impossible to take off while they’re alive. Afterward, well, ol’ Bessie here can do the job just fine.” She glanced lovingly at the ice axe. “That’s what I call her, my axe I mean.”

  “Uh, good to know,” I replied as I filed that information away.

  The woman turned to me fully and flashed me a smile. If I had to guess, she was probably a few years older than me. Her skin was sun-kissed and glowing beneath her armor. Deep chocolate eyes gave me a long look, and wide lips curled in a warm smile. She had a pointy face, sharp cheekbones, and a beaky nose. Her hair was tremendously thick and coarse, tied back in elaborate braids that curled over her shoulder and down her collar. Pretty, but I had the feeling she looked at me as predators did to their prey.

  “That was some reckless plan, summoner, but ballsy.” Her smile grew wider. “I like it.”

  I smiled back and scratched my neck, at a loss. “Thanks, ma’am.”

  She scoffed. “Don’t call me ma’am. I’m hardly older than you.” She offered me her hand. “Ashla, member of the Wild Reds.”

  “I’m Gryff,” I said and shook her hand, my brow arched high. “The Wild Reds?”

  “We’re a freelancer company.”

  I perked up. “Oh, so you have a banisher to close the rift?”

  As if waiting for that question to be asked, the ground began to rumble. I looked past her to the rift just in time to see it blink out of existence. Ashla didn’t bother to look back at it. She kept on smiling.

  “We do have a banisher, and it seems the boys did their job.” She turned and looked at the scorched grass where the portal had been. “They’ve been in there for hours, and I know a few waves came through before we got here.” She glanced at the remains of the basilisk once more. “It was my team’s job to keep the monsters from spilling out, but that one got by us in the last rush, so I came out here to get it.” She grinned. “Seems I needn’t have bothered.”

  Braden and Layla finally made their way over the fallen trees and the decayed monster to us. Layla was excited, her eyes lit up. She threw her arm around my shoulder and pulled me close with a wide toothy grin.

  “That was brilliant, Gryff!”

  “Yeah,” Braden echoed. “A little reckless, but it worked.”

  I smirked. “Well, you know me.”

  Ashla folded her arms and appraised my friends, her eyes narrow and a sly smirk played across her lips.

  “You’re mages too, eh?” she asked, her smirk more bemused now.

  My friends nodded and introduced themselves. “We’re summoners like him,” said Layla. “I’m Layla.”

  “And I’m Braden,” he added. “Say, that’s a mighty fine axe you have there.”

  “Oh, I’m quite proud of it,” she said as she shot me a grin. “I’m Ashla by the way.” Ashla shook their hands. “A pleasure I’m sure. What are you all doing this far out in the middle of nowhere?”

  “We were traveling along the road,” I said and turned to point back in the direction we’d come from. “We heard screaming coming from within, so we came to investigate.” My face dropped. “We… we never found the woman who was screaming.”

  Layla and Braden both hung their heads as if they just remembered the reason we’d come into the forest. Ashla frowned too and shook her head solemnly. She pointed south.

  “There was a woman who lived in a small cottage not too far away,” she said. “She’d been out picking berries when my company passed her earlier. One of my team managed to help her in time. Don’t wo
rry.”

  Layla smiled. “That’s great.”

  “It is,” Ashla replied. She gave us an encouraging smile. “Also, on behalf of my company, we appreciate your help with the basilisk.”

  She extended her hand out to me.

  I shook it. “It was no trouble.”

  “I wouldn’t say it was no trouble, we did nearly die,” snorted Layla.

  “Well, I mean… that’s just part of the job,” I said with a shrug.

  Layla punched my arm and smiled. “I s’pose so.”

  Ashla snickered. “Glad to see summoners that take up the call to action.” With that, she tightened the straps of her pack and pulled down the hood of her cloak. She gave us an exaggerated bow. “You should join up with a freelance company. The money is good, and you get to help people that the military doesn’t have the resources to.”

  I gave her a wide smile. “Maybe we will.”

  “Good.” Then she turned on her heels and started to walk off. “Safe travels, you three.” She glanced back at us. “Feel free to take the remains from the basilisk. I’d say you earned it.”

  And then she disappeared through a thicket of trees and down the gradually sloping terrain. We watched her go. What a very interesting woman. Her, along with lieutenant Jovic from Arwyn’s class, really made me consider becoming a freelancer once my years of military service were over.

  Braden blew out a breath. “Well, that was something.”

  “Yeah, it was,” said Layla.

  “We should go find our horses,” Braden added with a stretch of his arms.

  I nodded. “Yeah, I’d hate to not get any of our deposit back for them.”

  “Maybe selling the loot from the basilisk will pay for that if we’re unlucky.” Layla snickered as we started back for the road.

  We laughed, our merry sounds echoing through the trees.

  Chapter 21

  A day later, we made it back to the Enclave and arrived back at the Academy by carriage around dinner time. We weren’t the only ones arriving either. There was a flood of other carriages and students on horseback coming in. With school starting back up in only a couple of days, it was time to come back and get settled.

  I was bone tired as I dragged my things back to my dorm along with Braden though he looked like he could still run a mile. Meanwhile, I wanted to lie down and take a nap, but my stomach rumbled so loudly I knew I couldn’t sleep, so I followed Braden to the dining hall. After a week and a half of smaller tavern meals, I was ready to feast.

  The Academy didn’t scrimp on the banquet for their students’ return. Today was a feast. There were a dozen roasted turkeys, carved up and ready, divided by white and dark meat and glazed with gravy. My stomach growled, and I swear I had to keep myself from salivating. There was corn on the cob as well as ribeye and steamed broccoli with a side of melted cheese. I spied piping hot apple cobbler for dessert, but I would get some later. Once I got my food, I retrieved a large pint of ale and went to join my friends.

  As I neared our usual table, Layla and Braden were already digging into their food, but my eyes found Nia sitting alone in her usual spot. She wasn’t reading or anything though. Instead, her eyes were locked on me which made my heart thud loudly. Layla must have noticed where I was staring because she tossed a piece of broccoli at me with a wide smile.

  “You don’t have to eat with us every day, you know?” she said. “We’ve spent enough quality time together, anyway.” She gave me a wink. “Braden agrees.”

  “What?” I asked, an eyebrow raised.

  “Go sit with Nia, Gryff,” she said, this time more forcefully. “Braden and I are more than willing to share your friendship.” She smirked at me then, her cheeks a bit flushed. “And you know I don’t mind sharing other things as well.”

  Braden took a gulp of wine and gave me an incredulous look before he shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t know how you manage, Gryff, but I’m envious as hell. Now, go.”

  “See, Braden agrees.” Layla smiled, then shoved a large slab of gravy-coated turkey into her mouth. She nodded her head toward Nia. “Go to her, my sweet prince.”

  “You’re ridiculous,” I told her with a shake of my head. She snorted in response and tried not to choke on her food as she laughed.

  I rolled my eyes and made my way over to where Nia sat. She watched me all the way until I sat down across from her. It was as if her eyes had craved the image of me and now couldn’t get enough. That was probably ridiculous, but it would have been nice if that were in fact true.

  “Hey there, my Lady,” I said with a smile and scooped some broccoli with my fork, dipped it into the cheese, and plopped it into my mouth. Amazing.

  “Ugh, please do not call me that, I had to listen to servants call me that all holiday.” Nia scoffed and rubbed at her temples in frustration. “Sometimes I wonder if they can even say my name.”

  “I’m sorry, Nia,” I said with sincere sympathy. While her family troubles were different from mine, Layla’s, or Braden’s, they were just as valid. “I promise I won’t call you that again.”

  She smiled thankfully. “Thank you, Gryff.”

  Her voice was strained, and that made me take a longer, closer look at her as I chewed on a chunk of perfectly salted meat. Her half-lidded eyes were red like she hadn’t slept for days, and overall, she was a tad ragged, beautiful still, but tired. I understood the feeling since I’d been on the road for the last three days, but she struck me as worse off than myself.

  “Are you okay, Nia?”

  “I’m fine,” she replied with a huff and a shrug of her shoulders. “Just… dealing with my family is stressful, as I have told you.”

  “Anything in particular, this time?” I asked with a thoughtful frown.

  Her eyes shifted away from me. Her cheeks flushed, and she almost looked… ashamed. “We got into an argument. I’ll spare you the details, but I said some things I wish I had not, then I left on horseback and rode all the way back here.” She sighed and buried her head in her arms. “Father will be furious the next time he sees me.”

  “I’m sorry, Nia,” I repeated and leaned forward a bit. It wasn’t an empty platitude though as I added, “Is there anything I can do to help? Just name it, and I’ll do my best.”

  That perked a momentary smile out of her. “If only you could, farm boy, but I’m afraid this isn’t something you can punch or summon a wallerdon on top of. Still, the sentiment is sweet. Thank you.”

  I returned that smile as I took a sip of ale. “You’re welcome, but I think you underestimate the problems I can fix.” She laughed faintly and began to pick at her food now, a good sign in my eyes. “So, how far did you ride from?”

  “Hartmire Enclave.”

  I almost choked on my turkey. “You rode on horseback from Hartmire?” I asked, wide-eyed and flabbergasted. “That’s a seven-day ride!”

  Nia sat back and looked at her turkey mournfully. “I made it in six. I rode Priscilla hard.”

  “That’s not much better, Nia.” I shook my head, amazed that she was still alive. “And you rode here alone?”

  “I did.” She frowned. “And before you try to chastise me, I can handle myself just fine. You know that, Gryff.”

  “I know Nia, but someone could easily kill you in your sleep on the road when you have no one to watch your back,” I retorted as my imagination and experience from our own trip combined into a million nightmare scenarios. “Or they could kidnap you or rob you, or hell, all three! You can’t very well burn them to a crisp or crush them with a rock when you’re fast asleep.”

  “Gryff…”

  I reached over the table and grabbed her hand. “What if something happened to you? What would that do to your father? The rest of your family? What about me?”

  “What about you?” she asked, and her eyes opened wide.

  “Yeah.” I held her gaze for a long time, and she squirmed under the scrutiny of my eyes. Her face flushed brightly as she looked at my hand over h
ers. Her breath hitched in her throat as emotions plainly whirled in her mind and in her heart.

  “I…” she began, then gulped. “I was angry. I know what I did was foolish. I– I just could not stay there, and Father’s airship pilots wouldn’t take me.” Her eyes fixed on our hands. She laced her fingers through mine and slowly, a warm smile dawned across her face. “I really missed you, farm boy.”

  It was my turn to turn three shades of scarlet. “I, well,” I smiled brightly, “I missed you too, Nia.”

  The memory of our last meeting before the break hung in the air over us, of our kiss and the promise of more in the future. We smiled at each other for a few seconds, then Nia seemed to remember that we were surrounded by our entire school as she pulled her hand back to her side, her cheeks furiously red.

  “So, enough about my dreary holiday,” Nia said as she shifted to a new topic. “How was your break?”

  I kept smiling. “Oh, do I have a tale to tell you.”

  And so, I regaled her with all that had happened over the break. From the many fun nights in taverns with my friends, to the bandit encounter with Maelor and Cyra, to the wilderness rift we stumbled upon. I felt like I talked for an hour, and she smiled throughout, her interest obvious. Once I was finished, we both sat back. We’d finished our meal during my story, and my ale was unfortunately empty.

  “Wow,” Nia exclaimed. “That was much more exciting than my trip was.”

  “Well, it was stressful, and I nearly died,” I began seriously before a smile crept across my face, “but yeah, exciting is a word that you could use to describe it.”

  Nia laughed. “You know what I mean.”

  I smirked. “Yeah, I do.”

  “And you were worried about me getting hurt,” she said with a raised brow and a smirk.

  “Hey!” I put my hands up in defense. “I was awake and able to defend myself, and I had Layla and Brennan to look after me. Plus, we stayed in inns every night.”