Summoner 6

by Eric Vall

  “Oh, Maker, it’s gorgeous!” Arwyn exclaimed, and she looked absolutely captivated by the wonder of this place.

  I couldn’t blame her.

  “If this isn’t the library, I don’t know what else it could be.” I smiled. “Come on. Let’s grab the cipher.”

  I started to head towards the library, then stopped. There was a familiar unease in the air, and when I whirled around to check if anyone else felt it, I found that they were gone.

  “Nia?” I called out as I looked around, and panic started to set in. “Arwyn! Varleth! Orenn!”

  “I told you. There is no escape,” Antoine taunted as he appeared before me.

  “Where are my friends?” I yelled. “What have you done with them?”

  “Nothing, nothing,” Antoine brushed me off nonchalantly. “Their bounties are safe with me, but as for you, I still think I’ll take the loss on you.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” I bargained. “Whoever hired you to do this doesn’t know anything about us or what we’re trying to do.”

  “On the contrary, I know all about your little plan of treason,” Antoine informed. “Your big friend was weak and spilled it all out to me in exchange for the gypsy boy’s life.”

  “Asshole,” I growled and immediately reached for my rhin dagger.

  “Awww,” Antoine cooed. “Trust me, I feel your plight. The world is changing, and something needs to be done about it.”

  “Then help us,” I snapped. “If you’re so interested in the well-being of the human race, then why fight us? We’re just trying to help people.”

  “There are a multitude of reasons, Gryff of Njordenfalls,” Antoine drawled, “but we haven’t the time for all that. What matters is that the bounty on your heads will sustain us for more than a lifetime, and I deserve my revenge.”

  “You leave me no choice then,” I warned as I brandished my dagger. While I was more than adept at fighting with swords and hand-to-hand combat, I found that my dagger, while certainly shorter in length, came a little more naturally to me. On top of that, using a monster in this situation wouldn’t do me any good. While it helped my friends out significantly to fight outside of the magic barrier the animandu had produced, the truth was it was safer for both my monsters and I if I didn’t use them in this fight, at least not any of the big ones.

  Antoine, and maybe even his people, had the ability to put us to sleep with the snap of a finger, and as a summoner, nothing could be more dangerous for me than falling asleep while there was a large monster under my control. Not only would I lose control of it and cause possible casualties, but if I fell asleep and the monster was defeated, it would sap my mana. Something big, like my roosa or baroquer, would kill me with the amount of mana it would drain from my body. I wasn’t willing to take that risk at all.

  “My, my. So, this is what it’s come to,” Antoine sighed. “Pity.”

  “Last chance, Antoine,” I tried to reason with him as I took a battle stance. “You know that what’s happening is wrong.”

  “I know that letting murderers walk free is wrong,” Antoine seethed and narrowed his dazzling eyes on me.

  So, that was how it was going to be.

  I tried my best to give him an out.

  His death was on his own hands.

  I reached for my bandolier and plucked a speed slug crystal from the loop I kept it on. With enough pressure in my hand, the crystal shattered, and the slimy thing appeared before me. I latched it onto the back of my neck and immediately felt the effects.

  A surge of what felt like electricity raced through my veins, and without a second thought, I sprinted toward Antoine. There was a split second when our eyes met before I rammed him with the sharp edge of the rhin dagger, and I saw the deceit in them as I rushed by, but he vanished.

  I skid to a halt and did an about face in the grass as he then materialized in front of me again. There was a malicious grin on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  “What the--?” I gasped, astonished by his speed.

  “I’m afraid you will have to be faster than that, Gryff,” he taunted.

  Faster than the enhancement of a speed slug? I thought of how that would be possible outside of putting two of them on me. It was a wild shot, but it was worth trying. I reached for a second speed slug crystal and crushed that one in my palm as well before I attached it to my lower back.

  My body vibrated from all of the energy being pumped into it by the slugs. It felt as though I was going fast enough to phase in and out of existence. It was a little surreal, but having this kind of advantage in battle would be extremely useful.

  I turned my eyes back to Antoine, who had patiently waited for me to realize the extent of what his powers could do. There was more to it than that, I was sure, but I squared myself off again and charged him once more. This time, however, I stopped just short of him to see where he was going to go once he vanished. He seemed to like the high road, if his mannerisms hadn’t been enough of a clue, so I whirled around and launched myself into the air.

  It was a stab in the dark, literally, but I tossed my dagger in the direction of where I thought he would appear. I used the boost that the second speed slug gave me to my advantage, and I flung the dagger just in time for Antonie to materialize again.

  The blade didn’t pierce his skin, but it did slash through the front of his garb, and a broad grin spread across my face.

  I almost got him.

  “What?” Antonie growled in shock, and he vanished again.

  But I thought I knew where he was going.

  I snatched the dagger off the ground and tossed it toward him once more, but just when I thought I had figured out a successful method to keep up with him, Antoine threw me for a loop.

  A portal opened up in front of me just as I was about to connect with him, and I fell through to land head first into the shallow moat that surrounded the library. I felt my skull connect with the pebbles in the bottom, and my world went topsy turvy as I flipped several times through the water until my legs hit the bridge.

  “Ow,” I groaned as I squinted my eyes open. “That’s going to have repercussions.”

  “Refreshing swim?” Antoine taunted from atop the small wooden bridge.

  “Just a dip.” I smirked and readied myself for another round against him.

  “Ah, ah, not so fast,” Antoine clicked his tongue and snapped his fingers.

  I suddenly felt a tightness around my neck as black tendrils materialized and squeezed it. My breaths became shorter and labored as I gasped and struggled.

  “You see, Gryff of Njordenfalls, I think you’re in over your head,” Antoine drawled. “You are but a poor boy from the wilds with no family to speak of, no real knowledge of the laws and economics of magic. You simply do not understand anything beyond fighting with your monsters who you call allies.”

  “You know nothing about me,” I rasped.

  “Maybe.” The debonair animandu shrugged. “I’m only repeating what I was told.”

  “What?” I wheezed and clung to the darkness that threatened my life in a futile attempt to pry it off.

  “Never you mind,” Antoine said cooly as he began to walk away. “Oh, I got you a parting gift! I do hope you like it.”

  Antoine snapped his fingers again, but this time instead of falling asleep or being choked, nothing happened.

  Well, nothing happened to me.

  On the other side of the moat, where the library stood, opened a dark portal that spiraled wildly above it, and I watched with horror in my eyes as purple balls of fire rained down upon it. Flames ignited and began to burn the top of the little mushroom library.

  If I didn’t get to it quick, the cipher would be lost, and thousands of years of history would be lost along with it.

  I unexpectedly fell into the moat again, this time on my knees, and I coughed violently as I gasped for air to fill my lungs.

  No, I wasn’t going to let Antoine get away with this.

/>   My rhin dagger lay on the ground several feet away, so I blindly reached to where I had kept my father’s dagger at my side as I tried to catch my breath. My fingers fumbled to curl around the hilt, but once they did, I gripped it tightly. It wasn’t as deadly as my rhin dagger, but it was still plenty sharp.

  So, with a strangled grunt, I pulled it from my side and flung it as hard as I could.

  Antoine started to turn around with a smirk plastered on his face when the dagger embedded itself into him. He gasped as he clutched his abdomen and staggered backward a step. Dark red blood pooled at the front of his blouse and stained his hands as they trembled around the wound. His face paled, and his jaw hung open as he stared at the increasing amount of blood that spread over his clothes.

  “Y-you … ” he spluttered, and then he ripped the dagger from his torso. My father’s weapon fell with a clatter onto the bridge and back down into the moat at my feet.

  “You miss Penny so much? Well, how about I reunite the two of you!” I yelled as I struggled to my feet. “You claim to know so much, but you know nothing about the integrity of a man, of a mage. Of a summoner! You’re just a monster! And you deserve to die.”

  “Do it, then,” Antoine sneered as blood started to stain his teeth, “but if you do, you’ll never get the cipher you’re after.”

  I looked over my shoulder at the burning library and gasped when I saw how much damage had already been done. I’d been so close to ridding myself of this man, plus getting what I came for, but he was right. I couldn’t have both. I had to make a choice.

  My hand itched to crush another crystal and call forth my kalgori, or even my baroquer to rip this bastard apart limb from limb. That gut wound had weakened him, and I knew I’d be able to summon a monster quick enough to send Antoine to meet his sweet Penny.

  But then we’d lose the cipher, and I couldn’t let that happen.

  Fuck it. I’d live to fight Antoine another day.

  With one last glare at the animandu man, I picked up my rhin dagger from the ground, sprinted across the clearing, and kicked in the little door into the library. Smoke billowed out from inside, and already from what I could see of the library, most of it was gone. Of course it was. It was all fire fodder, books and cardboard and more wood.

  How in the world was I supposed to find the cipher in here?

  The rhin dagger started to burn in my hand, as if in answer. I held it out in front of me with one hand and shielded my eyes from the smoke and ash with the other as I traversed the burning library. I climbed over wooden beams that had begun to collapse and scooted away scorched papers and books with holes in them as I searched for the cipher.

  I coughed harshly when I inhaled a heavy bit of smoke, and it only made my throat hurt worse. I had to find this damn thing, and soon.

  Finally, just as flames began to lick my arm, the rhin dagger shined bright blue and nearly vibrated in my hand. I looked up, shielding my eyes from the fire, and plucked the cipher and the three books sitting with it on a smouldering table before I maneuvered my way back out from the inferno. I didn’t know what was in those books, if they really held any meaning, but I had to rescue something from inside. It was bad enough we’d lost all of the knowledge in Cottington Hall. The least I could do was bring back something, anything that was a part of the history of mages.

  When I emerged from the flames, Antoine was gone.

  In his place, my friends awaited me, bloodied, sweaty, and harried.

  “Gryff!” Nia called as she ran up to me, my father’s dagger in hand. “What happened? I found this in the moat, and I thought … ” She trailed off and worry was etched into every line of her face.

  “Antoine set the library on fire,” I stated obviously. “He got away. He didn’t leave me a choice. Are you guys alright?”

  My eyes still stung from the smoke, but I quickly scanned over my team. Blood was splattered all over their clothes, but upon closer inspection, none of it looked to be theirs.

  “You did the right thing,” Arwyn assured me with a tired smile. “And we’re all okay. Antoine whisked us about a hundred yards away into the treeline where some of his henchman were waiting.” She smirked and brandished her blood drenched sword. “We managed to take care of most of them before Antoine returned, pissed and bleeding, and forced them all to retreat. He didn’t look to be in good shape. Are you?”

  “I’ll be fine,” I insisted, then showed them the cipher and books. “Besides, we got everything we came here for right now.”

  Despite the library that burned in the background, there were relieved smiles all around.

  We had accomplished our mission.

  Chapter 9

  “Do you think we’ll ever run into Antoine again?” Nia asked as she placed a warm washcloth over the gash on the back of my head. She and Arywn said I was lucky not to need stitches, but I needed to take it easy.

  I was fine with that. We needed a break after our excursion in the Narufey. It had been three days since we left the trees behind, but I was still sore and tired as hell.

  “Can’t really say,” I hissed between my teeth as she applied pressure to the wound. “If he does, we’ll be ready for him.”

  “You are awfully confident for someone who just headbutted a moat at the speed of lightning,” Nia teased with a smile.

  “He won’t be so lucky next time,” I grumbled and rested my forehead in my hands.

  Nia giggled and ran her fingers through my hair as she examined the cut. Her hands felt good against my scalp, and despite the headache I was rocking, I found myself melting under her touch.

  We’d made it to a moderately sized town called Enzitha along the outskirts of the Salika Steppes and along the river that flowed out to the ocean. We didn’t have much in the way of money, but the innkeeper was kind enough to let us board for half the price a night after she saw the extent of our injuries and situation. Each room had two beds, and there was a connecting door that led to a washroom between the two rooms.

  Nia and I currently stood in the washroom, and I hissed again as she took another swipe at my scalp.

  “You know, if you keep this up, there won’t be a single part of your body that hasn’t been broken, bruised, or bloody,” Nia joked as she took the washcloth away.

  I looked in the tall mirror before me and examined my face closely for what seemed like the first time in nearly a year. I’d grown a bit, if I did say so myself. My bones held a little more structure, and my eyes didn’t seem as bright as they used to be. My skin wasn’t as tanned from the sun anymore, but I’d put on some more muscle definition, which was nice. It certainly seemed to please the girls.

  The closer I examined myself, the more scars and battle wounds I saw. There were cuts on my neck that would leave light scars, and I swore my skin was stained in places where there had been blood, but that was probably from just being overtired.

  “Someone has to,” I said with a small smile. I didn’t mind the flaws, because they really weren’t flaws at all. I saw scars as a sign of strength, a sign I lived one more day to fight for the people of Mistral.

  “You don’t have to do it alone.” Nia set the washcloth aside and pressed a kiss to my bare shoulder.

  “I know that,” I replied. “I wouldn’t have the strength to do half of what I’ve done if I didn’t have any of you there to back me up.”

  Nia smiled wider and dragged her soft lips across the nape of my neck as she peppered me with light kisses. Then adept fingers toyed with the hem of my pants while she pressed herself closer.

  “What about now?” she asked with an airy, sweet voice. “Are you strong enough to hold me in your arms?”

  I watched Nia in the mirror as her cheeks flushed pink, and her fingers slid between my skin and the fabric over my cock. Her nails stroked along the length of it before she wrapped each delicate digit around me.

  My head tipped back, and I released a sigh as pleasure began to build.

  “I do, if this is what you w
ant,” I replied in a low tone. After all, Braden and Varleth were in the room next door to us, and they could try and walk into the bathroom at any time.

  “We’d have to be quiet,” she whispered along the shell of my ear, then giggled as she pumped me faster and began working me into a rock hard stiffness.

  “I can be quiet,” I chuckled and rocked into her hand slowly. “The question is, can you once I slide inside you?”

  “I’m up for the challenge,” Nia teased, and she smeared her fingers over the tip of my cock and coated them in what had already begun to leak.

  That was all the consent I needed, and I slid her hand from my pants. In a swift motion, I twirled her in front of me and pressed her gorgeous boobs against the length of the mirror.

  “Gryff,” she moaned softly, and her breath fogged the mirror as she got progressively hotter and more aroused.

  “I wonder what has you so worked up,” I taunted. My fingers playfully teased along the side of her ass, and she pressed it out further, a silent plea for more.

  “This is just what you do to me,” Nia purred, and her lashes fluttered on her cheeks as she locked eyes with me over her shoulder. “Go on. Feel it for yourself.”

  With an invitation like that, how could I possibly say no?

  I licked my lips and pulled her panties aside. Already I could feel the heat of Nia’s arousal on my fingers, and my cock twitched at the prospect of delving into that sweet warmth.

  The view offered to me like this was nothing short of breathtaking. Full, shaved, pink lips greeted my eyes, and even in the dim light of the washroom, I could see her glisten with anticipation.

  “Fuck, you’re so gorgeous,” I moaned deep in my throat, and then I slid my fingers over her. The sound of her slick lips spreading for me sent a pleasant thrill down my spine, and my cock started to ache with how hard Nia had made me.

  “I missed you the second I waved goodbye to you, you know,” Nia confessed, though I certainly didn’t miss the implication.

  We had spent a passion-filled afternoon together before she left to return to Hartmire for the summer. To think she missed me that much, well, it piqued my curiosity.