‘All the demons you summon will be male, the females are unaffected by your power,’ Aleos’s tone was matter-of-fact, thankfully he didn’t seem to have taken offence.
‘Why are you not like the other summoners?’ as Aleos leant forward on the desk Seiya was worried he would tumble off. The innocent question stirred up emotions she thought firmly under control, soon the poor demon was hearing everything that had happened, from Youally’s visit to the ranch and her encounter with the flying demon to her most recent exam. Aleos listened silently, nodding encouragingly when she stopped.
Exhausted by the unexpected out-pouring Seiya was surprised when her hands found watery tracks down her cheeks; she hadn’t even noticed she was crying. She knew better than to blame it solely on loneliness or home sickness, truthfully she was scared, no matter how hard she tried to hide it from everyone else. The Masters at Rhianwater were far more powerful than her, any attempts she made to escape would be easily thwarted. Besides, what was to stop Youally just flying back to the ranch and picking her up again?
Feeling sorry for myself won’t pass the exams, Seiya scolded herself as she impatiently dashed away the tears with the back of her hand. A gentle squeeze on her arm made her look up straight into Aleos’s face, the demon had moved along the desk until he could reach out to where she sat in her chair.
‘We will be there to help you,’ he assured her softly, Seiya was amazed by the concern in his eyes.
‘Why?’ she couldn’t help the instinctive distrust. What did the demons have to gain by helping her?
‘You are the first to talk to us, to release the bindings, to trust us,’ Aleos sat back and Seiya felt as if he were addressing a child. ‘Why wouldn’t we want to see you become stronger?’ Seiya shied away from his implication and shook her head vigorously.
‘I can’t let the others know what I’m doing, everybody else believes the bindings are essential, that you’re vicious monsters.’ She pushed herself off the chair and walked over to sit on the bed so there was more distance between her and Aleos, purposefully avoiding his eyes. ‘I can’t help you. I just want to pass these exams so I can go home.’ If they’ll let me, Seiya added silently to herself.
‘You should probably get some rest,’ expecting Aleos to argue and try and persuade her otherwise Seiya was left momentarily off-balance as the demon jumped down from the desk. Watching Aleos stretch as he stood up Seiya became aware of how long they’d been talking, nor did it escape her notice he kept his distance, preserving the space she’d had when summoning.
‘Do you know anything about the level two exam?’ Seiya moved to one end of the bed and gestured to the empty space if Aleos wanted to sit with her. She no longer had any qualms of being within easy reach of the small demon; so far he was the closest thing to a friend she’d found at Rhianwater.
‘I have only been summoned for the very first lessons at that level,’ he explained apologetically, remaining on the floor ‘I think you use rank three demons for practice and then rank four for the actual exam.’
‘Oh,’ Seiya tried to hide her disappointment, she had been hoping the demon would be able to tell her what to expect.
‘I can easily find out though,’ Aleos assured her hastily, ‘or just ask whatever demon you summon during your lesson.’
‘Won’t the others notice if I relax the bindings?’ the question had been bothering Seiya for a while. Binding the demons felt wrong, but she couldn’t afford for Gorbacov or the other students to realise what she was doing; at the very least they would consider it cheating.
‘Not if you use the normal summoning and relax them afterwards,’ Aleos replied thoughtfully, ‘or at least I wouldn’t have thought so. They’d probably notice if you summoned without the initial bindings, the Masters have stepped in when students have forgotten during classes so they must sense it.’ He looked up at her sternly, ‘but that is enough, you need to sleep.’ Seiya smiled at his bossiness.
‘I can’t do that,’ she said, failing to stifle a yawn that threatened to break her jaw, ‘I need to practise for tomorrow.’
‘You’ll be fine,’ he assured her, ‘even if you can’t do it the demon you summon will probably have done the lesson a hundred times over, just let him handle it.’ The idea was one Seiya hadn’t considered and she nodded thoughtfully.
‘Alright,’ she agreed, the tiredness suddenly catching up with her. ‘If I summon you tomorrow night could you find out the exam by then?’
‘Of course,’ Aleos nodded in confirmation, ‘now would you please send me back?’
‘My pleasure,’ Seiya smiled warmly at the demon as she held the gateway pattern for dismissal, ‘good night.’ Aleos didn’t have time to reply as she spoke the command, disappearing in an instant. Flopping back onto the bed Seiya barely managed to drag the covers over before she fell asleep.
‘Here you go,’ Gorbacov passed Seiya a yellow band as he entered the classroom, motioning she should tie it round her upper arm. Covering a sigh of relief Seiya gratefully accepted the strip of material; she’d left so much time to allow for getting lost that during the long wait she’d been starting to wonder if she was even in the right room. Tying the armband one-handed was nearly impossible so she resorted to tugging one of the ends with her teeth, her eyes straying to the door as high-pitched female voices echoed from the corridor.
The first girl to walk in resembled everything Seiya tried to avoid; pretty laid on pretty, stunning green eyes in a heart-shaped face with perfect skin, framed by wavy black hair reaching nearly all the way to her waist. Seiya winced slightly as the loud voice drowned out whatever reply her companion was making, noting the way the girl had customised the standard uniform Seiya instantly marked her down as an attention seeker. The trousers were skin tight, the tunic resembled a fitted dress and the shirt sleeves had somehow been enlarged at the cuffs for a more dramatic effect; a far cry from Seiya’s own shapeless ensemble. The moment they walked through the door the conversation died away, emerald eyes sweeping Seiya from head to toe, resting momentarily on the coloured armband she had only just finished tying. As the girl walked over the smile on her lips found no answering warmth in her eyes.
‘I’m Kirinya,’ the girl perched on the desk next to where Seiya was sitting, flicking her hair back over her shoulder. ‘And this is Cynthia,’ she gestured towards the girl who trailed after her. Seiya gave Cynthia a small wave but the other girl returned it uncertainly, glancing at Kirinya as if for permission. Seiya groaned inwardly, the last thing a girl like Kirinya needed was some adoring follower. Although Cynthia could be said to be quite pretty herself the way she tied her straight brown hair back from her face combined with the standard uniform made her look plain in comparison.
‘My father is on the Council,’ Kirinya announced importantly and Seiya tried to look suitably impressed, not that she had any clue who or what the Council might be. Thankfully, she was spared the trouble of continuing the conversation as the rest of the class arrived. Seiya watched as one of the boys headed straight towards Kirinya, the girl responding by pushing herself away from the desk and walking across the room to another seat, a small toss of her head the only clue she had even noticed the boy’s approach. From the frustrated look on the would-be admirer’s face Seiya guessed this wasn’t the first brush-off he had received. The boy’s eyes met hers, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment as he realised Seiya had witnessed his failure. Glaring in her direction he spun away to take the desk next to Cynthia, the girl automatically slotting in beside Kirinya.
Fine then, Seiya stifled an irritated sigh as a quick glance to the front showed Gorbacov was engrossed in reading at his own desk, clearly he had no intentions of introducing her to the class.
‘Hello,’ pushing up from her chair Seiya approached the group of four boys still standing before they could go to their seats, ‘I’ve just joined this class.’ Two of them looked mildly surprised but smiled politely enough, the one she had pinpointed as the loudest frowned, the rema
ining boy copying his example.
‘I’m Seiya,’ she nodded towards one of the friendlier looking pair.
‘I’m Lyam,’ to her relief he smiled as he introduced himself, but Seiya could see the question hovering on his lips. ‘Calvin, my twin brother, Martin, and Tresney.’ He pointed to each in turn; first the bullish looking loudmouth who was still staring at her with a furrowed brow, then the other boy whose initial smile had faded on seeing Calvin’s reaction and lastly the one who had seemed determined to imitate Calvin from the start. ‘Freiden is over there,’ he pointed to Kirinya’s follower who was sat watching the two girls talk. Turning her attention back to the boys in front of her Seiya decided she wouldn’t have guessed Calvin and Lyam were twins, unlike her own identical brothers the pair looked completely different. Lyam was tall and slender with light brown hair that would probably turn blonde if bleached in the sun; Calvin had the same height but carried the bulk of a boy who had matured early with thick-set shoulders and a square jaw, his hair was markedly darker and the belligerence in his face was unmistakable.
‘You can’t just join a class,’ he stated loudly and Gorbacov finally looked up from his text.
‘She passed the level one exam early and has shown she should be capable of matching your abilities.’ Seiya didn’t like the way Calvin’s jaw tightened at Gorbacov’s emphasis, the last thing she wanted was to be in competition with one of the other students.
‘As you all know the level two exam is tomorrow,’ Gorbacov waved them to their places as he addressed the class. If they keep dropping at this rate, Seiya glanced around the classroom with only seven seats filled compared to yesterday’s twelve, it’s a wonder there are any level fives.
‘This morning,’ Gorbacov’s voice recaptured Seiya’s wandering attention, ‘you will practise both whole body and small precise movements with a rank three demon. Suitable props have been provided.’ Seiya turned in her seat as Gorbacov gestured towards the desk at the back; from a distance the trays piled upon it resembled the puzzle toys Jarin and Hamish played with when they were younger, placing the right shaped peg into the corresponding hole.
‘Seiya,’ her attention was pulled back to the front of the class as Gorbacov addressed her, ‘I will need to oversee your first rank three summoning so please wait at the front while the others begin.’ Seiya tried not to react as all the other students stared at her.
‘I can’t believe they would let her in when she hasn’t even summoned a rank three!’ Kirinya’s attempt at a whisper easily carried across the entire room, Seiya’s cheeks reddening as Calvin muttered something that had Tresney beside him laughing out-loud, glancing back at her over his shoulder.
‘I don’t have all day,’ Gorbacov challenged her, standing at the front with his arms folded, completely ignoring the class’s reaction. ‘If you can’t do it then there’s the door.’
More whispers erupted from the back of the room as Seiya pushed her chair back so hard it scraped loudly on the stone floor. She could feel the heat radiating from her cheeks and knew she must be glowing. Striding towards Gorbacov she took a deep breath to compose herself, angry at her own reaction. What did she care what the others thought? She wasn’t here to make friends.
But surely it wasn’t right for a teacher to talk to their students like that? She deliberately avoided looking at Gorbacov as she reached the front, not sure she’d be able to hold her tongue. The anger at being constantly belittled shrunk in comparison to the fury she felt at being dragged to Rhianwater in the first place. The Masters had practically kidnapped her, what right did he have to speak to her as if she was wasting his time? The urge to turn around and stride from the room was overwhelming, but some vestige of common sense held her in place. She couldn’t return to Lyle’s class, not after the one decent person she’d met had gone out his way to help her.
Emotions. Seiya grabbed for the intangible thought that floated by as she recalled the level one Master; Lyle had said he was specifically chosen to monitor the summoner's emotional state and stop them summoning if overwhelmed. Although he had talking about fear there was no reason anger couldn’t equally apply. Gorbacov’s attitude made perfect sense if he was deliberately trying to provoke her, but why would he feel the need to see if she could still control a summoning when angry?
Too long had passed, she could sense Gorbacov was opening his mouth to berate her once again. The gateway flared brightly in front of him, she could speak the now familiar incantation without thinking, remembering to alter it to call a rank three just in time. She knew her summoning was quick as Gorbacov took a step back, without needing to weave the gateway pattern it rested only on her incantation speed. She smiled as the demon appeared, now her tongue was used to wrapping itself round the strange words used for the ritual she could run through the spiel fast enough to do it in a single breath.
Finally she risked looking at Gorbacov, pleasantly surprised to see he was trying to hide a smile, the stern visage slipping.
‘You can practise along with the others,’ he agreed, the edge Seiya hadn’t even realised was there in his voice was gone, ‘go to the back.’ Buoyed by her success, not just in the summoning but in not losing her temper Seiya relaxed both the speech and physical bindings. She watched the Master for any signs he sensed something wrong; with the summoning was right in front of him if he couldn’t tell now then she had nothing to worry about.
‘Go on,’ as he waved her forward Seiya could see nothing that indicated he suspected anything. Gently reinstating the physical bindings she made the demon walk forward, secure in the knowledge she had her own secret safety net. After so many years of being summoned and used for training and exams the demons ought to know the drills off by heart.
‘Can you hear me like this?’ Seiya spoke in her mind, trying to project her speech towards the demon. The whispering of the other students had fallen silent with her successful summoning, in the still room there was no way she could address the demon out loud.
‘Perfectly,’ it took a lot of concentration on Seiya’s part to keep her face neutral as the demon’s voice echoed in her head.
‘Does that mean you can hear what I’m thinking?’
‘No,’ the demon sounded amused, ‘you have to deliberately project your thoughts towards us. We’d tell you if you were broadcasting accidentally.’
‘Good.’ Seiya didn’t bother to suppress the overtones of relief that coloured her thought-voice. Picking up the remaining puzzle tray she moved to the farthest corner so she could have her back to all the other students. Most of them were now focusing on their own tasks but she could sense both Kirinya and Calvin were watching her. The eyes boring into her back didn’t feel friendly.
‘So,’ she dropped the physical binding, assuming the demon would have the sense to remain relatively still, ‘do you know what is involved in the exam?’
‘No,’ the demon’s voice sounded apologetic as it subtly shifted position. A quick glance over her shoulder reassured Seiya that Gorbacov was busy talking with Kirinya, at least two pairs of prying eyes were suitably occupied. ‘I only get used for the practice sessions, rank fours are summoned for the exam.’ Seiya nodded, thinking that for all the obsession over the demon rankings the power she needed to summon the rank three was hardly different to the rank two, or even the rank one. Admittedly the rank three was bigger; last night Aleos had been about hip height, similar to the rank two she’d summoned during the day. This demon came to about shoulder height, still vaguely humanoid Seiya imagined that if it got loose it would be difficult to physically overpower it.
‘What happens if the bindings fail?’ She was watching Kirinya’s summoning attempt, the rank three demon was there but the bindings around it felt unstable, as if they might dissolve at any minute. Unsurprisingly the demon’s physical movements were jerky, limbs flailing about with no real control.
‘Sometimes we will make a token attempt to attack the summoner, if things are going really badly,’ the demon’s t
one sounded as if it that applied to Kirinya’s victim. ‘Usually we will just wait to be sent back by the Master.’
Tiring of watching the struggling girl Seiya examined the puzzle tray. The blocks were smaller than the ones her brothers had played with as toddlers, and they had to be balanced in the frame which was raised on legs, not pushed through. If done gently the holes were tight enough that the friction would hold the shape in place, push too hard and the block would fall. Having a go herself it was relatively easy as she could feel the interaction between the piece and the hole. Using the demon as a glorified puppet she would have no sense of the force she was applying.
‘Can you do this?’ Seiya asked, watching as the demon deftly placed all the shapes into the holes with not a single one falling through, paying especially close attention to the way it used its hands to avoid the talon-like nails getting in the way.
‘I need to see if it looks any different with the bindings in place,’ she explained and the demon nodded its agreement as Seiya let her power flow to encompass the demon. As she wasn’t having to fight the demon in any way the force she needed was minimal, manipulating the demon’s hands was easiest if she just imagined she was moving them as she would her own. Estimating the force with which she needed to press them into the holes was more difficult. She ended up crouching next to the table where the puzzle sat, her eyes level with the demon’s claws.
‘Aren’t you a bit close?’ Gorbacov’s voice by her ear made her jump, the piece dropping from the demon’s hand as she toppled back.
‘I see you’ve mastered the delicate work,’ Seiya brushed herself off as she stood back up, ruefully accepting she was going to have a dusty imprint from the stone floor. ‘What about whole body movements?’ Gorbacov took one of the pieces out from the board and moved several paces away.
‘Catch.’ Casually he chucked the piece under-arm so it looped high into the space between them. With the physical bindings still in place Seiya was moving the demon forward without even thinking about it, the limbs reacting smoothly. The piece still dropped to the floor as she mis-timed the catch, the demon’s body blocking her view as the small wooden shape descended. Gorbacov seemed satisfied though as she had the demon pick the piece up from the floor and offer it back to him.
Summoner's Call (The Summoner Trilogy Book 1) Page 4
