Summoner's Call (The Summoner Trilogy Book 1)

by Sarah Anne Piddock

  ‘But why should he care about me!’ Seiya flushed as Amaran turned to look at her, so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. Pulling her arm free she pointedly massaged the sore area as she put some much needed air between them. ‘It’s not like I would want to be headmaster.’

  ‘No,’ Amaran’s voice was expressionless as he looked over the basket edge once again.

  ‘Well?’ Seiya demanded impatiently as the silence stretched out, irritated by Amaran’s sudden lapse. ‘You know something,’ she added accusingly as Amaran kept avoiding her gaze.

  ‘Is it impossible for you to be quiet?’ Amaran’s irritability didn’t hide his discomfort.

  ‘Not until you tell me the truth,’ Seiya leaned towards him until her lips hovered less than a hands-breadth from his ear. ‘You know why the headmaster wanted me here. Why me? I’m not stupid, I know that nobody has ever been brought to the school before.’

  ‘Why would I know?’

  ‘Shall I go ask Youally?’ Seiya smiled sweetly as Amaran’s head whipped round to stare at her.

  ‘I didn’t find out until later,’ Amaran admitted grudgingly, ‘Keanwall told me after the Council meeting when I objected to you joining the level six class.’

  ‘Told you what?’ Seiya wanted to scream in exasperation as Amaran fell silent again, why was he making her drag out every syllable?

  ‘He brought you here because he thought you would eventually support me in becoming headmaster,’ Seiya stared at Amaran speechlessly as he squirmed awkwardly, the words delivered in a sudden rush. ‘The Council members were split too evenly-’

  ‘But I was never invited to the Council,’ Seiya frowned as she interrupted Amaran’s unexpected flood.

  ‘He changed his plans when you made it clear you only cared about going home. He hoped that you would be a Master by the time Youally made his attempt to seize control.’

  ‘So he jumped me up classes and sent us on a mission that would go a long way towards paying the fees.’ Seiya regarded Amaran thoughtfully, ‘I assume you need to be a Master to challenge for the headmaster job?’

  ‘Youally wants to get rid of you,’ Amaran completely ignored her question, ‘imprisoned, expelled, dead; he doesn’t care so long as you’re not at Rhianwater. Not because you’d support me,’ he added, the expression in his eyes telling Seiya he vividly remembered their previous conversations.

  ‘But I’d want to stop him,’ Seiya nodded in agreement, she would never forgive what Youally had tried during the level four exam and if Amaran was right about his ambitions; it didn’t bear thinking about. ‘Given the four witnesses,’ Seiya nodded to indicate the Council members, ‘I’m guessing it’ll be one of the first two.’

  ‘I suppose telling you not to do anything stupid would be a waste of time?’ Havir remarked wistfully, Seiya had forgotten he was even standing there. Amaran snorted before she had even opened her mouth to reply, but her glare silenced whatever comment he intended to make.

  ‘I don’t-’ she indignantly started to defend herself.

  ‘Havir,’ Amaran’s curt tone instantly made her stop mid-sentence and look across to the other summoner, ‘we’re heading for the Tamboria-Mercadi border.’

  ‘And?’ Seiya looked nervously between the pair as the amusement left Havir’s face, swiftly replaced by a mirror of Amaran’s grim expression.

  ‘Last I heard they were at war,’ Amaran didn’t even look at her direction, his eyes communicating wordlessly with Havir.

  ‘So we’re going to go and stop it?’ This time the two guys did look at her, but their expressions were hardly reassuring.

  ‘Unlikely,’ Seiya moved to one side as Amaran leant over the basket edge and looked towards the horizon. ‘You don’t pay for summoners to stop a war.’

  ‘You pay them to win,’ Havir finished, his gaze once more going to the extra Masters at the back. Before she could question further Seiya felt the basket beginning to descend.

  ‘I didn’t expect so many,’ the man’s eyes roved over the summoners gleefully, coming to rest on Youally.

  ‘Only these six will be summoning,’ the Master swept his arm to indicate Seiya and the rest of the class. ‘The rest of us are merely here to observe,’ Youally continued smoothly as the man’s expression darkened, ‘we thought you would prefer as many summoners as possible and they cost significantly less.’

  ‘The amount I’m paying I should get the whole damn lot,’ the man growled irritably, glowering at the assembled Masters who returned his gaze impassively.

  ‘That’s Lord Grohen,’ Seiya kept facing forwards as Amaran whispered behind her, ‘he rules in Mercadi.’

  ‘Where are we at the moment?’ Seiya whispered back, turning her head slightly but keeping Youally in sight.

  ‘Last year I would have said Mercadi but now it’s Tamboria,’ he shrugged as Seiya turned to face him properly, ‘they’ve been trading this bit of land for generations.’

  ‘Lord Ancey will be coming through that valley in minutes,’ Grohen had raised his voice to get everybody’s attention and gestured up the slope. Seiya stared at it uncomprehendingly until she remembered what she had seen on the descent; the slope was a ridge, once over it the land dropped away steeply forming a shallow valley. The soldiers wouldn’t be trapped but they would certainly be funnelled along the flatter path at the valley bottom.

  ‘They’ll be chasing my men thinking they’ve got them outnumbered,’ a savage grin spread across the Lord’s face. ‘I want them destroyed, every man dead or crippled, I don’t care. But I want Ancey alive, I want to make him watch as he loses everything.’

  ‘Why?’ Amaran’s restraining hand did nothing to stop Seiya’s outraged demand. ‘Those men have done nothing wrong-’

  ‘They killed my son!’ Grohen’s bellow stunned Seiya into silence. ‘Ancey will see his army wiped out and then I will take his province,’ he smiled in grim satisfaction but the emotion never reached his eyes. ‘I will crush him.’

  ‘They’re coming!’ a soldier came sprinting down the slope from the ridge top.

  ‘Go!’ Grohen roared at them, pointing from where the soldier had come, ‘I want to see their faces as they’re ripped apart by demons.’

  ‘He’s crazy,’ Seiya grabbed onto Amaran’s arm as he went to walk past her, ‘nobody is going to do this!’

  ‘The fee will be split according to how much each of you contribute,’ Youally’s smug voice made her skin crawl and Seiya backed away in disgust. She hadn’t even noticed the Master approaching.

  ‘Oh no,’ Seiya looked round just in time to see Jamen disappearing over the top of the slope, her senses starting to tingle as a surge of power soon followed.

  ‘I guess he’s focused on getting the biggest cut,’ Youally called after her as Seiya dashed upwards.

  ‘Stop!’ Seiya yelled as loud as she could when she saw Jamen had stopped walking.

  ‘I don’t have time for you,’ Jamen sneered, sparing nothing more than a contemptuous glance in her direction as a rank eleven wild appeared before him.

  ‘Please, don’t-’ but Seiya could see her begging was useless, the demon was already charging towards the soldiers below.

  ‘The rest of you summon now or you’ll never get an assignment again!’ Spinning round Seiya saw Felix and Tooks standing on the ridge several strides away, staring at the scene below. Both had turned around to regard the Master uncertainly at Youally’s ultimatum.

  ‘Summon, or you’ll spend the rest of your lives as servants!’ Seiya watched Youally smile triumphantly as Felix hesitantly began the incantation, Tooks not far behind.

  ‘No!’ Desperate to make them stop Seiya tried to run over but Amaran clamped her arm in an iron grip. Both he and Havir stood beside her as Youally finally turned his attention their way.

  ‘If you interfere,’ Youally gestured behind him, drawing their attention to the other Masters watching everything that was happening, ‘then we will have to take certain steps.’ Seiya saw Havir
’s eyes widen as one of the Masters produced the Kurlin-Ra, the metal collar kept hidden wrapped in cloth. Amaran’s fingers dug into her flesh so hard she let out a gasp of pain.

  ‘You can’t make her wear that without the Council’s approval,’ Amaran countered before she could speak but Youally only smiled even wider.

  ‘I can if she turns rogue, summoning out of control, endangering those around her.’ With each statement Youally advanced closer until he was only an arms-length away. His eyes locked with Amaran’s angry gaze.

  ‘Besides I have four Council members as witnesses,’ Seiya was watching Amaran’s face as he flinched at Youally’s silken tone. The screams coming from down in the valley abruptly dragged her attention away, Jamen’s demon had reached the soldiers, but Seiya was too far away to see what was happening. Wrenching away from Amaran she held herself at the ridge edge. There were too many; even if she stopped Jamen’s both Felix and Tooks had demons charging down the slope.

  ‘Charge!’

  Seiya’s heart stopped as she saw soldiers running past her, she hadn’t even noticed them waiting, being so wrapped up in watching Youally and Grohen. Now the Lord was ordering his remaining troops in what should have been a suicidal assault; but being outnumbered was meaningless with demons on their side.

  ‘Help me stop it!’ Seiya yelled desperately at Amaran, holding out her hand beseechingly. ‘I can’t hold them all!’

  ‘Don’t you understand what they’ll do to you,’ Amaran dragged her roughly round by the shoulders, away from the fighting, forcing her to look at the waiting Masters. ‘Once Youally gets that collar on it’ll never come off, you won’t be able to summon.’

  ‘What makes you think they’ll get that thing anywhere near me?’ Seiya demanded scornfully. ‘Help me or get out of the way.’ Pushing Amaran aside Seiya ran forward a few steps down the valley side, at least she could put Havir and Amaran between her and Youally. If nothing else Amaran would oppose Youally just for the sake of irritating the Master.

  Taking a deep breath Seiya tried to block out the screams, it no longer mattered if they were from fear or pain; she was going to stop this. Grohen’s soldiers were sweeping down the valley side, the two demons charging a few strides ahead, soon both groups would smash into the floundering troops on the valley floor. Seiya’s eyes refused to focus on the trail of carnage already left by Jamen’s demon. A wall of fire would stop the soldiers, but even if they weren’t fire elementals the demon’s hide would protect them well enough. Yet an individual demon wouldn’t be able to block three of its own kind and an army.

  There must to be a way!

  Pouring her power into a gateway Seiya opened her mind, the scene before her held as a vivid message to the demons. There was no longer any time to worry how the Masters would react to the unbound summoning, she shouted out the request with all the mental strength she had.

  Initially Seiya shied away from the powerful aura, she had never experienced anything like it before, her mind flinching back as if sensing it could be overwhelmed. Controlling her instinctive reaction Seiya was calmed by the demon’s steady reassuring presence, the elemental overtones unmistakably that of earth. But it was so strong; pouring her power into the gateway it was like trying to force her finger through the eye of a needle. Each time the demon tried to cross Seiya felt the gateway destabilising, all she could do was feed more energy into the woven pattern, even if that meant she could barely stand. Seiya was dimly aware of somebody calling her name, but none of that mattered now.

  She knew she had been successful by the howls of terror on the valley floor. The demon was huge, allowing for the substantial distance between them Seiya couldn’t even begin to comprehend the physical enormity, but it still wasn’t big enough to take on three demons at once.

  ‘We will create a barrier,’ the image of a sheer rock wall imposed itself on Seiya’s mind.

  ‘Impossible,’ Seiya refused to believe it; up until now the earth elemental control had allowed her to shift nothing more than small pebbles.

  ‘Trust me,’ the demon commanded, the sudden surge of power sending Seiya to her knees. She was peripherally aware the other summoners were also staggering under the force of the demon’s magic. Then the ground began to shudder; huge tremors rocked the earth beneath her feet, the few people who had remained standing were soon sprawled on the ground.

  ‘Help me!’ the demon’s demand was impossible to refuse but Seiya couldn’t understand what he was doing, the earthquake would provide only temporary relief from the fighting. Trusting in her unusual ally Seiya let her power flow through the demon’s earth elemental alignment, allowing the demon to direct it as he saw fit, supplementing his own.

  The sound of scraping stone was unbearable, Seiya clamped her hands over her ears, convinced the earth itself was screaming in agony. Suddenly the ground beneath her lurched so violently she was sent flying, even though she was already on her knees. The demon was pulling on her strength, demanding even more energy as their combined power escalated to the point where she was completely overwhelmed. This was different to power-running, far from being enveloped in her own power she was becoming the energy that flowed out of her. Everything felt strangely surreal, covered in a bright numbing haze Seiya was completely detached from the world around her.

  Slowly the brightness faded, her mind grasping at the information her battered senses gradually delivered. The shouting sounded far away, her eyes struggling to focus on the scene below. At the bottom of the slope was no longer a flat valley bottom; a huge sheet of rock blocked her view. Understanding eluded her, Seiya watched dazedly as the two demons and previously charging soldiers made their way to the foot of the wall, staring up in confusion. She shared their incomprehension, two demons stood astride the wall, one a huge earth elemental, the other was clearly a wild but something seemed off. Belatedly Seiya realised the demon had no feet.

  ‘They are locked in the rock,’ the voice in her mind spoke gently, ‘it can be dismissed whenever you wish.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Seiya responded automatically, her senses were at long last starting to return to normal. She wondered how long it would take Jamen to realise his demon was useless and send the poor thing back.

  ‘How dare you!’ Youally was spluttering in indignation as he scrambled ungracefully to his feet. Grabbing the Kurlin-Ra from where it had dropped to the ground he advanced on Seiya.

  ‘In the name of the Council-’

  ‘And witnessed!’ One of the other Masters picked himself off the floor, eyes blazing. Youally didn’t seem to know whether to look pleased or disgruntled by this interruption.

  ‘In the name of the Council,’ Youally cleared his throat purposefully, ‘and witnessed by these other four independent members you are declared dangerous and hence forth banned from summoning.’ The Master already standing and glaring at her shouted his agreement immediately, as did the one closest to him still getting to his feet. Examining their faces Seiya had no doubt they were two of Youally’s supporters. More disconcertingly the other two, whom she could only guess were the ones Havir had referred to as neutral, were also nodding their heads in agreement.

  ‘You will wear the collar until the Council can decide what to do with you,’ one announced coldly. ‘To summon a rank-’ he waved his hand in the air, ‘higher than I have ever seen, without the proper bindings.’ He shook his head in disbelief, ‘it’s unforgivable.’

  ‘Unlike using demons to murder people for money,’ Seiya retorted acidly, ‘which is perfectly acceptable.’ With the flow of both her power and the demon’s stopped she could think clearly; something the Masters before her were obviously unable to do. Quickly checking with the demon that the wall would stay regardless she dismissed it; watching in satisfaction as the Master’s faces tensed when they felt her surge of power. There was no need for her to worry about the troops below, both sides seemed scared witless by the ground itself rising up to stop their battle.

  ‘We will return to Rhianw
ater at once,’ one of the neutral Masters announced grimly. Seiya watched in mild amusement as Youally continued his approach, collar open and ready to place round her neck. It was pathetic they hadn’t worked it out yet.

  ‘No,’ Seiya allowed herself the tiniest smile as Youally glared at her furiously. ‘I won’t.’

  ‘You don’t have a choice,’ Youally snarled at Seiya and gestured for the other Masters to surround her. Risking a glance over her shoulder Seiya could see Amaran standing to one side, watching intently.

  ‘I think we’ve been here before, haven’t we?’ Seiya let her power slowly build as she held Youally’s gaze, willing him to remember the level four exam. ‘The difference is I don’t have to stay at the school anymore.’ Seiya smile grew as Youally’s eyes widened. ‘You said this assignment has paid off all the fees, and I passed the level five exam weeks ago.’ She let her gaze sweep round to include the other Masters, even Paudry who up till now had been distancing himself from the others. ‘You have no reason to keep me here.’

  The gateway appeared instantly in the sky above, the silvery lines barely visible when traced against the grey clouds. The flying demon plummeted down towards her, much to the alarm of the others.

  ‘Stop her!’ At Youally’s desperate yell Seiya felt gateways forming all around. For a moment she hesitated, her senses placed them around rank twelve, it was possible she could end up with five flying demons on her tail.

  But there were six gateways. The sudden realisation made her look behind her; the most powerful gateway was not one of the Masters.

  ‘If that’s the fees all taken care of,’ Amaran spoke lightly but Seiya flinched away from the hard tone in his voice, ‘I think I’m ready to become a Master now.’ Seiya felt all the Masters falter in their summonings, the incantations stuttering to a halt. Youally’s focus instantly shifted, all his attention on Amaran. It was all Seiya needed. Lifting her arms high above her head she ignored the other summoners throwing themselves to the ground as the demon swooped low and grabbed her in its claws, plucking her neatly off the ground. Wrapping her arms around one of the talons Seiya leaned over as they flew upwards. Amaran hadn’t even ducked, a part of her wondered if he had even flinched as the demon rushed past.