It appeared word of his leaving had already been received.
Ignoring the passing nobles trying to get his attention, he came to the large doors of the Avatasc Castle and strode out onto the balcony. Waiting for him outside was Aisic and the two Senadonians, Tarros and Durian. They did not complain, not batting an eye at the fact that they would not get a night’s rest before they had to set off again. From the journal, he knew that their revenge for what had been done to New Senadon was much more important to them.
“I’m going to be traveling by air,” Nathan said. “Do you think you can keep up?”
The younger Senadonian, Durian, removed a necklace and placed his hand on the ground. As the journal had detailed, a blue circle of light formed at his feet, the jewel which was his pact item glowing in his hand. A massive wolf jumped through the circle and onto the courtyard tiles.
The large, fiery-looking, blue wolf snarled at them, but then calmed as he saw Durian. It was an impressive beast, Nathan had to admit, but if it didn’t appear to be on fire, it would have just been a big wolf. It raised a paw, the metacarpal pads at their bottoms looking like actual flames, and both Durian and Tarros jumped up onto the Melkai’s back.
“Blazer is the fastest land Melkai I’ve ever come across,” Durian bragged as his silent master sat behind, not saying a word about his own Melkai. “But I’d be interested to see how your Melkai can travel by air.”
Nathan stepped away from Aisic and raised his glove. “Well, this is the pact item for my Melkai, but Taiba can’t fly. As for how I’m going to be traveling by air, well, I think Aisic can answer that question for you.”
Durian looked skeptically at Aisic. The sword on Aisic’s back straightened. The wings which pointed out from its cross guard spread out and wrapped around him, the blade of the sword stretching out into the tail as the scabbard came over him as his dragon scales. His body grew and stretched as his Melkai form was revealed.
Tarros breathed out heavily, and Durian’s eyes widened. Their mouths dropped, stunned into silence by his metamorphosis.
“That’s how I’ll be traveling.” Nathan grabbed hold of Aisic’s armor-plated skin and used it as a ladder to climb up onto his back. “You might need a head start.”
Durian smirked. He bent down and patted Blazer’s back. The wolf huffed a fiery breath, and like its namesake, it blazed a trail of blue fire down the stairs and through the middle of the city. The line of flame clearly showed its path out into the fields.
Nathan grinned and yelled, “Alright, Aisic, let’s go!”
Aisic’s massive wings flapped down. Flowers from the garden were caught up in the wind and blew around them as they took off into the air and then soared over the city.
Their journey back to Terratheist had begun.
Chapter 20: Laine’s Lesson
Laine was impressed with the Summoners’ Pit and could see why King Michael had designated this space for her to meet the apprentice callers. Statues of great Melkai rested on the high walls, the stone was slashed and charred, and the pit itself could have fit most second-circle Melkai with room to spare. She wished such a place existed within the Avatasc Castle. It would have lowered the risk of training with Terachiro by a significant margin.
Since the war with Avatasc began, many callers and Advanced Summoners had left the castle to join the battle on the border, leaving her to deal with the dregs that were held back to protect the castle. As Michael had claimed, there was much she could teach them, but she hadn’t predicted the type of people she would be teaching.
So, these are the cutthroat nobility Nathan was telling me about. I better set strong rules right from the beginning.
The sixteen apprentices who had shown up for her instructions were the type of sniveling noblemen’s children she had dealt with in the past. They were the same entitled, frilly laced, petticoated toffs as the sons of Wilkow and Ronund, who, along with several other potential suitors, her stepfather had forced her to socialize with in the hope one could be molded by him to become a potential heir.
Dragon’s breath, but I’m glad he never warmed to any of them.
She could tell by the air of disinterest that they exuded with their pursed lips and raised slanted eyebrows that she was going to have to put them in their place right from the beginning. Nothing a little magic couldn’t achieve.
“Where is Master Morrow?” one of them, wearing a white wig, whined. “Isn’t he supposed to be here to guide a caller as young as you?”
The others standing around the pit sneered and chortled. Laine sighed and raised her hand. The murmurs and laughter cut off as the brats noticed it starting to glow blue.
The one who had commented on her age decided to give her one more poke. “What’s that? Is your hand cold, dear? Well, I know of a warm place you can put it.”
Laine spun, slashing a statue that resembled a terrifying harpy. The blue blade of her spell cut right through it from hip to shoulder, and the top half of the statue landed inside the walls with a crunch.
Silence proceeded, and she turned back to the apprentices. “I see I have your attention.”
“That statue was hundreds of years old!” one of them cried out.
“And yet I’m sure your young heads will fall just as easily.”
Some of them paled.
“Now, we are going to play a little game. When I say go, those of you who have summoned a first-circle will run and touch the left wall, those who have summoned a second-circle will run and touch the right wall, and those of you who have never summoned anything during your time under your previous master, stay where you are.”
A few swallowed and some nodded, but as soon as she said, “Go,” they broke into three separate groups. She kept her eyes on those who did not move. They were mostly young, but several of them were older than her.
She narrowed her eyes at them. “Everyone below the age of fifteen will return to your previous master. You are clearly not experienced enough to be in my class.” She jerked her head back toward the gate. “Go now.”
They scrambled away.
“What about us?” asked one of the fops who remained where he was. “What do we do?”
Laine’s jaw clenched. “I don’t care what you do, you aren’t callers.”
“That’s preposterous!” the brat with the wig shouted. “We have Kairen blood in our veins just as you do, and our fathers paid for us to be given lessons—”
“Not by me.” Although she tried not to let her expression show her agitation, she let her hand glow with the same blue light. “There are two types of people when it comes to summoning Melkai, those who can and those who can’t. I don’t have time to waste on those who can’t.” She pointed to the gate with one glowing finger. “Now leave!”
There were groans, leers, and even a “My father will hear of this,” as they removed themselves from the pit, and hopefully from the pool of prospective callers.
She returned her attention to those remaining. As suspected, the majority of those who had only summoned a first-circle were on the younger side, no doubt having been guided through the process by their previous master.
Her gaze shifted to the second-circle group. “Now, right siders, make a line up the pit and show me your Melkai one-by-one. I won’t have two Melkai getting into a fight.”
There were a few nods, and after Laine clicked her fingers and pointed to the edge of the pit, they scrambled to line up. What followed was a demonstration in Melkai summoning ranging from somewhat impressive to mediocre. The apprentices from the left side stared in amazement at their upper classmen’s creatures.
As she would be commanding them in battle, Laine’s main concern was where she would place them and how she could use their different advantages.
As a redhead girl summoned a giant wasp looking creature, Laine knew from her experience with Terachiro that the girl would need to be on the towers for recon. Another who summoned a large honey badge
r-like creature with many legs would be better on the front line. The most impressive Melkai was a beautiful green wyvern summoned from the emerald of a blond apprentice. The boy’s second-circle Melkai could have even given Terachiro a decent fight.
Top of the class.
“Good, I see you’re not all completely worthless.” She kept her frown solidly fixed in place. “Those of you who have ground-based Melkai leave and take two apprentices from the left side of the wall. You can choose who you’ll teach but you must take at least two. You will be helping them make pacts with second-circle Melkai of their own. Those of you who succeed in aiding the less experienced novices to make a new pact, I will teach the spell I demonstrated at the start of my lesson.”
“Yes, master!” the three she referenced called and moved to where the first-circle group to pick out their apprentices.
Laine would’ve been lying if she said hearing them say this didn’t send a tingle down her spine.
“And then there were three.” She turned her focus on the remaining three callers standing before the pit: her flyers. “The reason I have left you three for last is that you will be the most useful callers in this upcoming battle.”
The redhead raised her hand. “Why is that, master?”
Laine let her expression slip, a grin escaping. “Terratheist has large walls for a reason: to make sure the Melkai who escape the Melkairen can’t enter the city. Of course, some slip inside and the Advanced Summoners handle those, but the real threat is those that can go over the walls.”
The blond young man who had summoned the Wyvern nodded. “So, we’re going to be protecting the walls.”
“That’s right. You’ll be overseeing the battlement’s defenses personally. Once some of the others have summoned second-circle Melkai, they will be put under you, but from now on you will be under me. Understand?”
“Yes, master,” they called.
She sighed, the novelty of the title already wearing off. “What are your names?”
“Tuttle,” a large young man, who had summoned a giant falcon, said.
“Blake,” said the blond with the wyvern.
“Reshal,” said the redhead with the wasp.
Laine nodded. “The three of you will learn to work as a team. If any flying Melkai are seen heading toward the castle, you three will need to take it out. Is that understood?”
“Understood!” they said together.
“Good.” Laine grabbed the collar of her hood to summon Terachiro. “Then let’s practice formations.”
Chapter 21: War of the Melkai
The screams of men and the clash of blades filled the Solvena plains. On Aisic’s scaled back, Nathan saw for the first time the war that was taking place, given an unhindered view of the carnage.
“Dragon’s breath, they’re everywhere . . .”
“This is nothing, not compared to what will be if the barrier isn’t fixed,” Aisic spoke up in his mind.
Nathan gazed at the unfolding carnage, at the scope of death and destruction that spread out on the fields beneath them. Thousands of soldiers and Melkai filled the grassland, firing and charging at one another in the desperate and bloody struggle of the conflict. The intense havoc of the true war had come to fruition.
Melkai of all shapes and sizes speckled the battlefield, their feet thumping the earth. A giant tortoise with thick leathery skin walked steadily through the battlefield, crushing armored soldiers under its great bulk. This impenetrable fortress also sported Terratheist archers in the crevasses between the thick scutes of its shell.
This is insane. This is all insane.
He looked up. The moon was nearly completely red, all but a pale crescent on its edge.
The barrier has weakened so much.
They flew over a stretch of wasteland. A sandworm erupted from the ground below them, its massive maw encircled with several rows of teeth. It writhed across the ground with another identical head at its opposing end. It slithered toward the grassland where archers tried to kill it before it could reach them. As the worm was pierced by arrows, its oozing green blood hissed out and melted the ground where it fell, preventing any of the soldiers from getting close to it.
Nathan gasped, the consequences of neglecting the mission the king had given to him now starkly apparent.
It doesn’t make sense. Why would the king send such a force my way? So many Melkai . . . when he knows that I’m here trying to save the lands from this very thing. Some of the Melkai aren’t even controlled by callers. Did he think I failed?
A tree appeared to lumber across the plains below, until Nathan saw that it was mounted upon the skeleton of a giant feline, the roots encircling its bones, binding them together like muscles.
Further down the valley, a Melkai with one giant, black eyeball surrounded by long tentacles emerged from the ground. Its long limbs swept the soldiers, enemies and allies alike, from their feet and then devoured them in its many mouths.
The armored scales shifted beneath Nathan, and Aisic glided down, still trying not to get too close to any of the Melkai. Some were even huge enough that they would’ve been able to knock them out of the sky.
We can’t get too close to these things, but the sun’s coming down and we have to find a place to land for the night.
Aisic glided down to the side of the battlefield, out of the way of the army’s advance toward Avatasc. There, Nathan located a stretch of grass mostly free of Melkai. It wasn’t very far away from the fighting, but neither had their campsites been for the previous two nights.
“We need to land!” he yelled over the howl of the wind and pointed to the ground. “Down there, on the border of the forest!”
A chimera Melkai made up of the body of a gorilla, the head of a horned bull, and the tail of a snake stared up at them, dragging an enormous club-like tree behind it. Seeing them descend toward the clearing, it broke from the distant horde and rushed toward where they made to land. Before they could meet, a streak of blue fire sped its way through the field, cutting off the Melkai before it could swing its club.
Durian looks to be making good distance. That wolf of his really is fast.
The chimera swung its club through the surrounding soldiers and charged through. There were rows of spikes on its back which continued down to its reptilian tail.
Blazer ran in to block its path. On the wolf’s back, Durian evaded the swing of its club as the blue flame quickly arced around it, trapping it inside a prison of flame before continuing on its run.
The thump of the chimera’s burning body hitting the earth made Nathan’s shoulders relax, despite the putrid smell of cooking Melkai. The Senadonians could easily take care of themselves in this battle.
A stray arrow whisked past them from one of the armored turtles and Aisic banked to avoid the arrows from the archer’s longbows. It was getting darker and it would be hard for Aisic’s dragon eyes to see the arrows coming at them in the twilight.
He arced toward where Nathan had pointed, and Nathan held tight as they glided down from the sky. At a closer look, the area was speckled with smaller Melkai and enemy soldiers. Aisic sprayed down a runway of flame, turning the grass beneath them black. They landed with a thump and Nathan jumped down off Aisic’s back.
A dozen soldiers and a large scorpion Melkai turned toward them. The soldiers were wearing full Terratheist armor and marched with a lifeless rhythm. However, Nathan’s attention was on the Melkai. As the scorpion raised its tail, he saw its face and torso were at its tip, looking like a man with snipping pincers for arms. Nathan grinned wide.
That’s more like it! Hah! Give me more weird ones like this!
Nathan removed one glove and threw it at the scorpion-like he was challenging it to a duel. Instead, the fingers extended into limbs as Taiba morphed into reality before him. The large dog ran toward the massive scorpion as Aisic breathed flame at the approaching soldiers. They burned up in their armor, yet no screams could b
e heard from them.
Taiba lunged at the scorpion as its pincers flew at him. He was too fast for them and swiftly ran up onto the thing’s back, snapping at its tail. Taiba’s teeth reached but missed the Melkai’s human throat, and he was knocked aside onto the blackened grass. The Melkai reared up over him and Nathan watched as his companion backed away, snarling.
The thing rose up over Taiba, ready to strike.
“Taiba, get up, run!” Nathan called.
Suddenly there was an explosion away from Aisic’s fire. Nathan turned as a giant red bird flew from it. Its massive wings appeared to suck up the fire around them it came down on the scorpion. Following it was Blazer, Durian’s Melkaiic wolf, and with a quick sprint, it caught up with Tarros’s phoenix and together they drove the scorpion into the ground in a sprawl of pincers, teeth, and feathers of flame.
The scorpion was in pieces in a matter of seconds, and like with the flame around them, the phoenix had vanished, a sword falling to the grass. Tarros and Durian casually walked out of the fire, faces solemn as though the situation was commonplace for them. Tarros sighed and picked up his sword.
I guess it’s convenient that Senadonians are dual-wielders.
“Yeah, I know,” Tarros said. “Not the best object for pact item.” He raised the sword to see if there was any dirt on the blade before returning it to its scabbard. “Let’s just say I was young and panicked when making the pact. Anyway, let’s set up camp. Durian, have Blazer do a circle around the area so no one can get in.”
Durian raised an arm to signal his wolf to do a lap of the area. As it did, it left a blue flame in its wake. Durian’s claim about Blazer being the fastest land-based Melkai wasn’t an empty boast, it really was a powerful Melkai, much more powerful than Taiba. Recovered from his run-in with the scorpion, Taiba ran to Nathan’s side, panting. Nathan put a hand on its head and ran his hand through the thick fur. Taiba formed back into the glove.
It shouldn’t matter that I don’t have a powerful Melkai when the one I do have doesn’t even need a pact item to be loyal to me. That alone should be enough.
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