Summoner's Call (The Summoner Trilogy Book 1)

by Sarah Anne Piddock

‘I’ll be careful,’ Seiya assured him, ignoring the looks from the other students as she made her way to the corner. She waited until they were all occupied and spoke the incantation to summon a rank two. The whole process was pretty much the same, just changing one word and making a minor tweak to the gateway. There was a slightly stronger pull on her power as the demon appeared, an indication of its higher rank that was matched by a significant increase in size. Whereas the first demon had been a hand-span above her knee, this one would have reached her hip if it stood straight. Not that it could, the physical bindings held it in position as the eyes regarded her steadily.

  ‘I’m really very sorry,’ Seiya said to the demon as she moved in as close as she dared without the others or Lyle noticing her behaviour. ‘It must be horrible being held like that,’ for an instant she thought there was recognition in the demon’s eyes; the same way she had felt when looking at the flying creature Youally had summoned. She was certain they could understand her and at least this demon looked like it may have the ability to speak. The huge flying demon didn’t look as if it would be able to talk the way humans could but these little low rank demons certainly had mouths and throats on a similar scale to people. Her mind made up she dismissed the rank two demon. Making sure Lyle was engrossed in helping one of the other students she started her summoning for a rank one, deliberately skipping the part for binding speech. Even before the demon appeared she could tell the summoning felt different, any summoner nearby would probably be able to tell the bindings weren’t correct. She held her breath as the demon appeared but nobody reacted, Lyle must be sufficiently far away. To her amusement she realised she had been more worried about the summoners discovering she was dropping the binding than the actual demon. It had already been sat waiting as she looked about the room and so far there had been no voice in her head trying to drive her mad.

  ‘Hello?’ she crouched down to try and put herself on the demon’s level. ‘My name is Seiya.’ She waited as the demon continued to stare at her and began to think she might have been mistaken.

  ‘I guess you can’t talk after all,’ she sighed as she straightened up, ‘so much for binding speech.’

  ‘Of course we can talk,’ the voice inside her head made her jump and she barely stopped herself from yelping. ‘It’s just been a long time since any summoner tried to communicate with us.’

  ‘They think if they don’t bind your speech then your voice in their heads will drive them mad.’ The demon gave a disdainful mental snort.

  ‘That’s nonsense, you’re sane enough.’ Seiya discreetly looked around the room to make sure nobody could overhear her talking.

  ‘Would you mind letting me move slightly?’ the demon was trying to be polite but Seiya could tell it was annoyed, ‘this position is hardly comfortable.’

  ‘How?’ Seiya knew she could probably force the demon’s body to move as she wished just by focusing her power but she doubted that was what it meant. ‘The physical binding is holding you in place.’

  ‘Just relax the bindings,’ the demon sensed her hesitation, ‘you can always reinstate them again if you need to.’

  ‘I’m worried about the others sensing,’ Seiya explained apologetically, it wasn’t as if she had anything to fear from the little creature in front of her. ‘Will you try to remain still?’

  ‘If you’re that worried then let me move to a more comfortable position and bind me again,’ the demon was starting to sound distinctly irritated.

  ‘Alright,’ Seiya resisted the urge to laugh and tried to locate the part of her power that was binding the demon’s movement. Slowly she relaxed it, like convincing a tense muscle to loosen it required quite a bit of concentration and felt rather strange at first. The demon wasted no time and sat down on the ground after giving its limbs a brief stretch, making sure its movements were hidden by Seiya’s body. Just as slowly Seiya reinstated the bindings, imagining the invisible force clamping itself around the demon to hold it still, wrapping itself round every limb. She held it for a while then relaxed it again, this time she let the binding drop away in one go, putting it back just as quickly.

  ‘Are you quite finished?’ the demon demanded sourly as she made several more tries. For some reason relaxing the bindings didn’t seem to change the feel of the summoning from the outside. She knew what she was doing and could feel the difference but it wasn’t a marked change like the missing speech bindings. Briefly describing the problem to the demon she dismissed it before summoning once again with all bindings in place. To her amazement the exact same demon appeared and she instantly relaxed the bindings. As she had suspected this time the summoning felt right, so long as she kept the bindings in the incantation there was no way another summoner would be able to tell if she subsequently relaxed them.

  ‘I didn’t expect to see you again,’ Seiya commented jokingly as the demon settled itself comfortably.

  ‘I answered your summons,’ the demon responded seriously, ‘we can tell who the summoner is and sometimes we can either let ourselves be summoned or try and avoid it.’ From its tone Seiya got the feeling the latter was more often true.

  ‘Well, thank you,’ she bowed slightly towards the demon, ‘I’m honoured you were willing to put up with any more.’

  ‘You let me move and talk,’ the demon replied solemnly, seemingly oblivious to Seiya’s teasing tone. ‘Any demon will be willing to help you if give them that little bit of freedom.’

  Seiya was about to question what help the demons could give when she saw Lyle heading over.

  ‘Did you manage to summon a rank two?’ She could see him regarding the demon and reinstated the physical bindings, giving a brief mental apology. She couldn’t afford to be given away.

  ‘Yep,’ she dismissed the one in front of her, worried Lyle might sense something wasn’t quite right. ‘I just summoned a rank one so the others wouldn’t notice.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Lyle nodded approvingly, he waved aside her offer to summon another rank two for his benefit. ‘Just remember to stay behind, you’re going to have to show Master Gorbacov as well.’

  Seiya’s first impression of Master Gorbacov was that he wasn’t pleased about being involved. Appearing stocky next to the lanky Master Lyle his eyes were on a level with Seiya’s own. Flecks of gray marked his temples in close cropped black hair, wrinkles lined his face but the eyes were still piercingly sharp. Seiya forced herself to remain still under his scrutiny though he still seemed to find her wanting.

  ‘Get on with it then,’ Gorbacov waved to the empty space at the back of the room. Seiya flinched at his brusque tone, she hadn’t been prepared for the Master’s hostility. Taking a moment to steady herself Seiya returned his gaze calmly.

  ‘What do I need to do?’ Seiya was pleased her voice stayed firm but she couldn’t help looking towards Lyle for support.

  ‘Summon a rank two demon, hold it stationary and then dismiss it,’ Lyle smiled reassuringly at her and Seiya felt even more grateful for having him as a teacher, so far it seemed Master summoners were generally an unpleasant bunch. Stepping forward into the space she put some distance between her and the two Masters. Drawing the gateway carefully she was relieved to feel the power lines forming effortlessly as she spoke the incantation, the rank two demon appearing before her. Turning back to the two observers with the bindings firmly in place she could see Lyle was grinning. Gorbacov, however, looked thoroughly unimpressed.

  ‘Now make it move.’

  Gorbacov’s voice may have been expressionless but Seiya could see he was paying close attention; if nothing else she had piqued his curiousity. She saw Lyle give his fellow Master a sideways glance but he kept quiet.

  ‘How?’ Seiya knew she could easily relax the bindings and hope she could convince the demon to be co-operative but that wouldn’t be what Gorbacov was expecting.

  ‘Work it out,’ Gorbacov replied curtly. ‘I don’t have time to teach you what the other students already know.’

  Seiya looke
d towards Lyle but the other Master held up his hands, he wasn’t going to get involved. Turning her attention back to the demon Seiya could feel her power enveloping it, the physical binding wrapped around every limb. If the binding could hold it still there was no reason why it couldn’t also move it. She experimented by trying to lift one of the demon’s arms, imagining the binding encompassing it like a sleeve. The movement was so easy she had to remind herself to keep it slow and gentle, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt the demon by wrenching its arm out. Buoyed by her success she attempted to make the demon walk, though trying to synchronise both legs proved to be far more difficult.

  ‘When you walk do you think about moving each leg?’ Seiya jumped at Gorbacov’s prompt, she’d been so focused on the demon she’d forgotten all about the two Masters. She waited hopefully for further clues but Gorbacov had resumed his silence, arms folded across his chest. There was a subtle change in his posture though, the earlier hostility had dissipated and she sensed he would wait patiently to see what she would attempt next. Seiya ignored her growing frustration, the whole thing seemed ridiculous when she could let the demon walk itself. The movement was so sudden she almost missed it, a small flicker in her peripheral vision. The demon had moved at the same time she had been thinking about it walking. She could feel a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, perhaps she had been making the whole thing overly complex. Once again she pictured the demon walking across the room, super-imposing her imagined scene before her. Sure enough the demon moved to match her image, so long as she could see it walking in her mind the bindings would create it in real life.

  ‘And dismiss it,’ Gorbacov’s voice revealed nothing. Seiya didn’t know what she had been expecting from him but certainly some sort of positive response. Abruptly sending the demon back mid-stride she turned to face the Masters.

  ‘Tomorrow you’ll be attending my class,’ Gorbacov informed her before she could even open her mouth to speak. ‘I can take care of things from here Lyle,’ his attention was on the other Master, effectively ignoring Seiya.

  ‘Glad to hear it,’ Lyle smiled at Seiya as she mouthed “thank you” in his direction. ‘Just mind your manners, okay?’ he waved as he left and Seiya flushed, remembering his warning. Gorbacov gave no indication he had even heard Lyle’s remark, let alone have any interest in questioning her about it as he immediately turned to follow his colleague from the room.

  ‘This way,’ Seiya had to jog to catch-up as he strode along the corridor. ‘This is the classroom where you will need to be tomorrow morning,’ he pointed at a room three doors down from Lyle’s and Seiya tried to make a mental note of its location. She was already worried about finding her own room again, it seemed a long time since Bifull had escorted her down this morning.

  ‘The others have had far more practice than you so I suggest you train in your room.’ The idea of being allowed to summon in her room unsupervised took Seiya by surprise. ‘After-hours practice is allowed so long as you do not summon higher than your current level permits, in your case rank two.’ He stopped outside a pair of wooden doors and gestured for her to enter. Pushing through Seiya walked into a dark room, the smell of musty paper hung in the air as the light from the corridor illuminated the ends of wooden bookshelves standing just in front of her. Gorbacov stepped in behind her and moved to one side, lighting a lamp left on a nearby table. The light it gave out was feeble but enough to see several steps in front of them. Gorbacov strode purposefully to one of the stone shelves set into the wall itself and Seiya hastened to follow him.

  ‘These books will help you master the skills expected of a level two summoner.’ He pulled a couple of tomes off the shelf, his lips pursed disapprovingly as he blew the dust off. ‘This library is open to all students though few use it,’ he dumped the books into her arms and walked back to the doorway. Forced to follow the receding light Seiya didn’t get the chance to look at the other books present.

  ‘It’s roughly split by level along there,’ Gorbacov pointed to the right hand side of the room, ‘records and information on the schools history are over there.’ His arm swept to the left but with the room shrouded in darkness their little pool of light didn’t allow Seiya to see anything clearly. Knowing she would be coming back for a more thorough investigation Seiya watched carefully as Gorbacov extinguished the lantern and placed it back on the small table.

  ‘The bell will ring for breakfast in the morning, get there early as I won’t tolerate lateness.’ Gorbacov pulled the library doors firmly shut behind him and gestured back the way they walked. ‘You’d better return to your room and get practising. The exam is in two days.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Seiya found herself addressing the Master’s back as he strode off down the corridor. Weighing the heavy tomes in her arms relief at surviving the first day mingled with growing apprehension, had she just made her life unnecessarily difficult?

  Chapter Four

  Dumping the books on her desk Seiya immediately went to open the window, the latch was stiff and the wooden frame needed a bit of encouragement to part but she managed it without tumbling out head first. Goosebumps pricked along her arms as the chilly night air brushed past but she wanted to get the stuffiness out the room, coming back it felt even more like a prison cell. Seiya knew it was pointless dwelling on her situation but there was no way she could escape the fact she had been lured to Rhianwater under false pretences and trapped. The boats would be well-guarded and by the time she was strong enough to be confident about winning any confrontation she could probably just summon her own flying demon to take her away.

  Sighing heavily Seiya flipped through one of the books; tired as she was she would have to stay up most of the night practising. Pausing leafing through the pages her fingers rubbed unconsciously at the parchment while her thoughts strayed to the demon she had summoned earlier and her clumsy attempts at controlling it. The book closed with a soft thump as Seiya removed her hand; an apology was definitely in order.

  The summoning still had full bindings as the gateway formed in front of her, just in case the Masters had sent someone to ensure she followed the rules. Although large for a single bedroom the room was relatively small for demon summoning, it was hard to believe the other students who kept so much distance between themselves and the demons would be willing to share the tight space. Even she flinched slightly as the demon appeared at the centre of her gateway, though the pattern was smaller by necessity it appeared to have made no difference. To Seiya’s eyes the demon looked the same as the one she’d summoned in the exam.

  ‘Not me,’ the demon replied to her polite inquiry, seemingly impressed by her consideration ‘but I’ll pass on your message.’

  ‘I’m Seiya,’ she held out her hand towards the demon who looked at her questioningly.

  ‘I know,’ it replied succinctly, ‘and I’d appreciate it if you would remove the physical bindings as well.’ Trying to hide her surprise Seiya told herself it was perfectly understandable the demon already knew who she was, determinedly ignoring the paranoid sensation that the demons were all talking about her behind her back. After all from what the other demon had said she was the first summoner to speak to them in years; it was only natural they’d spread the story. Still she hesitated, looking at the rank two demon she was aware the elongated human-like hands ended in talons rather than fingernails. A slice in the right place and she could end up bleeding to death, the room provided limited scope for defending herself. Her emotions must have shown in her face as the demon addressed her crossly.

  ‘I’m not going to attack you. The whole idea of us willingly hurting people is ridiculous, it only happens when we’re being controlled. Besides,’ it added plaintively, ‘you’re much bigger than me.’ Seiya resisted an urge to smile, if it weren’t for being bound she could imagine the demon stamping its foot in annoyance. She had to admit her caution did seem excessive since she could reinstate the bindings at any time.

  ‘If you don’t let me go
I won’t talk to you,’ the demon continued huffily, ‘it’s not comfortable being held as a statue.’ Amused by the demon’s petulance Seiya took pity and relaxed the bindings. Stretching as it was released the demon went to perch on the edge of her desk, freezing in mid-air as Seiya reapplied the bindings.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Seiya apologised profusely as she tried not to giggle. The demon looked pretty silly stretching up on one foot with one hand planted on the desk top in a very awkward position. It gave her a long disapproving stare as she released it once more, but made no further comment as it finished pulling itself up.

  ‘You couldn’t pronounce my name,’ the demon informed her. Seiya was momentarily lost until she remembered her earlier introduction, obviously the demon was willing to forgive the binding issues. ‘When the summoners called me by name I was known as Aleos.’

  ‘Aleos.’ Seiya repeated the name out loud to get a feeling for it. ‘How do I summon a demon by name?’ to her best knowledge the gateway only selected a demon by rank.

  ‘You can’t force us to appear by using our aliases, but if you speak it in your mind when you form the gateway and during the incantation then we should be able to hear you.’

  ‘You can hear the summoners?’ Seiya hadn’t really considered how the whole summoning process appeared from the demonS side.

  ‘We can sense their presence. The incantation sends out a net of power which ensnares whichever of us is nearest. But if I hear you calling my name then I could deliberately step into the net rather than escaping it.’ Aleos gave what Seiya supposed was the demon equivalent of a sigh and she thought it was going to say something else but it simply shrugged.

  ‘Forgive me for asking,’ Seiya was starting to feel rude for thinking of Aleos as an “it”, ‘but do you have males and females like us?’ Cringing at the crude question even as she spoke Seiya wished she had found a better way to phrase it.