Summoner 6

by Eric Vall

  “It’s a pleasure,” I said to her, and she smiled brightly back at me as she nodded and took my hand in hers. I relaxed under her gentle touch, and my worries seemed far away when I looked at her smile. Was that part of her magic power, I wondered?

  “Tira will help you relax while we examine you,” Jeddy assured me as she wrote something down on a piece of parchment before setting it aside again. “Just let her do her thing, and you’ll feel better in no time.”

  “She’s not going to drug me or something, right?” I laughed, a little nervous.

  “Not quite,” Jeddy chuckled. “Tira has the unique ability to transfer sedatives as well as the sensation of being on an aphrodisiac. She pushes her mana through our patients using skin to skin contact. The sedative is simply meant for you to relax without the use of tonics and potions that can hide symptoms of any underlying issues. The aphrodisiac on the other hand, well, I will leave that to your imagination.”

  “Whoa.” I blinked a few times as I processed that incredibly erotic information. “So, which treatment will I get?”

  Jeddy stepped aside without answering my question and let Tira get to work. Her assistant blushed a sweet shade of pink as she smirked, and my fingers tingled as she pushed a small bit of her mana through me.

  A warm sensation coursed through my veins, and my lashes fluttered against my cheeks. This was nice, really nice, as though I was soaking in a pool of warm water that slid over my skin like silk. Did everyone get to experience this? I hoped so, because everyone should have been this happy in life. I never wanted it to end. I could hear muffled chatter, but none of it made any sense, and for the first time in a long while, I just didn’t care.

  I didn’t know when Tira let go of my hand, but when I next opened my eyes, the sun had long dipped below the skyline, and twilight was on the brink of settling into night. My body felt numb, but in a pleasant way.

  A cough from the other side of the room caught my attention. I turned to see Gawain standing at the end of the bed across from me, as shirtless as the day he was born, and he stared out of the thin stripe of window that bordered where the ceiling met the wall. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and the moonlight illuminated his backside just enough for me to see what looked like raised, irritated bruises that stemmed from his spine in streaks.

  “Hanging in there?” I asked as I stared at the bruises on his back.

  “I suppose,” was his quiet response. “You?”

  I sat up easily without any aches or pains from my fight with Phi and what was now my vingehund. I turned my hands over and curled my toes.

  “Fine, I think,” I replied slowly. “That Tira woman was something else.”

  “The aphrodisiac healer?” Gawain asked as he turned to face me, and I noted how much muscle definition he’d gained just in the last few weeks since his return to the Academy for the Magicae Nito. He actually looked surprisingly muscular, almost as much as Orenn, and I wondered where he had snuck in his exercises, since I hadn’t seen him do much of anything during our time together.

  “You didn’t think so?” I scooted myself to the edge of my bed so my legs dangled over the side, and I swung them to and fro so the blood would get moving.

  “No, I agree,” Gawain covered, but something felt off.

  I wanted to ask him if he was really alright, but despite everything we’d been through, I knew he wouldn’t be so honest about whatever was going on with his back. For now, I kept that knowledge in my memory banks.

  “The others?” I asked to change the subject.

  “I’m good, thanks for asking,” Almasy croaked, obviously groggy, and he groaned as he sat up in the bed next to me. His ginger blond hair that was normally slicked back now hung to the side from what must have been a hard sleep. That was good. He’d needed it.

  We all had.

  “I know you’re fine,” I retorted and waved him off with a smirk as I climbed out of the bed entirely. I gave him a high five as I walked by him with no issues to check on Arwyn and Nia. As I walked toward them, I realized we were the only ones in the room. There were no healers or assistants around to monitor us, or, if there was anyone else here, they weren’t in this room at this exact moment.

  Both of the women were awake, and they both offered me small smiles when their eyes landed on me. Forced to keep the guise of only having a student-teacher relationship with Arwyn, I opted to sit next to Nia on her bed.

  “Feeling better?” I asked her as I took her hands in mine. As I turned them over, I noticed the marks from earlier had long faded, but there were faint scars on her palms from burning herself when she tried to melt the bars of the cage that Phi had kept her in.

  “Yes, I think so,” Nia replied softly, though she frowned.

  It wasn’t exactly the reaction I’d been hoping for, all things considered. I would have thought she’d be happy to be alive, but with things having gone south with her father, I could only imagine what else was occupying her mind. I knew I would be devastated if Maelor suddenly disowned me.

  “So, what do we do?” I asked everyone. “We’re all well enough to be tried tomorrow.” As I said the words, I thought of Gawain’s back. Was he in pain? Did he even know it was there in the first place? I wanted to ask, but not in front of everyone, and again, he probably wouldn’t have been honest with me.

  “Anything but the truth,” Arwyn piped up. “No one can know what we were doing, or about the truth of our missions.”

  “Your loyalty to Sleet is all well and good, Arwyn, but what about the other teams we haven’t rendezvoused with yet? They’ll have no idea what’s going on until it’s too late, and by then they could have spilled everything,” Almasy pointed out.

  “Ouch, have more faith in Layla than that,” I added. “Besides, we don’t even know where Varleth and Braden are, remember?”

  “They might not even be around to tell anyone anything,” Gawain noted.

  I knew he didn’t mean it callously, or maybe he did, I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to let him even fathom that my friends were dead somewhere. I was on my feet in seconds, too fast for Nia to grab me, and deaf to Arwyn’s pleas to stop. It wasn’t until Almasy leapt in front of me and put a hand on my chest that I stopped my advance, but it didn’t stop me from yelling.

  “Take it back!” I warned, but Gawain said nothing. If anything, he looked like he was going to piss his pants.

  “Shit,” he yelped. “Yeah, sorry it wasn’t the right thing to--”

  “You are damn right,” I growled. “They are my friends, you all are. I’m not going to accept that anyone is dea--”

  “That’s enough, Gryff,” came a familiar voice from behind me.

  When I whirled around to see who it was, I was almost twice as ignited as I had been before. Almasy must have sensed my spike in rage, because he wrapped his arms around my midsection before I could charge at Gallahar Kenefick.

  Nia, however, beat me to it, and she leapt from her bed and tossed herself into his arms with a hard sob.

  I was gobsmacked when the General hugged her back with the kind of ferocity that was laced with relief.

  “What the hell happened to ‘you’re no daughter of mine?’ and ‘I’m disappointed in you?’” she hissed into his chest.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” I heard him murmur into her neck. “I’m so sorry.”

  He should be sorry, I thought. He should grovel on the floor at his daughter’s feet and beg for her forgiveness. How dare he come in here and act as though he didn’t say those words to Nia and make her feel lower than the scum on the ground?

  Nia shook her head, and if anything, she only held him tighter.

  “It’s alright,” she mumbled into his chest.

  No, no it wasn’t alright. Nothing about this was alright. How was she able to sit there and take that from him? She didn’t have to, and I wasn’t going to let her.

  “You have some nerve,” I growled as I struggled against Almasy’s hold. Damn, he was s
trong.

  Nia whirled around then, her eyes watery and furious as she glared at me.

  “This is what we planned!” she snapped, and I froze.

  I hadn’t seen her so angry with me in ages, and I’d forgotten what it felt like to be stabbed by her gaze. I was reminded of what Nehra said to me before she left, and I knew I had to be missing something now.

  “Let me explain,” Gallahar told her gently and placed his hands on her shoulders. He looked to me then with sympathy in his heavy eyes. There was the Gallahar Kenefick who had held his daughter after her round in the Magicae Nito, the one who would give the world to ensure his daughter was safe.

  “I am sorry I couldn’t tell any of you this sooner,” he began slowly, “but my daughter and I agreed before she left on her mission that if something like this were to happen, than this was the part we would need to play in front of them. I know this is a lot to take in, but you have my word I am on your side, and that nothing matters to me more than the safety of my family.”

  There was a collective gasp around the room, and suddenly we were all very attentive to what the General had to say.

  I glanced at Almasy to assure him I wasn’t going to pummel the crap out of a high-ranking military man, and he nodded as he released me.

  “We played you because I had to keep you safe,” Gallahar continued. “I had to pretend not to care about my daughter and her well being, as well as any of yours.”

  “Why?” I asked and squared my shoulders. I was going to stand my ground, and I was going to demand an explanation one way or another.

  Gallahar Kenefick stepped around Nia and advanced toward me one careful step at a time.

  “We know the council is corrupt,” he started. “They refuse to acknowledge that we are in any more danger than we have ever been before. They stare blankly at the evidence that shows there is more and more rift activity in Mistral, and that the xanyarstone is no longer a sufficient means of protection. They just want more essence crystals, so they lie to the people and claim they are safe, but it is a bald faced lie.”

  “So it was a ruse,” I sighed. “I guess I owe you an apology for say--”

  “No, young man,” Gallahar interrupted me. “There is no apology needed. You did exactly as we hoped, it was very convincing, and I am happy you are willing to speak up on my daughter’s behalf … even against me.”

  “Oh,” I said as Nia and her father smiled at me. “Well, okay then.”

  “The council thinks I am aligned with them,” the general continued, “and thus it allows me access to their knowledge.”

  As I took in the information, I shook my head. “You’re a double agent?” I questioned skeptically.

  Gallahar nodded, and I stared at him in shock.

  “Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?” I pressed. “If you’re caught, they’ll kill you.”

  “I would rather die doing what is right by the people of Mistral than stand by a coward such as Capricorn and his manipulative cronies,” the General quipped back.

  A thick silence hung in the air as everyone processed the information. Of course, we were all in agreement. There was no question where our allegiance lied.

  Well, mostly.

  I looked back to Gawain, who still looked pale, even more so in the moonlight. His jaw was firmly set, and I could tell there was something of an inner conflict in his head. He must have sensed I was staring, because his eyes locked onto mine with a look of guilt.

  “Don’t misunderstand,” he mumbled, “my father doesn’t agree with either the council nor Sleet, but I am my own man. I align with Marangur Sleet. I would not have accepted the mission given to me at the beginning of summer if I didn’t fully trust in his judgment.”

  I blinked a few times at his confession. I knew he and his father didn’t always see eye to eye. He’d said as much on our journey to Wildren, but I never would have guessed their differences ran as deep as political alliances.

  “He knows that,” Gallahar said confidently, “which is why you were picked amongst anyone else he could have sent. He had to know for sure that the people he chose for these missions weren’t going to turn on him.”

  “How does Sleet know we won’t when we’re under pressure?” Almasy asked and crossed his arms.

  “Well,” Gallahar turned to him, “are you going to turn on him when the pressure is on?”

  “Of course not,” Almasy laughed, and I rolled my eyes at the exchange in good humor.

  “So where is he?” Arwyn chimed in. “Do they really have him in custody?”

  “Not a chance,” Gallahar told her.

  Relief flooded the room, and we all sighed with breaths we hadn’t realized we’d held.

  “The council is scared of losing their power,” he continued. “I let slip that my daughter and her friend from school were going on a mission, but I knew not any of the details. I planted the seed, and they took the bait. They can’t bring in Sleet without proof. Suspicion of treason isn’t enough.”

  “So let me get this straight. You told them to arrest us so they could try to extract information from us about our mission so they could take down Sleet? And Nia knew, which is why she played the part?” I slowed my roll as I put the pieces together. “That’s brilliant.”

  “It was my daughter’s idea,” the General boasted. “She’ll make a fine military officer herself one day, if that is what she so chooses.”

  “Sorry you all didn’t know,” Nia said as she frowned at me. “We needed it to be convincing.”

  I smiled. “I get it.”

  “I am slightly miffed,” Arwyn sighed as she crossed her arms, “but I suppose that the Kenflicks are always at least three steps ahead of everyone else. Just promise me you’ll keep us all updated moving forward. I just spent the last few hours worrying about Sleet, we all did, and--”

  “Yes, again, I apologize.” Nia bowed her head slightly to each of us. “I think we’ve gotten what we needed. The council will try to pin our adventures on Sleet, but they will look like fools, and it will buy us some time to figure out the next steps.”

  The rest of my team nodded, and I smiled at the beautiful ashen-haired woman. Nia really would make a fine military commander. I hoped it was the path she chose to stick to, but I would support her no matter where her desire took her.

  “Wait, does that mean Layla was in on it, too?” I asked, and my eyes went wide as the General nodded.

  “Indeed, and I expect she’ll be arriving here with some of your other friends shortly,” he stated. “Don’t worry. By now, Sleet has gotten in touch with her somehow. She will know what to do.”

  “So then, what do we do?” I continued. “We’re supposed to stand trial as soon as we’re medically cleared.”

  “You tell them anything you want that isn’t the truth,” Gallahar instructed us with a hint of glee. “Go wild. Make up some robust story. They cannot charge you on suspicion alone. Remember that.”

  We all nodded, as did Nia, who had come around the other side of her father. Arwyn looked pleased with herself, as well she should. After all, she had said to do the same thing before the General came in.

  “If everything goes accordingly, you’ll be back in Varle but sunset tomorrow,” he told us.

  “Is there anything else we need to know?” I questioned. I didn’t want to be left in the dark anymore. If we were going to play a part in this, then I wanted as many details as I could be given.

  “That’s all for now,” the General said, “but remember, they can’t convict Sleet of anything if they don’t have any ground to stand on, so give them nothing.”

  “Got it,” I confirmed.

  “I’m heading back to the manor. When you’re released from your questioning tomorrow, I’ll send a carriage for you.” Gallahar Kenefick placed a hand on my shoulder. “Until then, watch out for each other.”

  “Yes, sir.” I nodded with a slight grin. I was definitely relieved to have the General on our side, and even more rel
ieved that things were really okay between Nia and her father. Though she complained about him from time to time, I knew how much he meant to her.

  With that, Gallahar took his leave and left us again.

  I plopped onto the bed I’d been treated on and stared out at my friends.

  “Tomorrow is a new day,” I started. “We’re down, but we aren’t out. We’re mages, and damn good ones at that. No council is going to stop us from doing what we know is right.”

  There were murmured cheers as they agreed with me, and I closed my eyes as I fell back into the mattress. It wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world, but it was more comfortable than a dungeon floor.

  Satisfied with my speech, I let myself doze off with dreams of getting to shower sometime soon.

  Chapter 3

  The shake of concrete and the unmistakable smell of smoke drew me from a dead sleep. In an instant, I jolted upright and clambered out of the bed. I wasn’t the only one. My friends must have also been rudely awoken, as they were just as disheveled and alarmed as I was.

  “Hoist me up,” Arwyn commanded as I ran over to the twelve inches of window that lined the top of the wall.

  I lifted her by her long legs and sat her atop my shoulder. Our combined height was enough to give her the perfect vantage point from our location without smacking her head on the ceiling.

  “What do you see?” Almasy asked as he and Gawain dragged a bed over to stand on. Both of them hopped atop it and popped their heads over the threshold to see for themselves.

  There were a couple of beats of silence, save for a sharp intake of breath from Arwyn.

  “Well? What is it?” Nia prodded as she came to stand next to me.

  “We have to go. Now.” Arwyn’s tone shifted grimly, and she motioned for me to put her down. “There are monsters all over the city.”

  “What?” Nia gasped, and I had just enough foresight to reach out and grab her before she could bolt out the door.

  “Let go of me!” my lover screamed. “My family is in danger!”

  “Your family is comprised of some of the strongest mages in this era of magic,” Arwyn consoled. “Right now, we need to make a decision.”