Summoner 6

by Eric Vall

  “It doesn’t matter what your name is,” Miriam continued. “The point is, I’m willing to drop all of your charges if you cooperate with us.”

  “What do you want from us in exchange?” I piped up.

  “In exchange for the charges of treason against you being dropped,” Sleet began, “you will be asked to remove yourself from the monster response squad recruit list.”

  There was a collective gasp, and I most definitely heard a loud snarl from Orenn.

  “You can’t ask that of us,” he argued. “We risk our lives for the sake of others. We are some of the best people equipped for this!”

  “Be that as it may, none of you are to be trusted,” Miriam explained with a sniff. “Your actions over the course of the last few months have shown you are reckless and thoughtless, and that kind of behavior is an endangerment to humankind.”

  “I can’t believe this … ” I trailed off. “You’re really going to keep us under lock and key here in the Academy.”

  “If that is what I must do to protect the people, then I will not hesitate for a second,” Miriam replied sharply. “And if you cared about them as much as you say you do, you wouldn’t either.”

  We all just stood, wordless. No matter what we chose we were trapped. The only difference was at the Academy we had food, a bed, a bathing privileges. Locked up, we would have no privileges at all.

  This was a hard pill to swallow. No more monster defense squad meant no more missions outside of the wall. Hell, they probably wouldn’t let us respond inside of the wall either, because it was only a matter of time before another rift opened within the Enclave since the xanyarstone was failing. We would all just go back to our classes, and Arwyn would go back to teaching.

  What was Miriam thinking, and more importantly, how was she even here? She looked as though she never had a scratch on her from the fall of Hartmire. Had it been possible she’d already left town before the attack happened? I supposed that could be true, but if so, where had she gone?

  Something was definitely amiss here. Miriam was holding a lot of cards, and she kept collecting them as they appeared, leaving us to figure out what she held and what she was willing to discard.

  I knew that she wanted to keep us trapped in the Academy so she could keep her eyes on us. We were loyal to Sleet after all, as we had proved time and time again.

  But what I didn’t know was what her next step was. This not knowing was an uncomfortable, uneasy feeling, and it made my stomach tighten in knots.

  I looked to Sleet, who had refused to meet any of our gazes, and I could tell this wasn’t what he wanted, either.

  I sighed as I looked at my crestfallen friends. I knew what we had to do. With a deep breath, I replied with a simple, one-word answer.

  “Fine.”

  Miriam smirked again, but I clenched my fists and vowed silently to myself to fix this.

  Chapter 12

  The notion that things would return to normal once we started classes again had to be the biggest joke I’d ever heard in my life.

  As I stepped out of the dorm room I still shared with Braden, I was greeted by two military officers with their arms folded behind their backs and their eyes trained forward as they pretended they couldn’t see the unimpressed glare I gave them. I ignored them as I locked the door behind me and made my way to the courtyard to meet Nia and Layla for breakfast.

  When I noticed only one of them followed me, I stopped.

  “If you’re waiting for Braden, you’ll be waiting all day. He’s sick,” I snapped. I waited to see if I’d get a reaction from him outside of silence, but when the soldier didn’t so much as bat an eyelash, I went on my way.

  My own soldier did have the decency to stay several feet away from me and at least give me some kind of space. To be honest, though, I thought the entire thing was completely unnecessary. What was I going to do? Run to Sleet and tell him all of the dark and dirty secrets I knew after my travels over the summer? Not likely, though that was probably exactly what they thought.

  I wasn’t mad at the soldier for doing his job, but it was slightly infuriating to be followed and watched all the time. And it wasn’t just me. Our entire group had military officers assigned to them, not to mention the soldiers who were assigned to patrol the grounds at all times to make sure we didn’t try anything.

  I sighed and recentered myself. It wasn’t Sleet’s fault. Miriam had him by the balls, and he was doing everything he could to keep us out of trouble with the council. I had to laugh, though, because the council was literally falling apart. They didn’t even have a headquarters anymore, yet Miriam Sharpay still found a way to be a ruthless, dirty urine rag.

  I just didn’t understand. I knew part of the economy thrived on keeping rifts open for an undetermined amount of time for medical and other provisional resources. Even summoners like myself relied on that method to an extent. Without it, there would be no crystals for merchants to sell, and thus no monsters for summoners to use. Without having at least a few low grade monsters to roam about, it would put mercenaries and hunters out of work, but something had to give.

  The xanyarstone didn’t work anymore, and the walls were essentially useless. Things were changing, but the council refused to acknowledge anything that might put a blemish in their system. Now, rifts had opened up in Varle not once, but twice, and the one in Hartmire nearly wiped out three quarters of the Enclave.

  There was no need for that, and yet, here we were.

  Nia and Layla waited for me just outside the door to the courtyard. Layla clutched her books to her chest, and Nia stood prim and proper, much like the first day I’d met her last year, as though exuding her importance in a military family would make the soldiers steer clear of her. It seemed to be working, kind of. At least they were far enough away that if she sneezed in a crowd of people, they wouldn’t be able to hear her.

  What really grabbed me, however, was the third party who was with them. Cyra looked fantastic in her uniform, and she was draped in the same color cloak that I wore. Her thick, curly hair was pulled back tightly against her scalp, but a few strays managed to escape and dangle in her eyes.

  “Morning, Gryffie!” Layla greeted chipperly despite her obvious unease with the soldiers.

  “Hey.” I waved with a smile. It was hard not to, even with all of this going on. Layla’s smile was infectious.

  “Long time no see,” Cyra commented with a wink, and I was immediately brought back to the last time I’d seen her. It was the night before Gawain and I left for our mission to Tietra, and Cyra and I spent the night wrapped up in the sheets, naked and making love.

  “Hey there.” I grinned wider in a poor attempt to cover up the blush that rose to my cheeks at the memory. “How are you liking the Academy?”

  “I love it, especially with the added entourage,” she replied sarcastically as she motioned to all of the stationed guards on the grounds.

  “Yeah, they seem like they’ll be tons of fun.” I rolled my eyes, but I took note there was no guard following Cyra around. It meant Miriam didn’t think she was a threat.

  Boy, did she have another thing coming.

  I suddenly couldn’t wait for Miriam to see Cyra in action, but maybe it was better that the woman thought otherwise of her. It might give us an upperhand in the situation down the line.

  “Did you sleep well?” Nia changed the subject as the four of us fell in step and crossed the courtyard.

  “Well enough, I guess.” I shrugged. It was definitely nice to sleep in my own bed again, that was for sure.

  “And Braden?” Layla asked cautiously, and we were back to the bad stuff again.

  I shook my head and stared at the ground. Braden had been plagued with a nasty streak of nightmares since we’d rescued him from the Narufey. If you asked me, it made perfect sense why he’d chosen to spend his nights drinking instead of sleeping. It wasn’t a healthy coping mechanism, though.

  “You’ve tried talking to him, right?” Layla
asked again, and concern set deep into her features.

  I understood why she was so worried. Braden was the first and really her only friend in the Academy before I’d come along.

  “Of course I have,” I replied quietly.

  “Isn’t there anything we can do to help him?” she asked and jutted out her bottom lip.

  I frowned. Pouting never suited Layla, and to see her upset now, well, I wished I had a better answer for her.

  “All we can do is be there for him when he needs us,” I told her. “We just have to keep being his friends.”

  Layla nodded, though I doubt she was satisfied with the answer.

  I knew I wasn’t.

  We fell silent as we crossed the rest of the courtyard and tried not to see all of the stares from the other students. They watched with mixed emotions, some with curiosity and others with disdain for a situation they likely knew nothing about.

  Still, it made me uneasy to have this many eyes on me.

  The dining hall was no different. In fact, it was probably worse. Outside, you couldn’t hear the whispers since they were carried off by the morning breeze. Inside, there was no breeze, and murmurs and whispers circulated through the air as the four of us settled into our usual seats for breakfast. Our own personal guards stood near the door, just close enough to react if they needed to, but far enough away that it didn’t feel like they were hovering over us as we ate.

  With my food mostly eaten and set aside, I laid out my crystals between Layla, Cyra, and I. It had been a long time since I’d taken inventory of what I kept on me, and I figured it might be a good idea to keep them on a rotation now that I was getting more and more new ones.

  “You know, I might not have always liked my magic, but I can definitely appreciate how pretty the summon crystals are,” Layla commented as she picked up the baroquer crystal.

  “I find it fascinating how they take shape and color based on the type of monster they are and the original captor,” Cyra added.

  I nodded with a smile as I set aside some of my older monsters to focus on the new ones. While they were still useful, particularly the bullet bass and wallerdon, I wanted to pay special attention to the newest additions to my arsenal.

  “I know what you mean,” I said as I plucked one of my many speed slug crystals from the line and put it aside.

  “Don’t they look more abstract the stronger the captor is?” Nia asked between popping grapes into her mouth.

  “That’s right,” I replied. “It’s why the higher grade monsters are usually bigger and have more dimension, because it takes a stronger mage to capture something like that. Of course, there’s always the fluke that a mage who isn’t as strong manages to capture a high grade monster, but the likelihood of that nowadays is hard to come by.”

  Nia smiled. I believed she liked listening to us talk passionately about our magic. We didn’t do it often, but when we did, we definitely flexed our knowledge.

  And now we had another summoner to add to the mix.

  “I don’t think I’ve seen this one,” Layla commented as she picked up my vingehund crystal I’d gotten from my fight with Phi in the Shadowscape. The light blue, winged-shaped crystal glittered enticingly, and Layla nearly dropped it after a moment from the sheer power kept within it.

  “Careful--” I started to say, but she cut me off.

  “Shit, Gryff!” she exclaimed as she looked up at me with wide eyes. “Where did you get a crystal with a vingehund?”

  “A vingehund?” Cyra looked skeptical and held her hand over the crystal before jerking it back with a shocked expression. “No way!”

  “I picked it up in the Shadowscape,” I answered with a cocky grin as I glanced fondly down at the crystal.

  When neither of them said anything else, I looked up and found them staring at me with odd expressions.

  “What?” I asked, bewildered by their reactions.

  “Like, you picked it up off a dead summoner like you did with the gastrotoad?” Layla asked slowly.

  “No,” I shook my head, “like I literally picked it up in the Shadowscape after I defeated it.

  As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized why they had been so skeptical. We weren’t supposed to be able to pick up crystals in the Shadowscape. That didn’t happen. Monsters killed in the Shadowscape just faded to essence.

  I hadn’t realized how strange it was until I said it aloud.

  “You see why we are having trouble believing you, right?” Cyra laughed.

  “Yeah, yeah, I get it,” I muttered as my mind raced, “but I’m telling you the truth.”

  “Did you use another monster to kill it?” Cyra asked as she continued to pursue this mystery.

  “I used my roosa in the fight,” I explained as I recounted the events in my head, “but I was the one who killed the vingehund, with my rhin dagger.”

  There was a beat of silence before Nia snapped her fingers and drew our attention. “Didn’t you use the rhin dagger to beat the pyrewyrm in the Magicae Nito overlap Shadowscape?” she asked.

  I thought back to that fight. It had been one of the most intense battles I’d ever been in, but definitely one of the coolest.

  “Come to think of it, I think so,” I recalled. “Gawain gave me the crystal after we got back to the real world.”

  I looked at Layla and Cyra, who seemed to be coming to the same conclusion Nia and I were.

  “The rhin dagger must have the ability to turn monsters to crystal if they’re killed in the Shadowscape,” I realized with sudden excitement as I imagined all of the possibilities.

  “It’s certainly a theory to look into,” Nia commented with a bemused frown. “It’s worth bringing up to Arwyn when we can.”

  “So, are we all in some weird mutual agreement we no longer refer to Arwyn as Ms. Hamner unless we’re in class?” I grinned.

  Layla shrugged. “I’m pretty impartial one way or another.”

  “I think as mutual girlfriends we reserve the right to address her as one of us,” Nia declared.

  I blinked at her a few times. When the hell did Nia Kenefick get so bold? I liked it, but it was a change from her usually reserved self. Then again, I was pretty sure if I asked her to have another threeway with me, it wouldn’t take much convincing. She seemed to enjoy it with Layla, and I was sure she would enjoy it again with someone else.

  “Okay,” I answered finally. “Arwyn it is, then.”

  Cyra smirked at me from across the table. It took me half a second to realize why. I had three girls sitting at one table, and I was fairly certain Nia and Layla didn’t know about Cyra.

  Layla, the sly little shit she can be, caught the exchange and snorted into her juice.

  “What is so amusing?” Nia asked curiously.

  “Add another one to the list,” Layla giggled after she composed herself a little.

  “I see.” Nia smirked and winked at Cyra.

  “It was only a matter of time,” Layla added. “I’ve seen the way he looks at her.”

  “I don’t mind sharing if you don’t,” Cyra said with a smile.

  All three of them looked at me, and I suddenly felt very, very warm. I laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of my head. All of these beautiful ladies were going to be the death of me.

  “Um, Gryff?”

  I jumped as a different female voice came from behind me. Then I turned and was face to boobs with a girl who had bright orange hair that fell just past her shoulders and a white, strappy getup that left little to the imagination.

  “Sorry,” she said sweetly, “didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  “Erin!” I stood quickly and hugged her, eager to change the subject. “How are you feeling?”

  The last time I’d seen Erin Linblum, she was in an unconscious state inside of the overlapped rift during our round in the Magicae Nito. She had been poisoned with gastrotoad venom and quickly started to deteriorate. By the time Varleth found the catalyst, she was in a coma and had been ever sin
ce. Now, though, she seemed perfectly healthy and as vibrant and peppy as ever.

  Erin hugged me back tightly, and I felt her relax a little in my arms as she sighed in relief.

  “I’d heard rumors you’d all been arrested and taken to Hartmire,” she said quietly. “I’m glad to see they were only rumors.”

  “Well, that’s partially true,” I laughed as I stepped back to give her space. I couldn’t help but look her up and down.

  Damn, she was still stunning, if not more so than I had thought previously.

  “How are you feeling, Erin?” Nia asked from behind me.

  Erin peeked over my shoulder and stepped around me ever so slightly.

  “I feel great.” She smiled. “It’s nice to see you all again.”

  “Nice to see you, too.” Nia offered her a small smile in return as the bell for our first class rang. The girls stood and gathered their things before they started to head for the door.

  “Aren’t you coming?” Layla asked with a hand on her hip.

  Erin hadn’t moved either. It looked like she really hoped to talk to me some more, and I wanted to set aside some time to catch up with her as well.

  Oh, who was I kidding? I didn’t want to sit in a classroom, not when there was so much else going on outside of the Academy grounds.

  I looked between them and Erin and made a split second decision.

  “You guys go ahead,” I told them. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

  “Suit yourself,” Nia added, and I thought I saw her wink before she turned her back to us and led Layla and Cyra out of the double doors.

  Behind them, Layla and Nia’s personal baby sitters followed.

  I huffed a little and grabbed my crystals off the table before I gave my full attention back to Erin.

  “Let’s go find somewhere to talk,” I suggested with a grin, and I fell into step beside her as we avoided all of the main hallways. The last thing I wanted was to be reprimanded for skipping class on my first day back.

  As Nia and Layla’s guards had done to them, mine followed a few yards behind me. It was incredibly frustrating to have a military guy following you around everywhere. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he followed me into the bathhouse, too.